“Dude, I’m not going there, ok?” Randy sat across the
table from his best friend Dean.
Exasperated, he tried to explain, again, why he wasn’t ready to commit
to Heather.
“I don’t know.
It’s just that she wants to move in with me now, and I’m not ready to go
there. I love her and everything, but do
I really want to commit to a mall chick?
I mean, if she’s going to be with me, I want her to be with me and not at the mall all the time with
her wannabe friends.”
Dean studied Randy.
“So, you don’t want to compete with her friends? Dude, that’s a totally lame excuse.”
“Well, I can’t help it,” Randy replied. “I know that she’s like, totally popular and
has so many friends, but I don’t want them over at my place all the time. And they would be, because they’re always at
her place. So then imagine what happens
to my life - when do I
get to have all my friends over?
Her friends think you guys are all a bunch of hosers. In fact, we argued about this just the other
night. I told her I didn’t want to make
her choose, but I felt that I was riding backseat to her friends. Dude, if we’re meant to be together, then
why do we fight?”
“Because love is a battlefield. You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to
what’s real.”
Randy stared at Dean for a minute. “Who are you, freakin’ Einstein?”
Pausing briefly to readjust his bandana, Dean
continued. “Fine, whatever dude. But you’ve been with Heather for like, four
years. That’s so gnarly. And Heather’s so bodacious, I don’t know why
you wouldn’t want to totally take her off the market.”
Randy looked intently at Dean, as though he were
giving serious consideration to what he just heard. “You’re right. I think I’m going to ask Heather to marry
me.”
Dean looked up at Randy in disbelief.
“Sike!” Randy teased.
“Dude, that was so not rad. I totally thought you were serious,” Dean
sulked.
“Well, I was like, totally not serious. I’m going to tell Heather that she’s not
moving in and I’m just going to keep things the way they are.”
“How are you going to tell her?” Dean asked. Glancing at his empty beer bottle, he
continued. “She’s gonna completely freak
out. We need a method to the madness, so
let’s sink another drink ‘cause it’ll give me time to think.”
“You know I gave up drinking a long time ago.”
Shaking his head, Dean said “dude, you don’t drink,
don’t smoke, what do you do?”
“Apparently not enough according to Heather’s
friends,” Randy replied. “They didn’t
think I did enough for Heather’s birthday.”
“What did you get her?” asked Dean.
“I got her a pet rock.
She threw it at me. I think she
was expecting a different kind of rock.”
“Dude, that’s seriously bogus. Are you sure you don’t want a beer?”
“Nah, just get me a Pepsi,” replied Randy as he handed
a five dollar bill to his friend.
Slipping back into his black and white checkered Vans,
Dean went to get the drinks, leaving Randy alone in his thoughts. He knew he was justified in not
committing. He loved Heather, but did
loving her mean he had to love her friends too?
Was it fair to ask him to ignore his feelings and accept all her friends
into his life? Did he have to pretend
that it was all right? Maybe he should
try. ‘No,’ he chastised himself. ‘Don’t you ever lower yourself, forgetting
all your standards.’ He would tell
Heather today; she was supposed to meet him here at the café soon.
Coming back with the drinks, Dean handed Randy his
Pepsi and sat down. Randy looked at him
for his change. “Dude, where’s my two
dollars?”
Tossing Randy’s change across the table, Dean noticed
the look on his face. “You made up your
mind?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Randy said with a heavy sigh. “I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m making her
choose, but I’m going tell her that I’m not ready for her to move in; that I
want to keep things the way they are. Am
I crazy for not moving forward?” he asked Dean.
Dean pondered for a minute before answering. “No, you have to be true to yourself, dude. If she moves in, things will probably
change. All the drama, there’ll be
tension with all her friends who don’t like your friends and everyone will be
spazzing. You’ll try to be the middleman
and keep the peace. The tension could
mushroom, and you may say to yourself, ‘my God, what have I done?’”
Nodding, Randy agreed.
“I can’t commit, but I don’t want to lose her. Seriously, I do love her and I’m not ready
for her to just jet and say goodbye.”
“Dude, no time is a good time for goodbyes” said Dean.
“But what if she chooses her friends over me and
leaves? What if I end up regretting my
decision?”
“Whatever you do, dude, just don’t look back - you can
never look back.”
“But I - ” began Randy.
“Dude, hang on, the tunes stopped.” Dean got up again and, digging into the
pocket of his Jams, grabbed a coin and put another dime in the jukebox. As he returned to the table, he saw Heather
walking through the door.
“Look, Heather’s coming in now. It’s time to stand and deliver.”
“Oh, man. I can’t
tell her now,” lamented Randy. “She’s
going to hate me forever. And forever’s
gonna start tonight. I know once she
looks up at me with those huge eyes I’m gonna fold and tell her she can move
in,” he panicked.
“Relax. Don’t
do it,” cautioned Dean.
