LOUIE SEEMED TO look at me with more interest once he knew I was going to Tech. We spent a lot of time together up at Danny’s. We did silly things like read Mad magazines, or we studied or watched TV together.
I kept watching Louie for signs that he liked me. Sometimes he acted as if he did and sometimes he didn’t. It was all very confusing.
I figured that the perfect opportunity to find out how he really felt about me was going to be at a party we were invited to at Marty’s house. Renee Berkley was going to be there. Even though she was still going out with Marty, Renee was ready to fall all over Louie any chance she got.
Not only was Renee coming, but Ellen Rossi was invited, too. Of course, supposedly she was coming with Lenny, but Ellen wasn’t one to let that stand in the way of her shameless flirtations with Louie.
Ellen and Renee—double opportunity for trouble. If Louie chose to be with me at the party despite their presence, I could feel reasonably sure that he liked me best.
But things didn’t work out the way I planned.
The first thing that went wrong was that Roz wasn’t able to come. Her father was punishing her because she left her just-washed pantyhose dripping in the bathroom. It seems he slipped on the puddle that had formed. He didn’t hurt himself, but was mad because she had dared to laugh at the way he looked lying on the floor!
The next thing that went wrong was that Ellen and Lenny had a big fight. Ever since that time at Danny’s, Lenny refused to kiss Ellen. She was always playing little games to tease him and to try to get him to kiss her. She would do things like creep her fingers up his arm and around his back. She always wound up with her lips right near his. Still, he refused to kiss her.
I guess she teased him one time too many. The way I heard the story, he wound up grabbing her in a place she didn’t want to be grabbed. She promptly slapped his face. At any rate, Lenny was not coming to the party.
When we got to the party, we found that Marty’s parents were out for the night. That was the third thing that went wrong.
“I can’t stay here,” I said, starting to put my coat back on. “I promised my parents that I wouldn’t go to unchaperoned parties.”
“What! Are you some kind of baby or something?” Marty looked angry. “I went to all this trouble to arrange everything, and now you say that you can’t stay! It’s ridiculous! You’re going to ruin the whole party! Don’t you trust us?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I tried feebly to explain. “It’s just that I promised my parents. They’d kill me if they found out!”
“How would they find out, anyway?” Louie asked. “No one here would tell them.”
I started weakening.
“Please, Linda,” begged Fran. “If you leave, I’ll have to leave, too.”
I looked at everyone. They were all awaiting my decision. Since the other two couples weren’t coming, it was only Marty and Renee, Danny and Fran, and Louie and I at the party. It certainly would ruin the party if Fran and I left. It would really be a rotten thing to do to Marty.
“Oh, all right. I’ll stay.” I took off my coat again. “I just hope my parents don’t find out about this!”
* * *
We had just started dancing when the doorbell rang. Marty went to the door. We heard voices arguing and rushed to see who was there. It was Lenny, Nicky, Norman, and Sheldon, trying to crash our party. They were acting loud and crazy. Marty slammed the door.
“I’m not letting those guys in,” he told us. “They’re acting like they’re looking for trouble!”
“Trouble?” Renee hung on to him. “I’m frightened, Marty! What do you think they might do?”
“They’re not going to do anything,” Marty answered. “I’m just not going to let them in. Come on, let’s start dancing again.” He led the way back to the living room.
I was dancing with Louie and just starting to relax, when the doorbell rang again. Everyone froze. We all looked at one another.
“I’ll handle this,” Marty said, going to the door. He put the chain on this time so it could only open a crack. We heard him talking but didn’t know what he was saying.
He closed the door behind him.
“What do they want now?” I asked.
“They claim that they’ll leave us alone if we just let Sheldon in,” he answered. “He’s got Ellen with him. He says that since they were both originally invited, we ought to at least let them in.”
“Ellen? If Ellen’s out there, you’ve got to let them in!” Fran insisted. “We can’t leave her out there with all those boys when they’re acting wild like that.”
“Why not?” I scowled. “She’s probably enjoying every minute of it!” Renee hadn’t been a problem so far. The last one I wanted around to make trouble was Ellen!
Everyone else, however, seemed to agree with Fran, so Marty took the chain off the door. Ellen came in, followed by Sheldon.
The next thing we heard were shouts. The rest of the boys tried to force their way in! Nicky led the way. I could see his gawky head coming through the doorway!
“Get out of here, Glick!” Marty yelled, pushing Nicky in the face. Nicky backed off, and Marty slammed the door shut, locking it behind him.
