April 29, 1987, Thursday
"Dustin! Dustin! DUSTIN!"
It was difficult to open his eyes because of the clarity, but he knew very well that it was his mother shouting. As he started to see again, Dustin realized that he was lying in the middle of the street.
"Dustin, for God's sake! What are you doing on Mrs. Hockstetter's yard?"
"What?" he said rubbing his eyes and sitting up. It was then that he realized that he was a few houses away from his. How had he ended up there?
"What is that smell? Have you been drinking, boy?"
"Mom..." He was not about to discuss that at that moment. He had migraines.
"Oh, boy! Come home now!"
Mrs. Henderson grabbed Dustin by the ear and dragged him into the house. He had to hear a speech about having been drunk being underage and for exaggerating to the point he fell asleep in the yard. Thank goodness it was close to home! No to even mention how embarrassed he made her in front of the neighbors. Oh, and he was grounded. Dustin tried to go to his room, but his mother forced him to take a shower before going to bed.
Dustin ruffed as he finally entered his sanctuary and threw himself on the bed, leaving the lights off.
It seemed like everything he had done was a dream. That such a Hannah didn't exist, even because he thought she was everything he had asked for in a woman. She didn't make things easy, she was beautiful and didn't care what others thought, dressing her way and acting as she wished. But she was older and that was where the dream ended. It was clear at the Snow Ball that he had no chance with the older ones. He tried the younger ones at school later, but he was not successful either. Who could be his type then? When he realized that apparently no one, he got depressed.
At least the smell of the drink and the hangover proved that all that was real.
He sighed thinking about Hannah and how he was not going to see her again. At least for a while now that he was grounded. Unless he took a detour from his path.
He woke up early to do his hair in its best possible, clearly not the same as the Snow Ball, and ran off to school.
"I want you home immediately after school, you hear me, boy?"
"Yes, mom!"
He kissed her. Dustin only hoped that his friends were not stupid to ask his mother why he had missed school. His grades were already low, he came home drunk and then he was skipping. But he needed to see her again.
From his house the path was longer, and he thought about what he would say to Hannah. Dustin knew she wouldn't be happy to see him, but he had to try. Because if he was rejected, nobody would know.
Things got even more monotonous in the morning and he was scared. It was obvious that he was in the forbidden side, and he had the impression that someone would jump from behind a tree and assault or kill him. It was all worth it for her though.
You'd say Dustin was exaggerating. Too much idealizing a girl he barely knew, but she had something different. When she fell on him and they were so close to each other, Dustin felt something he had never felt before. And it was not perversion, because that he definitely had felt before!
There he was at this diner that no one attended. By the way, he realized that he had not paid for the baptized milk shake. It was a great excuse.
From the glass door Dustin saw Hannah in the same place as before with a face of boredom and she recognized him the moment he entered. She rolled her eyes at the time and snorted.
"What are you doing here?" she was already attacking him, and Dustin raised his hands in surrender.
"I just came to pay for the milk shake," he said already looking at the menu on the wall for the price and leaving the money on the counter right in front of her. "And I wanted to thank you for taking me back, even if you didn't leave me at home." He laughed, and she frowned. "You took me, did not you?"
"You murmured the address and I just understood the street." She shrugged and began to pack something on the counter that would probably never be fixed if she didn't want to run away from Dustin.
"You stay here all day alone? Does anyone come to this place?" Dustin tried to pull off a conversation with something he really wanted to know. Why was the cafeteria and the neighborhood so empty?
"If no one came here, I could not get on with it!" Dustin made a question face as if that answer was not enough. Hannah rolled her eyes again and gave in. "It's only the night here. No one moves in that area during the day."
"Then why do you open during the day?"
"Because I don't like to stay home."
"And why don't you li t..."
"Wow, boy! You're full of questions, aren't you?"
"Have some coffee with me, please!" Dustin pretended not to hear her and decided to risk his chance. "I pay!"
"I'm not leaving here!"
"Can't you do it right here?"
"What makes you think I have coffee here?"
"Please, Hannah. Just this one time. I swear if you don't like it, I'll never bother you again."
And Hannah decided to do it, because she was sure that she wasn't going to like.
"What kind of date does the girl make her own coffee and the guy's?"
"This is not a date!" Dustin smirked at her.
It was true. She didn't want it to be and he was using it against her. Clever. She ended up laughing when Dustin insisted on paying - and paid - the coffee she made for them.
"So, Hannah..." He had so, many questions to ask and she rolled her eyes, sitting directly in front of him, for his attempt to make conversation, "do you coming here a lot?"
"Really, Dustin?" At least she got his name right this time.
