Tryst

'. . .would like to go back to your house with you.'

If Samantha's eyes gaped a little wider at this, her quick mind soon recovered from the surprise. 'But my parents would be home, Alfie. C'mon. . .I've got a better idea.'

She grabbed me by the hand, slinging her other arm around my waist, and we walked down Goosefluff Lane in the shimmering moonlight.

'The night is splendid,' I said, '. . .but where are we going?'

'Don't you worry about that,' said she, quietly. 'I have a place.'

I didn't know if that's what I had meant.

As we neared the far end of Goosefluff Lane, the houses grew larger, statelier, and more heavily shrouded in shrubbery. Around the houses a forest grew tall and wild; the architecture was, of course, Victorian; and the night was saturated with an air of mystery normally reserved for films based on books by Steven King.

'This way,' Sam said.

A walk in moonlight

'So. . .did you have a good time, Alfie?' Sam said.

'Spectacular,' I said, rubbing my cheeks with cold fingers. The cool night spread out around us. . . stars twinkled down. . .the entire galaxy was dripping with light. For a moment I almost let myself think, 'it really could have been.'

'Are you. . .feeling. . .all right,' Sam said. . .and, as if I had spoken the sentiment out loud, shot me a conspicuously knowing glance.

Glib young men, though, are utterly impervious to such looks. 'Wipe that conspicuously knowing glance,' said I, 'off that visage.'

'Say "face," Alfie,' Samantha said. 'And, darling. . .can you tell why mine's so flushed?'

'I honestly have no guess.'

'Let me help.'

Sam grabbed my hand, kissed it twice or thrice, and drew it to her chest. Despite myself, I felt a twinge in my stomach. In the moonlight she looked almost beautiful.

'Sam, I. . .'

The heat is on

'Well, here we are,' Samantha said, nudging me hard in the ribs. It hurt, but I pretended it didn't. As I was striving to maintain this husk of toughness, she leaned in and kissed me on the mouth, right in front of the chaperones stationed at the entrance.

'Stop it, Samantha!' protested I. 'Cut it out!'

'Ah, if you knew half the things I'd like to do to you,' she said, shooting me a flirtatious look that almost made up for her pimples, but not quite.

As we entered the dance hall, the buoyant rhythms of Glenn Frey's "The Heat is On" pumped through the darkened room. Samantha and I slipped our way into the thick crowd, fighting through the mass of writhing bodies, saxophone riffs, and the flashing lights that pulsed through the surrounding darkness.

Finally, we found a pocket of empty space amid the chaos. In this strangely intimate setting, Sam suddenly drew me forcefully toward her, breathing hot breath against my neck as she pulled me to her bosom. At this point, an impassioned kiss was inevitable.

At the end of the song, the room grew lighter for an instant; and, as I pulled away from Sam's kiss, I glanced across the room, only to set eyes on an utterly dumbfounded Sharon. Her green eyes were pulled as wide as I'd ever seen them; she stood there, drop-jawed, as if she had completely forgotten Claude Reeves's arm around her waist.

Banter

With Samantha's clammy hand in mine, the two-mile walk to the school was disturbing. Nonetheless, we did maintain some semblance of conversation.

'So, Samantha, do you take showers often?'

'I'd like to take one with you,' she said, licking her lips.

'That's nice,' I said, as calm and unruffled as if she'd been discussing philately. 'So how is advanced geometry?'

She seemed inflamed by this inquiry. Arching her back and thrusting her large chest forward, she said, 'It would be much better if you were in it.'

I straightened my tie with my free hand, and coughed twice or thrice. 'Look, Sam. . .could we please talk about something other than how fervently you desire me?'

'Well,' replied Sam, 'we could talk about how cute you are.'

'I suppose,' I said, despondently, 'that that's an entirely different matter.'

'Yes,' Samantha said. 'Your cuteness, and my visceral desire for you, are totally unrelated.'

'Thanks for clearing that up,' said I.