Changing Partners

"Oh my God, Dan, you're killing me!" Shaune exclaimed as they pulled onto the beach road, which was now mostly empty of tourists as the sun was long gone. "You call it 'making love,' even?"

"Well, it is, if you're doing it with someone you really feel strongly for, don't you think?" He pulled the car onto the shoulder and turned off the engine but left the stereo playing.

"That's a nice idea, Dan, but so is the tooth fairy," Shaune said. "I stopped believing in fireworks a long time ago."

"I didn't say anything about fireworks." Daniel fended off a depressing memory of losing his virginity in the most unromantic drunken way last fall, which had disabused him of any such idea. "Shall we take that walk?"

Shaune gave him a thoughtful look. "Not just yet," she said. "This music isn't my thing, but I think I see where you're coming from. So if this were fifty years ago, you'd drive me down here and we'd snuggle in the back seat, would we?"

"Closer to sixty now, but yeah," Daniel said with a shy grin. "My aunt told me all about parking back then, in California. All these new roads and houses going up everywhere, and it was easy to pull off someplace secluded and..."

"And what? I want to hear you say it again, Dan. Make love?"

"Well, Aunt Arlene said they usually didn't go that far. No Pill in those days and all that."

"Then what did you do?"

"Get to about second base, I guess, and then after your curfew you go home and take care of yourself. And I guess she did too, that's what Aunt Arlene told me."

"Your aunt told you she jacked off?!"

"I don't think they call it that when girls do it, but yeah. She's really progressive like that. I miss her."

"She died? I'm sorry, Dan."

"No, she's off in Europe with her wife."

"Her wife? Fuck, Dan, don't even mention your aunt around my mom, please! But she sounds like a smart lady. I should've handled my dates that way back in school." Turning to Daniel with a grin, she asked, "Want to play fifties with me?"

That was the last thing Daniel wanted, with them both smelling of French fries and Shaune of cigarettes as well. But Peggy Jean was gone even in his dreams and the summer stretched out lonely before him, and it was better than listening to his mother whine about Aunt Arlene and her records. Daniel hooked his arm over the back of the passenger seat and patted the empty space between them, and Shaune slid over to cozy up to him. The window was down and an agreeable breeze was blowing in off the water, and Shaune's body felt lovely against him in spite of the jaded soul living in it. Looking her tenderly in the eye, he could almost forget the stench of tobacco on her breath.

They smooched through "Tell Me You're Mine" by the Velveteers, pausing long enough for Daniel to explain that it sounded so scratchy because it was direct from an old record ("The master tape is probably long gone, no one knows anything about the group except their name," a tidbit Shaune seemed to appreciate more than the music). When it ended, Daniel took the opportunity to suggest they make their move for the swim before the cops came by to shoo them away.

"Easy, boy," Shaune teased, giving him a firm pat on the crotch of his shorts, but she did agree. Daniel let the teasing go unchallenged. It spared him any need to explain that the smell of her breath was making his stomach turn over.

The cheap beer had lost its chill, but Daniel welcomed the taste as much as the sunset over the Gulf and the cloak of almost-privacy it would soon be offering them. They drank in silence until the sun was down and the few lingering tourists could be heard but not seen. "If we can't see them, they can't see us," Shaune proclaimed, and with no further ado she stood up and undressed. "Don't expect me to believe you hear anything like this in those stupid songs of yours!" she teased as she slid her panties down and kicked them away.

"Not directly," Daniel conceded as he drank in the sight of Shaune's body. Whatever her bad habits or dreadful taste in music, she did have lovely curves and nipples and a graceful dark bush. He was surprised she didn't shave it, but he didn't comment on that.

"You going to join me or just admire me?" she demanded.

"Fair's fair," Daniel said. Then, more tentatively, he added. "You're beautiful, by the way."

"Thanks." But she didn't sound convinced that he meant it. "I'll bet you are too if you'd get your clothes off already. Fair's fair!"

Daniel had to agree with that. Figuring she'd be flattered to see his hard cock, he pulled his shorts down and was greeted with Shaune's reply of, "Aw, is that for me?" as he followed suit with his shirt.

"Well, I said you were beautiful, didn't I?" he said with a grin, his skin prickling from head to toe with the knowledge that he was naked in public and that she was set to do God-knew-what to him.

