"FOURTEEN" PART FOUR: MERI (2nd section)

MERI
(2nd section)

     After a staggeringly long week, Friday afternoon finally arrived, making the night of the dance that much nearer. Ground Zero was to make their debut performance that evening as well so with this and his anticipation of seeing Meri Skinner, Craig was a ball of nerves. He spent an uncommonly lengthy time grooming. By 5:30 p.m., Craig and his father loaded his drums into the family wood-paneled Buick station wagon and headed back to Hyde Park. Thelonious assisted his son with transporting his drums into the school cafeteria, the location of the dance. His band mates were already set up, trading riffs while a few eighth graders and faculty chaperones hung the decorations. Craig’s father wished him the best of luck and informed him to be ready by 10:00 p.m. for pick-up.

     The time between his father’s departure and the start of the dance was tension filled, alleviated through the bluesy guitar licks and drum fills of his band. Craig was careful not to exert too much energy for fear he would become malodorous. He paced. He played his drums some more. He even strolled the empty, nighttime school hallways when suddenly he began to hear familiar voices three floors below him. Scooting into a nearby elevator, Craig ventured back to the cafeteria. The dance was about to begin.  

     The school cafeteria, now dark, with raging hormones filling the air along with streamers, balloons and a booming sound system held the eighth grade in a sea of nervous energy. If one needed a bit of fresh air or a bit of privacy, the doors to the courtyard were opened and the dreams of teenage hearts filled the autumn night skies.

Craig avoided most of his classmates by either hiding behind his drum kit, or by prowling around the courtyard hoping, in that foolish lovestruck boy fashion, to catch a glimpse of Meri Skinner before she saw him. Roughly an hour into the dance, Craig had allowed himself to mingle (slightly), but when he finally saw Meri Skinner, across the room with Tanya Yang and the gaggle of girls, he retreated to his drum kit and band mates. Meri Skinner took Craig’s breath away. As he gazed at her from between his ride and crash cymbals, he tried to figure out what it was that was now so transfixing. She didn’t look terribly different than she did earlier that day but with all of the anticipation it was as if he seeing her in a known world transformed. He stared at the part of her hair, the way her throat vibrated when she laughed, and while he looked at her, he thought to himself that this girl could quite possibly be his first real girlfriend. The pixie dust nature of that very thought sent his head into the most pleasant of spins.

     As a few of the cafeteria lights went up, the principal, Mr. Pashigian arrived in front of the Ground Zero set-up and adjusted a microphone. Mr. Pashigian was shameless in his display of misguided hipster-isms in his desperate bid for approval from his student body.

     “Young men and ladies…” he began, feverishly trying (and miserably failing) to conjure the vibe of Danny Ray, “…for you are all young men and ladies, we have a special treat for you tonight. Returning from their three month European tour are five young men who have thrilled audiences worldwide and now you will finally know the truth! In their debut performance here at the University Of Chicago Laboratory Schools, get ready to…SHAKE! RATTLE! AND ROCK N’ ROLL! TO GRRRROUUND ZEEEEERRRRROOOOO!!!!!!!” And with a game show hostess flourish of his arm, the five members of Ground Zero coolly approached their places, ignoring the introduction. Craig sat behind his drums, flipped his baseball cap backwards, and tapped the count of four on his drum sticks. The cafeteria lights went down again as the band ripped into a surprisingly exuberant version of the Blue Oyster Cult hit, “Burning For You.” The mini-concert continued with a blistering performance of three self-penned songs and their classmates cheered them on, song by song, first in absolute surprise and then absolute enjoyment. After the conclusion of their set, the five members of Ground Zero stood at the front of their makeshift stage, arm in arm and bowed for their classmates like they had seen their rock heroes address their fans. Once the sound system kicked in again at full blast, Craig ran for a nearby bathroom to groom himself and cool down. 

      Amidst the congratulatory backslaps and exclamations of “You guys ROCK!” from his classmates, Craig looked at his watch, noticing that his father was due to return in nearly ninety minutes. He rationalized that he better quickly get his drums packed away and ready before he went to seek out Meri Skinner. After a final grooming check, Craig exited the bathroom and returned to his drum kit to find Meri waiting coyly for him and for the first time since the day she initiated their relationship, Craig was at a complete loss for words.

     “Your band is really good, Craig,” she said and all he heard was the timbre of her voice as she spoke his name. “I know you have been practicing but I was really impressed. I think everybody was.”

     “Um….t-t-thank you,” Craig stammered.

     “So, would you like some help taking these drums down?” she asked, so sweetly.

     “S-s-sure,” he stammered again.

     Meri began to hand Craig various cases as he broke his set down and he finally began to regain his comfort level. As the two returned Craig’s drums, cymbals, sticks and stands to their cases, they relaxed and talked as they always had and as Craig’s heart raced, he noticed that Meri was nervously playing with her fingernails.

     “How long are you going to stay tonight?” Meri asked.

     “My dad said he was going to pick me up by 10:00.”

     “I’m asking because I told my parents that I would be home by 9:30 tonight so, I need to go soon…I think,” she said.

     After a moment of silence, Craig finally asked Meri, “Would you like to dance with me?”

