Barbara L. Clanton - Out of Left Field

by Barbara L. Clanton

  Marlee answered for her. “Oh, I invited her. But I never thought a lowly Panther would dare infiltrate Cougar territory.”

  Susie played along. “I had to see what all the fuss was about.”

  Jeri turned to Susie. “Hey, convince this slacker that you guys need to go bowling with us.”

  Marlee took the lead. “I can’t, Jeri. I really have to catch up on that homework.”

  “Fine. Let your friends down.”

  Marlee’s nerves jangled. She knew Jeri was just teasing, but she thought she also heard disbelief in her friend’s voice, too.

  Susie rescued her. “Uh, thanks for the invite, but, I can’t. I just came for the game. I have to get back home. Another time?”

  “Absolutely,” Jeri said good-naturedly. “It was good to see you. Tell Christy hi.” She turned to Marlee and said, “Do you need a ride home?”

  “No, um, Susie’s gonna drop me off. Thanks.” That part was certainly true. But Jeri wouldn’t ever know that once Marlee cleaned up from the game, Susie was going to take her right back out again. And ironically they would probably end up at Lake Birch.

  Chapter Eight

  People Like Us

  MARLEE PRACTICALLY TREMBLED all the way back to her house. Susie’s car, a compact Toyota something-or-other, forced Marlee to sit so close to Susie that their arms almost touched. And when Susie’s hand closed over hers it was thrilling and scary all at the same time. She even got a little light-headed. She couldn’t believe that simply holding someone’s hand could make you dizzy. Holding Bobby’s hand had never made her feel this way. Not even close.

  When they got to her house, Marlee saw that her mother wasn’t home yet. She directed Susie to pull the car all the way up the long driveway to the kitchen door in the back.

  “We never use the front door,” Marlee said. “If anybody knocks on that door we probably don’t know them.”

  Susie smiled. “And then you can pretend you’re not home, right? Is it okay to park here?”

  “Yeah, sure. My mom parks in the garage.”

  They got out of the car and Susie opened the trunk so Marlee could retrieve her softball bag. “Thanks for the lift,” Marlee said aloud, but her eyes sent a silent message.

  “Of course. Now let’s get you cleaned up so I can get you alone.” Message received.

  The two girls went into the kitchen. Marlee called for her mother just to make absolutely sure she wasn’t home. Receiving no answer she threw her softball bag on the kitchen floor and wheeled around to face Susie. Susie turned the deadbolt on the door. Lips met willing lips. Susie reached for one of Marlee’s hands and kissed the open palm. She placed the palm against her chest just beneath her throat.

  “Do you feel my heart pounding?”

  Marlee stood frozen. “Yes.” It was barely a whisper.

  “You’d better go take a shower because I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself much longer.” Susie grinned.

  Marlee felt the color rise to her already inflamed cheeks. She swallowed hard. She leaned in for one last kiss before she took the stairs two at a time. She stopped at the top, looked down at Susie, and said, “I can’t believe you’re here. In my house. Waiting for me.”

  Susie just smiled.

  “Oh, and if my mom comes home, uh, introduce yourself, I guess.” She flew into her room at the top of the stairs.

  When Marlee stepped out of the shower, she heard voices in the kitchen. Oh no, Mom came home. Marlee towel-dried her hair so furiously that she almost gave herself towel burns. She threw on her robe and practically skipped to her bedroom. She left the door ajar as she got dressed. What was the harm in a little eavesdropping among friends and family? She heard her mother say, “Well, I’m glad you and Marlee are friends. I was concerned about that big rivalry.”

  Susie responded, “Well, actually, I never took it too seriously. Both teams are good so that makes us competitive. Of course, we did beat them last time.”

  “Oh yeah?” Marlee called down to the kitchen. “Well, you just wait until next time.”

  “And,” Susie raised her voice so Marlee would be sure to hear every word, “I’m sure I don’t have to remind her that the only grand slam I’ve ever hit in my life was off her.”

  “Keep it up, wise guy,” Marlee called down. She kept buttoning her shirt the wrong way. Slow down, she chided herself. She’s not going anywhere without you. “I’ll be down in a minute. I’m almost ready.”

