Gina and Mike (13 page)

“I can’t imagine five kids,” Sue said. “I couldn’t handle five Chloes!”

“The next award,” Lynn said, “Goes to the classmate who traveled the farthest. And it goes to Gina McKenzie.”

Jeremy started pumping his arms. “Woot! Woot! Woot! Woot!”

I bowed my head, trying to avoid the stares. “This is sooo embarrassing.”

“Go get your bag,” Sue said. “Maybe there’s something good in it. Like a chocolate bar or something.”

I pushed out my chair and walked up and got the bag from Lynn.

Lynn gave out some more prizes and then the DJ started playing songs.

First up was Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”

“Come on, Gina,” Sue said. “Let’s dance.”

I shook my head. “Not me. I haven’t danced in years.”

“You two always had the moves in high school,” Jeremy said. “I’m sure you still got them. Teresa will come with you.”

Teresa elbowed him in his side.

“Yeah,” Mike said. “We’ll watch.”

I looked at Teresa.“I’ll come if Teresa will.”

Teresa waved her hand. “I can’t dance.”

“Sure you can,” Jeremy said. “You dance at home.”

“That’s different.”

“True, there’s no pole here,” Jeremy teased. “And you guys should see what she can do with a pole.”

Teresa hit him again and the guys laughed.

Sue came over and pulled me up off my chair and then walked over to Teresa and pulled her off her chair. We took off for the crowded dance floor and shuffled into the sea of people.

I leaned over to Teresa. “Do you really have a pole?”

She nodded. “It’s in our bedroom. I use it to exercise, although I have to admit that exercising on the pole usually ends with us exercising on the floor.”

I laughed. One guy I dated wanted me to pole dance. I opted for a chair. It was a little easier. I watched Sue as she took command of her space. Sue was always more confident on the dance floor than I was and twenty years hadn’t made any difference. Like Jeremy said, she still had the moves.

“Loosen up, girls,” Sue yelled to Teresa and me. Her arms flew every which way. “Close your eyes and feel the music.”

I tried closing my eyes, but it just made me dizzy. Thank God the song ended and I made a beeline for the table. Sue and Teresa stayed on the dance floor for the next song.

****

Mike

“Man, guys,” Jeremy said. “Are Sue and Gina still hot or what?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Hot. Very hot. But you’re a lucky guy. Teresa’s hot and she pole dances.”

Jeremy smiled. “Yeah, and it makes me want to fuck her hard every time.”

Jeremy looked at Tom. “What about you, Tom? You and Sue would make a good couple. You ought to ask her out. She’s not seeing anyone.”

“I’d like to, but not sure she’d go out with me.”

“Won’t know if you don’t ask,” Jeremy said. “And you, Mike. You’ve been pining after Gina for twenty years. Christ, you finally end up sitting next to her. If you don’t ask her out I’m going to nail you. This is the chance you’ve been waiting for.”

Jeremy was right. I never shook Gina. She was like a tattoo that you can never totally get rid up. The memories might fade and the lines might blur, but my love for her was inked in my soul forever.

Sometimes, I wonder if my memories of Gina and me are too good, if I’m remembering things how I want to remember them, and not how they really were.

I looked toward the dance floor. From the way Sue’s body twisted, she looked like she was having a great time. Gina and Teresa? Not so much so. It didn’t surprise me that when the music stopped Gina sprinted back to the table.

“Back so soon?” Tom asked.

“I’m too old to move like that.”

“You looked like you were moving just fine,” Tom said.

“I agree. You held your own out there.”

Gina looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

When I heard the first few chords of the next song, a lump formed in my throat. It was Willie Nelson’s “You Were Always on my Mind.” The song came out in the spring of our senior year and, while country wasn’t my thing, Gina loved this song. We always slow danced to it.

I glanced over at Gina and her head was bent down. I wondered if she wanted to dance and if I should ask her. My palms felt sweaty. Jeremy went to the dance floor to get Teresa and Tom stood, ready to ask Sue to dance when she returned to the table.

