Desires and Jokes
In the end, it hadn't been Link nor Amber that had been signed, but Corny. He had been with the show since the beginning; which had only been four years. He hadn't been surprised. He had, in fact, goaded Velma with dreams of Amber's stardom to call in her connection, connections which Corny didn't have.
It had all been too easy.
The public only saw the wide smile, the ridiculous name (not the one given to him by his mother) and for some reason they saw weakness. He had stayed for four years because he knew that one day his chance would arise. And it did.
The show only lasted another two and a half years after he left.
It surprised him that it wasn't him leaving that broke the show. It was the graduation of the original cast that unraveled everything. The station tried to keep it together for another year with new cast members, but the public had lost interest, and the seventh season of the Corny Collins Show ended quicker than scheduled with a small whimper. Few watched the last season. Corny had been one of the few.
He hadn't cared. He had felt nothing when it was over. He had turned off the television, calmly straightened his tie and walked onto a stage that had grown to love him. A stage that wasn't local with an audience of a few thousand, but a national stage that boasted an audience of millions.
He was a household name. One that set beside Johnny Carson and Joey Bishop. His overly wide smiles had relaxed into easy grins that drew his guests into a sense of comfort and security. His hair was still slicked back, no longer the hair of a corny car salesman, but that of an assured and efficient man. He had lost the cheep suits in favor of designers that his audience wouldn't care about, but which his guests could appreciate.
He had made it. In two short years, he had made it.
He didn't know what he was doing back in Baltimore. Somehow he had found himself back here, not far from the old station, gazing at the office structure it had become.
He didn't understand the pull this silly building had over him. But Cole ( no longer Corny, not for three years) was smart enough to acknowledge that it wasn't the building. It was wide, innocent brown eyes, starring at him not so long ago that were the real lure.
She had had a way of looking at a man. Like she needed him to protect her. When she set her eyes upon him, he had felt like he could move mountains. It had felt damned good. It had been why he had taken any opportunity to get those eyes back on him. Link, the silly boy, didn't have to work for her attention, she gave it freely to him. But Cole had to slide next to her, pull her next to him, and promise her the world just to see those lips curve upwards and see those eyes fix on him.
He had been lying, mostly.
He was older, 24 to their 16, and had known the game. He never felt any attraction to the other girls, because they were just that – girls. But not Tracy – even thinking the name made him harden – she had walked into the gymnasium with a swirl of hips and a knowing smile and Cole had seen a woman.
The other council member thought that the reason he pulled her into so many hugs was because he was such a thoughtful guy, just helping out the new girl. That the reason he talked so close to her ear was because he wanted to reassure her after one of the other girls had said something mean. They couldn't know or see his hand trailing up and down her back, curving across her hips, pulling her in a little closer. They couldn't see how he would "accidently" graze the skin of her back.
She would look at him with confusion in her eyes, and something else. A hunger just waiting to consume her. But she would repress it because she was too caught up in her school girl fantasies of Link Larkin and hand holding, and the occasional French kiss – which was the naughtiest thing she could think to do with a boy. The idea of him, a man, wanting her scared her. So she let herself see the hugs and touches as nothing more than a platonic affection. She never lingered on thoughts were she questioned why he never touched any of the other council members – boys and girls, alike – anywhere near as much as he touched her.
Cole was fine with it all.
He was standing in front of her father's joke shop. It looked just as it always did. And he desperately hoped that he would see her.
He walked in, the door made a funny engine sound when he opened it. He couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face.
He was so distracted by the ring that he failed to see her behind the counter until her excited voice chimed, "Corny!"
He turned to see her run from behind the counter and hurl herself into his arms. He caught her easily and pulled her flush against himself.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with her ever constant cheer. She pulled away from him, but he wouldn't give up his hold on her.
With his arms still around her, he answered. "I was in town, so I thought I'd come and visit. What are you still doing here?" It was genuine curiosity. She seemed like the sort that would be on the next train to New York or Hollywood ready to battle whatever the world had to throw at her for her big chance.
She gave him one of her radiant smiles. "I'm going to college. But just you wait. Once I'm done, I'm heading to New York."
"New York, huh? That where I am." He said, looking down at her upturned face.
"I know!" She giggled, her arms sliding down his shoulders to rest on his arms. "I watch your show every night it's on."
"Do you now, darlin'." He said. His use of the affectionate term Link used to call her sounded huskier and much more masculine coming from his lips than it ever had coming from Link's. Tracy felt herself blush, but didn't really know why.
"Of course!"
He finally released her. She took a few steps back because being so close to him, having his presence so completely surround her had her feeling warm and shaky, just as it had when he would touch her before he left.
He gazed deeply into her eyes. "Besides college, what are you doing now?"
"Nothing's been much different. I might not be doing the show anymore, but I'm a dance major so I still do a whole lot of dancing. Penny is still my best friend and she's also going to the same college. Seaweed is also going to college, but for him it's more of an afterthought. His real passion is the Civil Rights movement. He does so much on the campus, I'm really proud of him. Other than that, there isn't much to tell." She finished sheepishly. She wasn't very exciting. She was sure he spent most of his days with movie stars and her life must bore him to tears.
"What about Link?" He asked. He saw Tracy's smile wilt a little.
"He couldn't really take the pressure of dating me. We only dated for three months, and then he broke up with me." She saw his face darken.
"No it's fine, Corny! I completely understood." She hasted to clarify. "We were still friends, but he moved to California soon after graduation and I haven't heard from him since."
"Well it's good that you're still friends." He said amicably. What he really wanted to do was call Link a pissant, but he didn't think that she would appreciate that.
Something struck him. "Dalin', I'm not Corny anymore. My name's Cole."
She gave him a gentle smile and said his name, her lips forming into a perfect kiss.
And all of a sudden he found himself falling back on his old tricks.
"So what is it you want to do in New York?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.
"Broadway!" She cried excitedly, jumping in place. He found her enthusiasm charming.
"Do you now…" He drawled, his eyelids lowering as he ran his eyes up and down her body. "It just so happens that I know a few people on Broadway."
Her widened a little more, her head cocked to the side, and she gave him a shy smile. "Lucky."
"Why don't you come visit me. I'll introduce you." He said moving closer to her. She didn't move back, too caught up in the blue of his eyes. They were a paler blue than Link's, but much more intense. They were the only eyes that saw her worth from the moment they set upon her.
"Okay." She whispered, only because air seemed to have left her lungs and made them empty.
"Good." He ground out. Her lips, so plum, soft and pink teased him with the image of her other innocence.
"Now."
"What?" She asked in a daze. He was right against her. The heat of his body searing her own.
"Come back with me to New York." It wasn't a question. It came out more as an order.
She said nothing.
They stood together in the shop of old memories, their bodies close together singing with untapped, secret desires.
She said nothing.
Desires and Jokes