Disclaimer: TC Williams High School and its environs belong to the City of Alexandria, VA. The original Titans, Charles Manson, the Jackson 5, the Doors, and the Basses belong to themselves. The fictitious characters and the Titans' theme from the film Remember the Titans belong to Disney. This chapter is named after the 1972 Moody Blues song, which obviously does not belong to me; and neither do the songs "In the Still of the Night" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow." I also do not own McDonald's, Miss America, the M*A*S*H and Kung Fu TV shows, and the Russian Tea Room. I only own Tamsin, Jonathan, their house, Ma Rose's and Dario's. I also own Tamsin's pinstriped pants, but she can borrow them because my mother doesn't think I look good in them anyway.
Technical Notes: I understand that the US involvement in the Vietnam conflict ended sometime in 1972. Therefore, I'm assuming that the hype over the war is over by now. "Charlie" was a code word used by American soldiers when talking about the Vietcong forces.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Amiella Rogue, Rhia and everyone else who reviewed! I really appreciate the feedback. Since we're not getting paid to do this, reviews are basically all that we get in exchange. Don't forget to support your other favorite authors by reviewing their stories!
Chapter Five — You and Me
"Hey, Sunshine! Great game last week!"
"Thanks, man." Ronnie grinned as he joined the students entering the TC Williams building. The thrill of the victory over Groveton made it almost fun to go back to school that Monday.
He was, however, looking forward to the school day for other reasons.
"Hi, Sunshine," said a female voice at his elbow.
He turned to find Miranda walking alongside him, books cradled demurely against her chest. "Hey, Miranda," he replied with a polite nod.
"Back to the grind again, huh?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Getting a burger at McDonald's is starting to sound like a great idea."
Ronnie smiled briefly. He'd never seen Miranda eat anything fattening (which roughly translated to anything, period) the entire time they were going out. "Yeah, it is; too bad we've got a team meeting after school today."
The redheaded girl pouted. "Oh, and I was going to ask you guys to join us."
"Sorry," he said with an apologetic shrug, "but we're trying for another perfect season this year and that means a lot of work."
"Of course." Her face brightened. "Hey, maybe we could all sit together at lunch today."
"I don't know. I'll ask the guys, all right?"
"OK. See you!" She smiled and gave him one final wave before going off to join her friends.
"Yeah. See you." Ronnie tuned out the sound of her friends' giggles as he walked to his locker to pick up the rest of the things he would need that morning.
He caught sight of Tamsin standing further down along the bank of lockers, half-hidden by passersby on their way to class. Ronnie shut his locker door and walked toward her. "Hey, Tamsin."
She smiled shyly up at him as she shut her locker. "Hi, Ronnie."
"Can I walk you to homeroom?"
Tamsin blushed. He supposed his startling revelation last Friday still rattled her. "I guess so."
"You can refuse if it makes you uncomfortable."
"No, you can walk me to homeroom," she said, rolling her eyes. "I might as well get used to it."
"Yes, you might as well, 'cause I ain't going anywhere," Ronnie laughed as they started down the hall together. "Are you doing anything after school?"
She blushed some more, but bravely arched an eyebrow. "Someone's working fast."
"Hey, you can say you're busy if it makes you uncomfortable." He smiled. "So, are you?"
"No," she said slowly. "Why?"
"Well, I owe Sheryl ice cream for getting you to come to the game, and I need someone to chaperone," he chuckled. "Just so people won't think I'm into dating much younger girls. How about it?" he asked as Tamsin laughed.
She smiled. "Sure. Just let me clear it with Uncle Jon."
* * *
"Have her home before dinner, you hear?" Uncle Jon joked over his shoulder as he finished erasing the blackboard after that afternoon's English lesson.
Tamsin smiled wryly at Ronnie, who grinned back. They had stayed behind to help him clean up and let him know where they were going. "I won't keep her out too late, sir," he said.
"Seriously, though," Uncle Jon told him as he dusted off his hands, "just as long as she's back at a reasonable hour, it's fine with me."
"Oh, she will be. It's a school night and everything, after all."
"Well, since you're both talking about me like I'm not here," Tamsin said, "I think I'll go now."
Her uncle laughed. "See you at home, sweetie. Bye, Sunshine. You two have fun."
"See you, Mr. Graham," Ronnie replied.
"Sorry about that," she muttered when they were finally out in the deserted hallway.
He chuckled as they started toward the gym. "That went well, actually. I've had fathers look at me like I was Charles Manson or something, back when I had really long hair."
"How does your dad let you get away with that?" Tamsin asked as she watched him run a reminiscing hand over his collar-length blond hair. She'd seen boys with much longer hair back in New York, Ronnie's was long by Alexandria standards; and while she'd only caught a glimpse of Ronnie's father at the football game last week, he looked like a really straitlaced kind of guy.
