Open the door

They are expecting you, so you feel free to open the door and stick your head in. You plan on announcing your presence, but you see a girl sitting in a chair, with her back to you, talking on the phone. You don’t want to interrupt or startle her, but you can’t help but overhear the conversation.

“No, he’s supposed to be here any minute..... No, I have no idea; Gran set me up with him.... Who knows? I don’t even know why I’m doing this. I wish Ben hadn’t gotten chicken pox — he might not be my boyfriend, but at least I know him.”

You hear her giggle in response to something on the other end of the phone. “I don’t know... I sort of thought about it, but I don’t even know if he’s into me at all.... no, I don’t think all boys are like that....”

This conversation is going longer than you thought it would, so you knock on the doorframe and clear your throat. The girl jumps, and says, “He’s here. I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

She turns and you get your first look at Clarice. She actually isn’t bad at all — a little more average than what you are used to, but you’ve certainly done worse. She has plain, brown hair, lots of freckles, and a rather bored expression.

“Hi... you must be Clarice,” you say. “I’m Aron.”

She looks you over for a few seconds, as if trying to decide whether you are worth it, and the sulkily comes forward and takes your hand.

“Thanks for doing this. Gran has it in her head that my life will be ruined if I don’t go to prom. I’m sure you had better things to do tonight than this.”

“Don’t mention it,” you say, graciously. “We’ll have a great time. I’m an old pro at proms. You will be my fifth.”

“She will be your fifth what?” asks Mrs. Templeton, as she enters the room.

You explain that it’s the fifth prom you have attended since you were 14. “Well, you must be a very popular young man,” she says, warily. “You behave like a gentleman, I presume?”

Whatever that means, you assure her that you take very good care of your dates. That much is true — they get the full service treatment, in fact, but you don’t mention that.

Mrs. Templeton quizzes you to make sure you have enough gas in the car, know what time to be home, etc. She subjects the two of you to endless picture taking before Clarice says, “Gran, if we don’t leave now, we’ll never get there.”

With that, you help Clarice into the car and begin driving to the school. You can’t tell if Clarice is shy or sullen, but she doesn’t say anything as you drive.