It all started with a laugh and a “You want to date me? Me and you? You’ve got to be kidding” and Pauline French walked away from me laughing.

I’d had the hots for Pauline since the seventh grade, but I was kind of shy and could never get up the nerve to ask her out. It took me a while to get up the nerve to ask her and while I thought she might say no I didn’t expect the response I got.

Fast forward two years to a week before senior prom. I was sitting in the school cafeteria and Pauline sat down at my table opposite me. I looked up from the notes I was reviewing and she said:

“How have you been Rob?”

“Getting along.”

“I heard that you and Barb broke up. True?”

“It is.”

“So who are you taking to the prom?”

“No one.”

“Going stag?”

“Not going.”

“Can’t get a date?”

“Not trying.”

“I guess you heard that Don is in the hospital.”

“I have.”

Don Jespers had been her steady boyfriend for the last year or so. He had been crossing a street while reading something on his cell phone when a driver paying more attention to his cell phone than his driving had hit Don and Don ended up with two broken legs.

“Don being laid up leaves me without a date for the prom. Would you like to take me?”

I’d heard through the grapevine that Pauline had been trying hard to find a date for the prom without any success. Not surprising given the senior class make up. Eighty-seven girls and seventy-two boys. By the time of Don’s accident al the boys were spoken for. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that at least half of the guys would have broken their dates in order to go with Pauline if it wouldn’t have totally fucked up their lives for the remainder of the school year. Pauline had to be really desperate if she had to approach me.

I looked at her smiling face and I knew what she was thinking. “He has always wanted me. No way is he going to say no.” I looked her right in the eye and said:

“You want to date me? Me and you? You’ve got to be kidding” and I got up and walked away leaving her sitting there with a stunned look on her face.

I heard later that she went to the prom stag, but didn’t go to any of the after-prom parties. I also heard that she blamed me for ruining the prom for her.

College was not in the cards for me. My parents couldn’t afford it and my grades, while decent, weren’t going to get me any scholarships. When I graduated I looked around and while there were plenty of jobs available they were all low paying. Every fast food and convenience store in town was hiring, but none of them paid what I considered a living wage. So I did what many young men did and joined the Army. I thought it would teach me a trade and I could use the GI Bill to go to college when I got out.

Three years later on a Friday I stepped off the bus in my home town and was greeted by my father. On the drive home he asked me what my plans were and I told him that first on my list was to find a place to stay and find a job.

“And then when I’m settled in I’ll look into taking some college classes.”

“You are welcome to live with your mom and me. Your room is just the way you left it an as far as a job is concerned there is an opening in shipping and receiving where I work. I mentioned you to my boss and told him you were in Supply in the Army and he is willing to give you an interview.”

My car had been parked in my parent’s garage while I was away and so it was on the following Monday I followed my dad into work and was sitting in a chair in the office of Mr. Julian French.

We discussed my Army experiences that I thought might qualify for the opening in Shipping and Receiving. He told me that I had the job if I wanted it, but then asked:

How are you going to handle working for my daughter?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Simple question. How are you going to handle working for my daughter Pauline? You do remember her don’t you?”

“We were classmates in high school, but I don’t believe I’ll have a problem working with her.”

“You won’t be working with her Rob; you will be working for her. She graduates next year with a degree in Business Management and then she will be moving into a management position here.”

“I still don’t understand why you think I might have a problem working for her.”

“The boy who ruined her senior prom? The boy who ruined the memories of her senior year?”

“All I can say to that is not guilty” and then I explained to him what had happened and he got a laugh out of me repeating her own words back to her. “It was her bad luck that I had just broken up with my long term girlfriend over her breaking a date with me to date another guy and I was in no mood to have anything at all to do with girls.”

“Well we might just get a look at her attitude toward you in two weeks. That is when she gets out of school for summer break. She will be coming here to work for the summer and I’m sure you will see each other. When can you start?”

“Tomorrow. What time?”

“Eight o’clock.”

He stood up, offered me his hand and said “Welcome aboard. I’ll walk you down to HR and you can get the paperwork out of the way.”

When we got to HR I was introduced to Sherrie Graham. Sherrie was a stone fox and I made a mental note to try and get something going with her after I started work. That idea died a quick death when she handed me some papers to fill out and I saw the rings on her hand. She pointed to a desk and told me I could sit there to fill out the paperwork. The desk I sat at gave me a great view of Sherrie and I could see she was wearing high heels and heels had always been a turn on for me. It probably took me three times as long to fill out the paperwork because I kept looking over at her legs.

