MIKE DID not bounce away from Jeff Parker. She stood there, her eyes almost popping out of her head.
"Hello," she said, not knowing what else to say, "Are you looking for someone?"
Jeff Parker still looked worried as he said, "Yes, I'm looking for you. You are Mike Patterson, aren't you?" Mike nodded. "The last girl out said you were the only one left in there."
Mike had never been so close to the boy of her choice and she took the opportunity to appraise him. He sounded nice. His voice was appealing and he looked just as nice as he sounded. The large mouth was firmly chiseled. the brown of the eyes had a velvety texture, and the jaw, with a little more growing, would be all a man's jaw should be. She noted with satisfaction that standing this close he was definitely taller than she. So she had been right about that all-important factor,
"Sure you haven't lost something?" she asked. He an wered "No-o-o," drawing the word out. She added, "You look bothered about something."
He brightened with an effort, forcing a smile, apparently not wanting to look bothered about anything.
He coughed, gulped, and squeezed the words out with apparent difficulty. "I'd like you to have dinner with me, Mike."
She rolled back on her heels, feeling behind her for something solid and almost losing her balance. Jeff caught her before she toppled and pulled her back, "Dinner," he said firmly this time, "and a movie afterward."
Suddenly she realized the dreadful mistake he made. She laughed. "You've got me mixed up with my sister Pat. Lots of people who don't know us well get our names mixed. Mike and Pat." She spoke rapidly in nervous jerks. "I see what got you confused. Pat and I are usually here together. I play basketball. Pat is the cheerleader Look, you'd better call her up. Our number is CI 7-9605 Wait, I'll write it down for you." She rummaged in her disorderly bag for a pencil. As she was tearing a scrap of paper from her English notebook, Jeff stopped her,
"I haven't made any mistake. I want to take you to dinner, Mike. Not your sister Pat." "You're sure?" She could feel her mouth drop open, She clamped it shut, making an embarrassing click.
"Yes, I'm positive." Doubts crowded her. She couldn't understand why Jeff Parker would ask her for a date out of a clear sky. It seemed fantastic, much too good to be true. Yet the instinct within her that had made her choose this boy from all the boys she had ever known now rose to assert itself.
She squelched her doubts and asked, "When?"
"Tonight."
"Oh, no, I couldn't. That's too soon. I need time. Lots of time." She was talking nervously again. "Tomorrow then." She liked the way he said that, with enough self-assertion to show a hidden strength.
"I guess maybe I could make it for then. What time?"
"Six-thirty. If it's all right with you, we'll go to Chim ney Corner." She almost swooned. Chimney Corner was the most expensive place around, lying right between Brighthaven and Westbrook. She had expected Jeff to take her to the Kitchen Restaurant where most of the high-school boys took their dates.
He walked out of the building with her. She kept up a running conversation all the way. She had very little idea of what she was saying, but she felt excited and she simply had to let off steam. Jeff looked straight ahead, nodding from time to time. He hardly replied to rapid fire attempts at conversation.
Maybe he's just the quiet kind, she thought. "Can I give you a lift?" she asked. "My car-I mean my brother's car is over there. Ronnie and Don--those are my twin brothers are at Yale. They let Pat and me use the car while they're away" He was looking away from her. She felt he wasn't listening and he seemed strangely reserved. almost embarrassed. "How about a lift?" she asked again, eagerty.
Thanks," he seemed to come suddenly awake, "but I've got my motorcycle right over there." He started away. then came back. "It's a sure date for tomorrow night then," he said, and his manner seemed almost business like. "Six-thirty. You won't break it, will you, Mike?" His tone was apprehensive as be asked her that.
She told him the truth. "I've never broken a date with a boy in my life." He looked relieved and walked off toward his motorcycle. She stood watching him, frozen to the spot with admiration for Jeff and astonishment at her sudden good fortune. Jeff grabbed the handlebars of his motorcycle. With one deft kick on the pedal, he start ed the engine, dropped into the saddle, and swung out on the road in a long graceful curve.
