“What?” Mr. Denton and Kevin asked at the same time.
“I told you I’ve been paying attention.” She laughed, any earlier unease completely erased.
“I’ve told him about looking his receiver’s off, but I never noticed a tell,” Mr. Denton said.
“On a running play he looks behind him before the ball is snapped. On a passing play he looks side to side.”
Kevin was thinking hard. “I do that?”
“Yup, I took notes. And either you’re tight end is lazy or he doesn’t like you, but he never blocks when he lines up on your blind side.”
“Holy crap.” Mr. Denton was laughing. “Beauty, brains, and enjoys football, lethal combination.”
Kevin was still trying to think if he did as she said, but couldn’t picture it because it was on a subconscious level.
“Son, forget about football,” Mr. Denton said as he pulled up to the school. “Have fun you two. I’ll be back at eleven.”
“Thank you, Mr. Denton.”
“You’re welcome, Callis, it was a pleasure meeting you.”
“You as well.” She smiled and he thought his heart might melt.
“Kevin is so not going to know what hit him,” he said as he pulled away.
Heads turned as Callis walked into the room – male and female alike – the latter mostly in jealousy. This was not lost on Kevin as he watched even upper classmen taking note of her. He gripped her hand a little tighter lest she slip through his fingers.
“Do you dance?” he asked her as the lights dimmed marginally.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Do you?”
“I danced once with my mom at my uncle’s wedding. I think I was seven.”
“How hard could it be?” Callis asked nervously.
Kevin was damn near blown away with how gorgeous she looked as she moved to the beat of the music. By the time he was interrupted for the fourth time by other classmates cutting in, he decided to make a stand. It wasn’t quite a yell, but he did have some anger when his next words came out.
“Callis Rose!” he said loudly. “Will you go out with me?”
“Why are you shouting at me!” she repeated in the same volume with her eyebrows furrowed although the corner of her mouth was upturned in a slight smile.
“I’m sorry, I’m sick of all these guys cutting in. I want you all to myself,” he said as he looked around ready to ward off the next competitor.
“Is this a law of the jungle thing?”
“What? I’m sorry, Callis, I know we’ve been hanging out for like a month and I know you’re pretty. I…I never saw just how pretty you are and then I realized I really like you. I like hanging out with you, talking with you. I just plain like you.”
“Yes,” Callis stated simply.
“Yes?” He had a confused look on his face.
“Yes I’ll go out with you. I thought quarterbacks were supposed to be smart?”
“You’re funny. Want something to drink? All this dancing has got me thirsty,” he asked as they moved towards the rollaway bleacher seats in the gymnasium.
“Love some. I’m going to the washroom first.”
“Alright see you back here in a minute.”
Callis watched as Kevin headed for the punch bowl. More than one of his friends clapped him on the back in a congratulatory mode; he was smiling and so was she, she noted as she headed to the bathroom.
Mindy and her cohorts snuck out a moment before she had.
Callis had just entered the girls’ bathroom – a smile almost permanently etched on her face – she couldn’t remember being this happy since before her parents died. She noted that there were some other girls in there, but they had their backs to her and she wasn’t paying that much attention. At least not until one of them darted past her and locked the door. She spun to see Talea.
“Hello, bitch,” Mindy said, turning away from the sink.
“Mindy, what’s going on?” Callis asked.
“What’s going on is that I don’t want your white trash, lice-infested face dating my brother, and I sure as hell don’t want you in my house tomorrow!” Mindy said, nearly shaking with rage.
“Kevin likes me, why is that a problem for you?” Callis asked, getting scared.
“Well, first off…because I can’t stand you and your cheap-ass clothes. And secondly, Kevin was supposed to date my best friend Laura and you’ve taken him away from her.”
“It’s not my fault Kevin has taste,” Callis shot back.
“You bitch!” Laura said, closing in. Mindy grabbed her.
“You know we’re going to mess you up, right?” Mindy asked. “My brother’s not going to want to go out with you when we’re done.”
