"Have you ever been to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show?" Giles asked Lili.
She shook her head. "I've heard of it, but I've never been to see it."
"Oh, man, you don't know what you're missing! I go every weekend!"
"Every week?" Startled, Lili almost dropped her hamburger.
Giles grinned.
"I've been twenty times so far. Isn't that right, guys?"
"He has," Robert confirmed.
"You mean you actually counted?"
"Absolutely!"
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show means a lot to Giles," said Troy.
Lili chuckled. "So I see!"
"It's great meeting you and all," Giles told Lili. "Can I please have your number? I'd love to talk to you some more."
"Sure." Lili wrote it down on a napkin and passed it to him.
"Thanks." He stuffed the napkin into his pocket.
Lili didn't give the incident any more thought until Friday evening, after dinner. She was helping clear the table when the telephone rang. She picked up the receiver and heard Giles's voice.
"You're still going to see Rocky Horror tonight, right?" The only showing of the movie was at midnight.
"I was planning to," said Lili.
"There's some things you need to do to get ready," said Giles. "You're gonna need a cigarette lighter, rice, a water gun, toast, and playing cards."
Lili couldn't believe her ears. "A water gun?"
"Trust me, you'll need it," said Giles. "And the most important thing: never, ever let anyone there know it's your first time seeing the movie."
"Why not?"
Giles laughed. "You'll see!"
"That sounds like some crazy movie," Paula, who'd overheard the conversation, remarked.
Lili chuckled. "I guess so."
She didn't smoke, so she went to KMart and bought the cigarette lighter and the other items. She showered, dressed to go out, and sat up watching Twilight Zone reruns and other late night shows until eleven thirty. The house was quiet as she locked the door and drove to the movie theater, careful not to forget the items, which she carried along in a tote bag.
She arrived at the theater to find Giles and several other young people dressed in fishnet hose and high heels and wearing lipstick. She couldn't help giggling just a little. Giles came over to her and whispered in her ear.
"Don't forget what I told you."
When the group was seated in the theater, Lili soon learned why Giles had cautioned her. He and several others went around to various people in the audience, taunting them and calling them 'virgins.'
The movie opened with a pair of disembodied lips singing a song, and as it progressed, Lili got the chance to throw rice at the screen during a wedding scene, squirt water out of her water gun during a scene with rain, and turn on her cigarette lighter, being careful not to burn her fingers, during a scene with a lantern glowing in an attic.
A high point was the performance of a dance called the 'Time Warp.' Giles modeled the movements for Lili, and she quickly caught on.
Lili didn't get home until after two in the morning. She slept until noon the next day.
On Monday, she joined Giles and his friends for lunch again.
"Did you have fun Friday night?" he wanted to know.
"Yeah, that was a lot of fun," said Lili. "I'd like to go back again this weekend."
The blue eyes grew serious. "I'd like to take you on a real date. Do you like Stephen King? 'Children of the Corn' is playing. Would you like to see it with me? It'll be my treat." Lili had paid for her own ticket the previous weekend.
"Sure, I like horror movies. They're my favorite kind."
"Great! I'll pick you up at six thirty on Friday, then."
Friday evening, he arrived at six thirty wearing jeans and a light-blue-and-white-checked button-down-the-front shirt with cowboy boots. The top button was undone, just barely showing his scant chest hair. Lili met him at the door in black slacks and her soft light pink sweater.
"You look really nice," he told her.
"Thanks! So do you."
He held the car door open for her before getting into the car himself. Wow, what a gentleman! Lili thought.
She enjoyed the movie, and Giles seemed to as well. They chatted amicably on the walk to the car afterwards and the drive home. Giles walked her to the front door.
"Thanks for the movie," she told him. "I had a nice time."
"So did I." He leaned in for a kiss. Lili allowed his lips to lightly touch her own.
"Come on, let me show you how to kiss."
"I don't like to French kiss." Lili's voice quivered a little as she spoke.
"Aw, man!" Giles gave a disgusted snort as he turned to leave.
Sunday afternoon, the telephone rang and Ginny answered it.
"It's for you, Lili." She handed the receiver to her daughter.
"Hello," said Lii.
"Hi, Lili." Giles's voice sounded sober. "Look, you're a nice girl and everything, but I don't think it's gonna work out. You're a good girl, and I'm as wild as I can be. Know what I mean?"
"You mean you don't think I'll put out." Lili's voice was bitter, full of hurt.
"Something like that, but that's OK. We can still be friends. See each other at school and Rocky Horror and all that."
"Goodbye," said Lili.
