Courting Mrs. McCarthy

by Ian Thomas Malone

  “Ugh, what a bad weekend for a party. I don’t know, man. I barely slept last night.” This was behavior generally uncharacteristic of him, and Griffin could see right through it.

  “Oh, come on. It’s Friday night. We’ll go have a few beers, play some pong, and then leave if you really want to,” he said. Seeing the unconvinced look on his friend’s face, he added, “Megan can pick us up so we don’t even have to spend the night.”

  This was a surprisingly reasonable offer from a boy who was stoned in school by himself on the last day of classes. “Fine, but if it’s boring or I want to leave, we’re going, and you’re not going to pull any of your nonsense.”

  “All right, all right. Jeez, Nate, you’ll killing my vibe.”

  Before their conversation could go any further, the bell rang and they headed off in separate directions to class.

  Nathan spent most of the day thinking about Jackie. He wondered when the next time he’d see her would be. He hoped he’d get invited back to babysit, but the awkward encounter made that very questionable if she was embarrassed by her actions. His lack of payment wasn’t a big issue to him either.

  School ended and Nathan went home without really thinking about the fact that he’d just completed classes for junior year. The whirlwind of events that led him to this moment had stripped him of a lot of the sentimentality with regards to what someone might call the major events in his life. His aunt blamed his father for this, but he didn’t particularly care.

  Aunt Cassidy was in a very cheerful mood when Nathan arrived home. Piper and Elizabeth were too young for finals, and both had another week left of school, but the weather was lovely and she tried to make a big deal of her nephew finishing up of classes for the year.

  “Hey, Nathan, do you want to go out to dinner to celebrate the end of the school year?” she suggested, as he prepared himself a sandwich in the kitchen. He had skipped lunch because he wasn’t feeling great but now he was hungry. While he wasn’t the type to celebrate something so trivial as the completion of classes, he didn’t want to give his aunt the idea that he was depressed either. She often worried that he was depressed.

  “That would be lovely,” he replied, with a manufactured smile on his face. “I’m going out with Griffin and Ralph later though. Can we go a bit on the earlier side?” This was largely a question he already knew the answer to, but it showed his interest and willingness to compromise.

  They ate at the Pearl, a local seafood restaurant. Nathan and the women all ordered lobsters. Aunt Cassidy had stressed the importance of eating to her daughters, and they took to her words quite well even at a young age. The only real picky eater in the mix was Martin, who ordered pasta with red sauce.

  Dinner was just what Nathan needed. He didn’t necessarily feel the need to celebrate, especially with finals just around the corner, but dinner marked the longest streak of not thinking about Jackie McCarthy since she had drunkenly asked him on a date. He thought that maybe the party would not be so bad.

  He was dropped off at Griffin’s house after dinner.

  Their friend Ralph drove them to the party. This made him feel somewhat like a child with all the switching of cars, but it was better than driving intoxicated. Griffin had convinced Megan to drive them home, but his mothers were out to a dinner of their own. Griffin had Easy Mac for dinner, a far cry from Nathan’s meal.

  High school parties were typically as fun as you wanted them to be. For Nathan, being tired at a party full of people he didn’t know did not bring out the good vibes he felt at other gatherings. Most of this blame fell on him. The party had all the things any other party would have. He was also in a bad mood because Griffin had disappeared with a girl into one of the bedrooms and Ralph was nowhere to be found.

  The couch was filled with beer and couples who were all over each other. Nathan found himself a nice wall to lean against while he plotted what to do with the remainder of his time at the party. He tried his best to maintain a holier than thou look on his face so that people didn’t suspect he was without company. He contemplated giving Mrs. Rousseau a call to end his misery, but this would not be a cool thing to do to his best friend.

  While his smug grin hardly deserved credit for anything, he did manage to attract a member of the opposite sex without intending to do so. A girl, who had far more to drink than he’d had, found her way over to him.

