Roswell Fanatics

The football coach watched as the little two passenger car slid noislessly into the parking lot. 'Andrew Douglas,' he thought. 'About as much talent and determination as you'd ever want in a quarterback.......if only he weren't so damn shy.

The kid really does love football, too. The freshman coach had tried to get him to be quarterback, but that would have meant running the offense rather than taking orders and the kid was just too much of a loner, too unassertive....like his car, a quiet little mousy car for a quiet loner..... He had better speed than anyone in the backfield and was actually a better passer than the quarterback they were losing to graduation, but the kid was just too damn shy to be a leader.'

Coach Greer watched as the driver's door opened and Andrew went around to the passenger side and was sort of surprised when that door opened and Andrew took the young lady's hand and helped her from the car, wondering which of the cheerleaders had somehow flagged him down for a lift to school.
As the two both got their backpacks from the trunk, Andrew pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss, before each went their separate ways to class. The coach watched the girl walk by his window.....'Damn, that couldn't be Joey Guerin, could it? It was..... '

Greer was dating the woman's basketball coach, and she'd told him about the young freshman point guard and the game winning shot, and ..... the lip lock that shy little Joey Guerin had put on someone in celebration.

'So it was Andrew Douglas, huh? Maybe Andrew wasn't all that shy after all. Maybe he ought to talk to the kid about taking a shot at quarterback.'
Looking at the retreating young lady he thought, '...and maybe I'd better do that quick, before he loses interest in sports altogether.....'

As often happens, the activities of politicians have unforeseen consequences.

For decades people had been decrying the decline in American education, and for decades nothing was done. Politically it had been a hot-potato, since one major party was owned by the NEA almost in total, but eventually performance testing was instituted and even backed up with some teeth. No longer could you graduate from High School with a diploma you were unable to read.

The price paid for this new emphasis on literacy, was that people had to be given second chances....in this case, in the form of summer school courses. The rise of the internet had made this somewhat more palatable, since much of the coursework could be done online, and you really only needed to show up for the proctored tests. This was particularly the case for senior graduation requirement classes. Since no one wanted a student to not graduate, and since it would be "unfair" for them to have to retake a complete year because they missed passing "one lousy class," such second chance courses had proliferated. There were basically only two must-pass courses for seniors, English and Senior Social Studies. Both were available online over the summer.

The second academic issue that the politicians had recently gotten in to was the decline of fitness of the American youth. Decades of TV and video games had taken their toll, the public was told, and in response to this crisis largely generated by the politicians themselves, physical education requirements had been restored at all four years of high school. Although these really weren’t academic credits, you had to take the courses…..unless you were competing in a varsity sport. If you were a varsity athlete you were exempted from one semester of PE for each sport in which you competed.

What this meant, Joey found out after research at the counselor’s office, was that as long as she was willing to turn out for two varsity sports in the next two years, she could use the school day time for academic courses and take the two senior requirements in either of the next two summers or even on the internet now.

Basically, she could graduate with Andrew. Actually, she and Andrew could both graduate a half year ahead of that if they really knuckled down, but even Joey thought that might be more than her parents would put up with. The only trick would be to get permission to take the courses, and to do that she had to see Coach Greer.

The idea that student athletes were dumb was an inappropriate and outmoded stereotype. Joey and Drew were student athletes, and both were on the honor roll. But there is frequently a kernel of truth in stereotypes, and that truth was that because the academic requirements for athletic eligibility were in fact higher than the requirements for graduation, student athletes did use the remedial courses more than others, to enable them to bring poor grades up through summer school to allow them to continue to compete. And that was the pragmatic reason that Coach Greer was the gatekeeper for the summer and remedial academic program.

As Greer looked at Joey Guerin’s academic record on his computer screen, he motioned her into the counseling room. As he looked at her he remembered her now from the cross country team. She was sure not dressed for running today, he thought. And what the heck was she doing here? She was well ahead of the credits she needed to graduate on time, and had a 3.92 GPA.

“What can we do for you today, Miss Guerin?

“Well two things, Coach,” said Joey, hoping to engage the athlete coach rapport, even though she’d never played football. “First, I understand that you have to approve enrollment in the summer learning program. I’d like to take Senior Social Studies and Senior English this summer.”

“But you are only a Freshmen? You won’t need those programs for years.”

“Well coach, I’d like to keep my options open for that year, in case I want to be a foreign exchange student, train for the Olympics, or just be available to do something else that year.”

Coach Greer had been bullshitted a lot as a counselor, although rarely by someone so attractive. He smiled and said, “Well, before we get to that, you said there were two things…..what’s the other one?”

“You need a quarterback who can throw as well as move with the ball, Coach. You ought to give Drew Douglas a shot at the position.”

“And how would that concern you, Miss Guerin?” he asked, smiling as he remembered the scene in the parking lot an hour ago.

“I just want to see the team do well, Coach. Just school spirit, that’s all.”

