Guess Who’s Looking for You
by Douglas Young
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Table of Contents parts 1, 2, 3 |
part 1
Keaton’s excitement grew the closer he got to his friend Zita’s place. She and her roommates were throwing a house-warming party that Friday night, and Keaton hoped to see many buddies from high school and college, including several not seen in years.
Lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, the twenty-six-year old tried an old college trick when he stopped the car: he rolled down the windows and turned off the radio. Sure enough, he heard the distant beat of loud music. He smiled and simply followed the sound. His smile widened before a slew of parked cars and young people in the driveway and back yard of a fully lit home. In more ways than one, he mused.
Walking toward the house, he was greeted by many school pals. It heartened him to be far from the only one still in their university town.
Soon Zita came out of the carport to give him a hug and kiss. “I knew you’d show up, shug,” she exclaimed.
“Of course, I would,” he replied. Admiring her in her new blue dress, he added, “And Mr. Kenny is one mighty blessed gentleman.”
“Aw, aren’t you sweet?” She beamed. “That deserves another hug, sure enough, and I’m gon’ be sure and remind my man of that, too,” she remarked as she embraced him again. “Oh, and look what I’ve got, sweetie: your ginger ale.”
His face lit up. “Thank you, precious. Now folks won’t be trying to shove beers at me all night and ask why I don’t drink.”
“I’m just the hostess who thinks of you the mostest,” she remarked. “Where’s Miss Janessa? No trouble in Paradise, I hope.”
“Oh, no. She’s just visiting her folks this weekend. Unfortunately, she’d already committed to going home before she got your invitation. But she sends her best regards.”
“I totally understand. Things have been so hectic with the move and everything that we were really late getting out the invites. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, hon, I need to welcome some more folks, but I’ll see you later, love.”
“Thanks, babe.”
Keaton then noticed his high school classmate Huey standing before him with a grin. Keaton had long been jealous of his old pal for appearing utterly laid back. In fact, he had never seen or heard of Huey studying or making much effort toward anything, and it was quite a surprise when he graduated from the university. That his degree was in “Leisure Studies” seemed entirely apropos. Though Huey had never struck him as particularly handsome or charming, he had always been amazed at how successful Huey was with the ladies, apparently his proudest achievement.
“Huey! How goes it in horny Hueyville?” Keaton shook his hand.
“The hound dog’s been on the hunt and has met with considerable success,” Huey reported with a raised beer.
“Uh-oh. Everybody lock up your daughters.” Keaton chuckled. “Dating anybody steady?”
“Ain’t got time. These women won’t let me. I tell you, there’s entirely way too much demand. Hell, I’m just trying to accommodate as many as I can.”
“Good Lord, Huey. You got an agent or something? You sound like you should be a professional escort.” Keaton laughed.
“Hey, now that there’s something to think about, sure enough. Why let the chicks have a corner on that market?”
“So how does a working man like you accommodate all these women? Your house must be some kind of a revolving-door love shack.”
“Shoot, half the time we don’t even make it home. Yeah, with my latest lady, I punched her ticket in Grandaddy’s Camero behind the Piggly Wiggly.”
“Touching,” Keaton remarked.
“With the one before her, I checked her box in the balcony of the Downtown Dixie Cinema.”
“A matinee or evening show?”
“Shoot, matinee, of course. It’s way too expensive at night.” Huey looked at him as if the question was absurd. “Then, with the one before her, I laundered her shorts in Tranquility Grove Cemetery. And if that gal didn’t wake up the dead that night, nothing ever will.”
“You’re just an incurable romantic, Huey.”
“I aim to please.”
“And really cheap dates, too, no?”
“Can’t afford pricey ones, bro. My hip gets to hurting something terrible if we go to one of them high-priced chow joints or a show. You go down that road and pretty soon we’re talking real money.” He smiled as he slapped the wallet in his back hip pocket.
“I still envy the heck out of you, man. Must be mighty nice amidst all that sugar and spice.”
“Well, it’s a heavy load but somebody’s gotta’ bear it,” he declared, hoisting his beer.
Keaton wandered around the back yard waving at and chatting with a variety of friends and acquaintances. It was a comfort that most seemed to be doing well and a revelation that a few had started families of their own. But it was sad to learn how many lives had already hurtled off the tracks into a swamp of drink, drugs, or divorce, and often all three. Also sobering was how rapidly several classmates were aging and putting on weight. But he tried to stay positive.
Suddenly, Zita’s hand was on his shoulder and she wore a serious face. “Guess who’s looking for you, sweetie.” Her eyes widened and lips tightened.
“No idea,” he replied.
“Don’t look to your left, but it’s Lyric. And she’s alone. And she’s been drinking.”
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as Zita put her arm around him.
“Want me to steer her away?” she asked. “I couldn’t not invite her as long as we’ve been friends.”
“No, no. I totally understand. It’s no problem.” He sighed again and looked at the ground. “It’s my problem. This was bound to happen, and I’m sure it’ll occur again. So I just need to man up and deal with it. I’m glad Janessa’s not here.”
