When we finally got into a town there was a little run down diner. I had lost track of how many days we had been gone, but it didn't matter anyways. There was one waitress and an old chef. They were sitting at the counter drinking coffee. I wondered if business was slow today or if it was always like this. The little bell above the door jingled as we walked in, the waitress spun around in her chair and said, "Sit any where you'd like babies." She was pretty for an older woman. It was like a time warp in there. There was oldies playing. You could see the 17 year old version of her in that uniform. We sat down, "What a trip." Dinger said. We all nodded in agreement. "Like the twilight zone." Bobby said with this crazy look in his eye. Lainie started to hum the twilight zone theme song. We all laughed, "Shut up you guys. It's cute in here. Has character." I said quietly. The waitress approached our table, "What can I getcha kiddies?" "Oh my god... I love this song." I said as Do You Love Me by the Contours came on. Dinger looked at me and smiled, "Yea?" I nodded and he hopped up onto the table next to us. He took a spoon as a microphone, "DO YOU LOVE ME?!" He yelled into it. Bobby hopped up and did the little background "Do ya love me?" Lainie and I sat in our booth red faced and embarrassed. "Nooooowwww that I caaaannn daaaaannnnccceee!" They harmonized and did their best dance moves. Their dance moves were hilarious. They were terrible dancers and singers, but in their mind they were superstars. "Get down from there! You're gonna get us kicked out!" Lainie said. "Watch me now!!" They hopped off the table. Dinger grabbed my hand and Bobby grabbed Lainie's. The old waitress just sat back and smiled sipping on her coffee. I danced and sang with Dinger laughing and smiling until the song ended. When it did he pulled me into his strong arms and held me close. The waitress started clapping, "We haven't seen that kind of action here since 1962." She said with a laughter in her voice. "I'm sorry we danced on your table ma'am." Dinger said apologetically flashing his beautiful smile. She laughed, "That's quite alright hunny. We know what it's like to be young and in love." She said shifting her eyes over to the cook. "Tell us your story." Lainie said with a bright smile. And we all sat down in chairs focused on the waitress wiring to hear about her glory days. I got a sudden chill thinking that one day we would tell our kids about this moment... And they would consider it our glory days. "My daddy opened up this diner in the 20's. From what I know it was always a real swinging joint. I was born in 1922. I would come here everyday and sit at this counter and watch people." She paused for a moment, "The beginning of world war 2... 1939, The world was falling apart but this was a safe haven... Teenagers and young people could come here and forget the world for a little bit." She explained to us how they would dance and sing and socialize. "Poor young boys were all so worried that the training and service act of 1940 would be put into effect. It required all boys aged 21-45 to register for the draft." She bit her lip. Dinger grabbed my hand. We didn't take our eyes off of the waitress, I clung to every word she said. "Once the act was put in place my brother got drafted. So I had to start working here to help out my daddy, since mama was sick and all. I was 18 in 1940." She took a sip of her coffee then smiled, "So one day I was waiting tables and old Clyde here walks in. Except he wasn't old then. He was 23." She looked over at him, "We spent a month together. Drinking strawberry wine and spending the night down by the lake. But he got drafted." She kinda smiled, "The night he told me I had a slight buzz. It was a cool night. He asked me to wait for him... And I did. He came back in 1945. I was 23 and he was 28. It was like we were meeting again for the first time. We got married. My daddy died in 1950 and we took this place over." She smiled at us, "So I know what it's like to be young and in love." We sat there and talked to the waitress as the day faded away. She was reliving the old times, and she was still very much in love with Clyde. Even after all those years. When she started talking about the fact that they never had children, Dinger tugged on my hand. I looked over at him, "Can I talk to you for a second?" He whispered. I nodded and we walked outside. It was cold for a summer evening, and we were out of alcohol. "Serendipity, would you wait for me?" I scrunched my face confused, "What?" He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and flipped it open. I took one along with him and put it to my lips. He lit mine then lit his. "Figuratively." He said with his teeth around the cigarette. I blew smoke into his