Finishing up with my homework, I was still deeply annoyed that I had to depend on the notes I took in class rather than my own memory. But to be honest, history contains a lot of facts nobody remembers anyway.

Mom stuck her head in the door to my room. “It’s late, honey. Time for bed. Go brush your teeth.”

As I put my homework back into my school bag, I said, “Okay, Mom.” I then hurried to the bathroom. I did my business before brushing my teeth. I smiled when I remembered the next day was Friday. Either at school or a job, everyone loves Friday. Well, except those that have to work on Saturday.

Humming a current tune, I danced back to my room. I slipped my nightgown on and climbed onto the bed just as Mom came in. She picked up my hair brush and we both shared a smile with each other. Singing to me, Mom started to brush out my long hair. This had evolved into a favorite time for both of us. Mom took a lot of enjoyment in brushing my hair.

As she finished brushing, Mom said, “Honey, try to get your homework done earlier. You should have already been in bed by now.”

I looked at the floor. “Sorry, Mom. I’ll try to do better. I thought it was going to be easy, but it wasn’t.” I squirmed into bed and Mom pulled the covers up.

Mom looked like she just thought of something. “Oh. A couple of things real quick. Oliver and I have a date tomorrow night and…”

I folded my arms and said with a frown, “I don’t need a baby sitter!”

Mom scowled at me for a second. “Don’t interrupt me, young lady. As I was saying, I have a date with Oliver Friday night and I’ve scheduled a play date for you with April. She won’t be watching anyone else’s children and her mother will be there. I think they plan on getting something from Whataburger. How does that sound? Just you two playing with Barbies and watching movies? Sound good?”

I relaxed and said, “I guess that’s okay. I like April.” What I should have realized is that while April wasn’t my babysitter, April’s mother was. Dede has always been sneaky.

As Mom tucked me in, she continued, “And then on Saturday, Oliver has asked us both to join him and his six year old nephew to lunch at Chuckles the Rat Pizzeria. It’s his birthday and his mother can’t be there.”

I frowned and asked, “Why? Is it because she’s in jail again?”

Mom shook her head. “No, silly. And what do you mean again? She had to go out of town.”

I widened my eyes and said, “Oh! The federal pen this time, huh?”

Mom sighed. “Will you stop? Anyway, that’s the plan for Saturday. Oliver isn’t going to expect you to watch his nephew. You can go play video games or whatever.”

I tugged on my covers and said, “I guess that’s okay. I’m surprised Chuckles is still in business. I haven’t been there since I was a kid.”

Mom laughed. “You were there the weekend before you got hit by the Switcher.”

I shrugged. “Your point?”

Mom grinned and bent over to kiss my forehead. “And on that note, it’s time you went to sleep.”

I stood on the porch of April’s house, holding Mom’s hand in the fading golden light of a mid-October Friday evening. A plastic pumpkin and a cardboard skeleton decorated the porch. Claire opened the door and smiled at Mom.

“Good evening, Denise,” said Claire. I can’t tell you how excited April is to have Chrystal over again. Come on in.”

Mom said, “Thank you, but I really need to run. Thanks for taking care of my little girl.”

April’s mother smiled down at me. “Don’t think anything of it, Dede. Chrystal is always welcome here.”

Mom bent over so we could be eye-to-eye. “You be a good girl, okay? I’ll see you around eleven.” She kissed my forehead.

Claire chuckled as she ruffled my hair. “She’ll be fine.”

I said, “Bye Mom!” as she turned to leave.

I was suddenly caught in a huge hug as April shouted, “Chrys! Come on in!” I ran into the house after April. “We’re going to have fun! And I didn’t forget.” She picked up a lipstick from the table. “It’s make-over time!” Oh boy.

Claire laughed. “Why don’t you wait on the make-over until after dinner. Your father will be back from Whataburger fairly soon.”

April said, “That’ll work.” She then dropped three magazines onto the floor and then sat down next to them. “Sit down, Chrys! I just got these today. Let’s look through them.”

I sat next to April as her mother walked out of the room. The magazines were all teen oriented. Two were about celebrities and the other was literally called ‘Teen. That surprised me a bit because Dede had a subscription to that magazine back when she was around fourteen or so. I couldn’t imagine how you could keep articles fresh every month about teen issues. To be honest, I had the same thoughts on my dad’s old Guns & Ammo magazines. How many times could you write about modifying your Colt 1911?

April picked up one of the celebrity magazines and turned to the first page and stopped. She sighed heavily and kissed the picture on the page with her eyes closed. “Isn’t Nathan Adams just dreamy?”

I had to admit that he is very cute. But I said, “Didn’t he marry a girl my age?” I pointed at the girl dressed in an over-sized t-shirt and sweat pants standing next to him and holding his hand in the picture.

Looking indignant sniffed and said, “All lies. Entertainment Tonight says she’s at least twelve.”

I laughed. “That’s better?!” I really didn’t care what her age was, but I’d bet money that she was much older or Nathan would probably be arrested.

April pointed at a picture of a group of young men with shaggy hair and various piercings. “I love this band! They streamed their Dubai concert a couple weeks ago. It was awesome! Do you like them?”

I’d never heard of them. I said, “They’re okay.”

Excited, April said, “I’ll show you my favorite YouTube video of them after dinner.”

I smiled slightly. “I can’t wait.”

After going through other pages where April’s running commentary would include “Oh, he’s so cute!” and “He is just so stupid! Gak!” she stopped at a full page photo of a cute teen boy, a singer I think.