"Okay." He thought of something better to say. "Tell me what kind of girl you are."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll talk about myself as an example, okay?" Hannah wanted to laugh at Dustin's seriousness as he stopped to talk about himself. He really wanted to be honest. "You would not like me in your day to day. I'm the weird nerd nobody likes. I only have a few friends who are just like me, and success with girls is zero." Of course, there was El and Max, but one was even weirder and the other not so feminine. "I love science, I usually shoot good grades at school, I play Dungeons & Dragons and I love arcades."
"Why don't you always get good grades, Dustin? If you say you're so nerdy no girl wants to be near you."
"I'm kind of mad at life these last days."
"You rebelled? And that's why you decided to venture here?"
"What kind of girl are you, Hannah?" He shifted to the subject that interested him. He didn't want Hannah to know that he was in a state of depression almost without return. "Who would you be at school?"
"I graduated, but I was the weird Goth that no one spoke of either. And my father is the boss here, so everyone is afraid of me. Anyway, I like to be alone and listen to my punk bands."
"What do you mean, your dad's the boss?" Dustin dared to ask, and Hannah was surprised.
"You're getting yourself into a very dangerous place, Dustin!"
And that's what he wanted! Danger, adrenaline!
"I don't care. Speak!"
Hannah sighed trying to find the best words. She couldn't believe she was actually talking to that boy.
"The people here look more like a gang and not a 'forbidden neighborhood' as you say. And every gang has a leader. That would be my father."
"So, your father is the dangerous guy you don't want to be a friend or an enemy to?"
"Exactly. No one comes near me, afraid to make him angry."
"Do you have boyfriend?" Dustin asked unexpectedly, and Hannah smiled.
"I just said no one comes near me!"
"So, I have a chance!" Before she could comment, Dustin continued, "Does your father have to do with the fact prefer this place over your home?"
Hannah's eyes widened, not waiting for anyone to ask her that. Everyone knew she preferred the cafeteria to her house, but they had never asked, even because they knew why. Her father drank too much with his friends. He had never touched her, but he had secrets, and Hannah hated to know how many people her dear father had killed. At least he only opened to her. He liked his daughter very much and did everything he could to make sure she was safe.
Dustin realized that this was a question that bothered the girl, so he decided to change the subject.
"Look, Hannah, I'm looking for fun and no one comes near you. Because of your bored face, I bet you need to have fun too and because your father is the boss, I bet you know some cool places. How about taking me out tonight?" Not even Dustin believed how brave he was, but if he didn't, he would soon lose the courage, and anything, he would never see Hannah again. He just hoped she would not tell her father. Him, Dustin was afraid of.
"You have no chance with me, Dus..."
"I don't want to date you!" Okay. It was not at all true. "I want to have fun. I want it to be my turnout tonight!"
Hannah laughed. Dustin was a cute and funny boy and she could barely imagine him amid all those people at night.
"Okay. Meet me at nine o'clock on McFly Street. Now, get out of here!"
Dustin smiled and picked up his things. As he was about to walk out the door, Hannah said, "And Dustin, don't be late!"
Dustin was freaking out! Freaking out! But what was he going to wear? He had a date! A real date! It's alright he'd told her they were just friends, but he'd never been alone with a girl like that and was going to have fun for the first time tonight! No arcade or D&D. It was a real teenage thing with a girl he liked very much. He had to look presentable and seem to belong to that place.
"Dustin, are you there? Over." He heard Lucas in the SuperCom and rolled his eyes. His friend was messing up his bad boy vibe!
"I'm here. Over."
"You didn't show up in class today, and the arcade. Everyone's worried. They asked me to talk to you! Are you okay? Over."
"I have conjunctivitis!" Dustin fired. He needed an excuse not to let his friends come to see him. "I found out yesterday when I was helping my mother after school. I'm sorry I didn't warn you, but I can't get close to anyone and I didn't even think about calling or talking here, because it's bothering me a lot and it's kind of making me crazy! Over."
"Man, what a relief! I mean, this is really bad, but we thought it was worse! Get well then, and rest. When you come back, we'll give you what you've lost. Over."
"Okay. Got it, buddy! Good night. Over and out."
Dustin sighed. His friends were very nice, although they were not paying much attention to him these days. It was hard to lie to them and Dustin hated himself for it. But he had to do something alone in his life. He wanted to do something cool without depending on them. Then he would think about how to explain himself.
When he finally chose his clothes, he said good night to his mother before putting them on and waited for her to sleep to sneak out the window. It took longer than he'd expected, and Dustin cursed everything he got, running faster than he could to keep him from being late.
The moment he stepped into the meeting place, he saw Hannah's truck around the corner and he smiled as the car pulled up in front of him.
"Come in, young man!"
Dustin smiled even more and entered without hesitation.
