Route 66

5 The Date Ends

Annette slowly turned her head towards me with a faint smile and said, "You didn't think I'd miss your big date, did you?"

Deep down, I felt a pang of disappointment in myself for not bravely joining the fray and offering help, but fear held me back. I always liked to think that Annette was fearless but in my heart knew that wasn't true. She acted in spite of her fear and somehow overcame it.

Paul trudged over to us with a limp as he adjusted his glasses.

"Annette, you're crazy!" he exclaimed.

"You've just figured that out?" she said with a forced grin.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked Paul with a calming hand on his shoulder.

He assured me the human body has an amazing way of healing itself as we both helped Annette to her feet.

By this time, the police had arrived on the scene and Blake explained everything. The two greasers were taken away, one to the hospital.

"I just have a concussion, no need to worry about me," Annette said half truthfully.

"Blake, how about you? You took some nasty hits. Do you need to go to the hospital too?" I asked, noticing a trickling down his nose.

"I've had harder hits at football games," he said with a grin. "Even so, I guess we'll have to cut this date short," he continued with a disappointed smile.

I lowered my eyes to the ground and said softly, "I should have tried to help you. I'm sorry."

He shook his head, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and said, "I'd never want to see you get hurt."

"How about I come over to your place and ice those bruises. Let me take care of you."

"I never have a pretty girl clean me up after a bloody fist fight on the first date," Blake said playfully with a flirty wink.

It was late when I turned in for the night and found myself sitting cross-legged with Annette on her bed. She was in a rare reflective mood.

"I was thinking about what happened tonight. What would I do without you by my side?" she asked with sad blue eyes.

"Without me? That's laughable! You introduced me to Blake, the one who could be the love of my life! Annette...you're my rock, you know that, right? I'm lucky, no...not lucky, I'm blessed...yes, blessed to have you as a friend. I don't know what I've done to deserve someone who cares for me like you do."

She scrunched her face up, trying to hold back a flood of emotion, and then blurted out, "I don't want to lose you to Blake! I'm so selfish!"

With that she burst into tears and hugged me tight as if letting go would mean losing me forever.

I rubbed her back gently and whispered, "We'll always be friends, I promise. You have nothing to worry about. "

After a couple minutes Annette dried her eyes, smiled the best she could, and said, "I'm happy for you. I really am."

"Have you ever been in love?" I asked.

"You know what, Veronica? I don't think so...never had that deep connection. I see how you are with Blake and do you think...well...I know it's hard to tell after one date, but do you think you may be falling in love with him?"

I lowered my eyes, smiled, and nodded.

Annette gave me a gentle hug, laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes peacefully.

"Goodnight," I whispered as I drew the blanket over her shoulders and quietly left.

True to his word Blake called me the very next day to see if I'd still be interested in trying again and told me that it might be nice to go someplace we could just talk without any distractions. We'd walk together across campus laughing and nudging each other playfully to the amusement of Blake's teammates who would whistle and holler at us.

Paul wedged his way between us asking Blake time and time again if he had recovered, if he was feeling well, was there anything he could do and so it would go on this way until Blake put his foot down and insisted that even though he appreciated Paul's concern, he wanted to spend time with me...alone. I couldn't help but giggle and promised Paul we'd play chess or backgammon later.

Annette went back to her old flirting ways with any attractive man who was paying attention. There always seemed to be about four or five of them around looking for the opportunity to light her cigarette. Her personality was such that you'd feel like you were the most important person in the world just by the way she spoke to you. She looked you straight in the eye and the way she smiled gave you the impression that she was happy just because you were with her.

I waited patiently in the girls' dorm lobby on Friday night for Blake to pick me up and had the equivalent of a sworn oath from both Annette and Paul that they wouldn't follow me this time even if they were sure that trained assassins were waiting to ambush us.

The rumbling of Blake's truck was unmistakable as he pulled up to the curb. I threw a scarf around my neck and hurried out as he held the passenger door open.

The temperature had dropped about forty degrees from the week before. The night air had a crisp chill to it and the wind was somewhere between a whimper and a howl as leaves rustled all around us. It was one of those autumn nights in early November where taking a deep breath puts thoughts of fresh snow and Christmas in your head.

I remembered melancholy nights such as these in past years when I was single, wanting to share the wonderment with someone I could call my own. Now every fiber of my being was shouting with joy and anticipation!