"Well," I said, feeling a bit sheepish. "It was actually Kristen who paid."
"Huh?" Wendy asked.
"It was Kristen’s money that she gave me when I humiliated her. I explained that to you."
Wendy shuddered. "I hope I never piss you off, Jim." Camille nodded her agreement.
"Don’t worry about it," I assured the two of them. "I learned a rather difficult lesson yesterday. I’m getting out of the revenge business."
The two girls nodded.
The conversation got a bit awkward, when I saw Camille’s eyes light up, looking behind me.
I turned around, following Camille’s glance, and noticed Kristen and Patty, still wearing their matching pink and lavender dresses.
"You two look like twins," I said, smiling at the two girls.
"Yeah," Patty said sarcastically. "A stunning blonde with big boobs, and a red head with two warts on her chest. Some twins."
I shook my head at Patty. "Wendy has the big boobs." It wasn’t until I had said those words that I remembered that Wendy was right behind me, and I cringed, hoping that Wendy didn’t get offended.
Kristen giggled at my remark, crinkling her nose, and her eyes seemed to look straight into my eyes and into my soul.
I heard Camille remark, "Wendy’s are more like the things that fly in the sky with the word Goodyear on it."
I felt better by Camille’s words, and realized that girls usually remark about each other’s assets, and they were, once again, treating me like a friend.
Patty and Kristen moved so that we were all standing in some sort of a circle.
Camille said, "Why are we all here this morning? We usually do nighttime on Wednesdays."
Patty smiled and said, "We were just doing some window shopping. Kristen has very nice, and very expensive, tastes in clothes. Have you ever been to Martin’s?"
"In my dreams!" Camille said, grinning.
"Jim’s right. You two almost look like twins," Wendy remarked with a smirk. "And I’m not the one with the big boobs. Berta Schmidt is probably a couple of cup sizes bigger." Berta was a girl that the guys referred to as "Big Bertha" behind her back. These same guys often stood agape gawking at her assets when looking at her from the front.
Patty glared at Wendy, and then said, "Kristen has American Express," Patty said. "Her father just pays the bills."
"Killer!" said Camille and Wendy, together.
"So, where are you guys off to, now?" I asked Patty and Kristen.
"Food court," Patty answered. "Could use a good coffee. These early mornings are getting to me."
I think I might have blushed at Patty’s reference to early mornings; I know that the other three girls all grinned. Apparently, they all knew about our arrangement.
We all headed toward the food court. I was feeling better having all the girls with me. Kristen walked with her and somehow we ended up with her hand holding my elbow.
I remembered Patty’s words to me about Kristen: "I think she’s in love with you." The way she was walking with me, it appeared that, at least, Kristen didn’t mind being seen with me.
I didn’t really know much about Kristen, except that she was rich and up until yesterday, she was the leader of a bunch of snooty girls in the high school. She was a ravishing blonde, with a pixie-ish round face. She usually wore simple gold jewelery, but wasn’t wearing anything noticeable today.
I saw a few people from the high school gawk at the five of us as we walked through the mall. Kristen and I were both quite out of place with the other three girls, especially walking arm in arm; I imagined that there would be some gossip about us before school opened next week. I wondered how Kristen would react.
There was a little shop in the food court that sold coffee and crumb cakes to the morning crowd, and the girls headed there with me in tow. I stayed back a bit as Patty, Wendy, and Camille went on the food service line.
I walked to a couple of tables that were close together, and moved them closer. I smiled as I saw Kristen looking at me from across the tables.
"Do you want some coffee, too?" I asked.
Kristen said, "No. I never drink coffee."
"Oh," I said, not knowing what to say next. "How about tea?"
Kristen started to say something, but then stopped herself and just nodded.
I still had about twenty dollars of Kristen’s money in my back pocket. "Milk? Lemon? Sugar?" I asked.
"Lemon and Sweet and Low," Kristen answered.
"Cake?" I offered.
Kristen shook her head no.
"Watch the table, and I’ll be right back."
I got on the food service line, and there was a woman between Camille and me. Camille asked, "You getting coffee, too?"
"Tea," I answered.
Camille pointed toward the end of the line near the cash register. "It’s at the end. We’re waiting for a new pot of coffee to come up. You can pass us."
I thanked Camille. I saw that Patty and Wendy were talking quietly together on the line, and I didn’t interrupt them, but went to where the hot water was sitting for tea.
I poured some water into a Styrofoam cup and added a Lipton bag. There was a slice of lemon in a bowl and I put that on the coffee plate.
The bill came to forty-five cents. I gave the woman a dollar bill, and got my change.
Kristen was where I had left her, and I set her cup of tea in front of her.
"Mind if I sit next to you?" I asked.
Kristen shrugged.
If you’ve read this far in my story, you’ll know that up until a little more than a week ago, I was quite inexperienced with girls. I had never been out on a date before. Now, more than a week later, I had kissed and had been kissed. I had even been sucked by more than one girl.
But I was still a virgin in many other important areas. I didn’t really know how to talk to a girl one on one, other than to hand her a ticket and command her to do my bidding, something that was appealing less and less to me.
Now I was alone with one of the prettiest girls in school — a girl who reportedly loved me — and I found myself tongue-tied.
For her part, Kristen also seemed inexperienced, although I figured she probably must have had her share of dates since she was so good looking and was entering twelfth grade. I thought that the reason that she was shy was due to my age, and what I had made her do the other day. It must be confusing to her. She was probably also scared shitless at the power that I showed her the other day.
I looked back toward the coffee shop, and Wendy was just getting her coffee.
"The girls are waiting for a fresh pot," I informed Kristen.
Kristen simply nodded.
What could a guy like me talk about with a girl like Kristen? We had very little in common, and since she was two years older than me, it was certain that we wouldn’t have the same classes.
Kristen was sitting, shifting her glance between me and the cup of tea that I had brought her.
I had no idea what church Kristen attended, what clubs she was a part of, what interests she had inside or outside of school. What could I talk about?
The rest of the girls had made it over to our tables, and sat down. I was a bit disappointed that Patty sat next to Kristen, but Wendy sat next to me.
Camille was in the middle of some story. "So, Holly tells me that the boy, I think his name was Freddy, and he says, like, Do you live around here? I mean, such a corny pick-up line!"
Patty and Wendy were grinning.
Camille continued. "Like, she was wearing her cheerleader outfit, you know? And the guy thinks, yeah, a cheerleader outfit means I’m available to every dork she sees."
I had no idea who Holly or this Freddy guy was. But Kristen picked up on the conversation. "Was that Freddy on the football team last year?"