“What is wrong with you? You have everything…yet you want to take this away from me?” Callis begged.
“Someone’s coming,” Talea said from the doorway.
“Tell them to go away,” Mindy said menacingly, stepping closer to Callis.
The door handle jiggled. “Who’s in there?” Mrs. Pippen the Spanish teacher asked. “I suggest you unlock this door now, if you’re smoking or drinking, I will know.”
Talea looked questioningly over at Mindy who looked absolutely pissed off that she was going to lose her chance to rough over Callis.
“Open it,” she hissed as she turned back to the mirror plastering on her veneer smile.
Talea undid the lock, Mrs. Pippen hastened in, sniffing the air as she did so.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Pippen,” Mindy said, flashing her pearly whites. “We were just talking about boys and we didn’t want to be interrupted.
This wasn’t the first rodeo Mrs. Pippen had been to; she saw Mindy with her two closest friends and the new girl looking visibly shaken, but other than that she had no evidence.
“All of you get out of here. That door gets locked again, Mindy, you’ll have in-school detention.”
“Yes, Mrs. Pippen.” Mindy smiled as she brushed past Callis. “This isn’t over,” She whispered to Callis in the hallway.
“I was wondering where you were,” Kevin asked as he came down the hallway to see Mindy, Talea, Laura, and Callis coming at him…with Mrs. Pippen watching their backs. “Everything alright?” he asked Callis.
“Everything’s fine, brother, don’t be such a worry wart,” Mindy said.
“Hi, Kevin,” Laura said, stroking his arm as she walked past.
He shrugged her off.
“Callis?”
“Everything’s fine, let’s go back in to the gym,” she told him. It took her a few minutes to shake off the effects of the encounter, but Callis was determined to not let it ruin her night. The happier she got, the more Mindy seethed.
“That bitch is going to be at my house tomorrow and I have to play nice. You two want to eat over tomorrow?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Talea said. Laura agreed.
“Does your sister need a ride?” Mr. Denton asked as Callis and Kevin entered the car.
“Mrs. Fields picked them up about ten minutes ago,” Kevin told him.
“Have fun?” he asked as he pulled away, taking note of the long eye contact and smile his son and Callis made to each other; he knew enough to know what that meant.
“You asked her out?” Mr. Denton asked as they watched Callis wave and retreat into her house.
“That obvious?” Kevin asked.
“That obvious,” his father told him.
“You going to dinner tonight over at the Denton’s?” Ben Lowrie asked Callis.
“How’d you know? Not about dinner but about the Denton’s?” she asked back. She was eating some cereal for breakfast.
“Oh, they have enough ads on television, and he fancies himself some type of star. Likes to be in all of them. Cheesy as hell, but he does have great deals.”
“See if he can get us a new sofa,” Helen cackled from their threadbare lime green couch.
“You should see if you can bring a couple of doggie bags ho
me, too. I bet they eat fantastic,” Ben said wistfully, subconsciously grabbing his belly. “And why you up so early? Known you now for a year, I’ve never seen you much before ten on a weekend morning.”
“Kevin’s team plays today.”
“At their school?”
She nodded.
“Want a ride?”
“That would be great, thank you,” she said, placing her empty bowl in the sink.
“Ben, could you get some ice cream while you’re out?”
“Helen you do know it’s only eight AM, right?”
“I’ve been up since seven so it’s okay,” she replied.
“How’s that for logic?” he asked Callis.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”
“No rush, my show won’t be over for another fifteen.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lowrie.”
There weren’t many people in the stands; the day was cold and a little dreary. Callis was nervous; she hoped Kevin did well. He searched the stands and waved when he saw her. She waved back. Callis had to stifle a small laugh as she watched Kevin. She could tell even from this distance he was struggling with not showing his ‘tell’.
“Hey, they can’t do that can they?” Callis shouted as a player sacked Kevin.
“First game?” an older woman asked.
