Unexpectedly stood up

One of the things I knew I was going to do after my Mom's wedding was go see Chez and Joad. I hadn't seen them in more than a year. At this time, they had their own place in Clovis. In the weeks and days before I came down, I had contacted Chez and told her that I was coming to Clovis on Saturday, July 23rd. I had planned to spend the afternoon with them before driving over to Tularosa to meet up with Abed. We planned for me to come to her mother's house to pick them up. She assured me that she would be there.

On the way up, I stopped at her father's house in Roswell. He told me she was looking forward to seeing me and he gave me a five dollar bill to give to her.

I got to her mother's house around 12pm, the time that I expected to be there. Her mother's boyfriend opened the door and let me in. Her mother was on the phone. I looked around, but I didn't see Chez or Joad. Her mother got off the phone. I asked where they were. "Oh, Chez told me to tell you she's sorry, but her friends came by her house this morning and took them on a road trip today."

I know I suddenly got very angry and punched my fist at a wall that wasn't there. Of course, this was in the time before cell phones, so there was no way I could have found out beforehand, but it still hurt because it meant that I didn't really mean that much to her anymore.

I said goodbye to her mother and boyfriend and went out to my car. I pounded my fists on the steering wheel. I suddenly remembered the five dollar bill. I decided that I was going to keep that. She owed me that much. But then I saw her mother and boyfriend coming out of the house and I knew it wasn't right for me to keep her money. I gave it to her to give to Chez. I didn't realize this at the time, but this would be the last time I would see her mother.

I drove off, found a pay phone and called her father. He was just as mad as I was. He gave me her phone number and told me how to get to her house, but he told me not to tell her how I found out. I called, but there was no answer. I drove over to the location he described, but all I saw was this small structure that looked like it would become a crackhouse at any minute. Considering that she was still on welfare, I figured it was where she lived, but there was no one there. I drove around Clovis for about an hour and stopped by her house a couple more times, but never found her.

I drove to Tularosa, met up with Abed and we went on our road trip the next day. (I'll go into more of our adventures in tomorrow's post.)

About a week later, I called Chez. She sounded surprised to hear from me and grilled me on how I got her number. I said I got it from directory assistance. She asked what it was listed under. I made a wild guess and said it was her last name and first two initials. I guessed right.

She said she was sorry she wasn't there, but her friends had planned that surprise road trip and they had gone to Lubbock. (I never would have even tried to go over there to find her, even if I knew she was there.) One of those friends was Saz. She said that Saz remembered me when I came up as a topic in conversation.

She told me, "I have something to tell you. I'm kind of involved with two people. One's a guy and the other is a girl." I replied, "Okay." She said, "DID YOU JUST HEAR WHAT I TOLD YOU?" "Yeah, I know about that. I knew when we lived together." "No, you didn't know that!" "Oh yes, I did. Why do you think I drove you by the lesbian bar and went by the movie theatre anytime they were showing a lesbian film? And besides, there was that thing between you and Kijd." "HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT KIJD?" "Well, I don't know that anything happened between you, but it was very obvious you had feelings for her. I even flat out asked you if you were in love with her and you told me no!" "Well, I really did love Kijd, but we never got together. How did you know this about me when I didn't even know myself?" "I know you so well because I love you." She didn't really have a response to that.

She told me that the guy she was seeing was a "friends with benefits" situation (although that was not the terminology she used). He was married and in the Air Force. He and his wife had agreed to an open relationship, but she was the one who initiated it. As for the girl (who was not the wife), Chez said they had taken a liking to each other, but hadn't gotten physical yet.

Chez and I would continue to talk to each other over the course of the next few months. A lot happened in her sexual awakening in that time. I'll get to that later.