"He doesn't mind. He's pretty cool for an Air Force colonel."
She smiled. Even in ordinary clothes, Colonel Bass had looked like he was standing at attention. "I'm sure he is."
When they reached the Titan coaches' office, right beside the gym, Ronnie knocked, opened the door, and stuck his head in the room. "Afternoon, Coach Yoast," he said respectfully. "Is Sheryl ready?"
"She sure is!" Sheryl herself declared, marching out of the office. "Let's go! I'm starvin'!"
"Now, you mind your manners, Sheryl," her father reminded her, coming to the door. Coach Yoast fixed Ronnie with a paternal glare. "Have her home before dinner, you hear?"
"Yes, sir," Ronnie assured him with a straight face. Tamsin, on the other hand, laughed out loud.
Coach Yoast smiled at them. "Well, y'all have a good time. See you at home, punkin'."
"'Bye, Coach," Sheryl said, waving as her father shut the door.
Tamsin snickered and held out her hand. "OK, let's go, punkin'."
The little girl glared at her and brushed past. "Only Coach can call me that."
"Tough…punkin'."
Ronnie chuckled at the mutinous look on Sheryl's face. "All right, you two, cut it out or neither of you gets ice cream."
"Ooh, the big bad football player is going to make me pay for my own," Tamsin said sarcastically. She had no idea why she was acting so strangely. Perhaps the prospect of finally going out with a boy (even with a sassy ten-year-old tagging along) was making her a bit giddy. "I'm so scared."
Sheryl giggled in spite of herself.
Ronnie took them to Ma Rose's. They pushed through the double doors into the diner and a plump black woman standing at the counter gave a cry of delight. "Hey there, honey child!"
"Hi, Aunt Rose," Ronnie replied courteously as he escorted Sheryl and Tamsin past a jukebox playing the Jackson 5. The late afternoon sun streaming in through the plate-glass windows splashed the black-and-white tiled floor with deep gold.
Aunt Rose — Tamsin supposed she was "Ma Rose" — beamed at them as they clambered onto high stools at the counter. "And who are these lovely young ladies?" she asked with interest.
He grinned. "Well, this over here is Sheryl Yoast, Coach Yoast's daughter; and that's Tamsin Lee. She's in my class at school. Sheryl, Tamsin, this is Mrs. Rose Stanton. She owns this place. She's also Blue's aunt."
"Pleased to meet you two," Aunt Rose said to the girls.
"Same here, ma'am," Tamsin replied politely.
"Now, what'll y'all have?" the black woman asked after Ronnie had taken the stool on Sheryl's other side they were all handed menus.
"I'll have the triple-scoop hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and chopped nuts," Sheryl announced. "Please," she remembered to add.
"How about you, Tamsin?" Ronnie asked.
"I think I'll have the same," Tamsin said as she put her menu down.
"Are you sure?"
"You don't want me to eat ice cream?"
"Let the gal have her ice cream, Sunshine!" Aunt Rose told him, reaching over to pinch Tamsin's cheek. "If she won't fatten up, she'll disappear!"
"I only meant you could get something else if you want to," Ronnie said to Tamsin. "I'm paying, remember?"
"Ice cream's fine," she assured him with a smile. "I still have to eat dinner when I get home, anyway. I'll clean you out some other time," she joked.
He grinned back. "I can't wait."
* * *
The ice cream was gone all too soon and the next thing Ronnie knew, they had dropped Sheryl off at the Yoasts' and he was driving Tamsin home. "Well," he announced as he pulled up along the sidewalk outside 125 Gartner Street, "here we are."
"Thanks for the ice cream," Tamsin said.
"You're welcome. Wanna try it again sometime?" he asked. "Without Sheryl?"
She laughed and fidgeted with hem of her sweater. "That would be nice."
"Cool. I'll call you."
They sat for a while in silence as an old Doors song began to play on the radio. "Am I supposed to kiss you goodnight?" Tamsin asked then. "I told you I'm not really experienced at this kind of thing, so I'm not too sure what the rules are."
Ronnie looked down at the steering wheel. "You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable."
She laughed again, shakily. "If I didn't do something because it made me uncomfortable, I probably would never have done a lot of things." Tamsin leaned in close and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She smelled like jasmine. "Good night, Ronnie. Take care going home."
He smiled at her as she high-tailed it out of the car. "'Night, Tamsin. See you tomorrow."
* * *
"So," Emma said expectantly in the third floor girls' room the next day, "tell me all the details!"