The coach slowly raised his left hand into the air and held it there. Joey eyed his arm sort of quizzically and he eventually said, “It’s getting pretty deep in here, Joey. I’m trying to save my watch. Any chance you might really tell me what’s really going on?”

When she heard him call her by her first name, she knew that this was going to work out and she started to smile.

“Well Coach, the plan is for Drew to do well enough at football that he gets an athletic scholarship to a major university when he graduates in a little over two years, and I’m not planning on staying behind for a senior year here while he goes. I’m going too.”

The Coach’s arm came slowly down to the desk. The girl was looking him straight in the eyes. He also knew when he wasn’t being bullshitted, and this time he wasn’t.

“Andrew has never really seemed to be motivated to play quarterback, Miss Guerin. He really has never been assertive enough to be considered for being a team captain, despite his strength and skill. “

“Oh, he can be assertive enough, if you motivate him right, Coach,” said the young girl with a growing smile. “I’ve seen him very assertive, believe me.”

The Coach blushed slightly as he said, “I am not just too sure I can use the same sort of motivational techniques on him that you do, Miss Guerin, but if he can talk his parents into letting him turn out again, and the team doc OKs it, he’ll get his chance.”

“And the summer courses..?”

The blush deepened as the Coach shook his head, picking up the approval slips and initialing them at the bottom. “Take those to the school secretary, she’ll get you enrolled.” As their eyes locked the coach said, “So it looks like you’ll get your chance too, Miss Guerin. ....And if anybody asks you, tell them I bought that ridiculous training for the Olympics story, OK?”

The no look pass was there…..it was RIGHT THERE, and the forward wasn’t paying attention. Too late she tried to get her hands up and the ball went careening out of bounds.

Joey glared at the girl. ‘Damn! Why can’t she pay attention.’ She looked over on the bleachers, knowing already that he was still there, as the connection tried to form.

It was bad enough that they only had an overlap of 15 minutes for lunch, since he had second lunch and she had third lunch, not considering when she’d signed up for that schedule she might have a fiancé during the semester. She made a mental note to correct THAT mistake during registration for the new semester.

But then the dang Algebra teacher had droned on for an extra 5 minutes, knowing the whole class had third lunch, and cost her most of the little time they could be together at lunch.

Now a senior forward, a girl with two varsity letters wasn’t paying attention and was missing the play. The coach didn’t have a set time to end practice, it depended on how things were going. Normally Joey enjoyed practice, and didn’t care how long it went, but HE was up on the bleachers waiting, and if they were going to have time to stop by the Crashdown for a cherry cola this practice couldn’t go on a whole lot longer so the damn forward better keep her damn mind on the damn game. And it was approaching a real bad time in the month too, as if she wasn’t pissed off enough. 'Helen damn well better get the play right this time……'

As they came down the floor to repeat the play the no look pass was crisp and headed straight for the forward. She had to catch it in self defense, and put away an easy lay-up. The look that passed between the two girls made the coach want to laugh.

The coach looked up at the bleachers. Yep, he was still there. She’d almost closed the practice to the public to get rid of him, and hadn’t only because it had never been done before. The last thing she wanted for the young freshman was a distraction, and she had been sure after the kiss yesterday that Joey would find him VERY distracting.

She’d been wrong though. This had been the best practice the team had had for a long time, and the best practice ever for Joey. It wasn’t that Joey didn’t give her all, she always did. But she hadn’t been the starting point guard because she really hadn’t been a floor leader. OK, yeah, she led by example, but she didn’t really demand performance from her fellow teammates, and a point guard really needed to do that.

It had taken this practice for the coach to really understand the problem. Joey really liked practice. It didn’t bother her that it went on forever. She really liked the challenge of competition, but if she did her best it really didn’t bother her that the team as a whole didn’t win, and that wasn’t what was needed in a starting point guard. But this practice had been different, precisely because she now did have other priorities, that young man sitting up on the bench.

She smiled as she remembered Jim Greer’s story about the summer classes at lunch. That young man had scared them all this Fall. Jim had been crying that night, just shaking like a baby, saying he never wanted to coach football again, never wanted to even see another game. When the boy had turned up unharmed…..well, a lot of prayers had been answered. Apparently Joey’s too, she thought, trying to suppress a chuckle.

The coach knew that the win over Clovis was somewhat of a fluke. Joey had come in for the second half when they’d been losing badly, and desperate to try anything. She’d been fresh, the Clovis starters had all played two quarters already, she was an unheralded unknown freshman, and Joey had them back on their heels before they really knew what hit them. But Clovis was the best of the competition, and they’d be ready when they played Roswell the next time, Joey would be no surprise. They'd sag on her and neutralize her if she tried the one girl wrecking crew routine again. But if Joey could lead like she did tonight, as well as playing her usual game, they could take Clovis a second time, and at regionals as well.

She looked up again at the young man in the bleachers. Well, he sure did motivate her. The coach shook her head and smiled, thinking ‘Well Mr. Douglas, if Joey attacks romance like she attacks sports,……I just hope you’re up to it.’

