Dead Stop (8 page)

Sure enough,
what she had hoped would be an occasion to show off her boyfriend on his best
behavior had turned into a debacle.

He had strutted
around in his little suede beret and didn’t miss a chance to flaunt his car,
expensive cell phone, and pretty much act a general ass…and all the while
probably thinking they were impressed. Then, when they had caravanned to
Masonfield to watch the football game, he had checked the weather on the radio
and rebelled at the thought he might get caught out on some “grubby, three mule
school’s bleachers in the middle of a typhoon.”

So now her
friends were likely huddled under tarps and having a great time at the game,
while she sat here listening to Gerald congratulate himself on how smart he
was.

She couldn’t
decide if the fact it never occurred to him to consult with her on this
decision was more irritating or depressing. She had grown used to it in Austin,
and honestly didn’t care since most of the different things Gerald did there
had about equal appeal to her. But this was supposed to have been her weekend…

Her
weekend.

But he was
connected, and his father was a lot more connected, and when your major is
theater one of the first things you learned was who you knew mattered. And she
honestly liked his father. Connor Plimpton was thoughtful, generous, and
treated her nicely. He even once said she deserved a medal for her patience
with his self-absorbed son. Holly liked to think that one day, with patience
and understanding, she would be able to bring out some of Connor’s qualities in
Gerald. She knew they had to be in there somewhere.

It would just
take time to reach him.

Until then, she
would console herself with the decent roles she was getting via Connor’s
influence in the theater department. Not leading roles, of course, but still
enough stage time to build a list of credits for her resume. It was still up to
her to master the roles given and do them credit. Holly took care never to
forget that and worked hard to take advantage of her opportunities. This helped
negate any residual guilt she felt over the advantages she had received, and it
gave her a greater sense of control over her own situation… 

…and next time
she decided to come visit her old friends, she would just leave Gerald an email
after she left.

He would panic,
and suspect she was seeing somebody else, but that was old territory for her.
She knew how to let those little tempests blow over. For now, her only wish was
to get him back to Austin, to the crowd who knew him, before he caused her any
more grief or embarrassment.

Which was
impossible, naturally.

“Hey Senora!”
Gerald waved his little beret at the tall Hispanic waitress as she walked by.
“Uno momento, por favor.”

Holly fought the
urge to slide under the table as the young woman stopped and fixed them both
with a blank stare. Oh yes, she definitely intended to get out of here as soon
as possible. She would just order a drink and start texting goodbyes to her
friends at the game. She would see them next time. Getting back to Austin
couldn’t come soon enough.

“Yes, sir?” The
waitress pulled out her ordering pad and walked back to their table. She spoke
with a controlled courtesy that made Holly wince.

If Gerald
noticed the tone, he gave no indication.

“Ah yes, my good
woman,” he expanded and held up the menu, “I was just perusing your selection
of culinary choices and I noticed a certain running theme in the collection. So
I was wondering…do you perchance have anything on this menu that isn’t fried,
or even worse, deep fried?”

The waitress
blinked as if confused by the question. Then she regarded Gerald with an expression
one would favor on a slow child.

“No sir. This is
a truck stop. Everything here is fried. Even the coffee is fried…sometimes.”

Gerald, perhaps
sensing the sarcasm despite his usual lack of social cues, started to look
unamused.

“Oh really.
Perhaps a salad?”

“A salad? You
want a salad?”

“Please.” His
voice didn’t have a hint of “please” in it.

The waitress
tapped her finger on her pencil for a few seconds, then favored him with a
bright smile.

“Okay, here’s
what we will do. We’ll order you a hamburger, and leave off the meat and bun.
Instant salad!”

“Are you
serious?”

“It’s a
solution,” the girl stated primly, putting pencil to her order pad. “Do you
want regular or curly fries with your ‘salad’, sir?”

Holly could
sense this would be heading south fast.