Tamsin blushed. "Nothing happened, really — we met after school, had ice cream at Ma Rose's, and then he brought me home. That's it."
"That's it?" the blonde girl exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down and not draw her other friends' attention. "He didn't ask you out again?"
"Well, yes, he did. He said he'll call me."
"Well, that's something!" Emma grinned. "Did he kiss you goodnight?"
That caught the others' attention. "Who kissed who goodnight?" Jeannie asked keenly.
Robin was wide-eyed. "Oh, my God, Tamsin," she squealed, "he asked you out again, didn't he? And you said yes this time?"
"Nothing much happened," a blushing Tamsin muttered as the others gathered around her, clamoring for details. "We went out for ice cream after school. That's it."
"Where'd you go?" Miranda asked, puffing on her cigarette.
"Ma Rose's," she replied, waving smoke out of her face.
The redheaded girl pondered the answer. "Hmm…acceptable," she declared. "I heard it's one of the best integrated diners in town."
"Ma Rose's is one of the best in town, period," Emma said loyally.
"Did you get a booth or sit at the counter?" Lisa asked.
"We sat at the counter," Tamsin replied, then looked puzzled when the other girls groaned. "What was so bad about that?"
"The counter isn't as intimate as a booth!" Lisa cried, gesticulating with her cigarette. "It's a sign that he's not that serious about you!"
"Well, if it's any indication of how serious he is, he asked me out again even though we sat at the counter." And there was a kid sitting between us to boot, she added silently.
"Good!" Jeannie said, relieved. "Now, how far did he get?"
"Not very far," Tamsin told her primly. "I kissed him on the cheek, that's all."
"You kissed him?" Jeannie tsked disapprovingly, shaking her blonde curls. "Uh-oh."
"What was wrong with that now?"
"Girls are never supposed to make the first move!" Lisa said. "Don't you know anything?"
"Apparently not," Tamsin sighed.
* * *
"What's the matter with you?" Tamsin's mother asked over the phone that night. "You sound terrible!"
"If you must know, Mom," she groaned, "I have a headache. Some of the girls at school decided to give me a crash course in dating etiquette at lunch today."
"Dating etiquette? Whatever for? Do you need it?"
"I guess so," Tamsin replied casually.
There was a squeal of joy over the wire that rattled her eardrums. "Who is he? Have you gone out? What happened? I want all the details!" her mother pressed.
She blushed when she realized that Uncle Jon, preparing dinner nearby, was listening, too. "Nothing much happened, Mom. We had ice cream after school, that's all." She grinned. "We had a ten-year-old with us."
"Ice cream? A ten-year-old? Some date!"
"What did you expect? Champagne and caviar at the Russian Tea Room?"
"Well, I was hoping he'd try to impress you on the first date," her mother grumbled. "Who is this cheapskate?"
Tamsin laughed. "His name is Ronnie Bass," she recited. "He's in a couple of my classes at school and he plays quarterback on the football team."
"Cheap and a jock," her mother harrumphed.
"He's more than a jock, Mom," she said. "He's reading Siddhartha and he does tai chi, too, just like you. And the ice cream was good," Tamsin added. "I had a pretty good time."
"Is he cute?"
"Um, yes," she mumbled, avoiding Uncle Jon's eyes. "He's cute."
"Well, that's one thing in his favor, then," her mother said as Uncle Jon widened his eyes in a comical look of surprise. Tamsin made a face at him. "Did he ask you out again?"
"Yes, he did. And he promised I could clean him out then."
"Good! There just might be hope for him after all. Do you like this boy?"
"Uh…I don't know," she said carefully. "I think he's a nice guy and he's said he likes me," she explained, feeling her face burn just as the rest of her went cold at the thought of what he had said out on the back porch last Saturday, "but I'm…I don't know. I guess he's all right."
"Well, there's no hurry, sweetie," her mother assured her. "Just enjoy yourself. You don't have to do anything if it makes you uncomfortable."
Tamsin smiled. "He says the exact same thing."
* * *
"Oh, I don't feel like sitting here today," Miranda said as she, Lisa and Sally Jane joined their other friends at lunch. "Why don't we go sit with the Titans?"
Lisa giggled and stole a glance at Alan, who was horsing around with his friends at the football team's usual table. "Ooh, let's!"
"Are you sure you want to sit there, Miranda?" Tamsin, who had already started eating, arched a teasing eyebrow. "It's an integrated table."
"Does it matter?" the redheaded girl asked piously. "When it all comes down to it, we're all members of the human race."
"Besides, Tammy, aren't we integrated, too?" Jeannie asked. "After all, we have you!"
