White Lies and Promises

by Ally Hayes

  Groggily shoveling spoonfuls of cereal late the next morning, he was caught off guard.

  “Whatcha got there, Matty? Did you get a girl’s phone number last night?” Megan teased loudly.

  “None of your business,” Matt hissed, hoping his mother wouldn’t hear. She did.

  “What’s going on?” Ann asked while joining them at the table with her coffee cup.

  “Matty’s got a girlfriend,” Megan proudly sing-songed. Tattling and teasing were her reasons for living.

  Matt swatted her. “Meg!”

  “Well, good for Matt. Megan, don’t snitch, you sound like a little brat.” Ann winked at Matt; she always had his back. He breathed a sigh of relief. They sat for a few more minutes reliving the glory of the game, and when Ann got up to clear the table, he handed her his empty cereal bowl without thinking.

  “Matt? Why do you have the Hamilton’s phone number written on your hand?”

  ***

  Now he couldn’t call her. Although his mother seemed to fall for the lie he gave. He had quickly explained that he must have misheard someone at the party give their number and it came out wrong. It had been loud that night, hard to hear numbers. But if he was to call Jackie now, their mothers would figure it out in a heartbeat.

  He spent most of Sunday alternating between sleep and watching sports on television until it was time to eat again—the perfect rotation for avoiding the reality of the day ahead.

  Monday was dedicated to convincing Courtney and her friends that they were not going out. Girls were nothing but trouble; he was going to swear off them for good. One little kiss with Jackie was torturing him, and a few minutes with a cheerleader had somehow landed him in a relationship. Poor Joey had a girlfriend since February who was positively nauseating. He’d have to talk him into joining his girl-strike.

  “Let’s go to the arcade this Saturday. That’s a chick-free zone,” Matt suggested to his lunch table companions Joey, Dave, and Brian on Wednesday.

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll raid my old man’s change can slowly over the next few days so he won’t notice,” Joey announced.

  “Dump it out and fill the bottom up with pennies. Works every time,” Dave suggested.

  Matt nodded in agreement, though he never had a problem getting his mom to give him money. His dad was so proud of him since the game he’d probably fork over his paycheck.

  After three hours of blowing up aliens, racing cars, and chasing monsters around a screen, they headed over to the snack bar for cokes and do-it-yourself pump-cheese nachos. Right in the middle of their gross burps and immature acts, Jackie and a couple of equally preppy-looking girls walked in.

  “Uh oh, Matt, they just won’t leave you alone. No place is safe with this stud.” Joey punctuated his sentence with a spit ball to Matt’s forehead.

  “She’s looking over at you, man,” Dave said in such a way that he might be lying, trying to get Matt to turn and look. He and Brian had their backs toward the door; Joey and Dave were across from them in the sticky, molded-plastic booth. For all Matt knew, Joey and Dave could be pulling his leg.

  “Don’t do it, Matt. Remember what you said, why we’re here,” Joey dared him to remain still, looking straight ahead.

  Matt had no choice. Dave was looking, or ogling, over the girls as they tried to figure out the machine that converted their cash into quarters and tokens for the games.

  “They look like they’ve never been here before. Maybe I should go help,” Dave offered.

  “No!” Matt yelled loudly. Too loudly. The girls turned in reaction, and Jackie’s mouth fell open.

  Matt clenched his teeth and forced himself to look at the poster behind Joey’s head. When he could sense that they had moved on, into the main arcade room probably, he relaxed his jaw.

  “How about I beat the crap out of you at air hockey?” Matt quickly suggested. The table games were in the opposite direction from the girls’ destination. They still had an hour before Meredith was picking them up. He had to keep his cool.

  Back at home, parked in front of the TV, he couldn’t help but feel like he had blown it. He dug out his wallet, now empty where the bills should be, except for a slip of paper which held the phone number he’d washed off his hand.

  Matt declared the end of the school year dance “dumb,” and his friends obliged by joining his boycott, much to the disappointment of many seventh and even eighth-grade girls.

