Frank and Cookie

"What happened to your sudden concern for manners? According to your attitude lately aren't you supposed to say "Mind if I join you" or something like that? Or is it just me that has to do it when you are with Jason?"

"What is wrong with you Frankie? Why are you behaving like you are?"

"As if you didn't know."

"I don't know Frankie; I don't have a clue."

"Did you not tell me that we couldn't date on the weekend because your parents had plans for you?"

"Yes."

"And did you not promise me that I would get your first date when your parents started to let you date?"

"Yes, but what has that got to do with the way you are acting?"

"You can't possibly be that stupid Cook. I walk into the arcade and what is the first thing I see? It wasn't you and your parents. It was you and Jason. So much for your first date promise."

I got up and walked away leaving my lunch and Cookie sitting there. When I got to the parking lot after school I found Cookie standing next to the car on the passenger's side. As I walked up she said:

"We have to talk Frankie."

"No we don't."

"Okay then; I'll do the talking and all you have to do is listen. I was not on a date with Jason Saturday night. I was with my parents and if you had stuck around instead of tearing off in a snit you would have seen them. I can't help it that Jason was there. His dad and my dad work together and between the two of them they thought that it would be a great idea to get Jason and me together. I was surprised when I got to the arcade and found Jason there with his parents. It wasn't a date and I had nothing to do with it. It surprised both dads when they found out that Jason and I already knew each other.

"Because we knew each other it was only natural that we were around each other as we played the machines. He was not a date Frankie. Now don't you feel silly for acting the way you've been?"

"No I don't Cook. By now it should be crystal clear to you that I do not like the asshole, but every time I turn around I see you with him. You told me that you didn't want to go steady because you wanted to be able to date other guys, but the only guy I see you with is Jason. You know how pissed I was at seeing you with Jason on Saturday, but that didn't keep you from sitting with him in the cafeteria today."

"I can't help it that he just sits down with me."

"No? What happened to your new requirement that whoever joins you has to first ask politely if it is all right if they join you? Did he? And even if he did how hard would it have been for you to say "Sorry, but I'm waiting for Frank?" I have no right to be picking your friends for you or telling you who you can sit with, but you should be smart enough to know that if I see you with that asshole I'm not going to be coming around."

"You aren't being fair Frankie."

"Of course I am Cook. Life is about the choices you get to make. You know my feelings where Jason is concerned so if you choose to spend time with him you are at the same time choosing to not have me around. It is that simple."

She was silent for a bit and then she asked, "Are you going to give me a ride home?"

"Of course."

As soon as we were off the school grounds she slid over next to me, took my right arm and put it around her. It was a quiet ride until we got two blocks from her house and then she told me to pull over to the curb. As soon as I shut off the motor Cookie said:

"You are my best friend Frankie and I can bear to have you mean to me" and she kissed me. We made out for a bit and then I took her home.

Tuesday and Wednesday we had lunch together and I drove her home. We made out both times. Thursday Cookie and I went through the cafeteria line together and took a seat at a table. We had been there about three minutes when Jason walked up and said:

"May I join you?"

I so wanted to tell him the same thing he had told me the time I'd attempted to join him and Cookie, but I really didn't want to deal with an upset Cookie so I just said:

"It's up to the lady."

Cookie already knew how I felt about Jason and it should have been crystal clear that I didn't want him there, but she said, "Of course you may" and he sat down. I was civil as we talked about the candidates running for class president and what a jerk Mr. Ames our Civics teacher was. When lunch period ended and we stood to leave Jason said, "Call you tonight?" and I saw Cookie throw a quick glance at me as she nodded her head yes.

That nod and quick glance bothered me all afternoon, but I didn't say anything as I drove Cookie home. She gave me a look when I drove past our make out spot without stopping, but she didn't say anything. I dropped her at her house and said I'd call her as soon as I got back from Chicago.

++++++++++++++++++

I didn't go to school on Friday because we had to be at the airport at two for our flight. As we were getting ready to leave the house we got a phone call that grandma had suffered at stroke and was in the hospital and the anniversary party had been cancelled. Mom decided that she still needed to go so dad drove her to the airport.