****

Gina

Damn, I love this Willie Nelson song. When we were in high school, I always made Mike dance to this song, even though he hated country. I wondered if he remembered. I didn’t want to look at him so I looked down at the table. It’s weird how you hear a song that speaks to you at that moment. Sort of like being in church and feeling like the pastor’s sermon is just for you.

I felt Mike lean over.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked.

I looked into his dark eyes, and I’m not sure what came over me. Maybe it was the booze or the sweet memories that flooded my mind and filled me with a desire I hadn’t felt in years. But I nodded. I wanted to dance.

Mike pulled out my chair and followed me to the dance floor. So many nights I dreamed about being in his arms once again, and here I was. I went to put my hands on his shoulders and pulled them back. I think he could sense I was nervous. He reached down and took my hands and placed them on his shoulders, never taking his eyes off of mine. Then he put his hands on my hips. Still looking into my eyes. I jumped slightly and a smile slid onto his face. Back in the day, my head would have rested on his broad shoulder and his arms would have been wrapped tightly around me.

I smelled his familiar, earthy aftershave. I picked up my foot and stepped on his. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Out of practice.”

We started to move and I felt the cold fortress I had built to protect myself over the years beginning to melt. It was as if Mike was the sun and I was the earth during the hottest part of the day. Until that moment, I never realized how craved I had been for his touch, how much I longed to bathe in his rays. I didn’t want this sun to set – ever. But I knew that the darkness would come – it always does.

I caught Sue and Tom dancing out of the corner of my eye. They seemed to be getting along. Jeremy and Teresa were in front of us. They danced so closely that it was almost obscene. I was glad I wasn’t that close to Mike because I’m sure he would have felt my pounding heart. It had been beating on overdrive since he leaned over and asked me to dance. I couldn’t believe he still made me feel this way, and I realized that part of the reason I never found anyone is that I had always compared them to Mike. No one ever made me feel the way he had.

I know I was only seventeen, and I’ve asked myself time and again how someone so young could love so deeply. But I did. And because I did, I broke it off. I loved Mike too much to hurt him and not give him what he needed. And, at that time, I was too broken to do that. It would take years of therapy before I would be able to overcome that.

When the song ended, the DJ played another slow song.

“Wanna stay out here?” Mike asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m game if you are, unless you want to dance with someone else.”

The song was Foreigner’s “I’ve Been Waiting for a Girl Like You.”

Oh, great. Another perfect song moment.

****

Mike

When Foreigner came on, I thought, “Oh Christ. This song says exactly how I feel.” Creepy how that happens. Only I’ve been waiting for Gina to come
back
into my life. As we danced, Gina’s hair caught the ballroom lights in such a way that it looked like dancing fireflies. So beautiful.

I started to get a pain in my crotch. A grown man getting a hard-on while dancing. God, I’m pitiful. Reminded me of the time in junior high I slow danced for the first time and felt my cock pop. This girl and I were dancing so close that I’m pretty sure she felt it, too. I saw her and her friends giggling afterward so I was pretty sure she had told them. I didn’t dance the rest of the night. 

I’m sure not having sex for a while wasn’t helping things now. The last time was probably a year ago and I came so fast the woman called me “Minute Man.” She was pissed, and I think it was the last time we hooked up.

I was glad when the song ended and the tempo picked up with John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane.”

We were the last ones to get back to the table. After I sat down, I reached under the tablecloth and repositioned my penis through my pants. I felt like such a kid.

“Who’s ready for another round?” Tom asked.

I stood. “I’ll come with you. Gina, want another glass of wine?”

She shook her head. “This time, a Miller Lite.”

The guys headed to the bar and Teresa excused herself to go to the rest room.

****

Gina

Sue shook her hands. “Oh. My. God. Tom is such a good dancer.

I smiled. “You guys looked great. So, are you going to go out with him?”

“He hasn’t asked me out.”

“Yet,” I said.

“Did he say anything else about me when you talked?” Sue asked.

“No, most of our conversation was actually about the rape.”

Sue’s eyes popped. “What? Tom knew what that bastard did and didn’t tell anyone?”

“Calm down,” I whispered and quickly explained to Sue about what happened that night between Tom and Smith after I left.

