Once Upon a Fantasy Ch. 05-06

"Go out on a date ... with me I mean."

"Oh, that," she said offhandedly. "I suppose we could do that ... sometime."

"Perhaps next weekend?" I tried.

"Perhaps. Call me next week and tell me what you have in mind ... besides the obvious that is."

Now that was just plain cruel. Teasing and taunting is one thing, but I didn't need my lack of finesse shoved in my face. I was getting a bit frustrated and I'm sure it sounded like it when I said what I did.

"Look ... you don't seem too enthusiastic, so why don't we just forget it. It was probably a bad idea anyway."

"Giving up so easily, Norm. I didn't expect that," she said with a knowing smile.

I shrugged. There wasn't much point in pushing it any further. There was nothing happening here.

We sat in silence for a few moments while I tried to think of a graceful exit.

"Do you dance, Norm?" she asked out of the blue.

"Uhm ... yes. I guess with my repaired knee I won't be doing anything wild, but yes ... I can dance."

"There's a nice place, the Westside Lounge, that has dancing afterwards. I know the food is good and I like to dance."

I sat up and looked at her carefully. The teasing seemed to be over with and from what I could see she was serious with her suggestion.

"I'd very much like to take you out on Saturday evening to the Westside Lounge for dinner and dancing. Would you care to join me?"

She turned to me and gave me that magic smile that she seemed to be able to produce at any time.

"I'd love to. Does seven o'clock sound about right?"

I gave her my best smile and said, "Yes, seven will be fine. I'll pick you up here then?"

"I'll look forward to it."

I got what I wanted, but it sure was a funny way to get it. For a while I thought she was blowing me off. She was going to take some getting used to if we were to date more than once. I wasn't sure if she possessed a quirky sense of humor or she was a little different than most women. She had certainly given off mixed signals at least.

Once that was settled, we got back to being comfortable with each other again. I wondered if my asking her for a date unsettled her for some reason. Maybe it was her first date too. I can't believe she didn't have offers. That didn't seem possible looking as amazing as she did. Perhaps Candy knew.

It was a little after nine o'clock when I rounded up my daughter and we thanked our hostess for the lovely meal and evening. We promised to do it again even if it wasn't barbeque next time. Candy drove while I thought about the earlier bizarre conversation with Kim.

"I asked Kim for a date," I said as she drove.

"Did you? Good for you, Dad. She's really a neat lady. What are you going to do?"

"We're going to dinner and then dancing at the Westside Lounge on Saturday night."

"Oh, wow, that's a really nice place. Very romantic."

"Now how would you know that?" I asked.

"Every girl knows about the Westside. If your boyfriend takes you there, it's a good bet he's going to try to score."

I nearly choked when I heard that. Candy hadn't taken her eyes off the road and didn't seem to be offering anything but simple information.

"It was Kim who suggested it."

"Oh, Dad, you are going to get sooooo lucky," she giggled.

Damn, these kids grew up too fast these days.

I lay in bed that night wondering if Candy was right. One thing was certain, my Kim dreams would be back that night with a vengeance.

To Be Continued