Counting the Days (2 page)

“
That’s cool,” he finally said.

“
Can’t afford any distractions,” I said, trying to send a subliminal message.

“
Well, soon to be Dr. Marilyn, maybe a few distractions are what you need to spice things up before you start that long haul back into school,” he retorted looking at what seemed like the shoreline. He seemed bored. What’s wrong with him? Am I not interesting enough?

“
And I’m sure you have plenty of suggestions on how I should spice things up, right?” I said sarcastically. He nodded and I asked, “What do you do, Sir Danny?” I really wished he’d look at me when I talk. How rude is this guy? And what the heck is he looking at?

He hesitated and finally said, “Right now, I like to party until I drop. Enjoy life to the fullest while I’m still young. That’s my motto. Maybe one day I’ll go back to school and become a mechanic. Planes or trucks or maybe both. I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

“
Are you working or something?” I asked, trying to liven the conversation. I was really getting a little curious as to what was on his mind. It sure wasn’t me. I couldn’t figure out what he was looking at so intently. I couldn’t tell he had his sunglasses on. Was he looking out at the horizon? Or maybe he’s just really shy and I’m making him nervous. Yeah, that must be it. How sweet and adorable is that? Wait a minute, is Danny looking at one of my girlfriends? Damn straight, he’s looking at Tina. What a creep, that’s so rude. What nerve!

“
I work when I need money,” he finally replied. “My father owns a painting company, so I can work whenever I want to.” He glanced over and shot me a smile. Man, was he beautiful. I immediately began melting.

After our conversation started warming up, we talked about a lot of nothing. You know that just getting to know you chitchat. We kept drinking and when we felt hungry, we walked to the concession stand and got something to eat. I didn’t even want to go to the bathroom and leave him alone for a second for fear that some girl might come and scoop him up. At one point I had to pee so badly, I invited him for a swim and relieved myself in the ocean. He had no clue. We stayed and body surfed the waves for hours. He looked amazing wet.

When it began getting dark, the whole group of us decided to take the party to Danny’s friend, Mike’s house. His parents owned a summer home up the beach and they just happened to be out of town on a business trip. I called my mother to let her know that I was fine and that I planned on spending the night at Tina’s. She attempted to give me the third degree, but I blew her off and hung the telephone up on her.

When we arrived at Mike’s, the music was playing very loudly. There were a lot of people there and from the beginning of the evening Danny made me feel right at home. He was very attentive and made sure that the beer kept coming. After a while we started dancing and every once in a while he’d touch my hands or lean in and kiss me. Every inch of me tingled. I felt so alive. He was too beautifully tempting and even though he made me feel so good, I was determined to keep my wits about me. Get a grip, girlfriend. Must remember…not until I say, “I do.” Everything was going to be okay. I’ll keep my cool and play hard to get. That’s all.

After many more beers, Danny became an octopus and I began to feel a little uncomfortable. Even though everyone was in the room with us, I suddenly felt alone. His octopus hands didn’t feel fun anymore. As a matter of fact, he was making me very nervous. At one point in the evening, I squirmed out of his arms and began looking for Tina. Danny sat down and just waited and watched me. I tried to avoid making eye contact with him, but he was watching my every move. I felt so powerfully sexy. I never felt that powerful before and I must admit that it felt good. I finally looked up at him and smiled back. He had the cutest grin on his face. Man, was he gorgeous.

My friend Jenny was dancing with her boyfriend Paul, but Tina was nowhere to be found. I looked around the room for her and then I heard her voice. She was crying or something, I think. I couldn’t tell, but that’s what it sounded like. I started to panic and began frantically looking for her. “Tina…are you alright?” I shouted. I found the room she was in and when I barged in to see what was wrong, boy was I embarrassed. Tina was apparently making a new boyfriend. I closed the door quickly and was startled when I realized that Danny was right behind me.

“
Want to do the same?” He groped at me again with his octopus arms and I squirmed. I wiggled out of his clutches and went back into the living room.

I turned around to see him following me. I was so embarrassed. “We just met…” I said in response and walked into the kitchen to get another beer.

Still following me he stated playfully, “So did they.” And once again his hands were all over me. He began kissing my neck and instantly electricity was running down my back. I was melting and his lips made me tremble. It felt so good. No, must get control. I pushed him off and glancing up into his face, I saw hate come from his eyes. It took a few seconds, but slowly he regained his composure and his smile reappeared.

“
I’m sorry, I’m just not ready,” I said quickly and went outside for some fresh air. I was not going to go back inside no matter what. I would wait until Tina came outside. While I waited, I finished my beer and tried to forget how sexually charged I was. I waited for what felt like an hour, but she never came out. I knew I should have taken my own car. She does this to me every time. Now what am I going to do?

After a little while, Danny came out and informed me that apparently Tina was going for a second round. He offered to give me a ride home and before I could object, he promised to be a perfect gentleman the entire ride. I thought about it for a second, conceded and let him take me home. He was a good boy and behaved all the way to my house.

Twenty-three days have past and I have received not one single telephone call from Danny. He is all I can think about. I can’t do anything without his face or voice haunting me. Why can’t I get him out of my mind? It’s obvious that he’s a jerk. Danny, please get out of my head.

And what’s up with Tina? She’s been acting so funny lately. At first, I thought that maybe she was embarrassed about the incident at Mike’s, but now I’m thinking that it’s something else. Even though we’ve been spending time together, something is just not right. We go out to the clubs dancing together, but she seems distant. What is she hiding?

We’ve never kept secrets from each other. I don’t know, maybe she’s been hanging out with the guy that she hooked up with at Mike’s and she’s just not telling me. The other night I asked her if she’s been seeing someone and she just gave me a blank stare. It’s as if she was looking right through me. She didn’t say or do anything and lately she’s been very touchy. She even started crying over nothing later on in the evening. Maybe it didn’t work out with that guy. I don’t know…she wouldn’t say.

