by Kim Pritekel
"Andi, you are beautiful." I just stared at her. "Guys can do that, feed you a line of bull just so they can get into your pants, and he probably was about some things, but not about that." I searched her eyes, and could see the sincerity.
"Wow. Thanks." She smiled.
"What can I get you guys to drink?" We looked up to see our waitress smiling at us.
"Actually, I’m ready to order. Andi, are you?"
"Yup."
"Okay, what can I get you?" We ordered, and the waitress left, returning within a few minutes to bring us our drinks.
"So, what do you find attractive in a guy?" Haley asked, sipping her Coke.
"What do I find attractive in someone?" She nodded. "Hmm. Good question." I took the paper off my straw as I thought. What do I find attractive? "Well, I guess I’d have to say honesty, fun-loving, good sense of humor, takes care of themselves. And, probably most importantly, they must have a brain. So few people in the world seem to, now days. What is up with that?"
"Yeah, smarts doesn’t seem to be a big fixture with a lot of people. Who knows." She shrugged, then studied me, soda in her hand, but she didn’t drink. It was almost as if she were having some internal conversation with herself about me. Shaking herself out of it, she brought the straw to her lips, and began to drink. "So, you sort of answered my question."
"What? I answered you."
"I want to know what you find attractive, you know, outside. What kind of guy, or man, in your case, are you attracted to. Physically."
Hmm. No generic answer for that one. Truth be told, I didn’t know. "Well, I guess the type of person I’m attracted to is someone who takes care of themselves physically. I love a nice body. I know that sounds horribly stuck up of me, but I take care of myself, and to me when someone does, it says something about that person."
"Like what?"
"Well, that they care about themselves, their health, the way that they look. I don’t want someone who needs a mirror every two seconds, in fact that’s quite the turn off, but I don’t want someone who sits around on their ass all day, either." Haley looked at me, cocked her head slightly to the side, and smiled.
"Do you realize you used just about every pronoun except he or she just now?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, you never said he. Andi, do you like guys?" I was quite taken aback by the question. Do I like guys, who doesn’t?
"Yeah. To the extent that they’re likeable. You talk about me, why aren’t you dating? I know for sure you’re asked out daily."
"Well, not quite daily, but often, yes. I just got out of a relationship with Brad over the summer."
"So? So did I, yet you seem to think it’s so odd that I’m single. What about you?"
"Okay, okay. You got me. I’ll leave you alone." She leaned in. "For now."
* * *
"Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking." Haley took a bite of her third brownie, chewing quickly so she could talk. "Make a chart, or a poster, and on one side make a big sign that says penis, and on the other side, one that says womb." I munched on my own brownie as we sat on the floor in the middle of the living room of my house. My mom and her boyfriend, Clive were downstairs watching a movie. Chris? Who cares.
"So, do you think pictures would go well in this? I mean, I could drag out my digital camera, and head out into the big, bad world."
"Yeah, I could see that. Just get creative, Andi. However, I do think some pictures would be best left out of it." She grinned, and I threw a pillow from the couch at her. "You could have bullets under each side with little flip up signs with information or questions underneath."
"Okay." Haley looked at her watch.
"Shit, I have to go. Drop me off?" I nodded, and gathered all my papers together, piling them on the coffee table for later.
"Thanks for all your help, Haley. I really appreciate it."
"Sure. No problem. I intend to keep helping with this, if that’s cool?" I smiled.
"Yeah, definitely." She stood, grabbed her purse and jacket from the couch.
"Ready?" Keys in hand, we headed out. "Oh," she stopped at the front door, me nearly slamming into her as she dug into her purse to grab a small notebook and pen. "You said you didn’t have my number the other day. Well, the top one is my home number, and the one below is my cell phone." She glanced up at me. "You know, just in case you felt like calling in the middle of the night, or something." With a grin she handed me the paper.
"Thanks." I tucked it into my pocket, and followed her out to the car.
