************************************************************************ 
 CHAPTER 6 - MY HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART - ALMOST




 "Cal!"  Jennifer screamed, running at me.  "It's been so long!"  She crashed 
 into me, giving me a bear hug.  "How the hell are you?"

 "Good.  You?"

 "I'm great.  Why don't you ever call or anything?  A postcard, even?  It's 
 been like three years."

 "Sorry.  I've been busy,"  I said, almost as a question.

 "Bullshit - busy.  I went to college, too.  You had time."

 "You're right.  I don't know. no good excuses come to mind."

 "Whatever happened with us?"

 "There was an `us'?"

 "No, but there should have been.  You're so damn dense.  Anyway.  Look at you!  
You've put on some pounds," she said, pinching my side.  "Quality pounds, 
 too.  You used to be so skinny.  Have you gotten taller, too?"

 "No.  Don't think so at least.  Still 5 foot 12 and a half," I said with a 
 smile.  "I did gain about 30 pounds since I last saw you, though."

 "Damn.  You eat all day, or what?"

 "No, I'm on a liquid diet," I said, raising my beer bottle.

 "Ahh. So what are you up to now?  225?"

 "Please.  About 190.  How about you?" I asked, poking her stomach.

 She lifted her t-shirt to reveal a flat, tanned stomach. "115.  Haven't gained 
 a pound since you left."

 "What, have you been keeping track until you saw me again?"

 "I have to stay looking good for you, hot stuff."

 Devon came up, a short brunette in tow.

 "You remember Mia, don't you?"

 I snapped my fingers, trying to remember.  Finally, I had to admit I couldn't 
 place her. "You do look familiar, though," extending my hand to her.  "Did you 
 work at Hy-Vee?" I asked, referring to the local grocery store.

 "Yeah, in the video department," she said, shaking my hand.

 "That's it," I said as an image popped into my head.  "Patriot Games."

 "Yeah," Mia said, a knowing smile spreading across her face.

 "Are we missing something here?" Devon asked.  Jennifer raised her eyebrows.

 "I went in one night to rent a movie.  I ended up getting Patriot Games.  When 
 I got home and popped the tape in, I realized that there had been some kind of 
 mistake."

 "Yeah." prodded Jennifer.

 "He calls me up," said Mia, continuing for me. "I just rented Patriot Games 
 from you guys, he says.  Then there's this silence for a few seconds."

 "I had left the tape playing while I called the store, and when I turned 
 around, the `action' had started," I continued.

 "I hear this kind of gasp or something, then he says, `oh my god.'  He was 
 kind of freaking me out by then, so I asked him what was up."

 "She was talking to me for a minute, but I didn't even notice.  I was too busy 
 watching the tape."

 "Finally, after like 30 seconds of silence, he says, `you've rented me a 
 porno.'"

 Devon snickered.  Jennifer was getting impatient.  "Well?"

 "I said, `you got Patriot Games, right?'  He said, yeah.  I told him I was 
 planning on taking a copy home after I got off work, so I could bring it over 
 or something."

 "Bold move on your part.  You didn't even know him," said Devon.

 "I did, kind of.  He used to rent quite often.  I noticed we had the same 
 taste in movies, and he's a cute guy.  Besides, I'd seen him at school and 
 stuff, so he wasn't like a complete stranger.  Anyway, he's like, no don't 
 bother, that's too much trouble."

 "She says, `no I've got nothing else to do.'  I was too out of it  
 to notice she was trying to hit on me or something," I said, laughing.

 "I told him I would be over in twenty minutes.  He didn't argue, so I looked 
 up his address on the computer and left early."

 "She shows up on my doorstep five minutes later."

 "It wasn't *that* fast."

 "Oh, *it was*.  Anyway, she's standing there, still wearing her blue Hy-Vee 
 apron and everything, and she says, `I forgot Patriot Games.'"

 "I was in a hurry."

 "I was disappointed."


