In a Class of His Own Ch. 11

Five hours in a car, by yourself, can be very conducive to productive thinking. I had an epiphany of sorts, on Highway 401, just past Belleville. I felt like I was thinking clearly, for the first time in years.

I stayed with Steve and Kim. We stayed up far too late, talking about everything and anything. To my surprise, it only confirmed the decision I had reached earlier that day.

That Friday, I met with an interview panel. It was a pleasant surprise to find Mr Adams was part of it. He lobbed me a couple of soft questions that played to my strengths. You never know for sure, with an interview, how it went. But I thought I had done pretty well.

On Friday night, I took Steve's family - Kim included - out to dinner. It was partly to thank them for letting me stay at their house, and partly just because I liked them.

They were excited for me, for the possibility that I might be able to move home. I should have been having this dinner with my own parents, of course - but my father hadn't even bothered to pass on Mr Adams' message. Steve's family meant more to me than my own biological relatives.

The other big news was that Sarah was going to Europe in August, with a friend. I already knew that, because Steve had told me the night before. I had felt a brief, sharp and utterly irrational pang of jealousy. What surprised me was that I felt it again.

Sarah was excited about it. Her Dad looked worried, but he Mom was all for it - especially if she got advice from a 'seasoned traveller' like me.

- "You'll have a great time." I assured her. "Where will you go?"

- "Julia wants to see Germany, and I really want to go to Austria." she said.

I had suffered through another irrational stab of jealousy when I first heard that Sarah was going to be travelling with a friend. When I realized that Julia was a girl, I experienced a wave of relief. Stupid - but that's what happened.

Before we left the restaurant, I extracted a promise from Steve.

- "Dinner and a couple of beers - tomorrow night - you and me." I said.

- "Sure. Something on your mind?" he asked.

- "Tomorrow. I'll tell you the whole story."

- "Alright."

I went home with his Mom and Dad, and Sarah. It wasn't that late, and we'd all had a few drinks.

- "Thank you, Chris, for a lovely meal - and for treating us." said Sarah's Mom.

- "You really didn't have to do that." said Mr H.

- "I'm gainfully employed. Time to start paying you back." I said.

Sarah's Mom touched my cheek. "Sweetie - you don't have to pay anything back. Whatever we did for you, was just the right thing to do. You just treat those kids you teach right, and we'll call it even."

***

The next day I spent shopping for a wedding present. And that's when I ran into Moe. Actually, she saw me first.

- "Chris?"

I turned, to see her standing fifteen feet away. I was stunned. Moe had her hair pulled back, into a ponytail. It didn't look right. Much more obvious, though, was the fact that she appeared to be at least seven months pregnant.

I closed the distance between us, and gave her a gentle hug. Then I stepped back. I couldn't help glancing at her belly.

- "Wow." I said. "Congratulations."

- "Thanks." she said. "What are you doing here?"

- "Looking for a wedding present for Steve and Kim."

- "Your friend Steve? Good for him." she said. "But I meant ... what are you doing home? You still come back often?"

- "Job interview. At Pearson High."

- "Oh." she said. She blinked, twice. "Wow."

- "It's so great to see you." I said. "Hey - how about a coffee? My treat."

- "Umm ..." she glanced at her watch. "I have to pick up my mother-in-law. But ... alright, I have time. Decaf, for me."

There was a simple coffee shop three doors away. When we were sitting down, I took a good, long look at her.

- "You look great." I said.

- "You're such a liar." she laughed. "I'm bloated, and cranky, and still nauseous all the time."

- "I thought that was only supposed to last for ... what - the first month or two?"

- "Only?" she said. "No - I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who'll probably still be puking as they wheel me into the delivery room. But you don't really want to talk about pregnancy, do you?"

- "How's your sister?" I asked.

We talked about people we knew for a few minutes.

- "So - this job. If you get it, you'll be moving back?"

- "Yes, I would."

- "Are you going to get it?" she asked.

- "I sure hope so."

Neither of us said it - but this was one of the scenarios that Moe had predicted: that I would come back home. But she had said, even then, that she couldn't sit around waiting and hoping. Would it have made a difference if she had known that it would only be three years? But how could either of us have known that at the time?

Moe looked fine. I couldn't make up my mind, though, whether I was happy for her ... or disappointed because she wasn't miserable without me.