  The first Monday of summer vacation, Matt stumbled into the kitchen at eleven-thirty a.m. Thankfully, he had thrown on basketball shorts and a college T-shirt before emerging from his dark bedroom, because kneeling on the kitchen floor were not only his mother but also Mrs. Hamilton and Jackie.

  He stopped dead in his tracks a full five feet from the cabinet containing his sought-after cereal. Jackie’s glossy hair was longer now and shining in the sunlight. Suddenly, Matt felt disheveled, dirty. He took a step back to run his hand through his short hair, hoping he didn’t have bedhead. They didn’t seem to notice him as they pulled at the flooring and with quite a struggle. Matt tried to disappear to change his clothes but was caught.

  “Well, it’s about time, you big loaf,” his mom teased for her friend’s benefit. In truth, she really didn’t care when he got up. He could get away with anything, but Ann was aware how it looked to others.

  “Uh, hi.”

  “Hello, Matthew. You remember Jackie,” Patty offered.

  “Of course. Hi, Jackie, Mrs. Hamilton.”

  “I’ve started a small decorating and remodeling business, and Jackie is going to be my apprentice this summer. Your mom is our first guinea pig,” Patty explained.

  “Well, I’m only helping for two weeks, and then I’ve got camp,” Jackie corrected.

  “However, I will be your subject for as long as you can put up with me,” Ann said, not fully comprehending the reality of the statement.

  Matt just nodded like they were awaiting his approval. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed the box of sugary flakes and headed into the den. While trying to find an excuse to go back in the kitchen—juice maybe—he heard his mother call him. Sometimes, it was good to be the only boy in the house.

  “Matt, can you come here and help pull this up?”

  He tried not to jump too fast, look too eager. Before he knew it, he was next to Jackie pulling back the outdated floor covering only to reveal a disgusting subfloor beneath. The linoleum had been one big sheet, spreading across the kitchen, and it took the four of them and forty-five minutes to roll it back inch by inch. But Matt wasn’t complaining. He was with Jackie. Silent, but with Jackie all the same. What was wrong with him, Matt wondered. He used to be able to talk to her so easily. He was used to girls, and he had four sisters for Christ’s sake. Nothing had changed, had it? Could one kiss change everything? It shouldn’t, should it?

  “Thanks, buddy. You can go now. Maybe a shower?” Ann asked.

  “Ma!” Matt was mortified.

  “Thank you for your help, Matthew. I don’t think we could have done it without you,” Patty said sweetly.

  “No problem,” Matt muttered and turned to Jackie with a smile as the two mothers looked despairingly at the mess they had created.

  “See you later, Matt,” Jackie said without emotion. She even waved like an old casual friend. It was killing him. He searched for something cool to say.

  “Yeah, see you around.” Ugh, he wanted to ask if he could call her but instead blew it again. He had lost his touch. He shot hoops in the driveway the rest of the day, wondering when he’d see her again.

  It was a week, but worth it because when she came back, it was for a whole week. Day after day they worked together, sanding and patching the old floor. On Thursday, the foursome began to lay down new tile. He had to admit it looked a lot better than the linoleum. Each day they spoke a bit more—not much and usually in reference to the work they were doing and in the company of at least one of their mothers—but it was enough for now. It felt like a s
tart. On Friday, Jackie took the initiative.

  “This is my last day. I have Fine Arts camp starting next Monday. Then our family goes on vacation for a couple of weeks.” She left it dangling to see what he would do with the information.

  “Oh.”

  “Well, I was hoping you’d have more say than just, ‘oh.’”

  She seemed bolder than usual today, and he liked it. Matt decided to counter.

  “Do you want to hang out tomorrow or something?”

  “Actually, I have plans to go to the pool with my friends…” Another dangler, but this time he knew how to respond.

  “What a coincidence. So do I!”

  Matt hoped that it came out smoothly and quickly enough to convince her. He also hoped he could find some guys with pool passes quickly.

