It didn’t take long for Lenny’s uncle to start creating the problems I had feared. About a week after Uncle Art’s arrival, Lenny stopped telling everyone what a sharp, brilliant, and wonderful guy he was. A week after that, Lenny mentioned that as bad as it was living with his mother, having both his mother and his uncle there was much worse. Soon after that, he was telling nothing but horror stories about how awful it was living with his uncle, who had started to drink again.
“I figured something was wrong when his behavior kept getting more and more bizarre,” he confessed to me and Sheldon one night as we were walking together to pick up Roz for a double date. This was something we did less frequently now that Sheldon had moved away. Whether it was the distance or Roz’s increasing involvement with her school, Fine Arts, that caused this situation, I didn’t know. But the two of them definitely seemed to be drifting apart.
“Like what?” asked Sheldon. Surprisingly, his friendship with Lenny and the other boys didn’t seem adversely affected by his move. He would spend whole weekends with them, hanging around the poolroom that was open all night, or sleeping over at one of their apartments, so he got to see them almost as much as he had before. He was particularly close to Lenny and concerned about what went on in his home.
“Like starting to scream and pick on me or my mother with no provocation. Like nodding off to sleep in the middle of the afternoon. Like having blackouts—not remembering what he said or did. Like doing crazy things like painting the kitchen without covering anything up and winding up ruining pots, dishes, and appliances. Like having uncontrollable tantrums, throwing things, breaking things, and even cutting up my mother’s clothes.”
“Wow. That does sound crazy,” I said. “But how do you know it’s because he’s drinking again?”
“I thought I smelled alcohol on him a few times, but I wasn’t sure. Then today, the toilet wasn’t working right so I opened the tank to see if I could fix it. Inside, I found two bottles of vodka, one half-full and one completely empty. It’s obvious he’s been hiding the liquor there and drinking it while pretending to go to the bathroom. That explains his crazy behavior. He’s drunk all the time.”
“Did you say anything to anyone about it?” asked Sheldon.
“Not yet. I don’t think it’s going to do any good to talk to my uncle. He’ll only find another hiding place for his liquor if he wants to drink. I’m not sure if I should say anything to my mother, either.”
“Maybe if you do she’ll kick him out and your problems with him will be over,” I suggested.
“I don’t think she’s strong enough to do that,” he answered. “She demanded he get out at least a hundred times the past month, and he just laughs. She’s not strong enough to do anything but fight with him. It’s pure torture living in my house. It’s a good thing report cards came out already so I was able to keep my grades high enough to stay on the bowling team. With the way things have been going at home, it’s impossible to concentrate on anything to do with school.”
“Lenny! That report card was only the midterm grade. The final grades are the ones that count! If you allow yourself to slip now, you’ll ruin everything you’ve worked for. You’ve got to get things straightened out at home!” I said anxiously.
“You’re probably right,” he said grimly. “But telling my mother’s not the answer. She’d only—”
“Hey, can we change the subject now?” Sheldon interrupted as we arrived at Roz’s building. “Roz and I haven’t been getting along well recently. I want this evening to get us back on the right track again. Let’s try to talk about pleasant things.”
“Sure, Sheldon,” we agreed. I felt as if I had a vested interest in keeping Roz and Sheldon together. Joel and Penny had broken up two weeks ago, and Joel was back to his usual routine of playing the field. Billy and Donna weren’t getting along. Roz and Sheldon were the last “couple friends” we had left. If they broke up Lenny would be the only one of his close friends to have a steady girlfriend. I knew the kind of pressure the boys were capable of putting on him if they felt he was spending too much time with me and not enough with them. That was not the type of thing that was beneficial to our relationship.
* * *
It had been a few weeks since I had last seen Roz, and you could tell from the moment she appeared at the door that she had changed. For one thing, she dressed strangely. Instead of wearing jeans, a shirt, and sneakers, the way the rest of us did, she was dressed in an “artsy” style, typical of where she went to school. She had on a black turtleneck sweater, heavy silver jewelry, a long, printed skirt, and black shoes that could only be described as “weird.”
“Hi, Roz! You look, uh, different!” was all I could say.
“Like it?” Roz twirled around so we could appreciate her new look from every angle.
“I don’t,” Sheldon said bluntly. “You look like some sort of freak. If you walk out like that everyone’s going to be staring at you. I want you to change right now.”
At one time this approach might have worked with Roz. Now, however, she had too much of a sense of her own independence to be intimidated by Sheldon.
“I will not! I’m entitled to dress any way I want to, Sheldon—and this is the way I choose to dress. Just remember which one of us is the artistic one in our relationship, which one of us has the sense of style! I’ll have you know the boys at school, who have an appreciation of the finer things in life, know what style is!”
