Changing Partners

"It won't be just the four of us anyway," Rosa added. "There are always a bunch of us who end up there after a party."

"Wow," Danny said. "I had no idea."

"I think your friend thinks we're all a bunch of god-fearing nuns in training, Rosa," Pete said.

"Isn't that what all the old folks think about us?" Rosa replied as she steered the car off the road into an empty meadow where a couple of other cars were already parked. With the window rolled down, Danny could hear the lapping of the water before he could see the lake out in the gloom. She killed the engine, and then turned over and kissed Danny's cheek. "Don't be shy, all right? It's just fun for us all!"

A quick glance behind them confirmed that Pete and Stewart weren't giving anyone any reason to be shy. Danny looked back at Rosa, bewilderment in his eyes, and burst into nervous laughter.

"Usually I leave them be and just go down to the water myself," she said. "But usually I don't have anyone up front with me!" With just a fleeting moment for Danny's tacit approval, she slid across the bench seat into his arms. Stewart and Pete were still whooping up a storm in the back seat, but Danny scarcely noticed that now over Rosa's passionate sighs and her intense kisses, and her hands up and down his chest and unzipping his jeans. The radio intermingling with a train-whistle across the lake offered the only clue that they weren't in a world of their own as Rosa drew his hard cock out and rubbed it against her thighs. She also welcomed Danny's hands on her breasts, leaning in toward him to savor the caresses. Danny was dying to finger her, but that seemed a bit too far with her brother in the backseat. Rosa evidently didn't agree, for she pulled his right hand away from her breasts and drew it under her skirt. Danny, needing no further direction, promptly started rubbing her into a tizzy.

The slamming back door interrupted their reverie, but Rosa reacted with laugher rather than anger. "Oh God!" she squealed.

"What's up?" Danny asked.

"For once I got them so hung up they got out of the car, instead of the other way around!" She gave him a final triumphant kiss. "We won! Ready for a swim?"

"In a minute," Danny said, pulling her close beside him to gaze out the windshield. His eyes having adjusted to the dark, he wanted to admire the scene of the others splashing about in the water and the freight train rushing past on the other side of the lake. "What a beautiful scene," he whispered.

"It's even more beautiful from in the water, you know," Rosa teased, and Daniel turned to see she was unbuttoning her dress.

"I'll bet it is," he said. "No doubt. Just, from up here you can see it all so clear."

"Never thought of it that way," Rosa said. "It's always just been a way to cut loose for us all, at least that's what I thought. Our one chance to have a little fun before we get married or the boys join the army and all that."

"Where does that train go to, anyway?"

"Off into the wide world," Rosa said. "The boys always talk about hopping it someday to go see the world. But none of them ever do. They're stuck here just like us in the end."

"Are you stuck here, though?" Danny asked.

"Well, what am I gonna do with myself if I do go to some other town?" Rosa asked him. "High school's over, isn't it? Working in a factory or a shop is the same anywhere else as it is here, and the Russians could drop the bomb anytime. At least here we've got the nice memories of these nights. Speaking of which, Danny..." She slid back to the driver's side and pulled her dress up over her head. "Little help, please?" She twisted around and presented her back for him to unfasten her bra, which he eagerly did. "You too, Danny," she ordered him.

Danny followed the order. "You sure about this?" he said.

"We've all known each other since we were little kids," Rosa said. "What's the big deal, right?"

"What, indeed?" Danny chuckled as he admired Rosa curled up nude before him. "Sorry, can't resist looking!"

"You think I'd have invited you here if I minded that?" Rosa said. "Come here!" She opened her arms and Danny slid across the bench seat into them. He had just enough time to savor the wonderful skin-on-skin sensation before his alarm clock brought him crashing into July 5th.

"'Golden Teardrops,'" Shaune read late that afternoon, squinting a bit at the black and yellow label holding court above the cash register at Waxie Maxie's. Richard, Maxie's nephew and the current owner of the shop, stood by and looked bemused as Shaune pondered Daniel's coveted record. "That's what you're saving up for, Dan? Can't you buy the song on iTunes for a buck or something?"

"I already have done that," Daniel confessed.

"Then why do you need the record?!"

"Because you can't hold an MP3 in your hands and admire the label and know it's been comforting lovestruck guys like me since 1953," Daniel said.

"Vinyl has a warmth that digital doesn't," Richard added. "It really does."

"Guys and their toys," Shaune grumbled, hooking her arm through Daniel's. "I just don't get it."

