Rating: PG

Summary: Dinner guests.

Spoilers: Nope.
 

God, I love this girl so much.

And she said it first.

Guess I can say it now.

Soon as we unlock our mouths. God, her lips are so soft...I could get lost in here. And happily never be found.

"Kel?" I say, when our lips stop touching for a moment. "I love you."

I get rewarded with a really full, tender hug.

I thought this day would suck, but it's been like the best day.

But we're starving. Time to get some food.
 

"All right! It didn't die on the way over!"

We're both laughing. The 'Stang makes it to Bustamante's parking lot without a hitch.

Of course, it's got to start up when we come out...

Right now, I just want to be inside where it's warm, get something to eat, and look at Kelly as long as humanly possible.

My insides are like air currents. It's creating this kind of weird, light, flying feeling.

Either that, or I really need something to eat.

She is so incredibly pretty. Her face got kind of chapped from the cold, and it's real red...but she's smiling.

I kiss her again while we wait to be seated. I can kiss her here, the help knows me. Although I'm not really into doing tongues in public. Not yet, anyway, and she'd probably get pissed off.

We order, and we're about to dive head-first into the garlic bread when who should walk up to our table but Juliet and the prof.

I was kind of hoping that we'd get some privacy here, but Kelly likes Juliet a lot, and Juliet has been real cool to her, so Kelly asks them to sit down, and they do.

"So what's up with you guys?" I ask the prof.

"Went shopping for some new furniture...the bed's not quite what we want, so we got a new one," Juliet explained.

"How long could that take?"

"Uh...well...we had to get the right one, and one we could both be comfortable with, and the price had to be right..." I forgot, the prof is totally anal about this kind of stuff.

"Mattress testing. I could do that," I tell Byers.

"Like in Li'l Abner?" Juliet asks.

"Who the fuck is Li'l Abner?" I ask her, and the prof glares at me a little, meaning oops, I'd better watch my mouth.

But at least he doesn't do a public scold like my dad would.

Juliet giggles. "That's right, you two babies wouldn't know. Actually, it's ahead of my time, but my dad told me about it. It's a comic strip. Li'l Abner. He's a mattress tester."

Two babies, indeed.

Two real horny babies.

At least one of them is. And I'm betting Kelly might be a little that way herself, if last night was any indication.

"And then we had to get pillows and bedding, and you know how hard it can be to find just the right ones," Byers adds on.

No, I wouldn't, actually. I remember the days when I didn't have a bed of my own, when I'd be happy to get a place at Children of the Night.

But I know the prof doesn't mean this nasty or anything. He's just used to having enough bucks, and he's like so compulsive, he can't help it.

I mean, nobody, but nobody, else wears a tie to Busty's on Saturday night.

He's not doing the suit thing, but he's still got a tie on, and Juliet doesn't exactly look like she's been mucking around in the garage all day, unlike some other people we know.

Kelly's got some soot smudged across her nose. I think it looks kind of cute on her. And her hair's in those butterfly barrettes that she likes so much.

"Michael taught me how to fix a car today," Kelly tells them. And she's smiling. "He's a really good teacher."

I'm expecting some kind of smart-assed comment to emerge from that, but then, this is the prof, and he's not as much of a bastard outwardly as Langly can be.

Inwardly, I wonder about him. I bet he's one devious sonovabitch.

I wonder if he's ever shown up Langly. That'd be something I'd like to have seen.

But I'm surprised when the prof nods in agreement. "Michael can be very patient. When he needs to be."

"Not often enough," I remind him.

"Yeah, well, considering who your father is, I think you can be forgiven the occasional impatience. Don't get me wrong-we all love him and depend on him. But sometimes..." the prof rolls his eyes like, oh, help me please.

"Dad can be a real pain in the ass," I agree wholeheartedly.

"He's really nice," Kelly protests.

"Hey, didn't say he wasn't. He just drives me nuts, that's all."

"He worries too much," Juliet says.

"Tell me about it. He's been bitching about his ulcer lately. I think I'm the main cause of that."

Juliet laughs. "You're his son. You're entitled. All the grief I've given my parents, they should have both had nervous breakdowns by now...but they're still around and they still love me, and I love them." She digs into the garlic bread. "Don't get me wrong, they drive me up a wall sometimes, too. But they're always there for me. I'd be lost without them."

