"Do we seem dull to you?" Marissa asked as she held Ryan's hand, both
walking down the boardwalk.
"Not really." He replied.
"It's just that all we do is go to parties, and make out in the pool house. Not that that stuff isn't really great, but it just seems like we're stale. Don't you feel that way?"
"I don't think we're stale. We're just---" He wasn't sure what the word was. She slipped around to face him. She looked at him a minute.
"Comfortable?" She replied answering her own question.
"Comfortable." He repeated smiling a little bit. "Can you handle comfortable?" He asked leaning in kissing her softly on the lips, and tightening his grasp on her smooth hands.
"I can handle comfortable, yeah." She smiled.
-----
"Yes, I'm calling to confirm reservations for Cohen." There was a pause as the list was checked. Seth glanced at his watch. 6:15. "Cohen is there? Good. Thank you my good man." Seth hung up the phone and smiled looking around.
He was ready, but what was he forgetting? Flowers, keys, wallet, reservations, there had to be something else. The suit! He looked down at his torn blue jeans, and hit himself in the head as he went and retrieved his suit from the closet.
Putting it on, he looked in the mirror and did his tie. Contented with his appearance, he gave captain oats a pat on the head and walked out the door, jingling the keys to the beamer.
-----
David had tried all day Thursday to talk to Abby. She avoided his glances in class, and left as soon as the bell rang. He wasn't gonna just let her avoid him. Standing outside her house, he took a deep breath and headed up the steps. Pushing the door bell he heard the ring and waited patiently.
Seth was on his way out to the beamer when the doorbell rang, and he ran to answer it. Upon opening it, he found David. "Yes?"
"Is Abby here?" He asked a little unsteadily. Seth looked him down and nodded.
"Yeah, she's upstairs. Let me get her for her." He opened the door wider and walked over to the stairs. "Abby, come down here!" He yelled up the stairs. She came stamping down the stairs in a minute.
"What do you want, Seth?" She asked hopping the last step. She stopped when she saw David. "Oh David, what are you doing here?" She kind of diverted her eyes to a spot on the ground.
"Ah! I see what's going on here. This is the boy you were "studying" with, isn't it? There is major vibage in this room, holy uncomfortable!" He looked at David and walked out the door mumbling something. "I wish I could stay and boy-chat, but I have my own woman to attend to. Good luck." This left only Abby and David. She was still avoiding his glances as the two stood there in the entrance of the Cohen's home.
"Abby, can we talk about this?" He started. She looked up. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. "Abby---" He moved closer to her, and put his arms around her. She did not pull away, but began to cry on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" He stroked her head gently, comforting her.
"It's just that---I didn't expect that, and then I didn't know what to do. Then I ran ---and my father remembered your parents' past, --- and I'm not even supposed to see you." She managed to speak between tears. He moved back so they were face to face now.
"Just because my parents had less than kosher paths in life, doesn't mean I am." She looked down again.
"I know, but my father doesn't think that." She replied. "I really do wanna- --" He placed a finger to her lips.
"You don't have to say anything. I know. I have a plan." He smiled, grabbed her hand giving it a squeeze on the way out the door. She stood there with mascara running, face red and eyes bloodshot. A plan, what was that all about? She'd just poured her problems out to him and he'd walked out with only that statement. In her more hell-raising days, she'd have gone to the fridge and grabbed a beer. That wasn't her now. It wasn't her anymore. She really wasn't sure who she was sometimes, but she knew that wasn't who she was.
-----
"Here you are Mr. Cohen." The maitradee seated the two at a small table near the piano player. Summer smiled politely at the man as he pulled out her chair for her.
"Cohen, how did you know this was my favorite restaurant?" She asked looking at her menu and then looking up.
"A boy can't tell all of his secrets, can he?" He replied sipping his water.
"You asked Coop, didn't you?"
"Maybe," he replied evadingly.
"Well, it's nice, very nice Cohen." She replied looking back at her menu.
"So what looks good?" He asked after a moment of glancing at the laminated paper.
"I'm not sure, maybe the Caesar salad. They make an awesome Caesar here, if I remember correctly."
"Did you just say awesome?" He looked up at her surprised.
"Yes, I said awesome. So what?" She gave him a confused perturbed look.
"Well, it's just that I say awesome a lot. I've never heard you use that word. It's pretty---"
"Awesome?" She finished.
"Yeah, awesome," He repeated.
Despite the lively and "awesome" conversation at the beginning of the date, the rest of the evening was not as spectacular. There was light conversation, comments about the food and a general silence of the rest of the time. It was still a good evening however. As he drove Summer back to her home, he just sat in silence thinking. He stopped at the right address and got out to walk her up to her doorstep. She stepped up onto the doorstep, and he stayed down on the sidewalk. No one spoke for a minute.
