Chris Carter and 1013 Productions owns the X Files. I don't.
The crowd of girls surged around Maggie as she pulled her books out of her locker at dismissal time on Friday. She could hear snatches of chatter about the dance that night, the first school dance of the year. Maggie was excited about it, too. She was going to sleep over her friend Bernadette's house that night, and give the girls plenty of time to talk all about it. Maggie checked her ponytail in her little mirror, thinking about the nice-looking boy at the last football game who had smiled shyly at her. Maybe he would be there tonight. Maybe he would even ask her to dance.
Maggie closed her locker and waited for Bernadette to catch her up. "I can't wait for tonight," Maggie said.
Bernadette sniffed as she pulled up her knee socks and tugged down on the hem of her uniform. "The Sock Hop? That's kids' stuff."
"Oh yeah? When did you get so grown up?"
"Since my parents are going out this evening. I've got a much better idea than some dumb old Sock Hop. Let's go down to the Officers' Club."
"Have you gone bananas?" Maggie exclaimed. "We can't go to the Officers' Club!"
"Give me one good reason."
"For one thing, my parents would kill me if they ever found out. Your parents would kill you. We'd never pass for adult women. And furthermore, those are grown men. They don't want to dance with high school girls like us."
"Maggie, you just worry about everything, don't you," said Bernadette as the two girls walked home. "As for our parents finding out, Dad said I could take the other car. We'll be sure to get home at the right time, as if we had gone to the Sock Hop. And never mind about looking old enough. We'll curl our hair and wear makeup and dress in evening clothes."
"My evening dress is at home, if I may remind you. If I tried to take it out of the house, my mom would want to know why"
"Then you'll wear my rose satin. You'll look divine in it. Come on, Maggie, think about it. Men, Maggie, not little boys. Please, please, please!"
"Oh..." Maggie hesitated. "All right. But it anything goes wrong, it was all your fault."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take."
Somehow, Maggie and Bernadette made it past the front door of the Officers' Club without being challenged. Out of her own comfortable bobby socks and saddle shoes, Maggie tried very hard to look sophisticated in stockings and high heels, and not to wobble too badly.
Bernadette was playing her part to the hilt, smiling and nodding to the best looking officers. The two girls found a table where they could sit down. Bernadette ordered a glass of wine and Maggie ordered a club soda, even though she hated the taste.
"So far, so good, right, Maggie?" Bernadette asked. She seemed inordinately pleased with herself.
"We'll see," Maggie replied.
As the girls sipped their drinks, Bernadette whispered to Maggie, "Look, those two men are looking at us."
Maggie turned around. Bernadette was half right. One of the men was smiling at Bernadette. The other man was looking at nothing in particular, smoking a cigarette.
"Just play it cool, Maggie, play it cool," Bernadette said as she checked her reflection in her compact.
Soon enough, the smiling man came over to their table and asked Bernadette to dance.
"I would love to, but you see, I can't leave my friend here," Bernadette said, looking at Maggie, the smoking man, and back at the smiling man with a meaningful expression.
"Just one moment." The officer walked back to his friend and seemed to be in some conversation. Finally, the two girls saw the smoking man stub out his cigarette and follow his friend back to their table.
Just my luck, Maggie thought. I would get the one who needs to be persuaded.
Politely, he held out his hand to Maggie. "Would you care to dance?"
Maggie nodded and allowed herself to be led to the dance floor.
As he put his arm around her, he said, "The name's Spender."
"Maggie," she replied.
They didn't talk during that dance, or the one that followed. Bernadette invited the two men back to their table, where Maggie and Spender listened to the friendly chatter between Bernadette and the smiling officer. Maggie was nervous, thinking that she should be more vivacious, like Bernadette, but she was unable to think of anything interesting to say to the officer sitting next to her.
Spender, on the other hand, was looking at Maggie, and thinking that she was really quite young. In the dim light from across the room it was hard to tell, but up close it was more noticeable.
The smiling man suggested that they go to a nightclub down the street, and Bernadette agreed. Maggie was dubious, but she didn't want to leave Bernadette alone with the man. She reluctantly agreed, and Spender said nothing, but followed them all out the door.
Once outside, Bernadette and her officer walked on ahead, and Maggie could hear her giggling at the things he was saying. Maggie was trailing behind and Spender walked next to her, lighting a cigarette, but he didn't offer one to her. He took a long drag and exhaled, then said, "You're not 20 yet, are you?"
"I don't think it's nice to ask a lady her age," Maggie retorted.
"I'm just thinking about you. Young girls are sometimes quite naive about the people they meet--they think everybody's safe."
"I'll put it this way," Maggie said, "I do have my driver's liscence."
Spender shrugged, but said no more.
Unable to bear the silence, Maggie asked, "What makes you think I'm so young?"
"Looking at you up close, for one thing. Then there's the way you don't walk as if you're used to those shoes. Then there's your taste in music."
"My taste in music?"
He nodded. "I saw how you tapped your foot when they played that rock and roll."
Maggie grinned, but refused to get drawn in to that discussion. She could hear that at home, from her parents.
They continued to walk in silence until Maggie needed to speak again. "Listen, Spender, I can stay with Bernadette. I don't mind being the wallflower, truly. You don't have to stay if you don't want to. We won't be staying out too much longer. We have to get back to Bernadette's house by midnight"
"Cinderella," he said, absently. "No, I'll stay."
At the nightclub, Bernadette and her officer cut a rug while Maggie and Spender sat at the table and watched.
"I went into the military because I wanted to do something useful, something important," Spender was telling Maggie. As long as they were stuck together tonight, Maggie wanted to at least draw him out into conversation. She asked him why he had chosen the service as a career, and was surprised at how animated he was when he answered her.
"I like that I am part of something where I can protect our country." He smiled at her, a little sheepishly. "I would like to make a difference in people's lives."
"I think I understand, Spender," Maggie replied. "Sometimes I think I would like to be a teacher, or a nurse. Something where I could help people."
He looked searchingly into her face a moment before something like a cynical expression passed over his own, momentarily. "You want to dance, Maggie?"
"Yeah, I would like that very much."
As they danced again, still not talking, Maggie thought that she was really impressed with the way Spender wanted to make a difference. He seemed to want his life to count. None of the boys she knew thought like that, or that far reaching. She felt herself a little drawn into his enthusiasm, a little drawn to him, and she leaned closer to him.
Spender was thinking that it had been a long time since he had seen anything as appealing as Maggie's wide-eyed innocence. He hadn't lied to her about his motivations, but he was sure that if she knew some of the things he had already seen and done in order to make a difference, she would look at him differently. Not that it mattered, when he would never see her again, but still... He pulled her closer.
"Hey you guys, break it up," Bernadette said as the song ended. "Maggie, we gotta go if we're gonna get home by the time my folks do."
The two officers walked the girls safely to their car. Bernadette got in first, and Maggie lingered, a moment, talking to Spender.
"It was really nice meeting you," she said.
"Likewise,"
"Well," she said, not sure what to say that would be appropriate. "Good luck."
He nodded.
Maggie started to let herself into the car, when she stood up and said, "You know, Spender, I'll just bet you will make a difference."
Impulsively, Spender leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you Maggie."
As Bernadette and Maggie drove off and headed for home, Maggie watched the glowing ember of Spender's cigarette in the passenger side mirror until it was out of sight.