Free I Don't Want to Lose You by Loreen James-Fisher Page B

some more punch.”
                  I got up to refill our cups while saying hello to people that I knew there.  When I came back, one of the boys at the table asked me, “So when are you guys getting married?”
                  I don't ever recall my neck being able to move my head that quickly as I turned to look at Theo. “Are you corrupting the minds of these young men? What have you been sitting here telling them?”  I didn’t know what had happened.
              He had a serious look on his face.  “Not at all.  I was just telling them that after I graduate from UC Berkeley, we'll be seeing about getting married.”
                  “I thought that was going to be after you became a councilman.”
                  “I changed my mind.  I decided that I need you right by my side from the start.”  He looked at the boys who were staring at us with what was either amazement or bewilderment in their eyes.  “You boys better hope you can find a woman as good as this one to be by your side.  You don't want her behind you.  She should be your equal and always by your side.  Support her and she will support you.”
                  The boys nodded as though they were really paying attention to heed his advice.  I looked around for a minute at the ceiling and in the corners of the walls and, after not being able to find cameras to possibly prove my internal theory that I was either being pranked or on an updated version of the Twilight Zone, I conceded.  Granted, his comment made me think that someone raised him right.  The boys asked us both questions to find out more about us.  Three of them admitted that they voted for me to be President of the National Honor Society.
                  “Babe, I'm going to get some more cake.  Would you like anything?” Theo asked.
                  What was with this babe thing?  I shook my head no while trying to grasp this new level of possessiveness that had taken over him and wondered how he came up with his pet name for me.
                  During the program I noticed that he had moved his chair a little closer to mine.  After we had applauded somebody winning something, I put my hands in my lap and felt an additional hand on my left knee.  With where we were sitting no one could tell, especially with the length of the tablecloth.  I turned and looked at him but he refused to look at me, as though he was enthralled with the current speaker. Once the speaker finished and everyone clapped, as the applause started to wane, I looked at him to see if he would have the nerve to put his hand on my knee again.  I could see him take a hard swallow and that Adam's apple bobble up and down.  He put his hand back under the table until he found mine.  He opened my hand enough to allow his long fingers to gently go between mine before resting our clasped hands on my thigh.  He finally looked at me tenderly.  I gave him a quick smile to assure him that I wasn't going to bite his head off and we turned our attention back to the ceremony.  We were done applauding for anyone else for the rest of it.
     
                               
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     
     
                 
                  It was near graduation and it was time to take our senior panoramic picture.  With the number of graduates, I knew it was going to be chaotic.  It was a gorgeous, sunny morning.  Everyone came wearing green gowns with the exception of the valedictorian and salutatorian, who happened to be Guillermo, my freshman crush that suddenly had the confidence to talk to girls after being scared away by me.  Sonya, Brenda and I decided we would like to try to stay together for the picture, but as we climbed each step of the bleachers we were starting to doubt the possibility.  We hadn't known each other well despite going to