"Yeah." I look down. I know I'd be, too.

All this is making Kelly kind of down. She hasn't heard from her mom. She wants to call her, but when she does, her mom says she's busy or she can't talk right now or something.

I ask Byers if they published today. He says yeah, they did, on the cyberstands this morning.

He says the pieces I did were good.

Whoa.

I'm getting a compliment from the prof?

I mean, a compliment from any of the guys...Jesus, this is real weird.

But nice. I mean, I'll take it, no problem.

"You know if Langly heard if he's compatible yet?" Byers asks.

"Nope, haven't been there all day. We fixed the 'Stang."

"The one Langly kept threatening to put out of its misery?"

"One and the same. He sold it to me for a buck, so he didn't have to do any weird gift paperwork or anything." This makes everyone laugh.

"Well, I guess we'll find out tonight if he is or not," Juliet says. "We're headed over there after dinner to watch the NC State-Virginia game."

"No shit. That sounds like must-see TV to me. Kel?" I turn to her.

She shakes her head. "I didn't get my lab written up today, and it takes me a LONG time to do it, so I'd better get started on it tonight." She smiles slyly at me. "But you can come and see me at halftime."

Byers and Juliet exchange one of those Looks like, we can guess what the hell they'll do during the halftime show.

I look at Kelly, and she sort of blushes and giggles.

"God, I don't even know the stats this season," I tell the prof. "It's like, I don't remember the last time I sat down and just vegged in front of the TV, except when I was sick...otherwise I'm too damn busy all the time."

"No problem. Juliet and I have them on one of the computers at home. We'll e-mail them to you later."

Leave it to the prof to have all this right at his fingertips.

Sometimes his analness has its good points.
 
 

I was sort of bummed when the prof and Juliet first joined us, but it turned out okay.

Kelly and Juliet head for the ladies' room-why do women go to the washroom in packs? This is a mystery of life for which I have no clue.

"Your pieces for the February edition were really well done," the prof says again. "Have you thought about doing this professionally?"

What is this, career-counseling day for Michael?

"I have no idea. I don't know what I wanna do."

"Well, you should think about it. You've got potential."

"Uh...thanks."

"I'm not just saying it because you're Frohike's kid. I'm saying it because you're good. If you weren't, believe me, we wouldn't put up with you. This is not a charitable organization we're running."

"Uh...yeah." Wonder what he meant by, put up with me.

Guess I am sort of an asshole sometimes.

"We don't have any problems criticizing each other's work. And we're not going to cut you any more slack than we cut each other. So you can take it that your pieces stand by themselves. You do very thorough research, and your mechanics have improved greatly since you went back to school. Your dad says you've been taking writing classes."

"Yeah, I have."

"Keep doing it."

"Uh...okay."

Kelly and Juliet come back, and they're laughing about something.

Probably us. We males provide so much amusement for the females of the species.

We're going to get dessert-we're stuffed, but Kelly's into chocolate, and they've got killer chocolate blackout cake here...I intend to indulge myself. Being at 126, I can afford to right now.

It's only then I notice, that I'm not drinking.

This is like so weird.

Juliet and Byers each had a glass of some red stuff-yeah, I know, it's wine and they probably know wine, but to me, it all looks and smells the same-and I didn't even notice it till now.

This is the second time I've had Italian food, in this restaurant, with San Pellegrino instead of Bud.

I'm thinking about this when we hear a pair of noisy people come up behind us. It's Ally and Langly.

"Jesus, did everyone follow us here?" I ask Kelly.

Ally's laughing. "No, this guy has surgery tomorrow morning, and he's got to stop eating at 8, so his battle cry all day has been, feed me!"

"Hey, I don't get to eat all day, I'm gonna starve!" Langly whines.

"Does this mean you're compatible with Joan?" Juliet asks him.

"I'm a match," he's grinning.

"That's great," the prof says, and he's happy for him.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad, but this is gonna SUCK!" Langly's still whining.

"You're probably going to hurt for a while," Juliet warns him.

"No fucking way. I demand good drugs."

"Go for the Demerol," I tell him. I loved that stuff. It pissed me off that I only got it for 24 hours.