I don’t know what’s wrong with her. All I know is that she’s been acting really mysterious and nervous lately. I hope that she’s not doing drugs or something. Maybe she’s pregnant. No, don’t be silly…not Tina. She’s too slick for that. In my opinion, I think she’s a little on the neurotic side. Throughout the years, she has always had these mood swings where one minute she’s happy and on top of the world and the next she’s a high-strung raving lunatic. Up until now, I’ve always been able to blow off her ups and downs. But I’m just so sick and tired of worrying about her. She doesn’t know how, nor has she ever known how to say “No” to anyone about anything.

I asked Jenny if she thought Tina was acting weird. She agreed and stated that she thought that Tina has been acting a little aloof too. Jenny wasn’t sure if Tina has hooked up with that guy from Mike’s party, but she suspects that Tina is seeing someone. Who this mystery man is, nobody knows.

Jenny and I met when we were around eight or nine years old. We were both enrolled in the same Sunday school class. Our mothers taught there, so of course, we became close friends. As we got older we both stopped going to church, but we still kept in touch with each other. Jenny is what I’d consider as my morally levelheaded friend, because she’s like my other conscience. She has the uncanny ability to see trouble coming and always gives me ample warning. Jenny is true blue. Jenny’s been off the dating scene since forever. She and Paul have been together since they were around eleven-twelve years old. Jenny is as loyal as loyal can be. She is who I go to, when I need an unbiased opinion.

Well, tomorrow tonight Jenny and I are going to another party at Mike’s. We’ll get to the bottom of whatever’s bothering Tina. Or we’ll remove the stick that has been up her behind for the last few weeks. One or the other.

The entire ride over to Mike’s party, Jenny and I talked about how we could get Tina to talk. When we arrived, Jenny went one way and I went the other.

I hope Danny’s here. If I run into him, I am so going to ignore him. I’m going to play it cool and act like his not calling me didn’t affect me in the least.

Walk around with your head up and your shoulders back. Shake those Latin hips, girl, because heads are turning. My hair, my make-up and my dress are sizzling. I picked up my dress at one of the boutiques downtown Huntington Village. It’s a one-piece black crushed velvet dress with an open mid-riff. The top is tank style with a low neckline that shows all my cleavage. I put on a push-up bra to enhance the effect of my natural C’s. The two pieces of the dress are held together with large brass chain links. The dress is short enough to show off my long legs but not my panties. It was a perfect length, accented with a pair of three-inch black stiletto heels. Hot is not the word to describe how awesome I looked and felt. Strut proudly, girl.

I walked around for a while and I didn’t see either Danny or Tina. Jenny and Paul were already dancing, and when she spotted me, she shouted that she had seen Tina in the kitchen about fifteen minutes earlier. I walked around to the other side of the room and finally spotted Tina dancing. She wasn’t dancing alone though and my heart dropped to the floor when I noticed who she was dancing with…she was dancing with my Danny.

When Tina noticed me, she became visibly nervous. Be cool and smile, I said to myself. Tina continued dancing as she motioned that Danny look in my direction. He turned, smiled and also continued dancing. I thought for a second that I would break down crying or kill her, one of the two. Stay cool and get to the bathroom. I kept the smile on and made a beeline to the bathroom.

Safely inside, I took several deep breaths trying to fight back the tears that I felt coming. I tried to get my composure back together. I looked at myself in the mirror and sure enough my eye makeup was running. Get it together and don’t cry. Breathe. Take deep breaths. Don’t lose it. Calm down, Marilyn. They are only free style dancing. They’re not slow dancing. They aren’t even holding hands while they’re dancing.

Then why do I feel so betrayed?

As soon as I regained my composure I fixed my eyeliner, touched up my lipstick, and ventured back out into the living room. Now Tina was dancing with Mike and I don’t know where Danny was. I went into the kitchen and got myself a beer. I felt numb. I stood around for a long while like a wallflower while everyone around seemed to be having fun. What was I doing? I must be nuts. I’m at a party and I look great. I am going to have a good time tonight. This incident will not dampen my evening. To heck with this, let’s go have some fun. I spotted a nice looking young man and went in for the kill.

After we were dancing a while, I asked, “What did you say your name was?”

“
Thomas, my name is Thomas,” he hollered over the blasting music. “I know you don’t remember me, but we met a couple of weeks ago on the beach. You were there with all your girlfriends and a bunch of us guys were playing Frisbee. You were wearing the hot pink bikini.”

He remembered what I was wearing over three weeks ago. I should have been impressed, but all I could think about was Danny. “Oh yeah, I remember you now. We all had fun that day.” I was trying hard to pay attention to Thomas, but I couldn’t suppress the urge to take a peek and see if Danny was watching. Just take a quick glance. Bingo. He was watching. I stayed right there with Thomas dancing in Danny’s full view.

When the music stopped, Thomas and I went to the kitchen and got a couple of beers. Then we ventured back into the living room and chatted a bit more. Every once in a while I shot a glance over in Danny’s direction to see if he was still watching. Boy was he and he did not look happy. What’s a matter Danny? Green-eyed monster got you?

After all the beer Thomas and I consumed I was feeling pretty good. I was beginning to enjoy Thomas’ company a little. He is really very interesting and he’s really sweet. But I don’t know. He just doesn’t wow me. Maybe I was too distracted and just couldn’t get into him. So when he excused himself to go to the bathroom, Tina and Jenny both came over. We talked a bit and Tina thought I was crazy for hanging out with Thomas when I had a guy like Danny drooling all over me. Could you imagine? Tina thought that I was crazy. She was dancing with my man and she thought that I was crazy.