Nick & Nancy

“Where do you think they went?” Nancy asked, looking across the bonfire. Nick shrugged, and looked away. They had all come to Doran Beach in Bob’s van, but the other four had charged off into the dunes to explore, leaving Nick alone with Nancy. Nick was mortified. It could not more obvious that they were trying to set the two of them up? Not that he would have minded.
“It’s nice here.” Nancy said, “Quiet.”
It was quiet, Nick thought. Too quiet. He looked over at Nancy quickly. She wore a red tank top and white shorts and her tan skin glowed in the firelight. Nick darted his eyes away just as she noticed him looking.
Nick liked everything about Nancy Manning. He liked the fact that she wasn’t full of herself like a lot of other girls, always one upping each other with what they wore or who they dated. Nancy was quiet and smart. She was pretty, with a kind of off strawberry blonde hair, but she never did anything with it. It was just there. He liked that.
“How are you making out with chem. class?” she asked. Nick blushed. Once, a couple of months ago, he had mentioned his struggle with chemistry while they were having lunch with a group of friends. Nick wondered how she had managed to remember that.
“I’m doing all right.” he said, “It’ll never be my favorite thing.”
“Mine either.” Nancy answered, tossing a branch into the fire. Sparks shot up and her gaze followed them. Nick sneaked another peak at the girl, wishing he had the courage to tell her how he felt. Bob, his best friend would have in a heartbeat. Bob had had girlfriends since seventh grade, a steady string of them, but Nick had never understood what the appeal of girls was until he had met Nancy Manning. He glanced over and saw Nancy watching him.
“What?”
“Any more marshmallows?” Nick picked up the bag of marshmallows and started to toss them to her.
“Wait, I’ll come over there.” Nancy said. She got up and crossed over to the log that Nick sat on, bringing some long sticks. They divvied up the remaining marshmallows, spearing them and setting them over a section of coals that had no flame.
“Aha,” Nancy said, “I see you are an aficionado.”
“Aficia what?”
“Aficianado. An expert. Everybody else just lights them on fire. They don’t understand that this way, they get hot on the inside and turn golden brown on the outside.”
“You sound like a commercial for the marshmallow advisory board.” Nancy laughed.
“I want to be a writer.” she said “I don’t think I will though. I might actually end up writing commercials.” She made a face and reached down to turn both their sticks over. “What about you? What are your plans after high school?”
“I dunno.” Nick said, looking out to where the phosphorescent waves crested onto the shore, “I’ll probably go to the JC to start, and then transfer somewhere that has a good liberal arts program. I think I might want to be a teacher.”
“Oh, yeah? What?”
“Kids. You know, little kids. I think kids are cool. They’re so… uninhibited, you know.”
“Yeah.” Nancy said, “I think that you would be great at that.”
“Really?” He looked her in the eyes. She was smiling, and for a moment he thought he would kiss her. He had always been afraid of girls, but this girl seemed so different, so approachable. He wondered if he would ever have the chance to tell her how he felt.
“So what do you think you’ll do for college?” he asked her, reaching down to turn the marshmallows.
“Almost ready!” she said, rocking slightly. Their shoulders touched. “I’ll probably go Berkeley. Maybe wait to declare till I figure out what interests me.”
“Sounds good.” Nick said, hating himself. Could he be any more stupid? He felt like a caveman being interviewed by a princess. “I think maybe the…” he pointed down to where the marshmallows were starting to turn dark. Nancy reached down and picked up both sticks. She handed him one and they ate in silence.
“I’m glad you’re staying in the county, Nick.” Nancy said when she had finished eating. “Berkeley’s not that far. You can come see me.” She looked at him, licking her fingers like a kid.
“I would totally like that.” he said. He held up his last marshmallow to her. She plucked it off the stick with a smile and popped it in her mouth.
Just then, there was a shout from the dunes and Bob ran up and pounced on the sand. He was quickly followed by Lisa, Bob’s second girlfriend this year, and the rest of the gang.
“Hello young lovers.” Bob said. Nick wanted to smash him in the face. He looked quickly over at Nancy, but her face was unreadable. “We got to haul ass.” Bob said, “My dad told me I was supposed to be back home by ten and its after nine thirty now.”
After they had thrown sand on the fire, they all started to walk back to where they had parked the van. Nancy was walking ahead with the girls. Bob threw an affectionate headlock on Nick.
“Well, my man,” he said, “Tell daddy all about it. You get some?”
“Shut up.” Nick said.
“What are you guys talking about?” said Matt, coming up to join them.
“I was just asking my boy Nick here if he took advantage of our little ploy.” Bob said.
“As if it wasn’t obvious what you guys were trying to do.” Nick said.
“Well?” Matt said.
“Well, what?”
“You know.”
“Listen, if you guys like to circle jerk, that’s your business. Just leave me out of it.”
“That means he didn’t get any.” Matt said, punching Nick on the arm. Nick blushed. Bob and Matt were both cut from the same cloth, bold and brash. Nick sometimes wondered why Bob called Nick his best friend. At the moment, he was not sure why he called Bob his.
They reached the car and saw that the three girls had all crowded into the back seat. Matt shot Nick a withering glance. “Great.” he muttered under his breath. “After you, stud.” Nick crawled into the middle seat, miserable. He was ashamed that he hadn’t taken advantage of his time alone with Nancy, but he was more ashamed of the way his friends were acting. Matt turned to Lisa, Bob’s girlfriend.
“You want shotgun?” he said.
“No, you go ahead.” Lisa said, “I’m staying back here with my Homies.”
“Wait a minute.” Nancy said as Matt started to slide the door of the van closed. She squirmed out from where she was tucked between the two other girls and sat down next to Nick in the middle seat. She went about the business of buckling herself into the seat while studiously ignoring the two girls nudging each other in the back seat. Nick looked out the window in order to hide the wide grin that was threatening to split his head like a melon.
“That’s better.” Nancy said.