“So that’s how Coach Smith got the black eye?” Sue asked.

I nodded.

“I remember we teased him in class about his wife giving it to him,” Sue said.”Turns out it was Tom.”

“Yeah, Tom said he nailed him good. Said he told Smith that if he ever laid another hand on me, he would kill him.”

Sue’s eyes flicked up and down. “Oh. I’m liking Tom more and more. Manly man.”

Sue looked up. “Ssh! Here they come. And Teresa, too.”

When the others got back to the table, the night was winding down. There was more chatter about everyone’s kids and how the world is so different from when we were growing up.

“Anyone want to continue this party at our house?” Jeremy said. “Like old times. The kids are at grandma’s, so no problem there.”

“Sure, why not,” Sue said. “You’ll come, too, Gina, right?”

“I don’t know. I’m tired.”

“Oh come on, party pooper. When’s the next time you’re going to be in town?” Sue asked`.

“I plan on being home in July.”

“That’s a couple of months from now. Come on, please?”

The idea of going to Jeremy’s, who lived in the house he grew up in, was a little too much for me. I have so many memories of being there with Mike. The night was just moving a little too fast for me, and I needed to brake. I didn’t like the way I was feeling. I wasn’t used to being out of control when it came to my feelings. Usually I could maintain control. But when it came to Mike, I lost it. God, just being near him made me want to feel the incredible orgasms I used to have. When he would be so deep inside of me and then pull out and play with me until I couldn’t take it anymore and would grab his back and push him down and deep.

I could tell Sue was a little tipsy. “I don’t think you should drive.”

“I’ll drive her,” Tom offered.

I looked at Tom. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we’ll go to Jeremy’s and then I’ll make sure she gets home.”

Jeremy and Teresa were already walking away from the table.

Tom came over to me. “Don’t worry. Besides, you and Mike should talk.”

I could tell by the puzzled look on Mike’s face that he wondered what Tom had just said to me. After Tom and Sue left, I walked out to the parking lot with Mike. I pulled a pack of orange gum out of my purse. “What a piece?”

Mike smiled. “You still chew that stuff?”

I popped a piece in my mouth. “Yep, hooked for life, I guess.”

Mike popped the piece I gave him into his mouth.

“So, did you have a good time tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m glad I came. How about you?”

“Me, too.”

Before I could stop myself from asking, I blurted out, “Want to come over to Mom’s house to talk? She’s gone for the weekend.”

Mike stared into my eyes. I don’t think he was expecting the invitation. And, to be honest, I hadn’t expected to extend it. But I wasn’t ready for the night to end. Maybe Tom was right. Maybe it was time to tell the truth.

****

Mike

I was surprised when Gina invited me to her mom’s house to talk. I wondered if there was something in particular she wanted to talk about.

“I’ll follow you,” I said.

“Mom doesn’t have anything to drink, though. I mean, she has water and soda, but no beer.”

I held up his hand. “I’ve had enough.”

Pulling into Gina’s driveway took me back twenty years, only then I wasn’t driving a Lexus but a rusted brown Chevy sedan.

I took a deep breath and followed Gina inside. Everything looked the same. From the hallway, I looked into the living room. Her mom still had the brown plaid sofa and chair she had when Gina and I were dating. Even the tan vinyl ottoman looked like the same one. My eyes lingered on the sofa. I wondered if it still held my secret. I hadn’t thought about it in a long time.

I followed Gina back the hallway to the kitchen, stopping to look at the photos hanging on the wall. A lot of these were the same, too. But some had been added, like Gina’s college graduation photo and another from law school. I stopped in front of her high school photo. She looked just as beautiful today as she did then. The years had been good to her. At our high school, the girls had to wear a black drape for the “official” yearbook photo, but many, like Gina, got pictures taken by other photographers on their own to give out to friends. Gina’s mom had an eight-by-ten of each. In the more casual photo, Gina was peeking through a tree where its trunk split into a V. Her red hair tumbled softly to her shoulders and her emerald eyes were sexy yet innocent, a contradiction like Gina. But it was her smile, always her smile that you saw first when you looked at her.