Counting the Days

by Hope Riverbank

  1524 Days Left

  Twenty-three days have past and I have received not one single telephone call from Danny. He is all I can think about. I can’t do anything without his face or voice haunting me. Why can’t I get him out of my mind? It’s obvious that he’s a jerk. Danny, please get out of my head.

  And what’s up with Tina? She’s been acting so funny lately. At first, I thought that maybe she was embarrassed about the incident at Mike’s, but now I’m thinking that it’s something else. Even though we’ve been spending time together, something is just not right. We go out to the clubs dancing together, but she seems distant. What is she hiding?

  We’ve never kept secrets from each other. I don’t know, maybe she’s been hanging out with the guy that she hooked up with at Mike’s and she’s just not telling me. The other night I asked her if she’s been seeing someone and she just gave me a blank stare. It’s as if she was looking right through me. She didn’t say or do anything and lately she’s been very touchy. She even started crying over nothing later on in the evening. Maybe it didn’t work out with that guy. I don’t know…she wouldn’t say.

  I don’t know what’s wrong with her. All I know is that she’s been acting really mysterious and nervous lately. I hope that she’s not doing drugs or something. Maybe she’s pregnant. No, don’t be silly…not Tina. She’s too slick for that. In my opinion, I think she’s a little on the neurotic side. Throughout the years, she has always had these mood swings where one minute she’s happy and on top of the world and the next she’s a high-strung raving lunatic. Up until now, I’ve always been able to blow off her ups and downs. But I’m just so sick and tired of worrying about her. She doesn’t know how, nor has she ever known how to say “No” to anyone about anything.

  I asked Jenny if she thought Tina was acting weird. She agreed and stated that she thought that Tina has been acting a little aloof too. Jenny wasn’t sure if Tina has hooked up with that guy from Mike’s party, but she suspects that Tina is seeing someone. Who this mystery man is, nobody knows.

  Jenny and I met when we were around eight or nine years old. We were both enrolled in the same Sunday school class. Our mothers taught there, so of course, we became close friends. As we got older we both stopped going to church, but we still kept in touch with each other. Jenny is what I’d consider as my morally levelheaded friend, because she’s like my other conscience. She has the uncanny ability to see trouble coming and always gives me ample warning. Jenny is true blue. Jenny’s been off the dating scene since forever. She and Paul have been together since they were around eleven-twelve years old. Jenny is as loyal as loyal can be. She is who I go to, when I need an unbiased opinion.

  Well, tomorrow tonight Jenny and I are going to another party at Mike’s. We’ll get to the bottom of whatever’s bothering Tina. Or we’ll remove the stick that has been up her behind for the last few weeks. One or the other.

  1523 Days Left

  The entire ride over to Mike’s party, Jenny and I talked about how we could get Tina to talk. When we arrived, Jenny went one way and I went the other.

  I hope Danny’s here. If I run into him, I am so going to ignore him. I’m going to play it cool and act like his not calling me didn’t affect me in the least.

  Walk around with your head up and your shoulders back. Shake those Latin hips, girl, because heads are turning. My hair, my make-up and my dress are sizzling. I picked up my dress at one of the boutiques downtown Huntington Village. It’s a one-piece black crushed velvet dress with an open mid-riff. The top is tank style with a low neckline that shows all my cleavage. I put on a push-up bra to enhance the effect of my natural C’s. The two pieces of the dress are held together with large brass chain links. The dress is short enough to show off my long legs but not my panties. It was a perfect length, accented with a pair of three-inch black stiletto heels. Hot is not the word to describe how awesome I looked and felt. Strut proudly, girl.

  I walked around for a while and I didn’t see either Danny or Tina. Jenny and Paul were already dancing, and when she spotted me, she shouted that she had seen Tina in the kitchen about fifteen minutes earlier. I walked around to the other side of the room and finally spotted Tina dancing. She wasn’t dancing alone though and my heart dropped to the floor when I noticed who she was dancing with…she was dancing with my Danny.

  When Tina noticed me, she became visibly nervous. Be cool and smile, I said to myself. Tina continued dancing as she motioned that Danny look in my direction. He turned, smiled and also continued dancing. I thought for a second that I would break down crying or kill her, one of the two. Stay cool and get to the bathroom. I kept the smile on and made a beeline to the bathroom.

  Safely inside, I took several deep breaths trying to fight back the tears that I felt coming. I tried to get my composure back together. I looked at myself in the mirror and sure enough my eye makeup was running. Get it together and don’t cry. Breathe. Take deep breaths. Don’t lose it. Calm down, Marilyn. They are only free style dancing. They’re not slow dancing. They aren’t even holding hands while they’re dancing.

  Then why do I feel so betrayed?

  As soon as I regained my composure I fixed my eyeliner, touched up my lipstick, and ventured back out into the living room. Now Tina was dancing with Mike and I don’t know where Danny was. I went into the kitchen and got myself a beer. I felt numb. I stood around for a long while like a wallflower while everyone around seemed to be having fun. What was I doing? I must be nuts. I’m at a party and I look great. I am going to have a good time tonight. This incident will not dampen my evening. To heck with this, let’s go have some fun. I spotted a nice looking young man and went in for the kill.

