Monday evening, while studying for his own exams at Georgia Tech, Doug got an unexpected call from Amber. They had not spoken in almost a year.
"Doug."
"Hi Amber! What a surprise?"
"I just thought I needed to talk to you again."
Amber and Doug began to connect. Amber told Doug about Marlow and what she had gone through and how she had realized the mistakes she had made. Doug was surprisingly receptive to Amber and was willing to talk with her and listen. Then Amber took a chance, "Could we meet and talk some more?"
Doug hesitated but then replied, "I guess so. When and where?"
"How about Friday at 6PM at the Outback in Kennesaw? I'm coming back home for Christmas break that morning."
Without thinking about plans he had already discussed with Trisha he said, "Okay." After getting off the phone with Amber, Doug felt strange. Here he was happy with Trisha and Amber comes back into the picture. Then he remembered making plans with Trisha so he wondered what he ought to do. He decided to give Trisha a call.
Later that evening, Doug called Trisha, who was studying in her room, to talk and he told her that something else had come up for Friday night and asked if they could reschedule for Saturday. She agreed without even questioning Doug about why he needed to reschedule. Unassuming Trisha guessed that a family thing came up or something. He was unfortunately prepared to lie to Trisha and not tell her about his intentions on seeing Amber.
A little later that evening, Trisha got her own surprise phone call.
"Hello?"
"Hi there, Trisha, this is Beau Rodgers." Trisha did not expect to hear from Shelley's ex-boyfriend. She began to nervously flex her feet so that her black clogs began to barely hang off the edge of her blue sock-clad toes, as she sat with her legs stretched out across her bed.
"Oh, hi Beau. Great game on Saturday - congratulations!"
"Thanks, Trisha. I'm still a bit on cloud nine. But our season's not over, yet. We still have to play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Years Day. Hey, Trisha I wanted to ask you something."
Trisha was shocked to detect a bit of nervousness from the quarterback of the Georgia football team - supposedly one of the most confident people in the state having just helped his team win the Southeastern Conference football title. She suspected it had something to do with Shelley. "Sure, what do you want to ask?"
"Of course you know that Shelley and I are no longer dating - not for the past month."
Trisha thought her assumption about why he called was correct. "Yeah, sure. She took it pretty hard."
"Okay, well, after winning the football game Saturday and with me flying up to New York on Saturday, our head coach, Mark Richt, wanted to have all the seniors out to his house for dinner on Friday. Everyone's bringing a guest and I wondered if you would like to be mine?"
Trisha thought quickly. She was dating, Doug, or was she. Yeah, they were going out, but were they exclusive? And was this even a date or did Beau just want someone to bring? Doug was busy Friday, anyway. She decided to take a risk, "Okay Beau, I'd love to come. It sounds like fun. But I was planning on coming home to Atlanta on Thursday."
Beau was very pleased. "Sounds great, Trisha, I'll drive over to pick you up at 5:30PM."
"You don't have to drive 70 miles each way just to pick me up. I could just wait until Saturday to go home. I have a lot of things I need to do before next semester, anyway and I'll just go ahead and try to get some of those things done and go home Saturday morning."
Beau was not at all used to a non-selfish girl. Shelley would have expected front door pick-up and drop-off. "Okay, we can do that." Trisha gave him directions then she asked, "So, what type of event is this? Is it dressy, casual..?"
"All the guys wear suits and the girls wear nice dresses. I don't know what you call that."
"I like dressy occasions. I'll look forward to it."
Trisha got off the phone with Beau and stopped to think for a moment. Here she was dating Amber's ex-boyfriend and now she was going to a dinner with Shelley's ex-boyfriend having not discussed it with either. On top of that, she was not even telling Doug, although she decided not to lie if he asked. Besides, she went out with Jay all the time and this was no different in her eyes.
Trisha took advantage of her Friday in Athens to take care of some last minute business that might have otherwise waited until January. Since she was not in Atlanta, Beau did not have to come by to pick Trisha up at the AOPi house until 6:30PM. Beau felt a little odd coming by the AOPi house picking up someone besides Shelley. But Beau looked forward to a classy evening with a classy lady that Trisha had shown herself to be. He wanted his last get together with his teammates to be a good one.