“You can tell?”
“I was that way the first time they tackled my boy, he’s number twenty-five.”
“Oh, Calvin, he’s the running back,” Callis told her. “Are they supposed to hit like that?”
“It’s football,” Calvin’s mother replied. “Not competitive ballet.”
“Is there such a thing?” Callis asked her.
“So which one are you dating?”
“That easy to tell?”
“Nobody wants to see their boy hurt, whether son or boyfriend.”
“The quarterback.”
“Oh, Kevin Denton, he’s pretty good, my bet is he’ll be the varsity starter next year.”
“Over Paulson?”
“Without a doubt,” she said as she stood. Her son had just received a hand off and broke a tackle; he was now racing a safety for the end zone.
Callis was clapping and whistling with the others as the hometown Rebels scored their first of five touchdowns in a lopsided 35-to-10 victory.
“That was so exciting!” Callis told Kevin as he came out of the locker room.
He was walking a little stiffly, but had a huge grin on his face.
“You okay?” She had a look of concern on her face.
“It only hurts when you lose,” he told her as he put his arm around her.” How’d you get here?”
“Mr. Lowrie took me.”
“Aw shit, excuse me,” Mr. Denton said, walking up. “Sorry, Kevin, I meant to get here to watch the game. Had a broken pipe at the warehouse. How’d it go?” he asked.
“They kicked butt!” Callis told him. “Thirty-five to ten!”
“Well I guess you already had your cheering section, still sad I missed it.”
“It’s alright Dad, I’ll allow you this one pass,” Kevin told him. “Can we take Callis home?”
“Sure. You want me to stop and grab something to eat first? I know you’re always starving after a game.”
“I’ll wait. I don’t want Callis to watch me eat when I’m this hungry.”
“It really is kind of disgusting,” Mr. Denton chimed in. “Food goes everywhere, sometimes I make him wear a bib.”
Callis laughed.
“She gets the picture, dad. It’s not that bad,” he told Callis as an aside.
“Do you need a ride tonight for dinner?” Mr. Denton asked Callis.
“I’m pretty sure Mr. Lowrie will give me a ride, thank you,” she told him, the words were addressed to Mr. Denton but she only had eyes for Kevin.
“Well you let me know if anything changes,” he told her as he dropped her off. “You still hungry, boy?” Mr. Denton asked his son who was busy watching Callis go up the walkway. She kept turning every couple of feet to look back. “You’ve got it bad don’t you?” Mr. Denton laughed.
“Huh?” Kevin asked, turning back towards his father.
“You still hungry?”
“Not really.”
“You will be, come on, Romeo.”
“Mom you can’t be serious? We can’t let that girl in this house.” Mindy complained. Mrs. Denton was in the kitchen prepping for the evening.
“Really, Mindy, what is your problem? She is apparently important to your brother. Isn’t that enough?”
“She’s poor white trash and she’s a slut. Isn’t that enough!” Mindy said hotly.
“Mindy enough! I will not hear those types of things in my house!”
Mindy left the room in a huff, but she had completed the mission she had set out to do. She had planted a seed of doubt in her mother.
“What do you know about this girl?” Mrs. Denton asked her son as he walked in the door. He did not even have enough time to place his football equipment down.
“We won, in case you wanted to know,” Kevin told her. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Kevin!”
“Mom we had this conversation. Mindy’s pissed off because I won’t go out with her bitchy friend Laura and that I’m somehow dating ‘below my station’. You know what, Mom, maybe you should ask your precious daughter who she’s been seen with and then we’ll compare notes.”
“Kevin!” she admonished.
“Are we done here? My body hurts and I want to get in the shower.”
Mr. Denton put his hand up when he saw his wife about to blow up. “Enough, let’s take a minute here. Why don’t you reserve any judgment you may have until tonight when you meet the girl. From what I’ve seen of her, she seems like a very nice young lady.”