She would start Joey at point guard tomorrow night. If what Jim said was correct, she wouldn’t be around for her senior year. Might as well get as much play out of her in the next two and a half years as they could.

The coach blew her whistle.

“OK, good practice. The starters for tomorrow night are Shaw, Obansky, Roosevelt, Lopez, and Guerin. Carlsbad is good but they’re no Clovis. If we keep our concentration, we should have no real trouble beating them. Oh and Guerin, you might want to tone down the victory celebrations before the league decides to penalize us for them, like they do excessive celebrations in football.”

Twelve basketball players and the trainer laughed, while one basketball player just smiled and blushed.

“That’s it for tonight. Go hit the showers. The games at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon, I want everyone here warming up by 4:45.”

Jan Pemberton walked in to the girls locker room at West Roswell High with two things in mind……to find Joey Guerin, and to eat crow. She had been Joey’s employer the previous summer, and had essentially fired her at summer’s end. She was looking for her to do whatever was necessary to make amends and to hire her back, if Joey’d take the job.

Jan operated a somewhat expensive and upscale day camp for girls from 6 years to 12 years old. It had started out as a computer camp, and that was what Jan was most familiar with. But it too had responded to the current flurry of political concern about the poor physical condition of American youth, and in recent years had added sports activities as well.

She’d hired Joey the previous year on the recommendation from one of her many soccer coaches. She had needed a camp counselor who could teach the younger girls the basics of soccer, the more experienced girls the finer points of soccer, a little basketball for a change of pace, and help out with the swimming lessons for the younger girls. And she’d done a great job, up until the last two weeks of the summer.

Their senior teen camp counselor had been Jimmie Meggs, their lifeguard and advanced swim coach. He was eighteen and had been the captain of his high school swimming team and was now going to college on a swimming and water polo scholarship.

At first Jan had believed that Joey was too shy, she had in fact encouraged her to talk to Jimmie, who seemed like the quintessential nice guy. For ten weeks she’d kidded Joey, without noticeable effect. But then, overnight, Joey was almost stalking the kid. She was hanging around him constantly, every free minute she had, and even sometimes neglecting her job to be around him. And it wasn’t like he was encouraging her, he was acting almost like he was afraid of the girl by the end of the summer camp.

She’d talked about it with Joey once, with no effect. She’d given her written counseling about it twice….nothing. She still hung around the boy like glue.

Finally, with only two days left until the end of the camp she’d called Joey in to her office and told her that if it had been the start of the summer rather than the end, she’d have fired her. She’d explained that Joey would not be offered a position back at the camp the coming summer, and that she would be well advised not to put Jan Pemberton down as a reference for any future jobs. Joey’s eyes had watered a little, but no tears had come. And even then she kept stalking Jimmie for the last two days.

It was like the girl was possessed. While she had felt sorry for the young girl, she’d given her every chance, and was quite comfortable she’d done the right thing ……until yesterday.

Mrs. Corcoran had come in yesterday to register her younger daughter Suzanne, age nine, for the camp. Mrs. Corcoran was the wife of Representative Corcoran, the Congressional representative for the district that included Roswell, and her big sister Wendi had attended the camp for the previous three years. Wendi was with her mother too, although she would turn thirteen before the camp was due to start, and would no longer be eligible to attend it again.
The signup had been uneventful and Mrs. Corcoran had taken Suzanne out to show her the pool, the climbing wall, the soccer fields and track, and the computer facilities.

Wendi had come back to her office and asked if Jimmie Meggs was going to returning as counselor. Jan had smiled, because she had thought Wendi might have had a little bit of a crush on Jimmie last summer. She told her that job offers hadn’t gone out yet, but Jimmie would likely get one. Wendi had then asked about Joey Guerin. Jan had made some excuse about Joey’s skills not really fitting in to their needs for the coming summer, hoping to reassure her that Jimmie wouldn’t have a stalker this summer. It had anything but the desired effect, as Wendi had broken down into tears.

Over the ensuing 15 minutes the story had come out. She’d had a crush on the big handsome sun tanned lifeguard for two years. Finally he’d seemed to notice her and started to smile back. Two weeks before the end of camp she’d followed him into the poolhouse hoping to get her first real boy-girl kiss. Jimmie had obliged, but in the embrace somehow her halter top had come unfastened in back. At first she was just embarrassed, thinking somehow it had happened by accident, but Jimmie had stood between her and the door, his hands reaching up under the halter top. She had been petrified with fear.

Then the door opened when Joey had come in looking for kickboards for the polliwog class, and saw what was happening. She’d pulled Wendi away, helping her to refasten her halter, instructing her to go immediately to see Jan Pemberton. Jimmie had claimed that she had started it, that it was all Wendi’s idea. Joey had said she didn’t give a damn, Jimmie was eighteen and Wendi was only twelve, and she was his student, and that he was….well, Wendi didn’t like to use that kind of language.