About an hour before time to leave, Trisha began to get ready for what sounded like a very nice dinner. She picked out her favorite black dress and a fairly new pair of high heeled black mules made by Paco Gil. They were very classy with a buckle on the upper. She added a pair of sheer gray nylons to look a bit dressier and also look more appropriate for a December event. Trisha thought about how these shoes might be hard to keep on with hose, but she figured there would be little walking or opportunities to cause trouble. Besides, these shoes looked great and she felt very attractive when she wore them or shoe styles like them.
Beau arrived in his Ford Expedition dressed in a nice gray suit and a Christmas red tie. He looked very nice and handsome to Trisha.
"Hello Trisha, you look really pretty tonight."
"Why thank you Beau, you look quite handsome yourself."
Beau opened the door for Trisha to enter and she noticed that her right mule almost slipped off her nyloned foot as she lifted it up into the vehicle that was much higher off the ground than the cars she was sued to riding in. She had not anticipated this first problem area associated with wearing this pair of mules. On the way to the coach's house, Beau made small talk to try to get to know Trisha better. Shelley had told him a lot about Trisha, but much of it centered on how she was jealous of Trisha.
Beau pulled into to the large circular driveway and stopped to let Trisha out and go park the car some distance away. "I’ll be back in a few minutes,' Beau said as Trisha opened the door and began to step out. Trisha carefully planted her right shoe on the step and spun on it as she pulled her left leg out from inside the vehicle. As she did, her left mule slipped off her foot and landed a few feet away. Trisha quickly closed the door so Beau would not see her folly and she stepped gingerly with her nyloned left toes feeling the cool sidewalk as she went to replace her fallen shoe. Trisha thought, 'This is going to be more difficult that I thought. These new shoes are really slippery tonight.'
Beau soon returned and led Trisha inside with her heels slapping on the bottom of her feet with every step. Coach Richt had a large house with a full basement that was decorated in Bulldog colors for the party and a covered back porch where the food was being served. One part of the basement, where a large sound system spread across the entire wall, was obviously set aside for a dance floor. Much of the room was arranged in a series of round tables to seat their 50 dinner guests who included some of the assistant coaches and their spouses as well as 17 seniors and their guests. Beau introduced Trisha to the coach, his family, the other coaches and his teammates. Everyone seemed quite nice. Trisha, now even more concerned about her choice of footwear, asked Beau about the dance floor. "Oh yeah, all of our parties break out into dancing. Actually, when I thought about who to ask, I remembered how much I enjoyed dancing with you at the Valentine's Party at your sorority."
Trisha did not mind that her dancing was one factor that drew Beau's attention. In fact she was surprised that more of her sorority sisters in AOPi as well as girls in other sororities failed to make an effort to become better dancers. Before college, Trisha was just an average teenager who had only danced at a few high school events and done some easy line dances, but now, she was one of the better social dancers in her sorority, certainly better than Shelley who relied on her looks alone and never tried to work on other aspects of herself.
Soon, Beau and Trisha made their way through the food line and took a seat at a round table with the other two 'amigos' and the place-kicker and their dates, and the quarterbacks coach and his wife. Soon everyone who had met Shelley immediately liked Trisha. She was much friendlier and did not seem to have an air of superiority about her. Trisha soon felt quite comfortable and she crossed her leg and her right shoe fell into an immediate dangle an that led to a loss only mere minutes later. Trisha stayed that way for a few minutes then she placed her nyloned foot flat on the floor and dangled the other mule and it soon fell off as well. After 10 minutes of eating, Trisha had abandoned both her shoes and seemed perfectly comfortable in doing so. Beau accidentally dropped his teaspoon and when he leaned down, he noticed her shoes abandoned under the table and remembered that Shelley often did the same thing. Only, Shelley usually ditched her shoes on purpose, but Beau had no way of knowing that Trisha's was not on purpose.
Trisha and Beau enjoyed their dinner and conversation for about an hour. Then, Coach Richt gave a little speech congratulating the team on senior class for their success and specifically mentioning Beau and his attempt to bring Georgia their first Heisman Trophy in 20 years. Beau suggested, "Hey Trisha, let's walk around and tour the house."