"Female or male, you either get it or you don't," Richard said. "Believe me, I see it every day in here." Turning to Daniel, he asked, "So, you finally going to pull the trigger today? It's not going to last all summer at that price, you know."

"Three hundred is cheap?!" Shaune demanded.

"For that record in that condition, yes," Richard said.

"I'm still a little short," Daniel said -- an exaggeration at best, even after his great haul the day before.

Richard shook his head and chuckled. "He's been saying that all summer," he told Shaune. "I ought to start charging you a cover every time you come in here. If I'd done that back in May you'd probably own it by now."

"I wasn't quite as committed back then as I am now," Daniel said, recalling the golden teardrops he'd been ever so tempted to cry when the radio had snatched him out of Rosa's arms that morning.

"Well, aren't you a lucky lady!" Richard said to Shaune.

"I don't know about that," Shaune quipped, kissing Daniel on the cheek.

"Me neither," Daniel said, earning a playful punch on the arm from Shaune. Of course he did not correct Richard's error. "Maybe next week, Richard. Meantime, got any new oldies for $10 or so?"

"Just got this one the other day, and I set it aside for you," Richard said, and he pulled out a record from under the counter. "You probably already have it, but if not, you want it. Trust me."

Daniel and Shaune both read the bright yellow label. "The Mello Kings," Daniel said. "Never heard of them."

Shaune read the song title. "'Tonite, Tonite,' Couldn't they spell in the fifties?"

Both men ignored her. "Want to hear it?" Richard offered.

"Yes, and I'm sure Shaune is dying to as well," Daniel joked, handing the record back to him.

Richard laughed and set the record on the turntable.

Shaune kept her opinion to herself as the lush group harmony filled the shop. Daniel didn't. "Aunt Arlene would've loved this one," he said. "I wonder why she didn't have it?"

"It wasn't a very big hit," Richard explained. "God knows why, but it wasn't."

"I love it," Daniel said, and he pulled out his wallet. "Thanks for holding that."

"I love it, too," Shaune said.

"You do?!" Daniel made no effort to hide his surprise.

"Yeah," Shaune said. "It's a lovely idea, 'I'll love you forever as I love you tonight.' I mean, it's something I might have said to my mother when I was five and never since then -- especially not to her! -- but what a nice idea to think you could ever feel that way, you know? By the way, Richard, you got any Metallica CDs?"

"Wow," Daniel said to Richard as he handed over the $10 and Richard pointed Shaune to the metal section. "That's a major breakthrough!"

While Daniel waited for Shaune to dig $5 out of her purse for a used Ride the Lightning CD ("My asshole ex-boyfriend had my old one in his car stereo when he totaled the car"), he watched the tourists passing by on the sidewalk, including at least three interracial couples. Why was it so easy to forget a lot of things really had improved?

"So you're fuckin' Shaune?" Chris asked Daniel without so much as a hello when he arrived at work for the dinner shift later that week. He -- Chris -- appeared to be reading the fine print of something posted on the wall, but when Daniel got closer he saw there was nothing posted.

"Well, you couldn't call it 'making love' with her," Daniel said, careful not to give Chris the reaction he was sure he wanted.

"Can't you do better than that, college boy?" Chris sneered. "You know how easy she is?"

"Then what's it say that you haven't been with her?" Daniel replied. "And what are you doing staring at the wall like that?"

"Fuck you, and I ain't starin' at the wall!" Chris took three big strides and positioned himself on the other side of the staff break table. "What're you talkin' about anyway?"

"You watch your mouth, Chris," came Martha's voice as the dressing room door swung open. "And Daniel, it's none of your business if he's reading the notices on the wall. You should do that too!"

"Yes, Martha," Daniel said, feigning obeisance as he put two and two together as to what Chris really had been up to. As soon as Martha had disappeared into the dining room, he stepped up to where Chris had been. Sure enough, there was a sliver of a gap between two of the boards that had been slapped together for the dressing room. From just the right angle, one could easily see inside. Daniel turned back to Chris, who was looking equal parts defiant and ashamed, and he shook his head and laughed. "Hope you've never looked in expecting her and got me instead," he joked.

"Pretty sure I'd have gone blind, asshole," Chris shot back. Without another word, he followed Daniel in to change clothes, both of them carefully avoiding eye contact as they did.

