Lauren And Laura's Wedding.

It had been just over a month since that bazaar Saturday night when I unwittingly got Bonnie and Greg back together. I had given much thought as to how I should have done things differently on that night. If I could have a do-over, first and foremost I would never have gone to play hockey.

There is no doubt that was by far my biggest mistake.

It was a beautiful warm evening that night so perhaps Bonnie and I would have went for a walk. We could have walked along the Yonge Street strip, maybe played pinball and ate pizza. I know I would have done anything to cheer her up that night.

Who knows?

But whatever we decided to do, I still would have had to deal with Greg waiting at Bonnie’s apartment when she got home. I did what I thought was right, I just wanted Bonnie to be happy even if it meant me being miserable. However, my misery had begun to slowly subside with Bonnie no longer working at the store. I now found myself thinking quite often about another girl who I liked and who also worked at the store.

Carmen was a part-time cashier. She was tall, pretty, athletic and was just finishing her last year of high school. We had already talked about going to a movie on a Saturday night after work. Carmen like almost everyone else at the store knew of my infatuation for Bonnie. I did get the impression that Carmen like everyone else thought I was wasting my time and I was grasping for something that was way out of my reach.

I too was beginning to think maybe they were right.

Carmen had been sick a few months earlier and she missed some of her shifts at the store. I decided to send her a single long stemmed red rose to cheer her up. As fate would have it Greg was a part-time delivery driver at a florist near Carmen’s house. I asked him to hand deliver a single long stemmed red rose to Carmen and tell her it was from Mike at the store. Carmen loved my gesture; Greg told me she cried when he handed her the rose. Carmen drove around with that rose on the dashboard of her car for weeks afterward.

I was now thinking about asking Carmen out. It had been well over a month since I had last seen Bonnie and I just assumed she was happy and she was getting on with her life. It was the classic out of sight, out of mind. I hadn’t seen Bonnie in weeks and she was no longer all I thought about.

It was on a Friday night, I had just finished work at 6 pm and I was looking forward to having a rare Saturday off. I hardly ever got my Saturdays off and when I did I would usually came into work for free because Bonnie would also be working. Carmen was working at the cash and we were just chatting before I left. I had full intentions of asking Carmen out on the Saturday night after her shift, but for whatever reason I didn't.

I said good night to her before I headed up the escalator into the mall. I wasn’t halfway up when Carmen hollered up to me that I had a phone call. I told her to tell whoever it was to go to hell, I was going home.

She told me it was Bonnie.

I quickly walked downward on the upward escalator and took the call at the phone in the tennis dept. where I could see Carmen watching me. It was indeed Bonnie and it was so nice to hear her voice. She asked me what I was doing on Saturday night, I told her I didn’t have any plans.

“Why?” I asked her.

She asked me if I we could go out together because she was now single. She told me that Greg and her had broken up for good earlier that week.

“I would love to go out with you Bonnie,” I said.

“What time do you want me to pick you up?” I asked her.

We agreed I would pick her up at 6 pm and unlike that Saturday night five weeks earlier; I would not be playing any hockey. It was mid-May and my Saturday night hockey games were finished for the season. I could not believe it; I was actually getting my do-over. Carmen was busy with customers as I walked back out of the store. I ran up the escalator as fast as I could, I did a Rocky Balboa fist pump once I reached the top.

Seriously, I could not remember the last time I was ever that happy.

Saturday morning I awoke in a very good mood. As the day progressed I got more and more excited while at the same time I was equally just as nervous. I had only been on one real date before back in 1978 on New Year’s Eve. I had no plans nor did I have any clue as to what we should do, but I had the whole day to figure it out. I was driving myself nuts all day trying to decide what we should do. It was a warm sunny spring day and the evening forecast was for a warm evening and no rain. With the good weather, our options would be endless as to what we could do.

My mother had met both Bonnie and Greg once, yet I cannot remember why they had come over to our apartment back in the Jungle. I think Greg was dropping off one of my hockey gloves or something that had fallen out of my hockey bag and was still in the trunk of his car. My mother told me she thought Bonnie was a very nice girl and she was very pretty. I told my mother that Bonnie and Greg had split up and I was taking her out to cheer her up. My mother never really said anything about me taking Bonnie out. I think more than anything she was surprised her firstborn was actually going on a date.