When I finally did finish she walked me down to Shipping and Receiving and introduced me to Greg Tillman. Greg was the manager of S&R and Mr. French had already told him about me. He offered me his hand and as I shook it he said:

“You come highly recommended.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve known your dad for years. He told me you would be coming in to apply. Mr. French said you will be starting tomorrow?”

I nodded a yes and he said “Let me show you where to punch in and where the locker room is. We have a pretty decent cafeteria if you don’t want to pack a lunch. After showing me where the time clock and locker room where he told me he would see me the next morning.

I was there at a quarter to eight and Greg took me through the shipping and receiving area and introduced me to my co-workers. Then he took me into his office and introduced me to Tina the S&R clerk.

The work wasn’t that much different than what I did in the Army and I fell into the daily routine fairly quickly. Once I found out what my work schedule would be I drove over to the college and enrolled. I would be going for a degree in Business Management. With the online classes and correspondence courses I taken while on my tour of duty I figured I’d be able to start as a sophomore. I was a bit surprised when I found out that if I took three classes during the summer session I could start the fall classes as a junior. I immediately signed up for the three that would start in two weeks.

When I left the service I had thirty days leave coming and I took it as a payout. That, with what I’d saved, gave me more than enough to move into an apartment which I did over my parent’s strenuous objections. But I had lost my virginity in Germany and on short leaves to France, England and Spain I’d managed to score enough to convince me I wanted more. Bringing ladies to my parent’s house just wasn’t going to fly so I had to have my own place. I found a place about mid-point between work and school and moved in.

Once moved in it was time to go looking. I knew the places I wanted to go. They were the places I’d wanted to go to before I joined the Army, but couldn’t because I wasn’t old enough. The kids I’d gone to school with had wanted to go to them also and I thought maybe I could find some of them there.

The Alhambra Lounge was the first place I tried. It was a Friday night and they had a band so I thought the place would jumping, but it wasn’t even half full when I got there. I didn’t see anyone I knew so I took a seat at the bar and waited to see if anyone I knew would come in. I’d been there maybe fifteen minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard an “Excuse me?” I turned and found Tina, the S&R clerk from work standing there.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“No I’m not. Why would you ask me something like that?”

“I’m here with my girlfriend Sara and her boyfriend. My date was a no show and if you are not waiting for someone maybe you could join us and be my dance partner.”

“I can do that” I said and got up and followed her to their table where I was introduced to her friend Sara and Sara’s boyfriend Josh. We sat and made small talk until the band was set up. I learned that Josh was a welder at our plant and Sara was a para-legal at a local law firm. The band’s first number was “Nights in White Satin” and I asked Tina to dance. As we moved out onto the floor and I took her in my arms she said:

“You do know from now on that this is our song right?”

“Why is that?”

“This is the first song we’ve danced to.”

“Hopefully it won’t be the last.”

“That’s up to you.”

I hoped that meant what I thought it did because I would most definitely like to see her again.

After several drinks and dances we decided to call it a night. Tina had ridden with Sara and Josh, but I offered her a ride home and she said yes. On the drive to her place I asked her for a date and she said yes. I asked her what she would like to do and she said:

“Dinner and dancing, but at a different place. I’d like to go to the Red Horse Inn for country western dancing.”

I walked her to her door and she thanked me for stepping in and being her dance partner and then she kissed me on the cheek.

I picked her up at five and we had dinner at the Black Eyed Pea. We arrived at the Red Horse just as the band was setting up and were lucky to get a table just off of the dance floor.

“I’d learned some country dances off post when I was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas so I wasn’t a total stranger to country, but I didn’t know even half of the line dances played there that night. Tina got several laughs out of my attempts to stay with her during some of them. My two-step, waltz and western swing were good enough, but I was going to need to take some line dance lessons if we were going to do this again.

I did see a few of my high school classmates there and we were able to push a couple of tables together. I introduced Tina to them and she danced with a few of the guys and I danced with a few of the girls. I found out from Nancy Wilde that they had free dance lessons at the Red Horse. Line dances on Wednesday and partners dancing on Thursdays. I also got a “Call me” from Nancy and Harlina Collins. Stan North invited me to a party at his house on the next Friday and I also received several invitations to get together for drinks and catching up on what had happened after high school.

When I took Tina home I got a kiss on the cheek and a “See you at work on Monday.” I decided to wait until then to ask her for another date.

Monday I was sitting in the company cafeteria with Tina at lunch time when what I hoped wouldn’t happen happened.

I was sitting where I could see the door so I was looking that way when she walked in. She was looking as sexy as ever. She went through the line, looked around for a place to sit, and then headed for the empty table right next to where Tina and I were sitting. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew it was coming and I was ready for it. I clicked the record button on the small tape recorder in my pocket and waited for what I expected to happen.