"Good answer. You are too, dear." She gave his erection an affectionate squeeze that was a bit too tight for Daniel's liking, and then said, "Now let's get you in the water!"

They splashed about in the receding tide and did a little actual swimming, although the water was too shallow to make that easy. Shaune's bare body was gorgeous in the moonlight, and soon he found himself doing more admiring than swimming.

Shaune noticed soon enough, and she splashed up to him with the waves lapping enticingly at her breasts. "Dan, aren't you ever going to make your move here?"

Daniel laughed. "Sorry! I'm just enjoying the water and the lovely view so much!"

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Shaune grinned. "And you know what? So will playing with these." She fished his hands out of the water and placed them on her breasts. Dan let out a nervous laugh, but he set about caressing them appreciatively. "Oh, lovely, Dan," Shaune whispered. "I knew you'd be a natural. Either that or gay, but I see now you're not."

"What made you think I was gay?" Daniel wasn't offended, but he was surprised.

"The way you never make filthy comments like the other guys. Guys like that are always the best when you finally get their pants off, or they're gay. You never know which until it happens, or doesn't."

"Okay," Daniel chuckled. Gently he turned Shaune around and continued kneading her breasts from behind, and leaned down to kiss and nibble her neck.

Shaune loved it. "God, where'd you learn that?"

"Dunno," Daniel said, and it was true, he couldn't remember. She did not need to know he was really just trying to avoid having to kiss her on the mouth again and put up with the taste of her cigarettes.

There was little risk of that, as Daniel's playful flicking about her nipples soon had her too worked up to ask him anything. "Ohmigod...ohmigod ohmigod! Don't stop!" He had no such intention, and he didn't stop. Especially not when Shaune put her own hands over his and pressed down harder. Taking the hint, he rubbed as hard as he could, delighting in the sensation of Shaune wiggling her hips all around and splashing in the water. She'd been trying to keep quiet in case there was anyone else left on the beach, but she couldn't resist a loud yelp when she came. "OH! God! Dan! Yes...thank you!" She turned around and kissed him. "No doubt a guy like you knew some of us can come just from playing with our breasts?" she asked.

"Heard of it but never saw it before," Daniel said.

"It's the only way I've ever come with a guy," Shaune said. "Sex, forget it, it's always over way too fast. The guy gets himself off and that's that."

Dan had little doubt that was all about the kind of guys she'd been with, but he kept that to himself.

"Now, was that 'making love' for you, Dan? No offense, but it wasn't for me. It was just fun."

"It was fun for me too," Daniel said.

"Only fun, Dan?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

He didn't get back to the dance through the end of June. There was more studying and more skinnydipping and foreplay, but Shaune never invited him to go all the way. Late one night while they were snuggling on the beach in their underwear, he discovered why. "I suppose I could only get you to 'make love' to me once I get that stupid GED, right?"

"Hadn't thought of it that way," Dan said with a chuckle. "I mean, no, Shaune, I'm not that kind of guy. You wouldn't keep it from your husband if he didn't mow the lawn or something like that, would you?"

"I totally would!" Shaune announced. "I just figured all this time you were holding back to get me to study, and that was my reward."

"All this time? Two weeks, isn't it? And no, I mean, well, where are we going to do it? In the water?"

"Dunno," Shaune admitted. "We could fuck in the car, but that wouldn't be 'making love,' would it? Or ain't that how they did it back in the fifties, come to think of it? With their shoo-bop on the radio?"

"Doo-wop," Daniel corrected. "And yeah, I guess. They had teenage pregnancies back then too, from what I heard."

"I read about that for my sociology exam," Shaune said. "How it used to ruin a girl's reputation even worse than it does now. But fuck that, Dan, I don't care about what nobody thinks of me."

"Not even me?" Daniel teased.

"I already know what you think, don't I?" She took his hand and slipped it inside her panties.

Daniel stroked her playfully for a few minutes, and Shaune gasped and giggled at his teasing touch. But Daniel didn't push any further, and soon Shaune was as frustrated as she was wet. "I'm not going to beg you, you know," she advised him as she pulled her clothes back on.

"Wouldn't dream of that," Daniel assured her.

"Just what are you dreaming of, anyway?"

"Hah!" Daniel offered no further answer. He didn't blame Shaune for the fact that he hadn't even had another chance to look for Peggy Jean, but he couldn't help but notice it.

