Update 2
“Lance, all these months I’ve heard how great you are on that guitar,” Sandy said to me as we were getting ready for the lunch rush, “I think it’s time I heard it for myself.”
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“Well, Gina told me you have a real show this Saturday night, not just a party. She said you’re opening for a band from Hollywood at a little spot in North Park.”
“Yeah,” I said with pride, “Our first time on a real bill. I’ve got a flier in my locker. But how can you come? What about Missy?”
“Greg’s parents are picking her up from school on Friday and are going to take her to Disneyland all weekend. I think they’re crazy to take a five year old to D-land two straight days, but I can use the adult time. Besides,” said Sandy, “This means I can sit stage right with Gina and play groupie.”
“Yeah right,” I replied with my best wicked little grin, “You have no idea how much I’d like you to play groupie.”
“Why Lance,” said Sandy in a false southern drawl, “Whatever must y’all mean?” So saying she brushed past me to go back to the cooler. As she moved past me I could have sworn I felt her fingertips run across my ass! But no, I must have been imagining things. Sandy was a sweetheart and a great gal, but she had already proven that she had no interest in me that way.
Back when I first started working at JB’s, I was paired up with Sandy on my very first day. By the time I went to lunch I was in love. OK, maybe that is a little bit strong. I was in lust. Sandy had the blond-haired blue-eyed surfer girl look down perfectly. Her body was trim and hard. She was not super thick in any place, but she was very muscular.
I imagined her build must be similar to that of a ballerina or jazz dancer, although I had never met one to test the theory. Her skin was very tan, since she still spent a lot of time out in the sun when she was not trapped in the grease pit we worked in. She looked like the kind of girl the quarterback would have dated in high school. In other words, way out of my league.
It actually kind of calmed me down to think of her that way. Knowing I did not have a chance, I never tried to impress her. I think that is what paved the way for us to become friends.
Despite the age difference and the fact that she was technically my boss, Sandy and I talked a lot at work. We also flirted outrageously. It was all in fun, but it still felt good when she would make teasing little comments to me or when she would deliberately make them to someone else in a way that assured me it was really for my ears.
In a way, Sandy was the best thing to happen to my self-esteem in my whole life until Gina came along. She helped me overcome enough of my shyness that when I did finally get the chance to get to know a girl like Gina, I managed not to blow it. I would be paying that one back forever, even if Sandy was not really aware of it.