I’m is Amanda, in case you don’t read the “about” section. Ant and I have been ebony-n-ivory counterparts for years. I tells him bout teh white wimmenz, and he gives me weekend hood passes. It’s like a pass to Six-Flags, but with more crack heads.
Anywho, with that being said, on with teh pedo-tastic fun!
***
Houston summers are sweltering. They’re hot, and muggy, and horribly miserable. They are the perfect excuse for seventeen year old girls to dress scantily and enjoy the attention it brings. I was one of those girls.
My at-the-time BFF Tamra and I were together, of course, and in retrospect, probably looking for some trouble to get into. We were driving down the road when I spotted the car (a tan Impala. Not the dreamiest of vehicles for a high school girl, but hell, he was cute!) of a guy I had been dating, Kerry.
Ah, Kerry. The firefighter. I was working at Ritz camera, my after school and weekend job at the time. It was about 6 o’clock and we were closing for the night, and in walks Kerry. He wasn’t as tall as I usually like, only about 5′7″… but then he spoke. He had a beautifully tanned complexion, a bronzed cocoa color that almost dripped sunlight and the essence of carefree when he moved, with brightly piercing blue eyes. They went straight to my soft spot, because they were each flanked by laugh lines that got deeper each time he shot an easy grin. He had an amazing smile, straight and seemingly impossibly white, surrounding by all that contrasting tan. He had a shallow cleft in his chin, that coupled with the deep dimple that flashed only on his left side and ever-present 5 o’clock shadow struck me as surprisingly impish.
His first words to me were, “Well you’re damn near as cute as I am, aren’t you?” I called him a jerk and told him to get out of my store.
His friend worked at the Darque Tan next door, and since he was waiting for his friend’s end-of-shift, he had nothing to do but irritate me. He told me he would be visiting Ground Zero to pay his tributes to his fallen brethren, and wanted a camera to capture the memories. I told him I was surprised his lovely blue eyes weren’t brown, he was so full of it. His mouth curled into that grin again, and damn me, I was hooked. I told him he may indeed be cute, but he was still full of a steaming heaping pile of bullshit, and I wanted him to be well aware I knew. He said he knew that too, just like he knew I wanted to have dinner with him.
I told him I wanted to have dinner with him like I wanted a trip to the free clinic for all the wrong reasons. He laughed and asked why I refused, and when I tactfully informed him he had the manners of a feral animal, he looked very confused. He thought about it for a second, and grabbed my hand. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “In all seriousness, I think you’re adorable, and I’d really enjoy the pleasure of your company if you should so see fit, whenever you’d like.”
Oh man. He. Was. Good.
We went out to dinner, my favorite Chinese place, and then to a movie. We saw The Notebook on our first date. Classy, right? He told me it was actually tolerable, and kissed me in the parking lot.
Fast forward a few dates. Kerry tells me we should be exclusive to one another. I laugh at him and tell him to piss off. (I never said I was a CARING person when I was 17.)
The following day, I pick up Tamra.
Humidity and heat. Palpable waves of it seeping up like billowing steam from the asphalt. I could swear that in this moment, I have SEEN that asphalt has a liquid state, and it exists in front of me. It sucks the energy right out of you, a life-force consuming entity that feeds on itself and your misery.
After buying a new phone I really didn’t have the money for ($350 for a stupid cell phone. Oh yeah.) we decide to drive around and bask in the ever present luxury that is my blissfully cold A/C. That’s when we see Kerry’s tan Impala. He spots us too, and my phone rings. He asks me to pull over in the gas station about a quarter of a mile ahead of us. So, I do. I coasted my car toward a slot, when Kerry maneuvered his car directly behind me, so that it was almost impossible for me to back up, instead of just parking next to me. As I was talking to Tamra on the passenger side, I noticed what he was doing. I rabbited.
Normally, I really hate confined spaces. So this nut job blocking my car in while telling me we need to “talk” really did it for me. It was on.
I slid across the hood of the car like Bo Duke, dove behind the wheel, and gunned my Honda over a curb for all it was worth.
AND… THEY’RE… OFF!!!!