Joey had again told Wendi to go tell Mrs. Pemberton…..but she’d refused. Her dad was in a close race for Congress, and she was too afraid that people would believe Jimmie, she had…after all, gone in there, but only for a kiss, not a ….groping. In any event, she’d refused, despite the best big sister advice that Joey had given her. At that point Jimmie had gone up to Joey and told her she should mind her own business, apparently trying to intimidate her with his size.

Wendi said what happened next was something she would never forget. According to Wendi, there had been no warning whatsoever and the kick had come out of nowhere with deadly accuracy.

Joey’s last words over her shoulder to Jimmie as she'd led Wendi away, while Jimmie lay curled up on the floor holding his groin and vomiting his guts out were,
“If I even see a bulge in that Speedo around any of these students, I’m going to make a eunuch out of you, and I’ll be watching, mister!”

For the next two weeks Joey had tried to get her to report the incident, telling her that she had a responsibility to the younger girls, but she had been too embarrassed, too afraid of hurting her father’s election prospects. In the meantime Joey was always there, anytime Jimmie was alone with the other students.

Wendi had wanted to never tell anyone about the incident, but when she couldn’t talk her mom out of sending Suzanne to the camp, she’d decided she needed to come clean.

It had all suddenly made sense to Jan Pemberton, and now she was there to apologize, and ready to do anything she could to make things right with Joey Guerin.

Joey was just coming out of the shower room after drying her hair, still a little vexed that she'd had to use the hair dryer in there because there were people who would have noticed if she'd used her powers. But it was OK, because everyone on the team had finally gotten the plays right, the practice was over, and she'd still have plenty of time for that cherry coke at the Crashdown with HIM. As she approached her locker she was surprised to see Jan Pemberton.

When she saw the smile on Jan's face and the tears in her eyes she knew, Wendi Corcoran had finally told her.

Joey had felt really bad about how she and Jan had parted but she had talked to Philip and Diane Evans, who were almost second grandparents to her, about the Jimmie Meggs situation. They were almost retired, but both still did some pro bono legal work, and they were sort of the house legal team for all the alien-human community. They had been sympathetic, but told her the law really wouldn't even allow Jan to fire Jimmie Meggs even if she did believe Joey, unless Wendi were willing to back her up. Oh, she could raise a stink alright, but then she'd have to admit to an assault and battery which Jimmie had the marks to prove happened, while she couldn't prove anything with Wendi denying it.

The memory of the kick put a satisfied smile on Joey's face. She had always loved penalty kicks, and had perfected her technique to where she could quickly get off a kick with a lot of english on it lofting it to the upper corner of the goal net in an arc that confused goalkeepers. On this occasion, she hadn't been able to take much of a windup and the target had been smaller, but she'd nonetheless put all the english she could on it, and the results had been very satisfying. She had intended to go back to the camp at the start of school and make sure that Meggs knew she hadn't gone away, and hadn't forgotten, but from the look on Jan's face that wasn't going to be necessary.

"Joey, I an SO sorry," said a tearful Jan Pemberton. "Wendi Corcoran told me what happened. Oh Joey, you should have just told me."

"I asked a lawyer about it, Mrs. Pemberton, but he said without Wendi backing me up, you wouldn't be able to do anything. And of course there was the little issue of assault and battery on that swine Meggs...."

"Well it appears we now have an opening for a lifeguard and swim coach, Joey. I'd be real happy to give that job to you. I'd even pay for your water safety instruction and life guard certification, if you don't have it. And call me Jan, Joey, Mrs. Pemberton is too formal for friends..."

"Well Mrs. Pemberton.....Jan, I actually really liked my old job, I mean if you still have it open."

"Of course, if that's what you'd prefer, Joey. The other pays more though, and it sure won't be going to Meggs. But we can start looking, I'm sure we can find someone else if you don't want it."

Joey looked at Jan for a second and started to smile. "You know Jan, there is this guy who was a lifeguard at the public pool here last year, who would be really good at that job."

"I don't know, Joey. I think that after what happened, I may want to get a female lifeguard and swim coach. I'll have to talk with our lawyer to see if I can legally do that, but this think with Wendi really scared me, it could have been disastrous for everybody."

As she finished the sentence she saw the look of disappointment on Joey's face, and she started to reconsider. If this person were a friend of Joey's he'd probably be OK. Joey was such a shy girl, she didn't give her friendship to just anyone.

"Well Joey....let me think about it. How well do you know this guy?"
Jan was surprised to see Joey start to blush a little bit.

"Uh.....pretty well, Jan. I can guarantee you that he'd never do anything like that. It just could never happen with him."

Jan sensed that there was more to this request than met the eye. "Joey, are you absolutely sure about him..?" She watched the blush grow deeper but would have never anticipated the next words to come from her shy young friend.

"Oh, I'm sure," she said smiling and blushing furiously, "...besides, I intend to keep his dance card pretty full all by myself."

Janet was 38 years old and had been married for fifteen years, but she now found herself blushing and giggling like her 15 year old friend and employee before her.

"OK Joey,, but keep your dancing discrete. Where can I find my new employee, and what's his name?"