Randy watched Heather make her way to their
table. She looked awesome in her
acid-washed Gap jeans, long Oxford shirt and pink jellies. When she got close enough he could smell her
Camp Beverly Hills perfume. Closing his
eyes and inhaling the scent, he wondered if commitment was so bad. He knew she was going to want an answer
now. Under pressure, he started to sweat
just a little. His mind was racing and
he started talking under his breath: ‘you can win or lose - that’s a chance you
take, when the heat’s on you’. Glancing
out the front door, he saw a handful of Heather’s friends - waiting for
her. And he knew that’s how it was
always going to be.
Standing and meeting Heather halfway, he gave her a
small hug and led her into a corner of the room where they could talk in
relative privacy. She looked expectantly
at him, and he swallowed hard and began.
“I can’t do it, baby. I need to keep
our relationship where it is: we’re
together, but just not living together.
I can’t commit to someone who’s not serious, who’s always out shopping
with her friends….”
Heather cut him off.
“Oh my God, like, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. That is so not good enough for me. I can’t stay in limbo forever. I need to know that I’m moving forward with
my life. You don’t know how it is for
me. The phone rings in the middle of the
night, my father yells ‘what you gonna do with your life?’ She began to sob. “I thought we had something special.”
Gently holding her, Randy replied “we did have
something special. Making love to you
was never second best. It’s just
that...well, it’s not just you moving in, it’s all your friends over all the
time, and mine will feel like they suddenly have to call before they come over
and it’s just not going to, it won’t….” his voice trailed off as he looked
away.
Realizing what he was going to say, Heather tried to
stop him. “You’re givin’ me the chills
baby, please baby, don’t.” She realized
she was pleading now, but she couldn’t help it as she continued. “You tell me that you want me, you tell me
that you need me, you tell me that you love me, and I know that I’m right
‘cause I hear it in the night.”
Looking into Heather’s eyes while standing his ground
was the hardest thing Randy has ever done.
But he needed her to know that he wasn’t going to back down.
Realizing he was serious, Heather gathered her pride
together and decided to cop an attitude.
“Well, I guess I shoulda known by the way you parked your car sideways
that it wouldn’t last. You never had any
intention of committing. Your very first
kiss was your first kiss goodbye.”
Shaking her head slightly, she looked up at Randy and continued. “I should have totally seen this coming a
long time ago. You are so hard to read,
you play hide-n-seek with your true intentions.”
“Not even!” Randy replied. Trying to make her feel better, he
continued. “I’m sorry, Heather. It doesn’t have to end. We can just like, keep things the same, right”
he asked hopefully.
Heather just smiled sadly up at him as she turned
slightly away.
“You look so sad Heather. What are you thinking?” Randy asked her.
“Oh, thinkin’ about all our younger years, it was only
you and me, we were young and wild and free,” she replied wistfully. Then, glancing at her Swatch, she gave Randy
a quick kiss on the cheek. “Oh my God,
it’s late and my friends are waiting for me.
We only have two hours before the mall closes.”
Randy watched with mixed emotions and Heather walked
out of the café and, presumably, out of his life. Was she really giving him up so easily…. for
the mall??
Dean caught the expressions playing across his
friend’s face and thought he could use some distraction. “Hey, the guys are all chilling over at
Moby’s. Do you want to go?” Dean asked.
“That new club downtown? Nah, that place is hellacious. They don’t even have a dance floor.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Dean. “We can dance if we want to.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I think I’m just going to chill by myself for a while.” Shrugging into his red Member’s Only jacket, Randy said goodbye to Dean and left the café. Just before he climbed into his Camaro, he caught a glimpse of Heather and her friends as they rounded the corner. To her parting back, he whispered, “I’ll be alone, dancing you know it baby.”
© Dahlia Ramone:
November 26, 2017
*****
Note: Those of
you who grew up in the '80s will probably notice that I’ve thrown into the
dialogue some random '80s song lyrics.
There are, I believe, 25 such incidences.
I borrowed from the following artists/songs:
Pat Benatar
Love is a Battlefield
Van Halen Jump Billy Idol Dancing with Myself
Adam Ant Goody Two Shoes
Adam Ant Prince Charming
Talking Heads Once in a lifetime
Starship Sara
Don Henley The Boys of Summer
Joan Jett I Love Rock n Roll
Adam Ant Stand and Deliver
Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart
Frankie Goes to Hollywood Relax
Queen & Bowie Under Pressure
Glenn Frey The Heat is On
Cyndi Lauper Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Modern English Melt with you
Toni Basil Mickey
The Romantics Talking in your Sleep
Prince Little Red Corvette
Bon Jovi You Give Love a Bad Name
Paula Abdul Straight Up
Bryan Adams Heaven
Men without Hats Safety Dance
Simple Minds Don’t You Forget About Me
And one movie: Better
off Dead
This was written for Blogophilia
Week 40.10 Topic - The
Method to the Madness
Bonus Prompts:
Hard (2 pts) Use a song
title from the '70’s *Easy (1 pt) Use the word “Bodacious”(seventh paragraph)
* "Imagine" (fourth paragraph)
Modified today’s date to fit in new prompts. Originally written for Loaded for Blog in 2010
for the following topic:
Your topic this week is a story. A man and a woman
are in a long-term relationship but he won't commit. Men, you write from the
woman's point of view, and women, write from the men's.
