Magnet & Steele (10 page)

“Oh Ian, I’ve missed
you.”

They lean instinctively towards one
another and Ian kissed her long and hard. Ian Davis fit right into
her family; he was the missing link. Ian was different than Derrie,
different than Derrie in many ways. Her mother’s arms were open for
him and her father embraced him, accepting his time. The first time
she had met him he was singing in the choir in junior high. He was
two years older than she and interesting enough at the time. She
was always impressed with his falsetto; his beautiful voice,
singing those high notes and wished she could sing as well until
one day she mustered enough courage to tell him just that. They
were just friends for a few years until he finally asked her to go
steady. One year into the relationship and Francine was confused
when Ian wouldn’t even try to go to second base with her. He was
always so polite, always so gentlemanly like and she kept wondering
what the heck was wrong with her. Didn’t he want to touch her in
any way shape, or form? One night when they were parked alongside a
lonely road, Francine decided to jump on him but he held her body
back. Ian confessed that he wanted his first time to be when he was
a husband, and that he cared for her deeply, he might even love
her, but didn’t want her to get mixed signals by him not showing
any respect for her. At the time Francine said she understood, but
to this day, she really didn’t.

Francine comfortably wrapped her
arms around his neck and fully kissed him in return. They
separated, briefly.

“Fran, I love you. Will you marry
me?”

The front yard was flourishing
beautifully now, trees were beginning to sprout new leaves and the
grass was even becoming fuller. Nancy and Francine were outside
planting shrubs and flowers in the newly built brick planters that
Nancy had put in. Nancy was on the side of one of the planters and
dug into the dirt with a shovel.

“Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t bought
a home that wasn’t so…new,” Nancy said, gazing around at all the
light brush.

Francine looked around as well and
eyed all the flat dirt. “Well, there’s definitely a lot to work on.
It’ll keep you busy!” Francine quipped, not realizing the
double-meaning behind her words.

Just then, the loud guttering sound
of a motorcycle driving up next door caused Francine to sharply
turn her head. Derrie had a female passenger on the back of his
bike. Francine closed her eyes in confusion and with reopening
them; Nancy was in her face with a funny questionable
look.

“What?”

Nancy looked over across at Derrie
entering his home with his new female friend. “Is there something
you want to tell me?”

Francine gave her mother a stupid
look. “It’s nothing mom, you wouldn’t understand.”

Nancy let go a “yeah right” laugh,
“I wouldn’t huh?”

“What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“Nothing…you wouldn’t understand,”
Nancy shot back and then bent back down to jam the shovel onto the
soil. “I think you should tell Derrie your good news…you know,
about marrying Ian after graduation?”

Francine gazed over at his house.
She should, she should tell him and then it would end all her
misery. But why does telling him feel incredibly wrong?

The Next Morning

Francine was making her bed when she
heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. Heading down the staircase
she noticed a silhouette through the beveled glass of her front
door. Opening up the door, Francine was shocked to see her sister
Suzy standing there with Cassie (her little girl) in one arm and a
small suitcase in the other.

“Surprise!”

“Suzy, what’s going on? What are you
doing here? I was just about to go to school.”

“Glad to see you too Francine,” Suzy
mocked wickedly, shifting her baby to her other arm.

“You didn’t call us to let us know
you were coming, everything OK?”

Suzy walked past her sister and into
the house like she still lived there and stood in the middle of the
living room. “Is this it? Gawd, this house is nothing like our
house in New Canaan.”

“Suzy, what about dad, aren’t you
afraid of dad?”

“Enough with the third degree
Francine,” Suzy bit back, then stiffened up when she spotted their
mother walking down the staircase. “Hello mom.”

“Well…what a surprise. Look who came
to visit us Fran,” Nancy said, reaching down for her granddaughter.
“And how’s my baby girl?”

“Cassie’s fine mom…I’ve—I’ve left
Ray.”

Nancy picked up her granddaughter
from off the floor. Cassie wiggled and then clutched Nancy hard
with a hug. “Let’s all go sit down in the dining room, shall
we?”

Suzy and Francine both followed
their mother on cue and took a seat with her at the dining room
table.

Putting on a brave face, Suzy wiped
a few tears away. “Ray dropped outta school,” she cried softly,
“He’d been cut from the roster. Oh mom, he was so upset at the
coach! Football was his entire life.”

Nancy shook her head in
disbelief.

“I didn’t think much of it at
first,” Suzy continued, “Until he started coming home late with
dumb excuses. I found him yesterday in bed, in our bed with some
chick.”

Nancy closed her eyes; she couldn’t
believe her daughter’s bad luck. Was it something that she may have
caused?

“Suzy,” Francine said in utter
shock, “I can’t believe it, I mean, you and Ray, I thought you two
were gonna make it. I thought Ray was in love with you. How could
anyone do that to a person they love?”

Suzy regarded her sister and
laughed; those cute little giggles which were a prerequisite for
popularity. “Oh Fran, there’s more to marriage than just great
sex.” She then eyed their mother, “Oh, sorry mom.”

Nancy adjusted Cassie within her
arms then stood up with an announcement. “Fran, why don’t you stay
home from school today and help your sister unpack. Suzy can stay
with you in your room while we get her situated. We don’t have to
discuss this with your father just yet; I’ll deal with him in my
own way. Let’s just tell him that I invited Suzy here to see our
granddaughter, he can’t object to an innocent child.”