* * *
I turned over onto my left side, pulling the covers up to my chin. Too hot. Pushing them under my arm, I rolled onto my stomach. No good. With a growl, I sat up, glanced over at the clock. It was nearly two in the morning, yet I could not get comfortable, nor fall deeply asleep. I saw the blinking light on my phone, then remembered that Haley had given me her number.
Pushing the covers off me, I found my jeans on the floor, and rifled through the pockets until I felt the folded paper. Getting back under the covers, I reached for the receiver, and dialed the numbers to her cell. I grabbed the impromptu tool from an earlier art project, where I’d been using the holes in a potato masher to create a diamond pattern on the page. I had nervous energy rushing through me as the phone rang, once, twice,
"Okay, what did you forget, Kelly?" asked the sleep-deepened voice.
"Huh?" I was confused. "This isn’t Kelly."
"Oh. Who is this?" She seemed to waken more. She paused for a moment, "Um, Andi?"
"Yeah. Did I wake you?" I began to beat the masher lightly against my headboard, my hand taking on a life of its own.
"Well, I just went to bed, what on earth is that noise?" I stopped banging.
"Nothing."
"What are you doing over there? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just felt like calling you in the middle of the night."
"Oh, I see. And as for what you’re doing?"
"Banging."
"Excuse me? Did you say banging?"
"Yup."
"Huh. This is interesting. Where are you?" I could hear her shifting in her bed. I did the same, scooting down to lay on my side, holding myself up with my phone hand’s elbow.
"In bed."
"Oh, so you didn’t stay up, watching the clock, waiting for exactly," she paused, "ten minutes after I went to bed."
"Nope, no such luck. If only I were that talented."
"Well, you seem to be pretty talented with the whole banging thing. I hear you going at it, again." I smiled into the phone, the rhythmic tapping of the masher on the side table obviously amusing to her.
"I take pride in all my talents."
"As well you should. So, what is getting banged?"
"What makes you think it’s anything of consequence?"
"Well, I seriously doubt, and hope, it’s not a body part of yours."
"Nope." I brought the masher to my eyes, looking at it in the moonlight, the metal part shining in the darkness.
"What is it used for? Other than banging, that is." She shifted again, her voice dropping a bit as she got comfortable. I could almost picture her in her bed, staring up at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
"Well, it’s used in the kitchen." I heard her chuckle.
"Oh, really? So, it’s hard, then?"
"Yes." I was enjoying the game, though quite surprised that I was engaged in it.
"What else?"
"Hmm. Let’s see," I ran my hand all over it. "It’s cold, generally. Well, that is, part of it is metal."
"Really? Aren’t we into the kinky side of life?" I chuckled. "Is this thing with you every night?"
"No. Only on special occasions."
"Really?" I smiled at the surprise in her voice. "And tonight was a special occasion?"
"Yes. Brought on by Mrs. Carusso."
"What? What does the art teacher have to do with it?!" I laughed out loud, then covered my mouth as I didn’t want to
wake my mom or Chris.
"It’s a potato masher. I traced the design for a project tonight." I smiled at the laughter on the other end of the phone.
"Well, it certainly is hard enough to bang with." I covered my eyes with my hand.
"Oh, Haley." More laughter. "So what about you? Do you have anything special you sleep with?" Pause. "Haley?" Pause. "What is it?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, that’s a crock. Spill it, woman."
"Well, it’s rubber."
"It’s a rubber? You sleep with a condom?"
"No, no, it’s made of rubber."
"Really? Is it smaller than a loaf of bread?"
"Yes." I could hear her smile in her voice.
"How big?"
"It’s a handful. You know what they say, anything more is a waste." Yet again my eyes found themselves covered. Oh boy. I heard the snap of rubber. It sounded just like one of our latex gloves in the lab. "What, are you into the five-fingered pleasure?" A low, evil chuckle met my ear.
"Maybe." My eyes bulged. "No, it’s a Koosh."
