The Look Of Love

Chapter 33: Dancing Away

The Encino Oaks Country Club is vastly different in style, than the night of the Rose Tea. Tonight it's decorated in a clean, neat, and modest fashion to go along with the club members. Mary and her girlfriends like to call it boring and stuffy. 

She had ridden with Lori, and met Ashley, Gwen, and Gemma in the parking lot. The girls walked into the ballroom together. The minute Mary stepped foot inside the club, the air in the room felt stifling. Still reeling from the embarrassment of being high, she just knew all the mom's and dad's were eyeballing her and muttering about her.

Gwen took her arm and began whispering. "You know they're not talking about you right?" she asked. 

Mary shook her head. "I feel like they are. My stomach feels nauseous all over again, thinking about it."

Giving her friend a kiss on the cheek, Ashley stated "Well if they are talking about you, they're talking about your dress. It's lovely." Her friends agreed, no one more so than Gemma. She loved feminine, lady-like dresses. 

Mary wore a sleeveless, nutmeg yellow, dress with a full skirt. It had a precious Peter Pan collar. The best part is the white lace overlay, and leather belt with a cute leather flower (in the same color as the dress). It's quite eye catching for sure and timeless in any decade. She didn't know why, but she had quite a thing for lace.

Gwen saw her mom and waved. The other girls were looking for theirs as well.  "We're going to go find our families. You're sitting with Bobby right?" questioned Gwen.

"Yes I'm sitting with his family. We agreed to meet at the entrance at seven, which is 5 minutes from now," Mary responded glancing at the oversized, decorative clock on the wall.

The girls nodded. Lori hugged her and said, "I'm with Gemma's family since our aunts didn't attend." Mary gave her a warm smile of understanding.

She turned on her heels and strolled back to the front. While she waited for Bobby, she touched  up her lipstick and fiddled with her gold bangles. This dinner might be awkward between Bobby's parents and herself. She hopes not, but one can never be too sure.

Johnny, and his parents, entered and he saw Mary. He came her way. She noticed he was looking sharp in his black tweed blazer and black silk tie. "Hi Mary. How are you feeling? You worried us last night, especially Bobby," he told her.

She pulled him in for a hug. "Johnny, thank you for taking care of me. You and Dutch, Jimmy, and Tommy are pretty incredible," Mary declared.

Having never been told that, from a sincere heart, he shuffled his feet. His rosy cheeks heated up like Tabasco sauce. He spoke softly, "You're welcome. You may be Bobby's girl, but you're our friend too." He gave her a look of interest, then said "Bobby mentioned, this afternoon, you want to learn self-defense. As a hot chick you should. I approve of it. You need to protect yourself from creeps. But you have to take care of your tiny hollow bones."

Mary gave him a flummoxed look. "What are you talking about tiny, hollow  bones?" she inquired.

"It's just women shouldn't fight because you have tiny, hollow bones. It's a known fact in karate circles," he stated matter of factly. 

While he was saying this, Mary's eyebrows raised permanently to the ceiling. She patted his arm and said, "Oh Johnny... what is it that Gwen says... oh yes... you're so pretty."

"Who's pretty?" asked Bobby coming over to them. He gave Mary a kiss on the cheek and a back  clap to Johnny. 

Mary pointed at Johnny and told Bobby, "You're best friend. He has some misguided notion that women have tiny, hollow bones. Therefore we can't fight."