"I had a good time tonight." She began, smiling at him, looking deep into his eyes.
"Yeah, I did too." He replied mesmerized by her stare. He stepped up, and kissed her, touching her face gently with his hand. Then he walked back to his car and drove off. Summer went back inside, satisfied with the evening.
-----
"Abby, we've been through this. David is not a boy you may see. He's the type of boy that will ruin your chances in life. Take you off track and heaven knows what else. Do you want that? Do you want to give up your future for some low-life boy?" Sandy was the most enraged she'd ever seen him, flailing about, gesticulating like Seth did often.
"What does my future matter? Seriously, what difference does it make anyway? I've always had everything served to me on a silver platter. Always the best education, the best clothes, the best everything. I won't have to work. I can just live off the trust fund money!" Abby was bright red with anger.
"How dare you say that? We've given you everything we could because we care about you. Now you don't want it?"
"Not if this is how you are gonna treat me. I am old enough to make my own decisions. For goodness sake, I'll be sixteen soon. I am responsible enough to judge the character of a person, and whether or not they are right for me. You don't even know David. All you know are his parents, and even that was ten years ago. People are capable of changing. I did."
"So, this does all go back to David." Sandy retorted just as the doorbell rang. Sandy glanced at Kirsten as if to tell her to get the door. She understood and walked over to the door.
Pulling it open, a voice started speaking before she could say anything. "Mrs. Cohen I presume? I'm David. I just came to see if I could speak to you and your husband. Would that be possible?" Kirsten was more than a little shocked.
"David. What uh---what a surprise. Ah---yes of course. Come in." He entered the door and followed her into the kitchen. She stopped at the entrance and Sandy looked over. "Sandy, ah---David is here." She stepped forward and to the right so Sandy could see the young man. Abby mouthed his name in puzzlement and his eyes gave her a reassuring glance.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, I just wanted to stop by and clarify some things about myself and my family."
"You have no such right, get out!" Sandy cut him off.
"Please, just give me a chance." Kirsten looked at Sandy and he backed off. "I really like your daughter, and I don't think it is fair that you judge me on my parents. Yes, they have done some things in the past but the past is the past. And I am not them. I learned from their mistakes. I've never taken drugs, I've only drank a few times, I don't steal or cheat on tests. I am not a bad egg. I do well in school; I work on the yearbook with Abby. I participate in the schools' debate and drama teams. All I want to do is take your daughter out on a date. I have absolutely no intention of hurting her, or anything else malicious. Please don't look at me by the fact that you know my last name and all that comes with it, look at me for what I am."
Sandy stared at the boy for a moment and sighed. He had a point.
"Awe, give him a chance pops!" Seth came butting into the conversation.
"Yeah, he doesn't seem all that bad to me." Ryan added entering the room as well.
"I am raising a family full of eavesdroppers?" Sandy asked lightening up a bit.
"No, actually it's quite in my nature to listen to other people's conversations." Seth replied smiling. Kirsten leaned on her husbands shoulder. David's eyes wandered over to Abby, and she looked hopeful of her fathers answer. After a long pause, it came.
"Abby, I suppose I can't hand everything in life to you on a silver platter as you like to put it. I'm just overly protective because you are my only daughter and we just got you back from recklessness and irresponsibility. I was just afraid, for the wrong reasons I suppose that this boy would allow you to slip back into those things." He turned to face David and began to address him. "You have proven to be a responsible boy, who cares about my daughter. It takes guts and true commitment to stand up like you just did and I appreciate that. I will try to put my feelings judgments away, but I warn you. We do live in Orange County. It's not exactly the "forgive and move on" capital of the world. I'm sorry that I've caused all this. Now if you'll excuse me, there is a warm bed waiting for me." He grabbed Kirsten's hand and they walked upstairs together.
"So, a good looking fellow like you from the bad part of town, and shady parents to boot? I wouldn't expect that. But tonight is a night to put away the prejudices and to love one another as our Lord would have it." Seth tried to keep a straight face but they all just broke out in laughter.
"You know, we've got some things in common. The surprisingly stunning good looks, yet from the bad side of town. Women can't help but fall all over us. You've picked yourself a good one." Ryan put a hand on David's shoulder. David nodded and smiled.
"He's not always this funny; generally I'm the funny one." Seth added almost without thinking.
David gently took Abby's hand under the counter as the group bantered on. He'd made progress today, broken Mr. Cohen's shell. He just had to gain his full trust and respect. "How about we go out tomorrow?" He asked Abby.
"Tomorrow sounds wonderful." She smiled. Being able to be with David was the last piece of her puzzle. She knew the kind of person she wanted to be, and she knew how she wanted her life to go. Now that she understood herself she could understand another person and she wanted that person to be David.