"His name is Andrew Douglas and he's....(feeling his presence through the connection) about 10 ft to the right outside of the locker room door, over by the trophy case."

"OK. I'll get out of here. It sounds like you're in a hurry to...get to dancing. Thank you so much for what you did last year, that could have been real ugly."

As Jan left the girl's locker room she looked to the right. There standing by the trophy case was a very handsome young man. 'Apparently Joey had been shy until she'd found a good one,' Jan thought. She briefly wondered if having a romantic couple employed together was going to be a good thing for the students to see. 'Oh well,' she decided. 'Joey had certainly proven she could be discrete, and would do the right thing regardless of consequences. And it might even be a good thing to let the 12 year olds with their puppy love crushes know that the lifeguard was taken, and you sure didn't want to have to argue with Joey about it.' She smiled as she turned to the handsome young man.

"Is your name Andrew Douglas? I'd like to talk to you about a summer job...."

Andrew held the door open for Joey at the Crashdown Café.

“I love this place,” said Joey. “Both my Mom and Dad worked here when they were teenagers, and Aunt Liz’s parents owned it. Actually, they still own it, but they are living most of the time in a senior community in Scottsdale, not too far from Uncle Max and Aunt Liz and my cousins. ‘Grandpa’ Jeff and ‘Grandma’ Nancy are kind of like a third set of grandparents to me, along with the Evans’.”

They sat in the corner booth in back, the most private one, Joey determined to enjoy the half hour or so she had before she needed to be home for dinner. “A cherry cola please, Julie” she told the waitress with the funny antennae who she recognized from her algebra class.
“I’ll have the same, please," said Andrew.

Joey excused herself to go to the restroom and Andrew enjoyed the funny alien décor of the Crashdown. He’d only been in their twice before in his life, and each time had thought the whole idea of a crashed alien spacecraft and a government coverup was too ridiculous for words. Tonight he was there with…..Joey. ‘Well, you live and learn, I guess.’

Andrew was surprised when the waitress came back with three drinks, two that looked like cherry cokes, one green milkshake with green flecks of some kind in it.

“I don’t think we ordered this, Miss…”

“Oh, the drinks are all on the house, the owner said he’d be out to see you in just a minute.”

Andrew looked at the strangely colored milkshake. It had a sort of funny aroma. Taking a spoonful, he put it in his mouth.

Joey was coming out of the ladies room, wishing that this time of the month and her first starting game as a point guard had not chosen to be so close together, when she looked up at the table to see Andrew put the spoon in his mouth. She looked instantly toward the glass with the green milkshake and thought ‘OH NO!’

“Andrew, don’t drink that…!”

Andrew Douglas thought briefly that fire was coming from his nostrils, and molten lava had been poured down his throat. As he dropped the spoon and grabbed the nearest cherry coke, he felt the fire burn a little less in his mouth, although his larynx was threatening to go into spasm. Halfway through the second cherry coke the pain had decreased to a level that was only moderately miserable, and he was able to take two or three rushed gasps of air before finishing the second cherry coke.

Joey looked quickly around the Crashdown. None of the other people in the dining room could really see Andrew, and she could block the view of anyone outside with her body. Her left hand went to his throat while her right one pretended to be slapping him on the back, while the golden glow shone ever so briefly from the left.

When Joey touched his throat, the fire went out, but his eyes were still filled with tears. Joey was looking at him with sympathy, saying, “Drew I’m so sorry, I think that was meant for me.”

“Who is trying to kill you?” he choked out.

Joey smiled and shook her head, grabbing a straw and putting it into the milkshake. “Grandpa Jeff has been making these for me since I was three. He knows I love them.”

The seventy-ish year old gentlemen came out from the back then saying, “Peanut! How much you’ve grown. We leave for three months, and suddenly you are a grown lady.” He was followed by a woman of similar vintage who was also smiling.

“Joey dear, It’s great to see you. We need to get together with your mom and dad this trip. It has been too long.”

“Grandpa Jeff, Grandma Nancy, this is my friend Andrew…..”

The Parker’s looked at the red-faced young man, trying to suck on ice from one of the cherry cokes to cool off his burning lips. Jeff Parker winced and said, “That one was for Joey. I was going to ask you what flavor you wanted after I got Nancy. With Joey it’s always the same. I’m sorry, there are only about a dozen people I normally make that flavor for. Would a vanilla milkshake be more to your liking?”

“That’d be fine sir. What WAS that?”

Joey sort of half smiled and half winced. “Jalapeno milkshake with habanero sauce…..”

Andrew just laughed, shaking his head as he saw Joey sipping away at the milkshake. “Remind me to get some chapstick before I kiss you good-bye this evening.”

At that, both of the Parker’s immediately smiled, looking from one teenager to the other.

“So this, I take it, would be your football player.......?,” said Jeff Parker.

“Yep,’ said Joey smiling broadly, “MY football player.”

Both of the Parkers had worried about shy little Joey growing up with only her brother for company, and now him off to college. She was such a shy kid. And then they’d heard through the IKAAC grapevine about her kidnapping of the young man, and Isabel’s opinion of him and Joey as a couple……of course, Izzie was more of a romantic than Lizzy even.

