Zero Tolerance

I ran into Marty and we hung out for a while. Mo saw me and came over to Marty and I. "Stevie, I shouldn't have said some of the things I said," he said, holding out his hand to me. "No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings," I echoed.

"I guess you're kind of right about some of the things you said," he said. "Maybe we could talk about it a bit later. I need to ask you a favor though. I busted my knee up a bit when I fell trying to catch you in the game. It was already a little sore from the race, which is why I couldn't keep up on that last lap. So could you dance with Marian a few times?"

"Sure," I said. He seemed to be smiling as he walked away.

"Why the fuck is he smiling?" asked Marty. "Does he really think anyone will believe him about having a sore knee being the reason he couldn't catch you?"

"Nah, he's smiling because he thinks that he just convinced me to dance with Marian so she can talk to me about hiring him," I said.

"I don't want to work with that asshole," said Marty.

"Don't worry about it," I said.

"Are you actually going to turn HER down?" asked Marty again. "Hell, if that woman asked me to shit in a bucket and then smear it all over my face, I'd probably do it."

"Probably do what?" asked Dana from behind us. I turned to look at her. She had on a neon blue dress with cutouts all the way down the sides. It was obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra or panties under it. Marty's eyes bugged out.

Dana took my arm and I deftly moved away from her.

"Baby, do we have to argue, here too?" she asked quietly. "This will all be over soon."

"I'm thinking it's over now, Dana," I said. "I'm trying not to make a scene but I don't want to be around you while you're dressed like a whore. It makes people think that I'm okay with it. I had to go through high school as the butt of all the jokes. I don't want to spend tonight with people laughing at me too." I moved away from her. Somehow she convinced Marty to dance with her.

As I walked across the floor, I could see everyone looking at her. I just shook my head. When this was over, Dana and I were going to have a long talk about whether or not we should stay married.

Suddenly, I noticed that no one was looking at Dana anymore. They were all looking in the opposite direction. I turned to see what was going on and saw that Marian had entered the room. Her naturally curly hair had been straightened and shaped into cascading ringlets that draped down her back to her waist. Her beautiful face was half hidden behind a curtain of hair that only made me want to look at it more. The one eye that you could see was playful and intriguing.

Her dress was nothing like Dana's. Her dress fit tight above the waist and called attention to her slim figure and small but perfect breasts. Instead of sticking out like fruit on a tray for anyone to fondle, only the bare tops of Marian's breasts showed. But her neck and shoulders were on display. It called attention to the smoothness of her skin and made you want to see more.

Below the waist, the dress belled outwards like the dresses from the civil war period. I wondered how many hoops were under it. As Marian looked around and found Mo, she seemed to move with such grace that she appeared to be gliding or floating.

Mo barely noticed her. She stood there next to him and he said a few words to her and then scanned the crowd until his eyes landed on me. Then he pointed to me and she nodded her head acting, for all the world, as if she didn't want to come to me but was being forced to.

The closer she got to me, the less she was able to hide her smile. But she wasn't the only one whose expression was changing. Dana saw Marian heading towards me and left Marty standing on the dance floor. Several people tried to talk to her but she ignored them in her rush to get between Marian and me. At the same time, I headed for Marian.

"Would you like to dance, Steven?" she asked.

"Fuck no," snapped Dana. "He only dances with his own woman."

"Dana, shut up," I said. "You're embarrassing yourself and you're also losing more of your precious votes." She looked around and saw the expressions on the faces of people around us.

"One God damned dance and that's it," she hissed.

"Dana, if you can run around all afternoon acting like a slut, I can dance with whoever I want as many times as I want. We didn't come to this dance together and if you keep acting like this, we won't leave together either," I said, ending the conversation.

I placed one hand on Marian's waist and took her hand in my other. We danced away from Dana and left her standing there. The band seemed to play a variety of music. They segued from a slow ballad into a faster seventies dance track and Marian amazingly pulled up the bottom of her skirt revealing tantalizing glimpses of those amazing legs. I'd been ready to head for the sidelines but when she started to pump those slim hips I was back in front of her. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Dana was even more pissed. "This, still only counts as one dance," said Marian. I smiled and resisted the temptation to tell her that if it was up to me I'd dance with her all night.

