More Than a Kiss

Steve

Jeremy drove the Jeep back home. He had insisted on driving until Isabel’s adrenaline rush had subsided. Halfway home, he pulled off onto a side street and into a strip mall. “I have to pick up a few things. It’ll only take a minute.” Jeremy got out of the jeep and walked into Uncle Miltie’s Party Land.

“Is it someone’s birthday tomorrow?” Isabel inquired.

“I don’t think so,” Amy said. “Maybe that’s not a birthday party place. Uncle Miltie sounds like a perv. Maybe it’s a sex shop.”

“Yeah,” Isabel giggled. “Maybe it’s a sex shop for clowns.” They both laughed and the tension of the past hour eased.

“So speaking of sex,” Isabel said. “What’s up with the lesbian thing?”

Amy took a deep breath. “You know how I’ve been hanging out with that woman Jordan, the one I met at work?”

“The pretty one? Yeah, Jeremy told me.”

“We’re sorta kinda dating now.”

“I don’t have a problem with it. Just tell her if she’s not nice to you, she’ll have to deal with me. I’ll sic Steve on her.”

“Who’s Steve?”

“The lobster,” Isabel said. “He needed to have a name before I could wrap my mind around what just happened. Besides, despite the Chad thing, I still need him for the race. I don’t think I can handle picking up another one.”

“We’ve got to find him first. We should use gloves to handle him,” Amy said, thinking they didn’t need to lose any more fingers tonight.

“Baseball gloves,” Isabel said. At that moment, Jeremy opened the driver’s door and handed a big sack over to Isabel. “Mission accomplished.”

“What did you get?” Isabel said, peering inside the bag.

Jeremy smirked. “I couldn’t resist. Check it out.”

Isabel rooted around in the bag and pulled out several small plastic lobsters, an inflatable lobster, several hard plastic lobster true-to-scale models, light up lobster patio lights, a lobster cooking apron, a ceramic coffee mug with a lobster painted on the side and one peeking up from the bottom, lobster towels, a pair of lobster boxer shorts and even lobster socks.

“You are terrible,” Isabel said.

“I know, right?”

“Jeremy, aren’t you being a little harsh?” Amy said.

“And the banana thing wasn’t? Look, he got a lot of mileage out of tormenting you. Dude gets what he gives. Picture it: tomorrow he wakes up and his entire room is lobsterfied. You gotta admit, it’s funny.”

Amy smiled. Maybe Chad did deserve a little retribution. Okay, a lot of retribution.

Jeremy started the car while Isabel repacked the bag. “He is an asshole,” Isabel said.

“And it is funny,” Amy added.

“He uses people, dudes included. All I’m saying is he needs to come down from Chad mountain,” Jeremy said. “Doctor Stumpy is going to wake up tomorrow in lobster world.” He hung a lobster shaped car deodorizer from his rear view mirror.