Intimate Confidences

Intimate Confidences

“Time hurries on, and the leaves that are green, turn to brown...” It was protest music from an old vinyl LP. Jerry had found the entire collection in a spare room before he left for college. His mother's younger brother had been a DJ back in the '60s, but had abandoned his excellent collection, to move to California and run a Bar and Grill. Jerry had slowly formulated the plan to buy a USB turn-table and rip it all to digital format as a gift, for his Uncle. Things had finally coalesced during the New Year's break. Now, fragments of haunting restrains came back to him as he studied for the new semester.

The phone rang, and it was Julie. This was every bit as much a surprise as it had been the last time. Certainly they shared an unusual trust, but it had hardly been a month, and this seemed scant time for any major developments.

“Jerry,” she gushed. “Chad proposed!”

Considering how matters had stood at the close of their last conversation, this was excellent news. “Congratulations!” he returned, and then, as is expected, “Have you set a date?”

Silence answered this felicitation. Surely he had not offended?

“It's... well, Jerry, we're waiting until after graduation!” Her voice was upbeat, but something about it rang hollow.

Jerry reflected on developments, and asked, “Is there more to know than you are telling me?”

“...maybe.” Julie used the word like an artful flirt. The answer was a resounding “yes!” but she would need to work her way up to the explanation. “Y'see, Chad 'n me had a talk, pretty soon after I gave you the 'big reveal!'”

“Go on...” Jerry had an unconscious habit of specifying words, even when all he needed to do was grunt a verbal encouragement.

“Well... Chad was so impressed by the fact that I had been 'pristine,' (as he put it,) until he did me, that he made a decision.” She stopped, not sure of how to proceed in absence of an interrogative.

Jerry predictably obliged. “Mm'k. What was his decision and what did he decide it about?” No point being vague about it... Julie was good enough at that for the both of them.

“Chad said that we should wait 'til we were married,” Julie explained. “But then, when I asked him when he wanted get married and move in together, he had a whole long explanation about how it would be stupid and irresponsible to get married before we finished school, 'n he was sooo honorable and proper about it all, I didn't want to just be a slut and bone him.” Julie paused, mostly because she had to breathe. “I mean, he's so honest and unpolluted, I don't even think I could seduce him if I tried!” She finally came to a halt.

Jerry considered this for a moment. True, Chad was taking the high road, but Jerry had a feeling that the respect Julie had conceived for him was warped by her self image in some way. He couldn't be THAT perfect... but no point antagonizing Julie by taking pot-shots at her knight. He targeted her a little more directly. “So you're not gettin' any?” he asked.

Julie had believed herself in love with Chad since well before her fuse was lit, so rather than regarding Chad as ineffectual, she had concluded that Chad was a paragon of whom she was unworthy, while simultaneously enjoying redemption by his love and trust. Jerry's comment was so CRUDE... and VULGAR! How could he be sooo... BASE? Her considerations were balanced against an unavoidable awareness that she would physically prefer a “player,” to her unapproachable redeemer, and it dulled the sting of Jerry's evaluation. She mentally retracted her tirade before it left her lips. “...No!” she finally admitted.

Jerry decided that solidarity was the best salve for her wounded pride, and told a white lie. “Me neither,” he said. Oh, technically it might be true for the moment, but his prospects were immeasurably better.

She clung to the olive branch. “I love you Jerry,” she espoused. “You're SUCH an encouragement.”

“I love you too, cuz,” he replied. “I'll always be here for you.”

“Stay in touch. I don't want to always be the one to call, Jerry!” she concluded.

They parted with a shared trust enjoyed by few enough in the world. The relationships among Terrorists were gratifying in this way, reenforced daily when each declined to assist authorities against the others, but ordinary friends rarely face an adversity great enough to instigate the intimacy that these two now enjoyed.