True to his word, Andy is waiting for Allison at the school's front door Tuesday morning. He greets her with a kiss on the cheek and pulls her by the hand, not into the school but around to the side of the building. Here they find a sort of vestibule, leading to a service entry.
As they settle on the steps, Allison notices Andy's tight face and furrowed brow. He kicks at a pebble with surprising viciousness. "My dad is really getting to me. Win, win, win, it's all he thinks about. I can't have a girlfriend because I need to get picked by a scout and get into a good school, and nothing else matters. I don't matter. Just winning."
Allison puts her hand on his arm. When he turns to look at her, she meets his eyes and tries to tell him by her look that she understands not mattering. Feeling this is not enough, she ventures to say, "You matter to me." Andy is fighting back tears. Allison puts an arm around him and he burrows into her shoulder. They stay that way until the bell rings.
"We should go to Sharkey's Saturday night." Bender has to shout to be heard above the din in the cafeteria. He looks at them expectantly.
"I don't know, Bender. My parents might not let me go," Brian responds.
"My dad isn't too hot on me socializing with anyone but the team," says Andy. Allison looks on with interest. Her parents, of course, don't care where she is or what she does. "I figured someone like you'd have a party to go to, Bender," Andy adds.
"Yeah, there's a big party at some warehouse, but I can hang a little before heading over," Bender says. "Look Dork, tell your parents it's a Physics Club event, and Sporto, you can lie too." Bender looks at Allison. "You cool, Basket Case?" She nods.
Allison has heard of Sharkey's, but it isn't the sort of place she'd go to alone, and she's never had friends to go with before. Having friends is novel, and someplace to go with them is as well. And if Andy wants to go there with her, he definitely wants her to be his girlfriend, for real, in front of everyone, the jocks and the richies and the activities people. Suddenly Allison realizes this will be her first date, ever. But maybe Andy doesn't want to go. He said his dad wouldn't like it. He could use that as an excuse. When she looks up, she is surprised to see Andy looking more furious than she's ever seen him.
"Screw him, I'm going. I'll tell him some story," Andy growls.
"Way to go, Sporto. Brain?"
Brian squirms a bit, but when he looks up, he says, "Yeah, me too. Count me in." Bender gives them a look, half a smile hiding behind arrogant coolness.
Retrieving his cigarette from behind his ear, he says, "Gotta go. Places to be, people to see."
Andy is still fuming, repeatedly stabbing his meatloaf instead of eating it. He seems to see what he is doing and stops jabbing the meat, but he is still holding the knife when he says, "That's it. I've had it with all this BS from my father. Screw him and his scholarship." He seems to be talking to himself, then notices he's pointing his knife at Brian. He puts down the knife and continues savagely, "It's time for me to have some fun. He can go to hell."
Allison's week passes quickly with so much to think about. Andy and his father, going on her first date, going to Sharkey's. She has been agonizing over her clothes and makeup. She wants to look good for the date, but does she want to change into a new person for it? The way Claire fixed her up? She still has the bow, and she could get some different makeup, not the black shit she usually uses. But is that who she wants to be? A new person?
She decides to go to Thrift City Friday after school, to see if something calls to her. What she finds is a compromise. It's not her usual dowdy monochrome clothes, but not a richie princess look either. It is a cocktail dress in deep blue, from the sixties. The neck line is a bit low, and it sort of feels like it might slide off with no straps, but it is beautiful and somehow suits her current feelings.
She chooses a few other items, to spruce up her bland wardrobe. A scarlet scarf, some really crazy socks with yellow and orange diamonds, and shoes. The shoes are to go with the dress. She can't drag her shit around in that huge bag of hers, so she also gets a slim clutch in black. Her total at the check out is $14.79, much more than she usually spends, but well worth it.
Saturday she treats herself to a long bubble bath and paints her toenails. She bites her fingernails to the quick but her toenails are intact. The blue polish matches the dress.
Allison is glad her parents are out, dining with the Simpsons, so she doesn't have to listen to their arguments. They argue about everything, what to make for breakfast, what color to paint the spare bedroom, who to invite to their dinner parties, who will drive to the pharmacy. Maybe if they noticed Allison they would argue about her too. Sometimes her invisibility does have good aspects. She certainly won't have a curfew or have to introduce Andy to them.
Andy arrives in the Bronco and walks up to her front door before he sees Allison on the porch swing. She has been sitting in the shadows, smelling the night jasmine and looking at the clouds scudding across the sky.