Daniel had always done his best to ignore Chris up to that afternoon. Now he did just the opposite, casting a knowing eye at him every chance he got. He had no intention of ratting Chris out to Martha -- for one thing, he found her just as irritating as Chris, though he knew that didn't justify violating her privacy the way Chris had done -- but Chris didn't know he would never tell, so Daniel's wary glances kept him on his guard all through the dinner rush.

Chris was on his guard, but he was still Chris. So when a white girl and a black guy came in for a banana split in the post-dinner lull, Chris couldn't resist taking their order and then clocking out for his break without bringing the dessert out to them.

"Chris, you forgot something!" Daniel called out as he saw Chris heading for the backroom.

"Ain't none of your fuckin' business if I did," Chris said.

"Chris!" came KP's piercing voice, taking even Daniel by surprise. Daniel whipped around to see him standing just inside the front kitchen door like an outlaw blocking a saloon entrance. Martha stood off to the side, fear in her eyes for once. KP wasn't done. "Language! You want your job?!"

"These two have been acting like children all day long, KP," Martha said, but her voice was wavering.

"You the boss, Daniel?!" KP demanded.

"No sir, but I didn't tell him to do anything."

"What you did tell him?"

"I asked him, if he forgot that banana split for his customers," Daniel said, pointing at the waiting dessert where the cook had set it on the counter. "I don't know if he forgot it or left it there on purpose, but I'm sure you don't want it to sit there and melt for fifteen minutes, KP." He then threw caution to the wind and collected it himself to carry out, hoping against hope that KP would take note of who the waiting customers were and put two and two together.

To Daniel's great relief, he did. "Forgot, Chris? You don't forgot, you just don't want customers like that!"

"Course I only forgot, KP, I ain't no racist! But it wasn't up to Daniel there to tell me nothing about what to do!"

"You aren't no racist. Right. You think I'm stupid?"

"Course not, KP, but come on! Just 'cause I don't approve of who that girl goes out with doesn't mean I'm not gonna do my job for her!"

KP pointed at the time clock. "Clock out, go home, don't ever come back!"

"You're gonna pay, Dan!" was the last thing Daniel heard Chris roar as he returned to the dining room. Though he'd already suspected as much, Daniel couldn't suppress his smile as he set about refilling water glasses and encouraging the lingering diners to order dessert.

KP was waiting when Daniel returned to the kitchen with his next order. "Daniel."

"Yes?"

"Good work. For you." He handed Daniel a $10 bill.

"Thanks." He was still pondering the scanty reward when Martha came in with an order of her own. "Ten bucks to get your rear end kicked in the parking lot tonight, Dan?" she said. "I would've kept my mouth shut!"

Daniel looked at her as he stuffed the bill in his pocket, and wondered whether he ought to tell her what else he had caught Chris doing earlier that shift. He decided not to.

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for your e-mail. I'm delighted to hear you're enjoying YOUR records (they're yours now, not mine!) so much. I knew you would; that's why I gave them to you! Cheryle and I loved Paris; the people there are a lot friendlier than they get credit for. Switzerland is beautiful this time of year as well, but awfully quiet. On the train to Berlin now and it looks like rain, but I think that's when Cheryle likes being on the train most of all. It certainly is romantic in its way! You don't say if you've got a girl of your own for the summer, but I certainly hope you do! If not, I'm sure you'll meet someone special at school WHEN you go back -- give it a rest with this silly idea that you won't!

Much love,

Aunt Arlene

"You haven't told her about me?" Shaune demanded in mock outrage just before they set to work on studying for her algebra exam.

"You hadn't happened yet when I sent that e-mail," Daniel lied, tucking the postcard back into his backpack. "Believe it or not, I've only e-mailed her once all summer." That much, at least, was true.

"She's your hero and you never even write to her?" Shaune asked. "Men!"

"I was too busy teaching myself how to do quadratic equations again so I could teach you," Daniel quipped. "Let's get to work."

"Fuck you, and yeah, let's."

They had stumbled most of the way through the first practice test, with Shaune on track to almost pass it, when the kitchen door banged open and a middle-aged couple barged in, both looking tipsy. "This the bleedin' heart tutor you been whinin' about all summer?" the woman asked.

"Nice to see you too, Mama," Shaune said. "And yeah, this is Dan. He's almost taught me algebra."

"You deserve a fuckin' Nobel prize for that, buddy!" declared the man from the refrigerator, where he was collecting an armful of beers.