Gerald didn’t
have the sense to know when to quit, and she was already picking up on the vibe
this waitress had a problem with him. Any second now Gerald would go into a
huff and demand to see her boss…and if he employed his usual grace and social
skills in that encounter then it would probably result in the two of them
getting tossed out and the waitress getting a bonus for having to put up with
such an obnoxious idiot.

“We’ll just both
have a slice of that silk pie in the display,” Holly interrupted, “and a couple
of cokes.”

She forced
herself not to bite her lip as two pair of eyes settled on her. Gerald glared
in obvious dismay at her interruption, and she knew she would be hearing about
this later. He hated it when she smoothed things over for him, and almost
always took it as some kind of affront to his competence as a man.

 On the
other hand, the look of pity the waitress favored on her almost made Holly
cringe.

“Yes, ma’am.
Coming right up.” The tall girl snapped the order pad shut and walked smartly
away from the table.

Holly sighed in
relief, and ignored the wounded glower now focused on her from across the
table. She would have a little peace while he pouted, then it would be time to
patch things up. The best approach would probably be to insist such a squabble
would have been beneath him. An appeal to his ego usually had the best rate of
success.

Until then, she
could start texting apologies to her friends.

###

Nightfall - Deke

“Hey, Harley?
Is your dad’s boat still parked behind your house?”

Deke addressed
his companion while casting a calculating eye across the restaurant where
Stacey Collins poured coffee for a white haired trucker at the bar. She laughed
at something the customer said and flashed a smile that seemed to illuminate
the entire bar area. His nerves were on high, but oddly enough the pressure now
had an almost calming effect as he realized he was committed to taking action.

“Sure.” Harley
stirred sugar into his coffee and looked at him with interest. “Whatcha got in
mind?”

“An
alternative to watching Jeopardy with my mom. Let’s find out if the sucker
still floats. How does Sunday work for you?”

“Not bad!”
Harley mused, “If you go down in flames tonight, at least we still got something
to do.”

“Thanks for
that enthusiastic vote of confidence.”

“You’re
welcome, but make it Wednesday.”

“Why
Wednesday?”

“Because,”
Harley gave a mild look over his coffee at Deke, “Stacey works on Sunday, and
her next day off isn’t till Wednesday.”

“Oh, well I
guess that makes se…” He stopped and narrowed his eyes at his bigger friend.
“Now how the hell do you know that? How long have you been planning this,
anyway?”

“Son, if
you’re going to get out of the webbed-foot bracket and start playing in the
bigger leagues, you have to do the simple homework like this. Women expect you
to have your shit together.”

“Molly Harper
doesn’t have webbed feet! Sheesh, did she kick your dog or something?”

“Stay on
target, young jedi.” Harley winked and nodded back towards the bar area.

Deke took a
deep breath and glared.

“Okay, oh wise
one, just how do I pull this off without appearing to come out of nowhere with
only one thing on my mind.”

“What are you
talking about? She knows you. You went to school with her, and you’ve been
coming here just about every week since before she started working here. You
know, if this was some other girl, you wouldn’t be coming up with half these
problems.”

“It ain’t that
simple.”

“It is exactly
that simple,” Harley took a drink of his coffee than set it back down, “and you
need to quit stalling and get your butt over there. The way that skinny trucker
at the end of the bar is eyeballing her, he’s going to make a pass at her soon.
And if he does, she won’t be in the mood to hear anything on that topic from
anybody else for a while.”

Deke looked
over to where his partner indicated. A thin, man with greasy hair and the words
“Leaping Larry” printed on the back of his wide, western style belt, stared at
Stacey with almost open lust.

“Aw crap.”

“On the other
hand,” the larger young man continued, “he’s got to be making her
uncomfortable, leering at her like that, so you would be a pleasant change if
you act now.”

“I’m on it.”

Deke was up
and moving before he had time to consider any further contingencies.