She sat down and a forkful of food was half way to her mouth when she saw me. The fork stopped halfway between the plate and her mouth and she stared at me. She dropped the fork to the pate, stood up and came to the table. In a tone of voice that left no doubt in the minds of anyone who might have overheard her that she considered me lower than whale shit she said:

“When did you start working here?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“I hope you don’t plan on retiring from here because it ain’t going to happen.”

“Nice seeing you again Pauline. Just like old times.”

She gave me a sneer and then went back to her table.

“Who the hell was that” Tina asked.

“How long have you worked here”

“A little over a year.”

“And you’ve never seen her before?”

“No.”

“That was Pauline French. The owner’s daughter and an old high school classmate of mine.”

“Doesn’t sound like you had a very good relationship.”

“We didn’t and I don’t see it getting any better when she comes to work here and her father moves her into management. Thankfully that won’t be for another year or so. It will be that long before she graduates from college.”

I looked at my watch and saw lunch break was over so we got up and went back to work.

The rest of the week went by and while I saw Pauline twice she never approached me, but every time I looked her way she was watching me with a nasty look on her face.

On Friday I asked Tina if she would like to go to a party with me on Friday she said she was sorry, but she already had a date. When I got to the party Stan told me everyone was downstairs in the basement and the first person I saw (and who saw me) was Nancy Wilde. She hurried over to me and took my arm and said:

“You’ve just been elected my boyfriend and if anyone asks we have been a couple since you first got home. Okay?”

“Do I get an explanation?”

“Ron Zeiss is supposed to be coming and he just won’t leave me alone. Hopefully if he thinks I’m going with you he will stay away from me.”

The party turned out to be Old Home Week in that a lot of my high school classmates showed up. Unfortunately one of those classmates was Pauline. We stayed away from each other, but just her being there put a damper on things for me.

I was dancing with Nancy when Ron showed up. When Nancy saw him watching us she pulled my head down and kissed me. A couple of minutes later we were still dancing, but to a different tune when Ron came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said:

“May I cut in?”

I turned to face him and said “Sorry, but Nancy and I are in the middle of a romantic moment and I need to keep it going.”

Nancy pulled my head down, kissed me and said:

“Let’s get out of here and find a more private place.”

“God idea” and we left the makeshift dance floor and headed for the stairs. I saw Pauline watching us with a look on her face I couldn’t decipher. When we got to the top of the stairs I asked:

“What now?”

“How about we got to your place and do what we wanted to do but were too scared to do when we dated in high school.”

“You sure?”

“I am.”

Nancy loved it all. Well, almost all. She wouldn’t do anal, but she got four out of me before we fell asleep.

I woke up with Nancy snuggled up to me. She was awake and when she saw that I was awake she reached for my cock and we were off to the races again. She got two out of me before I called a stop to things.

“If we are going to keep this up I need to eat something to keep up my strength.”

Over pancakes and bacon at the Village Inn Nancy said “I could stand a steady diet of what we have done so far. How about you?”

“As long as we aren’t talking marriage I could.”

“Then let’s get done here and get back to your place.”

She got two more out of me and I had to work really hard to give her the last one. What we had done the night before and in the morning before breakfast had me pretty much wiped out.

We did more than make love. We talked about what had happened in our lives since high school and she filled me in on what she knew about what was going on with our other classmates while we played cribbage. I fixed us some dinner and then drove her over to Stan’s place so she could pick up her car. We made a date for Tuesday and I went home, went to bed and slept for twelve straight hours.

Monday when I took my lunch break in the cafeteria I was sitting alone at my table when Pauline walked up to me.

“I always knew you were an asshole.”

“And what pray tell have I done to upset you enough that you had to come to me with that observation?”

“Only an asshole would chase after a married woman.”

“You are full of shit as usual. I haven’t had anything to do with a married woman.”

“You deny having anything to do with Nancy Wilde?”

“What Nancy and I do is none of your business.”

“I’m sure her husband won’t look at it that way.”

“Her husband?”

“You didn’t know she was married?”

“How in the hell could I know that? I’ve been gone for three years so I have no idea of what went on here while I was gone. She wasn’t wearing any rings so how would I know? When I see her Tuesday I’ll ask her about it.”

“You are going to date her even after finding out she’s married? You really are an asshole.”

“Look Pauline, you don’t like me, although God only knows why, but because you don’t like me and go out of your way to give me shit I don’t believe a word you say. For all I know you are telling me a bullshit story hoping to screw up any relationship I may form with Nancy. I will ask her about it on Tuesday. Now leave me alone so I can eat my lunch.”