"No shit!" said the woman, laughing along with him. "But I don't wanna hear nothin' more 'bout teachin' my daughter 'bout faggots and feminism, y'hear?"

"Mama!" Shaune threw her pen down on the table. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is you couldn't bother with school enough the first time, now you're stuck on help from nerds like him," she said from the living room doorway.

"Aw, leave 'er alone," said the man. "'Least a dipshit like him ain't gonna knock her up or nothin'."

"Aw, you shut the fuck up, you asshole!" Shaune's mother turned and took a swing at her boyfriend. She missed, but he leaned back and lost his balance long enough to drop two of the bottles, which shattered on the floor and splashed beer on all four of them. "Now look what you did!" she continued.

"What I did?" He burst into laughter, and after one final swipe at him, she joined in and helped herself to one of the surviving bottles. Even as they vanished from view, their howls only grew louder, and Daniel wasn't sure they had even bothered to shut the bedroom door.

"Fuckin' bitch." Shaune's voice shook as she said it. "Let's get the fuck out of here." Without waiting for an answer from Daniel, she stood up and stormed out the still-ajar back door.

Daniel was only too happy to get out of the house, exam or none. Shaune was already halfway down the block by the time he had his sandals on and the door shut behind him. He had to run to catch up with her, and despite everything he was a bit surprised to find her crying. "I'm...I'm sorry, Shaune," he said.

"You're sorry?" Shaune stopped in the middle of the deserted street and ran both hands through her dark mane. "What have you got to be sorry for?"

"I meant I'm sorry anyone else had to see that."

Shaune shook her head. "No, Dan. Don't expect me to believe you hadn't already figured out my mom was white trash. You're too smart for that. But you didn't need to see it. I didn't need any of my friends to see it. And I certainly didn't need that asshole Gordon sayin' anything about me getting knocked up. How did he even know about that?"

"You're pregnant?!"

"Not now, Dan. Fuck, how could I be when you'll barely even touch me?" She managed to laugh through her tears of rage. "No. Five years ago. How could she tell him that?!"

Daniel did the math. "You got pregnant at fourteen?"

"Didn't think I needed condoms 'cause I thought you could only get pregnant if you had sex on your period."

"That's when you're least --"

"I know! I'm not the moron I was, Dan! Fuck, how could she tell him?!"

"Maybe she didn't," Daniel offered. "He never said you had been knocked up."

Shaune nodded. "Yeah. Hope you're right. Suppose now you can't make love to me now, huh? Now you know what I am?"

"What kind of a jerk do you think I am?!" Daniel demanded.

"The kind that wishes it was 1955. You know how they treated girls like me back then!"

"Geez, Shaune! Just because I like the music doesn't mean...doesn't mean that!"

"Then what the fuck does it mean, the way you carry on about it?"

"No accounting for taste, I guess."

"What?"

"Nothing." Dan held out his hand. "Want to walk down to the beach? You could use the fresh air."

Shaune looked warily at his hand, as if fearing he'd pull it away if she tried to take it. Finally she did try, and he didn't pull it away.

"Now, really, Dan, you can tell me and I won't be hurt," Shaune said twenty minutes later as they stood in a naked embrace up to their necks in water. "Is it just that I'm too tough for you? Or too experienced?"

"No!" Daniel said. "I just...want the moment to be right."

"I've got to admit it's not right tonight, not after what that asshole said," Shaune said. "But this...this feels nice, Dan." She reached one arm around front and stroked his chest appreciatively. "Thanks for being there. I mean it."

"You're welcome. You need someplace else to sleep tonight?"

"Your mother'd murder us both, Dan, you know that. Besides, Gordon and Ma are probably passed out by now. But thank you." She pulled him tightly against her again and kissed him deeply. Despite her terrible breath, Daniel let her do it and responded in kind. After the kiss, Shaune gave his shoulders an affectionate squeeze and let him do the same to her breasts. "Your music sucks, but you're a great friend. You know that?"

After collecting his car outside Shaune's house and settling himself in the driver's seat in his sopping clothes, Daniel was, for once, in no mood for doo-wop. He rolled down the windows and blasted "Summertime Blues" all the way home, not caring if he woke anyone up along the way.

Daniel never knew how word got back to his parents. It was a small town and he wasn't surprised at all that it happened, but he never learned just how it did.

"Son, just what are you up to with this Shaune girl?" his father asked him over dinner, on an evening when for once Shaune was on duty and he wasn't.