  She sat on the edge of her bed to put her sneakers on and looked toward the door. Susie was just beyond that door and down the stairs. She took a deep breath. She wanted to be calm when she went downstairs to greet her mother. She didn’t want her mom to guess anything about what Susie really meant to Marlee. Because even she didn’t know what that was yet. She frantically searched for her Clarksonville sweatshirt and finally found it on her dad’s recliner, under the cat.

  “Oh, Patches. Are you getting kitty hair on my sweatshirt?” She nudged the cat off. Patches cried her disapproval. After a quick inspection, Marlee decided that the sweatshirt was ready for active duty and patted Patches on the head. “Sorry girl, but this has to be a perfect night. Susie’s here. The one I’ve been telling you about. I’ll tell you all about our...” What should I call this? A date? Is this a date? Oh, my God. I think this is a date. “I’ll tell you all about my date when I get home.” She patted the cat again.

  She paused at the top of the stairs when she heard Susie say, “Well, actually, I’m still a junior, so I don’t know where I’m going to college yet. I have to get financial aid from somewhere so Harvard’s probably out.” Susie laughed and Marlee melted at the sound. “I’ll probably go to one of the SUNY’s, maybe Brockport in Rochester. They offer a Bachelor’s in Geology there.”

  “Geology? How did you get interested in that?” her mother asked.

  Marlee knew that Susie was a junior like she was, but she didn’t know Susie had a thing for geology. Marlee wanted to major in physics or engineering or something like that. Mrs. Stratton had told her about the physics program at Cornell University. Marlee liked the idea of going to an Ivy League college and Mrs. Stratton hinted that Marlee had good enough grades, but like Susie, tuition would be an issue. She wondered with a scheming smile if she could major in physics at SUNY Brockport.

  Susie answered her mother’s question. “Oh, when I took Earth Science, my teacher loved geology. She had a passion for plate tectonics and stuff. I caught the bug for it, I guess.”

  Marlee started down the stairs slowly. She realized with sudden unease that she really didn’t know this girl in her kitchen. She heard Susie laugh at something her mother said, and her unease dissipated like snow on a softball field in April. She bounded down the rest of the stairs.

  “Hi, Mom.” Marlee gave her mother a hug. “We’re going, Mom.”

  Her mother laughed. “Was it something I said? Did you win today?”

  Marlee hugged her mother again. “Yeah. I almost had a no-hitter.” She nudged Susie toward the door. “We’re going to Valley Lanes to meet Jeri and the gang. I don’t want to be late.”

  Her mother’s cell phone rang. She held up an index finger to Marlee, clearly a signal to wait. “Marge McAllister. Oh, hello, Joan, can you hang on a second? Thanks. Marlee’s just leaving.” She covered the cell phone with her hand. “Marlee, do you have your cell phone?”

  “Yeah.” She inched them toward the door.

  “And, I’m assuming all your homework is done?”

  Oh, come on, Mom. Not now! Marlee was mortified that her mother brought up the homework thing in front of Susie. “Yeah, Mom. I told you that this morning.” C’mon, Mom, c’mon. Just let me go.

  “Okay, then.”

  Victory!

  Her mother turned toward Susie and said, “Susie, it was nice to meet you.”

  “It was nice to meet you, too.”

  “Have a nice time, girls.”

  They turned toward the kitchen door anxious t
o go when Marlee’s mom abruptly said, “Marlee?”

  What now? She tried to sound calm. “Yeah, Mom?”

  “Midnight, okay?”

  “Yeah, Mom, of course. We gotta go. Bye.”

  They flew out the door and let the screen door bang behind them.

  When they got into Susie’s car, Susie said, “So, where are we really going?” She started the Toyota and backed up the gravel driveway.

  “Just drive where I tell you,” Marlee instructed and reached for Susie’s hand.

  They drove toward the village of Clarksonville and stopped at the McDonald’s drive-thru. Susie pulled the car back onto

  C.R. 62 and said, “This is our first dinner together.”

  Marlee smiled at the thought. “And here we are hiding in your car because I can’t let any of my friends see us.” She sighed and handed Susie a bag of french fries.

  Marlee gave Susie directions to Lake Birch. When they reached the four-way stop intersecting County Roads 62 and 12, Marlee reached over and pulled Susie toward her. She kissed her eagerly.

  Susie kissed her back for a moment, but then broke off abruptly. “Somebody might see us.”

  Marlee looked around in the twilight. She blushed. She had forgotten about the rest of the world. “I feel so safe with you. I forgot about...people.”