face, "Dinger what are you talking about?" He shrugged and took the cigarette out of his mouth. He spit off to the side then looked up at me with big eyes, "If you had to wait for me, five years like she did for Clyde, would you?" I took a long drag off of the cigarette and nodded my head, "Yea. Yea I would." He shook his head, "Lainie wouldn't for Bobby." He whispered. "Whattaya talking about Dinger? She's madly in love with Bobby." He crushed out the cigarette between his fingers, "No she's not." He paused and looked deep into my eyes, "She's madly in like. She's just dating Bobby to piss off her mom, and Joel mostly. She's not madly in love with Bobby. You know the way the waitress looks at Clyde? That's how you look at me... Lainie doesn't look at Bobby like that." I kinda shook my head and flicked my ashes in his direction, "What makes you say that?" "She came onto me about a month ago." He said quietly. "She what?" He looked at me, "Bobby, Lainie, and I were all drinking. Bobby passed out and Lainie came on to me." I looked at him, "Dinger she was drunk." He smiled and shook his head, "Alcohol doesn't make you do shit you wouldn't consider sober... Changes your behavior, not your morals." I kissed him. I was so in love with him in that moment. He was so smart and so beautiful. "Did you tell Bobby?" He looked at me like I was absolutely insane. "No of course I didn't tell Bobby! Is that smoke going to your head?!" He said pulling my cigarette out of my mouth. He put it to his lips and took a puff, "You know smokings a filthy habit Serendipity." He said matter-a-factedly. "Yea, you taught me." I muttered taking the cigarette back. He smiled, "You're something else man." He said. I blew some smoke then crushed the toxic stick out on the ground. "I think you should tell Bobby." I said quietly. "I think that's a good way to loose my best friend." Dinger said back biting his lip, "Bobby, now Bobby looks at Lainie like she's real great. I never seen Bobby so invested. He didn't look at Shelly like that and Shelly did all his homework. Bobby's got it bad for Lainie." I took Dingers hands, "So Whattaya gonna do?" I asked looking deeply into his eyes, "Same thing I've been doing... Pretending it didn't happen." He dropped my hands and kinda walked in the other direction. "Dinger what are you so afraid of?" He sat down on the curb, "Nothing." I sat down across from him, "Bullshit... Dinger do you trust me?" He nodded and I could see tears start to form in the corners of his eyes. I pulled his head into my chest. "They're my family." He said almost so quiet that I couldn't hear it. "It's ok Dinger," I patted his head gently and lifted his chin to kiss him. He was in so much pain, but God he was good at hiding it behind his smile. That's when I saw through the whole Dinger persona... That's when I realized, even though he was loud, fun, outspoken, and lived for the moment, he really was a kid inside, that was scared. He was the way he was because he lacked the type of thing that a family puts in you, and he didn't want anyone else to feel that way. We found out from the waitress that there was a motel not too far down the road. We decided we would stay there for the night instead of outside again. When we got to the room Dinger sat down on one bed and I sat down on the other. He looked at me funny as if he wasn't expecting that. "Why'd you sit over there?" He asked slightly confused. "So I can talk to you face to face." I said back also slightly confused. He kinda giggled towards the ground and looked back up at me with those big blue eyes. His smile gave me butterflies in my stomach. It was a feeling I never knew till I met him. "What?" I smiled, "Why are you looking at me like that?" I said with a laugh. "Cause you're the first girl I've done this with." I looked at him confused, "Done what?" He adjusted his position so he was sitting with his legs crossed. "Well..." He said, "Just talk." I adjusted so I was sitting the same way he was. "What do you mean?" He laughed and ran his hand through his hair, "Well uh you know... I'm a good looking guy." He said with a wink, "I guess I've never cared about a girl enough to get to know her past the make out." I stood up, "Stand up Dinger." I said quietly. He stood up. I took his arm and placed his hand in the small of my back. I placed one hand on his shoulder and held my other hand up for him to take. "Stand up straight. You lead ok? I trust you. We danced your way... Now let's try my way." "To no music?" He whispered. "To no music Dinger... Do you trust me?" He nodded and slowly started to move. We glided around the room. We were young and unbreakable.