When she rises and Andy sees her, he is speechless. Allison smiles at this reaction. Pulling a little curtsy, she asks, "How do you like it?"
Andy finds his voice and says, "You look... beautiful." He sounds as if mere words are not enough to describe his feelings. Finally, he seems to snap out of his trance and offers her his hand. She takes it and they walk down to the Bronco together.
When they reach Brian's house, Andy sounds the horn and Brian comes rushing out. He scrambles into the back and they head to Sharkey's. Bender promised to meet them there.
They pull into the parking lot and find a space with some difficulty. Apparently the place is packed. Allison finds she is shaking with nerves. This is her debut at the popular diner and high school hang out spot. Everyone goes to Sharkey's. Now she will too. She never thought this would happen.
Andy, Allison and Brian walk towards the front of the building. There are groups of people leaning against cars and Allison sees some of them passing bottles. At the front there is the double row of cars parked at an angle under a split fifties roof that looks like it is about to take off into space. These are the drive-in spots with curb side service. All the popular kids have taken these spots. Allison thinks she glimpses Claire in a silver Mercedes, but isn't sure.
The front doors are glass, with more of the fifties style. Andy holds the door open for her and she enters into a wash of music and raised voices. Andy steers her to the waitress at the podium and he gestures with four fingers held up, to indicate a table for four. They are shown to a booth looking out on the drive-in spots. Lots of vinyl and Formica in pink and green surrounds them. Another waitress, who looks decidedly grouchy, plunks four waters in front of them and tosses down some straws. Andy passes around menus.
Allison looks up when she hears Brian tapping on the glass. She sees Bender, looking as always like he is coming from somewhere more important. When he joins them, he brings the scent of marijuana. He slides into the seat next to Allison. Brian is sorting through pocket change, apparently looking for quarters.
"Van Halen is up next," is Bender's greeting. Bender looks at Brian and says, "There's no point in putting more quarters in the jukebox, Dork. It's full when it's so crowded and just plays them all in order. 'Jump' is next, the only tolerable song in there." He pulls some wadded bills out of his jean jacket and uncrumples them. When he has them flattened out, he digs around in his pockets and comes up with three pennies. "Spot me thirty five cents, Sporto?"
Andy rolls his eyes and rummages in his letterman jacket, coming up with some change, which he hands over. "What are you going to do for beer at the party, Bender?"
Bender opens his jean jacket and flashes them a glimpse of a pint bottle. "I'm all set."
When the waitress returns, she smiles at Bender, a slow smile that makes her look sultry. She leans against the booth and says to Bender, "What do you want, sweetheart? The usual?"
"Hey Patty. You keeping warm at night?" Brian is gaping at them and Allison is looking on with great interest. She's never seen someone flirt in real life. Even Andy is paying attention to the pair.
Patty leans down and whispers something in Bender's ear. Allison can see a small cross on a gold chain dangling between her breasts, which seem in danger of falling out.
"You let me know, Patty, any time you like." Bender gives her one of his crooked smiles, mischief in his eyes.
Patty stands straight again, jotting down something on her pad. She turns to Brian with a look of utter indifference and drawls, "What can I get you?"
Brian asks for a fish sandwich platter and a cherry milkshake. Allison points at an item, a burger and fries combo. Andy urges her to get a milkshake as well. She manages to mumble, "Vanilla," just loud enough for Patty to hear her. Andy orders a double bacon burger with onion rings and a chocolate milkshake.
When Patty leaves, Brian asks Bender, "What did she say to you?"
"Never kiss and tell," Bender advises. Then he groans. Duran Duran has come on the jukebox.
"…the frog was really nothing special. You see, the rat's a ventriloquist." Bender sits back to watch their reaction to the punchline of his joke. Brian can't stop laughing. Andy is laughing too, and even Allison is smiling. Then Claire walks by with two girlfriends, on her way to the restrooms, and Bender's smile drops off his face. Andy is still laughing, but Brian and Allison are watching Bender with concern. Bender's eyes follow Claire all the way to the bathroom, then he picks up his burger. Allison returns to her fries and Brian sips his milkshake, but they watch Bender covertly.
"Bender…" Allison starts, unsure if this is a good idea. "Don't let her get to you."
"Let her get to me? No way!" is Bender's vehement response. "She can kiss Chad all she wants. It doesn't matter to me."