  After we were dancing a while, I asked, “What did you say your name was?”

  “Thomas, my name is Thomas,” he hollered over the blasting music. “I know you don’t remember me, but we met a couple of weeks ago on the beach. You were there with all your girlfriends and a bunch of us guys were playing Frisbee. You were wearing the hot pink bikini.”

  He remembered what I was wearing over three weeks ago. I should have been impressed, but all I could think about was Danny. “Oh yeah, I remember you now. We all had fun that day.” I was trying hard to pay attention to Thomas, but I couldn’t suppress the urge to take a peek and see if Danny was watching. Just take a quick glance. Bingo. He was watching. I stayed right there with Thomas dancing in Danny’s full view.

  When the music stopped, Thomas and I went to the kitchen and got a couple of beers. Then we ventured back into the living room and chatted a bit more. Every once in a while I shot a glance over in Danny’s direction to see if he was still watching. Boy was he and he did not look happy. What’s a matter Danny? Green-eyed monster got you?

  After all the beer Thomas and I consumed I was feeling pretty good. I was beginning to enjoy Thomas’ company a little. He is really very interesting and he’s really sweet. But I don’t know. He just doesn’t wow me. Maybe I was too distracted and just couldn’t get into him. So when he excused himself to go to the bathroom, Tina and Jenny both came over. We talked a bit and Tina thought I was crazy for hanging out with Thomas when I had a guy like Danny drooling all over me. Could you imagine? Tina thought that I was crazy. She was dancing with my man and she thought that I was crazy.

  “Girls, let’s clear this dance floor,” I said quickly to avoid talking to her. They both roared and the three of us began to dance.

  All three of us had someone in the crowd to impress. So when I say we sizzled, I really mean we burned the house down. We danced so provocatively that we literally cleared the dance floor. Everyone stopped dancing and watched us. Having all eyes on us gave us power. Power that surged through us. Power that was sexually charged and, let me tell you, we played it up. We danced hard and kicked butt. Those we were seeking to impress undoubtedly stood with their mouths wide open.

  Applause rang through the house when the song ended and we finished dancing. Without a doubt we had an
all-male audience. After the excitement was over all three of us went outside for some fresh air. The sweat was dripping off us. The cool air was thoroughly refreshing and titillating. As we walked over to my car, we laughed and laughed and began to talk about our dance floor tale excitedly. To the perfect stranger we were just three silly girls talking nonsense, but we were the dynamic trio together again. I got some napkins out of my glove compartment and we began gingerly drying our faces.

  All of a sudden we heard a commotion and loud shouting going on inside the house so we all ran back in to see what was going on. I noticed that Danny was being restrained by his friends and he was shouting at someone on the other side of the room. I couldn’t see who he was yelling at, so I push my way through the crowd closer to where Danny was standing. Oh my goodness, it was Thomas. And his face was bleeding.

  I ran over to Thomas to see if he was all right. “What’s going on?” I asked wiping the blood off his face with the napkin I had in my hand.

  “Nothing! It’s okay. I’m all right. I should’ve known better than to mess with Danny’s girl.” Thomas stated pushing through the crowd towards the front door. As I followed Thomas, I shot an ‘if looks could kill’ glance at Danny. He turned away quickly and disappeared into the crowd.

  “Thomas, I am so sorry, but you’re wrong. I am not Danny’s girl. We only talked that one day at the beach and I haven’t heard from him since,” I stated as I walked Thomas to his car.

  “Well, you need to let him know that, because I think he sees it otherwise. Besides, I shouldn’t have made a move for you. He’s my buddy and I was out of line.” Thomas got into his car, said goodbye, and drove away quickly. I stood outside by myself for a while thinking about what Thomas said. Did Danny really think that I was his girl? My heart began to skip a few beats. I mean we haven’t talked since day one, could he actually have been thinking about me all these weeks? I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear, so I went back inside hoping to get Danny’s attention.

  Well, the fight must have put a damper on everyone’s mood because everyone was leaving. The party had ended. Jenny came over and told me that she would catch a ride with Paul. I didn’t see Tina and I had no idea where Danny was, so I said goodnight to a couple of my friends and decided to leave.

  As I was walking to my car, Danny came running over and apologized. “I’m so sorry that I overreacted and behaved badly tonight,” he said sounding pitiful. “I couldn’t help myself. You look so delicious tonight and the thought of Thomas making his move made me crazy.” He paused and continued, “I’m sorry. I know that I’ve been a real jerk and I haven’t called, but my father has been short handed and I’ve been working everyday. He’s even got me working late into the evenings. I know that I still should’ve taken a minute to call and let you know that I was thinking about you.”

  He was thinking about me. I couldn’t help myself anymore he was just so pathetic. So I leaned in and shut him up with a kiss. “Big tough man, I thought you worked when you wanted to work?” I whispered. He responded with a smile and pulling me into him he kissed me long and hard. I was beginning to feel drunk with passion. My legs began to feel like rubber. I was totally on fire. We stood there making out for a long while and then we were interrupted…by Tina.

