Authors Note: There is no other way for me to start this, except by saying that I apologize. It has been over a year since I've updated this story, and I'm just so glad to see that there are still people reading it. This year has been one of the most stressful years of my life, but as the summer comes closer and closer, I find that stress being alleviated more and more. I'm going to update this more, and I dedicate it to everyone who is still reading and reviewing this.
And, with this said, I give you Chapter Nine of A Story About Life.
Corny came while Tracy was straightening her hair with their mother's iron. Her somewhat long hair was spread out on the ironing board, and she was trying her best not to flinch as Tracy got closer to her scalp. "Don't burn my head," Jane kept saying, and Tracy giggled. "What, you don't trust me?" She asked. "I think I'm just going to lay this iron on your head."
"Well isn't this a pretty picture," Corny said as he entered the living room. She moved her focus towards him, and he was looking at her with that big grin plastered onto his face. He didn't look like the Corny Collins she had seen at the library and on TV. He was wearing dark washed jeans, and a plaid button-down shirt. Tracy laughed, and the tip of the iron hit her head. She jolted up, her partially straight hair falling behind her back as she rubbed her scalp. "Ow," She said, wincing. She was wearing an orange dress and brown Mary-Jane's, and since she was sitting in such an awkward position for such a long time, there was quite a large crease at the back of her dress. Slowly, she put one of her hands on the crease, and pitifully tried to smooth it out.
"You look excited," He teased. "And your dress matches my flowers." His smile grew as he pointed to the vase of blooming flowers that were sitting on the living room table. "I bet you planned that."
"She would plan something like that." Tracey giggled, and her father laughed along. Her mother had retired to her room after ironing for a few hours; she didn't say it, but Jane knew that she felt insecure about being seen by 'Crabby Conklin' as Edna had called him.
"Let's go," Jane said as she grabbed the small purse that Tracey had let her borrowed, and started to walk towards the door. "Bye Trace, by dad."
Corny followed her, after saying: "Good evening Mr. Turnblad, Tracey." Her father waved to the two of them and said, "Good bye Janie, have fun on your date!"
She turned red, and closed the door behind Corny, nearly hitting him with it. "So you've never been to Sal's Pub before?" He asked her as they walked down the stairs, and he directed her towards his car, and not only opened the door for her, but closed it after she had gotten her seatbelt on. She shook her head. "I never heard of it." She replied.
"Not many people have," He replied as he put the key in the ignition. "I think you'll like it, though."
She didn't reply. "I really like that book you let me borrow. To be honest, I didn't think I was going to like it, but I was proven wrong." He said.
She smiled a little, and she honestly believed that it was the first time that she smiled that night. "If you didn't like it, I would be incredibly insulted. I would also be insulted if you were lying to me right now."
They stopped at a red light, and he laughed. "I would never lie to you, Baby Jane."
She shook her head as the car started moving again. "Everybody lies."
"You're a very optimistic person." Corny said sarcastically as he chuckled. He parallel parked in front of an old brick building, and turned the car off. "Here we are." He said as he took off his seatbelt, and opened his door. She removed her seatbelt, and after closing her door, she smoothed out the back of her dress. She stepped up onto the curb, and Corny held the door open for her.
Inside the pub the lights were dimmed, and the faint smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air. However, there were only about four customers there, and their low voices could be heard over the music that was playing. Corny led her to the bar, and they both took seats on the black leather stools. Her hands remained cupped together on her lap, while Corny sat casually, playing with one of the straws that he found in a dispenser next to him.
"They have really good chicken here." Corny informed her as he stuck the straw in his mouth.
"Hello Corny," A husky voice said from behind the bar. Jane looked up from her lap and at the bar tender. His face was tan, and his whiskers were on the verge of being a full-grown beard. She assumed that Corny frequently went here, because this man did not seem to be the type to watch the Corny Collins show, and because Corny seemed so comfortable here.
She couldn't help but to cringe when she saw the man, for she remembered the way that her rapist's whiskers felt on her cheek that night in June. She knew that this man here at Sal's was not the person who did that to her, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. "Hey Sal," Corny grinned as Jane forcefully opened her clutch so she could get one of her peppermints. But, there were no peppermints in there. Actually, there was nothing but lint and a few dollars in there. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting to put the necessary items in her bag, as she tried not to panic. "This is my friend Jane."
"Hello," Jane said softly as she closed her purse and put it down on the bar with shaking hands. Sal a menu in front of her, and with shaking hands, she opened it. "I'll have the usual, Sal." Corny said, and that was when Jane noticed that there wasn't a menu in front of him.
"I'll have the chicken," Jane said, not even looking at the menu. "And a glass of water, please."
"Good choice," Corny said as she handed her menu to Sal. "I get the chicken every time."
She looked in her clutch once again, moving the money to the side to see if her peppermints were underneath it, but there was nothing else. She had never forgotten her peppermints before, and she didn't know how she would do without them.
"How was your day, Baby Jane?" Corny asked, still chewing on his straw.
"Good," She replied softly. "How was yours?"
"Just dandy." He grinned, the straw sticking out of his teeth. Sal came with water for her and a drink for Corny.
"Here you go, pretty lady." Sal said as he put the water in front of her. She felt like her heart stopped beating.
"You're a pretty girl, Jane."
"Excuse me," She said as she got off of her stool quickly. "Where is the restroom?"
"To the left," Corny said, pointing his finger in the direction. "Is everything alright, Jane?"
