by Extra
9/4/89

The light of the mid-day sun slips around the edges of a thick, gray blanket to enter a cluttered, but not truly dirty, attic room. Enough light trespasses this room to make the major landmarks visible. It reveals a desk, a chair, a small trunk, or perhaps a small refrigerator, a mound of clothes and the rather contorted form of a young man on a bed. The fact that this person is still asleep at this time reveals the purpose of the blanket over the window.

For no observable reason, however, the young man soon stirs from his unconscious state and quietly groans into the pillow beneath his face. Suddenly, he stops groaning and in a quick, rather complex maneuver spins in to an upright position. Staring straight ahead he cries,"Oh my God, what have I done?"

After a short period of silence, the young man gets up and starts wandering around the room, avoiding the major landmarks and repeating,"Oh my God's, "I couldn't have's, and other forms of denial. While he is wandering and muttering, his hands spend a great deal of time pressed against his head as if the pressure will repeal the facts of what has occurred. He then sits on the bed in a way which can only be described as plopping, continues his stare and quietly says, "I can't believe I told Marisol I loved her!"

Immediately after this utterance, the door to this den opens slightly to admit a peering head. Upon seeing the young man sitting on the bed, the face quickly obtains a wicked smirk, the smirk of one who has seen many more breakfasts than the man occupying the room. The head then reveals it is part of another young man who sadistically turns on the overhead light and says,"Well, awake and in an upright position. Have a fun night, Pete?"

"Actually, I think I've banished myself to Hell. Do you know any schools on the West Coast I could transfer to, Bill?" Pete replies.

"Not off hand," Bill says,"This sounds pretty major, I'd better go call Marisol up."

"Marisol's here?!"

"sure, she's down in the kitchen," Bill says,"That's why I came up here, she said you'd be expecting her."

"Yeah, with a heavy dose of dread," Pete moans.

"Oh shit, you made another crack about her bat didn't you! You know how she is about that thing! All right, I'll go down and stall her while you start tying your sheets together."

"No, that's not it. Actually, I kind of like Bela now."

"You like that thing?" Bill says astonished,"Has something got into you?"

"Well, sort of, that's the problem." Pete admits,"Last night... I sort of told Marisol... that..."

"That what?" Bill interrupts,"That you can't say anything straightforward enough to enough for anyone to understand you?"

"I told her that I loved her, is that straightforward enough for you?" Pete yells, frustrated.

"Oh wow, you mean like for real, like I can't wait for Valentine's Day real?"

"Yeah, as sincere as a koala's love for eucalyptus."

"Hey, how did this happen? And when? And what did she say?"

"I think she said,'Wait , hold on, stop' but I'm not sure, my scooter was accelerating pretty fast," Pete replies.

"What?!"

"Just listen, allright? For a while now I've been feeling, you know, different, around her and last night we went on one of our walks. Well, it was when we were holding our breath while walking past the cemetery when I looked over at her and saw how her skin glowed in the moonlight, like the tombstones, except she was more blue because she'd been holding her breath for a while. It was at that moment when I realized how I felt. So when we got back to her place, I got on my scooter and started it up. After she said,'Dosvedonya, Buckaroo' I blurted out,'Marisol, I love you.' Her face was blank for a second so I freaked and sped off."

"Wow man,"Bill says,"Not exactly a Harlequin Romance,eh?"

"Come on, that was really hard."

Just then, there's a light rap on the door and a young woman slips through the door wearing a sleeveless black turtleneck and a long, floral print skirt. When Pete sees who it is, he grabs a pillow and puts it on his lap to conceal the fact that he is only wearing a pair of boxer shorts except for his mismatched socks.

"I'm sorry for coming up, but I ran out of mango preserves for my Triscuits and I was impatient," the young woman says.

"Mango preserves," Bill says,"I thought that was strictly Bela food."

"Well it is but I didn't have anything else to eat and I had already fed Bela," she replies.

Bill notices Pete is glaring at him so he gets up and says,"Oh, hey, time for me to Snagglepuss out of here. See ya, Marisol.

Marisol and Pete are now alone and there is an uncomfortable moment before Marisol says,"You know Peter, you really surprised me last night. You didn't give me a chance to say anything. I-"

"Um, Marisol," Peter interrupts,"Could you turn around for a sec so I could put some clothes on? This is hard enough as it is."

"What? Oh yeah, sure. I hope I haven't misled you or anything. To be honest, since I've had so much work to do for my Physical Education major and pre-vet work, I really haven't thought about relationships at all."

As Marisol is talking, Peter is rummaging through the pile of clothes, becoming more and more dissatisfied with what he finds and he says,"Well, at least you didn't think I was joking."

"Oh, of course not. If you were joking you would have elaborated more and stuck around to see my reaction."

Peter, in the meantime, has found a bathrobe wadded up beneath his desk and after he puts it on he says,"Okay, all clear."

Marisol turns, lets out a small sigh, and says,"Oh Peter, you would look so dashing with a bubble pipe right now."

"Yeah, great," Peter says glumly," 'I'm sure you'll make some girl very happy', right?"

"No, that's not what I mean," she replies, moving over to him,"Peter you know I like you a lot. I even let you pet Bela. Oh, I see it's healed now. Anyway, just because I haven't thought of you as anything other than a friend, doesn't mean I couldn't."

Coyly she adds,"I think I'd like to see your romantic side," to which Peter smiles and does a little eyebrow action.

"So what now?"

"Well, I think we should start off new." she answers,"I think you should ask me to go out on a date."

"You mean , like, a real date?" he says, surprised.

"Yes, a real date. But don't strain yourself thinking of what to do," she says, adding a smile.

"All right, um, Miss Epomops," he says, straightening himself and speaking in his most formal tone,"Would you accompany me to the Anne Rice book signing, Monday afternoon?"

"Why yes, Mr. Desmodus," she replies in an equally formal tone,"I'd love to."

They both smile and hug each other. Then Peter says,"Well, why don't we get you some real food?"

"Okay," she says, walking to the door,"Why don't we get some ...Spam?"