-----
"Not really." He replied.
"It's just that all we do is go to parties, and make out in the pool house. Not that that stuff isn't really great, but it just seems like we're stale. Don't you feel that way?"
"I don't think we're stale. We're just---" He wasn't sure what the word was. She slipped around to face him. She looked at him a minute.
"Comfortable?" She replied answering her own question.
"Comfortable." He repeated smiling a little bit. "Can you handle comfortable?" He asked leaning in kissing her softly on the lips, and tightening his grasp on her smooth hands.
"I can handle comfortable, yeah." She smiled.
-----
"Yes, I'm calling to confirm reservations for Cohen." There was a pause as the list was checked. Seth glanced at his watch. 6:15. "Cohen is there? Good. Thank you my good man." Seth hung up the phone and smiled looking around.
He was ready, but what was he forgetting? Flowers, keys, wallet, reservations, there had to be something else. The suit! He looked down at his torn blue jeans, and hit himself in the head as he went and retrieved his suit from the closet.
Putting it on, he looked in the mirror and did his tie. Contented with his appearance, he gave captain oats a pat on the head and walked out the door, jingling the keys to the beamer.
-----
David had tried all day Thursday to talk to Abby. She avoided his glances in class, and left as soon as the bell rang. He wasn't gonna just let her avoid him. Standing outside her house, he took a deep breath and headed up the steps. Pushing the door bell he heard the ring and waited patiently.
Seth was on his way out to the beamer when the doorbell rang, and he ran to answer it. Upon opening it, he found David. "Yes?"
"Is Abby here?" He asked a little unsteadily. Seth looked him down and nodded.
"Yeah, she's upstairs. Let me get her for her." He opened the door wider and walked over to the stairs. "Abby, come down here!" He yelled up the stairs. She came stamping down the stairs in a minute.
"What do you want, Seth?" She asked hopping the last step. She stopped when she saw David. "Oh David, what are you doing here?" She kind of diverted her eyes to a spot on the ground.
"Ah! I see what's going on here. This is the boy you were "studying" with, isn't it? There is major vibage in this room, holy uncomfortable!" He looked at David and walked out the door mumbling something. "I wish I could stay and boy-chat, but I have my own woman to attend to. Good luck." This left only Abby and David. She was still avoiding his glances as the two stood there in the entrance of the Cohen's home.
"Abby, can we talk about this?" He started. She looked up. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. "Abby---" He moved closer to her, and put his arms around her. She did not pull away, but began to cry on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" He stroked her head gently, comforting her.
"It's just that---I didn't expect that, and then I didn't know what to do. Then I ran ---and my father remembered your parents' past, --- and I'm not even supposed to see you." She managed to speak between tears. He moved back so they were face to face now.
"Just because my parents had less than kosher paths in life, doesn't mean I am." She looked down again.
"I know, but my father doesn't think that." She replied. "I really do wanna- --" He placed a finger to her lips.
"You don't have to say anything. I know. I have a plan." He smiled, grabbed her hand giving it a squeeze on the way out the door. She stood there with mascara running, face red and eyes bloodshot. A plan, what was that all about? She'd just poured her problems out to him and he'd walked out with only that statement. In her more hell-raising days, she'd have gone to the fridge and grabbed a beer. That wasn't her now. It wasn't her anymore. She really wasn't sure who she was sometimes, but she knew that wasn't who she was.
-----
"Here you are Mr. Cohen." The maitradee seated the two at a small table near the piano player. Summer smiled politely at the man as he pulled out her chair for her.
"Cohen, how did you know this was my favorite restaurant?" She asked looking at her menu and then looking up.
"A boy can't tell all of his secrets, can he?" He replied sipping his water.
"You asked Coop, didn't you?"
"Maybe," he replied evadingly.
"Well, it's nice, very nice Cohen." She replied looking back at her menu.
"So what looks good?" He asked after a moment of glancing at the laminated paper.
"I'm not sure, maybe the Caesar salad. They make an awesome Caesar here, if I remember correctly."
"Did you just say awesome?" He looked up at her surprised.
"Yes, I said awesome. So what?" She gave him a confused perturbed look.
"Well, it's just that I say awesome a lot. I've never heard you use that word. It's pretty---"
"Awesome?" She finished.
"Yeah, awesome," He repeated.
Despite the lively and "awesome" conversation at the beginning of the date, the rest of the evening was not as spectacular. There was light conversation, comments about the food and a general silence of the rest of the time. It was still a good evening however. As he drove Summer back to her home, he just sat in silence thinking. He stopped at the right address and got out to walk her up to her doorstep. She stepped up onto the doorstep, and he stayed down on the sidewalk. No one spoke for a minute.