After the dance, I escorted her back over to Mo and his friends and went and sat down at the table with Marty. Dana grabbed a drink and came over to where we were.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here," she said.

Before I could reply, the MC reminded everyone to cast their ballots for King and Queen because the ceremony would be starting in only five minutes.

"Would the nominees for best athlete please come to the stage?" he asked. Mo quickly got up and headed to the stage. A couple of other guys went as well.

"Welcome to the Mo show," I quipped.

"Steven Grant we're waiting on you. Do you need a personalized invitation?" the MC asked.

"Me?" I asked.

He introduced each person and talked about them and what they'd done in high school athletics. "Here's the weird part," he said as he got to me. "This guy didn't do anything in high school."

"He juggled," some guy who already sounded drunk screamed.

Everyone started laughing. I even laughed, because they weren't laughing at me this time. They were laughing with me and it was funny. And then someone said something that changed it. "Hell I'd take up juggling if it got Marian to dance with me," another guy said. I was still laughing and so was Marian, but Mo got a really pissed look on his face and Dana folded her arms across her chest and looked around to see who'd said it.

In fifth place we have Todd Bridges," said the announcer. "Todd participated in every sport we did today. He came in dead last in the race and didn't score in either basketball or football but at least he had the balls to get out there." Todd got mild applause.

"In fourth place, honorable mention, here's Tina Struthers. She came in second in the mile race and was the first woman overall. She was also second best in keeping up with what she'd done in high school. She actually beat her high school time." Tina got a big round of applause.

"In third place, Gary Coleman," said the announcer. He went on to list Gary's accomplishments during the day.

"Shit, I thought that should have been you," whispered Mo. "Well, second is pretty good," he said patting me on the back.

"Sorry, I blew that one," said the announcer. "Third place actually went to Maurice Green, I goofed that up big time, sorry. But it's good news Gary, you actually moved up to second."

"Third place," screamed Mo. "I didn't get third. That's bullshit. I've never placed that low. Let me see the scores."

He tried to snatch the score sheet from the MC. "You didn't score in basketball," began the announcer. "He did. You were fourth in the race he was fifth. I'd say that made you guys tied. He came closer to his time in high school than you did. That put him ahead of you. The last thing is the football game. He ran for a touchdown. You didn't throw the ball to him it was a hand off. That put him even further ahead. You also had that embarrassing interception. He beat you fair and square. It's kind of embarrassing to have you fighting over second and third places isn't it?"

Mo looked around and saw a bunch of angry faces in the crowd. "Um, I was just joking," he said nervously. No one bought it. Everyone could tell that he was pissed about coming in third.

"Anyway," said the announcer. "In first place we have Steven Grant." The crowd lit up and started screaming. I was in shock. I hadn't wanted to be in the race and had to be dragged onto the football field.

I looked out at the crowd. They were all waiting for me to say something. I stepped up to the microphone. "Uh, thanks," I began. "I don't know how this happened. I'm not a great athlete like these guys. I didn't want to be in the race but my wife made me. Back in high school the only running I did was running away from these guys to avoid getting my underwear stretched over my head." The crowd broke up with that.

"I guess it just goes to show you that anything can happen. High school was not a great time for me. I really didn't want to come to this reunion. Again, the only reason I'm here is because I love my wife and she really wanted to come. But for a lot of reasons, including some of the people I've either re-met or met for the first time, I'm glad I came. Some of you will go back in my memory, not as people who ignored or persecuted me but as people who work for my company. And an even larger number of you will go into my memory as my friends. It's great to see that we can put the petty jealousies and rivalries of the past behind us and move on because we all have a lot more in common than we have differences between us."

There was a huge round of applause and then some drunken guy in the back screamed, "Enough of this bullshit. Let's see some juggling."

The MC stepped back up to the microphone. "Okay, folks, all of the votes are in. They are being tabulated as we speak. So go have another drink or another dance and we'll get back to you momentarily."