 ******


 "Come in," I said.  Thank god my parents aren't home, I thought.  I don't need 
 the third degree about this strange girl I was inviting in.  I chuckled to 
 myself.  I'm not sure if I could answer them.

 She came in, and we stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment in the 
 entryway.

 "We haven't been formally introduced," I said, breaking the quiet.  "I'm Cal."

 "Mia."

 "Yeah.  You have the nametag."

 "You're on the computer," she said.

 *Idiot*, I thought to myself.

 "Would you like to watch a movie?" I asked.

 She stood motionless for a moment with a strange look on her face.  She didn't 
 respond.

 "Oh.  Not the one you rented me," I said with a nervous smile.

 "Oh.  Okay," said Mia, quietly.

 "We've got a bunch of older stuff," I said, leading her into the living room. 
  
 "I think I'd better go."

 "Why," I said a little too eagerly.  "No one's home, we could stay up all 
 night."

 She smiled.  

 *Damnit.  Now she's going to think I want to rape her or something.  Idiot!*  
 I berated myself for my lack of experience with women.

 "Okay.  It's Saturday night.  What else do I have to do?  You want me to go 
 get something to eat?  I could go get a movie - a new release - I get them 
 free."

 "See if there's anything you like in here, and let me know.  I've got plenty 
 to eat here," I said as I walked into the kitchen.  "Dr. Pepper?"  I asked, 
 holding up a two-liter.

 "Sure.  Oh my god, you have a great collection.  Are these yours?"

 "Some of them.  They're mostly my parents' though."

 "What's `Ocean's Eleven'?"

 "Don't know.  It's one of my parents'.  Never seen it.  I think it has Frank 
 Sinatra in it, though."

 "Let's watch that, it sounds interesting," said Mia, reading the box, "if it 
 sucks, we can always watch something else."

 "Okay," I said, returning with a bag of chips and two glasses of Dr. Pepper.  
 "You like ranch dip?"

 "Sure."

 I popped the movie into the VCR, then went to the kitchen, where I got the dip 
 out of the fridge.  "Are you at all hungry?  I could make something."

 "No, that's okay, I had pizza on my break.  That was only a couple of hours 
 ago," she said, consulting her watch.

 We flopped down on opposite ends of the couch and fell into silence as the 
 movie started.

 I leaned forward to dip a chip, bumping into Mia in the process.  "Go ahead," 
 I said, "ladies first."

 "Why thank you.  What a gentleman," she said with a grin.  

 We leaned back into the couch, a little closer this time.  We repeated this, 
 until eventually, her head was on my shoulder.  The closing credits began to 
 roll.  She sighed.

 "I hope my parents went to bed without waiting up,"  she said.

 "Geez.  Do you want to call them, or something?"

 "No, that's okay.  They probably won't miss me.  I'm sure they went to bed.  
 They always do when I work the late shift."

 "It's 12:30.  Would you like to watch something else, or do you have to go?"

 "Are you trying to get rid of me?" Mia asked, elbowing me in the ribs.

 "No.  Just asking," I said, rubbing my side.

 "Let's watch something else," she said, getting up, "I'll pick."

 I sat patiently on the couch while she crouched in front of the movie rack.  

 "Can I look through your wallet?"  I asked, noticing a fat leather wallet on 
 the coffee table.

 "Yeah, just as long as you don't look at my driver's license picture."

 That was an automatic invitation.  "You shouldn't have said anything," I said, 
 pulling her license out of its plastic sleeve.

 "Cal," she said, sounding like my mother.

 I held up the license to the light coming off the TV.  Jennifer Mia Collins.

 "You go by your middle name?"

 "Yeah.  There's so many Jennifers."

 I nodded my head.  Height: 5' 4".

 "Don't look at my weight.  That was three months ago.  I've lost some."

 Date of Birth: 1/24/77

 "You're only 16?" I asked.

 "Yeah. Should I take that as a compliment?"

