Cora, Goddess of Spring

I wasn't sure how it would affect my performance and thought about just leaving, but Andy was already introducing me. I opened my case and quickly tuned up my guitar. Walking up on stage, I couldn't suppress my emotions so I decided I wouldn't even try. I knew I was either going to be really good or really bad that night.

I don't think the audience even realized they were sharing my pain while I was up there, but you could hear a pin drop as I played. Instead of finishing with the song I had intended, I sang a song I wrote in high school after breaking up with my girlfriend. It was a sad song and I was in the right mood to sing it.

I got the biggest ovation I'd ever had. Several stood up as they clapped and whistled. I looked over at Cora's table and saw she was the only person not clapping. I saw her boyfriend lean over and say something to Jason. He just nodded his head in response.

I thanked everyone and headed back to my table. Andy acknowledged my performance before announcing the next act. I was putting my guitar back into its case when I sensed someone standing behind me. I looked up.

"Hi, Gray," Jason said with a smile. "Wow, you were great tonight. Hey, I'm with some friends; I think you know Cindy. Why don't you come over and join us."

"Ah, yeah, okay. Let me get a fresh coffee and I'll be there in a minute," I told him.

"Great, we're right over there," he said, pointing in the direction of their table.

I asked one of the baristas if I could stick my guitar behind the bar where it wouldn't be in the way and got my usual plain black coffee. As I approached, I saw they had borrowed a chair for me to sit next to Jason. "Hi, everyone," I said with a smile.

Everybody looked up and smiled. Jason spoke up. "Gray, here, have a seat. I understand you know Cindy. This is Jennifer," he said introducing Cora's other girlfriend, "Bob," he said, indicating the guy sitting on the other side of Jennifer, "that's Cora and..."

He didn't wait to be introduced. "I'm Jack, Cora's boyfriend," he said, sticking out his hand. "She tells me she knows you."

I instantly disliked the guy but wasn't going to be rude. "Ah, yeah, we met last week," I answered as I shook his hand. He had an air of arrogance about him, and even though his words weren't condescending, his tone was.

"You were really good up there. Cora says you write your own songs. Did you write that last one you did?"

"Yeah, years ago, in high school." He chuckled at that for some reason.

Cindy seemed to be impressed. "High school, damn, you've got talent, Gray."

I humbly thanked her. Cora was very quiet while everyone else asked questions: How long had I been writing songs? Did I take guitar lessons? Had I ever played in a band? Did I play any other instruments? The usual.

Everything was very nonchalant until Cora finally asked her question. I don't know about the others, but I saw the look in Jack's eyes as he caught the concerned inflection in her voice. "Gray, that last song was so sad. What caused you to write it?"

"A broken heart," I explained. Everyone went silent and stared at me until Jennifer spoke up. "Well, are you going to elaborate?"

"Nah," I replied, "I got dumped, not much more to it than that."

That didn't satisfy Cora. "It's pretty obvious that you loved her very much."

I thought about it for a few seconds. "You're right, I did, but I was young—we were young. At the time, I didn't think I'd ever love anyone that much again, but since then, I've learned what true love really is."

I saw Cindy shoot me a look as if to say, 'you poor sap, you're about to get your heart broken all over again.' Then she challenged, "So, who is she; your true love?"

"A gentleman never tells," I responded with a slight smile.

We talked a little more but I got the impression I was making Jack nervous. He'd seemed a little on edge ever since Cora asked about the song. I wasn't looking for a confrontation, at least not yet; and besides, I didn't want to say too much and scare Cora off again, so I decided to call it a night and said my goodbyes.

When I got to my dorm room door, I heard noises coming from inside. Through the door, it sounded like someone struggling. I opened it and rushed inside thinking Scott might be in trouble. He and the good-looking girl under him were both naked and going at it like two rabbits in heat. They stopped long enough to look up.

"Shut the door, man, we don't need the whole place to know what's going on."

"What the hell are you doing? In case you haven't noticed, this is NOT a coed building."

"I know, I snuck her in," he said with a grin. He saw my look of disapproval. "Hey, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. We didn't have time to make other plans." He looked down at her and then back up at me. "This is Suzanne, by the way. Suzy, say hi to Gray."

"Hi, Gray," she said without a hint of embarrassment.

