Pt. I: Suzi
Friday evening didn't start well at all. Pa fined me five dollars out of my allowance against the window which I had broken when I was showing my sister Lynn's boyfriend Mike how I had made the winning hit. Not only that, but Lynn collected on the ten I owed her, which left me with the princely sum of eight dollars and fifty cents. Not much for a date, even a blind one!
Mike had arranged it for me, with a friend of his ex-girlfriend Sally. I had to drive across town and pick her up at her uncle's house. 2473 Holly. A girl called Suzi, Suzi Kendrick. I knew nothing about her except her name and her uncle's address. Mike said she was attractive but somehow Mike and I had kept missing each other so I hadn't been able to find out any more. He was due to pick Lynn up at about the time I had to leave to collect Suzi, so I hoped to get some more background from him then.
Unfortunately, Mike was running late. I stayed as long as I dared but I had agreed to pick Suzi up at eight. It was a fifteen minute drive and the clock showed seven forty-three, so I said so long to Ma and Lynn and scooted out to the car. It was nothing to look at, my old Ford, but it was clean, it was sound and the knowledge I had picked up doing holiday jobs helping Mike's father in their car repair business had enabled me to do some work on the engine. It ran well, hardly used any oil and hadn't let me down. Yet.
I was on my way down the street when Mike turned the corner in his Mustang on his way to pick up Lynn. They had met because of me. Lynn had driven across with me, just for the ride, when I went to pick up some spares I had ordered. It's funny the way some people seem to have instant attraction. I guessed they were lovers now, but it was none of my business. I loved my sister, at least I did most of the time, and I liked Mike. Good luck to them. I laughed to myself. Lucky Mike! Lynn's a good-looker. Tall, slim, blonde. Takes after Ma. Mike grinned at me as he passed, but he didn't stop.
I reached Suzi's uncle's house at one minute to eight and rang the doorbell. I waited anxiously. I had no idea what I expected but the honey-blonde in the blue mini-dress who opened the door was a pleasant sight to my eyes.
"Suzi?" I said.
"No," she laughed. "I'm her cousin, Karen. You must be Matt. Come in, she won't be a minute."
I followed the blonde into the house. She spoke over her shoulder. "My mom and dad are on vacation at the moment. Suzi's keeping me company while they're away."
"Would you like to come with us?" I asked awkwardly.
She smiled crookedly at me. "No, but it's nice of you to ask. My boyfriend is due back from a trip tonight. You take Suzi, she'll be glad to get out for a change, instead of keeping me company."
A sound behind me made me turn. Another girl stood there, a tentative smile on her face. "Matt?" she asked.
"Suzi?" We both relaxed. I flatter myself. I'm not exactly ugly. An even six feet, a hundred and eighty pounds, most of it muscle, mouse coloured hair which Ma keeps telling me to get cut. I had my clean denims on that night, they were only two weeks old, and a sweatshirt. Suzi was tall and slim, about five-eight, going in and out in all the right places. She had long red hair, green eyes, and was wearing a green cotton shirt and a rust-coloured miniskirt. Low-heeled tan shoes completed her outfit. She was a damn' sight better looking than my last two blind dates!
"Are you ready?" I asked. She nodded. "Let's go, then." She turned to her cousin and hugged her.
"I'll see you later, Kaz."
"Got your key, honey? I might be in bed." Karen smiled broadly. Suzi nodded. "Enjoy yourselves," said Karen. "Don't keep her out too late, Matt. Midnight deadline, OK?" I smiled. She might be back within the hour if we didn't hit it off. I hoped we would. She seemed very nice.
She was nice. She chatted amiably as we drove, bright and cheerful, sitting half-turned to face me. She sympathised with my shortage of funds and agreed readily enough to a trip to the drive-in. Not my favourite choice of venue, but we could always duck out. Six dollars later, we found a decent place in line, hooked up the speaker and settled down. As we watched my heart sank.
It was a low budget horror flick, big on gore and naked tits, sadly short of any redeeming feature, although some of the tits were nice. I glanced at Suzi. She looked bored, but smiled slightly when I caught her eye. I made the sudden decision to ditch the speaker and dropped it out of the window. I think it broke. I'm good at that sort of thing.
"Sorry, Suzi. It's a bummer! How about a soda and some popcorn?" I asked. "Then we can go for a drive or something, if you like. At least the gas tank's full!"
"I'd love a soda, Matt. Diet, please. Don't bother with the popcorn, not for me." She patted her flat stomach. "I put weight on thinking about food!" I didn't believe that for a second. I turned the radio on.
"Find something you like, I'll be back as soon as I can."
I climbed out of the car and hurried towards the snack bar at the rear of the lot. It was busy, people everywhere, but service was quick and I soon had two sodas in plastic-capped paper cups.
Outside again, I decided to use the men's room. I took a leak and washed my hands when a thought struck me. I smiled to myself. Fat chance, with my luck. I had the theory but damned little practice! I glanced around. Sure enough, there was a condom machine. I put a half-dollar in and tucked the little packet in the watch pocket of my jeans. It never hurt to be prepared! I had a dollar left! I picked up the sodas and went back to the car.
Suzi was curled up in the front passenger seat, listening to the radio. She'd found a classical station and a rendering of Debussy's 'Clair de Lune' was being played. We both sat in unspokenly agreed silence until it had finished. I passed Suzi a soda.
"Thanks, Matt," she murmured.
"I don't consider myself a classical piano fan," I told her, "In classical, I prefer Russian orchestral, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, those guys, but I do like Clair de Lune. It is a truly beautiful piece of music."
I sipped my soda and we sat in silence for a few minutes, listening. When we'd finished I took the empty cups and dropped them in a nearby trash can. I climbed back in the car and sat back.
Suzi glanced across at me and smiled. On impulse I took her hand. She squeezed my fingers and slid closer. Encouraged, I put my arm lightly around her shoulders. She slid right across and snuggled against me. I gently stroked her shoulder.
She murmured, wordlessly, almost inaudible. Encouraged, I stroked the back of her neck, massaging. I leaned across and kissed her neck. The scent was faint, flowery, a hint of musk... I kissed her neck again. She sighed contentedly, wordlessly.
"That feels nice," she murmured, squeezing my knee lightly.
I kissed her behind her ear. She moved her hair out of the way, so I blew lightly in her ear. She surprised me. She blew straight back into mine.
I was feeling definitely encouraged by now. Suzi showed no signs of wanting to leave, or to watch the film. It was full dark outside, so no-one could see into the car unless they came up and peered into the window. I considered. Although there was only a relatively small gap between the front seats, which meant that Suzi could snuggle up close to me without any problems, the steering wheel and floor shift certainly did get in the way.
"Suzi," I murmured in her ear.
"Mmm?"