Later, Francine was showing her
sister where she could put some of her clothes and opened up a
chest of drawers for her to share. “You can have this half
Suzy.”

“Thanks Francine,” Suzy sweetly
voiced, walking over to the space and surveying the small rectangle
for her mountain of clothes. “I hate putting you out like
this.”

“It’s OK, I missed you.”

Suzy gazed away from her sister for
a moment and shoved some of her clothes in the drawer. “I missed
you too,” she barely got out, fingering the side of the dresser as
she tried to shove it closed. “Anyhow, how are you?”

“I’m fine, schools fine, guess
what?” Francine asked, excited all of a sudden.

“What?”

“I’m getting married in
June.”

Suzy stopped touching the furniture
and gave her sister an absurd look. “You can’t be
serious.”

“I am—I am serious. I’m getting
married to Ian.”

“Ian Davis? That marshmallow,
spineless, old boyfriend of yours—the one that you
dumped?”

“I didn’t dump him.”

“Fran, there’s a reason why they’re
called old boyfriends, because they’re old.”

“How can you say that?”

“I’ve seen the two of you together,
there’s no…fire.”

“Fire?”

“Spark honey, you need that
combustion! Heat, fire, passion, that
I-can’t-wait-till-I-see-him-so-that-I-can-screw-the-hell-outta-him
kinda of intensity.”

“We’re still talking about me,
right?”

“Of course we’re still talking about
you little sister. I’m only looking out for you,” Suzy uttered,
touching Francine’s shoulder.

Just then there was knock on the
door.

“Come in mom,” Francine said
thinking that it was their mother.

“Fran?” The voice behind the door
asked.

The two sisters looked at one
another oddly.

“Fran? I’ve got to talk to you, let
me in…It’s me Fran, it’s me Derrie.”

Francine’s eyes bugged out and went
to the door and swung it wide open. “What are you doing here, you
should be at school.”

Derrie walked in like he owned the
place, “You should be there too.” He then stopped short when he set
eyes on the lovely Mrs. Ashford. “Hey,” he just said giving her
sister a full body examination. Looking back at Francine, he asked,
“Who’s this?”

“Derek Magnet, this is my sister
Suzette Ashford. Suzy, this is my friend, Derrie.”

Suzy gracefully got off the bed and
waved hello from across the room. Derrie and Suzy make eye-to-eye
contact, it’s uncomfortable, it’s awkward and it was also quite
sizzling.

“Suzy will be staying with us for
awhile,” Francine said sort of matter-of-factly, trying not to get
jealous over their obvious rapid chemistry.

Derrie then quickly pulled in closer
to Francine. “I have to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Not here,” he said, eyeing Suzy
again.

“I’ll just go downstairs,” Suzy
quickly expressed, trying to be excused from the discomfort of an
embarrassing moment.

“No, stay here, we haven’t finished
talking yet,” Francine demanded, pulling at her sister’s blouse.
After motioning for her sister to sit back down on the bed,
Francine looked into Derrie’s eyes once again. “What’s up
Derrie?”

Derrie felt put on the spot and just
blurted out why he was there in the first place. “Fran, why didn’t
you tell me you were getting married?”

Francine took a quick glance over at
Suzy who, by the way, raised her plucked eyebrows at the surprising
agitation in his voice. Francine turned to look at Derrie once
again and was stunned by his concern out of nowhere. “Derrie…I
meant to tell you.”

“You made me hear it second hand at
school! Josh, Kevin, Ben, they all knew. I felt like a complete
ditz head.”

Francine took a few steps backwards
and away from him. She was absolutely stunned by his audible
concern out of nowhere and didn’t quite know how to handle it.
“Derrie…I didn’t think you’d care.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He shot back
angry.

“Well…we haven’t been friends that
long.”

“But we are friends.”

“Yes, but—”

He cut her off with a wave of his
hand. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

Francine took note of his harsh
tone. She smiled by mistake. “Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not upset.”

“But you are.”

Derrie turned to eye Suzy. Suzy gave
him a weak smile and a quick agreeable nod. “Really…I’m not
mad.”

“I’m sorry Derrie.”

“Be sorry after your wedding,” he
blurted back after meeting her heated eyes.

The smile on Francine’s face
vanished. “You are mad.”

Derrie walked away from her about to
exit. “No, just concerned for a friend.”

“Listen, both of you, I’ve thought
this through already,” Francine expressed, angry at the both of
them for protesting against her engagement.

“What, all of five minutes?” Derrie
quipped, crossing his arms across his chest.

“I’ve known him since I was
thirteen,” Francine voiced with a cry behind her
frustration.

“This is stupid Fran,
stupid.”

“I can’t believe you’re acting like
this, why can’t you just be happy for me?”

Derrie opened up the door about to
walk out but then changed his mind and walked right back in and
straight to Francine. “Me? Happy? Do I look happy?”

Francine pushed his nearing body
away. This wasn’t a game anymore, the smile that was on her face
vanished; erased by the desperation in his voice. “Stop! He’s a
great guy Derrie, when you meet him, you’ll understand.”