"Next to food, he's been screaming for painkillers," Ally adds.

"Hey, hurts a lot! You try it!"

Dude is nervous. Poor Ally. He must've driven her nuts all day. She looks like she could use a beer, and when the server comes with two more chairs, she tells him to bring her two MGDs like right now.

"That's good, thanks," Langly tells her.

"What're you talking about? That's MY order." She's laughing at him.

"Hey, I got one hour and 45 minutes to get drunk and stuff myself to the gills here. Give a guy a break."

The prof's laughing at him. "Langly, you act like it's your last meal."

"Yeah, well, it is. For 24 hours. I'm gonna starve."

"Not likely after today." Ally's probably ready to smack him. I know I'd be. "I have to make another trip to the Safeway after what he did to the kitchen today."

"Not my fault you bought all the stuff I like," he answers her.

"Some of it was supposed to be for AFTER you had it done."

"So get some more."

She rolls her eyes, the waiter brings her beer, and she gulps down about half of it. But she does give Langly the other one.

She is like such a soft touch for him, and he knows it.

Just like I'm a total soft touch for Kelly. Whatever she wants, she can have.

And I wonder if she knows it.

Langly's spearing my cake. I'll kill him. You can get away with some things, but touching my chocolate cake is a capital offense.

Then again, if he eats some of it, it'll take me longer to push it back to 140, which is where I usually am, and where things get sort of sensitive from here on out. The Frohike tendency to put it on isn't lost on me.

It's such a bitch. Langly will eat up the entire Safeway, and he won't gain an ounce.

Life is like so totally unfair.
 

Kelly and me are on our way out of the restaurant than who should appear but Daddy Dearest and Jo.

I swear he's got spies planted everywhere.

"They're in the back," I tell him.
 

Watching the Virginia-NC State game is like a total letdown. There is no game here, as Langly says. NC State is just reaming the hell out of Virginia.

"I couldn't have gone to that school!" Langly's screaming. "This sucks! I'm getting some ice cream!"

"Langly, it's five to eight!" Ally yells at him.

"So? I got five minutes. I'll make the most of it."

She closes her eyes and moans. "He's gonna puke all over the place tomorrow. Just watch."

That's more than I needed to know, I think.

Langly settles back in between my dad and Byers on the sofa, Juliet's on the other side of Byers.

"Langly, you're gonna be sorry!" Ally's screaming at him as he rapidly downs a pint of Cherry Garcia.

"No way. See? One minute to eight. Finis." He displays the empty carton for her, and she just shakes her head.

After watching Virginia give up two free throws and hearing the world's loudest belch from Langly, I decide to mosey on down to see Kelly.
 

She's studying, working on her lab report.

"You know anything about Excel?" She asks.

I show her some of the basics, and she's okay with it. I come up behind her and put my arms around her.

God, I am just dying to show her.

"Michael, I need to finish this. This is only the preliminary table. And you said you'd wait till halftime."

"Yeah, but the game sucks.

"Michael, come on. I'm busy. Later." She pushes me away.

I know I ought to leave her alone when she's like this...but goddammit, biology is getting to take over here...

"C'mon, take a break, Kel. You deserve it."

"Michael, I mean it! I have to get this done, and I'm having a hard time with it, and you're not helping!"

"Just helped you with Excel."

"And I appreciate it, but I really need to work...Michael, come on. Let go."

All I'm doing is hugging her. Usually she likes it.

"Kel? I gotta tell you something."

"What's that?" She's still typing.

"I'm really horny."

Instead of dropping her work, or just pushing me off, she turns around, and the look in her eyes just ices me over.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" She's screaming so loud, she's gonna get everybody's attention from upstairs.

Great. This is all I need.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"JUST LEAVE!" She's like nearly hysterical.

"Okay, okay, I'm gone." I race out of the room, and slam the door behind me.

This is the same girl who a few hours ago I had so much fun with? Who snuggled up to me? Who told me I was a good teacher?

Who said she loved me?

What the fuck is going on here?

I luck out this time; nobody apparently heard us in the dungeon, they're too busy hissing out the Virginia coach.

I bail out and race home as fast as I can.

And hit my room and cry my eyes out.

I am so fucking confused.

Help.

END OF PART 55