She gaped at the other girl, feeling confused, shocked and annoyed all at the same time. She was trying to think of a response that didn't have a swearword in it when Emma laid a calming hand on her arm. "Keep cool, Tamsin!" the blonde girl whispered as the others picked up their lunch trays and obediently trotted after Miranda. "Jeannie just doesn't know any better."
Tamsin shook her head and laughed as she slapped the lid back on the container holding her lunch and snatched her orange juice off the lunch table. "That's for damn sure."
"Mind if we join you?" Miranda was cooing as Emma and Tamsin walked up to the Titans' table.
"Of course we don't mind," Rev said, smiling politely. "Anyone who wants to sit here is welcome."
"Especially good-lookin' ladies like yourselves," Petey chimed in, already sliding over to make room on the bench. "Hey there, Miss Tamsin, why don't you come sit by me?"
Ronnie chuckled as Tamsin received ribbing from all directions. "Hey, Tamsin," he greeted her cheerfully when she sat down between him and Petey.
"Hi," she replied, smiling at him self-consciously before turning back to her lunch.
"Well, now, isn't this cozy?" one of Miranda's friends giggled after they were all seated. She batted her eyelashes at Alan, who was squeezed in beside her.
"It sure is," muttered Blue from Alan's other side, trying to keep from falling off his end of the bench.
"So, do you guys have any games coming up?" the girl with curly blonde hair asked winsomely.
"We've got one against Jefferson this Friday," Gerry said. "Isn't it on your cheerleading schedule?"
She giggled. "Oh, right. I forgot."
Ronnie heard Tamsin mutter something about inanity just as Alan started talking about the 250-pound nose guard that had transferred to Jefferson over the summer. "I heard he's meaner than he is big," the blond boy said.
"I'm sure y'all can take him," his admirer cooed. "You were able to handle Kip Tyler, weren't you?"
"You up to throwing a 250-pound guy over your shoulder, Sunshine?" Blue asked, grinning.
"Bring him on," Ronnie replied coolly, drawing whoas of mocking admiration from his teammates.
"Hey," Miranda exclaimed suddenly, "if I remember our schedule right, there's a game against Herndon that's right before the Homecoming Dance!"
The Titans looked at each other, confused. "There is?" Alan asked.
The girl next to him frowned. "You didn't know?"
"Sorry, but we're more occupied with getting out of our next few games alive," Gerry told her.
"You guys will do just fine," Emma said reassuringly, patting her boyfriend's arm.
"Even with that 250-pound guy on the Jefferson team?" Petey squawked.
"Hey, Sunshine already said he could throw him, no sweat," Rev teased.
"If he don't break his back tryin'!"
"He won't if he does it right," Tamsin remarked. "Once you find the other guy's center of gravity, it's all a matter of using his own momentum against him. Simple physics. What?" she demanded as practically everyone at the table looked at her oddly. "I'm not supposed to know that?"
"How do you know that?" one of the other girls asked.
"Well, if you must know, my mother signed us up for a women's self-defense class the summer before last," Tamsin told her, amused. "She said it would come in handy against muggers."
"Have you had to use it?" Emma asked, concerned.
"Well, I did run into a mugger after that."
"And what did you do?"
"Whacked him in the face with my umbrella."
Ronnie grinned as his teammates all laughed. "Wise move. Well, gotta go," he said as he polished off the last of his apple. "I've got some books I need to return to the library."
"See you, man," Gerry said, slapping him a low five.
"Yeah. See you in English."
* * *
"He barely stayed!" Miranda complained, taking a furious drag on her cigarette, in the third-floor girls' room half an hour later.
"Oh, I'm sure he wanted to stay," Sally Jane consoled her, "but he had those books to return to the library, remember?"
Tamsin and Emma traded looks at the other girl's words. They were talking about Ronnie! "What's with the renewed interest in Sunshine, Miranda?" the blonde girl asked casually. "Didn't you two break up last summer?"
"We weren't in a serious relationship then," the redheaded girl told her. "I've been doing a lot of soul-searching and, well, I've decided that he's the guy I want."
"Plus the Homecoming Dance is near and you need a date," Tamsin added wryly as Miranda's ladies-in-waiting sighed over the romance of it all.
"That, too," Miranda giggled. "I can't just have any date, especially if I make Homecoming Queen."
Robin frowned. "Isn't that a little cold-blooded, Miranda? If all you need is a suitable date for the dance, there are lots of guys out there. Ryan Hunter, for one. He's a football player, too; and Corey says he likes you." Since he was Ryan Hunter's twin brother, Tamsin figured Corey would know.
"Oh, if I just wanted a date, Ryan would do; I'm ready to get serious with Sunshine."
"Why didn't you tell the others that you've gone out with Sunshine?" Emma whispered to Tamsin after the bathroom session was adjourned. "They still think you're dating one of the black players!"