"Hi, Suzy," I said while trying not to look. "Scott, you'll have to find someplace else for this, man. Jesus, you could get us into trouble."

"Oh, bullshit. They don't care what goes on in the dorm rooms. Hey, I've got an idea," he looked down at his date. "You interested in a threesome?"

"Sure," she answered, "sounds like fun."

I wondered where he found girls like this. "Sorry, you're a beautiful girl but I can't."

"Why not?" Scott asked. "Oh, don't tell me it's because of that girl, what's her name, Cora? Don't be ridiculous, man; don't turn down grade-A pussy for some fairytale love affair that'll probably never even happen."

That really ticked me off but I kept my cool. "Scott, I have studying to do. You and Suzy need to find someplace else."

"No way, man."

I thought we were going to get into a fight when Suzy saved the day. "Scott, I know where we can go and not be interrupted, and if you're lucky, you might get that threesome, only with another girl."

"Shit, what are we doing here?" He joked as he jumped up and started putting his pants on. They both hurried and got dressed. I couldn't help but notice she really did have a fine body. "Don't wait up for me, shithead," Scott said as they left.

I spent the rest of the weekend studying and working on Cora's song. Scott didn't come back until Sunday afternoon. I've seen corpses that looked better only without the shit-eaten grin. I had to laugh. "I'm assuming you got your 3-way?"

"Man, we did it every way. That girl is insatiable and her friend, Rita, I think her name is... she's almost as bad. I need to go buy some vitamins," he said as he flopped onto his mattress. He lay there for a couple of minutes, staring at me. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Did she show up?"

"Yeah, she was there... with her boyfriend," I replied.

"Ah, oh! So, what's it going to be, pistols at dawn?"

I laughed. "I hope it doesn't come to that."

"What kind of a guy is he? You want me to beat him up for you?" he joked.

"Ah, I can fight my own battles, thank you. We didn't talk all that much, but he seems like a prick. I finally met her other girlfriend, too. They were both a lot nicer this time."

"Well, that's a good thing; if it doesn't work out with your dream girl maybe you can snare one of them. Are they pretty? I think Brenda's seeing another guy. If she is, I'll be in the market for another main squeeze."

"What about Suzy?"

"She was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. She's not main attraction type material."

"Jesus, man—you ever going to settle down and find someone to love?"

"Shit, I don't even believe in it, not the kind you're talking about anyway. I mean, I love my mom and dad, I love my two sisters, but to commit to one chick and want to spend the rest of your life with her... not going to happen, not to this dude."

"Man, that's so sad, Scott. What about having a family and raising kids?"

He laughed. "Damn, Gray, can you imagine a bunch of little Scotts running around? Don't you think the world is fucked up enough as it is?"

"You can scoff at it all you want, pal, but I really hope it happens for you. Maybe it'll strike you out of the blue like it did me."

"Don't hold your breath," he snickered.

The following Monday, as usual, I was sitting under my favorite tree when I was surprised by someone sitting down next to me... also with a cup of coffee.

"Hi."

I got tongue-tied the minute I saw who it was. After stumbling over my words, I finally croaked out a return, "Hi."

She chuckled at my literary eloquence. "You're really good. You sure impressed the hell out of Cindy and Jennifer. After you left the other night, they were wondering if they could interest you in a threesome," she chuckled.

"Yeah, right," I laughed. "They said it in front of Jason and Bob?"

"Well, they made it sound like they were joking but I'm not so sure they were."

I smiled. "I'm afraid I'm more of a one-woman kind of guy." I could see I'd just scored several points with my dream girl.

"I had a hunch you'd say that."

"Now, I have a good-looking roommate who would jump at it," I told her.

"I think they had their hearts set on you," she said with a big grin, "but I can mention it to them."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You can ask," she replied.

"When I finished my set, everyone in the place was clapping except you. Didn't you like it?"

"On the contrary, Gray, I was too busy fighting back tears to clap. Between the words and the feeling you put behind them, I... I don't know, it just struck a chord with me, I guess. No pun intended," she chuckled. "I knew I should have been clapping like the rest of them but, well... you're not the only one who's ever had their heart broken."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was he the guy who was stalking you?"

She looked a little stunned at first. "Oh, that's right, you said Cindy told you about that."