As he stepped away from the mic the music began to play again and several couples started dancing. Mo jumped down off of the stage and headed for the bar. Someone shouted to him as he went past. "Hey Mo, wasn't it painful on your sore knee to jump off of the stage like that?" Mo gave him the finger and went to the bar where he started drinking with both hands.

I was standing with Marty who was congratulating me while I looked for Dana but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Oh shit," said Marty. I turned to see what he was looking at. Marian was making her way towards us.

"Can I have that trophy?" asked Marty. "I mean it should really be mine anyway. I was the one who dragged your ass into the football game."

Marian laughed as she heard him say that. She was standing next to Marty and he stiffened up noticeably. He stopped joking around and stood at attention.

"Marty, I'm not here to stop your fun," said Marian. "I wish you wouldn't get so serious all the time. It really makes me feel bad."

"But you're..." said Marty.

"I have an idea," she said. "Let's start all over again." She held out one tiny hand in front of him. "Hi, I'm Marian," she said.

"M...m...Marty," he gushed.

"Good, now we know each other and we can be friends," she said. "Marty, right now I'd like to dance with your friend Stevie. Is that alright?" Marty nodded his head woodenly. "Marty," she said. He turned back to her like a private who got called by a general.

"Y...y...yes ma'am," he said.

"Can you save a dance for me later too?" she asked.

"You...want to dance with me?" he asked. She just nodded.

As we moved out onto the dance floor, I heard Marty mumbling behind me, "Shit, I don't know how to dance."

I pulled Marian into my arms much closer than we'd been the first time. She smiled and let her head fall onto my shoulder. Her little sigh let me know that she was content. Unfortunately, before we even started to dance the music stopped and the MC started reading off names again. The contestants for Reunion Queen are Natalie Green, Blair Warner, Tootie Ramsey, Josephine "Jo" Polniaczek, Dana Plato-Grant, and last but not least, Marian Jones-Green."

The whole crowd clapped loudly. "Marian you should probably be with Mo right now," I said.

"You're probably right," she said. "I guess this isn't about where I want to be. It's more about where I should be. I'll see you later. Good luck."

"Good luck for what?" I asked.

"You're in the running for King, dummy, remember?" she smiled. I laughed.

"Things like that don't matter," I said. "I'm probably going to have to buy a dog so he can wear the crown on his collar." She smiled at that and her smile sent shivers down my spine. "Don't worry about it," I said. "I'm not going to win. I'm not that kind of person, but I will be rooting for you."

"I really wish we had spent time together in high school," she said. "I feel like I've wasted my life."

The lights flashed brighter as the MC stepped back to the stage. I watched as Marian went over to Mo and tried to hug him. He pushed her away and picked up his drink. Marian looked back towards me and shook her head.

"Okay Winterhalter High school class of two thousand and two, let's git bizay," the MC was ramping up.

"To make this progress faster we're going to only bring up the top three vote getters. To all of you other ladies, thanks a lot for participating and remember you're all queens in my eyes."

"Okay, here I go," said Dana. I hadn't noticed that she was standing next to me.

"Where the fuck have you been, Dana?" I asked.

"I had to make sure that I got votes," she snapped. "Obviously all you cared about was winning your athletic trophy."

"Dana, did you notice what I said during my speech after they gave it to me?" I asked.

She looked at me and shook her head. "Why don't you ask somebody then," I said. I walked away from her.

"Okay can we have Tootie Ramsey come up on the stage?" screamed the MC. "And can we get Blair Warner up here? We only need one more lady to join them. Gimmie Marian Jones!"

"What!" screamed Dana. "This is bullshit! I was supposed to win!"

I looked at Dana and shrugged my shoulders. "Honey, let's get out of here," she screamed. "They're all a bunch of liars and cheaters. You were right. Coming here was a mistake."

"Out of two hundred and fourteen votes Blair Warner received, forty two votes," screamed the announcer. She got third place. Tootie Ramsey received fifty votes. Surprisingly none of the other contestants got more than two votes with the exception of our landslide winner, who received more than one hundred votes. Your ten year reunion Queen is none other than Marian Jones." The crowd erupted and Marian stepped forward. They placed a tiara on her head and she waved at the crowd. She stepped up to the mic and thanked everyone and echoed the MC statement that all of the women who participated were all queens and they were all special in some way."