"I don't get you, Dan," Shaune continued. "Most guys think no means yes or some crap like that, and you won't even let me throw myself at you. Good thing you're so fuckin' cute and a good teacher."

"Aw, thanks." He pulled his hand out of her panties and put his arm around her, and she was once again content with that.

Their secret hadn't gotten out at work that they knew of. On the Fourth of July, it was all hands on deck from open to close and they barely had time for lunchbreaks. James scheduled Daniel and Shaune to different times for their breaks, making Daniel wonder if the word was out. He didn't mind: the endless queue of hungry customers netted him over $60 in tips by the time he was ordered to the backroom for a lunch so late it was more like an early dinner. At this rate, he mused as he scarfed down his burger and salad, "Golden Teardrops" could be his any day now.

He was nearly done with his meal when Chris and Jason, the two youngest waiters -- both of them still in high school, and Daniel could just barely remember them when they were a couple of freshman twerps his senior year -- banged in from the dining room. "What the fuck's that Shaune still doin' here anyhow?" Chris was saying. "She never gets an order right."

"KP must be fuckin' her, or wants to anyway."

"If he wants to fuck her, who's gonna stop him? Not Shaune, she'd fuck anyone!"

Daniel sat quietly as he swallowed his last bite, and twisted his napkin, not looking up at the two little brats.

"Anyone who'd let her, anyway. Maybe even KP's got standards. All those cigarettes."

"You smoke too, Jason," Daniel said, still not looking at them as they took their seats and he stood up from his.

"Not like she does!" Jason shot back. "I'm a pack every couple days. Shaune? Fuck, man!"

"Yeah!" Chris agreed. "I mean, shit, even her cunt probably smells like cigarettes!"

"Watch your language, and no, it doesn't." Daniel turned to go, and was rewarded with bewildered silence from them both as he headed back to the dining room. One thing about going back to college, he thought to himself -- it might give him a fighting chance at no more coworkers like those two losers.

He was sure word got back to James well before they finally shut down that night, but there were no repercussions -- after all, he and Shaune weren't breaking any rules. Shaune evidently did not hear the news somehow -- perhaps because she already wouldn't have anything to do with Jason and Chris if she could help it -- because she didn't know why Daniel burst into boyish laughter every time they passed one another between the tables. "What on earth is so funny?" she demanded the fourth time or so.

"Just in a great mood," he lied. "All these tips, I'll get that record in no time."

"You've got to take me to see this damn record, Dan. I just have to see what the big deal is."

"Language, Shaune," chirped Martha, the senior waitress, who was rushing past them with a tray of drinks. A skinny blonde and a cheerleader at Ole Miss, she'd been at Jerry's in the summers for as long as Daniel had been allowed to visit the place on his own. Unlike Shaune and the guys, she always locked the dressing room door when she changed into her uniform.

"You ain't the boss, Martha!" Shaune reminded her.

"No, but I know how to make him listen," Martha warned with a grin to disguise the threat. "And Dan, if you want to come back here next summer, you'd best watch it too."

"Right," Daniel said as soon as Martha was out of earshot. "Legend in her own mind. James doesn't need a good word from her on me. He's already said I'll be welcome back next year. If I leave at all."

"Don't you dare tell me you're still thinking of dropping out, Dan, or coming back to this dump next summer!" Shaune said. "Not after all this pushing to help me with my GED. You're already into college, you'd better be making something of yourself besides head waiter!"

That thought stuck with Daniel throughout the rest of the shift and late into the hot night when he finally clocked out. Too tired to bother with a visit to the beach, which would surely be too crowded for playing anyway, he kissed Shaune good night in full view of the others. Ignoring their "aww"s and catcalls, he whispered, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Knocking some sense into me about my future. About not coming back next year."

"Oh, that. Well, you weren't really going to come back, were you?"

"Oh, well, yeah, of course not!" But even he could hear how unconvincing it was. That rang in his head all through the drive home. Freshman year had been rough all right, and California wasn't what he'd been hoping for. But if there was one thing this summer was teaching him, it was that no place or time was perfect and the future held a lot more promise than the past ever could. Shaune should know, he supposed.