"No, his name is James Kudro. Like your girlfriend, he was my high school sweetheart. After graduation, we were making plans to get married when his dad was sent overseas. He's a news correspondent for one of the major TV networks and was offered a job to head up the European bureau in the UK. I begged Jim to stay here, but it was a choice between me or his parents, he picked them.

"Since he wouldn't stay here, I wanted to go with them, but his dad and mom said they didn't want the added responsibility. I really think Mrs. Kudro thought her son was too young to get married anyway. It broke my heart to see them go. I cried for a solid week."

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Of course, you didn't know; how could you? Anyway, I guess that's why I wasn't clapping. Believe me, it had nothing to do with not liking your song, I loved it."

Again, I thanked her with a sheepish grin on my puss. That's when I got really brave. She seemed to be pretty forthcoming about Jim, so I was going to push my luck. "Can a... ah, can I ask another question... a more personal question?"

"You can ask," she repeated with a small smile.

"Are... ah, are you and Jack in a serious relationship?"

"Why do you want to know?"

She was putting me on the spot and knew it. I could tell by the impish little smile on her gorgeous face. "Well, I, ah, I... I'd like to take you out for coffee sometime."

"Gray, what do you think we're doing right now?"

She had me there, since we both had coffees. It wasn't what I meant, though, and she knew it. She was making me very nervous and was enjoying it, but I was not going to let her get the best of me like that. My dad used to tell me, 'When somebody tries to get the upper hand with you, Son, man up and turn the tables.'

"Okay, then how about dinner this Saturday night?"

Her beautiful eyes got wide and that luscious mouth of hers almost dropped to the ground. She wasn't expecting that. Now it was Cora who was stuttering. "Ah, well, I ah, I," she paused for just a second as she looked into my eyes, "Okay."

It took every ounce of willpower in my body to keep from jumping in the air and screaming to the universe that I had a date with the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world, but even though my heart was beating like a native war drum, somehow, I managed to remain cool on the outside. "I'll pick you up at seven. Are you living on campus?"

"No, Jenn, Cindy, and I share an apartment. Here, give me a pen and paper; I'll write down the address. Give me your phone number, too, just in case I can't make it for some reason."

"Do I get yours as well?"

"No, not yet."

"What if something happens that I can't make it?"

"That's not an option," she said with a smile. I wasn't going to push it.

The rest of the day was a complete blur. I couldn't even remember going to classes let alone recall what was said. "I've got a date for Saturday night," I announced as soon as I walked into our dorm room.

Scott looked up from the book he was reading, "Congratulations," he said. He was going to continue studying but I saw the wheels turning in his head. He looked back up. "You mean with your dream girl?"

"None other."

"Hey, really, congratulations, man; I'm proud of you. You really did it."

"Well, we're not married yet," I lamented.

He laughed. "Hey, details, details; you got your foot in the door, which is more than I thought you'd do."

"Gee, thanks; your confidence in me is overwhelming." He just laughed and went back to his book.

"I've got to work on her song."

"Oh, man, can you do it somewhere else? I've got to study for a marketing test that's coming up."

I picked up my guitar case, the folder with what I had written so far, some blank sheets of staff paper and headed for my outdoor sanctuary. I wrote until it got so dark I couldn't see what I was writing any longer.

I only saw Cora once for the rest of the week. She was talking and laughing with Cindy and Jennifer, so I didn't bother her. On Friday, I received a text.

Are we still on for dinner tomorrow night?

Absolutely. I texted back. The restaurant I picked was a pretty swanky joint and I didn't want her to be embarrassed by what she wore, so I told her where we were going.

I have reservations at Carl's Cuisine.

Okay, was the only response I received back. Evidently, she decided it was okay to let me have her phone number; encouraging.

Until Saturday night, I had only seen Cora wearing jeans, very little make-up, and with her beautiful blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Even then, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for the stunning vision that opened that apartment door.

In the car, she was awfully quiet and I was getting the impression I had done something wrong, although I couldn't think of what it could be. The maître d' called me by name as soon as we walked into the restaurant and escorted us to a quiet table for two in the corner. Our waiter brought us two glasses of water and recited the specials before leaving us with menus.

I couldn't shake the feeling she was upset over something and couldn't keep it to myself any longer. "Cora, you're awfully quiet tonight. Did I do something wrong?"