Standing up and brushing themselves off from sitting on the floor, Craig and Meri slowly walked to the dance floor as the synthesized fanfare of Asia’s “Only Time Will Tell” rang through the air. Meri placed her arms around Craig’s neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. They didn’t much dance as sway slowly. Meri rested her head on Craig’s shoulder as Craig breathed deeply, trying not to get her hair into his mouth. Finding a comfortable rhythm for themselves, the two closed their eyes for the duration of the song and this blissful moment. Asia segued into Journey’s “Open Arms,” as Craig opened his eyes to find that several of his friends had entangled himself and Meri in a binding roll of streamers, while other classmates tossed confetti in their faces. Craig rolled his eyes and mouthed a feeble, “C’mon, guys!” as Meri contentedly tightened her embrace and smiled. Craig laughed and smiled back, basking in the very magic he had always hoped for, wishing he could hold it or snap a picture and freeze-frame it forever.

     “I guess we should look for ourselves in the society pages, huh?” Craig joked.

     “Maybe we should. Tribune or Sun Times?” Meri playfully asked.

     “I was thinking Jet Magazine myself,” Craig answered, pleased with his clever quip.

     Craig and Meri danced together through several more songs when she eventually looked at her watch and announced that she had to go home. They held hands for a brief moment as Craig asked if he could call her the next day, to which she accepted. As she left the dance, Craig stood on the dance floor, streamers still attached to his clothes, confetti sleeping in his baseball cap, shrouded in afterglow.

     Thelonious Hughes entered the cafeteria some time earlier with a few other parents and sheepishly watched their collective children engulfed in the long-passed ritual of the school dance. Thelonious couldn’t help himself but to take a quick glimpse at this very serious looking white girl who moments before was holding his son’s hand. He chuckled to himself.

     Craig looked at his watch and figuring his father may show his face soon, turned towards his drums and began to haul them back towards the cafeteria exit. After he, his father and friends loaded the drums into the car and the two were well on their way home, Thelonious could not help himself but to ask some questions.

     “So, how was the dance?”

     “Fine,” Craig answered blankly.

     “How was Ground Zero? Should The Who be hearing some footsteps?” Thelonious asked.

     “We did fine,” Craig answered. Again, blankly.

     “So…” for the Thelonious Hughes coup de grace, “…the girls?”

     “Yes, Dad. There were girls there. I’m surprised you didn’t trip over one in the cloud of perfume,” Craig slyly replied.

     “No, no,” started Thelonious again. “What I mean to ask you is…anyone special tonight?”

     Craig refused to answer. He grinned as he turned his head towards the window, lost in the hallucinogenic streetlights, replaying the events of the dance in his mind.

     Thelonious smiled, stifled a laugh and as a treat to his obviously lovestruck son, he switched the radio station from his beloved talk/sports radio station to The Loop and drove home.

     The following Monday at school, Craig and Meri made their first official public display of affection by holding hands in the hallways. The following Tuesday marked a milestone in their private displays of affection. Craig and Meri had alternated their afterschool studying habits in Rowley Library with occasional walks around the university campus. Yet, on this day, they found a shady, bushy area in the courtyard underneath several of the Lower School hallway windows.

     The increasingly bitter nip in the air signaled autumn’s determination to vanquish any remains of summer. Craig enjoyed this time of year the most with the cooler temperatures, darker days and falling leaves and he made the most of this chilly day by placing his left arm around Meri’s shivering shoulders as they sat on a patch of grass behind the bushes. While Craig and Meri had never been at a loss for words, Craig did notice a certain reticence that had not previously shown itself. He thought not much of it as he really didn’t have much to say himself. He enjoyed simply being with Meri, they didn’t have to clutter the seemingly empty moments with chatter. He looked at Meri, with her head resting on his shoulder, her arm around his stomach and sighed the sweetest sigh to himself. Meri raised her head and silently stared into Craig’s eyes, and he realized just how much he enjoyed looking at her serious face waiting for it to soften and glow into a smile. He stared back, smiled and simultaneously, the two nervous teenagers slowly brought their faces closer and engaged in one gentle, slow kiss. Afterwards, they exhaled and burst into laughter as Meri placed her head back onto Craig’s shoulder. Craig felt as if his heart were about to burst with a longing finally realized. In an overflow of emotion, he sputtered out, “I love you, Meri.” Meri tightened her hold onto Craig as they silently sat in the late October breeze, freshly kissed with scrambled brains.

Later that night, as he lay in bed waiting for sleep to arrive, it occurred to him exactly what words did indeed pass through his lips and he felt good about it. Craig was as unable to explain love as any of his peers but he knew that when he said it, he truly meant it. It wasn’t just something to say for the moment or for an effect. He believed in his feelings and he couldn’t help but to express them to his new girlfriend. Yet, there was one nagging thought, perhaps two. Her reticence was one. Why was she so quiet today? he thought to himself. But, a deeper more troubling detail of the afternoon and accompanying question scattered through his head and heart as he finally drifted off to sleep. She didn’t say, “I love you” back.
Copyright 2014 by Scott Collins All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights.