Dark Night

Settling in

Marc was his usual charming self at lunch, but he seemed a little worn down. All he'd say about that was that his girlfriend had broken up with him. I said that I was sorry, and we talked about his skaters and the rink, safe topics.

"I have to admit I'm surprised that you and John aren't dating again," he said as we were getting ready to go back to the complex.

"He's asked for some time," I said. I couldn't wait to be done with this explanation. "Besides, he has a girlfriend."

"And you?"

"Nope. No girlfriend." I smirked at him and he smiled back. "There was a guy for awhile, but it didn't last. Went out on a lot of dates, which is still fun. I can foresee it becoming a drag, though." We walked across the parking lot to his car. He held the door for me, which I loved, then came around and started the car.

"Would you go out with me then?" he asked as he pulled out onto the road. "Just for the summer. I'm not asking for any commitment or anything, just fun." He was silent a moment, gathering his thoughts. "The breakup was pretty bad. and it would be nice to get my mind off it." His smile was half-hearted. And there's one thing I'm a sucker for, a friend in need. Plus it didn't hurt a bit that he was fun and had always been nice to me, even when I was so messed up a few years ago.

"That works for me," I said. "Tell you the truth, it kind of stings that John keeps asking for more time. Right now that's ok, but I don't know for how long it will be ok."

"You've always been there for him," Marc said, a slight bite to his voice. "He probably thinks you always will be. Tomorrow night there's a free concert in the park. Want to get some dinner and then catch the concert?"

"That sounds fun," I said, perking up. "I didn't really get to go to any concerts this year, and the big stadium tours aren't my thing anyway. Too noisy. This will be nice." He grinned as we walked up to the rink, looking like his old self, and he held the door for me. It was good that I was back; Trace, one of the newer hires but more experienced than me, was inundated by a group from a day camp. I hustled over and backed him up, waving to Marc as I did so.

Dress for work was pretty casual, so I wore my t-shirt and jeans the next day but had a pretty sundress with a light cardigan and cute shoes in the car with a few grooming things. We'd be going to dinner from the rink. I got to know two of the other people working in my area, high school kids who were unduly impressed that I was at UCLA. As soon as six o'clock ticked over, I clocked out and changed. The sundress was a dark green, the cardigan a lighter green made of marled cotton yarn, so it looked pretty. My brother, walking by when I came out of the rest room, whistled, and I just sighed.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Dinner and a concert in the park," I said with satisfaction.

"John's a lucky guy," he complimented me.

"Fortunately, I'm the lucky guy," Marc said, coming up and smiling at me. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely," I said. "Later, Stan." He waved, and I could see that I'd be answering questions later. Maybe I ought to get a card printed up so that I could just hand it to curious people and dodge the tedious explanation.

We went to a cafe that was new to me, sitting out on the patio. It had French-American food, nice and light and very good, then we strolled to the park. Marc had a blanket for us to sit on, and we talked more as we waited for the quartet to begin. They began to play beautiful quartets from Debussy, Beethoven, Schubert, and Bartok. They played for a couple hours, then tied things up around nine. Afterward, we went for ice cream. Marc was interesting and funny and we discovered a shared love for Batman comics and the ocean. We both had Sunday off, so we decided to go to the beach.