I woke up wrapped up in Dinger. I couldn't think of anything better than the feeling of being in his arms. He was so strong. His breathing was light. I poked him, "Dinger?" I whispered quietly. "Hmm." He hummed not moving. "Dinger baby wake up." I kissed his forehead gently. "Serendipity I'm asleep. Sound asleep." I kinda giggled so he started to tickle me. "DINGER! Hahahah Dinger wake up common I wanna hang out with you!" I said with laughter in my voice. He sat up continuing to tickle me. "S-s-s-STOP! IM GONNA PEE MYSELF!" I yelled laughing so hard he was laughing now too. There was a knock at the door and Dinger stopped. We both got quiet and looked at eachother confused. He looked at the clock, "It's 3:01 in the morning." He mouthed to me. There was another bang on the door. "Stay here." He mouthed getting up quietly and slowly walking toward the door. He looked out the peep hole and back to me, "It's the cops..." I got up and walked slowly towards him. He opened up the door. "Hello officer! What seems to be the problem?" He asked sounding nervous. They pulled us out of the room and had our hands behind our backs. They had Bobby and Lainie hemmed up down the hall a little ways. "Hey what's the big idea!" Dinger asked, "We didn't do nothing wrong!" "You're not under arrest." The officer said, "You're being returned back to your camp." I could hear Lainie yelling at Bobby, "I told you this was a stupid idea Bobby Keller! I knew I shouldn't have listened to you!" They got us out of the hotel and down into the back of a car. Bobby and Lainie were in one and Dinger and I were in another. He kept his eyes focused on his lap. He looked so sad. I could feel my heart breaking. "Hey," I whispered as quiet as I could. I saw tears running down his cheeks. "I just wanted to be with you... Now your moms gonna come pick you up... And you're gonna forget about me." He whispered. "Dinger that's not true. Remember how you asked me if I'd wait for you? I meant it when I said I would. Dinger do you trust me?" He slowly nodded his head. "Then don't worry about what's gonna happen tomorrow. We're together right now." He smiled with a slight giggle, "Hemmed up in the back of a cop car." I giggled too, "No one else I'd rather be hemmed up with." He smiled that award winning smile and we were silent all the way back to camp. When the police dropped us off at the camp we were forced to be in the councilors office. "This was extremely irresponsible!" The head councilor said thumbing through our files, "What made you guys think this was a good idea!? You guys could have gotten yourselves killed!" Dinger kinda rolled his eyes, "Sir don't be mad at the girls. They were safe. Don't be mad at Bobby either. It wasn't his idea. If you're gonna be mad at anyone sir, be mad at me." "I'm going to have to kick you out of camp Dinger." The councilor said. "That's fair sir." He said quietly. "NO!" I shouted standing up, "NO YOU CANT KICK DINGER OUT OF CAMP!" I began to cry. Dinger stood up and took me into his arms, "Shhh Serendipity stop... Shh baby shhhhhh.." I wrapped my arms around him and began to sob hysterically, "It's not fair Dinger they're taking you away from me!" He gently stroked my hair, "Shhh Serendipity, Baby, do you trust me?" I nodded. "Dinger it's time to go." The councilor said. "Gimme one sec sir." Dinger said politely. His shirt was soaked in tears. "Would you wait for me?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded again. "Then don't worry about it Serendipity. I love you. I'll see you again. I love you so much." He kissed my lips... And with that... He disappeared out the door. Dinger had been kicked out of camp. I stormed into the cabin picking up and throwing the first thing I could grab against the wall. It was a glass of water that shattered into a million pieces. The shards went flying. Lainie sprung up from her bunk looking terrified. The sun was just starting to come up. They sky had a purplish tint. I was rushed with feelings of nostalgia. I slammed the door and sank down to the floor. My back against the door. "How could they do this!" I sobbed. I could barely breathe. Lainie looked at me but she didn't know what to do. She just stood there looking at me. That was when I knew I was alone. I really wanted to go home, not the place where my parents were. Not the place where I lived all my life. That wasn't a home. That was white walls and two people who didn't love eachother, and who didn't know how to love me. Dinger was home. His arms were the walls, his eyes were the art work, and his heart was what made him a home. I stood up opened the door and ran. I didn't know where I was running to, but I ran. I stopped when I got to the spot where I met Dinger. I thought maybe if I stopped to watch the sun rise, I wouldn't feel so alone. I threw countless numbers of rocks into the water, hoping that Dinger would appear out of no where like he did that first