by Jeff Moberg
***
55 minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and OMG, I thought to myself as I looked at the new Norma L in the mirror, I don’t look half bad.
When The Lukester saw me, he used the words extraordinarily beautiful.
27
The positively (Not So) Great Party
After the moms took about a gazillion pictures, The Lukester and I finally escaped from the living room and made it outside. It was then, that I had my third big surprise of the evening. First, it was the flat iron. Then, my dream dress. And now, instead of seeing the beat up, black and blue and gray Jeep Scrambler parked out front, there was a man in a black suit and tie. He was also wearing a black cap. And he was standing in front of a shiny, black stretch limo. He opened the rear door, tipped his cap and said, “Good evening, ma’am.”
I looked back at The Lukester, who was grinning from ear to ear. He was obviously pleased with his surprise. We stepped into the back of the limo and I gave him a wide-eyed, “OMG, this is so amazing!” look. I was expecting to be riding in the middle seat of the Scrambler and here I was, sitting in pure luxury.
The chauffeur shut the door and we waved goodbye to the two smiling moms.
“How in the world did you swing this?” I asked, looking around at the inside of the limo.
The Lukester just smiled and said, “I have my ways.”
I smiled back and decided to let it be his little secret.
He opened the door to a small refrigerator and offered me a Coke. “A toast,” he said as he poured Coke into two crystal champagne glasses that were filled with ice. “To the most beautiful girl in the world.” There was that word again.
I raised my glass and said, “Thank you. And also to the most handsome, brave and kind person I know.” We clinked glasses, took a sip and then each looked out our own window as we headed toward Boulder to our “positively great party”. The party was being held at the Southern Hills Country Club, which was at the Southern Hills Golf course, just south of Boulder. I had never been there, but I had heard that it was really nice. My parents used to go there when they were still together.
I wondered if the party was really going to be “great”. I wondered if the other girls would look a lot prettier than me. I wondered if there was going to be a DJ--and dancing. I wondered if The Lukester and I would dance. Then I wondered if we might slow dance. Then I wondered the biggest question of all. I wondered about the BFK question.
BFK stood for three words:
Big.
First.
Kiss.
You see, this was especially important because, not only would it be the Big First Kiss for The Lukester and I, it would be my first kiss ever.
I wondered if The Lukester was wondering the same thing.
It was a 20 minute ride to the country club, but it seemed like only 20 seconds. I guess time does fly when you’re having fun. We stopped in front of the main entrance and the chauffeur opened the door. As we climbed out, I could see a few of our classmates stopping and pointing at us. They were obviously impressed and that only made our current smiles even bigger.
The inside of the country club was amazing. There were plush, maroon and gold carpets, and fountains everywhere with statues of exotic animals and birds. The ceilings were at least 30 feet high and there were beautiful paintings on the walls, with small, gold tables below them. Each table had a huge bouquet of bright, colorful flowers. A man in a black tuxedo approached us and said, “Welcome to Southern Hills. I believe your party is in Ballroom A.” We said thank you and The Lukester grabbed my hand as we walked down the immense hallway.
When we reached Ballroom A, there was a welcoming committee at the doorway. It was Norma P and Amanda (of course). They both looked at me, looked at each other--and then looked at me again. It was like they didn’t believe what they were seeing. “Norma? Norma L? Is that really you?” asked Amanda. I just smiled and nodded. Norma P handed me a nametag that said, NORMA L.
“And Luke—I mean The Lukester,” said Norma P.
She started to write The Lukester and he said, “Actually, you can just write Luke. I go by Luke now.”
Now it was my turn to not believe what I was seeing—or hearing. We walked into Ballroom A and I had to look again to be sure. Yep. His nametag said, LUKE. Wow, I thought, this night was just a never ending string of surprises.
The ballroom was gigantic. There were elaborately decorated tables in about half of the room. Several of our classmates were already sitting down and we waved at them as we walked by. I heard one of the girls say, “OMG, did you see Norma L’s dress? I saw that at Nordstrom and my mom told me it was too expensive.” I thought I recognized the sing-songy voice, so I glanced over my shoulder to check. Then I smiled my biggest smile of the night. It was Janet J—and I was wearing the dress that she wished she had. It just doesn’t get any better than this, I thought as I squeezed Luke’s hand a little tighter. In the middle of the ballroom, there was a large dance floor, with a DJ station, tall speakers and even a giant, glittering disco ball hanging from above. At the far end of the room, there was a long buffet table.
“Are they serving dinner?” I asked Luke as we stopped to take a look.
“I don’t think so,” he said quietly. “I think it’s just party snacks. Fancy party snacks.”