"Why didn't you?" she asked in reply.
"Because it's not my business."
"Well, neither is it theirs," Tamsin snapped. Miranda's plans for the Homecoming Dance didn't sit well with her for some reason, and it had to do with Ronnie. "Sorry," she muttered, taking a deep, calming breath. "Besides, we've only gone out once. It's not like we're going steady." That's right, she told herself. You're not his girlfriend. Now stop feeling so possessive! "If Ronnie wants to take Miranda to Homecoming, he'll ask her."
"And if he wants to ask someone else?" Emma asked slyly.
Tamsin shrugged, trying to look casual. "I'm not going to stop him."
* * *
"Homework all done, boys?" Mrs. Bass asked Ronnie, Petey and Alan as they entered the Basses' living room.
"Just about, ma'am," Alan replied courteously.
"We just need to ask someone about the reading we have to do for English, that's all," Ronnie added.
"Well, if you hurry, you'll be able to watch M*A*S*H with us," his father said.
He grinned. Of all the new programs on TV, M*A*S*H was Col. Bass's favorite. Ronnie supposed it was because his father could relate to the humor. "We'll try, Dad."
"Luckily they don't know that I ain't in your English class," Petey snickered on their way to the kitchen.
"Ssshhh!" They gathered around the telephone on the counter and Ronnie leafed through his notebook for Mr. Graham's number. He found and quickly dialed it before he lost his nerve, then raised the receiver to his ear and took a deep breath as the telephone rang.
Mr. Graham answered. "Hello?"
"Hi…Mr. Graham?" He hoped he didn't sound as shaky as he thought he did. "It's Ronnie Bass."
"Hey there!" his teacher replied cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, uh, may I talk to Tamsin?"
There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. "Sure! She's right here. Hang on a minute."
"Thanks."
Tamsin came on a short while later. "Hello?"
This time, Ronnie cleared his throat before speaking. "Hey, Tamsin. It's Ronnie."
"Hey, Tamsin, it's Ronnie," Petey mimicked in a comically low voice. Ronnie swatted at his friend with a potholder. It glanced off Petey's head as he and Alan leaned in to try and overhear the conversation.
"Oh. Hi!" she replied.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Ronnie asked.
"Well, I was cooking dinner," she confessed, "but I can leave the spaghetti alone for a while."
His brow furrowed. Her voice sounded oddly breathy. "Are you OK? You sound kind of winded."
Tamsin laughed. "I'm fine," she said. "I just…almost slipped on my way to the phone."
Petey frowned at the strange turn in the conversation. "Winded? What the heck are you talking about, Sunshine?" he whispered.
"He wants to know why she sounds funny, what do you think?" Alan whispered back.
"I think it's a dumb way to flirt with a girl!"
"Ssshhh!" Ronnie covered the mouthpiece and glared at his friends.
"Is something wrong?" Tamsin asked.
"Uh…no," he said quickly. "I just…had to turn off the TV."
"I see." There was a short pause. "Um, so…what's up?"
"Well, do you remember that promise you made to clean me out sometime?"
"Ye-es," she said slowly.
It was Alan's turn to look puzzled. "Clean you out?"
"Those two are weird," Petey told the smaller blond boy, then chuckled. "Birds of a feather."
Ronnie ignored the heckling and forged ahead. "I was wondering if you were free on Saturday," he said, crossing his fingers, "you know, to keep that promise."
"Oh." Tamsin was silent for a moment — a long moment, in his opinion. "Hang on a minute, OK?"
There was an expectant silence. Ronnie imagined her looking at the chore schedule that he remembered hung next to the telephone in Mr. Graham's kitchen. He heard her talking to Mr. Graham and strained to hear what they were saying, but their TV was drowning things out.
She was back again after another long moment. "Uncle Jon says he can cook that night," she reported.
He grinned and gave his friends a thumbs-up, then suddenly felt guilty. "Are you sure?" he asked. "We can go out another night if—"
"Don't say that!" Petey hissed.
"Saturday's fine," Tamsin told him. Ronnie heard Mr. Graham saying something in the background. "I have hereby been banned from the kitchen this Saturday," she recited, obviously repeating her uncle's words. "And he's only cooking enough for one," she added after Mr. Graham said something again, "so you're responsible for feeding me."
Ronnie laughed and his friends collapsed in relief. "Don't worry, I'll feed you. So…can we talk about this more tomorrow? I kind of called on impulse," he confessed, "so right now I have no idea what we're going to do on Saturday."
She laughed. "Yeah, that's no problem. We've got a couple more days to plan."
"All right, then." He smiled. "I guess you need to get back to your cooking now."