“Asshole” she snarled as she turned and walked away.

Tuesday I picked Nancy up and as I was driving over to Carl’s Chop House I casually said “A little birdy tells me that you are married. True?”

“It is, but I have my husband’s permission to play.”

“You have one of those open marriage things?”

“Not really. He is in the Army and right now he is in Afghanistan. He knows how sexual I am and he knew I couldn’t go year without so he told me I could play as long as I didn’t get serious with anyone.”

“Play often?”

“He’s been gone for seven months and I’ve only played twice. You being the second one. Who is the little birdy?”

“Pauline French.”

“What did you ever do to her? She spent the last part of our senior year badmouthing you every chance she got.”

I told her what happened and why and then she asked “Why did you break up with Barb? No one seemed to know and Barb wasn’t talking.”

“She broke a date with me to go out with another guy and I didn’t take kindly to it.”

“I know how you felt. Scott Marshall did the same thing to me.”

I asked what happened to Scot and then we were talking about classmates and where they were and what they were doing. It was a fun date and when I took her home she invited me in and when I hesitated he told me to come in because she had something to show me. Curiosity pulled me in and she told me to have a seat on the sofa and she’d be right back. She left the room and came back a minute later with a piece of paper and she handed it to me and told me to read it. I did and it said:

“I, Randall Stevens, hereby give my wife, Nancy Stevens, permission to date and engage in sexual relationships while I am serving overseas.”

It was signed Randall Stevens and his signature was notarized. Nancy took the paper from me and said “Bedrooms this way and she turned and walked toward the room. I got up and followed. The night was a repeat of our last night together. In the morning she tried to get one more out of me, but it would have made me late for work. We made a date for that night and I headed off to work.

When I broke for lunch I took it in the cafeteria and I hadn’t been at my table five minutes when Pauline walked up and said sneeringly “So how was your date last night asshole?”

“Had a good time and found out that you are full of shit. Nancy isn’t married. She divorced her husband when he joined the Army. Told him if he joined she wasn’t going to sit home alone waiting for him to come home. He joined anyway and when I took her home she showed me the divorce papers so fuck off Pauline.”

I went back to eating my lunch and ignored her and she finally walked away.

That night when I had my date with Nancy I told her what I’d told Pauline and she laughed and said “I wonder how long it will take her to spread that around.”

“Do you care?”

“Hell no. But this is as good a time as any to bring up something I want to talk to you about.”

“And that would be?”

“Have you heard the term friends with benefits?”

“I have.”

“Would you consider such a relationship with me?”

I looked at her in silence for several seconds before saying “My initial thought was to say no. I’m afraid I might get emotionally involved and that’s the one thing you promised your husband that you wouldn’t let happen. On the other hand between working and taking night classes at the college I’m not going to have much in the way of free time to meet someone and form a relationship. I do have a question for you. Why me?”

“Two reasons. One is I remember the way you treated Barb before she got stupid on you and two is that you really rang my chimes when we made love. That makes you a known quantity and I would rather have a known quantity when I need my chimes rung than have to go out and find someone and end up with a dud.”

“I rang your chimes? Knowing that how can I refuse? When can we see each other again?”

“Friday night at the Red Horse? I’ll be there with Harlina Collins and Bev Abbeg.”

“Can do.”

Even though every day I saw Pauline in the cafeteria at lunch and got nasty looks from her she never approached me. Friday I got to the Red Horse at seven and as soon as I was in the door Nancy saw me and came over to me and said “Lina and Bev don’t know we have something going and I don’t want them to know okay?”

“No problem.”

When we got to the table Nancy said “Look who I found.”

Harlina said “Oh goodie; our very own dance partner.”

Bev said “Dibs on first dance.”

“Bullshit! I was the one who went and got him so I’m first.”

I just smiled and said “Don’t worry ladies; there’s enough of me to go around.

I didn’t get to order my first drink as Nancy pulled me out onto the dance floor. Once in my arms she said “What’s with this enough of me to go around crap Buster? I get all you’ve got to give. Are we clear on that?”

I smiled and said “Yes dear.”

It was a fun evening and I did dance with Harlina and Bev. The high point of the evening, for me anyway, was that Paulina was there with some guy I didn’t know and every time I glanced her way she was looking at me with a look on her face that I read as disapproval. I made it a point to give her a smile every time I danced one of the girls past her table. Once I even winked at her. Silly of me to antagonize the bosses daughter, but I already knew what was going to happen to me when she finally came to work full time and daddy put her in management.

The band had quit a half hour before last call so we called it a night. Nance followed me to my apartment and then did her best to try and destroy me. I survived, but only barely. We spent a good part of the weekend in bed doing what Nancy seemed to like the most and I was one tired boy when I went to work on Monday.