  “Do you want to dance?” Her words so slurred that reciting them on paper could never accurately describe the jumbled up nature in which they came out of her mouth.

  He did not want to dance, but this girl offered up an option for spending time while he waited for Griffin to return from wherever he’d gone off too. “It’s quite dangerous out there,” he replied, pointing to the makeshift dance floor in the living room. Couches and a table had been moved to make this space available. The floors were black from dust that had lain dormant under the couch until beer had been added to it, creating a dark vile concoction that now served as an unintended slip and slide for those who chose to dance directly above it.

  “I’m Jenny,” she said, in a manner which made it seem like a question rather than a statement. Nathan decided to engage the drunken girl in conversation.

  “Lovely. I’m Nathan. Tell me a little about your interests.”

  This odd form of small talk was lost of the drunken girl. Jenny replied with a confused, “What?”

  Feeling a bit mischievous in knowing that his mind was in a much sounder place than hers, Nathan said, “You know, whatever gets you out of bed in the morning.”

  Jenny did not understand the question any better the second time around. “I don’t get what you’re saying. Do you want to go a bedroom?” This was a sign she wanted to hook up with Nathan. Confusion had turned into promiscuity.

  While Nathan enjoyed teasing this drunken girl, he was not the kind of person who would take full advantage of someone like that. Then he saw his friend Ralph looking around a bit frantically. Nathan quipped, “Go find one of your friends, Jackie, it was nice to meet you.” He scurried off without caring that he’d gotten her name wrong.

  “Hello, Ralph, what seems to be troubling you?” Nathan asked. He felt a little better about the party after his encounter with Jenny. A girl had asked him to hook up and had not tossed her drink on him after he called her by the wrong name. This was the kind of victory that might warrant another lobster dinner, playing by his aunt’s logic.

  Ralph informed him that a few of the meatheads, which in the context of this party referred to hockey players, were looking for someone who Ralph was pretty sure happened to be Griffin. One of their girlfriends, who was presumably in a similarly intoxicated state as Jenny, was missing. The concern was not that she was actually missing but that she’d wandered off with another boy. Ralph thought that there was a good chance that she was with Griffin, who had also had quite a bit to drink.

  The logical thing to do would be to get Griffin out of there as quickly as possible. Neither Ralph nor Nathan was sure he was actually with this girl, but a bunch of drunken hockey players looking for a fight was not a great idea. They had to find him. As soon as Ralph suggested they should get out of there, Nathan began making preparations for their departure.

  He texted Megan the address of the party and said he’d heard a rumor the cops might be coming. This was yet another lie, but it was the only way he could get their ride there faster without putting any responsibility on himself or Griffin. He told Ralph to stall the hockey players as he made for the stairs knowing the likely ineffectualness of Ralph’s escape abilities.

  He called Griffin’s phone to find him faster than the hockey players might. Alcohol and a longing for adventure had enhanced the sense of urgency. He had no solid evidence that anyone was looking specifically for his friend, but playing hero was fun.

  He heard “Two of Hearts” by Stacey Q, Griffin’s ring tone. Griffin had a soft spot for eighties music, though he was likely embarrassed to have it go off now. Nathan burst
into the bedroom without knocking, knowing that Griffin wouldn’t have let him in anyway.

  “Dude, not cool. Get out,” said an angry, drunken, and undressed Griffin. There was another body that had disappeared under the covers.

  “Some people are looking for you,” Nathan said firmly. “I would suggest getting dressed and coming with me now, Griffin.” He regretted saying his name in front of the drunk girl, who might sell them out.

  Griffin seemed unconvinced. “Who would be looking for me? Tell Ralph to get a life if he thinks this kind of nonsense is funny.”

  A voice came from under the covers. It said, “That would probably be my boyfriend. He won’t be happy, so you should probably go.”

  Griffin was dumbfounded. “You didn’t say your boyfriend was here. Jesus Christ.” He hopped out of the bed to put his shirt on. Nathan tried not to laugh at what was currently a fairly amusing scenario.