It was probably a little cold hearted of me since I did love my "Grams" but I thought that now I can call Cookie and we can have our date. I was going to call her as soon as she got out of school, but dad came home from the airport and had me help him do some things so it was just a bit after six before I could get on the phone. I called and the phone was answered by her mom.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Thacker, its Frankie."

"Oh hi Frankie. Are you in Chicago all ready? I thought you didn't leave until three."

"We didn't go. My grandma had a stroke and the party was called off so I'm still here. May I speak to Cookie?"

"She isn't here Frankie; she and Jason just left."

"Oh? Do you know when she will be back?"

"I've no idea Frankie. Her curfew is eleven and being that this is her first date I'd bet that she won't be home until one minute to eleven."

"Please tell her that I called."

"I will and Frankie? I'm sorry about your grandmother."

"Thank Mrs. Thacker."

I hung up the phone. So I was Cookie's best friend and she couldn't bear to have me mad at her? Well I guess she was just going to have to learn how to bear it.

++++++++++++++++

Apparently her mom gave her my message because she called me at noon the next day. As son as I heard her voice I hung up the phone. She called twice more on Saturday and three times on Sunday and each time I hung up as soon as I heard her voice.

Monday I wouldn't even look at her during our morning classes and when she tried to catch me between classes I literally ran from her. I didn't go to the cafeteria at lunch time and instead I sat in my car out in the parking lot. After my last class I ran for my car so I could avoid having Cookie standing there waiting for me, but it did no good. She was there when I got there. As I walked up she said:

"Why are you being so mean Frankie? Talk to me."

"Why? So you can tell me more of your damn lies?"

I unlocked the car door and as I was getting in she said, "Please Frankie, don't be tha...." and I think I shocked the both of us when I snarled:

"Just shut the fuck up! I don't want to hear another word out of your goddamned lying mouth."

Her face went pale at my outburst since I had never, in all the time I'd known her, used profanity in her presence. I started the car and drove off leaving her standing there.

From that day forward whenever I saw Cookie she was with Jason and it was only one week after my blow up that I heard that Cookie and Jason were going steady. I chalked it up as another lie she'd told me.

Several times over the rest of the school year Cookie tried to talk tome, but I hung up when she phoned or walked away if she came up to me. She sent me a card on my eighteenth birthday, but I threw it away unopened.

I did get some childish satisfaction out of the situation.

I ran across Jason in the park where I went to run in the mornings. He unwisely sneered at me and told me that I was a loser who couldn't even hang onto to his girl. I told him I was well rid of the lying cunt.

"You can't call my girl that."

"I just did asshole. Want to hear it again? You're welcome to the lying cunt."

He swung at me and I beat the snot out of him. It was seen by a couple of kids from the school, but they hadn't heard what had been said and had assumed that I'd busted his ass because he had stolen Cookie from me. The word went around that you shouldn't mention Cookie or Jason around me.

+++++++++++++++

With Cookie out of my life I looked around and noticed a bunch of girls that I wouldn't mind dating. Getting dates was easy since I was one of the few guys in our class that had a car and I rarely had a weekend that I didn't have something going. My part time job at Burger Barn did get in the way some, but I did have to work to earn the money that kept the car going.

The thing was that every time I took my date somewhere Cookie and Jason would be there or would get there shortly after we got there. Jason made sure to keep the width of the room between us and Cookie would have a look on her face that fairly screamed out "What are you doing with HER?" It almost seemed like she was jealous.

By the middle of the eleventh grade I had settled into a steady relationship with Pauline French and every time Pauline and I ran across Jason and Cookie Pauline would get nasty looks from Cookie. I thought it was funny. Pauline said it was because Cookie wanted me and I had to laugh at that.

"She had me and she dropped me for the asshole she is with."

"I think she regrets it."

"Tough shit. She made promises and she broke them and she lied to me."

