Chapter Twenty-Seven

Friday evening, Jenny waited at home, feeling anxious.  She played an old Jean Shepard record to soothe her nerves, but she had to play it low because her dad had gone to bed early. The bank manager had hired him to fix up some foreclosed properties around Fallen Oak, and he came home exhausted every day.

When it reached seven o' clock, Jenny drove her old car across town to pick up Darcy. Darcy didn't live in one of Fallen Oak's nicer neighborhoods, but it was an actual neighborhood.  Jenny's house was a little way out of town, basically in the woods, and Jenny didn't have any neighbors close by.

Darcy stood at the end of her driveway with a huge canvas purse slung over her shoulder.  She opened Jenny's passenger door and jumped inside.

“Let's scoot fast,” Darcy said. “My dad's being a total tool biscuit.”

“Okay.” Jenny pulled out of her driveway.

“Cool car!” Darcy said.

“Thanks.”

“It's kinda old, isn't it?” Darcy asked. “But I mean in a good way.”

“Yeah, I like it,” Jenny said. “Seth bought it for me for Christmas.  From Merle Sanderson.”

“He bought you a fucking car?” Darcy scowled for a second, then quickly went back to her smile.

“I don’t think it was very expensive,” Jenny said. “It clunks a lot. Not really that great of a car.”

“Yeah, I guess I'm just jealous because I don't have one,” Darcy said.  Her tone attempted to be pleasant, but Jenny thought she could detect something nasty underneath. “I mean, a car or a boyfriend.  I've never even had a boyfriend.  Just that one time with Bret Daniels, when we sinned really bad.  I mean, he sinned my brains out.  But he never acted like he cared about me after that.”

“I'm sorry.”

“That's how boys are, I guess.  They act like they love you, but then they don't really care at all.”

“They aren’t all like that,” Jenny said.

“But I think they are,” Darcy said. “I bet even Seth might leave you.  They really are jerks underneath.”

“I don't think so,” Jenny said. “We're pretty happy.”

“I mean, I saw how he just dropped Ashleigh all of a sudden, and she cried so much after that.”

 Jenny found it hard to imagine Ashleigh Goodling in tears, unless it was to manipulate somebody into doing something for her. “Seth's been really nice to me,” she said.

“Oh, I don't mean to say anything bad about him,” Darcy said. “Just guys in general.”

Jenny glanced at Darcy's pregnant belly and decided not to argue.  Darcy had her own bad experience to cope with.  A huge, life-changing bad experience.

“Anywho,” Darcy said. “You like Chronicles of Narnia, right?  ‘Cause I brought the DVD’s.”

“Sure,” Jenny said.  She’d never seen it, nor had a strong desire to, but she was trying to make friends.

“I also brought the Lord of the Rings trilogy if you want to watch that.” Darcy grinned. “We can do a movie marathon!”

“Okay,” Jenny said.

They stopped by the Little Caesar's, located in a half-empty strip mall on the edge of town, and got a pair of pizzas for dinner, plus a two-liter of Coke.  At Jenny's house, they set up camp on the living room couch.  

They played the movie on the cheap DVD player Jenny had bought with her own money, since her dad thought there was no point moving on from VHS, even though DVD players were only like twenty bucks now.  They had to keep the volume low because of Jenny's dad sleeping at the back of the house.

“We should have gone to Seth's house,” Jenny whispered as Chronicles of Narnia began. “But his parents are in town.”

“His parents don't like you?” Darcy asked.

“Pretty much.  They think I'm a dope fiend who corrupts their perfect son.  They don't even know we're together.”

“Oh, that won't work,” Darcy said.  She bit into a pepperoni-topped square of pizza.

“Hopefully they'll get over it.”

“I doubt it.  People like that—rich people, you know?—they only like their own kind.  They can tell we don't belong with them.”

“They just never gave me a chance.  But they loved Ashleigh.”

Darcy smiled, then quickly pushed it to a frown. “That's what I mean.  The Goodlings had more money.  I mean how's it going to work when he goes to college, anyway?”

“I don't know,” Jenny said. “I don't really want to move to Charleston.  I just don't like big cities.  The idea of leaving town scares me.  And my dad needs my help around here.” Jenny had the odd feeling that a weight was lifting from her shoulders, one she hadn’t even noticed.  She never got to talk about her relationship with Seth, or anything girls might talk about. Just sharing her fears made her feel better.  

She was almost tempted to tell Darcy everything—about the Jenny pox, and why Jenny couldn't live anywhere with a lot of people—but she swallowed back that urge. As much as she needed to talk about it, it was much too dangerous to tell anyone.

“Did you tell Seth you don’t want to move to Charleston?” Darcy asked.

“We’ve talked about it,” Jenny said. “He just acts like I’ll get over it and move there with him. But big cities make me panic.”

“What does he say about that?” Darcy reached for the two-liter and refilled her own cup. “Want more Coke?”

“Sure, thanks,” Jenny said. “The thing is that Seth used to want to go to Clemson, where his grandfather went. And that would be totally fine, because it’s tiny and it’s in the middle of nowhere. I could cope with that. But his parents are really the ones who want him to go to Charleston, because his dad donated a bunch of money there, I think. And they say he’ll make more ‘connections’ in the city.”

“Meaning other rich kids,” Darcy said. “People his parents will like.”

“I guess.”

“But then that means…huh.” Darcy chewed on her lip and turned toward the TV.

“What?” Jenny asked.

“I kinda don’t want to say. Let’s skip it.”

“It’s okay. What are you thinking?”

“Well, you know,” Darcy said. “If he always ends up doing what his parents want, and his parents don’t want you together…”

Jenny thought about it. Seth’s dad did seem to have a lot of control over Seth’s choices. Seth and Jenny had been together for almost five months now, and he’d kept it secret from them. He’d even changed his mind about colleges when his dad told him to.

“I don’t think…” Jenny began, but she couldn’t finish the thought. Darcy might actually have a point.

“Plus all those other girls he’ll meet,” Darcy said. “I mean, tons of pretty girls, from richer families that his parents will like. You know?”

“Yeah, but…” Jenny knew she was right. Seth wasn’t just cute and nice, and even funny when you didn’t expect it. He also had his healing touch, the one that made everyone feel better when he touched them, erasing anything from a cold to cancer.

“The girls will be all over him, too,” Darcy said. “And I mean there’s gonna be thousands of them. Not like here.”

“But Seth can’t leave me. He’s the only one—” Jenny cut herself off. She had almost said, he’s the only one I can touch. She began to feel panicky. There wouldn’t be any other relationship options for her, but he could have any girl pretty easily. It hit her just how vulnerable and powerless she was in their relationship. He was really holding all the cards.

Her eyes stung, and she fought back tears. She didn’t want to think about losing Seth.

“Oh, crapsies,” Darcy said. “I’m such a dodo. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I was just thinking about how guys are.”

“No,” Jenny said. “It’s okay. You’re right. I need to figure out what I’m going to do. I just wish he wasn’t moving to such a big city.”

“Here, let’s do a toast.” Darcy raised her glass, which featured Joanie from Happy Days. Jenny’s mom had bought the whole set of commemorative Happy Days glasses at the flea market, not long before she died. “To guys. And how much they suck.”

Jenny laughed and raised her matching Richie Cunningham glass. The two girls clinked their glasses together, and they drank.