"This bullshit is getting deeper by the second," said Dana beside me. "I'll bet you're happy, your dream girl stole another crown. We're never coming to another one of these things. Fuck all of these people we don't need any of them, right?"

I wasn't paying her any attention.

"And now the lovely Marian will help us out by reading the names of the nominees for Reunion King," said the MC.

"The top nominees for Reunion King," began Marian in her musical voice. "Are...Conrad Bain, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, My husband, Maurice Jones and...Steven Grant." The way she said my name led most people to believe it was more than just the way the names were listed.

I smiled at her and she smiled right back.

"Why is that hideous, beastly bitch grinning at you?" asked Dana.

"We still haven't talked about where you've been?" I said.

"We only need to bring up the top three in terms of votes," said the MC. I think he was trying to tone it down because we were all getting tired of his over the top delivery.

"The lovely Marian will read the names now," he said.

"The Top three are..." began Marian. "Gary Coleman...Todd Bridges and..." she hesitated and looked over at Mo.

"Sorry buddy," said Marty beside me.

"I told you it was bullshit," said Dana.

"Steeeevie Grrrrrraaaaaant!" sang Marian excitedly.

Mo threw his drink down shattering the glass on the floor. "What the fuck is going on here?" he screamed. "I'm the fucking King. I always have been and I always will be. Are you people stupid or something? My fucking wife is the queen. That makes me the King. You all must have written the names down wrong."

There was dead silence as the crowd just watched Mo ranting. "Maybe you should have taken up juggling," said a voice from the back. Mo looked around angrily as Todd, Gary and I walked up on the stage.

"Every guy who participated in this contest is a king," said the MC. "Even if it's only to his own wife and family. For some reason more people voted for king than for queen. We got two hundred and twenty two votes for king. The three guys up here on the stage are here because they got the most votes. Let me put it this way the gentleman in fourth place, which is honorable mention who isn't here on the stage, he only missed being here by one vote. Maurice Green received three votes."

"I only got three fucking votes?" screamed Mo. "How the fuck is that possible?"

"I voted for you Mo," said Gary Coleman.

"I voted for you too," said Todd Bridges. "Did you vote for yourself?"

"Of course I did," yelled Mo.

"Can we get on with this?" asked the MC. "In third place with a total of four votes, Todd Bridges." Todd walked up to the front of the stage and then down the steps. His wife took his hand and they stood waiting for the ceremonial dance of the top three couples.

"In second place with six votes, Mr. Gary Coleman," screamed the MC. Gary aped Todd and went down the steps to the other side of the stage. His wife obviously wasn't too smart. She went to the same side of the dance floor that Todd and his wife were standing on. She looked around, spotted Gary and ran over to him, tripping over the hem of her dress and landing flat on her face. Her dress was relatively short and it rose up in the back revealing a cellulite riddled ass in a leopard spotted thong. She stood up and curtsied to the crowd which erupted in laughter.

"And your Ten Year reunion King is..." said the MC. "With a total of two hundred and seven votes...Steven Grant." Everyone clapped and I headed for one side of the stage. Dana ran over to me with a big smile on her face. "It is customary for the King to dance the ceremonial dance with the Queen," said the announcer. Dana looked embarrassed and stepped back into the crowd.

Marian had walked down the stairs on the opposite side of the stage and we met in the middle.

"Told ya," she said, playfully grabbing my hand. We danced and they turned off the lights and had just the big disco ball shining over the crowd. It felt like we were floating as we circled the floor. It all ended too soon. The lights came back on and the MC concluded the program by telling everyone to eat, drink and have fun.

"Can we see some fucking juggling now?" screamed a voice from the back. The DJ launched in and started playing dance music.

I really didn't want to let go of Marian. We just stood there in the middle of the dance floor as other couples came out to dance. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to let go of me either. Then she tensed up and I felt Dana grabbing my arm. "The fucking music has stopped. Let's get out of here?" she snapped. She looked straight into Marian's eyes. "Let's go back to the hotel and I'll give you some of what you got last night," she said.

"Dana, I should walk Marian back to Maurice," I said.