"Actually, yes, I do."
"I'll see you in school, then. 'Bye, Tamsin."
"'Bye."
* * *
"Are you sure I look all right?" Tamsin asked as she stood in the middle of her bedroom that Saturday evening.
"You look great!" Emma assured her. She had come over to Tamsin's house to help her get ready.
Tamsin frowned critically at her pinstriped navy blue pants. With them, she was wearing black boots, a white embroidered shirt, and a black leather cuff on her left wrist. Emma had lent her a chain belt that rode low on her hips. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"I am absolutely positive."
Tamsin slumped down next to her friend. "And I am absolutely positive that I'm going to be sick."
"You will not be sick," Emma told her firmly. "In fact, you'll feel perfectly normal and have a wonderful time. Didn't you have fun the first time you and Sunshine went out?"
"Yeah, but we had a kid with us then."
"Aha, you're making jokes. That's a good sign."
"I'm laughing in the face of danger."
"Oh, stop. Sunshine isn't dangerous. In fact, I'll bet he's just as nervous as you are." She patted Tamsin's shoulder. "Relax, will you? It's like a booster shot — once it's over, you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about."
"Your friends sure kicked up a fuss about it," Tamsin said wryly.
Emma blushed guiltily. She hadn't been able to keep the news about the upcoming date to herself and this had given rise to Tamsin's second dating-etiquette-related headache. "You don't have to take their advice if you don't want to."
"I can't even if I wanted to. I couldn't make heads or tails of it all."
They laughed. "Well, just forget it," the blonde girl advised. "You'll do great just being yourself."
"I hope so."
Emma then checked her watch. "Oh, it's six-thirty! Sunshine's coming for you at seven, isn't he?" She got to her feet. "I'd better leave before he catches me here!"
"Don't leave me!" she howled.
"Ssshhh!" Her friend laughed. "Stop being such a baby!"
"I told you, I'm laughing in the face of danger." Tamsin mustered a smile. "Thanks for listening, not telling anyone, helping me get ready, and…everything."
"You're very welcome." Emma smiled and gave her a hug before gathering her things together.
"Is Miss America all ready, Emma?" Mr. Graham asked when the blonde girl came downstairs.
She smiled back. "As ready as she'll ever be."
"Thanks for helping her out. She really needed a friend tonight."
"It was my pleasure." She shrugged into her jacket. "I'll be on my way now, Mr. Graham."
"Do you need a ride home?"
"No, thank you. It's near enough to walk."
"Take care going home, then."
"I will. Good night, Mr. Graham." Emma waved to the teacher and let herself out.
She had just started down the front walk when she bumped into Ronnie, on his way toward the house. "Sunshine!" she blurted out. "You're early!"
"Hi, Emma," Ronnie greeted her, surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked, even though he had a fairly good idea.
Emma laughed. "Tamsin had a little get-ready-for-the-date party." She smiled at the bouquet in his fist. "Nice flowers."
He blushed. "I sure hope there weren't that many people invited." The last thing he needed was a whole crowd of people hanging around. It was just a date, after all, not Homecoming.
"Oh, don't worry, I was the only one invited." She smiled and patted his arm. "You two have fun."
"We will." Ronnie gave her one final nod before continuing up the front walk again.
Mr. Graham answered the door on the first ring of the doorbell. "Ah, Sunshine! Great game yesterday!" he greeted the boy.
"Evening, Mr. Graham," he replied, grinning. Last night, the Titans had creamed Jefferson, 45-13. (The 250-pound guard was in the hospital, having his appendix taken out.) "Thanks."
"We're not in class, so it's 'Jon,' remember? Come in! I'm pretty sure Tam's all dressed by now," he said as he ushered Ronnie into the living room and bade him sit, "but I'm supposed to interrogate you and make you squirm a bit before she makes her entrance."
"I know the drill, sir," Ronnie told him, mustering a smile even as his palms grew damp. He wiped them discreetly on his off-white slacks.
The gesture was not lost on the teacher and he smiled in understanding. "Tell you what — if you give me your word that you'll behave and will have her home by midnight, I'll skip the torture I had planned and just call Tam down. Do we have a deal?"
Ronnie couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure."
They shook on it and Mr. Graham excused himself to go call Tamsin. "Ta-am, Sunshine is here!"
"Be right down!" he heard her reply.
Ronnie stood as he heard footsteps coming down the carpeted stairs. Tamsin walked into the living room a moment later. "Ta-daaah!" Mr. Graham said in an obvious yet futile attempt to break the ice.
She made a face at her uncle, who precipitously left the room, before smiling shyly at Ronnie. "Hi."