“Oh they know what style is, do they?” Sheldon went mincing around the room, waving his hands. “Well, you don’t say? Tell me, sweetheart, if those boys are so artistic and cultured and all that, why aren’t you going out with them tonight instead of with poor, unsophisticated me?” He glared at her.
She glared right back. “I certainly don’t know. I guess I thought I’d see if we could rekindle something between us for old times’ sake. But now I can see I was utterly mistaken!”
I could feel the tension building between them. It was obvious that if something wasn’t done immediately, the entire evening would be ruined. I glanced at Lenny, hoping for some assistance from him, but he was too busy laughing at the sight of Sheldon and Roz bristling at one another to be of help.
“Hey, guys. Cut it out.” I stepped between them. “It’s silly to fight over something as insignificant as clothes. Look, Sheldon, Roz has a point. She’s entitled to dress any way she wants, and you shouldn’t demand that she change. But Roz, you’ve got to understand that Sheldon’s not used to seeing you dress this way, and it might take him a while to come to appreciate it. So why doesn’t everyone take it easy and give the other person a chance? I bet at the end of the evening, you won’t even think about what Roz is wearing, Sheldon. Maybe you’ll even come to like it!”
“Like it? Never!” Sheldon growled. But he did agree to let Roz wear whatever she wanted and to take her out as planned.
* * *
Despite Sheldon’s promise to give Roz’s “new look” a chance, he took a position next to Lenny and away from her as we walked to the movie theater. Roz walked next to me.
“Why did you have to dress this way tonight, Roz?” I couldn’t help asking her while Lenny and Sheldon were busy discussing some boring details about Sunday’s upcoming football game. “You might have known it would upset Sheldon.”
“And why should I have to worry about whether or not it upsets Sheldon?” she demanded. “I’m my own person. I like artsy things and that includes artsy clothing. I have a right to wear what I want. I don’t have to always dress in a jeans uniform the way the rest of you do!”
I felt as if this were almost a personal attack. “Roz! I don’t wear jeans because it’s a uniform. I love jeans—I always have since I was a little kid. They’re comfortable; you never have to worry about what goes with them or about getting them dirty. I wear jeans because I want to!”
“Maybe you do.” Roz shrugged. “But I still refuse to look like everyone else. Either Sheldon can accept that or he can’t. I’m not going to change for him or anyone else.”
I guess I could have argued that, in a sense, Roz’s way of dressing was a uniform for “artsy” types as well. It didn’t seem worth it, however. It certainly wasn’t going to contribute anything toward having this evening turn out the way I wanted it to. So I changed the subject by asking her a question about her art history class.
Once we were in the theater, things seemed to get back to normal. Maybe because it was too dark in there for Sheldon to focus on Roz’s clothes. Or maybe it was because everyone gets along better when they’re making out. At any rate, it wasn’t long before I noticed that Sheldon and Roz were into some hot and heavy kissing. After that I was too busy with Lenny to worry about them.
There’s something about the movies that makes me feel romantic, especially when the picture is a love story like the one we were watching that night. I looked at Lenny’s face, bathed in the soft, flickering light reflected from the screen, and I was filled with love for him.
It was almost four months now since Lenny and I had gone back together, the longest period for us without a major fight or breakup. Despite the problems Lenny was having at home, we had been getting along so well that I could hardly believe it. I was so glad we weren’t completely removed from one another like Danny and Fran, or constantly fighting like Billy and Donna, or having philosophical differences like Sheldon and Roz. Despite the fact that Lenny and I were opposites in many ways, when things were good we complemented each other well. I was so happy to have him for my boyfriend.
By the time the movie ended, Roz and Sheldon were obviously feeling good about each other, too, because they left the theater holding hands and smiling. I guess even Lenny wanted to prolong the evening, because instead of taking us home quickly, so he and Sheldon could rush to the poolroom and meet the rest of the boys, he suggested that we all go get something to eat.
We went to Nick’s Coffee Shop, the place that served the best ice cream in the neighborhood. I especially liked Nick’s because you could sit at tables upstairs on a cute little balcony.
We got my favorite table, right by the balcony railing. It was fun to look down and watch the people coming in and out as we ate our ice cream. Lenny was in high spirits and kept up a running commentary on everyone, predicting what they were going to buy.
“See that fat one—she’s not going to be content with just a cone. I bet it’s a double banana split for her and a half-gallon of chocolate chocolate chip to take home. And see that skinny one—she’ll just get a single scoop of plain vanilla, but she’ll splurge on a sugar cone!” We all rolled with laughter when his predictions came out reversed. The fat one bought a cone, and the skinny one sat down with a huge banana split.
“Well, at least I was right about one thing,” Lenny reminded us. “The fat one picked chocolate chocolate chip as her flavor!” Somehow, this struck us as funny, and we all began laughing again.
“Oh, and look at those two weird-looking guys,” Lenny interrupted our laughter to point out. “They won’t be satisfied with any ordinary flavor. I bet it’s rum raisin or Mandarin orange, or maybe tutti-frutti for them!”