She looked up at me as if she was trying to decide whether to be honest or not. "I'm... I'm just a little disappointed, that's all."

I felt as if someone had just run over me with a Cadillac. "Disappointed?"

"Yeah... a little. I don't know you that well, but from your music, I would have guessed you didn't have a pretentious bone in your body, yet here you are trying to impress me by taking me to an expensive restaurant. I kind of took you for more of a neighborhood bistro kind of guy."

I was about to explain when I looked up and saw the manager walking up to us.

"Hi, Gray, I saw your name in the reservations and told the waiter to let me know when you came in. He told me you were here with a stunningly beautiful woman and I see he was right."

He turned to Cora and put out his hand. "Hi, I'm Ron, Gray's cousin."

"Cousin?" she questioned as she placed her dainty hand in his.

Instead of shaking it, Ron, in the tradition of a refined restaurant manager, bent over and kissed her hand. "That's right," he said, looking back up at her, "but I don't usually admit to it; he's kind of the black sheep of the family."

"I believe it," she chuckled.

Ron looked back over to me. "Have you two decided what to order yet?"

"Not yet," I replied.

"Well, order whatever you wish, and don't worry about the prices; your dinner's on me." He looked back at Cora. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Cora. I know you're with my cousin, but try to enjoy your evening anyway," he said with a smile.

"I will," she countered with a laugh.

She looked at me after he left. "Your cousin is the manager here?"

"Ah huh, and my uncle owns the joint."

"You're kidding."

"No—Carl, he's my dad's oldest brother. I honestly wasn't trying to be pretentious. I wanted to come here for three reasons. First, they have the best food in the city; second, Ron never lets me pay for a meal; and third, I wanted a place that would be quiet so we can talk. I do have a couple favorite neighborhood bistros, but they're noisy and I want to know everything about you, where you were born, where you went to school, your likes and dislikes, your pet peeves, your hobbies..."

"All right, all right," she interrupted, "I get it," she said with a slight chuckle. "I owe you an apology. I..."

"No apology necessary, Cora." Just then our waiter came over and asked if we had decided. We both laughed because neither of us had even opened our menus yet. I begged for a few more minutes as we started to look through the incredible array of entrees.

After ordering, I was finally starting to learn more about my goddess. She was born in California and loved it out there, but her family moved to the Chicago area when her dad was promoted to the company's corporate headquarters in Champaign.

Her quest in life was to become the best teacher she could be. She said her dad was a little disheartened because she had a great head for business, but she couldn't think of a more rewarding profession than teaching.

We talked all through our meal and we both learned a lot about each other but there was still one important nagging question I HAD to ask. "You never did answer my question about Jack and you. I'm assuming, since you accepted my dinner invitation, the answer is no?"

"What was the question again?"

"I asked if you and he were in a serious relationship."

She smiled at me. "Until tonight, he would have said yes, but the real answer is no. I wouldn't be here with you otherwise. The reason I was disappointed when I thought you were trying to show off by bringing me here, is that I wondered if you were another Jack. He comes from money and loves to let everyone know it. This is just his kind of place.

"His dad is some big mucky-muck in the Chicago political machine and his mother owns her own real estate agency. Right now, she's helping him buy a ten-unit apartment building near Wrigleyville. He says it's only the first of many he will own, and I don't doubt it."

"Wow, and you're here with me?" I asked with a grin.

"I'm not interested in show-offs or two-dimensional people, Gray. I want someone in my life who cares more about me than what he can buy for me."

I was falling further and further under her spell. She was everything a man could ever want in a woman. I'd tell her that someday, but not with words, with music.

"Gray, I really enjoyed myself tonight. Thank you."

"Does that mean you'll go out with me again?"

"Maybe... probably," she replied with that smile. "Are you playing next Friday night?"

"Yeah, I'm there most open mic nights. Are you coming?"

"I'll see if Jen and Cindy have any plans but most likely I'll be there, with or without them."

"And Jack?"

"I'm sure, after tonight, he's moved on already. He didn't seem all that broken up when I called and told him I was going out with you. He simply asked if it meant I was breaking up with him. I was about to break it off anyway. When I said yes, he just told me to have a good life and hung up. I wouldn't doubt if he didn't already have a new girl on his arm as we speak."