"I had a good time tonight." She began, smiling at him, looking deep into his eyes.
"Yeah, I did too." He replied mesmerized by her stare. He stepped up, and kissed her, touching her face gently with his hand. Then he walked back to his car and drove off. Summer went back inside, satisfied with the evening.
-----
"Abby, we've been through this. David is not a boy you may see. He's the type of boy that will ruin your chances in life. Take you off track and heaven knows what else. Do you want that? Do you want to give up your future for some low-life boy?" Sandy was the most enraged she'd ever seen him, flailing about, gesticulating like Seth did often.
"What does my future matter? Seriously, what difference does it make anyway? I've always had everything served to me on a silver platter. Always the best education, the best clothes, the best everything. I won't have to work. I can just live off the trust fund money!" Abby was bright red with anger.
"How dare you say that? We've given you everything we could because we care about you. Now you don't want it?"
"Not if this is how you are gonna treat me. I am old enough to make my own decisions. For goodness sake, I'll be sixteen soon. I am responsible enough to judge the character of a person, and whether or not they are right for me. You don't even know David. All you know are his parents, and even that was ten years ago. People are capable of changing. I did."
"So, this does all go back to David." Sandy retorted just as the doorbell rang. Sandy glanced at Kirsten as if to tell her to get the door. She understood and walked over to the door.
Pulling it open, a voice started speaking before she could say anything. "Mrs. Cohen I presume? I'm David. I just came to see if I could speak to you and your husband. Would that be possible?" Kirsten was more than a little shocked.
"David. What uh---what a surprise. Ah---yes of course. Come in." He entered the door and followed her into the kitchen. She stopped at the entrance and Sandy looked over. "Sandy, ah---David is here." She stepped forward and to the right so Sandy could see the young man. Abby mouthed his name in puzzlement and his eyes gave her a reassuring glance.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, I just wanted to stop by and clarify some things about myself and my family."
"You have no such right, get out!" Sandy cut him off.
"Please, just give me a chance." Kirsten looked at Sandy and he backed off. "I really like your daughter, and I don't think it is fair that you judge me on my parents. Yes, they have done some things in the past but the past is the past. And I am not them. I learned from their mistakes. I've never taken drugs, I've only drank a few times, I don't steal or cheat on tests. I am not a bad egg. I do well in school; I work on the yearbook with Abby. I participate in the schools' debate and drama teams. All I want to do is take your daughter out on a date. I have absolutely no intention of hurting her, or anything else malicious. Please don't look at me by the fact that you know my last name and all that comes with it, look at me for what I am."
Sandy stared at the boy for a moment and sighed. He had a point.
"Awe, give him a chance pops!" Seth came butting into the conversation.
"Yeah, he doesn't seem all that bad to me." Ryan added entering the room as well.
"I am raising a family full of eavesdroppers?" Sandy asked lightening up a bit.
"No, actually it's quite in my nature to listen to other people's conversations." Seth replied smiling. Kirsten leaned on her husbands shoulder. David's eyes wandered over to Abby, and she looked hopeful of her fathers answer. After a long pause, it came.
"Abby, I suppose I can't hand everything in life to you on a silver platter as you like to put it. I'm just overly protective because you are my only daughter and we just got you back from recklessness and irresponsibility. I was just afraid, for the wrong reasons I suppose that this boy would allow you to slip back into those things." He turned to face David and began to address him. "You have proven to be a responsible boy, who cares about my daughter. It takes guts and true commitment to stand up like you just did and I appreciate that. I will try to put my feelings judgments away, but I warn you. We do live in Orange County. It's not exactly the "forgive and move on" capital of the world. I'm sorry that I've caused all this. Now if you'll excuse me, there is a warm bed waiting for me." He grabbed Kirsten's hand and they walked upstairs together.
"So, a good looking fellow like you from the bad part of town, and shady parents to boot? I wouldn't expect that. But tonight is a night to put away the prejudices and to love one another as our Lord would have it." Seth tried to keep a straight face but they all just broke out in laughter.
"You know, we've got some things in common. The surprisingly stunning good looks, yet from the bad side of town. Women can't help but fall all over us. You've picked yourself a good one." Ryan put a hand on David's shoulder. David nodded and smiled.
"He's not always this funny; generally I'm the funny one." Seth added almost without thinking.
David gently took Abby's hand under the counter as the group bantered on. He'd made progress today, broken Mr. Cohen's shell. He just had to gain his full trust and respect. "How about we go out tomorrow?" He asked Abby.
"Tomorrow sounds wonderful." She smiled. Being able to be with David was the last piece of her puzzle. She knew the kind of person she wanted to be, and she knew how she wanted her life to go. Now that she understood herself she could understand another person and she wanted that person to be David.
-----