“Pleased to meet you, Andrew,” said Jeff Parker, sticking out his hand. As he shook it Nancy kissed him on the cheek, looking meaningfully at Joey. ‘Not bad, not bad at all,’ she thought.

Jeff Parker looked around furtively. “You know, you really don’t have to go all the way out to the pod chamber if you need a place to stay for three days, Joey. You know where the key is…..not that you ever really needed a key anyway. We only use the upstairs living area when we come to check on business, and that’s probably only a week every six weeks or so. Your mom and Liz and Izzie used to have slumber parties all the time in her old room. You could have crashed there, if you had to hide out awhile….and had a phone to call your grandma and Jim.”

Joey looked around to make sure she couldn’t be overheard, “Well, thanks Grandpa Jeff, but I’m kind of hoping Drew doesn’t break his neck again anytime soon, to tell you the truth.”

“Well amen to that,” said Nancy Parker. “Jeff, go get the young man his vanilla milkshake, before he starts to breathe fire like a dragon. I tasted one of those once, just a little on the tip of my finger. I could barely breathe AND the finger blistered. I can’t believe that even Liz likes them now.”

‘Ooooohhh,’ thought Joey. ‘I need to ask Uncle Max about what’s going to happen to Andrew….is he going to get powers like Aunt Liz? First thing when I get home…or maybe first thing after dinner,’ she thought, since it was getting kind of late.

The car glided silently into the Guerin house driveway. As she leaned across the center console to kiss Drew goodbye the connection tried to form, and she damped it out, but not before feeling the pain Drew still had in his lips. Cocking one eyebrow she thought, ‘Well, I’ve never really tried this…..” As their lips met they concealed within a golden glow, her tongue flicking briefly along the inside of his lips experimentally, tasting residual jalapeno oil.

The sensation for Drew was one of pain, fading quickly as her tongue pushed gently against where it burned the most. Had it instantly stopped there, it might have been OK, but since the connection was damped out Joey couldn’t be sure, so she was lingering to do a very thorough job of healing Drew. As she continued Drew’s heartrate accelerated rapidly, and his tongue reached out to play against the sides of hers. Even without a connection, both soon felt things spiraling out of control. Fortunately both ran out of air before things could get too heated, and broke the kiss.

‘Wow……!!’ thought Joey.

‘For that, I’d drink ten of those green milkshakes,’ thought Andrew.

At that point Joey noticed her mother looking at the two of them from the kitchen door window. Maria did NOT look amused.

“I think I’d better go in, Drew,” said Joey. They both got out and he opened the trunk to hand her the backpack with her books. Her eyes twinkled as she said, “See you on the beach….dear”

Joey knew by the silence and meaningful glances that passed between her father and mother at dinnertime that she was in trouble. She suspected they were connected when they touched each other, and arguing silently over who would get to be the one to talk to her. She was hoping it was her dad, because mom was a whole lot harder.

When her mother had asked why the practice had taken so long Joey had admitted to stopping by the Crashdown, hoping to distract the proceedings with the news that grandpa Jeff and grandma Nancy were back in town for a week. It was not only not successful, but her dad immediately said, “I think I’ll go over and see Jeff and Nancy, maybe invite them to dinner tomorrow night.”
Joey quickly offered to go along, but just as quickly her mother said,
“No Joey, I think maybe you and I ought to stay home and just have a little mother-daughter girl talk session.”
‘Well damn,’ thought Joey, ‘THAT sure wasn’t what I wanted to hear….’

Joey had dawdled as much as possible clearing the table and loading the dishwasher, but as her father drove off and her mother poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table, Joey realized that she was only postponing the inevitable. She poured herself a tall iced tea, added two teaspoonfuls of sugar and one of Tabasco, and sat down across the table from her mom, already dreading the next twenty minutes.

In fact, Joey had never done this before, but she knew from observation that being the first one to speak conferred no advantage. Her brother had been somewhat of a rebel in his early teen years, and she’d seen this kind of drama play out between her parents and her brother a number of times. That’s why she had wanted to have this talk with her dad. Dad was a lot of bluster, but even her brother could get Dad to compromise. Mom was the steel fist in the velvet glove.

Joey knew that if she fouled this up she either would not get to go to the dance at all, or would be having a major break with her parents when she went anyway. And she’d promised Andrew that dance, she owed him that dance for turning him down two years ago, not to mention that they were engaged. Probably not a good time to bring that to the attention of the folks though…….two weeks before high school graduation might be better….and even then they’d freak, when she graduated a year early. Nope, Joey wasn’t looking forward to this talk at all……

Both women looked across the table, somewhat like swordsmen, waiting for the other one to make the first move...........

Roger had a busy day at the office that morning but it hadn’t been so busy that he missed noticing his son getting up early, tidying up his ancient automobile, and departing early in a direction not on his usual route to school.