"Sure, Beau. Sounds fun." Trisha took a few moments to locate her discarded shoes. She was pleased to find them so quickly. As they walked, Beau began to open up a bit more about his feelings for Shelley. He admitted that he was immature when they started dating. He was drawn to her blonde hair and her pretty face and her status as the head cheerleader.
Beau concluded, "It took me a long time to get past all that stuff and realize that there wasn't a lot of depth or substance there. She only wants to please herself and get what she wants."
Trisha tried to stand up for Shelley a little, "I know that the things you say are somewhat valid. And she and I have certainly had our competitive moments. But I think that deep down she is starting to see where she needs to improve. That job at WAGA has helped her a lot. She also did a good job as VP of Education for our sorority after losing to me for the presidency.
"I think that Shelley will never admit it, but she looks up to you lot. She sees you as someone who is well-liked and has a good attitude about things. She sees you are more secure with yourself than she is."
Beau and Trisha made their way up to the top floor of the house, which was an attic media and game room. They went out a side door and discovered a secluded, dark balcony that overlooked a dark side of the back yard which was a think, well-developed flower and shrub garden. Immediately protruding from the balcony on either side was a steeply sloped roof with a rain gutter at the bottom.
Trisha and Beau leaned against the balcony on one side and faced the other direction toward the front of the house. From here, they watched the moon and looked at the stars while continuing to get better acquainted.
"Trisha, I am really glad you came here with me tonight."
"I'm having a good time myself," Trisha replied as she absent-mindedly began to dip one of her black mules while rubbing the side of her foot against one of the slits of the balcony railing.
"I've enjoyed your company more than I ever did with Shelley at one of these things. Actually, she came to my football parties quite rarely - I believe it was mostly to network for one of her 'Inside Scoop' segments. She did not seem to care about really getting to know the other players and their girlfriends either. None of them were cheerleaders or in your sorority. But she was fast to want me to go to her sorority things."
Beau, you need to relax and not think about Shelley. You did what you think was best for you, it seems and you decided it was time to move on."
Trisha unintentionally gave Beau a 'green light.' "Trisha, you are one special young lady. You look so pretty, too, here in the moonlight. Your eyes sparkle like the stars and your smile is so bright and cheerful." Trisha was surprised by the complement. Beau was no 'dumb jock' if he could speak so poetically. He surprised her again when he turned his head to face her and started to kiss her. She lost control of the mule she was dipping and it quickly scurried down the roof. Right before their lips met, Trisha realized her folly and turned around to look out onto the roof and exclaimed, "My shoe!"
Beau was confused at what had just happened, but the romantic spell was certainly broken. "What happened?" Beau asked then looked down to notice that Trisha was now wearing only one of those pretty black high heeled mules. The other foot was flexed on her toes as she leaned over the railing trying to see where her shoe landed.
"There are a lot of flowers and bushes down there. It could have gotten caught anywhere."
"Let's go down and look for it. I'll ask Mrs. Richt for a flashlight."
Beau led one shod Trisha down the back stairs toward the kitchen. She had to go slow to keep from tripping due to one foot being several inches higher than the other. They did find Mrs. Richt and obtained a nice bright flashlight. She asked Trisha, "Did you drop your shoe somewhere?"
"Yes, I was standing against the balcony upstairs and it fell between the railing."
"If you need more help, come back and let me know." Mrs. Richt also turned on an outside light to help their search.
Trisha thanked Mrs. Richt and then she and Beau began to scour the backyard under where her shoe fell. They looked amongst flowed beds and in the bushes and no shoe was to be found. Beau thought Trisha looked cute walking around in her one high heel. A few times, a carefully placed flashlight illuminated her bare foot so he could see her bright red nail polish underneath her nylons. Beau then made an unpopular suggestion, "It's going to be hard to find tonight, I'll come back out here tomorrow at sunrise and see if I can find it."
"But what about now? I've got to face your friends wearing one shoe. I'll look like a klutz. Besides, you've got to leave tomorrow for New York and I'll be leaving for home myself. I can't ask you to come back."
"You're right, I guess we'll just tell Coach Richt what happened before we leave and I'll get it back to you when he finds it and returns it to me. For now, we'll just slip back in downstairs and see what's going on with the party now."
As they walked toward the basement they heard the sound system get turned on. Beau said, "Hey the music's on. We can dance. Just kick off your one shoe and we'll show them how it's done."
