“You really are a ‘stupid boy’ sometimes. All you have to do is ask, and I bet we can find a hundred or more people to go door-to-door this afternoon.”
“How are we going to do that?” I asked.
“I have twenty-four cheerleaders, and you have probably a hundred guys playing football. We do a call tree and have them all meet us at the school. Give them all a goal of signing up ten people each by Monday. Easy-peasy, and you’re done.”
Uncle John had always said I could get more done with the help of others. This sounded like a fun plan.
“We could make it a competition. We could pit the freshmen, JV, and varsity against one another. Whoever gathers the most signatures gets a prize of some kind,” I said.
“I know what the girls all want: a date with you,” Brook teased.
“Didn’t we just have this discussion in reverse? You sure you want to do that?” I asked.
“It’s just a date,” Brook retorted.
Apparently, her mind was made up. It was for a good cause, so I didn’t fight it.
◊◊◊
I don’t know why I was surprised when almost the whole football team and all the cheerleaders showed up to help out. My dad had come with me to help explain how the signatures had to be collected so they couldn’t be challenged. He predicted that Mr. Fox would do everything possible to keep Duke off the ballot. He’d called Ms. Dixon, and she agreed. She looked forward to facing our nemesis in court again. She seemed to dislike him almost as much as my mom did.
Brook came home with me after we’d sent our minions off to do their work. She, Peggy, and the little ones helped me shoot footage of Duke doing different things for his campaign ad. I made sure I captured a lot of tail-wagging and wet doggy-kisses. The little ones and Duke must have been tired from being my actors because we found them all piled up in the living room, taking a nap. Of course, I added that to the footage.
Mom and Dad were going out with Brook’s parents tonight. They planned to try the seafood restaurant in Washington that had fresh crab legs flown in each weekend. They asked if we wanted to join them, but Brook declined. I was a little disappointed because I love king crab legs. Rumor had it that they would have Dungeness crabs tonight instead of king crab legs, so I was a little mollified. Still, I extracted a promise from my dad to bring me some home if they had them.
◊◊◊
“Where do you want to go for dinner?” I asked.
Peggy had taken the little ones and Duke to Pam’s for dinner. The plan was for them to take Little David and Coby swimming. The added bonus was Lacy, Pam’s mom, got some much-needed grandma time.
“I thought we would order in,” Brook replied with a sexy smile.
I gave her a confused look, and then it dawned on me. We had the house to ourselves, and we’d not had any alone-time in almost two weeks. I really was a ‘stupid boy’ sometimes. You would think the horny teenager in me would have come up with this plan on my own. Then again, I’d been hurting for a while, and the pain was still there, if diminished.
I got with the program and ordered Chinese. I then set the table in the dining room with the good china and broke out the candles. While I did that, Brook disappeared. When she came back, I smiled. My girlfriend had put on makeup and her little black dress from last night. She was holding something behind her back; moments later, she pulled out her crown.
I bowed.
“My queen, may I assist you?” I asked.
Her brown eyes sparkled with mischief. Brook’s tiny crooked smile promised so much that it made my chest ache. She handed me the crown, and I looked down at it. I noticed this wasn’t the one from last night. This one had aquamarine stones and looked like it had been made from gold and silver coral with a large clamshell design in the center. Brook’s smile got bigger when she saw I didn’t recognize it.
“When I was younger, I wanted to be a princess. I loved Ariel from The Little Mermaid.”
She got a hesitant look when she admitted that last part. I loved that about her. I brushed her hair back and put the crown on her head. Either the crown must have been big on her as a kid, or this was a more recent purchase. It wasn’t every day that Brook went all girly-girl, so this was fun to see.
“You’re stunning,” I whispered.
She blinked at me in an alluring way. If Brook weren’t careful, I would toss her on the table and have my way with her.
“Would you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Go put your tux on. I want to have a special dinner.”
“Okay.”
I thought about what I’d told Yuri. Now, who was whipped?
◊◊◊
When I came back, Brook had turned out all the lights and put on mood music. The food had arrived, and I could smell the Chinese goodness. It always smelled so wonderful. It was a mix of steamed rice, high-temperature-fried meats, and the associated caramelized sugars and smoke, simmered broths, vinegar, and various fragrant spices. I detected garlic, ginger, soy, fish sauce, chili sauce, onion, and peppers.
Brook looked at me, and I could tell she approved. She handed me my own crown to put on.
“The only thing missing last night was you by my side during my special moment,” she explained.
I put it on, and she took off and came back with her phone. She wanted a selfie of us in our getups. She took three pictures before she was satisfied. A couple of keystrokes and she’d sent it out to the world. That was the problem with technology. My grandma had pictures of her and my granddad in matching outfits. At least he hadn’t had to endure being made fun of when those goofy pictures were taken. Only the fact that it was for Brook kept me from complaining.
I found that Brook had broken into my mom’s wine collection, which consisted of about three cases of wine she’d accumulated in the basement. Brook had selected a Pinot Noir we’d picked up in California last year. Mom said it had a dry/earthy flavor. I was by no means an expert, but I liked it. To be truthful, though, I would’ve rather had a beer.
I went into complete gentleman mode, pulled out Brook’s chair for her, and poured her a glass of wine. I don’t remember what we ate. Brook flirted something terrible with me, and Mr. Happy had firm control over the body. He’s not a real thinker beyond the obvious. For that, he had all kinds of ideas.
“Do you think you’re up for what’s next?” Brook asked.
“It’ll probably go best if I lay flat on the floor, and you have your way with me. I’m afraid I can’t do anything too strenuous,” I admitted.
Brook stood up, pulled the straps of her dress off her shoulders, and let her dress puddle around her feet. I sucked in my breath when I saw she was nude underneath. In my AP English Literature class, the female form was described in Gothic literature as focused on centrality and vulnerability—the classic ‘damsel in distress.’ There was none of that with Brook. She exuded a confident sexuality that I much preferred.
“Let me undress you,” she offered.
I chuckled because this was such a role reversal for me. Brook just shook her head at my silliness and began to untie my tie. It seemed her goal was to get my shirt open so she could kiss my neck and chest. I leaned my head back and let her do as she wanted. Brook ran her hands inside my shirt and pushed up towards my shoulders so that both my jacket and shirt came off at the same time.
I looked Brook in the eyes and used my left arm and hand to cover my nipples.
“Come on, Cutie. Show me what you’ve got,” Brook teased.
I looked down, then back up, and batted my eyes. That was probably too much because Brook started to laugh.
“You poor, shy, innocent thing,” she teased as she reached up and moved my arm so she could get the full effect.