  “I texted your mother. She’s on her way,” he said to his disgruntled friend. “It was nice to meet you,” he said to the covers.

  The girl replied, “Good luck.”

  Griffin did not address the covers as the two friends left.

  The escape was discrete, as no one looking for Griffin had gone upstairs just yet. Griffin was paranoid even though Nathan continued to remind him that the KGB was not in fact after him. This did little to ease his friend’s suspicions that everyone at the party was looking for him.

  As they headed for the back door, Nathan asked, “Why would you hook up with her if you knew she had a boyfriend?”

  Griffin seemed unfazed by this moralistic question and replied, “If a girl that hot was looking for some, the guy had to be doing something wrong, man.” He spoke more coherently than he had in the bedroom.

  Not wishing to stick around the house of infidelity, the two walked down the street to hide from any hockey players. This could also give Megan the illusion the house had in fact received company from the police. Victoria had given the two boys a long lecture about what to do when parties went sour.

  The sight of the yellow Camaro was welcomed. All the adrenaline had Nathan feeling more alert than he might have been on another night where he was drunk and it was late.

  Chapter 12

  The next day, Nathan went to Seers Point to have breakfast and a swim. His text to Griffin had gone unanswered, which was to be expected. Griffin was a late sleeper and had consumed significantly more alcohol than Nathan had. Not having him around also made the possibility of seeing Jackie much more appealing. Despite his reservations, he wanted this meeting to occur.

  It didn’t take very long for an encounter with her to materialize. Nathan was sitting on a bench at the club eating a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich when April came running up to him.

  “Hi, Nathan, did you make that sandwich?” she asked in an unimpressive yet cute attempt at humor.

  Nathan laughed. “No, not this one. It’s not very hard to make though.” He could see Tiffany talking with some of the girls her age, but Randall was nowhere to be found. He took a quick glance around for Jackie, but she found him first.

  “Boy, you are just the greatest babysitter on the East coast. The kids can’t stop talking about you,” said a familiar voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Jackie wearing a green sundress with large sunglasses, presumably designer. She added, “You should have reminded me that I still haven’t paid you.” She handed him a wad of money.

  There were numerous twenty dollars bills, which amounted to one hundred and sixty dollars. This was a highly exorbitant amount for a babysitter to be paid for a few hours of soft labor. “Um, Mrs. McCarthy, this is way too much,” Nathan replied. The um sounded a bit ungrateful, but the large quantity of cash was hard to process.

  Jackie didn’t blink an eye as if she was used to hearing that. “Oh, nonsense. You earned it. And how many times do I need to tell you to call me Jackie?”

  It would have been inappropriate to push the issue of the overpay with April standing right there. Nathan also considered the fact that the McCarthys were presumably quite wealthy and this sort of behavior was par for the course. There was another aspect he couldn’t quite rule out. He wanted to know if she still remembered asking him on a date.

  There were many factors to consider in deciding whether or not to pursue that route. The most obvious was the fact that April was right there. If she did remember, there was no way she would say it in front of her daughter. She might also be very embarrassed. All these options pointed toward not bringing it up.

  Before any more time could be devoted to the analysis of Jackie’s post drunken promises, she asked him, “Are you available to babysit on Tuesday? I don’t want you to feel like I’m always going to ask you but one of my college friends is in town and I really wanted to catch up with her.”

  Tuesday was the night before his pre-calculus final. His aunt would not be amused by the idea that he was babysitting the night before a final, but he didn’t want to say no either. He could also plan his time efficiently, unlike many young students, limiting the risk involved.

  April made his decision a little easier. “Oh, please, Nathan, can you do it?” Her tone was hard to resist.

  “Oh, why not,” he replied.

  Jackie’s face lit up. “You really are a life saver, Nathan. You don’t have to cook this time either if you don’t want to. Ordering out is totally fine.”

