The Lonely Hearts Club (16 page)

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"Oh, leave her alone, dear." For once, it was Mom to the rescue. "Have a fabulous time, Penny. You, too, Ryan. And, Penny, you do look beautiful. I can't believe how fast you're growing up. Why, it seems like it was only yesterday . , ."

"Yesterday . . ."my dad began to sing.

Maybe, I thought, I should just run back into my bedroom and hide . . . until I turn eighteen. But instead, I dug up the one ounce of dignity I had left. "if you're done embarrassing me, I think we'll be on our way"

"Well, Ryan," I said once we were free, "now you can see why I'm looking at colleges in Europe."

Ryan laughed and shook his head. "I think parents feel that it's their right to humiliate their children, probably as a way of getting back at their own parents. I'm sure you'll do the same."

Well, I could say one thing -- I certainly was going to give my children normal names.

We approached the car, and Ryan opened up the passenger door for me. that certainly fit under the "date" category.

"Plus," Ryan said as he got in his seat, "your parents are only telling you the truth. You do look very beautiful tonight."

My mind was swirling as he pulled away from the curb.

Can someone please explain to me exactly what's going on?

The car ride was spent talking mostly about school and basic gossip about teachers, but only one thought kept racing through my mind: Ryan Bauer called me beautiful Ryan Bauer thinks I'm beautiful.

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Or maybe he was just being polite.

I looked across the booth at the restaurant and saw him studying the menu. His black wavy hair was still slightly damp from the shower he'd no doubt taken after practice. He looked up and caught me staring. "See anything that looks good to you?"

You have no idea.

I debated over what to eat. Rita always ordered salads on first dates, but I wasn't on a first date. Although I did wonder if Ryan was expecting me to eat light. But I was really hungry .. .

"What can I get you, sweetie?" Our middle-aged waitress looked down and smiled at me in an encouraging way, probably sensing we were on a . . . whatever we were on,

I opted for a club sandwich with fries and a soda. I hated salads, and I would never approve of someone who gave up their identity for a guy, even a guy who was just a friend. I wasn't going to pretend to be someone that I wasn't. Although I was hoping that Ryan would order something similar.

"And what about you?" the waitress looked Ryan up and down, clearly impressed. I knew most girls would probably be offended by another woman checking out her date, or in this case, pseudo date, but I thought it was a compliment. Plus, she was like twenty years older than us.

"I'd like the green salad," Ryan began. My head started pounding. No: no, no for the love of all that is -pure, you can't be ordering a salad, you're a sixteen-year-old boy! ". . . with ranch dressing to start, then a double cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake."

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That's my boy.

Well, not technically my boy.

"So, Penny, I'm sort of surprised you agreed to come out with me"

"Why would you say that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know -- to be honest, I was a little frightened your group of girls were going to tie me down when they found out we were doing something together."

"You know, the things Todd, says about the Club aren't true." I felt my cheeks begin to burn.

"I know.. . ," He started playing with his straw wrapper. "I guess I sometimes don't know what to believe. But none of that matters, because you're here with me now."

I stared at him in silence, not sure what to say next.

"Anyways, I've really been looking forward to this evening." He looked up and smiled at me.

Me, too, I thought to myself. Maybe too much.

A few moments of silence passed between us, I found it hard to break away from his gaze,

"Ah, so, anyways." Ryan looked away and ran his hand through his hair. "Um, I hope you don't think less of me when I tell you this, but I don't know a lot about the Beatles. I

probably only know a couple songs."

"What? You cannot be serious!" I practically screamed, forgetting that I was in a restaurant.

"Whoa, sorry! this is one of the reasons I wanted to come, to see what the big deal is about."

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"What the big deal is about?" it was nice to know that Ryan had a flaw -- and it was a major one. "the Beatles are the greatest band of all time. they.. . they ..." I put my head in my hands.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just started to remind myself of my parents, and it was very, very scary."

"Aw, come on!' Ryan took my chin and lifted it away from my hands. "I think it's cute."

"Yeah, cute in a demented way. Like a drunk puppy."

He shook his head, but kept his hand on my chin. "No, I mean cute in a completely irresistible way." the smile on his face diminished as he started to slowly lean forward..

"Which one of you ordered the salad?"

Ryan sat back up as our food was delivered. I looked down at the food and tried to collect myself. I could practically feel Ryan's eyes on me.

He wasn't going to .. .

Last Saturday night with Rosanna flashed in my head. if he . * . the Lonely Hearts Club would be ruined.

But I was being silly. Ryan was just leaning in. He was just being friendly. He had always been friendly. I was clearly misinterpreting him.

I started to pick at my fries, wishing that I could escape to call Rita on my cell phone.

This was a major emergency.

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"You can't be serious!"

Ryan rolled his eyes at me. "Just drop it already."

He handed me my ticket as we went through the entrance of the Civic Center. I noticed that the envelope from the ticket agent was addressed to Ryan, not his mom or stepdad, although they were supposedly the ones who'd gotten the tickets.

A shiver rippled through me as Ryan put his hand on the small of my back to guide us to our seats.

"Okay, then, be difficult." I sat down and crossed my arms.

Ryan laughed. "Oh, I'm the one being difficult, huh? Seriously, Penny, I didn't know you were the stubborn type."

"Oh, yeah, I totally am." I tried to keep my face straight. "Besides, I'm not the one being completely unreasonable."

Ryan put his arm around the back of my chair and leaned in. "Oh, really?" His voice was filled with amusement. "I don't think there's a single person here who'd take your side in this argument."

I slouched down in my seat and sighed exaggeratedly.

"Okay, don't believe me." He smirked at me. He started surveying the crowd of older people in the audience. "Excuse me, miss?" Ryan tapped the woman in front of us on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked in shock.