"I'm fine," She said, swallowing as she rushed to the bathroom. To her relief, it was a single person's bathroom, so she could have privacy. She locked the door behind her, and sat down on the floor, her head in her hands. When she looked up, she saw that on a little table, there were a bowl of peppermints. She sighed a sigh of relief, and stuck her hand in the bowl, unwrapping one of the mints and putting it in her mouth. She washed her face and took another one of the peppermints, before exciting the restroom. She slowly walked back to the bar, where two plates of chicken were set. It seemed like Corny had waited for her, because he had yet to start on his chicken.
When he saw her slide into her seat, and take a sip of water, he immediately asked if she was alright. "Do you feel sick?" He asked her. "I can just pay up now and take you home if you'd like."
She shook her head, although this was the prime opportunity for her to get out of this, like she had wanted just the day before. "I'm fine; I just had to do something." She replied as she started to eat her chicken. "You're right," she said, smiling at him. "The chicken is good."
"There are two things that I'm always right about, Baby Jane," He grinned as he put a piece of chicken in his mouth. "And that's good music and good food."
"I don't doubt you." She replied and he chuckled.
"I think that's a first." He pointed out.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You didn't seem too happy by coming tonight." He said, and at that point, she felt horrible for the way she was acting these past few days.
"That's not true." She said slowly. "I was excited for tonight."
He smirked. "You didn't seem so excited when I came tonight, and yesterday on the phone you seemed aggravated."
She blushed a little. "Tracey burnt my head today, and yesterday just was horrible in general." She didn't want to seem as though she was covering up her feelings too much, so she tried to be as brief as possible. "But I was excited for tonight."
"Well I'm glad, Baby Jane." Corny said as he took a sip of his drink. "I didn't want you to feel like you were forced to come. You could've said no."
"I would've said no if I didn't want to come." She pointed out. "But I didn't say no."
She felt horrible for lying to him, but she would feel even worse if it was found out that she actually didn't want to come. However, as the night went on, Jane realized that it wasn't going to be as bad as she thought it was going to be. "You didn't say no." He repeated.
"So are you like the head librarian?" He asked, laughing a little. She looked at him, trying to refrain from giggling.
"The head librarian is about seventy years old, and her picture is in the library. It's nice to see that you got me confused with her." She said. "I just volunteer there."
Corny was laughing pretty hard. "Do you want to be the head librarian one day?" She could tell that he was joking.
"Oh yes," She said. "It has been my life long dream to be the head of the library that people rarely go to, just so I could have my picture plastered on the wall for those approximately four people to come in and see."
Corny laughed as he finished his dinner. "Now speaking seriously, what did you want to be when you were little?"
"I wanted to be an English teacher," She replied slowly as she took another sip of her water. As she talked, she remembered college, and how she used to love it. Sometimes, she wanted to go back, she wanted to go back to her old dorm mate, and her teachers. However, the fear of what happened that night kept her from going. She looked towards Corny, who had put another straw in his mouth. "Did you always want to have the Corny Collin's show?" She asked him.
"I always loved music and dancing," He said as he took the straw out of his mouth, and began spinning it in between his pointer finger and thumb. "But my family thought it was absurd. I was the fourth out of eight children, and my older siblings all became doctors, like my parents, and my younger siblings all had high hopes of becoming doctors. I was out of the loop; I mustered up the grades to get into a good college, and I tried to become a doctor, but I guess the music inside me consumed me, and I left. It was actually a fluke that I was discovered," He paused to chuckle. "I was talking to one of my friends about this new dance move I made, and then demonstrated it, when the manager of the station saw me. Then the Corny Collins show was born."
"I can't picture you being a doctor at all," Jane said. "Especially after watching your show."
"If I were a doctor, I would die." Corny said bluntly. "I hate blood and needles and all of that jazz. It's gross."
"But didn't you have to practice on cadavers while you were in school, to practice for surgery?"
"I only had to once, and I paid someone else to do it for me." Corny laughed. "You just can't get enough of books, can't you?" He added.
"What do you mean?" Jane asked.
"You said you wanted to be an English teacher." He said. "And, you work at a library. You also said 'want' in the past tense, which means you changed your mind."
"I didn't change my mind." She replied. "It's just placed on a halt right now."
"Why?"
"Some things came up." She said bluntly. "I just have to reorganize my priorities right now, and I needed a break."
"I see," Corny said. "Well, now that we're done eating, how about I take you to dessert?"
She looked down at her plate, then up at the clock that was hanging on the wall, to see that it was nearly eight thirty. "I should be going home." She said, biting the corner of her lower lip.
"Alright," Corny said, as he placed money down on the bar. She grabbed her clutch and started to take her money out, but he stopped her. "I got it." He said.
"No, it's alright," She said. "I have the money."
"Rule one of our friendly outings," He said, grinning. "I pay for dinner."
"Only if I pay for dessert." She chimed in; initiating that there would be more friendly outings in the future.
"Unless we go right for dessert, if there is no dinner involved I pay for dessert." He retaliated.
"Only if I get to drive." She replied.
"You know how to drive?" He asked her.
"Sort of. I mean, I've seen my dad drive all the time, so it can't be that hard." She said.
"Maybe next time I'll teach you how to drive," Corny said as they both got in the car. "Then you can drive us to our destination."
"Alright." She said as he started driving.
When they got to her house, Corny got out of his car and walked her to the door. As she put her hand on the door knob, he patted her shoulder. "I had a great time," He grinned. "Thank you Baby Jane."
"I enjoyed myself as well," She replied. "And thank you."
He didn't leave until she was in the house, and once she walked into the living room, she found her mother and sister sitting on the couch, and her father in the kitchen. "How was it?!" Tracy exclaimed as she jumped up from the couch, with a big smile on her face. "I want you to tell me everything that happened!"
