Tracy took my hand and we walked into the house. We went to the back patio and I found it was burger night. I understood we were in fact holding hands. The touch of her small hand in mine just felt right. I got a goofy grin when I looked down where we were joined together and she smiled. It was one of those special smiles couples have for each other. I wondered if this was what falling in love felt like.
I mentally had to put the brakes on. We’d agreed to keep it casual, and I was thinking love. I knew if we didn’t take it a step at a time and work to both be on the same page, we were going to fail. I didn’t want her to feel trapped or forced to have feelings before she was ready. I think at this point I loved Tracy, but I wasn’t sure I was in love with Tracy. While I was musing about our relationship, Tom asked me to help with the grill.
I steeled myself and Tracy gave my hand a squeeze to wish me well. Tom must have gotten the short end of the stick because he got to give me the sex talk. I looked back and both Tracy and her mom were missing in action.
“I just want to come right to the point. Tracy has shared some intimate details about your relationship with each other. If it’s okay, I have a couple of questions?”
“Yes, sir.”
“David, when did we get to ‘sir’?”
“When you asked me about my sex life.”
“Okay, fair enough. Did you use a condom each time you had sex with my daughter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I don’t know how to say this, but I have to. It appears one of her past partners has given her an STD.”
How do you respond to that? Greg had done me a solid with insisting on the use of condoms, and I knew this was extremely difficult for her father to share with me.
“Thank you for telling me. My concern is I’ve had both my mouth and fingers in contact with your daughter’s vagina.”
He flushed. I knew this wasn’t easy for him, but he continued in kind of a stilted manner. I think he was just trying to get through this.
“Thank you for being honest with me,” he said. “Let me give you some facts before you get too worried. Tracy has chlamydia. It’s the most common STD in women under the age of twenty-five. It’s a bacterial infection. It can cause many different complications for a woman, including causing them to become sterile. Chlamydia is known as a ‘silent’ infection because most infected people show no signs of having it. It’s estimated 1 in 15 sexually active women in this age group has it.”
“Odds are you don’t have it. In men, the most common location of this STD is in the urethra. We can have you tested quickly. All we need is a urine sample,” he said, as he pulled out a container and directed me to the bathroom.
When I got back, he shared some more information with me.
“The treatment for chlamydia is a seven-day course of antibiotics. During that time, you do not have sex with anyone. That’s why from Tuesday on, Tracy hasn’t had any sexual contact with you. I have a friend who’s willing to test your sample tonight. By the time you get back from your date, you’ll have your results. If we find you have this infection, we’ll arrange for your treatments to start on Sunday.”
“Tom, thank you for explaining everything,” I said.
Honestly, I don’t know whom I would rather have heard this from. I was glad he had all the facts, or I think I would have been going nuts right now.
“One more thing I have to ask you, and I know this is very personal.” I just nodded. “In the past week have you had sexual contact with anyone other than Tracy?”
“No, sir.”
“I didn’t think so, but I had to ask. Let’s find the girls and have some burgers.”
I went into the kitchen, took Tracy into my arms and whispered into her ear.
“Thank you for having your dad tell me. I just did the test and he’s going to get our results back by the time we get back tonight.”
I gave her a kiss on the forehead and we went together to the patio. I could feel the relief come off Tracy in a wave. I later found out she assumed I’d dump her when I found out. She was also scared I would be sharing this information with other people. She needn’t have worried on either count.
Okay, I must change the subject back to the burgers. I had decided if Tom ever dumped his wife, I’d marry her. She had stuffed the burgers with blue cheese. Now I wasn’t a huge fan of blue cheese, but when put into the center of a burger and then done on the grill... Oh, my, you have to try it!
Tracy had originally suggested that we go see a movie, but I couldn’t sit still while we waited on the results, so we went and played Putt-Putt Golf. I know, it was a stupid game, but I needed something that kept my mind busy and was fun. We had a blast. The sad part was she kicked my butt. I was stuck on the windmill. I kept hitting the stupid blades.
We then hit the local Dairy Queen. She had a banana split and I had the Peanut Buster Parfait. We were lounging at one of the picnic tables when Mona showed up with her date. It turned out to be Kevin. Kevin is a big boy, and to see him with little Mona was amusing. She saw us first and came bounding up. I gave her a dirty look because I was still pissed about the trick they’d played on me.
“That wasn’t very nice Monday.”
Kevin showed up about that time.
“Dawson, how’s it hanging, man?”
“Hey, Kevin, are you with this evil little girl?”
“Yeah, she put me under her spell and talked me into buying her ice cream.”
“Hello, Gorgeous,” Kevin said to Tracy.
“Hey, Kevin, how’s it hanging?”
Kevin snorted when he realized how crude that sounded. He looked at Tracy and me.
“Sorry guys, I need to work on my manners. I’ve been hanging out with too many jocks,” he explained, and then he turned to me. “Dawson, I’m so going to kick your butt on Monday.”
“Did you see who we’re playing this week?” I asked.
“Eastside.”
“And what offense do they run?”
“West Coast. Oh shit, you’re going to be passing the ball all over the field.”
“Yeah, I bet you I throw four touchdowns before you even touch me.”
Kevin was fired up.
“No way, Dawson, you are so going down!”
“So, is it a bet?”
“Yeah, loser has to carry the winner’s bags to the Eastside game.”
“Deal.”
Tracy and Mona were confused. Kevin helped enlighten them.
“Dawson is now our backup quarterback and, as such, he runs the scout team against the number one defense. Ever since he almost killed me, coach hasn’t let the number one offense scrimmage against the number one defense.”
“What do you mean he almost killed you?” Mona asked.
“Didn’t you tell them?” Kevin asked with a glint in his eyes.
I just shook my head. He was on a roll.
“Dawson, on his first day of practice, comes strutting in, so it’s my job to take him down a notch. Coach set up a goal-line-stand scenario guaranteed to keep the little shit from running away, so on the first play I get the signal from Magic that the play’s going left. I forgot his left was different from mine, so this little cocky freshman just walks into the end zone.
“It’s a good thing he didn’t disrespect his elders and do a little dance. He just took the ball and handed it to the center. I have to respect that; he has some class. The next play Magic gives me the same signal and I know where he’s going. I give him the Kevin special ‘welcome to the team’ hit. Every back that has gotten that has fumbled the ball. What does this piece of work do? He hits me so hard he puts me on my ass. The defense loves him for it. He’s the toughest dude I’ve ever played against, and he’s only a freshman.”
I smirked at Kevin.
“You want to know a secret?”
“What?”
“If I hadn’t fallen on the ball, I would’ve fumbled.”
“I knew it! That’s okay, we still love you.”