Daphne sat in an easy chair flipping channels. One leg was up and the other crossed over it, swinging the foot just over the family room carpet. It was late Saturday afternoon and the tired sun began climbing down the sky. There was nothing on television and Daphne was bored out of her mind. If only Freddy would call…
It had been seven months since that joyful day when Freddy Wilbert had asked Daphne Robbins to their high school homecoming dance. The night marked the beginning of a giddy teen romance between the two long time pals. They did everything together and talked for hours on the phone. Their relationship had been going great, up until recently, that is.
She and Freddy hardly ever had fun together anymore. It seemed like all he did was work. On the rare occasion he wasn't serving popcorn or picking up trash at the local baseball park, they had a mystery to solve. Not that piecing together clues and catching criminals wasn't fun, but Daphne missed the times when Freddy and her got to be alone. Some of the most fun she ever had was with him. Freddy used to take her to the drive-in to see the latest picture or to the Malt Shop where they sate across from each other in the corner booth (for the most privacy). The best of their dates, though, were the night drives up to the hill right outside of town. There was something about the fresh spring air under the stars that made Daphne antsy to get physical with her oh-so-cute blonde-haired boyfriend. She enjoyed talking with him, like would do many times when he parked the car—other times they would just sit there in the peaceful quiet; Daphne liked these things and thought it was sweet when Freddy put his arm around her—but more often than not, the two would end up kissing.
Freddy was great with his tongue. Occasionally, Daphne would get lost in the moment and not notice when her boyfriend's hand crept up her shirt. To his disappointment, she would always stop him before he could touch her breast. Not that the redheaded sleuth did not like this sort of thing—she often found herself wanting to do much more than just make out with Freddy—Daphne simply wanted to save sexual activity for marriage, or at least until she was sure they were truly in love.
And that was another thing: did Freddy really care about her? They would trade "I love you"s over the phone and sometimes even while kissing, but Daphne never felt that he did love her. Freddy acted like he cared about her; he asked about her classes at school and discussed TV and music with her but the tone in his voice seemed less than interested at times.
"It's probably all in my head," she thought. There was no way that Freddy just liked her because she had a pretty face and good looking body. He loved her for who she was. Or did he?
It was April of their senior year; graduation was barely over a month away. As the end of high school approached, more questions about her relationship with Freddy began to swim around in Daphne's head. Will we stay together? What about when we start college? Will he meet another girl? Will he dump me for some one more interesting (or more willing to have sex)?
But Daphne didn't like to think about those things; having doubt about Freddy's level of desire to stay together scared her. "He loves me," she reassured herself.
Just then, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Daph." It was Freddy. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing important," she replied getting up to turn down the volume on the TV then sat back down.
"Ok, cool because we just got a new lead on this old museum out in Oakfield. The owners claim they have been having trouble with ghosts. Are you gonna come?"
"Sure, I'll meet you guys down at Velma's in a few."
"K, see you there," Freddy said quickly before she could respond. The low drone of the dial tone sounded so empty.
"Bye, baby," Daphne answered into a phone with no one on the other end.
Daphne got up and switched off the TV. Surely the reason Freddy didn't say a very warm goodbye was because he could not wait to get started on the mystery. She slipped on her shoes and headed out the door.