The next day, Friday, a friend of mine named Martha asked me about Mike in homeroom. “I heard you two broke up,” she said. I could never figure out how, but everyone knew we weren’t together anymore almost instantly.
A tall, nice looking fellow senior came to sit with me at lunch time the same day. “My name’s Roger. Do you mind if I sit here?”
“Free country,” I responded. I could already tell I wasn’t interested, but he wasn’t getting the vibe.
“You seem like a nice person. Is there any chance in the world you’d let me take you to the Halloween dance? Are you going?”
“It’s a social gathering. I have no intention whatsoever of attending,” I responded in the most arrogant tone I could muster without being mean.
“How about a cup of coffee? Or dinner or something? I want a chance to get to know you.”
I tapped the back of his hand gently. “If you keep up that approach, I’m sure you’ll find yourself a nice girl eventually.”
“Well, you mind if I still eat my lunch with you?”
“That’s fine.”
We talked about banal subjects on the day to day happenings in the school. Which teachers were “cool,” what student was throwing a party, the football team’s record, that sort of thing. After a brief lull in the conversation he changed the subject back to dating.
“What – you got a man or something? I thought you and Mike Brown broke up.” I smiled but chose not to respond. “You can tell me. I won’t say nothing.” I smiled even bigger and tried to think of a nice way to get him off the subject.
“Roger… How can I make you understand? Do you know what the Pythagorean theorem is?”
“No. What is it?”
“Have you ever heard of the Louvre?”
“… The loovera?”
“Do you know what sodium chloride is?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Exactly. We live in different worlds, Roger. It was very nice of you to ask me, though.”
“Okay,” he said as the bell rang. “I still think you should give me a chance.”
I walked away with a smile thinking, Not in a million years.
Science is always difficult. I felt it was time for a new study buddy. Since our science teacher would let us sit where we wanted, I decided to sit next to a very smart, very nice young man named Martin Benson. I smiled at him as we took our seats and he smiled back.
Halfway through the class I whispered to him while the teacher was talking. “I don’t understand chemistry. You seem to get it. Could you help me?”
“Sure. How about after school?”
I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get him to come over to my house. That afternoon he sat with me on the bus on the way home. As we came past my mother she looked at us and said, “Hmph. You kids and your relationshipis. What happened to Mike?”
Why would she ask me that right in front of Martin? “Oh, he helped me with my math class. Martin here is going to help me with Chemistry.”
That was the way it really started out. He honestly did help me to understand Chemistry. We started by memorizing most of the periodic table of elements. That took up most of our evening. We studied many different parts of chemistry while snacking on Doritos, candy bars and snack cakes until well after 10 that night. When I asked if he’d come back the following morning, the only problem was that he needed a ride. Apparently his mom’s car wasn’t working. He seemed very open to being picked up at any time, so I asked if I could call him when I finished breakfast. Of course he said yes. My mom and I gave him a ride home.
When we got back home my room was a mess. Notebooks, pens, pencils, wrappers and crumbs were everywhere. My bed was a mess too. After cleaning it up, I went to sleep fantasizing about Martin.
I made breakfast the next morning. Grits, eggs and sausages, my mother’s favorite. Normally I would soak the grits pot and clean it later, but not this time. Martin was coming over. I wanted every part of the house to be as clean as a whistle. I was so excited! My mom seemed to notice my attitude. “You know, I don’t mind if you have someone over if you’re going to help keep the house this clean. Maybe we should do this more often! You can drive if you want to.”
I was so excited I actually asked my mom, “Drive? Drive where?”
“Ain’t we going to pick up that Martin boy after breakfast?” After I’d cleaned my room the previous night, she asked if I had any plans the next day. Barely awake, I told her I was studying with Martin in the morning.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot we talked about that last night. When can we leave?”
“Whenever. Shouldn’t you call him first?”
“Oh, yeah,” I repeated. “Can I call him now?” My mother laughed at my nervousness.
“The phone’s in the den, dear.”
“Hello?” answered the voice of an older woman whom I assumed to be his mother.
“Hi. My name is Rhonda Stern. Can I speak with Martin Benson?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she put the phone down and screamed Martin’s name at the top of her lungs. I didn’t hear his response, but I heard her yell, “The phone! For you!” It sounded like he was coming quickly down a flight of stairs. As he approached I heard his mother say, “What the hell girl you got callin’ here? It bed’ not be no damn fluzie. Don’t have no damn fluzies callin’ my house.”