  Susie grabbed her hand. “Just be patient, mi vida. You can wait a few more minutes.” She squeezed Marlee’s hand and added, “You have to remember that most folks aren’t kind to people like us.”

  People like us. Am I one of those people?

  Marlee thought she would never go back to Lake Birch, but here she was heading up the pine-lined entrance with Susie. She directed Susie to the west end of the nearly deserted parking lot. She and Bobby had always parked on the east end near the lake, but she wanted to be as far away from those memories as possible. She scanned the lot and thankfully didn’t recognize either of the other two cars. Susie pulled into the quiet dark corner. Marlee was grateful that the summer season wasn’t in full swing, because for now they had a little bit of privacy.

  Susie didn’t even have the car engine turned off when Marlee whipped off her seatbelt and spun around to face her. Marlee realized she must have had an expectant look on her face because Susie teased, “Miss me?”

  Understatement of the year, Marlee thought. She nodded and grinned like a kid in a candy store.

  “Come here.” Susie held her arms open. Marlee fell into them and absorbed Susie’s warmth. She felt safe, enfolded in Susie’s strong arms. Susie stroked Marlee’s short hair and said, “I missed you, too, Marlee.”

  Marlee wanted to hold on to Susie’s warm athletic body as long as she could. She put her shaking arms around Susie’s neck. She maneuvered much more easily in Susie’s Toyota than she ever had in Bobby’s Camaro. Thinking of Bobby made her uncharacteristically aggressive and she crushed Susie’s mouth with her own. Susie kissed her eagerly in return.

  Susie whispered, “Eres tan hermosa, Marlee. You’re so beautiful.”

  Marlee shivered. That was the second time Susie had called her beautiful. She lost herself in Susie’s kiss. She had never felt this way with Bobby. Susie maneuvered her way to Marlee’s neck and nuzzled the sensitive skin there. She moved up and kissed Marlee’s earlobe sucking the soft skin tenderly. Marlee moaned. She was embarrassed about moaning out loud, but her nerve endings were on fire and she couldn’t help it. Susie moved back down and nuzzled the other side of Marlee’s neck. Marlee quivered and pulled away. It was too much.

  Susie looked at Marlee and said thickly, “C’mon, let’s go for a walk. We need some air.” She opened her car door.

  When the interior light came on, Marlee saw contentment in Susie’s eyes. That was not the look she’d seen in Bobby’s eyes the last time she was there with him.

  When they met in front of the car, Susie held out her hand.

  “Let’s walk by the lake.”

  “I thought you were worried about someone seeing us.”

  “I know, but it’s dark and I want to hold your hand and walk with you in the moonlight. And, besides,” Susie continued, “with your short hair and my big chest they’ll just figure you’re the boy and I’m the girl.” She took Marlee’s hand and squeezed gently.

  Marlee melted. Bobby had never once wanted to walk by the lake and hold her hand. Maybe because she and Bobby could hold hands in plenty of places—the movies, the mall, basically everywhere. Realization dawned on her that she would not be able to hold hands openly with Susie. It wasn’t like they could go to the East Valley Mall and hold hands there. This might be one of the few times they could hold hands, in a pitch-black deserted park.

  They walked along the edge of the trees with the light from the waning moon to guide them. When they reached the lake, they strolled hand-in-hand along the manmade beach only a few yards from the water. Although the evening air was cool, Marlee felt rather warm. They walked quietly for a while until Marlee said pensively, “You know, I hated lying to my mom. But what was I gonna tell her? That I wanted to be alone with you? Lies seem to come with this, don’t they?”

  “Yup.” Susie sounded a bit sad. “I didn’t tell my folks where I was going, either. I told them I was going to Christy’s.”

  “They won’t check on you?”

  “At Christy’s? Not a chance. I’m over there all the time.”

  All the time? Marlee swallowed hard. “Where does Christy think you are tonight?”

  “Well, I told her that I had family up from the city this weekend and I had to hang at home. She can live without me for an evening.”

  “Oh.”

  “I actually do have to hang out with my cousins, but that’s next weekend after the SAT’s, and I had to tell Christy something so I lied.” She hesitated and said somberly, “You get used to the lies.”

  “Yeah, I guess. But I lied big-time to Jeri and Lisa.”

  “Why don’t you just tell them? Tell Jeri the truth. Think she’d flip out about us?”