Trisha liked that idea and they did just that. Trisha abandoned her one shoe under one of the side tables in the basement and she and Beau soon were having a good time. Several other girls had removed their shoes as well so Trisha looked right at home. Someone was there taking pictures and Beau and Trisha got theirs taken during a vigorous spin move which sent Trisha's long dark brown hair flying.
Beau could not remember having so much fun dancing. Trisha had never had a partner who was a better dancer than Beau. She soon forgot all about her lost shoe and had a great time. Beau's teammates and coaches were all impressed as were the other guys dates.
The evening began to come to a close. Beau and Trisha were two of the last people to get ready to leave. She retrieved her one shoe and carried it in her right hand. Beau found Coach Richt and told him what happened. "Trisha lost one of her shoes in your yard. If you find it, just keep it and let me know and I'll come by to get it.'
The coach looked down and noted Trisha standing in nyloned feet and carrying a pretty black high heeled mule. "Okay, I see what it looks like. Where did she lose it?"
"We were standing on the third floor balcony and it fell in between the railing and slid down the roof into the garden below."
"Okay, Beau. I'll look for it. Now as for you, you have a great trip to New York. I hope you win. You're a good quarterback and an outstanding gentleman. And Trisha, it was a pleasure meeting you as well. You're a nice young lady and it's been a pleasure having you in our home." Coach Richt would never say it pubically, but he thought Trisha was a nice improvement over Shelley.
Beau got the car and picked up Trisha where he had left her before when they arrived. He took her home to the AOPi house. As they rode, memories of the party began to return to that moment on the balcony when passions were flaring and they almost kissed. Neither were ready to talk about it, however.
"Trisha, I had a really nice time tonight. I enjoyed your company and getting to know you. But I'm sorry about you losing your shoe."
"I have a nice time too, Beau. I hope you win the Heisman Trophy. I'll be watching.
Beau was uncertain of whether a kiss would be appreciated, but before he could make a decision, Trisha leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and have him a hug. "Thank you, Beau, for a nice evening."
After that, Trisha ran inside and went to bed. But she stayed awake replaying the night's events in her head. She wondered what to do now that she had had such a nice time with Beau.
That same evening, Doug picked up Amber and took her to eat at the Outback Steakhouse. They started with small talk and they caught up on the year they had missed. Amber told him about her classes at SCAD and Doug told Amber about the latest at Georgia Tech. Then Amber broke the ice, "Doug, I've missed you. I've missed you terribly."
"But you broke things off so abruptly after 5 years. I thought that you were no longer interested in me."
"I did not know what I wanted. I saw an opportunity to pursue a dream and I did not want to hold on to any vestiges from the past. I wanted a clean break."
"And now?" "I've made some mistakes, befriended the wrong people, dated the wrong guy and let go of too much of my past. Can we be friends again?"
"Sure, we can be friends, but there's something I think you should know."
Amber knew what Doug was about to confess. In fact, one reason she wanted to meet with Doug was to confirm what her sister, Heather, had told her and see what was going on.
Doug continued, "I've been going out with Trisha."
Amber tried to look more surprised and less hurt tan she really was. "You've been going out, huh? So are you dating seriously, casually?"
Doug realized these were questions he had not considered. "I really don't know. Things started slow and because of you we agreed to not push things. We're not real busy. We've only been out about a dozen times since the summer, but we do send email and call each other a couple of times a week."
Amber tried to influence his thinking. "So you're really not dating all that seriously?"
"I guess not." Doug began to regain the feelings he had for Amber while they were dating. He remembered the things he liked about her and a few he didn't. Amber had put just enough doubt in his head to make him really confused. "So have you and Trisha talked?"
"Actually we haven't. My sister talked to Jay and he told her about you dating. I'm a little hurt that she did not tell me."
"Amber, I think she wanted to, but was nervous about how you would take it. She wanted to see if we got more serious first, I suppose. I think you two should talk."
"Maybe so. Hey, enough of the serious talk. Let's go bowling and have fun."
Amber and Doug went to US Play there in Kennesaw and had a great time bowling together. It was almost like old times for them. They decided to get together a few more times before she had to return to Savannah.