This remark started a whole new round of laughter. The two guys were kind of weird-looking. One was dressed totally in black and the other in bright, flashy colors.
“Tutti-frutti! Ha-ha-ha!” Sheldon laughed so hard he almost fell from his seat.
It took me a while to realize that Roz was no longer laughing with us. Instead, she was staring at the two boys. “Why, I think that’s—I know those guys!” she announced. She got up from her seat and hung over the balcony railing. “Peter! Julian!” she called.
Startled, the boys looked up. When they saw it was Roz, they both began to smile. The one in the colors was actually pretty cute. “Roz!” he exclaimed. “What are you doin’ here?”
“I live in this neighborhood. What are you doing here?”
“Julian and I came to see a foreign film at the Town Art Cinema,” he explained. “It’s not far from here. You must go there often.”
“Not really. It’s hard to find people willing to go with me to see quality films.” Roz glanced meaningfully at Sheldon, then turned her attention back to Peter. “How was the movie?”
“Great!” Peter exclaimed. “Say, if you like foreign movies, you can come with us some time. Julian and I try to see every major film that comes around, don’t we, Julian?”
“But of course! Got to keep on top of the cultural scene,” Julian agreed.
“Wonderful. I’ll keep it in mind next time something’s playing I really want to see.” Roz smiled warmly at the two boys. “Hey, if you guys aren’t doing anything right now, why don’t you come up here and I’ll introduce you to everyone?”
If Roz had been watching Sheldon’s face, which had been turning all sorts of sickly shades of green while she had been talking to Peter, I don’t think she would have made that suggestion. But apparently she was too engrossed in what was going on below to notice. She only became aware of Sheldon again when he rammed his elbow into her back.
“Ooof,” she gasped, as she fell forward against the railing, which was fortunately high enough to keep her from flipping over. She whirled around angrily. “Hey! Why did you do that, Sheldon?”
“Sorry. It was an accident.” His expression made it quite clear that it wasn’t.
She glared at him as if she had a lot more to say, but turned her attention back to Peter and Julian. They seemed to realize there was something going on on the balcony they were better off not becoming a part of.
“No thanks, Roz. We’ve really got to get going now. We’ll see you in school on Monday and discuss things further.” The two of them took their ice cream cones, which were plain chocolate and vanilla, and left the store with a last wave to Roz.
Roz kept hanging on to the railing, even after they were gone. A strained silence settled over our table. You could feel the tension in the air.
“You were wrong again, Lenny. Those two got vanilla and chocolate, not tutti-frutti,” I said, in an attempt to break the tension.
It didn’t work. No one laughed this time. Roz turned around and glared at Sheldon. “The nerve of you,” she began. You could see she was struggling to control her temper. “Peter and Julian had to have seen you poking me when I invited them up here. It was completely obvious you didn’t want them. How could you be so rude?”
Sheldon looked from Roz to Lenny and back to Roz again. “Oh, so you think I was rude to your little artsy boys, did you? Well, isn’t that too bad! What the heck do you call it when you’re supposed to be out on a date with me and you wind up hanging over a balcony playing Juliet to some freaked-up Romeo? And what do you mean saying you’ll go to a movie with those two next time? No girl of mine is ever going to be seen with the likes of garbage like that!”
This was the wrong thing to say to newly-liberated Roz. I knew there was no way she would take Sheldon’s threats, especially after having been sought after by the two Fine Arts boys.
“That statement exemplifies the trouble with our relationship, Sheldon. You think because we’re going together you have the right to order me around. Well, I’m telling you now that what I’m getting out of this relationship is no longer worth the hassle. I’ve had it. We’re through!” Having said this, she grabbed her pocketbook and raced down the steps and out the door.
Sheldon, Lenny, and I sat looking at each other, completely stunned. Just moments ago, we had all been laughing together, having a good time. And now everything was ruined by a stupid misunderstanding.
“Sheldon, go after her,” I begged. “Tell her you didn’t mean to order her around. Make things right again, before they go too far.”
“They’ve gone too far already,” he said grimly. “I’ve seen this coming for a long time. Roz has really gotten into that whole art scene at school this year and resents me because I’m not like the cultured freaks she associates with there. She’s changed so much that it had to affect our relationship. I don’t think it’ll ever work for us again.”
“But Sheldon, it has to!” I said desperately. “I mean, you love each other, don’t you? You’ve been going together too long to throw it all away. You’ve got to get back together—you’ve got to!”
I looked at Sheldon, but his face was completely hardened. Whatever love he had had for Roz had been replaced by something else. I knew this was it for them, and it worried me.
Sheldon was the friend who was closest to Lenny. The fact that he was no longer going with Roz couldn’t possibly be beneficial to my relationship with Lenny.