@promptedawards

For the thousandth time, I thought back to that phone call.  It had been just a mundane Tuesday.  I'd been sitting in my room, listening to the radio and trying to get some homework done, when my cellphone rang.

"Hello?" I said into the reciever.

"Alice, hey.  It's jeff."

I gasped and nearly dropped the phone.  Jeffery Green was actually calling me!  This had to be a joke, one of my dumb brother and his friends' pranks.

After hearing him ask "hello?" for the third time, I gathered up my courage and spoke again.

"Is it really you?" was the only thing I could think to say.

He laughed.  "Don't worry, I swear it's not a prank."

I sighed in relief.

"Anyway," he continued, "I was wondering, why don't we go for a little joyride Friday night."

This time, the phone actually did fall from my grasp.  Now I knew he was joking.  Jeff Green was the most popular boy in school.  He belonged in the company of a cheerleader or his jock friends, certainly not a nerd like me.

I thought about just hanging up, but now he had continued talking, and I couldn't help but lean on every word.

"Meet me at 712 Shady Creek Road.  I think you'll like what I have in store for you."

My brain said no way, but my heart was the one in control of my mouth at that moment.  I didn't realize until after I had hung up that I had actually said okay.  Immediately I began panicking.  In movies, whenever the popular guy asks a nerdy girl to meet him at some obscure location, it's always because he's invited the whole school to witness her embarrassing demise.

I was now walking down Shady Creek Road, hoping I would walk back alive.  Maybe I should've asked one of my friends to come with me, but how would that have looked?  I was already about to be destroyed.  I didn't want to embarrass myself also.

I held my breath as I turned the corner and the moment of truth arrived.  712 Shady Creek Road was...a retirement center?  Why would Jeff have told me to meet him here?  Maybe he was going to tell everyone I worked there, or maybe I lived there.

As I walked through the parking lot, I heard someone call my name.  I turned to see Jeff leaning out the driver-side window of a fifteen passenger van.  I walked over to him.

"Hop in!" He said, starting up the engine.  Still apprehensive, I did as I was told.

I half expected Jeff's football buddies to pop out and start throwing things at me as I climbed into the passenger seat.  I looked behind me, prepared for the worst, and came face to face with a guy who might have been on the high school team in the '40s.  The three rows of seats were filled to capacity with old people!

"Um," I wasn't sure how to react.

"Alice," Jeff announced, "these are the folks at Shady Creek retirement home.  Folks, this is Alice."

The van then erupted with thirteen shouts of "hi Alice!"

"Alice," he continued, "we thought you might like to join us on our outing this evening."

"Your--your outing?"  I asked, confused.

"Every Friday I take the seniors into town to do something.  It's nice for them to do 'cause they don't get out much."

"Yeah," the man behind me said, "we hardly ever get to do these things anymore."

"So what do you do?" I asked, thinking this was not at all like the Jeff I knew.

"We just go to different places and hang out.  Last week we went to the movies, the week before, we went mini golfing-- things like that."

"So," I said, trying to sound casual, "where are we going tonight?"

Jeff smiled mischievously.  "you'll see."

My mind was spinning as we pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward town.  I couldn't believe that I was on a senior field trip, and not the kind I was looking forward to at the end of high school.  I still wasn't sure if this was all an elaborate prank, but I didn't believe Jeff was carting around geezers because he was a nice guy.  He was supposed to be soulless like every other popular kid I knew.

It seemed like forever before Jeff spoke.  "Okay, guys, we're almost there!  Close your eyes!"

The old people immediately clamped their hands over their faces, but I had trouble complying.

"You too, Alice." he teased.

"Why do I have to close my eyes?" I asked, a little more demanding than I had meant.

"So you can be surprised, of course."

I hesitated, then sighed and closed my eyes.  I felt us turn and slow, before stopping completely.

"Ooh," I heard one of the ladies whisper excitedly.

"Okay folks!" Jeffery said, "open your eyes."

Everyone gasped, then began talking at once, exclaiming how wonderful tonight was going to be.  I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes.

"Come on, Alice."  I felt my hands being pried away from my face.

I cracked one eye open, once again prepared for the worst, but, to my surprise and disappointment, only saw the half burnt out Walmart sign.

"Walmart?"  I asked incredulously, "you brought us to Walmart?"

"Okay folks!" Jeff shouted, ignoring me, "Everyone gets to pick out one thing!  Go crazy!"

I looked at him, not sure what I had just heard.  "You're really going to buy all of them something?"

He just shrugged.  "My dad gives me a set amount to spend on trips like this.  Anything else comes out of my pocket."

Great, I thought, the popular kid is mega rich.  I never would've thought.

"Come on," he said, steering me toward the automatic doors, "Let's make sure they don't actually go crazy."
 

It was like a zoo in there.  The already packed lines of people were being jostled around by our geezer gang, who were acting like they'd never been inside a public place before.  Those who were able moved with lightning speed through the aisles, knocking things from shelves, shouting to their comrades, chasing shoppers away.

After the first five minutes, I was ready to cry.  Jeff and I ran around the store, trying to keep our party from getting thrown out.  I had never been so stressed in my entire life.

The chaos didn't seem to phase Jeff at all.  He raced through the aisles along with his friends, laughing and joking, trying in a carefree manner to keep them in line, which I didn't think was a very useful tactic.  After he had taken part in the fifth display dismantling, I grabbed his sleeve.

"I think I'd better just go home."

He stopped mid laugh. 

"What?!" he said, "You can't leave!"    

"AND WHY NOT?"  I hadn't meant to explode, but stress was not a good thing for me

He looked crestfallen.  "Well, I--I thought you were having fun."

"FUN!  Chasing old people through a grocery store is not my idea of fun!"

"Well," Jeff said defensively, "you're the one who said you'd come."

"I'm sorry," I exclaimed, "I wasn't aware that this was what you meant when you said, 'why don't we go for a joyride'!"

"What else were you expecting?" he demanded.

I hesitated.  I didn't want him to know what I really thought, so I just shrugged.

He stared at me for a moment, then his eyes widened.

"Oh," he said, "you were expecting something big and romantic."

"Actually, I thought you were going to embarrass me in front of the entire school."

Jeff looked at me incredulously.  "Why would you think I'd do that?"

"I don't know," I said, staring down at my toes, "isn't that what being popular's all about?  Making people look bad so you can retain your top status?"

He shook his head.  "Alice, I don't know where you got that idea from, but I assure you that's not the kind of guy I am.  I know you've always felt that way about me, and I thought, maybe if I showed you this side of me, you'd think I was nice and down to earth enough for you to go out with me."

My jaw dropped.  Did Jeffery Green really say he wanted to go out with me?

We sat in silence for a while, watching the chaos continue to ensue.  I remembered how Jeffery had been interacting with the seniors, like he was just one of the guys, not their babysitter.  He had truly tried to make them feel good, and I had a feeling if I started paying attention more, I'd see him act that way around others, too.

"Yes." I said.

"Yes what?"

I smiled at him.  "I'll go out with you."

His grin was the largest I'd ever seen as he pulled me close and we watched the seniors find their purchases  hand in hand.