  “Uh-hum, excuse me Danny, could you give me a lift home?” she asked. I was a little surprised and confused as to why she didn’t ask me. “I’ll give you a ride Tina…we haven’t talked lately. So I don’t mind. As a matter of fact, I was hoping that we could talk a little tonight.” What audacity! Why was she asking him? What is up with that?

  “It’s alright. I’ll take her home,” Danny interrupted.

  What? “Danny, you don’t need to do that. Right, Tina?” I said glaring at Tina waiting for her to back me up. But she didn’t, she wouldn’t make eye contact with me. She just looked down at the ground and said nothing.

  “Go inside and wait for me,” Danny said to Tina who left obediently. “Come on Marilyn, its okay. Tina lives on the way.” He put his arms around my waist and continued, “Dear, don’t be jealous. Didn’t I prove to you tonight who I want?” His eyes were playful and seemed sincere. After all, he did get into a brawl with Thomas over me.

  Even though outwardly I had mustered up a smile onto my face, inwardly I seethed with envy. I quickly replied, “I’m not jealous…it’s just that I haven’t seen her in a few days and wanted to talk to her. That’s all.” He tightened his grip around my waist pulling me into him again and then he began kissing my neck and around my collarbone. The kisses electrified me and even though I fought to hold on to my anger, the more Danny kissed me the faster my anger faded. It seemed like every pore on my body screamed with excitement. When we came up for air, I quickly said goodnight and jumped into my car.

  “Let’s get together tomorrow night,” he said. “Meet me at the Huntington Bay Diner at 8pm. We’ll have dinner and then we’ll go to the harbor for a moonlit walk.” He bent down and kissed me tenderly on the lips.

  “Okay,” I rolled my eyes and grinned, “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” I was on cloud nine as I drove away. All the way home I couldn’t help thinking about Danny from Smithtown, Long Island. Was I falling in love with this handsome stranger? Every inch of my body shouted, “Yes!” How could I be falling in love with a man I’ve only seen twice? Love at second sight. Is that possible? Tomorrow would be our first official date and I was already hearing wedding bells. I needed to snap out of whatever fantasyland I was in. In a month I would be a full time student at Stonybrook University. The next six years of my life was dedicated to getting an education. An education that would embark me onto the career that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl. You have to focus Marilyn. No distractions…remember?

  Hey, wait a minute, how is it that Danny knows where Tina lives?

  If she didn’t drive here, how did Tina get to the party?

  1522 Days Left

  It’s a quarter past eight and Danny is now officially late for our first date. I decided to go into the restaurant and have a drink before he came. Now that I’m eighteen, I could legally have a drink, not that my age ever stopped me before. The waitress came over and asked if she could get me something. “Yes, could I please have a rum and coke?”

  I was so stressed I needed to relax. I had an awful fight with my mother tonight. When I told her that I had a date and that I’d probably be late, she wanted to know the who, what, and where. She said that she was concerned because I hadn’t mentioned anything at all about Danny to her. I told her that we just met and I didn’t know anything about him. But that wasn’t good enough for her; she kept nagging me for more info. What did she want from me? A complete history or something. She questioned, “Why isn’t he being a gentleman and picking you up?” I got so annoyed at her that I told her to mind her own business. I’m an adult now. She should just relax and let go. Man did those words hurt her, I could see it in her face, but I refused to apologize. I hate when she does this to me. I walked out without even looking back.

  My mothers’ name is Debra Ann Martinez. Born in Puerto Rico, she came to New York to get her degree in Nursing at the State University of New York. She met my father one night at a party and that’s how I came into the picture. They never married, but that didn’t stop my mom, she continued getting her education, graduated and started working at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital, where I was born. In a few years, she had enough money saved to buy our house and so we moved to Huntington, Long Island. She worked the night shift at Huntington Hospital, because it paid more money and as a single parent, more money was a necessity. Even though she worked pretty close to home, I rarely saw her. My mother tried really hard to give me a good life. She worked very hard to make sure that I had everything that I wanted and thought I needed. She wanted me to have a life of privilege growing up in the infamous town of Huntington among the wealthy. She thought that having money and the best of everything would make life all right. That it all would work out well
for both of us, so my mother spared no expense. We had everything, no matter what it cost. Unbeknownst to her, it only cost our relationship. As I grew older, we grew further apart. In the end none of it mattered to me, because I was very spoiled and extremely ungrateful. Now that I look back, I really regret the way I acted out.

  Danny finally showed up, looking very delicious I might add. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek. My heart was pounding. “Sorry, my father, jerk that he is, decided to go for a late appraisal and estimate. He wanted me to go.” He looked so handsome in his white polo and black slacks. I took a deep breath with every move he made. He was forgiven for getting here late. “What are you drinking?” he asked.

  “A rum and coke,” I said a little embarrassed that I’d started without him. I only had a couple of sips and I wasn’t too sure if I liked it. It was too strong. Danny ordered a round of drinks and then proceeded to order dinner for both of us. He didn’t ask me what I wanted, which I found a little offensive. Maybe he’s on a budget and can only spend so much money. I guess it was okay…he ordered stuff that I liked.