story time!

I'm bored, so here you go.

“All right, everybody, see you Wednesday!” my director cried. Play rehearsal was finally over for tonight. I kept Andrew (with his beautiful black hair and warm brown eyes) in the corner of my eye and carefully timed my leaving to coincide with his. I left the room right behind him and noted (for the thousandth time) his strong silhouette. Unfortunately, his long brown coat hid his cute butt and legs. I sighed internally. But I also noticed our third-story view of the darkening sky, with its blues turning to purples and oranges beyond the black trees.
“Whoa, yes, it’s finally getting dark when we leave,” said Andrew, right on cue, as he turned to face me. I picked up my step.
“Yeah, isn’t it cool?” I replied, catching up. “I love the sunset. It’s awesome.”
“Everything’s awesome to you,” he teased.
“What can I say? I’m an optimist.” We reached the stairwell and began to descend. To save time and energy, I decided to slide down the handrail on my butt, like Mary Poppins, only going down instead of up. Unfortunately, my butt wouldn’t slide. Andrew laughed as I quickly got off the handrail, wind milling my hands to keep from falling.
“Yep, ya know you have to get off when your butt sticks,” he chuckled.
“Well, the cold, you know, made the paint damp, or something—” I trailed off, losing my words in laughter. We laughed in unison for a moment.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Andrew asked gently. WHAT? Where did that come from? Was he going to ask me out (oh, please, God)? I wanted to go out with him, but I didn’t know how he would react to my asking him. I tried to answer his question as matter-of-factly as possible.
“No…”
“What? A pretty girl like you? I’d’ve thought the boys would be crawling after you. You ever had a boyfriend?”
“Yeah…” Oh, that was a brilliant answer. Just brilliant. I’m sure he was blinded by how freakin’ bright I was. I tried to rectify matters by adding, “I was, like, a senior in high school at the time.”
“Well, who broke up with who?” I looked at him. He looked genuinely curious. I decided to tell the complete truth—it’s not like he knew the guy.
“He broke up with me.” My mind flashed to other conversations, where I claimed it was mutual, both to save my pride and to keep him from being labeled a bastard.
“What!?! You should have broken up with him!” Andrew exclaimed.
“Well, he kinda beat me to the punch,” I said, forgetting to be nervous. “I was getting ready to break up with him, but, well, he beat me to it. Okay, then, now it’s your turn. You put me on the spot, how about you? Same questions.”
“Okay,” he replied, “I have had girlfriends, and it’s gone both ways.”
“Okay.” That was yet another brilliant answer on my part. I probably should’ve asked if he had a girlfriend now. Whatever. We left the stairwell and began walking towards the parking lot were I had left my car.
“Can I walk you to your car, dear lady?” asked Andrew in a faux British accent. “You are a marvelous conversationalist.”
“Oh, of course, darling, I would be delighted,” I answered in the same accent. Yay!
“Now, how could any decent guy break up with you?” he asked, dropping the accent.
“It does kinda piss me off the way he did it,” I said.
“How’d he do it?” asked Andrew. His voice caressed me. It made me sad and triggered my memory.
“It was after Winter Formal. He didn’t speak to me the entire night. It was almost a relief when he broke up with me.” My voice sounded dull to my ears. I let it be dull. If Andrew wanted to ask me out, he would have to know that I wasn’t always happy.
“Do you know why?”
“I dunno, the spark was just—gone, I guess.” I pictured Andrew moving closer to me, placing his arm around my shoulders to comfort me…
“I still can’t believe some guy would break up with you!” said Andrew, his voice incredulous. Come on, man, put your arm around me, I silently cried.
“I think a lot of couples broke up on Winter Formal night,” I said instead, longing for his touch.
“Wait, this was on the night of Winter Formal?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I drove, so he waited to drop the bomb until we were close enough to his house that he could walk in case I got mad and kicked him out of the car.” I waited for Andrew’s sympathetic answer. I mean, it would take more than that to get me to break my obligation. Instead, Andrew burst into laughter. That got me thinking. You know, that was kinda funny.
“Well, ya know, at least he waited until after Formal,” said Andrew, still laughing. I started laughing, too.
“It was more a blow to my pride than anything else. I mean, how dare this guy break up with me?” I said sarcastically, and laughed some more. That was one of the reasons why I loved Andrew. He made me laugh, even when I didn’t want to.
I could see my little silver car now, all alone near the back of the parking lot. We let the conversation drop for the moment and we walked in a comfortable silence. Andrew began to sing Bei Meir Bist Du Schon in a soft baritone. He’d been astonished that I knew the words, since not many people know any Andrew Sister’s songs besides Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. I joined in as soon as I recognized the song.
Bei Meir Bist Du Schon,
Please let me explain
Bei Meir Bist Du Shon means you’re grand
We continued singing until we reached my car. This was it. Would he ask me out?
“Hey, this is kind of an out of the blue question, but…” he started. Oh, please, ask me out, sweep me up in those hunky arms and kiss me, damn it! He interrupted my fantasy by continuing, “where do you get more of your strength, your mom or your dad?”
He was right. That was out of the blue. I scrambled for a reasonably true and smart-sounding answer.
“Um, I guess it depends on the type of strength,” I replied slowly.
“Hmm. I’ll have to think about that on my way home. Get home safe, kiddo,” he said, then turned and walked away. No! No! Don’t just walk away! I tried to find something to say to bring him back.
“You too, man,” I called. Damn it! I couldn’t figure out what to do, so I got into my car, locked the door, and began softly banging my head on the steering wheel as I berated myself for letting him get away. When that got old, I laughed. What fools these mortals be. I turned the ignition on the car, turned on the radio, and started laughing again when I heard the song being played.
I've tried to explain
Bei Meir Bist Du Schon,
So kiss me, and say you understand.