A Dance Of Respect

Chapter 1

The house was quiet as Phillip came through the front door that Friday evening.

It was just Lee and himself for the night as Jamie was over at a friend's house and Amanda and Dotty were at Lillian's.

Looking at his watch he shook his head mumbling, "I'm gonna be the laughing stock at school for being home an hour before the dance ends."

Shutting the door he made his way out to the kitchen and getting himself a glass of milk, grabbed a couple of cookies out of the jar on the counter and then headed over to the couch.

Putting the glass on the coffee table he then flopped down on the couch and sighed thinking, What did I do that was so bad? Why was Linda so bent out of shape?

Then looking at the phone he considered calling his father. While it wasn't an emergency, he just needed advice.

Dialing the number he waited and then a groggy voice said, "H-Hello?"

Phillip answered, "Hey, Dad. It's me, Phillip... What?"

Just then Lee came down the stairs and seeing Phillip gave a questioning stare as Phillip put up a hand.

Lee shook his head and sat down in the wing chair knowing what time it would be in Africa and that Phillip just forgot the time difference!

Phillip then sheepishly remarked slowly, "Oh...I'm sorry I woke you, Dad. No, no. It was nothing important. Yeah, everybody's fine here. Okay. Yeah, see you next weekend. I love you, too. Bye."

As he hung up Lee commented glancing at his watch, "I know your mom said you could call your dad anytime, but it's pretty late over there, you know? And what are you doing home now? I was coming to get you in an hour. Did something happen?"

Phillip shrugged. "I don't know, but Linda's upset with me for some reason and left with one of her friends. I got a ride home from one of my friends. Girls are weird. That's for sure."

Lee cleared his throat. "Well, Chief. I know from past experience that whatever happened tonight had to stem from a misunderstanding, so I'll try to help you out here, okay? Think back. Was there something you said or didn't say that made the evening go south?"

Phillip shook his head. "Not that I know of. A bunch of us danced for a while and we got thirsty. So we headed over to the food area and got some punch. Linda and the other girls with us then headed for the bathroom and the guys and I just talked waiting for them to come back."

Lee nodded. "Go on."

Phillip sighed. "So then a rad song comes on and Suzanne from History class walks up and asks if I want to dance. I said sure since Linda wasn't back yet anyway. I didn't think I did anything wrong but then Linda comes back and sees me coming off the dance floor with Suzanne and says, 'Well! If I had known you wanted to be with her, I wouldn't have come with you, Phillip King!' And she just stomped off. Can you believe that?"

Lee groaned and shaking his head answering, "Oh, boy... I think I know what happened."

Phillip still felt confused. "What? I swear, I was nice to both of them, Lee."

Lee remarked querying, "I'm sure you were. Let me ask you this, though. You liked Linda enough to ask her out, correct?"

Phillip nodded. "Yeah. What's your point?"

Lee chuckled lightly. "Well, if you thought enough about Linda to ask her to the dance, obviously she felt that your attention would've been on her and only her. Get me?"

Phillip thought for a moment and then reacted strongly, "Wait a minute! Did she think we were steady or something? Aw, man! I never told her that!"

Lee shook his head. "I'm sure you didn't, Pal. But sometimes people that date have expectations that more or less get misconstrued and as a result, feelings get hurt in the aftermath."

Phillip looked at Lee perplexed. "Huh?"

Lee sighed. "You call her tomorrow and apologize and ask if you can still be friends. You have nothing to lose at this point, you know?"

Phillip groaned. "Think I'll just stay away from girls for a while. Sheesh!"

The phone rang just then and Phillip picked it up. "Hello?"

Swallowing he looked at Lee and mouthed, "Linda."

Lee smiled and got up from the chair heading for the stairs whispering, "I'll just leave you to it."

It was an hour later when Phillip came upstairs and found Lee in the hall.

Lee asked, "How did it go? Everything all right now?"

Phillip half smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Turns out her mom made her call to apologize, saying she was too young to be serious about anybody. So we're just gonna hang out from now on. As friends. Um, thanks for the talk, Lee. It's easier talking to you than Mom or Grandma about this stuff, you know?"

Lee lightly returned the smile. "You're welcome. You mean, guy stuff, right?"

Phillip nodded. "Yeah. Well, goodnight."

Lee answered, "Goodnight, Chief."

And as they both went to bed that night Lee thought, Hopefully, it won't be this bad when Jamie starts going out with girls!

Shaking his head he sat up in bed as he thought groaning, What if that's coming up sooner than later?

The End.