Nevertheless, he didn't even try to get to sleep that night without listening to a few records first. "Sleep Walk," the only instrumental in his collection, was such a perfect choice for his mood that he left the record changer open and let it play three times as he lay on his bed wearing only his earphones. Perfect style for the dance as well, he reasoned. A bit late, dating from late 1959 when his every other indication was that it was a couple of summers before that -- Daniel wanted it to be before the Day the Music Died, even though he didn't have any Buddy Holly records -- but if he was going to imagine girls asking guys to dance and perfect racial harmony, it wouldn't hurt to pretend "Sleep Walk" was a little older than it really was.

The white girl had asked Danny to dance, he had asked the black girl to dance, but he didn't know whether the Latina asked him or he asked her. He was already wrapped in Rosa's embrace before he knew where he was. It hardly mattered, for she was lovely and clearly very happy to be with him. "I don't know how you handled those guys at work so well, Danny," she said. "But good for you! Good for us all! Teach 'em some manners!"

"Thanks," Danny said. "God, I love this song, don't you?" He was right, "Sleep Walk" did make for the perfect slow dance no matter what year it was.

"You're such a romantic, you! But yeah, I do. Listen, though, the dance is almost over and a few of us are going to the lake. Want to join us?"

"Sounds like fun..." Danny allowed a very brief glimpse around the floor -- plenty of couples having the time of their lives, including a few same-sex ones, he was pleased to note, but no sign of Peggy Jean. But there must be at least one song left. "Sounds like fun, Rosa, but I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn I didn't bring my swimming trunks to the dance."

"Very funny, Danny! Now, if you don't want to go, I'll understand. But if you're holding out for Peggy Jean again..."

"How'd you know that?!"

"Same way everybody does, Danny! Every weekend, the two of you are looking everywhere for one another and never meeting. I don't see how this week is going to be any different, do you?" As if on cue, the dreaded "Change Partners" call came over the loudspeaker and a girl Danny didn't recognize appeared at his shoulder, but Rosa swung him away with a polite but firm "He's mine." Once they were lost in the crowd again, she asked, "So, the lake?"

Danny still couldn't quite believe what she was inviting him to do. But he appreciated her not letting him go the way Peggy Jean had, and concluded that called for some loyalty. As the record faded out and was followed by the ubiquitous "Goodnight My Love," Danny smiled through his frustration. "Sure, Rosa, let's go."

Rosa laughed. "You want to beat the crowds, don't you? It's okay, so do I!" She swung him around affectionately one last time and her dress wrapped pleasantly around his legs for a fleeting moment.

One of the gay couples Danny had noticed turned out to be Rosa's brother, Pete, and his boyfriend Stewart. "These lovebirds always make me drive," Rosa explained as Pete tossed her the keys to the black '55 Chevy.

"Well, who's got more use for the back seat, dear?" Pete teased.

"Looks like we both do, tonight," Rosa said. Turning to Danny, she added, "But his car, his rules. You don't mind, do you?"

"Hmmm? Oh, not at all!" On his first time outside in nineteen-fifty-something, Danny had been admiring the lot full of antique cars and the row of bungalows just visible on the next block, and wondering just what sort of treasures the anonymous suburb beyond might hold in the daytime. He couldn't help but envision a wonderland of electric trains and coonskin caps and Disney movies on the black and white TVs, and he hardly dared imagine all the records. But all at once Rosa came back into focus. "Nice car," he added. "Happy to ride up front, really."

"Your boy is cute, but he sounds a little disengaged, sis," Pete said from the backseat, where he and Stewart had already settled themselves.

"Sorry!" Danny said before Rosa could object. "This town always makes me feel a little wistful is all."

"Then you must've seen something in it we didn't!" Rosa declared as the engine roared to life and she put it in gear. "All those houses looking just the same, so boring! I'm so glad to be getting out!"

"Careful what you wish for," Danny said absentmindedly as he watched the darkened, peaceful houses roll by, wondering what the neighborhood looked like in his own time.

"You're not one of those squares who like to pretend this place is heaven, are you?" Stewart asked from the backseat. "You know how boring it gets out here!"

"Yeah, I guess," Danny admitted. Then he turned and admired Rosa. "Tonight doesn't look boring, though, does it?"

"You are so cute!" Rosa said with a sidelong look at him while the guys laughed.

"Thanks," Danny said. With a glance at the backseat, he added, "Just, tell me..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know he's my brother and that's kind of weird. But you can see he doesn't give a hoot about girls. He might as well be a girl."

"Bite your tongue, dearie," Stewart replied.