Pauline shrugged and said, "Her loss and my gain."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Just before Christmas I got some good news. Jason's dad got transferred and Jason ended up having to move. It was good news to me not because it meant that Cookie was now free to date, but because it meant that with all of the holiday activities coming up her steady boyfriend was gone. She could probably scare up some dates, but it wouldn't be the same.

The day after Christmas I ran into Cookie's mom at Wal-Mart and she asked me why I never came around any more.

"You and Cook were always so close and then overnight you were gone."

"Unfortunately she made me a promise and then broke it and then to add insult to injury she lied to me and that ended it for us."

"She did what?"

I told her the story and she looked shocked. "My Cookie did that?

"Yes she did."

"I'm so sorry Frankie; I thought I'd raised her better than that."

The next day when I got home from my shift at the Burger Barn I found Cookie sitting on the front porch steps. As I came up the walk she said:

"Why did tell my mother what you did?"

"Because she asked me why I didn't come around anymore and since I'm not a liar like some people I know I told her. What's the matter? You don't like people knowing that you are a lying bitch?"

"When did I lie to you?"

"The day I asked you to go steady was one of them. You told me that you weren't going to go steady because your mother wanted you to date other guys to see what they would be like and yet not two weeks after telling me that you were going steady with Jason.

"I guess another lie was your promise to me that I would be your first date. You knew you were going to go out with Jason when I was supposed to be in Chicago. You think I didn't catch it when he said "Call you tonight" and you nodded your head yes when we had lunch that last day? You had already set it up and to hell with your promise to me. So fuck you Miss Thacker; just keep your lying ass away from me" and I walked by her and into the house.

Ten minutes later my mom came into my room. "Why is Cookie sitting on the front steps crying?"

"Don't know and I don't care."

"No Frankie; that won't do. It obviously has something to do with you so what is it?"

I explained it to my mom the same as I had explained it to Cookie's mom and then my mom said:

"You go out there and apologize Frankie. She was wrong, but she is still a young teenager and still hasn't grown up and learned how to handle life. You are the same. You need to learn that life isn't always fair and people make mistakes. You have to learn to deal with those mistakes without anger dictating what you do. You and Cookie have been friends way too long for you to treat her the way you have."

"But she lied to me. She broke her promise."

"Just because you feel that strongly about her doesn't mean that she has the same strong feelings for you. You have to accept that she may only have ever viewed you as a friend and not a boyfriend. It happens to all of us Frankie. When I was in high school I fell madly in love half a dozen times and none of them lasted. I went through a dozen boyfriends before I met your father. You and Cookie had a great friendship. Too great of a friendship to let it be ruined by a case of puppy love. Now go out there and mend some fences."

I got up and went downstairs and out onto the porch, but Cookie was gone. I spent the rest of the week thinking about what my mother had said. During the same period I attended a couple of holiday parties with Pauline and we never ran across Cookie.

One party brought about a milestone in my life. The loss of my virginity. Pauline's eighteenth birthday was on December thirty-first and as we danced at a New Year's Eve party she whispered in my ear:

"When we leave here tonight we are going to usher the New Year in in style. Can you afford a motel room?"

It just so happened that I could.

We were both virgins, but some things come natural to you. There was a lot of foreplay before we settled into the missionary position and I do have to say that even though my first time was embarrassingly quick it was still wonderful. The second time took a little longer and the third time seemed to go on forever and I didn't want it to end.

Pauline said she wanted to see what having her pussy eaten would be like so I got down there and went after it. I had no clue as to what to do, but Pauline directed me. If it felt good she said to keep on doing it and if I did something that didn't feel right she told me. After a while she pushed me away and said that it was my turn. She had never given a blow job and I'd never had one so it was more uncharted territory for us. It was great except for at one point she used her teeth and got an "Ouch" from me and after that she was careful not to use teeth. I loved being in her mouth and I told her she could do it to me any time she wanted and she told me that I could munch on her beaver any time I wanted to.

By six in the morning we had made love four times and done oral on each other twice. I left that motel one very happy camper.

After that night Pauline and I managed to do it on the average of three times a week and it would have been more if it wasn't for my job at the Burger Barn or her job at the Dairy Queen.