As I was going into the cafeteria at lunch time I passed Pauline coming out. As she went by me she snarled “Asshole” and kept on walking. I smiled knowing that I was getting under her skin.

Before I took Nance home on Sunday she told me that she didn’t want to see me again until the next Friday. She told me if she saw me more often it could turn into something she promised her husband she would avoid at all costs.

“I want to hold it to once a week, but I’m considering the entire weekend as the once. I can see myself getting into an emotional relationship with you and I cannot let that happen.”

I told her that I understood, but said “Are you going to hold it against me if I date others on the nights I can’t see you?”

“Not at all as long as I get my weekend. But I may, just may, give you a call during the week.”

“You can call and if I don’t already have date I’ll come running.”

As I drove home it occurred to me that I wouldn’t be dating during the week. I’d be going to school at night. Between work and school I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to take care of Nancy on the weekends.

Everything crawled along until the holiday break. Between work and school I didn’t have much in the way of spare time for anything. I did manage to give Nancy most of the weekends, but I did miss one or two because of heavy homework loads, but she seemed okay with it. One good thing, as least as far as I was concerned, was that Pauline had gone back to the school she attended and I didn’t have to see her disapproving face and hear her snarling “Asshole” every day in the cafeteria.

Work was going well. Based on my Army experience I made several suggestions that would streamline operations and most of them had been adopted. In school I was getting straight A’s so I considered that life was going good.

Then the holidays came. It was the week after Thanksgiving. On Sunday Nance and I woke up, made love twice and then went to breakfast. Over pancakes and bacon Nance gave me the bad news. Hubby would be home in two weeks and she couldn’t see me anymore. I’d known it was coming, but I had hoped that it wouldn’t be until after the New Year had arrived.

Monday I took another shot at Tina and got turned down again. I couldn’t understand it. We’d gotten along great on the dates we had been on. I decided to go straight at it so on Tuesday I waited until she had already taken a seat in the cafeteria and then I walked over and sat down at her table without asking if she would mind. She gave me an irritable look and I said:

“I won’t be here long. I just have a question for you. We got along great on the dates we had, but now you won’t have anything to do with me. Why? What did I do to cause it?”

She looked at me without saying anything and I could read her face. She was clearly thinking “Should I tell him or not?” I sat and waited and then she made her decision and said:

“It wasn’t anything that you did. At least not to me.”

She saw the confusion on my face and quickly went on to say “It’s whatever you did to the French girl to cause the animosity she has toward you. My reading of her is that she is just spiteful enough to screw over anyone close to you just to piss you off. I need this job so I decided to take myself out of the line of fire.”

“Fair enough” I said and got up and left her table.

Wednesday I went to the Red Horse for the line dance lessons. I got there early and took a seat at the bar. The place started filling up and I saw Harlina Collins come in. She looked around, saw me, and headed my way. She took the empty stool to my left, said hello and then asked:

“Where’s Nancy?”

“I found out what she was hiding from me.”

“She was hiding something from you? What?”

“That she was married.”

“I thought you knew.”

“And you believe I’m low enough to be stabbing some guy in the back?”

“I guess I should get off this subject. As far as what I think about goes how about giving me a call when you feel like dating again?

“Doing anything Friday?”

“Nothing at all.”

Our date had us back at the Red Horse for drinks and dancing followed by my asking her out for Saturday. Saturday was dinner and a movie. I got a kiss on the cheek when I took her home and a yes when I asked her if she would like to go with me to the dance lessons on Wednesday and Thursday nights. When I took her home on Thursday night she asked me if I would go with her to a party Friday night and I of course said yes.

The party was at Dale Hartman’s house and damned if it didn’t look like a mini class reunion. Everyone there was from my high school graduating class and I spent a good part of the evening (when I wasn’t dancing with Lina) catching up on what had happened with everyone since graduation. I collected a bunch of phone numbers, and invitation to a Sunday barbeque and a piece of advice. Actually it was more of a warning. Eddie Wooters, who had been on the football team with me said:

“Harlina is a sweet girl, but she is a bit easy if you know what I mean. If you get into a relationship with her best you always use a rubber.”

From Stan North, who was also on the team with me, I got “Lina might have cleaned up her act, but she gave me gonorrhea last year.”

I was talking to Ralph Dunn when I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Pauline standing there. I said “I thought you were still in school.”

“Home for the holidays. Where’s Nancy? I don’t see her here.”

“Probably at home with her husband.”

“I thought you said she was divorced?”

“She lied to me. The papers she showed me were fake.”