The Nights Were Young by Calvin Wedgefield Page A

apparent.
                  Marie started shaking. Damn it , she thought. She hates him already .
                  “I uh,” Travis stuttered. “I tripped. Yeah, I was just walking… on a road, and then I fell forward… really hard. Busted my face up and everything.”
                  They all stood awkwardly in silence.
                  “Mmhmm,” her mother said. “Do you have any plans after school?” 
                  “I don’t know,” he said quickly. “Tomorrow I was thinking about hanging out by the lake. Maybe soon I can take Marie on another date if…” he stopped, realizing her mother had meant “after graduation” plans. “Oh, you mean… after high school, right.”
                  His mother stared at him with an eyebrow raised.
    “No not yet,” he said quickly, and then leaned into the doorway and took Marie’s hand. “Come on, Marie,” he said. “We’re gonna be late.”
    He had disregarded the stare her mother had given him. He was fearless against it, and Marie felt elated witnessing her mother stand back in the subtle expression of shock that she couldn’t hide.
    She smiled and kissed her stunned mother on the cheek. “Bye mom!”
                  “Uh… be back by eleven, Marie!” her mother said.
                  But Marie was already swept up in the forming whirlwind called Travis. He had washed his beat-up, red truck, and as he opened the door for her he asked, “What do you think of my baby? She’s pretty tonight huh.”
                  Marie smirked at him. She got inside.
                  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m talking about the truck.”
                  “Yeah, you would be,” she said.
                  He smiled, happy with himself, as he shut her door and ran around. He jumped into the driver’s seat. He grinned at Marie. “You look alright.”
     
                  **********
     
                  They barely spoke on the ride to their date. Travis took her to the Crossfalls Drive-In Theater. She assumed it was one of the last drive-in theaters left in the United States. It was built on an empty lot not far from the town square. At the front of the lot was the giant screen, towering over the audience in their spaced out parking spots. Halfway between the screen and the other end of the lot was a metal shack that made for the snack stand. All around the premises was a tall wall made of metal panels.
    The movie was Full Moon Fangs , and the date had taken an awkward turn. Marie sat right next to the window leaving the middle seat open, and Travis sat against the opposite window looking forward. He nibbled on popcorn while Marie sipped her soda.
                  “You know,” he said, “you can – scoot closer to me if you get scared.”
                  “Alright. I’ll remember that.” She kept her gaze forward at the movie screen that she wasn’t paying attention to. It was nerve racking. Her palms were clammy. Her breaths were shallow. She wanted to move closer to him, to be next to him, but she was frozen still in her seat.
    The date wasn’t what she thought it would be. He was not making moves or talking about how pretty she was. For part of the night he had stayed still, frozen like a little boy before a stranger. She was beginning to think he may have been a nervous wreck, like she was, that would not take any risk at all, until--
                  He slowly inched himself closer to her; then, while keeping his gaze straight forward, he lifted his arm and put it around her on the seat.
    Marie was turning red. “What are you doing?”
                  “I’m kinda getting scared,” he said.
    He smiled a little, but then noticed she was not, and so he stopped.
                  With him being this close, Marie noticed