She sighed and shook herself from her trance. Getting into the car, she pulled out of the parking lot. Jeff waved her to come on. He followed her a short distance along the road to Westbrook, the chug-chug of his engine making a companionable sound. Then at a fork, he came alongside, blinked his lights in signal and turned off toward his home.
She waited until she could no longer see the fast-retreating light of his motorcycle. Then she drove on.
Jeff Parker was a deep one, all right. He'd need some probing. There was a boy who couldn't be understood all in one piece.
Mike took the shore road to Westbrook because it was quicker. She'd have to hurry now or she'd be late. Pat was ever a patient waiter. The Pattersons lived so far out that it was difficult to find anyone to give them lifts home. As she thought about her date with Jeff, she suddenly realized she hadn't told him where she lived. He hadn't even asked. Maybe she should turn back. She slowed , then realized bow foolish she would look running back after him. She could telephone him. No, that would be appearing too anxious. Let him find out who in she lived.
The road was dark, with piles of snow banked along shoulders to remind her that it was midwinter, but l spring sang its song of renewal. The world and all were now for Mike. If she had heard robins singing the bare branches of the trees, she would not have he surprised.
I've got a date with Jeff Parker! her heart kept singing. Wait till Pat hears about it!
Pat and a boy were waiting inside the auditorium e trance. They came out, climbing into the front seat wit Mike. The boy was Taylor Watkins. He talked about the "the-ah-tah." That was the way he pronounced it, refer ring constantly to the fact that he had been an apprentice last summer at the Brampton Playhouse.
Mike chafed under his conversation, partly because of her dislike for Taylor, partly because of the news that was almost bursting her insides. At last he got out.
As they drove off. Mike gave vent to her feelings "There goes a prize jeck," she said.
"Taylor's rather nice when you know him," Pat said. "And he does know all about the the-ah-tah!" Pat gave the word a flippant twist, imitating Taylor. The two sisters enjoyed their laugh at Taylor's expense.
"If he had said that word once more," Mike wound up the discussion, "I planned to cram it back down his throat." She took a deep breath. "Pat, guess what? I've got news. Big news."
"What?"
"I'm going out to dinner tomorrow night with you'll-never-imagine-who"
"Shirl Scofield? Anne Kovacs?" "No, no. With a boy."
"A boy!" Pat was properly astounded. "Who?"
"Jeff Parker."
"Why, Mike, I can't believe it. I haven't been able to get a date out of Jeff Parker myself." The remark was spontaneous and Pat added, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded. I was so surprised.
"I know." Mike was not offended. "I was surprised too"
"How did it happen?" "There was nothing much to it. We finished the game.Beat the pants off Brighthaven, by the way."
"Good."
"I had a shower, taking my time. Was the last one out of he locker room and there he was, waiting for me." Mike took one hand off the wheel and snapped her fingers. "Just like that. He asked me if I was Mike Patterson, and when I said yes he said he wanted to take me to inner. Tonight. I stalled, so he said, "Well then, how about tomorrow?"
"But first he asked you if you were Mike Patterson." "Of course. We've never really met. Just gawked at each other at the Greasy Spoon. Or, to be more accurate,I gawked at Jeff."
Pat was quiet, turning away from Mike, looking out at the silhouettes of houses and trees against the moonlit winter sky. Mike wondered what she was thinking.
"Mike," she said at last. Miko grunted her response. Please don't think I'm being mean," Pat went on. "You now I wouldn't want to say anything that would hurt ou. But I don't want my sister made a fool of either."
The vague uneasiness she had felt when Jeff asked er for the date rose again in Mike, but she brazened it out. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm not sure myself," Pat answered, and she sounded dead earnest. "I'm not going to talk until I am sure. If I can prove to you this whole thing is a gag. Mike, will you promise you won't go with Jeff Parker?"
Mike fell apart. These were the very words she had resisted in her own consciousness. She had silenced this thought when it had presented itself to her. She could not silence it in her sister. She gave the only answer she ould give.
"Prove it first," she said. "Then I'll decide what to do."