Chapter 12—Maybe Dating is a Bad Idea
I had at least an hour before I had to pick up Mayra, but I was already in the car and traveling in the same circle I had traversed when trying to get to her house for a piece of cake. Tonight was going to be our first real date. Instead of taking the drive to Cincinnati or Hamilton, we decide to stick with Uptown Oxford. We were going to get bagels from the Bagel and Deli and eat them in the park.
If I could get to her house, that is.
I figured if I left early enough, I would eventually be able to get there on time, maybe even a little early. I had the feeling Mr. Trevino was going to play the proper father-figure when I came to pick her up even though Mayra said she had made him promise to be nice when I came to get her. At least I had already met him officially, so there was a little less pressure.
I checked the gauges on my car and decided it would be a good idea to top off the tank and maybe check my oil and tire pressure, too. There was still plenty of time before I was supposed to be at Mayra’s house, so I drove to the nearest gas station and filled up. While I was checking the tire pressure, I saw Justin Lords and three other guys coming out of the convenience store attached to the gas station. Justin looked over at me and smirked as he leaned over and said something quietly into the ear of one of the guys with him. They both laughed but didn’t come near me or anything. I found myself breathing easier after the group drove off, though.
After cleaning the windshield and wipers for the second time, I wiped down the rear view mirror and decided I could probably head over to Mayra’s house now. I reminded myself that I had been over there twice this week, and everything had been fine, even when I had to park next to Mr. Trevino’s truck. I drove around the block four times again but managed to get myself into Mayra’s driveway with about five minutes to spare.
I sat in my car for a while, considering the phrase “fashionably late” and wondering if it applied to picking up your girlfriend for a night out. Glancing up at the kitchen window, I saw Mayra standing inside with her arms crossed and smiling at me. She shook her head a little before beckoning me with a finger. I peeked at myself in the mirror, tried to smooth out my hair a little, got out of the car, and walked up to the front door.
Mr. Trevino answered, and I had to swallow a big lump in my throat before I could speak. I wanted to say something like, “Good evening, Mr. Trevino. I’m here to pick up Mayra.” However, that’s not quite what came out.
“Um…hi.” I turned my head a little and closed my eyes tightly as I tried to get a grip on myself. I cleared my throat and thought I would try again, but no sound came out at all.
Mr. Trevino chuckled low, then stepped aside and opened the door wide.
“Come on in, Matthew. Mayra’s been ready since noon or something.”
“Dad!” Mayra glared at him as she came out from around the kitchen entryway. She was dressed in a dark blue blouse and a black skirt, which flowed out around her thighs. She had done something to her hair to make it all wavy instead of straight, and she had on a bit of eye makeup, which she didn’t usually wear.
She was stunning, and I realized I was staring at her with my mouth open, so I quickly closed it. Her father continued to snicker softly while I tried to come up with some words to say about how nice she looked. Apparently, I had been rendered speechless.
“Come on,” Mayra said. “Let’s go before Dad decides to be funny again.”
Bethany was definitely right about one thing: not bringing up the subject of soccer until we were on our date was a brilliant idea. Mayra talked and talked about the teams she had played on and the tournaments her teams had won and lost. She also gave me answers to the questions I occasionally asked. The conversation continued even after we finished our bagels on the park bench and watched the university students stumble from bar to bar. I was actually getting kind of excited about the soccer season starting up soon even though it would mean a fairly drastic change to our current routine as Mayra would need to make time for practices and games.
“You can work on your homework when I’m at practice,” Mayra said. “There are a lot of people who sit in the stands and watch while they do their homework.”
“When are the games?” I asked. We crumpled up the foil that had held the warm bagels and tossed it in a nearby trash can. Mayra grabbed my hand, and we walked up and down the sidewalks that lined the old, brick street of Uptown. It was a beautiful night with no clouds in sight. The moon and stars shone down on us as we held hands and walked aimlessly.
“Usually on the weekends,” she said, “but there are some during the week as well—mostly on Wednesdays or Thursdays.”
I nodded and tried to mentally prepare myself for games being on different days of the week. I thought I could cope with that, especially since Mayra said she would have a complete schedule of games sometime next week.
We continued walking and talking, not really paying much attention to where we were going. We came to the end of High Street and turned to walk past the old library and around the corner. The side street held a lot of student housing, and every house seemed to be having a party of some sort. There were a lot of obviously drunk people laughing and passing cups of beer around.
I was all for turning around and going back the way we came, but Mayra was concerned it was starting to get late, and we had both promised her father we would be back before midnight. There was a dark alleyway that made a good shortcut back to the car, so I didn’t protest.
There weren’t any streetlights in that area, only the light outside of Mac and Joe’s, the dive bar popular with students and townies alike. Mayra let go of my hand and moved closer so she could wrap her arm around my waist, and I placed mine over her shoulders. My face was actually starting to ache from smiling so much, and I wondered what I had done to be so lucky.
Turning my head a little, I leaned my cheek on the top of her head, inhaled the sweet scent of her hair, and placed a light kiss on her temple.
“Well, isn’t that sweet.” A voice came from behind us, followed by laughter both from the darkened alley entrance in front of us as well as behind us. “A couple of little lovebirds out for a stroll.”
Two figures stepped out of the alleyway right in front of us, and when I glanced over my shoulder I could see the silhouettes of two more approach from the way we had just come. The ones in front blocked our forward progression, and I felt Mayra tense next to me as her arm tightened around my torso.
I couldn’t take Mayra safely forward or backward, so we stopped in the middle of the dark street as the figures in front of us stepped out of the shadows. I heard Mayra’s sharp intake of air.
“I told you we weren’t done,” a voice said as the figures walked toward us.
“Justin, what the hell are you doing here?” Mayra yelled as Lords’ face became visible in the moonlight. I pulled her a little closer and whispered her name in caution, hoping maybe she’d just consider being quiet for a minute. Bullies usuall
y backed off and got bored if you were quiet and didn’t respond to them. The more she talked, the more it would egg him on.
“Just taking a little stroll, same as you,” he retorted. The guy next to him cackled, and I recognized him as someone who had graduated a year or two ago. I was pretty sure his name was Mark, and he had also been on the Talawanda football team.