He turned back to me. "I'm proving a point,"

A woman in her fifties -- with a Beatles T-shirt on, no less -- turned around and looked surprised to see someonelike Ryan here among the Baby Boomers.

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"Sorry to bother you, ma'am." Ryan flashed his best smile to the woman, who didn't seem bothered by him one bit. "I'm hoping you could help me with a small disagreement I'm having with my date."

Did he just say date.?

He continued, "You see, I like to think that chivalry is indeed not dead, so I'm trying to do the gentlemanly thing this evening." the woman nodded excitedly at Ryan. I could already tell that he was going to win this one. "Now, I've seemed to upset this beautiful woman that I'm seated next to, who just happens to be named after a Beatles song." Ryan motioned toward me, and I did my best to smile and wave at the nice woman instead of hit my gentleman companion. "to be honest, I think she is being unfair. I invited her out this evening, so it's only fair that I pay, but she isn't cooperating."

Ryan looked back at me and winked. I moved my foot over so my heel could dig into his left foot.

"Owl" He moved his foot over and cleared his throat. "in your opinion, don't you think she should just say thank you instead of trying to throw money at me?" the woman patted Ryan's knee. "Of course, it's very sweet of you. I can tell that you're an excellent boyfriend."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Ryan looked up, beaming at the woman. "Why, thank you, miss!" the woman blushed slightly, enjoying the attention from Ryan. She leaned in. "First date?"

I held my breath.

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He smiled. "Yes, and what chance do you think I'd have with a second date if I made her pay?"

Blackness swallowed me. For a quick moment I hoped that I was having some sort of seizure, I kept blinking, but the darkness wouldn't go away. then my ears were filled with screams and my pulse was quickening, A fitting punishment for going on a date.

Light burst a few hundred feet away as four guys dressed in black suits took the stage. the concert, I shook my head as I got back to the present. Ryan stood up with the rest of the crowd as the Faux Four began with "I Want to Hold Your Hand." I needed to use the support of the armrest to stand up -- there was too much confusion swirling around in my head.

I looked over at Ryan, who smiled at me and put his arms gently around my waist.

I am on a date with Ryan Bauer.

My stomach did a somersault and I tried to catch my breath. Crap, I'm on a date with Ryan Bauer. I'm not supposed to be on a date! Not only that, I'd declared in front of the entire Lonely Hearts Club that I wasn't going on a date.

I focused on the music. The words to every song flowed through me like memories -- good and bad -- as the set list continued.

Okay, Penny -- you can handle this.

The lights dimmed as a guitar started to play, and my heart dropped. I could feel the tears begin to well up in my eyes,

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and I fought them back with every ounce of strength I had. I tried to block the words out of my head, but I couldn't. I wasn't going to be okay; this whole situation was wrong. And of course, leave it up to John, Paul, George, and Ringo -- even fake ones -- to put things in perspective.

I started swaying to the music and closed my eyes. I sang along to the lyrics about hopelessness, yearning, and being foolish about love. Basically, everything I was feeling at that moment.

I was a complete hypocrite. Even though I had kept telling everybody that this wasn't a date, a big part of me had wanted it to be. I realized that now.

This felt right. Ryan had never been anything but kind to me. He was a good person.

But I'd thought the same thing about Nate. Nate was nice to me, he was a good person. And then he lied and broke my heart.

I'd made a promise to myself to never let that happen again.

Big Dumb Idiot

That's what Nate had called himself.

I didn't want to be a Big Dumb Idiot, too.

As much as I wanted to fool myself into thinking that things would be different with Ryan, they wouldn't. I wasn't going to fall for it. I knew better.

As the song ended, I knew what I had to do. it had to end -- the flirting, the longing, everything. it wasn't just about what I wanted, it was about what was best for the group, my friends.

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Face the music, Penny. You've got to hide your love away. You can't just hide your feelings. You have to destroy them. Kill them before they kill you.

The lights went up and Ryan looked at me excitedly, "that was awesome, . . although don't tell your parents I said that, okay?"

I gave him a quick smile then started to exit the aisle. I remained quiet for most of our way home, only answering Ryan's Beatles questions. As he turned the corner to my house, I knew I needed a quick exit strategy, one that would guarantee that there wouldn't be a second date. And knowing me, it wasn't going to be graceful.

He pulled into the driveway. "I'm really glad you came out with me tonight, Penny. I had a great time."

I jumped out of the car before he had a chance to shut off the engine, I turned around with the door open and saw a stunned Ryan. "Yeah, thanks. 'Bye!' I said. I slammed the door and ran up to the front door, trying desperately to get in before I burst into tears.

I am doing the right thing.

That's what I was going to keep telling myself

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chapter twenty five

"SO HOW'D LAST NIGHT GO?" Tracy asked when I got into the car the next morning.

Horrible,

"the concert was good. ..." I replied as I started to dig through my bag, not sure what I was looking for.

"Yeah, so did Ryan hit on you?"

I stared at Tracy like she had lost her mind.

"Hey, I wouldn't blame a guy for trying. You're a hottie!"

I ignored her and continued to go through my bag.

"Oh, Pen, I'm just teasing you. Ryan is a cool guy. if there is one guy that I'd break the rules for, it would be him."

My bag fell on the floor.

"Crap! Sorry!" I started to pick up my books and pens.

"Are you okay?"

No, not at all Yep.

Diane was waiting for us by the front doors.

"Hey, Penny, how was last night?" "Fine"..

Diane seemed confused. "it was fine?"

I started to dig in my bag as we walked. "Oh, it was fun, the band was great. Of course, they didn't play all the songs I