"A what?"
"A Koosh ball. You know, the round, rubber things with lots of little, limp spines?"
"Little, limp spines? Poor thing. It must feel so useless."
"I imagine so."
"So, um, were you huddled around this thing when I stayed over?" Pause. "You did, didn’t you?"
"It was under my pillow."
"And all while I was in the next bed. How could you?" She laughed, then quieted.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"At this point you feel the need to preempt with ‘can’?" I smiled.
"Yeah, guess that’s kind of unnecessary now, huh? Anyway, well, you didn’t like Ryan, right?" I groaned, flopping over onto my back.
"No. Too boring."
"Do you like boys?" I paused, taken off guard by the question. "I guess that was a little forward, wasn’t it?"
"Maybe just a tad."
"Sorry. But do you?" I laughed, hearing the smile in her voice.
"I think I need to go to bed. So do you, you nut."
"Okay, okay." She yawned, and moaned slightly into the receiver. "I’m so comfy and warm." She sighed. "Well, you sleep well, Andi. I’m glad you called." I smiled at that.
"Me, too. I’m glad you’re not mad." I brought the covers up just under my chin, the cold night air sneaking in.
"Of course not. Why would I be?"
"Well, it’s a bit unusual to receive a call at two a.m."
"Well, luckily for you I’d just gotten back from going out with Kelly."
"So I gathered from your greeting." She laughed.
"Yeah, well she’s known for forgetting things in my car."
"Ah. Well, sleep well, Haley. I’ll talk to you later."
"Sweet dreams, Andi."
"Goodnight."
"Night."
Combined parts 5 & 6
I waited, not-so-patiently, as my computer slowly loaded the website I was trying to get into, and munched on cold turkey from yesterday. I was doing research on my psych project because the due date was only one week away. Where had the year gone? Haley had been over to help with it earlier in the week, and so now I had to do the last minute details and info, as well as figure out where I got all my information from to cite it.
Scanning the page, I found what I needed, and hit control P. As the printer sputtered to life, I stared at the screen, before my hand suddenly found the mouse, leading the pointer d across the screen to the white address bar on top. I clicked it, then typed in a search engine. The Google page opened, and I typed in two very familiar words. The blue bar at the bottom of the screen grew longer and longer as more entries were found. I was surprised, not thinking many would be.
Finally my pointer turned back from an hourglass to the arrow again. I scrolled down, yet again surprised by just how many entries there were dealing with the words Haley Corregan. However, knowing she had not died in August of 1894 with her husband John at her side, I clicked on one that mentioned Winston High School.
The site opened to our school’s website, which I didn’t even know existed. It chronicled the girls who had been on the soccer team two years ago, and had won the state championships. I scrolled through pictures, marveling at how young Haley looked at only 15. I read her bio.
Haley Star Corregan,…
"Star?" I chuckled as I read on.
… a Winston High Sophomore, has played soccer since second grade. At 5’8", 142 pounds, she is a powerhouse as a center forward for the Winston High Pumas.
"Go, Haley." I smiled, reading further.
Haley was born December 8 to Timothy and Marcia Corregan right here in Winston.
My brows narrowed. December 8? That was coming up in just over a week. Why didn’t she tell me her birthday was on the way? I stared at the screen, and a grin spread across my face as an idea popped into mind.
I looked at the clock on the toolbar.
"Shit." I stuffed the rest of the turkey into my mouth, and grabbed my jacket, car keys, and headed downstairs.
"You heading out, honey?" I looked at my mom who sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee. I nodded as I chewed the last of the meat, then swallowed.
"Yeah. I’m actually running a little late. Spent a wee bit too much time online."
"Oops." My mom smiled.
"Thanks for letting me use the car."
"No problem, hon." She stood and walked over to me. "You guys have fun, and please be careful."
"Will do. I love you."