night we met. I threw rocks until my shoulder hurt and I couldn't find anymore rocks. Then I just sat down, and cried. The events of the past two nights played through in my head. It had only been a couple hours since I had held Dinger close and told him I would wait for him, but it felt like it had been years. I started to talk out loud... Almost as if I was praying... But I wasn't. I realized I was talking to Dinger, although he wasn't there to hear it. I kind of just lost my mind. Every night for the next two weeks of camp I would go out to the lake and hope he would be there. He never was though. The day my mother came to pick me up, I didn't wanna go. She came into Lainie and my cabin to help me pack up my things. Lainie's mother and Bobby were there too. My mother was asking me all sorts of questions, "Did you make friends?" She said with a weak smile. She didn't really care though. She was just asking the questions because that's what she was supposed to do. It was better than Lainie's mother. Lainie's mother didn't say shit to her. At least mine was trying. "Yes mama, Lainie, Bobby, and Dinger." She looked at me, "Where's Dinger?" Bobby, Lainie, and I all stopped what we were doing and looked at eachother. We didn't know what to say. "He... He left early miss." Bobby stammered. "Yea," I said, "He left early." It broke my heart to mutter those words. "Dinger?" Lainie's mother said, "The red haired on?" Lainie nodded. "He got into a fight a couple days ago." She said. I suddenly felt sick, "Excuse me... What did you say Mrs. Dimond?" She gave me a funny look, "He was walking with Joel and I guess Dumas and a couple other JD's pulled up in a truck and jumped them." She said. "Oh shit..." I mumbled. "Serendipity! Don't use that kind of language young lady!" My mother yelled at me. "Sorry ma, is he alright?" She kinda shrugged, "Well I suppose. He had it coming to him though. The kid needed his ass kicked." "MOTHER!" Lainie exclaimed. Lainie's mom just looked at her. "Shit," Bobby whispered, "this is all my fault. Goddamnit Lainie if you hadn't of talked me into coming to this stupid camp none of this would have happened!" Lainie began to cry, "Shit Bobby don't yell at me! It's Dingers fault he got himself kicked out of camp! You dumbasses thought it would be a good idea to try and run away just so his stupid ass could be with Serendipity!" My mother looked at me with hurt in her eyes, "You tried to run away?" I licked my lips and looked at everyone in the room. I didn't know how to respond. "Shit Serendipity I'm sorry." Lainie said. I felt hot tears starting to run down my cheeks. I didn't know what to do, so I ran out to the lake. Out to where I met him, the only place I still felt him. As I ran out the door I could hear Lainie and Bobby continue to argue. That's when I believed everything Dinger had said about Lainie not being in love with Bobby. She blamed him for everything. Bobby was the reason everything was wrong, and Bobby took it because he was in love with Lainie. I never blamed Dinger. Not even when he got kicked out of camp. I trusted him wholeheartedly from the moment I met him. So when he said he would see me again... I believed him. I sat and lit a cigarette. Dinger had given them to me before he left. I felt a hand on my back. I turned quickly hoping it was Dinger... But it wasn't. It was Bobby. He sat down next to me. I opened the pack of cigarettes and pointed it in his direction. He took one. "I'm really sorry Serendipity," he started, "He's gonna be ok though. Dinger always pulls through." I shook my head and blew out smoke, "It's not that Bobby. I just wish he was still here." Bobby nodded, "I know... But," he said standing up, "he told you he's gonna see you again... He'll see you again." He walked away. That was the last time I talked to Bobby Keller. By the time I had gathered myself enough to go back to the cabin, Lainie, Bobby, and Mrs. Dimond were all gone. It was just my mother sitting there on my bunk. I really didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to tell her that I had tried to run away with a boy. I didn't wanna tell her that I smoked, and drank, and danced to music she wouldn't approve of. I didn't want to tell her I lost my virginity to a loud boy, with hair dyed blood red, dancing blue eyes, and a smile that made you want to live in the edge. I didn't want to tell her about every single loss of innocence I had that summer. But most of all... I didn't want to tell her I was in love because she wouldn't believe me. She would laugh in my face and tell me I didn't know what love was. Which was true, I didn't, but she didn't either. All I knew was the way I felt with Dinger made me feel alive... And I assumed that that was love... And I knew she wouldn't accept that.
