Chapter 51
Saturday afternoon

Tim was sitting in the living room, watching TV, when Eddie came in. "Uh, Tim? Are you and Dolores doing anything tonight?"

Tim scratched his head, "I don't know... Might be some backlash from last night from her folks. Why?"

Eddie shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I was thinking about calling Denise... I figured maybe if you two were going out, we could double. It'd handle a number of problems."

"Like what?"

"Well, wheels, obviously, and it'd be public. Another couple along would give us both an excuse not to get too wild. I figure you're gonna need to come home early..."

Tim grinned, "Now you're thinking! Where you think we should go?"

"Somewhere rowdy. Dancing, I think - Treefrogs?" Treefrogs was a local dance club, catering to the under 21 crowd.

Tim nodded. "Good idea. Think you can wear her out on the dance floor?"

Eddie grinned. "Probably not! She gets a lot more practice than I do - but it's worth a try! I need to keep her from being bored."

"Okay, I'll call Dolores." Tim got up and suited actions to words. As it turned out, Marcus Brown had growled a bit, but not inflicted any punishment upon Dolores, and she was anxious to practice her dancing skills. They scheduled pickup for 7:30 and dinner out. Tim laughed when Dolores diffidently suggested that they NOT go to Gino's. Tim handed the phone to Eddie, "Okay, Sport. Batter up!"

Mandi answered the phone. She was somewhat at loose ends; the men had evaporated at about noon, Rick going home and Big Al going to work after hooking up Bobby's car to the tow truck that Bobby's 24 year old big brother Mike had brought around. "Giannelli residence."

"Uh, Hi. Is Denise there?"

Mandi rolled her eyes. This had to be the ten thousandth time she'd answered the phone and a boy wanted Denise... "Wait a sec, I'll check." She thought about wandering off for fifteen minutes, leaving whoever it was hanging, but Denise was pretty blue today... "Denise! Phone!"

Denise picked up the extension in her bedroom that her heretofore manic social life had dictated. Covering the mouthpiece, she yelled, "Got it!" then cautiously set about determining the name and business of her latest prospective suitor, "Hullo?"

"Denise? It's Eddie Vincent..." came a cautious voice from the earpiece.

"Oh, hi Eddie. What's up?"

"Uh, I thought I'd see if you wanted to go out..."

Denise grimaced. "I'm guessing that your brother spoke to you. What did he say?"
"He said you might be, um, changing your dating habits." Eddie was obviously stepping VERY carefully.

Denise wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. "So, what made you think YOU might fit the new pattern?"

Silence. Then: "Because it more closely resembles mine?"

"How so?"

"I have long-term goals. Most of your dates appear to have short-term goals." Eddie was becoming adept at avoiding a direct reference to a touchy subject.

Denise pondered that one. What EXACTLY did it mean? "Most of my dates also have expectations."

"I don't. We'll play the ball where it lies, for as long as we agree that it's in play."

Denise was struggling. Usually, by now the conversation would have degenerated to a predictable series of double-entendres. Eddie appeared to be avoiding the low road completely. But was he saying what she thought he was saying?

Eddie was also struggling. Instinct told him that making his position plain wouldn't necessarily help him get off the starting block - but talking in circles wasn't his forte, either.

Finally, Denise said, "I'm not making any promises."

Eddie knew she wasn't referring to whether she was going to accept the date. This was a more direct reference to the underlying issues - and one he could answer clearly. "I'm not asking for any."

Silence, while Denise thought about it. "Where would we go?"

"I thought we could do dinner, then go to Treefrogs. We can double with Tim and Dolores - they want to practice some things you taught them last night." Eddie held his breath. He had no idea how close he had skated - dance wasn't the only type of instruction Denise had given Tim and Dolores the previous evening.

Denise viewed the reference with suspicion. "What's THAT supposed to mean?" she asked truculently.

"Huh?" Eddie was confused. 'What did I say?' "Uh, Tim said you gave dance lessons last night..."

"Sorry. I thought you were talking about something else. Okay, what time?"

