Chapter 15

A/N Just realized the comic I was referring to in Chapter 14 is Family Circus, not Family Circle. Sorry, live and learn. On with the story…

Stacy finally got the chance to call Alex again late Thursday night. As he had said in his abbreviated call from the surf contest, he had been working all the shifts he could at Venice Noodle to put together money for Del Mar. In between, he'd been practicing so he wouldn't look like a total kook when he got there. This left him plenty of time while bussing tables to over think what he should say when he did get to talk to her. If he asked her out for Friday night, it'd have to be late, after work. What if she asked him in again? He (they) would once again have to get up early on Saturday to enter Del Mar. This sounded perilously close to the scenario that gave him so much trouble last week. Not goin' there again, he snorted to himself, at least not with the same outcome. No, he decided, better to just shoot the breeze on the phone and make plans to pick her up Saturday morning. Now, I've got nowhere to be on Sunday morning, he thought to himself with a secret smile that his boss attributed to his new found work ethic. I've already confessed to my priest, Father Jayboy; this week so Sunday morning's definitely freed up.

"Hello?" Alex turned down Johnny Carson hosting the Tonight Show and answered the phone. Judging by the late hour she thought it might be someone from NYC. She was surprised to hear Stacy's voice.

"Hi Alex," he said very softly, stretching the phone cord into his room and away from his parents' TV viewing. For a minute he heard Johnny Carson doing a joke about Jimmy Carter from both the receiver and his own living room. "Hey I got stereo on Carson," he marveled into the phone. "Too bad he never really has any cool bands on; you gotta stay up for Tom Snyder for that."

"Stacy, what are you talking about?" Alex laughed, "Did you almost wake me up to talk about your TV reception?"

"Sorry, I guess I'm just tired and it kinda freaked me out when I heard Johnny in Sense-Around. My parents are watching him too."

"Yeah, we all go to bed with Johnny every night," Alex agreed. "So what's up?"

"Well I don't want you to forget all about me and spend all your time with Johnny, so I hope you're still into going to Del Mar with me on Saturday? Ya know I really was looking forward to the whole cheerleader thing." Stacy's words came out in an excited rush.

"Been thinking about the cheerleader thing, eh?" Alex answered with a leer that could be heard right down the telephone wire.

Stacy blushed and was glad you couldn't see over the telephone, "Working nonstop at Venice Noodle doesn't really require a lot of mental gymnastics; it gives a guy a lot of time to think about more important things, umm like you. So what have you been doing all week?"

Alex smiled to herself, Stacy really did know how to make a girl feel important. "Oh just the same old stuff, looking for work, trying to get my house together."

"How's the job search going? Did Ian come up with anything at the place he mentioned?"

"Nothing yet, but I'm still hoping. I ran into Jay the other day and he had Skip look over the want ads with me, figuring he'd be the go-to guy for bartending knowledge. Nothing looked real promising to him either, but he said he'd keep an ear to the ground. I'm not sure in Skip's case if he meant he'd keep looking for jobs or if he figures he'll fall down soon." Alex said lightheartedly.

"Well it's gotta help to have more people looking, and for sure Skip is the guy who might know of something local. And Jay's got a good heart under all his crap, if he says he'll help you, he'll really try, at least that's how I've always found him," Stacy weighed in with his opinion.

"I was kinda surprised when I talked to him, he mentioned something about getting a job so his Mom doesn't have to work the lousy one she has and then he said he was only 15. It seemed odd and not like the Jay I had met before," Alex confided.

"No, that sounds like Jay, just the side that sometimes slips out when he's sober and happens to feel like telling the truth. His Mom, Philaine, is a doll and Jay's really tight with her but she's a long time partyer; and I think sometimes it's like living with a buddy, not being raised by a Mom for Jay," Stacy divulged.

"Kinda chaotic at home huh?" Alex replied, "That would explain a lot." Privately she was thinking that she now knew somewhat more about Jay's home life than Stacy's own. What were they doing talking about Jay? Not that she wasn't interested in the info. "Anyway, Jay and Skip mentioned a party at the Zephyr shop tomorrow night and I was thinking about going. Any chance I might see you there?" Alex was a great believer in asking for what you wanted.

"Party at the Zephyr Shop hmm" Stacy repeated less than enthusiastically. This definitely threw a kink into his well thought out plans. A) he usually didn't like the parties at Zephyr all that much; B) if they got together tomorrow night-it's right back to that late night/stay over/get up early thing he had been planning to sidestep. And then again, C) he didn't want Alex to go by herself; he knew she could handle herself – it was more the other Z-Boys getting a chance to handle her that he worried about. Especially since Jay had invited her and Alex seemed to be taking an interest in his life. This sucks! He thought.

"If you're working that night, I guess I'll just look forward to seeing you Saturday for the Del Mar contest" Alex said neutrally, meaning to give him and easy way out, since he didn't sound excited about the prospect of the Zephyr party.

"Yeah I do have to work all Friday night," Stacy took the out, not being able to immediately come up with any better answer. "Besides Zephyr parties tend to get a little….out there."

"So I should be aware of the nearest safety exit at all times?" Alex joked.

"If you decide to go at all" Stacy said a bit too quickly.

"I, umm, guess I'll play it by ear, you know see how I feel tomorrow night," Alex replied cautiously, not sure how to interpret Stacy's answer. Was that warning or possessiveness edging into his voice?

"I'll let you go, Carson's almost over." Stacy said, trying to bring the conversation to a close on a lighter note. "Sweet dreams"