‘My boyfriend’s real name is John Sullivan,’ she said. ‘Like the fighter. Now tell me the name of your girlfriend.’
‘Annmarie,’ I said, not much caring for the sound of it as it came out of my mouth.
‘Annmarie Soucie. She’s a senior at Gates Falls High this year.’ I let Carol go. When I did, she took her hands off my chest and grabbed mine.
‘This is information,’ she said. ‘Information, that’s all. Still want to kiss me?’
I nodded. I wanted to more than ever.
‘Okay.’ She tilted her face up, closed her eyes, opened her lips a little. She looked like a kid waiting at the foot of the stairs for her goodnight kiss from Papa. It was so cute I almost laughed. Instead I bent and kissed her. She kissed back with pleasure and enthusiasm. There were no tongues touching, but it was a thorough, searching kiss just the same. When she drew back, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright. ‘Goodnight. Thanks for the movie.’
‘Want to do it again?’
‘I have to think about that,’ she said. She was smiling but her eyes were serious. I suppose her boyfriend was on her mind; I know that Annmarie was on mine. ‘Maybe you better, too.
I’ll see you on the dishline Monday. What do you have?’
‘Lunch and dinner.’
‘I have breakfast and lunch. So I’ll see you at lunch.’
‘Eat more Maine beans,’ I said. That made her laugh. She went inside. I watched her go, standing outside with my collar turned up and my hands in my pockets and a cigarette between my lips, feeling like Bogie. I watched her say something to the girl on the reception desk and then hurry upstairs, still laughing.
I walked back to Chamberlain in the moonlight, determined to get serious about the geosyncline.
12
I only went into the third-floor lounge to get my geology book; I swear it’s true. When I got there, every table — plus one or two which must have been hijacked from other floors — was occupied by a quartet of Hearts-playing fools. There was even a group in the corner, sitting cross-legged on the floor and staring intently at their cards. They looked like half-assed yogis.
‘We chasin The Cunt!’ Ronnie Malenfant yelled to the room at large. ‘We gonna bust that bitch out, boys!’
I picked up my geology text from the sofa where it had lain all day and night (someone had sat on it, pushing it most of the way down between two cushions, but that baby was too big to hide entirely), and looked at it the way you might look at some artifact of unknown purpose.
In Hauck Auditorium, sitting beside Carol Gerber, this crazy card-party had seemed like a dream. Now it was Carol who seemed dreamlike — Carol with her dimples and her boyfriend with the boxer’s name. I still had six bucks in my pocket and it was absurd to feel disappointed just because there was no place for me in any of the games currently going on.
Study, that was what I had to do. Make friends with the geosyncline. I’d camp out in the second-floor lounge or maybe find a quiet corner in the basement rec.
Just as I was leaving with Historical Geology under my arm, Kirby McClendon tossed down his cards and cried, Tuck this! I’m tapped! All because I keep getting hit with that fucking queen of spades! I’ll give you guys IOUs, but I am honest-to-God tapped out.’ He went out past me without looking back, ducking his head as he went through the door — I’ve always thought that being that tall must be a kind of curse. A month later Kirby would be tapped out in a much larger sense, withdrawn from the University by his frightened parents after a mental breakdown and a half-assed suicide attempt. Not the first victim of Hearts-mania that fall, nor the last, but the only one to try and off himself by eating two bottles of orange-flavored baby aspirin.
Lennie Doria didn’t even bother looking after him. He looked over at me instead. ‘You want to sit in, Riley?’