“Mom, it’s not even like that. We’re studying science together, that’s all.” His voice came to the phone. “Hi, Rhonda! How are you?” he asked, trying to sound cheerful.
“Just finished breakfast. Are you sure it’s going to be okay to pick you up?”
He sucked his teeth. “My mom is overprotective, but she’ll come around once she gets to know you. She thinks every girl out there just wants to have sex all the time. I tried to tell her you’re not like that, but… Let’s just say she’s ‘old fashioned.’ What’d you have for breakfast?”
“I made grits, eggs and sausages for me and my mother. You?”
“I made breakfast too, but all I did was toast some pancakes and waffles for me and my little brother.”
“Nothing for mom?”
“My mom ate breakfast before I got up this morning.”
I heard his mother yell in the background, “Gotta get up early in the morning to keep my boys away from them damn hot pussy girls runnin’ ’round here.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Let’s finish this conversation in the car. I’ll be there in 20.” I hung up the phone without even saying goodbye. “We’re all good, mom! Let’s go!”
When we got there my mom surprised me by getting out of the car. “What are you doing, mom?”
“Letting Martin sit in the front.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, mom.”
“Ssshhhh… He’s coming.”
As he came out of his apartment, I greeted him with a smile and a wave. He smiled back and came over to the car, throwing his backpack into the back seat where he noticed my mother. “Oh, hi Ms. Stern.”
“Hello, Martin. How are you today?”
“Feeling good, ma’am. Rhonda, did you look at the period table anymore last night?”
“Oh HELL no,” I responded. “I wasn’t touching that shit until you were around to explain it to me. I don’t want to end up making things worse by getting all confused.” He raised his eyebrows and kept rolling his eyes toward the backseat, as if throwing me a hint. I got the hint, but my mother didn’t care about foul language after I turned 18. As long as I wasn’t cursing at teachers or cursing at her, she really didn’t care. I figured I’d have to explain it to him later, but I didn’t want to do that in front of my mother. “Mom, can we go to the supermarket and get some snacks?”
Mom breathed an annoyed sigh. “Take me to the house. I’ll give you some money and you and Martin can go to the store. Bring back my change and a receipt.”
When we got to the house mom got out of the car and handed me a $50 bill. I was surprised that she gave me so much. “How much of this can I spend?”
“I thought all you wanted was some snacks? Can’t I trust you to just get some snacks and come home? If you spend up all my money, why would I let you drive anywhere anymore?”
“Point taken. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I’m brewing coffee. Should I brew enough for three?”
I looked at Martin. “You want some home brewed coffee, Martin?”
“That’s the best kind! Sounds great!”
At the supermarket, the parking lot had two driving lanes that were divided by double yellow lines like a two way street. As we stood together waiting for cars to go by, I grabbed Martin’s hand. I smiled at him but at that moment he was more interested in making sure we got across the “street” safely. When we saw an opening, his grip tightened slightly as we jogged across. He didn’t let go when we got there, and I liked it that way, so we ended up holding hands as we walked through the supermarket aisles.
We got Hot Pockets, cookies, candy bars, pizza rolls and some supermarket brand baclava. I actually got him to put his arms around me while we waited in line at the checkout. He grabbed the bag while I put the change and receipt in my pocket, and we held hands all the way back to the car. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get affection from a boy I’d just started talking to the previous day.
We got home around 11:15. Martin was ready to get right to work, as expected. I pretended to be a coffee addict, and that I couldn’t possibly look at books until I’d had a couple of cups. The three of us sat at the kitchen table sipping coffee and yammering. My mom and I tortured the poor boy by asking him personal questions about his childhood. I told her what his mother was like, and he blushed. I enjoyed making him blush. It was so easy! Finally, around 1pm or so, I felt like he’d had enough and we needed to begin studying. I had him grab the cups and saucers and I took the entire coffee pot into my room. Apparently coffee was great for bringing him out of his shell.
From that point forward it was mostly Chemistry for the rest of the day. There were frequent breaks and the conversations went off on tangents, but for the most part we stayed focused. By 9 pm I was getting tired, and he was much more focused on the subject than I was. We both layed side by side on the floor on our stomachs with our feet casually waving through the air.
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