The Perfect Couple

27

The Last Straw had been the school hang-out for as long as anyone could remember.

Everything happened there. Couples got together or broke up. There was flirting and sometimes a fight. If a boy and girl went together a few times everyone figured it was serious between them.

"There's a booth!" Kim said as she and Tom led the way inside.

"Let's grab it!" I pulled Marcus along by the hand. He seemed to feel kind of uncertain about this double dating, as if he might be venturing into deeper water than was safe.

Kim and I slid onto the benches while the boys went to get sodas and french fries.

"Isn't this great?" I said. Kim nodded in vigorous agreement.

Only couples were supposed to take the booths. There was no rule about it, it just worked that way. Other kids sat on the stools, or at tables out in the middle of the room. I'd been here lots of times before with other girls, but for the first time I felt as if I really belonged.

Tom didn't know what was up, of course, so when he and Marcus came back he acted like we were on a double date.

"I want you and Kelly to come hear me play some night," he told Marcus. "Kim can go with you and later we can come here, or something. I do some school gigs and stuff like that, all up and down the peninsula."

"Yeah, sure that sounds good," Marcus said. He was beaming by now and not a minute too soon, because just then the door opened and Alan and Gloria walked in.

I could have hugged Marcus when he jumped up and called out, "hi, Gloria, Rogers, you guys want to join us?"

I wondered if Alan would ever stop looking puzzled when Marcus or I spoke to him.

"Well," he said. He looked around hopefully, but the place was jammed. There wasn't a booth available. He and his date would have to sit at the counter if he didn't accept Marcus's invitation. "I'll get some sodas and stuff," he mumbled.

Before he went to the counter he scowled at Gloria. "If you hadn't spent a half hour combing your hair, or whatever you were doing in the rest room, we could have had our own booth." He told her in a grating voice.

I wouldn't have put up with that from a boy, but I supposed that's the way it was when a couple didn't belong together. They'd naturally get on each others nerves.

"I had to mousse my hair three times before I could do anything with it," Gloria complained. "My hair is so fine," she continued to the table at large.

Alan went to the counter and came back with sodas and french fries. Gloria tasted one of the fries and made a face. "They're greasy," she said.

Alan frowned but didn't say anything. Neither did anyone else for quite awhile.

There was a mirror beside the booth and Gloria became absorbed admiring herself.

Tom rapped his knuckles on the table, drumming out the soft beat that came from the stereo. The middle-aged manager hated the hard stuff and had the stereo up on the wall so no one could reach it.

I looked at Alan, although I tried not to be too obvious about it. He was so good to look at I would have paid admission. He had a little mole high on his left cheek that was like a fleck of gold against his perfect skin. His mouth had a discontented droop at the moment, but it was so beautifully shaped that it didn't seem to matter. Most people's noses are good only for breathing, but his was like an ornament on his face, straight and noble.

Finally Marcus slurped his soda. "Why don't you get another one?" I suggested sweetly. His slurping had bugged me even when he was eight.

"Don't want another one. Just wanted to be sure I got all of that one." That was the same thing he'd said then. I was getting ready to stomp on his foot when he spoke to Alan in the special, hearty tone he'd developed for him. I knew he didn't like Alan very much, but by being friendly with him he was giving me a better shot at attracting his attention.

"You think the Cougars are going to win the big game this year?" He asked.

Alan gave a snort. "Unless I break my right arm before then. It's just a question of how big a score we run up on them." He made a move with his arm as if he were getting off a long pass and I could almost feel the energy he put into his game.

"How big a score do you think the Cougars will run up?" I asked.

"Are you girls football fans?" Although I was the one who'd spoken, Alan looked at Kim.

"I go to some of the games," she answered, "mostly because Kelly drags me to them. She's the fan." As she spoke she slipped her hand into Tom's. "I'm more interested in music." She turned away from Alan to smile at Tom.

I'd sometimes wondered why Alan had never tried to date Kim, considering how pretty she was. Now I knew. He'd sensed that she'd turn him down.

"So you're the big fan," Alan said, finally looking at me.

"Oh, yes, I go to all the games!" I was so excited I could hardly speak.

"I haven't noticed you." He gave me another one of those puzzled glances.

Of course he hadn't noticed me with all those gorgeous cheerleaders prancing around on the sidelines. But I had a chance to make him notice me now and I jumped at it with both feet.

"I just love football!" I enthused. "It's such a beautiful game, with all the running and jumping, but most of all, the passing."

Alan seemed to forget there was anyone else at the table. He leaned forward, talking just to me. "I really dig a girl who likes football," he said. "I tell you what, K . . . Kelly . . . I'm going to dedicate my first touchdown pass in the big game to you."

"Oh!" I gasped. I was so flushed I felt as if I had a temperature of 104. It was plain we'd reached a new point in our relationship. He'd never be confused again about who I was and how we happened to be talking. I doubted if he'd ever stumble over my name again.

My gasp seemed to wake Gloria up to the fact that something was going on. She gave a last loving glance at her reflection before turning from the mirror.

"Let's go," she whined to Alan. "This place is no fun if we don't have our own booth."

Alan frowned but got slowly and gracefully to his feet. Just before they moved away he gave me his thousand watt smile.

"Remember, my first pass in the big game has your name on it."