Dancing Hours (31 page)

He went to talk to Andy right away when he got there, but before he could really get a good read on the situation his brother showed up, no doubt looking for trouble.  Or maybe he was just trying to piss David off.  If so, it was working.

David saw how Andy
brightened when Noah walked up and
he was crestfallen.  She smiled and blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. 
Had she ever reacted that way to him?  No,
he didn’t think so.

Then, on the walk to the park to watch fireworks, she started asking questions about Noah.  She wanted to know more about him.  David felt a little betrayed by them both and he didn’t mean to, but he took it out on Andy – he did all but call her a foolish little girl for being interested in Noah.  It was mean and he felt badly about it.  Once
he realized how mean he sounded
, he stopped talking. 
Best thing to do when you’re in a hole is to stop digging
is what his grandmother would say.

Catching up to Noah and Jessica ahead, the whole scene seemed surreal to him.  He recognized a large portion of the crowd from the grocery store, church, just from the street.  In California, crowds gathered in huge fields or parking lots with thousands of strangers hoping to get a semi-decent glimpse of some fireworks – if they weren’t busy pretending to be too cool to watch at all.
  Here, the crowd that gathered in the center of town was probably smaller than his high school graduating class. 

The small crowd murmured approvingly in between explosions and David found himself pensive.  He
re
he was, pretending to be a father to his brother’s kid – who was the most awesome kid ever, but it was still strange – standing with a girl he had a crush on who was clearly into his brother.  He lived with his grandmother and had a job in a
shoe
store making terrible money.  No wonder she wasn’t interested in him.  Perhaps he should just wait for the anvil to fall out of the sky.

When the fireworks
were almost finished,
Jessica had to go the bathroom and David was thankful the city municipal building was open so they didn’t have to walk all the way back to Andy’s house yet.  Jessica seemed to understand that there were no princess fireworks because there was no “bug jet”
for them
, but it didn’t make her happy.

They returned to see Noah with his arm around Andy.  He looked pointedly at David across the courtyard
and winked
then pulled his arm away before David reached them as though nothing had happened.  When Andy later agreed to go with Noah, David wasn’t surprised.  Whatever it was that girls saw in Noah was about to claim another victim.

He returned to Andy’s house where Ms. Nessa, his grandmother and several others were still sipping the loaded ice tea.  It was hard to hide his sullenness, so he made excuses about being tired and needing to take Jessica to bed.  His grandmother came along too.  She said she was planning an early day and needed her beauty sleep.  Ms. Nessa chuckled a little and the two
women
exchanged looks.

Once Jessica was asleep, Grandma Merchant came to rest next to David on the couch.  She patted him on the knee.  “Don’t you worry about them,
David.
”  She said.  “Andy’s a good girl, a real sweet one.  I’ve never seen or heard a bad thing about her.  I told Noah that he ought to try to get to know her, that’s all.  She’s good for Jessica, good for this family.  You’ll see.  Everything’s going to work out alright.”

“You told Noah to go out with Andy?”

“Well, no, not in so many words.  Noah does things his own way.  You know that better than anyone.  But I think he needs to know that some girls his age are pretty and smart and mature and… nice.  He could use a calming influence.”

“Great.  And what if, instead, they run off together and Bonnie and Clyde it.”

Mrs. Merchant laughed heartily.

“Some
day Noah is going to wake up and want to be worthy of a good girl, but that day was not today.  And Andy may think that she can fix the bird with the broken wing, but that’s not happening today either.  I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at how this turns out.”

David smirked in disbelief, still feeling a little dejected.  Part of him realized that Andy hadn’t rejected him at all – because he’d never done anything to suggest he wanted to venture outside the friend zone- but that was a small part.

It wasn’t until Noah came home before ten o’clock, for the first night possibly ever, that David thought things may not be what he thought they were.

“Did you have a good time?” he asked Noah acidly.

Noah smiled slightly “It was fun.  She’s a cool chick.  She sure does like you a lot.”

David sat up a little straighter.  He didn’t want to sound like a kid and ask
“What did she say?”
so he went with the ever so much more mature “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

David sat there wanting to know more, but not wanting to have to get the information from his brother.  “She seems to like you a lot too.”

“
Relax,
bro.  She hardly knows me.  We talked a lot.  I told her everything…”

“Everything?”
David interrupted hopefully.