Through a peal of squealing tires and what I’m sure had to be accompanying smoke, I took off. I high-tailed it through a right-on-red and onto the feeder road of I-10’s on ramp. I’m bobbing and weaving like Muhammed Ali through traffic, and this crazy motherfucker is keeping up with me. Tamra is shrieking like a god damned banshee, and all of the sudden, my new phone starts ringing. It scared the ever-lovin shit out of me, so I squeal and drop it onto my console only to gasp at the display… “Kerry”.
Oh. Hell.
I’m maneuvering at high speeds, so Tamra answers the phone for me. She gulps and flips it open, and gives a mild, “Hello?”.
I didn’t have to ask what he said. I heard the yelling. All sorts of profanities that offended my delicate female sensibilities (teehee!) and many “PULL OVER AMANDA!!!!”’s. Yes, Brain Warrior. You’re stalking me, following me at high rates of speed, and cursing at me. Why in God’s name WOULDN’T I stop? Perhaps we can have tea, maybe some scones, catch up and all. What is he, new?
It is the only time in my life I have ever PRAYED to get pulled over. I snatch the phone from Tamra, slam the stupid thing shut, and toss it into my cup holder. I am now on the on ramp of I-10 and exceeding speeds of 90 MPH. Where the HELL are the police I’m always slowing down for? We stop at the light of the overpass, and I am the first car in line for the left hand turn. He is directly behind me, yelling out of his window “YOU HAVE TO STOP SOME TIME, AMANDA!!!!!!!!!!!”, I’m praying to any and all gods I can think of, and Tamra is still banshee shrieking, only this time she throws in a few random “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”s. The light turns green and he’s on my tail. At the last possible second, I veer to the right, coming ridiculously close to the car in front of me, and make it into the going straight line. Captain ScrewLoose is forced to turn left.
WHEW! Jesus God. My phone is still ringing nonstop, but it would seem that the immediate threat is passed. I slow down to be within the range of the speed limits, and after a few minutes, my pulse comes with me. I had yet to extract my belly from down around my knees though, and my heart was still in my throat. Tamra is telling me about how this batshit nuts motherfucker and I probably don’t need to see each other again, and I am agreeing with her when we stop at a red light on a back road on the way to her house.
I’ve got my eyes shut tight and am trying to take cleansing breaths, when Tamra again squeals like there’s a contest, and this heifer is goin’ for the gold. I jump and clear the six inch mark, easy, and look over to see why she’s yelling. HE WAS IN THE LANE NEXT TO US.
He rolls down his window and yells “YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS THE BACK ROADS. YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY.”
Again… I did the only logical thing. I hauled BALLS.
We ducked and dived into side streets and when I had a good lead on him rounding a corner, I made a hard left a clip in front of oncoming traffic into what I thought was a small subdivision. “Great… he’ll never find us in here. We’ll just hang out till we’re sure he’s gone.”
That would have been a fine plan. Except for this “subdivision” turned out to be a DEAD END TRAILER PARK.
We shimmy the Honda into a tight fitting spot next to an El Camino on cinder blocks (I swear, I can’t make this shit up) and 90 something Geo. We close our eyes and pray he’s gone.
After hiding miserably for about half an hour and being propositioned for an illicit substance in saran wrap, and what may have been a toothless hooker (I’m guessing on the toothless part - I wasn’t brave enough to go in for a confirmation inspection) we decide it’s safe.
I finally drop Tamra off at home, and thank God I never let Kerry pick me up, so he doesn’t know where I live.
To be on the safe side though, I went to someone’s house I didn’t really care for. If Nutso McWhackjob was a-comin, I wasn’t leading the kooky bastard back to my lair.
He did leave notes on my car at work a few times after that, and one time I did run away from him as I was leaving, but we never really spoke after that.
Was a shame too. Firemen are damn sexy.
(Kerry was 27 and I was 17. In retrospect, I realize that nothing good can come of something like that, and he had to be a little batty. But when I was 17, it was, lak, omGz, teh SupEr kEwLesTTTT! … I still shudder at my logic.)