April exclaimed, “Oh he’s just gorgeous! Don’t you just want to kiss him?”

I just shrugged and made non-committal noises.

After staring at the picture for over a minute, April looked over at me and asked, “Have you ever kissed a boy?”

I probably said “No” a little too quickly.

April looked at me with a sly expression. “I have. At Toby’s birthday party last summer. I kissed him more than once.” She giggled.

“Toby?” I asked.

April looked at me like was an idiot, “Of course! Who else?”

I shrugged. “Well, you didn’t specify…”

Eyes shining, April grinned at me. “Trust me. You’ll love kissing boys.”

Before I could articulate my denial, April’s father came through the front door carrying the familiar white and orange paper bags. He said, “April, honey. Can you take these bags and put them on the table. I have to go back for the drinks. Oh, hey Chrystal.”

April ran up and grabbed the bags and as she turned to run to the table, she shouted, “Mom! Food’s here!”

Claire came out of the kitchen. “I know. I know. I heard your father come in. You and Chrystal go wash your hands while I put out the paper plates.”

As we were in the bathroom, April continued her inquisition. “You’ve never even tried to kiss a boy?”

Picking up a towel, I frowned at her and said, “No. I don’t want to.”

April nodded. “Yeah, I guess when I was ten I thought all boys had cooties.”

When we came back into the living room, we saw two beach blankets laying on the floor in front of the TV.

April’s mom said, “We normally turn the TV off during dinner, but thought you two would like to sit on the floor and watch a movie while you ate. Come over here to get your food.” The burgers and fries had been placed on paper plates.

April ran over to the TV and opened a Blu-Ray box, took out the disc and popped it in the player. She looked over at me and exclaimed, “This is my new favorite movie.” It was a Nathan Adams movie.

When I was a sixty-five year old, there was no way in hell I’d sit down on the floor, carpeted or not, to eat and watch a movie. But I have to admit I had a lot of fun sitting on the floor next to April and eating and giggling with each other.

As the credits started to roll with Nathan Adams embracing his love interest on some exotic beach, April turned to look at me with disapproval. “I can’t believe you don’t think Nathan is gorgeous! Just look at him!”

Giggling, I said, “I never said he wasn’t. I just said he didn’t excite me.”

April folded her arms and frowned, “Kids!” She got up and walked over to the table with various cosmetics scattered on its surface. Grinning she said, “Now it’s make-over time! Do I have any victims… I mean volunteers?”

I acted like I was trying to look out the window. “Oh gosh. Look at the time. I think I heard my Mom driving up.”

April laughed. “She won’t be here until at least eleven! So get on over here!”

Claire said, “Honey, if she doesn’t want to do it, don’t try to force her. It’s supposed to be fun for both of you.”

Looking sad, April said, “We don’t have to do it. I just thought it’d be fun.”

Well shit.

I walked over to the table and sat in one of the chairs. I sighed, “Okay. Do you worst. Well, no. Don’t do your worst. Let’s just do it.”

April looked unsure. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Let’s do it. This is the only time Mom will let me wear make-up.” Which is true enough. I’ll not mention that I have no interest at all in make-up, period.

“All right!” squealed April as she gathered up her tools and bottles.

As she started applying foundation, at least that’s what she said it was, she beamed, “You’re going to be so pretty, you’ll have to fight the boys off with a stick.”

I looked over at Claire and said, “Keep the doors closed so boys don’t wander in.”

Claire giggled. “I think you’re safe.”

April paused in her frenzy of make-up to announce. “When I’m done with Chrys, it’s Dad’s turn!”

April’s Dad suddenly looked up from his phone, looking wild eyed. “What??”

Claire giggled. “This I gotta see!”

A few minutes after eleven, the doorbell rang. Claire got up and opened the door. Sure enough, it was Mom. Mom said, “Hey, Claire. I hope Chrystal wasn’t any trouble tonight.”

Grinning, Claire said, “Come on in, Dede. We had fun tonight.”

I stood up as Mom turned to face me. With a surprised look, she said, “Now who is this beautiful young lady?”

Feeling my face turning red, I said, “Mommm. Come on.”

April jumped up and exclaimed, “That’s Chrystal! Isn’t she beautiful!” I have to admit. April did do a good job on my face. I thought I was going to look like a clown, but I have to say what she did looked nice.

Mom bent down to look at me. “You’re right! That is Chrystal! Did you do this, April?”

April grinned. “I sure did! She was my first customer!”

Mom started to say something to Claire, but suddenly caught a glimpse of April’s dad. She burst out laughing. “And you must be April’s second customer!” Claire’s husband was sitting in his recliner watching TV wearing too much make-up. He nodded with a grimace. Still chuckling, Mom said, “You look beautiful too, Harry.”

Harry just shook his head. “Thanks.”

Turning to Claire, Mom said, “I was wondering why all those boys were lining up outside.”

I felt a cold flush. “Shut the door, quick! Before a boy gets in.”

Mom gave Claire a curious look. Claire said, “We were teasing Chrystal that boys were going to start lining up to give her a kiss since she’s so pretty.”

Mom giggled as she opened her purse and removed her pair of cheap sunglasses. “Quick, honey. Put these on so you’ll be incognito.” She handed them to me and I quickly put them on. It sure made everything dark.

Mom took my hand and turned to Claire. “Thanks again for watching her. Looks like she had fun. And Harry, that’s a great new look for you.” She giggled. Harry just waved.

Of course, as we left the house, there weren’t a line of boys waiting. I felt stupid for believing them even for a moment. I couldn’t wait to get home and wash my face.

To be continued…