“Well, not
everything
everything
.
  But I think she gets the general idea.  She’s way too n
ice for me
.  I don’t think there are enough living saints on the planet to keep up with her.  She’s perfect for you.”

“She’s just a friend.  That’s the way it’s got to be.  I’ve made my decisions.”

“As long as you know those are your decisions.  Maybe you should give her a chance to make her own decisions.  Anyway, I’m going to bed … early day tomorrow.”  He turned toward the hall that led to their room and then looked back at David “Don’t wake me up when you come to bed.” 
then
chuckled at his own joke before
leaving.

David flipped mindlessly through TV channels considering the possibility that he’d committed himself to a dateless existence for the next dozen years.  It was a sobering thought, but he had seen enough daytime talk shows to know that he was the only one responsible for making himself happy.

He
decided to go for a run to clear his head.    The smell of wet sulfur still hung in the heavy air.
A few people were still out and about after the fireworks display, having a good time sitting inside screened in porches or hovering near a citronella candle to ward off
mosquitoes
.  They seemed to breed in mid-air in the thick humidity.

David found his body had forgotten the rhythm of a run.  It took a while to find it ag
ain, but eventually he
did
.  A
fter several more minutes his chest was pained by gasping for air.  He was out of shape, he decided, vowing to himself to fix that.

He stopped run
ning to find himself on Andy’s b
lock, unsure of whether he had come there on purpose.  He walked that block and was relieved
to find
that their party had ended
and no o
ne was sitting in front of her
house
.  A couple of lights were on upstairs and he paused to look at them. 
Was she thinking about Noah?
He supposed it didn’t really matter.  He enjoyed her company and for as long as she was here, he would just relax and see what happened.

“Evening.”
Boomed a voice from behind him, startlingly loud.

He jumped and turned to see Tony walking a dog.

“Hi, How are you doing,
Mr
Lazarro
?”

“Tony,” he insisted “I’m
doin
’ okay, but I think I’ve seen that look before.”

“Look?” David asked, then realizing what Tony must be thinking “Oh, I was just out for a run.  It’s a nice night.”

“Yes,” he agreed “a nice night for being in love.  Look at the moon, it’s smiling at you.”  He smiled
looking up
and took a deep breath, putting
a hand
over
his heart.  His hound dog looke
d
up lazily appearing a little annoyed at this interruption of his evening ritual.

“But, I’m …” David
stammered, starting to explain.

“Don’t
worry,
your secret is safe with me.”
Tony interrupted.

“Uh, thanks.” Was all David could manage as Tony walked
off.

“Don’t mention it.” Tony called out without turning back.

When David turned back toward the house, all but one light was off.  He decided to head home and crash.  The next morning was confusing.  Jessica was up early as usual chirping about a new bed.  Noah got up and showered before David was even out of bed.  Something was clearly not right in the world.

He wandered out to find Andy in the kitchen, but whatever was going on happened so fast he hardly had time to process it.  Noah was in
a surprising good mood and he, G
randma and
Jessica left quickly leaving him
standing there in the kitchen alone with Andy smiling sweetly at him.

In the shower, he realized that Noah had set this up.  His completely unreliable, goofball brother had actually thought of someone besides himself.  David wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip away.  Jessica had at least one reliable sitter and David was going to enjoy the day.

For a while there, he forgot to be so serious.  Ms. Nessa had given him some alcoholic drink and he actually got to talk to Andy.  They had a lot in common – she wanted to travel and he told her about his time in Europe
.  She wanted to know if he had ever been to Paris.

“No, I never did go.  I mostly spent time in Italy and Spain.  You could spend a year in Rome and never see it all.” 

“What was your favorite part?”

“Oh man, that would be like picking a favorite beach.  Everything was just a different kind of awesome.  The Vatican is mind-blowing with this amazing art everywhere.  They have ancient ruins just sitting around along the side of streets.  It just really makes you feel like there’s history all around you.”

“That sounds fascinating.”

“What about you?  What do you want to see?”

David watched as Andy’s face lit up with excitement.  She told him about the postcard in the photo album, how the first time she saw it she thought
the Eiffel Tower
was the most beautiful building she’d ever seen.  It was beautiful and strong and also delicate at the same time.  He was impressed that she seemed more interested in the Parisian architecture than the shopping.