The next morning, Trisha’s dad Charles poured over the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a photo in the Sports section caught his eye. When Trisha came downstairs for breakfast he showed it to her. “Is this you?”
Trisha looked and sure enough, there she was in her gray nylons dancing with Beau. Her hair covered her face and you could not tell who she was. Trisha wondered what would happen when and if Shelley ever saw the photo, and if she were to figure out who it was. She was glad this occurred after school was on break. The article itself focused on Beau flying out to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Saturday night Doug picked up Trisha at her house and they went out to the new Discover Mills between the northeastern suburbs of Duluth and Lawrenceville. They grabbed a delicious hamburger at Johnny Rockets and went to Jillian's to have a fun time playing video games, shooting pool and for Doug, a second straight night of bowling. The activities were fun but both Trisha and Doug had a secret from just the night before and were unsure of what had happened or where it left the two of them.
While taking a break over a couple of Cokes, they watched Beau come in third for the Heisman Trophy to quarterbacks from the Universities of Nebraska and Oregon. Trisha was disappointed that Beau didn't win, but she was happy that he had the opportunity to be considered. After the TV coverage of the ceremony was over, Trisha decided to ask the question that had been burning inside. "So Doug, we've been seeing each other for 6 months now. Where do you see our relationship heading?" She began to play with her brown clogs under the table while she waited for an answer.
"Well, we've been having a lot of fun together. I guess with us graduating, I'm just afraid of getting too close then having to make a major decision if we get jobs in cities too far apart."
"Sure, I agree with what you say, but after 6 months, we ought to know more."
"Trisha, I guess I really don't know what I want. Maybe we should take a break and take some time to think. Not quit doing stuff together, but just see what happens."
"If that's what you want to do, that's fine with me too." Soon afterwards, Doug took Trisha home in an almost silent car. Doug thought about Amber and Trisha thought about Beau.
Monday, Trisha stopped by Wachovia to work and talk with Mrs. Hudson about the work/study program they had discussed. Trisha was a little more interested in this program after chatting casually with her mom and dad. Charles and Lisa thought that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up without at least submitting an application.
Trisha had a busy morning as a teller and right after lunch, she knocked on Mrs. Hudson's office door to talk. She was pleased to see Trisha at work and even more so that she was inquiring more about the Wachovia work/study program.
"Come on in Trisha and have a seat. Go ahead and close the door."
Trisha took a seat in a chair immediately in front of Branch Manager Mrs. Hudson and crossed her right leg over her left, sending her right high heeled pump into an immediate dangle. Being aware of Mrs. Hudson's penchant for professionalism, she squeezed her toes and replaced her shoe squarely on her foot and listened to her manager's information about the program.
"In light of what happened 9/11, and the recent Wachovia and First Union Bank merger, there has been an increased awareness of bank database security issues. At the same time, regional universities have begun to add graduate programs in database security, data encryption and cyber terrorism prevention. There is now, therefore, a program set up to send some of our brightest employees to graduate school to work 25 hours a week and take graduate classes in the area of database security. We have programs in Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro North Carolina and Columbia and Greeneville, South Carolina."
"Sounds interesting, Mrs. Hudson, what do I need to do to apply?"
"You need to take the GRE Exam as soon as you can, but I believe you will have no problem meeting the score requirement. What is your anticipated GPA when you graduate?"
"It's around 3.48 right now."
"That's a good GPA in your curriculum at a strong university such as Georgia. I have a few more things to go over and I'll get this in the mail."
Trisha continued to answer Mrs. Hudson's questions and finished out the rest of the day. She worked a total of 7 days over the Christmas Break, just enough to buy a CD burner for her computer and a couple of new pairs of shoes.
Trisha spent the rest of her Christmas break working, sending out resumes to companies and spending time with her family. She spent a fun weekend in New York and even went ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza with her modeling friends. She only saw Doug twice before leaving for school around New Years. Trisha also talked with Amber a couple of times and she confessed going out with Doug, but she unintentionally gave her some encouragement by telling her that they had decided to back off a bit from dating. Trisha and her dad watched Georgia win the Sugar Bowl game against the University of Illinois and see Beau get named most valuable player. She wondered if Beau would call her again once they were back in school together and she also wondered if she'd ever see her lost shoe again.