With no concrete plans I headed over to Bonnie’s apartment at about 5:30 pm. I arrived just before six and Bonnie was already outside waiting for me. She smelled wonderful when she got into my car. Bonnie wore a perfume called Lauren, it was her signature scent and she always wore Lauren while working at Collegiate. I remember telling her right away how much I missed the scent of her perfume and our coffee breaks together.

She told me she too missed our coffee breaks.

Before we pulled away from her apartment, I told her we would do whatever she wanted that night. The choice was hers and I was game for anything. We decided to drive downtown where we did something neither of us had ever done before. We went roller skating at the old Mutual Street Arena now known as the Terrace. We had a blast, we rented the old style roller skates and we spent well over an hour roller skating at the onetime home of the old Toronto Arenas hockey club.

Bonnie shared with me that it was Greg who ended their relationship. Greg had become good friends with another girl at his school and he now wanted to be in a relationship with her. Bonnie was upset, but I got the impression she wasn’t that surprised. It seems their relationship had not been doing as well as I thought since that bazaar Saturday night five weeks earlier. If anything it had gone downhill rather quickly.

Bonnie told me that it was her grandmother who insisted that she give me a call. Her Nan told her that she needed to forget about Greg and meet new friends. Apparently, Bonnie’s grandmother knew all about me because Bonnie had told her about our friendship at the store and how I was a very funny guy.

Yep, that would be me, the very funny guy.

After skating we went for a walk on the Yonge Street strip. We went to all the great places like Sam The Record Man and the Funland arcade. We stopped to watch some of the chess matches that are constantly being played just outside of Sam’s. While watching the chess games it had gotten a bit breezy and cooler outside. I took off my jacket and put it around Bonnie’s shoulders; I then put my arm around her. I knew in my heart while standing outside that night watching total strangers play chess, Bonnie would be my girlfriend.

I knew Bonnie felt very comfortable with me and she trusted me.

It was late by the time I got Bonnie home. We sat in the car and chatted for about an hour, it was so déjà vu. Five weeks earlier we were sitting in the exact same spot just before Greg showed up and scared the hell out of both of us. One of the full-timers at the store was getting married in July and she had already told me that she was inviting me to her wedding. She told me I could bring a date; I asked Bonnie if she would be my date for Laura’s wedding.

Bonnie told me she would love to go.

I asked her how she felt about us seeing each other as friends, we could take it real slow and see where it goes from that night on. I told Bonnie that my number one priority was whatever she was comfortable with. Afterall, it was still early days and Bonnie was fresh off a breakup. I knew I didn’t want to be in a rebound relationship or to be just a fill in boyfriend until something better came along. Bonnie already knew how I felt about her, yet I knew there would be many guys with much more to offer who would eagerly be willing to take my spot.

I had baseball practice the following morning and I asked Bonnie if she would like to hang out with me on Sunday. She would already know most of the people there as they all worked at the store. She said she had no plans and would love to spend the Sunday with me just hanging out. I told her that I would be back in about eight hours to pick her up. As she went to get out of my car I kissed her goodnight, albeit on her forehead. I told her I had wanted to kiss her ever since the first day I laid eyes on her. I walked her up to her apartment, kissed her again and left once she got inside safely. How I wished I could have just spent the night with her and woken up beside her on Sunday morning.

Fuck the baseball practice.

The baseball practice was at Wenderly Park, it was a less than a five minute drive from Bonnie’s apartment. I wished I would have taken a picture of the guy’s faces when I showed up with Bonnie on that beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Every single one of the guys knew how much I liked Bonnie. Most of them just laughed off my never ending prediction that someday I would marry her. For the most part they all said I was dreaming, but whatever gets me through the day then keep on dreaming the dream.

A few of the other guys had brought their girlfriends to practice and welcomed Bonnie to the team. Bonnie seemed so happy every time I looked over at her sitting on the bench and I couldn’t wait for practice to end. After practice, Bonnie invited me back to her apartment. She said her Nan was not home and we could just chill and watch television.

I was twenty years old and for the first time in my life I was now entering unchartered waters. Although I was very happy and very excited, I was prepared to navigate my way cautiously on what I hoped would be a lifetime voyage.

Bonnie and I spent a wonderful afternoon alone together in her apartment.

Bon voyage.