They were soon home, and Linda and Jack bid each other goodbye, deciding on four o’clock Sunday for their date.
Once inside the house, she got a warm hug from both parents.
There was a call to both grandmas, three reruns of the race, a trip to Longhorn Steakhouse for a celebratory dinner where Linda was recognized by a father and daughter who had finished fifty-third in the state meet. The look of awe on the girl’s face as she talked with Linda brought forth a surge of pride in Wendel and Molly.
At home, they watched some TV, staying up late for the eleven o’clock news where Linda was able to watch herself sprinting the last fifty meters to the finish line, the sports anchor repeating several times, “And she’s only a freshman.” She went to bed smiling and hoped she could sleep. Tomorrow she’d have to make a new sign for her room. She curled up under her covers, still smiling, and was quickly asleep.
She awoke Sunday morning and stretched, yawned, and slowly climbed out of bed before what had happened just yesterday burst into her mind. It was real. All the running, the talking, the hopes, and dreams had come to pass. She had her first state championship–three more to go.
She was ready for another first–the date with Jack. She hoped that Sunday would be as successful as Saturday, even if she wasn’t sure what that would mean.
***
At four o’clock, almost to the second, Jack knocked on the front door, Linda suspecting that he had been waiting outside and checking his watch. His big smile of yesterday was still there, and she could see he was as excited about the date as she was. It was a first for both, and the excitement was natural.
Jack watched the pretty blonde, now at least locally famous, who would be spending the afternoon with him, not because he caught up with her on the way to school, but because she chose to be with him. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her since that first day of school, and now he was glancing at her hand, wondering if he’d be brave enough to take hold of it. Time would tell.
Following his mother’s prompt, he said, “You look nice. I love that dress.” It was the first time he had seen her in a dress.
Her cheeks pinking, she said, “Thank you, Jack. I like that shirt, too. Is that a Chaps logo?”
Jack glanced at his chest and chuckled. “I dunno, maybe, I guess. I got this for my birthday.” Then, after a deep breath, he offered his hand. When she took hold of it, electric shocks raced through his body. Her smile only multiplied the effect. He wondered what would come next.
“We’ll see you later, honey,” she heard as she went through the front door, still holding Jack’s hand. If he was willing to offer it, she was more than willing to hold it. She was anxious to enjoy her first date.
“So, you’ve been a state champion for a day now; how does it feel?”
Linda’s heart began pounding anew as the memory flooded back.
“Like…like…I don’t know,” she said, biting her lower lip as she spontaneously squeezed his hand.
When she did that, he wondered if she could feel his heart pounding through his hand.
Suddenly the words began spilling out. “I almost can’t believe it, even after all the dreaming, and hoping, and running, and the shaking and lying awake at night and then being there with all those great runners and then being ahead and…and…”
“Winning.” He finished it for her.
“Yes,” she said, tightly holding his hand again, “and winning,” with another squeeze.
Jack was as near to heaven as he was likely to get as he and Linda bounced along the sidewalk, so thankful he had decided to hold her hand. About two more of those squeezes, and he might just float away. Along with all the tight hand-holding, somewhere along the way, she had switched to an interlocked fingers grip. He knew she was so excited about winning the state meet that she didn’t even realize what she had done. He couldn’t care less.
As much as she enjoyed walking with Jack, they were at the theater, and she watched as he bought the tickets. She thought she recognized the girl selling the tickets from school, and the girl was talking to Jack, both of them glancing over at her.
“So,” she said, giggling, “what was that about?” She watched the red creeping into Jack’s face.
“She recognized you and said she saw you on the news last night.” More flushing down his neck now. “She asked if I had a date with you and then said, ‘Cool.’ I agree with her; it is cool.”
Linda smiled, took hold of his hand, and they went inside.
They were almost surprised that the sun had set when they left the theater, but walking home in the gathering darkness was fun. The air was cool, the gentle breeze stirring her blonde hair, which fascinated Jack. She might be only fifteen, but as far as he was concerned, she was gorgeous.
Much more comfortable with each other already, they laughed, bumped hips, and shared lots of nothing all the way to Linda’s house. They stopped under a tree where it was dark before they had to face the light from her front porch.
“Jack,” she said. I had a great time. I’d like to do this again sometime.”
“Me too, Linda. And we will.”
She was a state champion, but he was determined not to let that deter him and vowed to himself to be patient during track season, as difficult as that would be.
***
Linda began the winter athletic season, promising herself not to allow her training and conditioning to slip even a tiny bit. She’d arranged with the school to use the track team locker room under the stadium so she could use the outdoor track for her workouts. She was already concentrating on speed work, enjoying the change from the distance regime she’d followed for cross country. She’d have to adapt to the colder weather, but that was a minor issue.
She’d also had more dates with Jack…and was enjoying them way more than she had anticipated. They went to another movie, had a picnic that Jack’s mother had prepared, and he had taken her to Wendy’s for dinner. “Order whatever you want,” he’d said, and they laughed together. After Wendy’s, they’d gone back to Jack’s house.
“Wow, that’s a big piano,” Linda said as she ran her hand over the closed lid and tossed her coat onto a chair. She looked at Jack. “You play, don’t you?” she asked, closing one eye and grinning at him.
“Yeah,” he said, looking away from her.
“Well, play,” she said, nodding at the piano. She’d nearly forgotten about Jack’s music since he seldom mentioned it, but she was curious about it and anxious to see what he could play.
“Aw, you don’t want to hear the piano.”
Linda had changed a good bit since the state cross-country meet, gaining significant confidence not usually found in a fifteen-year-old. She leaned toward Jack and whispered.
“You get to watch me run, you know, to perform. Now’s my chance to watch you.”
She moved her coat and sat down in the chair, leaning forward, ready to listen.
He sighed. “Well, okay then. I have a new piece I’ve been working on, but I’ll have to use music since it isn’t memorized yet. Is that okay?”
Linda gave him a puzzled look. He was talking about something she didn’t understand. She used the music in the hymnbook when they went to church on Sunday. She knew a few songs from memory but couldn’t imagine playing a complicated piano piece without the sheets of music. Yet, Jack was apologizing for not having memorized the song he wanted to play for her.