There were stainless steel trays filled with steaming chicken wings and taquitos. There was also a nacho bar, silver plates with all different kinds of cheese and crackers, silver dessert and cookie trays, and finally, a huge punch bowl.
“Wow,” I said. “Pretty fancy for just a party. I wonder who paid for all of this?” Luke just shrugged his shoulders. I figured that it was probably Norma P and Amanda’s parents. They were both very wealthy. Norma P’s father was a Colorado Supreme Court judge and Amanda’s parents owned a radio station. It was kind of funny. I used to care—a lot—about going from being rich like they were, to sort of poor like I was now. But for some reason, ever since I had met Luke, I stopped caring about that. I was starting to see things that were more important than money. Oh no, I thought suddenly, maybe I was finally starting to do that horrible thing that my mom kept wanting me to do--mature!
Luke and I sat down at one of the tables and Norma P’s voice came over the sound system. “Welcome to our ‘positively great party’!” There was a loud cheer from all of our classmates. “The DJ will start the music in a few minutes, so if you have any song requests, let him know. There is food at the other end of the room and our party will go until 10 PM. Have fun!” There was another cheer and the DJ put on the song Celebrate by Kool and the Gang. Pretty soon, we were all dancing and singing along, “Cel-e-brate.. good times… come on! It’s a celebration!”
I looked at Luke looking at me and I had to admit—I was having the time of my life.
Then everything changed.
It was all very confusing, and I’m not quite sure how it happened--but it happened quickly. We had just returned to our table and Mr. Spinoza, who was at the party as our chaperone, stopped by to say hi. After he left, two people suddenly appeared at our table. One was Janet J and the other was Taylor Johnson. I should have known right away that something was wrong.
At the same time, before either of us could think or react, Janet J was grabbing Luke’s hand and asking him to dance, while Taylor Johnson was grabbing my hand and asking me to dance. And worst of all, it was a slow song. Now, if someone had ever told me that I would be upset if Taylor Johnson had asked me to slow dance, I would have said, “What? Are you out of your mind?”
But this was different. It wasn’t that I was upset about slow dancing with Taylor—I mean he was still Taylor Johnson—it had more to do with what was happening at the other end of the dance floor. A lot more. Specifically, it had to do with Janet J slow dancing with Luke. I kept turning my head left and right to see if I could get a glance at what was
going on with the two of them. Taylor tried his best to keep me from looking around and he kept saying things to me like, “Wow, you look great tonight.” And, “Hey, what do you think of the party?” But I was solely focused on Janet J and Luke.
Then I saw them.
And it wasn’t good.
She had her arms around his neck and she was saying something to him.
Then it got worse.
Much worse.
Luke got his BFK.
Right then and there on the dance floor.
Right on the lips.
But it wasn’t from me.
It was from Janet J.
I broke away from Taylor and ran to the bathroom.
And I stayed there until I heard the song end.
Luke apologized to me 17 times in the next hour (I counted). And nineteen times in the hour after that (I counted again). He told me that Janet J had told him to close his eyes and she would give him a big surprise. He told me that he had no idea she was going to kiss him. I didn’t know if I should believe him. What else was she going to do with his eyes closed? Steal his wallet? I didn’t know if Taylor was in on some sort of plan to get me away from Luke, so Janet J could make her move. I didn’t know who to trust or who to believe. All I knew—was that I didn’t know anything.
And then a thought popped into my head.
I looked over at the clock. It was now 9:55. Only five minutes left. Then I looked over at Janet J. She was laughing and having a great time. I remembered how happy I was that she had wanted the black dress that I had instead. Then I noticed that she was not wearing a black dress at all. She was wearing a white dress. A clean, white dress with pink ribbons. I slowly stood up and began walking toward the fancy party snack table.
“Where are you going? Asked Luke.
“I need some punch.” I said matter-of-factly.
It was true.
I wasn’t thirsty—but I did need some punch.
I filled my cup to the top.
It was cranberry grapefruit.
And it was bright pink.
But it didn’t stay in my cup long.
I walked right up to Janet J.
I smiled.
And I poured it all over her clean, white dress.
How nice, I thought, the pink punch matches her pink ribbons.
For the first time in her life, Janet J was speechless.
“Today’s lesson,” I said as I glanced down at my handiwork. “Is keep your hands—and your lips—to yourself.”
I was pretty sure that Mr. Spinoza saw what happened, but for some reason, he didn’t say anything to me about it. Maybe he saw what happened before I poured the punch on Janet J. And maybe he knew that had she deserved it.
As I was walking away, I heard an infuriated Janet J say, “I’ll get her for that. I swear--if it’s the last thing I do.”
Despite the threat, I decided that it was worth it.
Definitely worth it.