"I love you, too, Andrea." With a quick hug from my mother, I was out the door. On the way to Haley’s, I glanced at the map I’d brought with me. The Mall of America was just about an hour away. I hadn’t been there in years, so was looking forward to it. I certainly had never been there around the holidays, so I imagined it was amazing, decorations everywhere, Santa’s little winter play land brought south. Though not much south here in Minnesota.
I pulled up to the Corregan’s house and parked at the curb. The garage door was open, and Mrs. Corregan walked out with a tied garbage bag.
"Andi. Hello." She smiled at me, lifting the garbage can lid, and dumping the bag in. "Haley is inside, downstairs. Go on in."
"Thank you, ma’am."
"Ma’am. What am I? Sixty?" I laughed. How on earth could someone be so chipper all the time? Weren’t there rules or laws against that?
I headed into the house through the open garage, finding myself in the kitchen. I had to try and remember which way the basement was, then I heard music. Piano music. Following the sound, I saw the open door with steps leading down, and made my way into the basement. I looked around to see Haley sitting at the piano, her hands flying across the keys as she played "Liebestraum" by Listz. I was stunned, slumping back against the wall as I listened, my eyes closing as the music filled me. My heart lifted with each note as I sucked in my breath, the song building to an intense crescendo, her fingers pounding each note out so that it resonated in my head.
Finally the song began to soften, the last few notes played lovingly, until everything went quiet. My eyes opened, and I saw Haley raise her hands from the keyboard, laying them on her thighs for just a moment before she quickly turned to look at me.
"How long have you been standing there?" She turned on the bench, surprise on her face.
"Long enough to want to waltz." She smiled, then looked down, a bit shy. "I had no idea. You’re brilliant. Why haven’t you told me you could play like that?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"I don’t tell anyone, really. Only Kelly knows, outside my family."
"How long have you played?" She shrugged, picking invisible lint off her sweater.
"Probably about as long as you’ve been the Karate Kid." She smiled, so did I.
"Funny girl. But why don’t you do anything with it? I mean, you could easily be in the symphony at school." She looked at me.
"Yeah, and become a band nerd? I don’t kno
w. It’s jut not really cool to do, you know? I’ve always loved doing it. I begged my mom for lessons when I was 5 years old. Finally she got them for me, and the rest is history." I thought for a moment; what a shame that someone so talented would hide this.
"So, you ready?" Haley asked, obviously eager to change the subject.
"Yep." She stood, carefully pulling the cover over the keyboard, and grabbing her jacket that was laid across the couch.
"You’re late, woman." She said.
"Yeah, sorry." I turned to head up the stairs. "I was doing some research for my project."
"Ah, I see. So penis envy is more important than shopping on the day after Thanksgiving with your buddy, huh?"
"Certainly." I could hear her chuckle as she followed me upstairs. I could still hear Haley’s playing in my head. "You know, I always thought the ability to read music was so cool. Just a bunch of symbols and odd-looking little lines."
"Do you play any instruments, Andi?" I glanced at her over my shoulder as I hit the top of the stairs.
"Are you kidding? I can’t even keep the beat with a spoon against my thigh." She grabbed her purse from the coat hanger mounted on the wall.
"I could teach you."
"Really? Does that mean you could teach the blind to see?" She grinned, shaking her head.
"I doubt you’re as bad as you seem to think. If you don’t like it, you can always stop." We headed into the kitchen.
"You girls have fun." Haley’s mom said, standing at the sink washing dishes.
"See you later, mom."
We hurried out the garage door, both giddy and excited like school girls. Well, we are school girls, but we were still excited. Haley and I had spent nearly every day together in one way or another, since the beginning of November. If she wasn’t at my place, or I wasn’t at hers during the weekends, then she took me home after school, and often made some surprise stop along the way. Usually for food or to play pool.
Tracy and I did things together on occasion, but I’d never really had a friend like Haley, that I spent a great deal of time with, and that I had shared so much with. I remembered one day when she’d been up in my room, and had turned to look at my Beanie Baby collection.