Mindy smiled. She was at the top of the stairs listening to the whole conversation. She ducked into her room when she heard Kevin coming.
“Honey, could you set the table?” Mrs. Denton asked Mindy.
“Sure,” she said as she grabbed some plates.
“You only need five,” her mother told her as she looked at the stack.
“I invited Laura and Talea,” Mindy told her innocently.
“What? When were you going to tell me?”
“They eat over all the time. I didn’t think it was that big a deal.”
“Mindy, you know this is important to your brother. I don’t think he’s going to appreciate you asking your friends over.”
“So he can have a friend, but I can’t? Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s not like that and you know it.”
“Okay, so it’s no secret I can’t stand the girl, I think she’s going to hurt Kevin and I just don’t want to give her the chance.”
“I appreciate your concern and I’m sure your brother would as well, but it’s his life, Mindy. We all make mistakes until we get to the right one.”
“Mom, tonight will go smoother if I have my friends to talk to.”
Mrs. Denton saw the wisdom in those words. “Fine, set the table.” She left it at that.
“Hi, Mrs. Denton,” Laura said as she and Talea came in.
“Hi, girls. Mindy is upstairs,” she told them as she let go of the screen door. She waved at Laura’s mother before the woman pulled out of the driveway.
Kevin came down a few minutes later. “Mom, what are Laura and Talea doing here? This is just supposed to be Callis.” A small knot formed in his stomach. He was already nervous about her meeting Callis for the first time, and he knew his sister had something planned; she was too mean-spirited not to.
“It’s just Talea and Laura,” his mother answered weakly. She saw the concern in his eyes and she hoped it wasn’t warranted.
Kevin went into the living room. He stayed looking out the window until he saw Mr. Lowrie’s Subaru pull up.
“Nice house,” he said as he pulled into the driveway. “Have a good time,
kiddo. CSI is on at nine. You going to need a ride between nine and ten?” he asked, hoping she would say no.
“I should be fine.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
“You should see if they’ll give you some doggie bags to take home.”
“I’ll check,” she laughed. “Bye.”
“Have fun, remember the doggie bags!” he shouted as he pulled out.
Her heart skipped a beat when she turned back and Kevin was standing on the front porch. He waved at her, and even from this distance she could see his smile. He came down to meet her and his smile faltered slightly.
“Listen,” he began, “my sister somehow weaseled her friends over tonight. If you’re not comfortable we can leave.”
Callis wasn’t comfortable with that, not at all. But she was not going to let Mindy and her minions bully her. “I’m fine,” she told him, forcing a smile, although when he looked at her, it wasn’t difficult to do at all.
Mrs. Denton turned as the front door opened. A spark of jealousy flashed through her head for an instant as fast as the blink of an eye. She was surprised it happened at all. Callis’ youth and natural beauty lit up the room as she entered. Her smile was genuine as she looked at her son. Where did that come from? she questioned. It must be instinctual, she thought. And then her manners kicked in.
“Welcome! So you must be Callis Rose. Please come in.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Denton,” she said shyly.
“You’re welcome. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Would you like something to drink? I have soda and iced tea.”
“Iced tea would be great, I haven’t had that since...for a very long time.”
“Kevin, you want anything?”
“I’m good, thanks Mom.”
Mrs. Denton headed to the kitchen where Mr. Denton was waiting. “So?”
“Well, she seems nice enough, but we’re only into the pleasantries. She is a beautiful girl, though.”
“I noticed that as well,” he said.
That quick stab of jealousy came back; she now had a good bead on why her daughter was so pissed. Mindy was an attractive girl, but Callis was of movie star beauty. Tough to compete with something like that; and that was what it was all really about with girls and women, competition. Not in the traditional sense, whose muscles are bigger, or who can score more points in whatever game is being played; but rather, who can attract more men, who can turn more heads, who can get noticed more. And she hated to admit it, even over her daughter, but Callis beat her hands down. And if she had the personality to match, then Mrs. Denton knew why Mindy felt threatened.