“Um-hum. Ditto that for sure. Well, I just wanted to warn you. Now you be sure and let me know if there’s any trouble, and I’ll talk to her. It’ll be all right. She doesn’t seem angry at all. Especially since Ray ain’t with her and she’s by herself, I’d say she’s hoping to hook up with you.”
He raised his head to the stars, shook it, and sighed.
“Now, Keaton, you know I love Lyric, and Lord knows that girl and I’ve been through a whole lot together. But no matter how sweet and sexy she comes on to you,” she tapped her finger into his chest and squinted her eyes close to his, “you just remember how she cheated on you and all that hurt she put you through. You got a great thing going with Miss Janessa. So don’t you dare blow it, you hear?”
“No way,” he declared while vigorously shaking his head. “Thanks, Zita... a lot.”
As soon as she turned to welcome new arrivals and he veered right to avoid the person he least wanted to see, he heard his name called and instantly knew the voice unleashing a flock of butterflies in his stomach. It was a strange mix of dread coupled with undeniable excitement, and he resolved to avoid a public scene, as well as any seduction.
“Keaton!” Lyric called again a few feet away with her hands behind her back, head lowered, and large puppy dog eyes aimed up at him. “How’s my sweet Keatty?”
“Okay,” Keaton answered turning to her before remembering to smile. “How goes it?”
Her black hair was fuller, curlier, and longer than when he last saw her in passing two months before, and adorned with a hot pink flower above her right ear just the way he loved it. She also filled out his favorite red halter top. She even wore the turquoise belly button ring he used to kiss, above the white shorts and long, tan legs he had stared at so many times.
At the risk of flattering himself, he figured her entire look was chosen just for him. At least there would apparently not be another argument. But this is worse, he reasoned. If she got angry again, he could just leave. But now he sensed that he might face a tipsy, highly emotional, and self-pitying former girlfriend intent on winning him back. Keep thinking of Janessa, he repeated to himself emphatically.
Lyric looked at him with a slowly growing grin. He could not help but smile and admire how extraordinarily attractive he still found her, in spite of everything.
Emboldened, and with a canny intuition he respected and feared, she clasped her hands in front of her and stood on her toes.
“I need a hug,” she said in a meek voice with an exaggerated pout, blinking eyes, and a little smile, relieved he was no longer too angry to speak to her.
“All right.” He laughed out of nervousness and relief that she was in her sweet mode, and resigned respect for an ace manipulator. If his public strength was academic success, hers was her fine looks and savvy sense of exactly how to use them.
They embraced, and he luxuriated in that perfume he adored the most but would not get Janessa for fear it would remind him of Lyric. Am I an egotist or did she completely plan this for me? he wondered. But he also smelled alcohol, as if the gorgeous girl of his dreams was now poisoned. When she would not let go of him, he began to worry that others would notice and word could get back to Janessa. Worse, he felt himself aroused.
“Folks will start to talk, Lyric.”
“Let ’em!” she proclaimed and pulled him tighter. He wondered if he would need to wash his shirt to get rid of the smell of perfume and booze.
“I ain’t ashamed of who I love,” she told him with her chin raised defiantly a few inches from his face. He felt his body tingle and recalled the thrill of their first kiss before an image of Janessa appeared and he gently pulled away from her.
“I appreciate that, Lyric. That’s very kind—”
“It’s not being kind. I’m just telling the truth,” she interrupted with a sad but hopeful smile. “You look good, Keaton, and I like how you’ve let your hair grow out.” She smiled as she ran her hands through it. “I told you how much better you look when you don’t cut it so short. Now you finally listen to me.” She cocked her head with a mischievous pout.
“Thanks. You’re certainly as stunning as ever,” he said and immediately regretted it. What would Janessa say if she heard that? he asked himself.
“Aw, big thanks, my sweet Keatty. I’m glad you still notice... and care.”
He swallowed, smiled faintly, and looked at the ground, knowing she could tell how nervous he was, a state she loved to manipulate.
“I’ve missed you, sweetheart, more than you’ll ever know,” she said in a softer, plaintive voice as she put her arms around his head before he quickly removed them. He reminded himself he was no longer as shy and malleable as he had been a year ago when she burst into his life like a tornado.
After loudly sighing and looking away, she turned to him again and asked without affectation, “Tell me true, Keaton. Have you missed me?”
He blinked and was touched, despite his pride not wanting to admit such to her, of all people. It was a revelation to be so moved by her in spite of all the tumult she had inflicted on his heretofore predictably stable universe, culminating in a deeply hurtful betrayal that upped his anti-depressant pill intake.
The dosage had only recently been reduced now that he was so pleased with his new relationship with Janessa. Yet he was overwhelmed at how the woman who hurt him more than anyone could still fill him with that drowsy, dreamy feeling that life could somehow be wonderful.
Copyright © 2025 by Douglas Young