- "You seeing anyone?" she asked.

- "I was. Not anymore."

- "Serious?"

- "Not really. Although ..."

- "C'mon - tell your old teacher. How has my prize student been doing?"

I ended up telling her about Anna, and how I had fallen into the same trap as I had with Carol. Then I described how I had mangled the breakup with her - as I told the story, I realized that it was actually quite funny. Horrific at the time - but humourous in retrospect.

- "I'm sorry." she said. "I shouldn't laugh, but ..."

- "No - that's OK. I'm starting to see the funny side."

- "And do you still see your friend Nina?" asked Moe.

- "She got a job in Phoenix." I said. "And she's in a serious relationship."

- "Poor Chris." said Moe, wistfully. "You haven't had much luck with romance, have you?" Then she looked more serious. "I hope it wasn't because of that stupid advice I gave you, way back when."

- "You mean the class of one where I was the star pupil?"

- "I just wanted you to be more confident, to relax and come out of your shell a bit." she said.

- "It worked."

- "I said a lot of stupid things." she admitted. "I didn't know what the hell I was talking about. You knew that, right?"

- "I figured it out - eventually." I didn't tell Moe that I had only figured it out a few weeks ago.

The whole 'Ask her out, get to know her, maybe get lucky' approach ... even Moe herself didn't subscribe to her own advice. She had resisted going out with me, at first. And maybe she had been right to do so.

I hadn't needed Moe's lessons to meet Nina. Or Moe herself.

- "Just be yourself, Chris." she said. "You'll find her - that special one."

- "Thanks, Moe."

She glanced at her watch again. "Damn - I've gotta run. Thanks for the coffee."

- "My pleasure."

- "It was good to see you."

She kissed me on the cheek, and then off she went.

***

That evening, I took Steve to our favourite grungy old tavern, where they made respectable pizza and served cheap draft. We had discovered it as poor students.

- "Hasn't changed at all." I said. "I approve."

- "Me, too." said Steve. "Hey - thanks again for taking my family out last night. And for including Kim. She really appreciated it."

- "You've all been so good to me. I'll never be able to repay you."

- "Says the guy who helped me paint, and move." he said. "There's no ... debt, or anything like that. It's just what friends do for each other."

I nodded, conceding the point - even if I didn't entirely agree.

"So - what's on your mind?" he asked. "What's the big secret?"

- "Two things. The first one is easy, so I'll start there. Your stag."

- "Right."

- "I'm guessing that you don't want strippers, or porn videos." I said.

- "Nah ... none of that." he said.

- "That's what I thought. You want to hear Plan B?"

- "Shoot."

- "We get a bunch of the old crowd together, some guys from the warehouse, and we do a pub crawl." I said.

- "Now you're talkin'." said Steve.

- "We get you thoroughly blitzed, then we take your clothes and make you run all the way home - naked."

Steve looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he was mulling the idea over. "You think you might ever get married, Chris?" he asked.

- "Why?"

- "'Cause you might not want to set any stupid precedents." he said.

- "Point taken." I said. "Okay - what about the girls?"

- "Which girls?"

- "Kim and her friends." I said. "It's just a pub crawl - no strippers, no porn. Do you want to invite them along?"

- "On my stag?"

- "It's not a traditional one, anyway. They've seen us drunk and stupid before. It's just about whether you want them to be there."

- "Hmm." he said. "Let me think it over. Different - but I like it. I'll get back to you on that one."

- "Okay. Food. Any preferences?"

- "Why not start here? Pizza, cheap draft , tradition ... especially if the girls come with us. Most of them don't even know this place exists."

- "OK. Any other requests?" I asked.

- "No drinking and driving, Chris. Seriously ... if anyone got into an accident on the way home, it would spoil everything."

- "I'll rent a bus. Pick us up at your place, drop us here. Then we get collected at the last stop on the crawl. We all crash on the floor at your place. I'll collect everybody's keys before we start."

- "Thanks, Chris. That sounds excellent."

We discussed a few other possibilities, and hammered out the last minor details.

- "Hey - weren't there two things you wanted to talk to me about?" said Steve. "What was the second one?"

I took a deep breath. I had been planning this in my car, on the way home. It was a bit like swimming. No point in sticking a toe in the water. I just jumped in.

- "I want to ask your sister out." I said. "I want to go out with Sarah."

*****