  Tilting her head flirtatiously, Jackie asked, “So, I’ll see you?”

  Matt grinned, accepting her challenge. “Definitely.”

  The girls got there early and had been at the pool for a while with no sighting of the boys. Jackie was already stretched out on a lounge chair beside her friends, Brianna and Sydney. While her friends both wore the barest of bikinis, Jackie sported a very modest tank suit. She was petite and pale and now felt very self-conscious next to her curvy and tanned friends. She was about to put a T-shirt over her suit when she heard them.

  The whole pool heard them. The boys had arrived. With no chairs left at this time of day—almost noon—they jumped right into the water. It was the entrance Joey sought and the distraction Matt needed. They horsed around and showed off for about fifteen minutes when one of the girls from the boys’ school sashayed over to the side of the pool and sat down on the edge near them, looking for attention as always.

  “Hey, Matt, show us all a dive!” she yelled through cupped hands.

  “Not today, Kate. Too many little kids around.”

  Kate pouted and walked away. Matt looked over at Jackie who caught him looking. He had to go over there now. It wouldn’t be so bad now anyway; since he was wet he could wrap a towel around his waist and feel less vulnerable talking to her.

  “Hey,” Matt addressed Jackie.

  “You made it,” she answered with surprise, lowering her magazine slowly as if she hadn’t already known he was at the pool.

  And so they both stared at one another, each making a concentrated effort not to let their eyes wander where they wanted to. It was obvious. While neither spoke, they each were relieved the other had kept to their word about showing up. Jackie’s friends noticed the silence and wanted to know who this boy could be to render Jackie Hamilton speechless and smiling. When two other boys joined him, the girls could resist no longer.

  “Who are your friends, J?” one the girls asked. Leave it to a fourteen-year-old girl to be years more mature than their male counterparts. None of them would think of making introductions.

  “Oh, this is Matthew Foster. Our mothers used to work together, and I guess they sort of do again now. As for his companions, I only know Joey. These are my friends, Brianna and Sydney,” Jackie explained to her friends and then to the boys.

  “Hi. These other jokers are Dave and Brian.” Matt pointed to each with his thumbs.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  Matt didn’t know where to look or what to say next. He became afraid that one of the guys would say something stupid, or he would, and he suddenly needed an escape.

  “So, it’s hot and there’s nowhere to sit anyway, so I guess we’re going to jump back in.” Matt could think of no alternative.

  “Okay, we’ll see you later.” Jackie released them.

  With the boys back in the water, the girls commenced to giggling about them. With the girls safely out of earshot, the boys teased Matt. He didn’t dare leave the safety of the water for the rest of the afternoon.

  As the sun was casting longer, cooler shadows on the lounge chairs, Matt realized the girls were preparing to leave. He’d blown it. He hadn’t even talked to her. How could he now get her attention?

  Once again, Jackie prevailed as the mature one. Matt watched as she indicated “one minute” to her friends as began walking to the pool. He quickly swam over to edge and leaned his arms on the side.

  “We have to go now.”

  “Yeah, it’s getting late. You leave tomorrow?”

  “Yes, in fact, that’s why we need to go; I have a lot of packing to do and my parents want to take me out for dinner.”

  “Well, have fun.” Matt panicked, but didn’t let the moment go this time. “Um, when you’re back from camp and school starts, can I call you sometime?” Matt blurted out.

  “You’d better.” Jackie smiled and sauntered away, leaving the impression she had hoped for. Matt looked positively giddy as he got splashed in the face by Joey.

  It was a really long summer for Matt. He was grateful for the first football game on the Saturday before school was to start. He was home in time for dinner that night for a change, perhaps ready for a new routine, or possibly just hungry. No one else was ready for summer to be over, though, as the house was empty.