As much as
Harley could irritate him on topics like this, he never doubted for one second
his friend knew exactly what he was talking about. He secretly thanked heaven
he had the other man’s advice to rely on. Of course, it would be a lot easier
if he also had Harley’s looks…and his muscles…and his easy manner…and his
almost scary ability to be so much where he was at any given moment that the
right move always seemed obvious. Hell, if he had all those things going for
him he would be in a good mood all the time too.

Focus,
stupid! You only get one shot at this!

“Hi, Deke!
What’s up?”

Stacey’s smile
lit up her elfish face as he reached the bar, and Deke’s stomach threatened to
turn into water. Her blue eyes sparkled with a cheerful life that infected the
world around her, reminding the young man it wasn’t only her looks putting her
in a league of her own. She possessed a bright disposition coupled with an
exuberant blend of mischievousness and honest warmth most men could only dream
of finding in one girl.

Men with a lot
more going on for them than he did.

Stop it,
Deke! Stop it! Just talk to her!

“Hey, Stacey,”
Deke shrugged and slid into a nearby stool. “I’m just hanging out, drinking
coffee and talking to Harley.”

“Ah, I see.”

He found himself
staring stupidly at the empty bar in front of him and realized he had left his
coffee cup back at his booth.

A quick glance
back at his table showed his cup sitting where he had left it. It also revealed
Harley had left the table as well, and had just seated himself by “Leaping
Larry” and engaged him in conversation. It looked like his friend intended on
running interference to make sure his attempt at asking Stacey out wouldn’t be
interrupted.

Okay,
Harley. I take back every mean thing I ever thought about you. You’re alright.

Then he also
realized the other result of Harley’s intervention.

The lack of a
cup meant Deke hadn’t come over here to get a refill, and his friend’s
simultaneous move made it look like they had a coordinated plan. His intentions
couldn’t have been more painfully obvious if he had been wearing a sign around
his neck with large block letters reading “Get ready, Stacy! Here it comes!”

He fought the
urge to swallow and returned his gaze to the girl in front of him. She still
smiled and looked at him inquisitively.

Well, she
ain’t running for the back, and she hasn’t already started laughing, so I guess
that’s something. At least she’s going to be polite about this.

“Yeah,” he
sort of half laughed, “Okay, I guess I actually wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure.” She
tilted her head with a curious glint in her eye. “What is it, Deke?”

Okay, you
can do this.

“Well,” he
gathered his will and pressed onward, “Harley and I are going out to the lake
next week to try out his old boat. I was just wondering…if…if you would like to
come hang out with us at the lake.”

He sincerely
hoped that hadn’t sounded one tenth as lame in her ears as it did in his.

“Hmmm…” Stacey
stroked her chin and glanced back down the bar where Harley and Leaping Larry
talked. They had a napkin on the bar in front of them, and Larry was
pontificating about something he had drawn on it. The girl studied the pair for
a couple of seconds before returning her attention to Deke.

“Soooo….” she
fixed him with an evaluating eye, “we’re talking about just you, me, and Harley
out at the lake?”

Doh! Deke,
you idiot! What girl is going to feel comfortable with a setup like that! Think
fast, you moron!

“Oh! Harley
would bring somebody too…of course. Heck, I should have said that up front…I
mean…sure…it would be….” His mouth had already started trying to salvage the
situation while the rest of him still tried to catch up. “That is…if it’s cool
with you.” 

He wasn’t
exactly thrilled with the job it was doing.

“Ah,” Stacey
rested her elbows on the bar and nodded in satisfaction. “So we’re talking a
double date, then.”

Deke noted
with disbelieving hope the idea seemed to appeal to her. Was he actually going
to pull this off?

“Uh, yeah.” At
this point, the only thing he could think of was to just go with it. “Exactly!”

She considered
him with a half smile for a second or two longer, then it spread to its full
brightness.

Holy shit!
She’s going to say yes!

“That sounds
like it could be fun...”

It was all he
could do to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. Stacey Collins…yes,
that
Stacey Collins…was about to agree to go out on a date with
him
.