  Marlee’s heart leaped with joy. There was an “us.” She said, “I have no idea how Jeri’d react. I’m still not sure how to react myself.”

  When they reached the end of the beach area, a dark expanse of forest lay ahead of them so they turned around and headed back toward the stand of birch trees they had passed earlier.

  Susie changed the subject. “Your mom’s pretty cool. I think she liked me.”

  “Yeah, I think she did. Thanks for being so charming.”

  “Hey, anything to help the cause, right?”

  Marlee laughed and squeezed Susie’s hand.

  Susie continued. “Your mom must be one tough lady.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I mean she had to become both parents all of a sudden when your dad died. That couldn’t have been easy, especially with you so young at the time.”

  Marlee grew quiet. She rarely talked about her father’s death with anyone except her mother. Well, Patches sometimes and Jeri every now and then, but never this casually. “I, uh, never really thought about it. I was into my own stuff, I guess.”

  “It must have been hard losing your dad.”

  The now-familiar heartache returned. She was quiet for a few moments. Susie seemed to respect her silence and also seemed to understand how much it still hurt, even after five years. “He died when I was eleven. I knew he was gone, but I kept expecting him to come home, you know? Like he always did. I remember once I heard a thump in the kitchen and it sounded just like when he set his briefcase down. I jumped up from my bed and ran down the stairs. Susie, when I got to the kitchen and he wasn’t there I realized what I had done and I just lost it. I started crying and kicking the kitchen door.”

  Susie stopped walking. She pulled Marlee into a hug and rocked her gently. “Oh, Marlee. I’m so sorry. I bet that was hard for you to deal with.”

  “Yeah, it was. It still is. I miss him. Especially when softball season rolls around. He and I always played c
atch in the yard.” She pulled out of Susie’s embrace and reached for her hand again. They continued their trek back toward the parking lot. Marlee laughed and said, “I think my mom was kind of jealous, but she knew that I was always Daddy’s little tomboy. I still am, I guess.” She looked up to the moonlit sky. “Right, Dad?” She smiled and looked back at Susie for a moment. “Well, anyway, yeah, my mom took control of everything and got a job and took care of us. I used to hear her crying at night when she thought I was asleep. I didn’t know what to do. I felt so bad for her. But I guess we both had to have our private moments about Dad, you know?”

  “You and your mom are strong women. It kills me to think of you hurting like that, but you know what? I’m sure your dad still looks out for you.” She squeezed Marlee’s hand. “Do you think he approves of me? Of us?”

  “If he sees you the way I do, then yes, one hundred times over, yes.” Marlee hadn’t expected to talk about her parents like this, but she found comfort sharing herself with Susie. Back in the house before they had left, Marlee thought she didn’t know Susie that well, and she didn’t really, but now she saw a caring and sensitive side to Susie. Her heart swelled. She said, “I think my dad probably gets it, gets us, way up there in heaven, but I’m not sure how people will react here, you know? I’m still coming to terms with it myself.”

  “Yeah, that’s got to be the hardest part, I think. Coming out to yourself. So you had no idea?”

  Marlee shrugged her shoulders and leaned against Susie as they walked. “Not really, but when I look back I think I had a lot of pieces to the puzzle. I just didn’t know I was putting a puzzle together. I mean, c’mon, I had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who I liked a lot, but he didn’t make me feel the way you do.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how do I make you feel?” Susie leaned back against a birch tree. She pulled Marlee to her.

  Marlee hesitated at first, but could barely see the cars in the parking lot through the stand of trees, so she relaxed. “Let me show you.” With ever-increasing boldness, Marlee moved closer to Susie and kissed her gently. Marlee let Susie pull her into a tighter embrace until they were pressed fully against each other. Susie’s softness against hers made her want to stay that way forever. Susie kissed her softly at first, but her kisses became more urgent. Marlee returned the urgency and couldn’t believe that kissing someone could get her so stirred up. When they reluctantly broke away from each other they giggled softly at their fervor. Marlee had never felt like this with anyone before. The moonlight was just bright enough for her to see the intensity in Susie’s eyes. Marlee moved forward again slowly. She reached up to trace Susie’s lips with the tip of her index finger. Susie closed her eyes and kissed Marlee’s finger softly, but then without warning caught the finger with her teeth. She stroked the tip with her tongue. She opened her eyes and then released the finger without warning.