Chapter 11

Stacy woke up before dawn the next morning and reflexively washed his face, brushed his teeth, gathered up his surf board and wet suit and headed quietly for the door so he wouldn't wake up his parents. Oh yeah, went his first thought of the morning, grab a Pop Tart on the way out so he wouldn't starve driving to the surf contest. He was still running on auto-pilot by the time he had backed his car out of the driveway and headed towards Jay's house to pick him up. A slight breeze blew a strand of his bed matted hair across his face, bringing with it the mixed scent of stale pot smoke and Alex's perfume. Memories of last nights' concert and afterward came flooding back to him. Shit! He thought what's wrong with me? I have a great date with a hot girl, who lives by herself- she asks me to come in and I say 'I have to get some sleep'? With that realization, he pulled to a stop in front of Jay's house and commenced banging his forehead on the steering wheel.

With his usual impeccable timing, Jay chose that moment to stow his surfboard in the back of Stacy's car and jump into the front seat. "What the hell is that, Dude? Is it like a new technique to focus or are you pre-hurting yourself for when you fall off your board?" Jay looked at Stacy like he had quite possibly lost his mind.

"You would not believe me even if I told you, which I'm not going to." Stacy said dejectedly.

"OK then, let's just start our happy trails," replied Jay, his mind already bouncing to a new subject. In this case it was the Pop Tart he found underneath him on the passenger seat. "Damn, Stacy can't you tell your Mom I don't like strawberry?" he groused, helping himself to a bite.

"Jayboy, gimme that Pop Tart! Get your own breakfast, that's mine!" he said testily leaning over to grab the prized pastry.

"Stacy, Stacy" Jay said with mock disapproval as Stacy's hair wafted the unusual (for Stacy) scent of weed in his direction. "What has become of you, arriving at my house reeking of drugs, banging your head and unwilling to share food with your friend and surf mate?"

"I got home late from the Allman Brothers concert last night, that's all," Stacy said, unwilling to say or even to think about last night in any more detail.

"What, did they suck?" Jay persisted with his uncanny knack for knowing what to say to bug his friend.

"Nah, they were great and I even got a tee shirt autographed," Stacy brightened slightly at that memory.

"Hmmm, then what could be bothering Stacy? Oh I know! He must have had a date with him. Now the question is what would bother him more- did his date suck or maybe she wouldn't suck; which one would give Stacy the blues on Allman Brothers night?" Jay leered in Stacy's direction.

"Jay, since you seem to be making up your own version of my night, I don't think I need to even be here."

"Fine, you drive and I'll figure the details out by myself. Don't tell me you're such a loser you went by yourself?" Jay was like a dog with a bone on this topic.

"No I didn't go by myself, but I am the one that pissed me off." Stacy replied slowly and cryptically.

"So who was riding shotgun while you were busy pissing yourself off?"

The more Stacy thought about last night, the more he wanted to talk about it. He knew Jay had a heart under that snarky exterior, Stacy just needed to dig through it to find his friend to bounce his thoughts off of. "Jayboy if you really want to know what happened to me last night, you got to stop busting my balls and listen. You think you might be able to do that?" Stacy asked sincerely and yet a little sharply.

Jay wasn't at all as stupid as he often passed himself off to be, and he knew how to be a friend when one was needed. "Sure Stacy, just think of me as a priest," Jay said with sincerity in his eyes that had not quite reached his lips yet.

"I took Alex to the concert…"

"Niiice!" Jay nodded with heightened interest.

"Jay, could you be a priest with a vow of silence?" Stacy asked exasperated.

Jay folded his hands in a praying motion in front of his mouth by way of an answer.

"So I got the autographed shirt because Alex knew one of the roadies. In fact she said her parents worked with a few bands, and it kinda sounded from what Ian – he's this roadie – said that she might be tight with Led Zeppelin," recounted Stacy.

"Cool!" Jay blurted, "so that sounds all good; hot girl, cool friends, why the head banging?"

"Well when I drove her home, she sorta said I could come in," Stacy wasn't sure how much info to share with Jay.

"Even cooler! So that's why you got home late. But again why are you bummed? Oh-oh! Did Stacy have some trouble in the sack? Oh – don't worry, it happens to everyone – I mean it's never happened to me of course, but I hear it happens to everyone!" Jay cackled.

"No way, Jay you're an idiot! And you're supposed to be silent!" Stacy himself fumed silently for a minute regretting his decision to confide in his friend.

"Alright, alright, chill" Jay said trying to make amends, "Sorry; I'm just fuckin with ya. Come on, tell me what happened."

"I told her I had to go home and go to sleep so I could come here this morning." Stacy blurted.

Jay's whole body shook spasmodically with the effort it took him not to shout out anything mean to Stacy. He worked hard to suppress a hundred snide comments that flew into his mind. Sadly shaking his head, all he allowed himself was an "Ohhh dude!"

"I know, I know, I'm an idiot. And I don't even know why I said it," admitted Stacy miserably.

"And you don't even respect yourself in the morning," Jay couldn't keep that one from escaping.

"I guess I was just kinda surprised, you know I usually have to work up to that point with girls."

Jay made the supreme effort and shifted to supportive friend mode. "OK, so that was just last night, and she's definitely into you, so you call her today to check in. You know, sorta get back onto your track with chicks." Also known as the slow lane, Jay thought to himself.

"She probably thinks I'm the biggest dork ever." Stacy moaned.

"Nah, chicks think shit like that is so sweet," Jay stated with certainty.

As they pulled into the parking lot for the surf contest Stacy told Jay "If you say anything about this to anybody I'll fucking kill you."

"Hey, I'm a priest, remember? You're secrets safe with me." Jay smiled sincerely at his friend. "But if Alex isn't in to you anymore, tell her I'll bang her."

"Hey, you're a priest, remember? Vow of chastity?" Stacy aimed a friendly punch at the smirking blonde.