Eddie grinned in relief, still wondering what land mine he'd stepped on. "Well, we've got to pick up Dolores... Quarter to eight?"

"Okay. Where are we going for dinner?"

"Don't know yet. Tim said Dolores doesn't want to go to Gino's - something about it being too soon. I guess they ate there last night... Any suggestions?"

Denise giggled. "Hey, maybe that new pizza place up on Route 4?"

"I'll check with Tim. See you then?"

"Okay. Bye!" Denise hung up, smiling. That went entirely too well. She sobered. 'Ah, well. I'll find out tonight whether he's jerking me around or not...' She pattered downstairs, catching both Mandi and Helen in the kitchen, the latter in her work clothes. "Momma, I'm going dancing tonight!" Helen's features began to rearrange themselves into a dubious look. "Oh! I'm going with Tim's brother, Eddie. We're going to double with Tim and Dolores." She grinned wickedly, "I'm sure we'll be home early..."

Mandi tittered, "...Or Mr. Brown will have Tim's head on a plate!"

Helen's face cleared. "That's fine, Dear. I'll look to see you around the time I get home?" Helen would get off at 11:00 p.m.

Denise nodded. "Yeah. I would think so."

"Okay, Dear. Call me if plans change." Helen left the room, smiling.

Terry called Jackie at about 3:30. Jennifer answered the phone, then declared, "You're going nowhere, Young Lady!" as she handed it off to Jackie.

Terry's first words were, "What movie do you want to see?"

Jackie giggled, "Something long. An adventure yarn. Lord of the Rings?"

"VCR or DVD?"

"DVD."

"Anything else? Snacks?"

"Bring a raw steak for the bear!" Jackie giggled despite herself.

Terry chuckled, too. "What time? 6:30? 7:00?"

"You eating first?"

"Dunno. Maybe. Mom doesn't seem to be in any hurry."

"Six-thirty, then. We'll call for pizza. How did your end of the call go?"

"Mom wasn't pleased - but she liked the crap your mom was giving her even less. We'd already had it out last night, though. She ended up defending us. You're welcome here anytime - Mom figures your home life is Hell!"

"It isn't always, but it can be. Mama isn't a lezzie, but she has no use for men. That's going to make life tough, I'm afraid. I'm glad your mom was cool about it!"

"Yeah, it was a kick. See you at 6:30!"

"Bye!"

Jackie turned to hang up the phone, finding her mother standing there, red in the face. Obviously, she'd heard the 'lezzie' comment. Jackie just looked at her.

Jennifer spat, "Is that boy coming here?"

Jackie regarded her mother coolly. "Yes, we're going to have pizza and watch a movie."

"What if I don't want pizza?" Jennifer snarled.

"We'll buy our own, and you can have whatever you want." Jackie refused to be drawn.

Jennifer considered forbidding him to come, but remarks made during the telephone calls had sunk in. If she pushed them, she would get something she DIDN'T want - and she couldn't live with the idea that she might push Jackie to duplicate her mistake. Better to just press, rather than squash things flat. She turned and walked off.

Helen arrived for work at McGinty's Diner at 4:00 p.m., and within ten minutes her co-workers were buzzing. "Honey," Flossie, the head waitress asked, "What's goin' on? You got this glow on..." Helen merely smiled.

Another waitress, Gina, came up from the back. "You know, Helen's walking kinda funny..."

Something clicked, and Flossie's eyes lit up. When Helen returned to the kitchen area from taking orders in booth 14, she dropped the bomb: "You got laid, didn't you? From the look of you, whoever did it did a mighty fine job, too!"

Helen blushed scarlet. "He certainly did!"

"I'm happy for you, Honey. You need some happiness. You gonna see him again?"

Helen looked a bit wistful. "I sure hope so..."

Flossie patted her on the arm. "How long did he stay?"

"Goodness! Eight hours? Ten?" Helen started doing the math.

Flossie nodded, "Then he'll be back. If he wasn't gonna, he'd have left early." Flossie's order came up, ending the conversation.