We could hear the boys yelling out in the hall. “I’ll get even with you, Marty! No one calls me Glick and gets away with it. You’ve got to come out of there sometime! I’ll smash you to pieces! I’ll make you wish you were never born!” Nicky had obviously flipped out.
Ellen giggled nervously at all this. “What does ‘Glick’ mean, anyhow?” she asked. “Why does it make him so mad?”
“No one knows,” Danny told her. “But you shouldn’t have called him that, Marty. He’s been known to go crazy over being called Glick before. I wonder what those guys will pull now. They’re capable of waiting down there all night!”
I shivered. “This is what happens when you go to unchaperoned parties,” I said.
“Oh, stop it, Linda,” Fran said with annoyance. “We’re here already, so let’s try to enjoy it!” She took Dan’s hand and led him over to the sofa.
I went and sat on the other sofa. I hoped Louie would sit next to me. He did, but Ellen sat on his other side with Sheldon next to her.
Marty shut the lights off. I couldn’t see a thing for a moment. I could hear rustling sounds coming from where Ellen and Sheldon were sitting. I wondered if Sheldon was fooling around with Ellen. Did he care so little for Roz that as soon as she wasn’t around, he’d go right for Ellen?
“Ooh, Louie! That tickles!” I heard Ellen giggle. “Hold my hand, don’t play with it!” My heart dropped. It wasn’t Sheldon who was fooling around with Ellen. It was Louie!
So this was it. I had wanted proof of how Louie felt, and now I had it. He was obviously choosing Ellen over me. Tears burned my eyes. I tried sniffling them back, but they kept on coming uncontrollably.
I don’t know if Louie heard me crying or just sensed that I was upset. But at that moment his hand touched my shoulder. Then his arm went around me, and he pulled me back into his arms.
I couldn’t believe it! I quickly wiped my eyes and snuggled up to him. It was the most wonderful feeling to be so close to Louie. He must like me; he must!
Louie’s face was right up against mine. I was afraid to breathe. Was he finally going to kiss me?
But before anything could happen, the lights in the living room were suddenly flipped on. I practically jumped out of Louie’s arms. What could be the matter now?
“I just checked the hall,” Marty announced. It was he who had turned the lights on. “It looks as if those crazy jerks left for a while. I hate to do this, but I think we should take advantage of that fact and clear out of here while the going is good.”
Everyone seemed to agree that this was the best thing to do. We grabbed our jackets and filed out into the hallway to make our escape. Our worst fear was that the boys might be waiting for us when we got downstairs. With loudmouth Lenny to work up an already crazed Nicky, anything could happen!
We all herded into the small elevator. I felt my stomach turning as the elevator dropped. I kept praying that there would be no one in the downstairs hall to make trouble when we got there!
The elevator door slid open. My prayers were not answered. Nicky’s head towered above us. He looked furious!
“Where’s the one who called me Glick?” he asked, smacking his fist into the palm of his hand.
“Come on, Nicky.” Sheldon tried to calm him down. “Marty didn’t mean it.”
Nicky shoved Sheldon aside as if he were a piece of paper. He grabbed Marty by the collar and picked him up off the floor!
“Don’t you ever call me Glick again!” he roared. Then he pulled back his arm and punched Marty in the face!
Renee screamed. The doors to the other apartments opened as people tried to see where all the noise was coming from.
“Run, girls, run!” Ellen yelled.
“Maybe we should help Marty,” I said, shivering.
“Don’t be a fool, Linda,” Fran shouted. “There’s nothing we could do, anyhow!”
She was right. We girls ran out to the street. We stood there nervously until the boys finally joined us. Blood was dripping from the corner of Marty’s mouth.
“Marty, are you all right?” Renee asked tearfully.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He dabbed at the blood with a tissue. “Those guys are really crazy!”
“Where’s Sheldon?” I asked. He hadn’t come out with the boys.
“He stayed with them to calm them down,” Danny said, putting his arms around Fran and me. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll walk you girls home.”
“Well, I learned something tonight,” I announced when we reached our building.
“What’s that?” Danny asked.
“Sometimes my parents aren’t so old-fashioned after all. I don’t think I want to go to any more unchaperoned parties for a long time!”
“Are you sure about that?” Louie winked at me, his eyes laughing.
I looked into his eyes and remembered how his arms felt around me. “Well, we’ll just have to be more careful next time,” I said. Boy, when it came to Louie, I really had no will power at all!