 "Um, yeah."

 "How old are you?"

 "Eighteen."

 "Old fogey."

 "Hey.  I'm graduating this year, at least."

 "Lucky you.  Going to college?"

 "Yeah."

 "Where?"

 "Somewhere west."

 "What, don't you like Missouri?" she asked sarcastically.

 "Uh."

 She put the movie in.  I put her license back in her wallet and reached for 
 the remote.

 "What are we watching?"

"Patriot Games," she said with a smirk as she leaned into me on the couch.

The movie stopped where I had stopped it.  Three rather muscular, well-hung men were 
frantically trying to stuff as many of one woman's holes as possible.  Mia gasped.  

 "Wow.  I had no idea."

 "Yeah," I breathed.

 "This is my first porno," she said.

 "Mine, too."

 We watched in stunned silence for the next ten minutes as a variety of men 
 gang-banged the lone woman.  At that point, the picture disappeared into a 
 field of snow.  I fast forwarded through several minutes until the picture 
 returned.  

 "Whew," said Mia. 

 Just as she spoke, the picture became fuzzy once again, although this time, 
 the picture was still slightly visible.  

 "Damn.  Now we know why they returned this instead of Patriot Games," I said, 
 "they've got a new movie for free, and got rid of an old crappy one."

 "Patriot Games doesn't have hard core sex in it, though."

 "True," I said with a chuckle.

 I yawned, stretching my hands over my head.  Mia pulled one arm down over her 
 shoulders.  She snuggled in closer to my body.

 "You're so nice and warm."

 I hugged her.

 The tape stopped and began rewinding.  The whirr of the VCR was enough to wake 
 me.   

 "Mia," I said, shaking her slightly.

 "Wha. what time is it?"

 "2:20."

 "Shit.  I've got to go."

 "Stay."

 "What?"

 "Stay here with me.  My parents won't be home till tomorrow afternoon."

 "Where are they?"

 "It's their anniversary, they got a room and buffet package at one 
 of the hotels downtown."

 "Oh.  Okay.  My parents go to church tomorrow at 9:00, so make sure you wake 
 me in time to get home while they're gone."

 "Okay," I said.  "Mia?  Wake up.  Let's go up to my room.  Just in case my 
 parents get home early or something."

 "Alright," she said, her willpower sapped by sleep deprivation.

 We climbed the stairs to my room and walked in.  

 "Cool room."

 "Thanks."

 "Did this used to be an attic or something?" Mia asked, looking at the low, 
 sloping ceilings.

 "No, it's just the space above the garage.  My dad and I finished it."

 "Cool.  Do you have anything I can wear?  I don't want to wrinkle my clothes."

 "Sure." I lead her to my dresser and opened a couple of drawers. "Take your 
 pick.  There's sweats and shorts in there and t-shirts in this one.  The 
 bathroom's down the hall and to the left."

 I walked to the window and closed the blind.  Mia grabbed something out of the 
 drawer and padded quietly down the hall.  Quickly, I stripped off my jeans and 
 shirt and grabbed an old pair of sweats and a Blades t-shirt.  The toilet 
 flushed and Mia walked back into the room.  She was wearing only a white 
 t-shirt.  Only the fact that it was one of my shirts helped it cover the 
 important parts.  She climbed into the far side of my bed without saying a 
 word.  I walked over to the wall and flipped off the light switch.

 "Hurry up," she mumbled from the darkness, "I need you to keep me warm."

 I climbed in and wrapped my arm around her stomach.  She squeezed my hand.  

 "Thanks for having me over." 


 ******


 "Do you want me to keep going?"  I asked.

 Mia looked a little uncomfortable.  Devon wrapped his arm around her shoulders 
 and looked down at her.  Jennifer had an expectant look in her eyes.

 "Well?" the three of us asked in unison.

 "I'll tell it.  You'll make it sound bad," said Mia, sticking her tongue out 
 at me.