Chapter 12

“Since you got the movie tickets, I'll get the ice cream,” I told Jennie as soon as we entered the ice cream parlor. It was a local chain and was known for having super creamy ice cream and a large variety of toppings. If you were a kid who had grown up in the area, you had definitely begged your parents at least once to take you to Mama and Joe’s Ice Cream. Rumor had it that there had never actually been a ‘Mama,’ but that the original owner, whose name had not been Joe, had thought it made the store sound more wholesome with it in the title. The ‘Joe’ was tacked on for a more blue collar feeling. So basically our little local ice cream parlor was totally fake, but it still had delicious ice cream, so nobody really cared.

It was not the same place where I’d worked and had had my first kiss with a girl. Things had been too weird after Krystal kissed me, so I had quit and hadn't been back to that ice cream parlor since. There was no way I could take Jennie there, or any other girl, for that matter. Mama's had better ice cream anyway.

She argued, but I got my way in the end. We got to the counter and put our orders in, and after I paid, we got a small table against one of the back walls. The ice cream was good, and I tried not to eat too fast, to avoid getting a brain freeze. Also, I didn't want to come across as a pig in front of Jennie. I'd been known to spill food now and again, so I tried extra hard to avoid that.

“Are you ready for the exam next week?” I asked in between bites. Jennie seemed to be enjoying her food, if the speed at which she was eating was any indication. After swallowing a spoonful, she said, “There are still a few more concepts I'm having trouble remembering, but I think with a few more study hours I'll be ready. It really helped that we went over some of the more complicated concepts at our study session. Thanks again for taking the time to help me with that.”

I brushed off her thanks. “It wasn’t a problem. History is one of the classes that I actually like. I don’t know if I study more because I like it, or if I like it because I understand it better than my other classes.” I shrugged. “Either way, it helps with my grade.”

After another bite of my ice cream, I asked Jennie, “What’s your favorite class? Or at least the one you hate the least,” I joked.

She immediately answered. “Definitely physics. I like all of the science classes I’ve taken so far in school, but physics is my favorite. The theoretical ideas and the practical applications are all so interesting. I know it’ll be hard, but I’m seriously thinking of majoring in it in college,” she revealed excitedly.

I felt myself melting. Not only was she gorgeous and nice and willing to go out with me, but she was smart, too. I considered anybody who liked math or science to be smart, because whoever actually liked those subjects had to have major brainpower to understand what to me was basically an alien language.

“That’s impressive,” I said sincerely. “Your parents must be really proud of you. I think mine would dance for joy if I told them I’d picked my major already, never mind choosing something useful like physics. I see in my future a general humanities degree, and then the next forty years of my life spent in an office processing paperwork for some huge corporation,” I told her with a shrug. “I’ve come to the realization that no big, exciting career awaits me. I’m sort of complacent about my future role as a cog in the machine of the greater international economy.”

“Hey, you sound like you’ve already given up and you’re not even out of high school yet,” she admonished. “What are your dreams, your secret goals? You like history, why not try something with that? I could definitely see you as a professor,” she encouraged.

“Wow, you can take the girl out of cheerleading, but you can’t take the cheerleading out of the girl,” I said flippantly. By the look on her face, I could tell she wasn’t amused. “I’ll think about it,” I capitulated, not wanting to rock the boat too badly on our first date. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a second one, which I was looking forward to. This early into date one, I knew I wanted there to be a date two.

“Good. So what are your dreams?” she asked. I was taken aback by the question. Here I was worrying about prying too much into her life, and she was cutting right through the niceties and getting to the chewy center of my innermost thoughts.

“I don’t know, honestly. I have those that most other people have—visit faraway countries, buy a nice house, get a high-paying job that will pay for the first two, and settle down eventually. Nothing too crazy.” I shrugged. “I went through my doctor/lawyer/firefighter/astronaut phases when I was little, but at this point, none of them really appeal to me. Especially astronaut. I went on one of those simulators at the museum once and felt dizzy and nauseous for the rest of the day.” I shuddered just thinking about

“Okay, astronaut is off the list, then.” She drew an invisible line through the air. “But you do have dreams, and you can turn those into goals, and goals were made to be achieved. You just have to work hard and never give up. I know you can do anything, Lisa,” she said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. It felt nice holding her hand, but her words made me feel even better. Hearing someone put that much faith in your abilities was a rush. I wanted to do something big and great so that I could prove her right.

We finished our ice creams (or, more accurately, I saw that Jennie had finished hers, took a couple more spoonfuls, and declared myself done) and walked over to the movie theater. Since we already had our tickets, we went straight to the concession stand.

I insisted on buying something, and Jennie grudgingly agreed to share a popcorn with me in addition to a couple of sodas. Even though we had just had ice cream, I had a feeling Jennie might still be hungry. She probably burned through lots of calories with all the physical activity she did.

Doing my best not to drop anything, I walked with Jennie to our theater. We were about fifteen minutes early, but it was a new movie, so the theater was already half full.

“Where do you like to sit?” Jennie asked me in a whisper. Looking around, I noticed two seats next to each other about three quarters of the way up. I pointed them out to her, and she agreed to sit there.

Once we were settled in our seats and snacking on our food and drinks, she leaned closer to me and whispered again, “Good choice. I was worried you were one of those people who liked to sit in the front row. Although I would have suffered through two hours of a sore neck for you, so keep that in mind for the future.”

My breath caught when she mentioned the future. That second date was looking like a sure thing now. But there was still time for me to screw things up if I wasn’t careful.

I whispered back, “Do I look like a crazy person to you? The only time I’ve sat in the front was when I showed up to a movie after it had started and those were the only seats left. I have vowed never to let that happen again.”

“And I assume you’ve kept your vow?” she asked.

“Definitely. Once I’ve made a vow, I keep it for life,” I assured her.

“Then you’ll make some girl very lucky in the future,” she said before leaning away from me and properly back into her seat. I sat looking at her profile for a few extra seconds before I turned away.

When our fingers touched as we went for the popcorn bag at the same time, I was proud that I didn’t get flustered. I was making progress. It was amazing that I felt as comfortable with Jennie as I did, since we’d spent a relatively short amount of time together.

As the lights went down, I remembered to pull