"Hey, Tamsin," he replied with a smile of his own. "You look really nice. These are for you."
She blushed and admired the pink peonies he had brought. "Thanks. You look nice, too."
"Thanks." Ronnie made a mental note to thank his mother for helping him pick out the sky-blue shirt he was wearing that night. "Ready to go?"
Tamsin nodded and took the arm Ronnie offered her. "'Bye, Uncle Jon," she called as they stepped out into the hallway.
Mr. Graham appeared in the hallway with a coffee can. "Midnight!" he reminded them as Tamsin put her flowers in the coffee can.
"Midnight," Ronnie promised. He smiled down at Tamsin as the front door swung shut. Well, here goes nothing.
* * *
"That was great," Tamsin remarked as they left Dario's, the Italian restaurant where they had dinner.
Ronnie smiled at her, taking care to keep an eye on the road. "Glad you liked it."
"It reminds me of the Italian place my mom and I used to go to back in New York."
"It reminds her of New York!" He chuckled. "Ladies and gentlemen, Dario's has the Tamsin Lee Official Seal of Approval!"
Tamsin laughed. "I don't talk about it that much, do I?"
"No. I'm just teasing." He turned left at the intersection. "But you sure sound like you love it there."
"I do. It's home. Alexandria's nice in its own way," she added, "but there's just something about the city that gets your blood pumping. There's always something going on. It's more…well, the vibe is different, d'you know what I mean?"
Ronnie nodded. "Huntington Beach probably isn't as exciting as New York City, but I know all about the vibe here being different. I had a real culture shock when I first got here — you know, with everyone being so uptight about race and everything."
"I wouldn't have liked to be here when all the hype about Vietnam was going on." Tamsin laughed briefly. "People probably would have called me 'Charlie.'"
"And you would have taught them a lesson, Kung Fu style."
"Sorry, Grasshopper, but I don't know how to do kung fu. I only smack people in the face with umbrellas, remember?"
"Right." He managed a laugh as he turned into a worn dirt road. He was getting nervous again.
"Where are we going?" Tamsin asked, looking curiously out the window. On either side of the car, barely illuminated by the Charger's headlights, there was nothing but rocks and clumps of overgrown grass.
"The Hill," Ronnie told her casually. "Have you ever been there?"
"No." The lack of suspicion in her voice told him that she had probably never heard of it before, either. "What's there to do on the Hill?"
"Uh, nothing, really — it's just a hill," he admitted. "But it's a really nice place."
"Oh. OK." Didn't her mother ever warn her about going places with boys?
There was just one car up on the Hill that night, parked on the other end of the clearing overlooking the town. Pinpricks of light from Alexandria's streets, houses and buildings shone steadily in the darkness, looking like stars fallen to earth.
"That is a spectacular view." Tamsin peered over the dashboard to get a better look. "I wonder if I can find my house?"
"You can try." While Tamsin was busy trying to figure out where her house could be, he popped an eight-track of "make-out music" (Petey's contribution) into the car stereo. In a short while, the Five Satins singing "In the Still of the Night" poured from the speakers. "Found it?" he asked when she leaned back again. His arm was resting along the back of the seat.
She shook her head. "I can't tell the buildings apart. I bet I could find it in the daylight, though." She then noticed that his arm was practically around her. "But then no one comes here in the daytime, do they?"
Ronnie blushed and thanked his lucky stars that she hadn't thought to bring an umbrella. However, he didn't move his arm. "No."
"I thought so." Tamsin's voice was a little clipped. She sounded put out, but she wasn't trying to move away from him or demanding to be taken home. "This is a nice song," she said instead, as Petey's eight-track switched to the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow."
"Yes, it is," he agreed. She relaxed a bit more, even though her hands remained clasped in her lap. Encouraged, he edged a little closer, his side just touching hers. He smelled jasmine again.
She giggled suddenly. "Ronnie, if you're doing what I think you're doing—"
"We don't have to do anything if it makes you uncomfortable."
"I'm nervous," she admitted, giving him a small smile, "but I'm also very curious."
Ronnie grinned down at her. "Oh."
"There's just one small problem."
"What's that?"
Tamsin giggled again. "This song reminds me of my mother."
They laughed, the ice broken. "Oh, man," Ronnie said as she finally snuggled into his side and he put his arm around her, "that is a problem."
"I miss her, you know," she said softly after a moment's pause.
"Why couldn't she move here with you?" he asked.
He felt her shrug. "She and Uncle Jon both say it's because she's going to be very busy with her career this year." She sounded hurt. "She said she wanted me to stay with Uncle Jon, so she'd be sure that there was an adult taking care of me."
"Sounds fishy."
"It sounds stupid," Tamsin said, "but I can't think of any other reason why she'd send me away."
Ronnie's eyes widened when he heard a tiny sniffle. "Come on, Tamsin," he said, rubbing her arm reassuringly. "She didn't really send you away — you'll be going back, won't you?"
"I still wish they'd tell me exactly what's going on," she said, her voice alarmingly shaky.
"I'm sure they will soon," he said quickly. "Come on, please don't cry, Tamsin…I'm sorry—"
"No, don't be sorry. Nothing is your fault." She gave a watery little laugh, cleared her throat, and began to sound more like herself again. "I'm sorry. I can't believe I'm unloading all this on you."
Ronnie chuckled and dared to lean his cheek on her hair. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but I really shouldn't have—"
"Hey," he interrupted her gently. "You can talk to me about anything, anytime." He grinned. "Everyone knows you New Yorkers are all supposed to be kind of neurotic, anyway."
"Thanks a lot." Tamsin wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief and smiled. "I really do mean that, though. Thank you."
"My pleasure." Ronnie cupped her chin. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" he whispered.
She gulped but stayed still. "No."
"Good." He leaned in closer, lips just brushing hers.
Suddenly, there was a loud tapping on Tamsin's window and a light shone in his face. For a while, Ronnie was afraid that a car was headed straight toward them, but it turned out to be much worse than that.
Standing outside the car was a flashlight-wielding policeman. "Is there a problem here, kids?"
* * *
"Oh, NO!"
Ronnie laughed and pulled on his jersey. The incredulous faces of his teammates disappeared behind the red fabric. "Oh, yes."
"And what did you say?" Petey demanded. "You didn't give him that old 'somethin' in her eye' story, did you? 'Cause I'm tellin' you, it don't work."
"Heck, no, man! Tamsin told him I was helping her with a big personal problem."
"And the cop believed it?" Big Julius asked.
"Sure he did! I mean, we weren't, you know, crawling all over each other—"
"—yet," Ryan said with a grin. The other Titans laughed.
Ronnie made a face at the defensive linebacker. "Well, besides that, she told him the whole story," he continued. "The cop wound up offering her all the Kleenex he had in his car!" He chuckled and shook his head in wonder. Tamsin's mother was probably a damn good actress to pass on such genes to her daughter.
"So Tamsin really has a problem with her mom?" Gerry asked.
He hesitated, wondering just how much to tell his friends. "Well, they're not fighting," he said carefully. "She just misses her mom a lot."
"But she ain't in no hurry to go back to New York now, is she?" Petey crowed.
"Did you at least get to kiss her good night when you dropped her off?" Ryan asked.
"No," Ronnie admitted, but he was grinning. "We kept laughing."
Eddie laughed. "Well, you sound like you had a lot of fun even though you didn't get to first base."
The blond boy smiled. "Yeah, I had fun."
"You going to ask her out again?"
"Yeah."
"You going to take her to Homecoming?" Petey asked.
Ronnie blushed, but a whistle blew before he could answer. Coach Boone stood at the locker room door, clapping his hands briskly. "All right, Titans, enough with the chitchat!" he announced. "We got a game in a few moments, in case y'all forgot!"
"Now, I'm glad to see y'all are relaxed," the Titans head coach continued as his team quieted down to listen to his pre-game pep talk. "We've got Rosemont out there tonight. They're also hungry…and angry. But look at you — you're talkin' and laughin' like nothin's out of the ordinary. You ain't scared, are you?" he demanded.
"No!" the Titans bellowed as one.
"You're gonna run right over them and laugh in their faces, aren't you?"
"Yes!"
"That's what I want to hear!" Boone looked around the locker room, staring each of the players straight in the eye. "Rosemont may be hungry, but they cannot touch you. Now get out there and show 'em no fear!"
"Yeah!" Ronnie cheered along with his teammates as the Titans finished suiting up and filed out of the locker room. Rosemont's home crowd booed as they took the field, almost drowning out the music from the TC Williams High School marching band.
Everywhere we go
People want to know…
As the Titans launched into their trademark warm-up, he searched the small crowd of Titans fans in the stands. Tamsin sat in the very front row, sandwiched between Emma and Mr. Graham. She was watching the warm-up with a pained expression that made Ronnie chuckle.
We are the Titans
The high and mighty Titans…
Concluding Remarks: Whee, another chapter! I'm having a lot of fun writing this fic, but now I'm concerned about Miranda's character. She was nice when Tamsin first met her, but I'm afraid her bitchy side isn't unfolding as subtly as I had wanted. What do you guys think? ;)
Up next, Tamsin "meets the parents," a whole lot of stressing over Homecoming and the Titans in concert!