He really didn’t mind his son having a girlfriend, in fact he had begun to worry that Andrew was so shy he’d never be able to ask a girl out….until yesterday. And even that, it wasn’t like Roger and Barbara had never gotten carried away in public a time or two in their courting days either…, but this was different. It had seemed since his accident that Andrew had shown even less interest in girls than before and then yesterday, like someone turned on a switch, he and Joey Guerin had almost blistered the gym floor they were standing on with their passion. And it was apparent that Joey’s parents had been taken equally by surprise. And when Roger had heard that this was the same young lady who had turned Andrew down two years ago, and sent him into a six week funk, when he’d heard that this dance was going to be the first date for the two, the alarm bells had been ringing in his head almost as loudly as they had rung in Barbara’s last night. And WHAT WAS THAT, anyway? Barbara had gone from even more concerned than him to…..what….accepting? More than that. She had talked about Joey affectionately, almost like talking about the daughter they never had. Why she should have been so concerned about the girl she’d practically…stalk her, and then change that to affection in a few brief hours didn’t make sense.

Thinking back to dinner at the pizza parlor last night Roger had to admit that Andrew and Joey made a handsome couple. They moved with grace and ease toward one another, with obvious deep affection, and none of the awkwardness you usually saw in teenagers. Had that happened over a 6 months period, it would have given Roger only the usual fatherly concern that they didn’t go too far, too fast. But to get to this point….virtually overnight, …….where would this relationship be in a week? And the key to understanding, somehow he knew, was known by everybody but Roger Douglas. Andrew certainly knew, as did Joey and you kind of expected teenagers to keep their secrets, particularly with their first puppy love.

But Barbara knew too, Barbara who had never really kept any secrets from her husband, was keeping a big secret now. And has he drove home to dinner Roger wondered what this big secret was, why Barbara was keeping it from him, and how he could best get the information from her.

Maria had let the silence drag on until it was starting to become embarrassing without the desired effect, an opening statement from Joey. She decided it was time to try plan B.

‘She’s going to say, ‘You know, Joey, your father and I love you and want only what’s best for you,’ first,’ thought Joey Guerin.

“You know, darling, your father and I both love you and want only what’s best for you,’ said Maria Guerin. With those words the battle was joined…..

“I know that, Mom,” said Joey, thinking ‘Make her ask all the questions, don’t volunteer anything.’

‘Hmm, thought Maria. ‘That wasn’t very helpful. I know that she knows that this is about her and Andrew.’ “It’s just that…..you haven’t had a boyfriend before and you are kind of …..inexperienced at this boy-girl stuff. I thought perhaps I might be able to offer some advice girl to girl about what’s going on between the two of you.”

‘Like I really wouldn’t rather take a moderately severe beating than talk about my love life with my mother,’ thought Joey. “That’s really kind of you, Mom. Is that how you learned? Grandma Amy and you used to talk to you about Dad?”

‘Lord no!,’ thought Maria Guerin. ‘I’d have rather taken a beating than talked to mom about Michael. Matter of fact, I might still be going to hell for all the lies I told about Michael when we were both teenagers, not counting never telling my mom he was alien. She still gives me a bad time that she had to read it in Liz’s journal after we were all running from the Special Unit.’ “Well dear, I had your aunt Liz as a best buddy but you’ve never really had anyone like that to confide in.. But you can confide in me…”

‘Translation: I didn’t tell grandma Amy anything..,’ thought Joey, ‘which is all I’m going to tell right now.’ “Gee Mom, I’m not too sure there is anything to confide….you’ve known me all my life.”

“Well can you explain that kiss on the basketball floor yesterday?”

“What part didn’t you understand, mom…..?”

“Joey, don’t talk like that to your mother….”

“Mom, I was just excited. We won a big game…we were all real happy and celebrating and Andrew was there. Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I get to start at point guard tomorrow?” asked Joey, hoping to change the subject.

“I’m delighted you are having a successful basketball career, but could we get back to the subject of the kiss?”

“Mom…..It isn’t fair to give me a bad time about one kiss. Besides, Dad already talked to me about it……you were there. I said I’d never do that again. Why do you have to keep picking on me for the same thing?”

‘Damn,’ thought Maria. ‘First point to Joey.’ “Well let’s put that aside. What about the kiss you gave him when he dropped you off tonight?”

“Mother……., there was nothing public about that. To see that one someone would have had to have been snooping out the window of the kitchen door and then they’d have mostly seen the back of Andrew’s head. I don’t know what sort of thing they might have imagined was happening, but it was only a simple kiss goodbye.”

“Second point to Joey,’ thought Maria. ‘I must be losing my touch.’ “But don’t you understand, dear. You barely know this boy. It looks like you are …..well, kind of throwing yourself at him.”

‘Toss me in that briar patch,’ thought Joey. “So you are saying I should get to know him better then.....well, OK, he’s going to be driving me to and from school, and we have the date for the dance….so what’s the problem?”

‘Wait a minute here….did I say she should know him better? I did, kind of….damn,’ “What I meant to say was that perhaps you are seeing too much of each other….”

