~ * * ~
“Would it kill you to smile?” Shun asked under his breath as we approached the house.
“Probably not,” I conceded “but unless the point of this date is to cause mass panic in the streets with people running and screaming from me in horror, I strongly suggest you drop it.”
“That bad, huh?” Shun asked grinning.
“Imagine your worst nightmare and double it,” I suggested shrugging.
“One of these days you have got to show me,” he insisted as we reached the front porch and he pressed the doorbell.
“Not in this lifetime,” I muttered as the door swung open to reveal a rather harried looking man in his early forties wearing trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, the top button undone, and a loosened tie around his neck.
Running his fingers through his already much abused hair he asked distractedly, “Can I help you?”
“We’re here to pick up Ashley and Courtney…?” Shun made it into a question, obviously wondering if we had the right address.
“Oh, yeah,” the man stepped back and motioned us into the house. “Sorry, it’s been a rough day. Give me a sec and I’ll holler for them.”
Walking over to the stairs, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled “Dates are here.”
“I could’ve done that,” Shun whispered laughingly in my ear.
“They should be down shortly,” the man announced unnecessarily. “If you’ll excuse me I have some work to finish,” he turned abruptly and entered what appeared to be an office right next to the front entrance, shutting the door firmly behind him.
“Wow,” Shun exclaimed. “You look great.”
Dragging my attention reluctantly back to Shun and the stairs I silently watched the two girls descend.
“Thank you, Shun,” Ashley replied looking pointedly at me as she reached the bottom.
“Ashley,” I nodded abruptly in greeting.
“Jack,” Ashley narrowed her eyes at me, and then making a Herculean effort smiled gaily as she turned to introduce her cousin. “This is my cousin Courtney…Courtney this is Jack Knight and Shun Suzuki.”
“Nice to meet you, Courtney,” Shun grinned, looking up at her.
He hadn’t been exaggerating her height; she must have been close to 5’10” before adding the 2 inch heels and definitely dwarfed Shun’s 5’7”.
“Courtney,” I greeted her much the same as I had Ashley, but unlike her cousin my form of ‘hello’ didn’t bother Courtney.
“You are exactly as Ashley described you,” Courtney smiled delightedly.
I knew precisely what she meant and she wasn’t talking about my physical appearance. Ashley had no doubt regaled her with stories of my rude and crude behavior, enumerating my many faults, and probably adding a few of her own making. Ashley, to put it mildly, hated my guts.
I preferred it that way.
“Jack is something else,” Shun agreed laughingly. “Are you ladies ready to go?”
“Absolutely,” Ashley replied enthusiastically. “I’ve really been looking forward to this.”
Something about her tone was off and my suspicions deepened. When Shun had asked me to double date with Ashley, at her request, I knew something was up and, although I suspected that Ashley would never willingly put herself in that position after the many rebuffs I had given her without a compelling reason, I had no basis for my distrust other than a gut feeling.
The one thing I didn’t want to happen was for Shun to get hurt so, knowing how long he had practically worshipped her, I’d never told him about Ashley’s attempts to capture my interest. I knew she was much too vain to ever admit to anyone that someone as low down the social ladder as I was had turned her down flat not once but four times, so I figured Shun would never find out.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I planned to be on my guard.
The rivalry between Courtney and Ashley was apparent from the start. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they disliked each other and were just putting on a show—I could see Shun’s confusion as he attempted to keep up a lighthearted banter—each competing for the spotlight and using Shun to showcase them selves.
“Oh, Shun, did you see that I was nominated for Homecoming Queen?” Ashley asked smiling vivaciously in the front seat next to him. “I haven’t decided on an escort yet, of course, I have so many to choose from.”
“I know what you mean,” Courtney put in her two cents leaning forward from the back seat where she and I were sitting, placing her hand on my knee as she did so. I violently jerked it away from her, but she just smiled at me knowingly and continued. “I always have such a hard time, too…so many celebrity parties. Why just the other day I was telling Pamela Sue I couldn’t decide between Shaun and Parker.”
“Shaun and Parker…you don’t mean the ones on that new show…?” I could see that Ashley was impressed in spite of herself.
“Exactly,” Courtney answered smugly. “They are both so cute, but I mean really, how do you choose?”
I had no idea who they were talking about, but Shun obviously did. My knowledge of TV was practically non-existent since Tony didn’t own one. The only time I ever watched TV was when Shun and I were together and there was something on he didn’t want to miss. I very seldom paid attention finding most of it just plain stupid; dealing with real life was enough for me.
By the time we finished our burgers, Shun was as ready for the date to be over as I was. I thought he talked a lot, but even he couldn’t get a word in edgewise. When the girls excused themselves to the ladies room, Shun didn’t even bother to mask his irritation.
“Some date,” he snorted in disgust.
“You certainly know how to pick ‘em,” I agreed amusedly.
“Do you think Courtney really knows all of those stars?”
“I don’t know any of the names she’s dropping, but I do know that for the most part, she’s lying through her teeth,” I grimaced.
“Really,” Shun looked thoughtful. “Should we call her on it? She’s trying her hardest to make Ashley look bad.”
“I wouldn’t go giving Ashley any awards for virtue just yet,” I warned. “I believe she has her own hidden agenda.”
“What…?” Shun began only to be interrupted by the girls returning.
“You’ll see,” I murmured as Shun and I rose politely to let the girls slide into the booth.
The movie was a relief, or so I thought at first. After their initial attempts to talk through the intro, Courtney of course hinting that she knew a few of the stars, the people in front of us were so irate the girls finally had to shut up.
Then the painful part truly began.
Instead of watching the movie, Ashley and Courtney apparently each had their own plan. With Ashley’s eyes glued on us, inordinately interested in my reactions, Courtney began her campaign. I thought the girl only had two hands, but it wasn’t long before I began to wonder if she was an octopus disguised as a human.
It started out innocently enough, resting her arm on the armrest between us, occasionally touching my arm and leg in an apparently accidental manner, but after that it went from bad to worse very quickly.
After unsuccessfully trying to hold my hand, she progressed to laying her hand on my leg and from there eventually moved to attempting to hold parts never before exposed to the sun all within the first thirty minutes. To say I saw very little of the movie would be a gross understatement.
I immediately excused myself and headed for the men’s room hoping even she wouldn’t have the audacity to follow me in there. After calming my involuntary reaction to being touched where no one ever had, I decided enough was enough.
Returning to the lobby, I asked an usher if he knew where I could find a pen and some paper. Scribbling a note to Shun I folded it and directed the usher to give it to him as soon as he could. I then left the theatre, making my way to the nearest bus stop.