The Look Of Love

Chapter 25: Counter Moods

It was the Thursday of the Civinette Rose Tea, and the day before the Halloween dance. The whole school was buzzing with excitement, except for Bobby Brown. After the earth shattering kiss last night, Bobby had several realizations.

One realization was no kiss will ever compare to that one. It was like his whole life had been waiting for that one moment. And now that it was over he wanted to do everything he could to protect it, to protect her, to protect this relationship. This was relationship was like no other before. It was something really special. I just know it. I feel it deep down.

The second realization was he truly needed to get his act together regarding his future. Mary knows exactly what she wants to do, and where she was headed. He was undecided, still. He thought about being a Sensei. Karate was his go-to for self-control, stability, and strength. He was good at it. It was a safe choice. But he also thought about something along the lines of counseling. He enjoyed giving advice and guidance. Plus he already did that with his friends and enjoyed his psychology elective.

The final realization was what if Mary thought the kiss was awful. They didn't get the chance to really talk about it afterwards. As a result his insecurities flared up, a lot. So much so, he had to get a beer to calm down. He kept replaying his past two broken relationships. He thought both were fine, until they weren't. 

Both girls were great at being imitations of his "perfect" girl. Then everything turned into blame Bobby, or put Bobby down in some way. This was especially true of his relationship with the She-Devil, as Mary's friends call her. She damaged his confidence, badly.

He was very skeptical and unsure of himself. He became really good at hiding it too, from everyone except his friends. The only thing which could help his wandering thoughts, would be seeing Mary and her reaction to him. Unfortunately that was not going to happen until P.E. today. 

She, and her Civinette team, had the morning off to organize and decorate for their ceremony thing. He'll be glad when that's over. Between his girlfriend, and his sister, he was sick of Civinette's. It was interfering with his life, and his sanity. Furthermore he was sick of seeing all these girls walking around in red dresses, and not one of them was his girl.

So, there he was surly and counting down the hours until P.E. What's more is he knew his mood had to be bad when Johnny commented on it (Johnny the King of Surly). A Freshman had run into him, spilling some kind of stickiness on his grey striped sweater. That was when Johnny noticed his friend was about to strike like the badass Cobra he is. The irony of what Johnny said was not lost on him. 

"Dude take a red and get real. You're all bent out of shape over something. I haven't seen you this amped up since... never. Bobby Brown does not lose self-control over something like this loser" at this Johnny turned to the Freshman "Sorry but you are. I mean, what dude wears a purple blazer with shoulder pads? My eyes hurt just looking at it" He turned back to Bobby and finished his thought. "Running into you."

On the other side of town at the Encino Oaks Country Club, Mary was feverishly working to finish the last of the decorations. Lacy white tablecloths were placed on round tables with stark white dinner ware. Red cloth napkins were elegantly placed on top of them.

The beauty of the tables came from the centerpieces. They are large styrofoam balls, onto which the florist stuck in red roses all around . The red rose balls were sat atop tall standing crystal vases. Across the room, white candles (inside crystal candleholders) were intermixed throughout each table.