“Too much? Mom, I’ve been grounded for ten weeks. I got off grounding yesterday, and now you want to restrict me again? For two kisses? First you say I should know him better, than you say I should see less of him?”

“About that grounding, Joey. Are you sure you didn’t sneak out to see him? You seemed awfully close this morning, almost like you were ...connected.”

“Connected Mom! I didn’t even touch him this morning. And see him while I was grounded?? In my dreams, maybe. You know I don’t sneak out,” said Joey, thinking that she indeed had only seen him in her dreams….dreamwalking…..oh 70 or 80 times….”

“Well that really confuses me then, dear. How could you get so amorous with someone you have only been with two days in the last 10 weeks.”

“I guess I’m just new to this, Mom. How many dates did you have with Dad before you kissed him?”

Thinking back to their first “date”, when Michael had stolen the Jetta with her in it and they’d wound up in the hotel that looked like the porn version of Aladdin, Maria really didn’t like the direction this mother-daughter talk was going. “Well dear, I’m not just sure.”

Sensing imminent victory and praying that her mother would not give an honest answer to this question, because that would be WAY TOO MUCH information that she did not want to know about her parents sex life, Joey pressed her advantage, “Is there some set number of times you have to go out with someone before you kiss them…..with tongue, Mom? I mean, how long was it with you and Dad?” she asked thinking ‘Please don’t tell, please, please don’t tell…”

“Joey, is that what you’ve been doing?”

“MOTHER…., I just wanted some guidance. You said that you thought I was ‘throwing myself’ at him. I just wanted to know what was….normal, …you know, like what you and Dad did,” she said, praying silently that her mother would actually carry such secrets with her to the grave. “And what kind of advice did Grandma Amy give you about when you should let Dad kiss you that way.”

Maria knew damn well she’d have rather died than have such a conversation with her mother when she was a teenager, and was starting to realize that Joey probably thought the same way. “I’m not sure I recall that conversation actually, Joey.”

Pressing her now obvious advantage Joey said, “But Mom, you must remember the first time Dad touched you in certain places.” “How long did you have to go together before that was alright?” she asked, knowing that if her mother actually answered that question Joey would want to have electroshock to get that image out of her mind for the rest of her life.

“Joey……I… I am not going to answer that kind of question. There isn’t any set number of dates or anything, everybody just sort of has to use their own best judgment on their relationships. We just don’t want you and Andrew to get carried away, or to get hurt.”

“And you don’t trust my judgment because……..”

“I didn’t say I didn’t trust your judgment dear…”

“But you did, you said I was inexperienced, but then you wouldn’t share your experience with me, but we wouldn’t be having this talk if you REALLY trusted me, would we?”

‘Damn, damn, double-damn, this is NOT how this was supposed to turn out.’ “Of course we trust you, Joey……Your dad and I just want to make sure you understand that we are always here for you, …..you can always talk with us about anything,…..and we just want you to know you don’t have to rush in to anything……that if what’s developing between you and Andrew is the real thing…..well you still are both young and still have plenty of time to let it develop gradually….it’s not like you have the special unit after you to kill you and you are not sure if there will even be a tomorrow or something.”

Joey was nothing if not a good sport. She had won and she knew it, and she never ever rubbed an opponents’ nose in it when she won. Particularly not when it was someone you loved.
“Mom, I know you and Dad love me and I’m glad we could have this talk ‘and hope fervently that we never have another one like it’.
“I know it’s scary watching your little girl grow up and start dating, and it’s kind of scary for me too. But Andrew and I won’t do anything until we are sure of just exactly how we feel about each other and how real our feelings toward each other are, ‘which considering we’ve seen into each others souls and the current discussion is do we want to have two kids or three seem pretty real right now.’

“OK Honey, just remember Dad and I love you no matter what, and we’ll always be there for you. Just try not to get hurt or to hurt Andrew, he really does seem like a very nice young man.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

As Joey and Maria hugged, both realized yet again that part of being a family really did mean considering the feelings of those you loved.

Maria understood that the days were long past when she could forbid Joey to do anything. She could caution her and talk to her and try to sway her, but the ultimate decision was forever going to be Joey’s from now on. Her little girl had grown up, and if this young man were going to be that important to Joey her parents best start to get to know him better.

And Joey realized how hard this was on her parents. It wasn’t like they’d ever connected with Andrew, or even known him from afar like she had all these years. She’d have to start to get them accustomed to the idea that Andrew was and would always be someone special to her, hopefully without freaking them out entirely. And she was probably going to have to spill the early graduation and marriage plan to them a lot sooner than two weeks before it happened…..just not this year, she thought.

Strangely, Barbara Douglas was now her confidant and biggest supporter in this relationship. But she’d have to do something about Andrew’s dad fairly quickly, she reasoned, because if her parents were getting a little freaked by the closeness of their relationship, he certainly was too.

In the final analysis, it was just one more aspect to the overall game plan, Joey decided. ‘Andrew and I need to win over the folks…..one down, and three to go….’