Uh oh, this is worse than Allison initially thought. He's gone to the trouble to learn the name of Claire's new boyfriend. He's still mad as hell, still hung up on her rejection. Allison sighs. There's not much she can do. She and Brian exchange a look. She gives a little shrug.
Claire's appearance puts a damper on their evening. Bender is trying to act his ordinary bigger than life personality, but his heart isn't in it. He pushes his rumpled bills and change towards Andy and says, "Settle for me, Sporto. The night is young and a party awaits me." And he's gone.
Allison is absorbed in Brian and Andy's argument about Illinois State versus Iowa State, and is surprised to look up and see two girls stopped at their table. They are the two girls who accompanied Claire to the bathroom. They seem to shine with money and style, head to foot perfection. One is blonde, the other is a brunette, but they both have the same expressions on their faces, haughty scorn.
"Ugh, Andy, I can't say I like your taste in girls," says the brunette. She laughs as she looks Allison up and down.
The blonde is looking at Brian with open disgust. "What are you doing with him? Since when are you a physics dork? Really Andy, the company you keep these days... I don't know what happened to you. You used to be cool."
Claire is loitering a few tables away, looking uncomfortable.
"What happened to me was real life, something you know nothing about, Mandy," Andy growls. "Go ahead and tell me my girlfriend isn't beautiful. You know she is. You're just jealous."
"Look at her clothes. She's a freak. You can do better than her." Mandy continues to scan Allison, scorn on her face.
"If you mean yourself, I'd rather die celibate than go with you. You're a buncha fakes."
Allison has been sinking deeper and deeper into the back of the booth, slowly sliding down to make herself inconspicuous. Andy grabs her hand across the table and says, "Allison is the best thing to happen to me in a long time."
"C'mon, Mandy, we have better things to do than hang out with losers and freaks." The brunette looks around and says, "Where's Claire?"
The two girls collect Claire and saunter out, back to their friends in the drive-in section. Claire looks back once, a troubled expression on her face. Andy, Allison and Brian watch the three girls walk back to the silver Mercedes Allison. As they watch, someone who must be Chad grabs Claire by the upper arm. He looks angry and shakes Claire a little. She bows her head and he lets go, still looking angry. They get into his Mercedes and Andy and Allison look at each other.
"That Chad is bad news. Claire has bit off more than she can chew," Andy says.
Allison doesn't like Claire, but she doesn't hate her either and feels worried for her. But then her mind goes back to what Andy said. She, Allison, is the best thing to happen to Andy in a long time? Her heart turns over and her cheeks flush. She shyly meets Andy's eyes and says, "You're the best thing to happen to me, ever."
Patty interrupts their silent communion by slapping down the check. Andy looks away and picks it up. "Hey, Bender left me a dollar too much."
"That's for Patty." Allison is quite sure of herself when she says this.
"Well, OK, I guess. That Bender is weird," is Andy's assessment.
Allison thinks back to detention and repeats Andy's words. "We're all pretty bizarre."
Brian interrupts another wordless communication between Allison and Andy. "Guys, I better get going. My parents want me home by 10:30."
Andy snaps back to reality. He gathers up Brian's share of the bill and adds his own money to the little pile, and they are ready to go. When they walk past the popular kids' cars, Allison notes the Mercedes is gone.
They get Brian home in plenty of time. It is only 10:15 when they pull up at Allison's house. The house is dark and her parents car is still gone.
"Am I really the best thing to happen to you in a long time, Andy?"
Andy turns to look at Allison and reaches out to touch her cheek. "Yes, definitely."
What starts as a slow, sweet kiss becomes intense. Allison's hand slips into Andy's jacket, to feel the smooth fabric of his t-shirt, and under that, his warm chest. She slides her hand around to the small of his back to pull him closer. The transmission hump gets in her way as they lean over the center console. She breaks their kiss to murmur, "Do you want to come inside?"
"Won't your parents be home soon?"
"They won't care. They don't care about anything that has to do with me."
Andy considers this, brow wrinkled. "Maybe not tonight, Allison. Maybe another time."
Allison doesn't conceal her disappointment very well. "Maybe next time," Andy says. "I really need to get home. Don't want my dad breathing down my neck. OK?"
"OK. I guess I'll see you Monday?"
"First thing in the morning. Sweet dreams, Allison."
Allison is sure her dreams will be sweet tonight.