++++++++++++++++++++

The first day of school following the holiday break I entered the cafeteria at lunch time and I spotted Cookie sitting alone. I walked over and sat down. She looked up and started to say something, but I cut her off.

"No, I'm not going to ask if I may join you. I'm only here long enough to ask you if you would like a ride home from school. We need to clear the air between us. If you are at the car when I get out of class I'll know you want to talk. Now if you will excuse me Pauline is waiting for me."

I got up and went over to sit with Pauline who quite naturally wanted to know what I'd been doing at Cookie's table. I told her and she asked:

"Am I going to end up having to fight for you?"

"Not hardly. You have me for as long as you want me."

"Good."

Pauline's last class ended an hour before mine and she was supposed to spend the last hour of the school day in study hall, but she usually skipped it and went in early for her shift at the DQ so I didn't have to worry about her and Cookie together at the car although I did kind of wonder at how that would have gone.

Cookie was waiting at the car when I got there. As we pulled out of the parking lot I just flat out asked Cookie why she had done to me what she did and she told me that she hadn't meant to do it.

"I didn't lie to you when I told you I wasn't ready to go steady. I meant it at the time and if it wasn't for Jason I would have dated other guys, but when I met Jason I felt a spark and it just went from there."

"And your promise to me?"

"I'm really sorry about that Frankie, but I was between a rock and a hard place. Jason was my guy and he wanted my first date. I know it wasn't honest of me, but I thought with you being out of town I could go out with Jason and you would never know and then I could go out with you when you came back and you would have thought I'd kept my promise. I know it wasn't right Frankie, but I felt that strongly about Jason. I never meant to hurt you Frankie; honest to God I never meant to hurt you. You have been my best friend forever and it has been killing me that you won't have anything to do with me."

I was silent for a bit and then I said, "You have never seen me as a boyfriend have you?"

"No Frankie I didn't. I suppose that if Jason hadn't come along or I'd never felt that spark with anyone else I dated that you and I would probably have ended up a couple, but I don't really know."

I told her what my mother had said "And I guess she was right. We have been friends forever and I guess I can't hold it against you that you didn't have the feelings for me that I had for you."

"Does this mean that we can be friends again?"

"Yes, I guess it does" I said as I pulled up in front of her house. She slid over next to me and gave me a hug and a kiss and said, "Thank you Frankie, thank you."

+++++++++++++++++++++

The rest of our senior year slid by and I saw Cookie often and gave her rides home from school on days when Pauline skipped study hall and went into work early. Pauline and I even double dated a time or two with Cookie and whoever her boyfriend of the moment was.

One day, a month before graduation, Pauline asked, "You going to try and get something going with Cookie when I leave for college?"

"You tossing me back into the dating pool?"

"Just being realistic Frankie. I'm going to be fifteen hundred miles away and I probably won't come home except on holiday breaks and summer vacations."

"No problem babe; I can wait."

"Maybe you can sweetie, but I won't. I'll date when I'm there and if the right guy comes along I'll probably give it up. Face it sweetie; I like it too much to go without. If you are unattached when I do come home we can get together. When I graduate and come home maybe we can pick up where we leave off. The thing is I don't want you sitting here waiting faithfully for me. Date, have a good time and try to get laid because that is pretty much what I'll be doing."

That was a bit of a blow because I thought Pauline and I had a bit more going for us than it seemed. Pauline knew I was disappointed and she did her best to bring my spirits up by fucking me half to death until she left for school.

+++++++++++++++

Cookie and I were staying at home and attending the local community college with the idea of transferring to a four year school down the line. We shared some of the introductory classes like Introduction to Computers and English Composition 101, but we had different majors so we didn't have all that many classes together. We did see each other almost every day at school and occasionally we found ourselves in the school cafeteria at lunch time and when that happened we sat together.

For the first few months I was in a bit of a funk knowing what Pauline was probably doing while she was at school, but I eventually shook it off and started dating. It was easier now that I was working part time at my Uncle Mike's Just Brakes franchise and didn't have to work evening anymore. The money was better too.