  Immediately, he knew something was different, aside from his punctuality. Mrs. Hamilton had been in the house. He detected the unmistakable odor of fresh paint and wondered what he wasn’t supposed to touch or walk on this time. Neither his parents nor his sisters seemed to be around. It was the last Saturday night of vacation, after all, so he settled for a frozen pizza. After polishing off the whole thing, he went to his room for a sweatshirt—he was planning to shoot hoops with Joey. On his bed was a folded piece of paper; he pounced on it.

  Sorry I missed you today, 555-4988.

  He wanted to immediately grab the phone but knew it wasn’t cool to call a girl right away. You were supposed to wait and make them miserable. He knew the drill and had witnessed what the waiting did to them firsthand many times, thanks to his sisters. Maybe he should call right away. Naw, he thought. One game of Horse then he’d call…maybe.

  “What do you think?” After losing two rounds to Joe, he had to admit something was bugging him. He broke down and told him about Jackie’s note.

  “I’d call right away. She is going to get snatched up quick, with school starting. Stake your claim, man.”

  Matt figured Joey was right this time. He went in around eight-thirty. The house was still deserted. He could do this. He had called other girls. No big deal.

  “Hi, is Jackie home?” he said quickly when Patty answered.

  “No, she’s at a friends’ tonight. Who shall I say called?”

  “No one, thanks!” He was crushed.

  This was not like going after other girls. This was not going to be easy.

  He finally got the courage up to try again on Wednesday, and she answered on the first ring as if she had been waiting—he hoped. They talked awkwardly and ended the call abruptly because her father declared he needed the phone. Matt called again on Sunday and the following Tuesday night. When it had been over three weeks of steady calls, she finally asked when she would see him again.

  “Do you want to meet at the movies?” he asked.

  “Sure. I’ll have to go there with a friend or two though, is that okay?”

  “Yeah, me, too. That’ll be good.” He just assumed there would be dating rules for him as there had been for his sisters. Then again, he seemed to enjoy a bit more freedom than they ever did.

  Matt held her hand during the movie, and she nudged closer to him. In the safety of the darkness, they really looked at each other. Matt’s breath would catch. He couldn’t blow this.

  Even though the night was eerily similar to the movie night with Drew, Jackie was relaxed. She reminded herself constantly that it would be different with Matt, it would be right.

  Eventually their friends left them alone at the end, and Matt quickly kissed her—just enough. Remembering Joey’s advice to seal the deal, he dove in and asked the all-important question.

  “Jackie, will you go out with
me?” he asked sweetly, but she looked puzzled, so he thought maybe they called it something different at her school. So he asked again. “You know, be my girlfriend?”

  “Oh, I know what you mean. It’s just that I thought we already were boyfriend-girlfriend.” She smiled.

  Chapter Six

  Matt & Jackie

  It was a mutual decision to keep the courtship clandestine. Neither wished to deal with their mothers’ inevitable questions nor meddling. Matt called on Wednesday nights; Jackie on Sunday. The calls were always made at eight-thirty. The recipient answered on the first ring, and if no one answered by the third ring, the caller was to hang up and retry an hour later, following the same ring procedure. At first, they didn’t talk long or about much of anything; they simply needed to make the connection. Matt had to drag the hall phone into the bathroom, a trick he had witnessed his sisters pull numerous times. Jackie had her own pink phone in her bedroom, but nosier parents. During each call they would attempt to set up a meeting place for the weekend and the logistics would consume the majority of the conversation.

  Their friends provided their covers to the movies, roller skating, and mall excursions. Each was dropped off at the destination with at least one or two friends, but Matt and Jackie quickly paired off. It was thrilling just to hold hands and walk away from Brianna and Joey or whoever they could convince to tag along that day. The young couple would kiss as much as they could while their group waited and kept lookout for their ride home.

  For Matt it was all good. At school the girls thought he was a super-cool jock just out of reach—perfect. Among the eighth-grade girls there was talk he had a private school girlfriend, but because no one ever saw Jackie except for his buddies, it remained a rumor. He liked the attention and the air of mystery he gave off.