  Nathan found it funny that she’d brought up cooking again. “It was really no bother. I like to cook. Besides, April was such a great helper. I’m sure we could make something fun and easy. Maybe cheeseburgers?”

  April nodded with enthusiastic agreement.

  He went for his swim and then rushed home to get his school things so he could study at the library. He was happy to have another chance to babysit the McCarthys. Though, Mrs. McCarthy was the one he had feelings for, he enjoyed the company of her children and growing close to them could improve his chances with her.

  Nathan stopped at the local coffee shop to get an iced coffee before heading to the library. He also picked up a tea for Mrs. Buchanan, whom he had not seen much of this week. Though she constantly berated him for spending time in the library, he was worried she had missed him. He missed her too.

  She was sitting in the armchair when Nathan sat down at his usual table. She appeared to be doing another puzzle. In addition to crosswords, she was also fond of sudoku. There was a jovial look on her face when she saw him.

  Mrs. Buchanan glanced back down at her paper. “Oh, fancy seeing you here,” she said, in what was a not so subtle attempt to conceal interest in Nathan’s presence. He knew she was joking.

  “It’s the end of the school year,” he replied. “I don’t have time to fool around here with you.”

  She laughed. “This is a library. Why would you come here to fool around with an old woman, anyway?”

  “Gross,” Nathan replied, though he had a similar look that showed he did actually feel that way. “I guess the context was there.” He handed her the tea he’d brought and said, “Scottish Afternoon. A little early, but it probably tastes the same no matter what time of the day it is.”

  Mrs. Buchanan smiled at his thoughtfulness. “Well, it’s the afternoon in Scotland, so close enough. Thank you. How is your inquiry to the ins and outs of love treating you these days? Has the end of school brought you clarity on your quest, young child?”

  Nathan deflected the initial topic at first. “Do you need help on your crossword? I know people your age can get confused easily.” Doubling back to her question, he added, “It’s very good, I guess.”

  This positive answer surprised the old lady. “I see. I’m happy for you. I take it you are no longer together with the girl from the academy,” she said. Nathan had not told her much about Sarah, but she had a sharp memory. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see her reach this conclusion.

  “No, we broke up last week. I’m sorry for not telling you,” he said. It felt good to tell another pers
on about his break-up, and Mrs. Buchanan was a better person to talk to about it than April.

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s none of my business. I’d give you my condolences for your break-up but you don’t seem to need them. Who is this new girl?”

  Nathan couldn’t think of a logical way to describe it. He wasn’t really sure if there’d ever be a time to talk about his infatuation with Jackie. Thinking that it would be bad karma to lie to an old woman, he said, “She’s more of an idea. I’m just giving it time to see what happens.”

  This answer satisfied Mrs. Buchanan. “Good boy. Now study for your finals. I’m sure someone needs to tell you that. I don’t know if your aunt likes to cover that kind of stuff with you.”

  He doubted he’d have such support from Mrs. Buchanan if he told her the specifics of the woman in question, but he felt good that he was in theory adhering to her advice. Going with the flow was just about the only thing he could do. He wanted to be a bit more pro-active, but there was really no viable way to go about accomplishing this.

  Something Griffin had said when they were escaping the party came back to him. In his drunken stupor, Griffin had written off the infidelity he’d partaken in by using the rationale that there must have been something gravely wrong with the girl’s boyfriend if he found himself in a position to be with her. This notion had not seemed important to him at the time, but it ran parallel to his thoughts about the roadblock with Jackie. If Griffin was wrong, then so was he. The two were somewhat tied together.

  But had he been too quick to judge Griffin? Nathan was not in a particularly good position to make an unbiased decision. He decided to seek the counsel of his Scottish friend.

  “Mrs. Buchanan, I have another philosophical question,” he said while trying to downplay his interest in this moral dilemma. “It’s not about me, it’s about Griffin.”

  Mrs. Buchanan looked like she suspected that Nathan was more interested in procrastination than her advice, and she asked, “Are you seeking a lecture because of interest or is your studying boring you?”