Never the Same IC#8 Kirk’s Love Life Part 8: The Final Fallout

A Disconcerting Concert, Caught in the Act by Cops

 

 

Cue: “Wicked Game” https://youtu.be/oadhHk2xs6c

At this time, Lord Kirk maintained the status quo, that is, sustaining his relationship with his steady girl, Gentlewoman Lady Farrah while keeping the clandestine affair with the sexy hippie chick Mistress Sarah Elizabeth, or using a socially preferred title for her, paramour.  

Considering the fact that Kirk coincidentally lost his virginity by Sarah in his car parked not far from Farrah’s house, Kirk conjectured that Sarah knew of his relationship with Farrah, but on the other hand, he didn’t think Farrah knew about Sarah. Who really knows what goes unsaid with social connections, women’s intuitions, and so on, and probably Kirk wearing Farrah’s ring on a chain around his neck tipped Sarah off? We know Kirk was not overly smart about how women thought and acted when other women were involved with their boys; so, until someone blew up on Kirk the status quo remained in effect. This happened to be for quite some time.  

It just so happened that Kirk moseyed on into a record store that he did on rare occasions. Even though Sarah and he listened to one side of the Grand Funk Railroad about 25 times when they were making love in Kirk’s friend’ bedroom, he still wasn’t a fan of the band. His musical tastes ran high brow compared to those classic hard rockers. Well, he spotted a poster for his number one favorite band. What he didn’t realize right off the bat was that the poster advertised the band coming to town like in two weekends! He inquired about tickets and found that he had to go to the big city to purchase said tickets right at the venue where they were performing. The next evening, he made the cruise in his ‘bird to downtown and picked up two tickets, quite sure that Farrah would accompany him to the concert even though he didn’t ask first. Kirk didn’t see her that particular evening, but when he did see her, he whipped the tickets out of his pocket.

“Hey babe! We’re going to a concert!” Kirk announced with glee.

Farrah didn’t appear overly excited. “Really? When is it?”

“A week from Saturday night. It’ll be a great time cuz’ the band doesn’t come around very often so it’s a stellar event!”

“Ah,” Farrah stalled. “I’m working that weekend, Kirk. Sorry, I can’t go with you.”

“C’mon, take the night off. It’s an event. I don’t ask you to take off work�"ever!”

Farrah instantly looked a bit peeved for some reason, but she seemed to shake it aside. “Yeah, you don’t ask, but no, I can’t go. You should’ve told me earlier, maybe I could’ve gone with you, but the hospital makes up the schedule a month ahead.”

“Well. Geez. They have to be able to change the schedule. People get sick, hurt, have personal events come up unexpectedly to reschedule. C’mon, just ask them�"no, tell them!”

Farrah then appeared a little misty eyed. She slowly shook her pretty red-coiffed head. “I’m sorry Kirk, I just can’t do it.”

“But I already bought two tickets.”

“I’m sure one of your friends would like to go�"maybe Dan or Mack?”

“Maybe,” Kirk said low, but his thoughts were spinning in another direction. “I don’t think they’re fans.”

Certainly, Kirk felt angry about Farrah’s resolve to be so dedicated to her work�"always. He couldn’t understand it or imagine being so committed to one’s work or any occupation or organization for that matter. 

“Fine, Farrah. Have a good night,” Kirk said, spun on his heel and left her standing there.

“Kirk. Kirk! Are we okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re okay. I’ll see you later,” Kirk said, over his shoulder.

Kirk tried to calm down over Farrah’s refusal to take a day off for something he was really interested in, but unquestionably, he was pissed off at her. He knew it would be better for him to walk away from her rather than sticking around and saying something he’d surely regret. By the time he sat down in his Firebird he knew what to do. He started the car and made a beeline to Sarah Elizabeth’s house.

Unsurprisingly, Sarah met him in the driveway. She probably heard him coming from a mile off because of his habit of aggressively downshifting when coming to a stop or sharp turn like into the driveway. Straight to the point.

“Hey Sarah, fancy meeting you out here,” Kirk said in a better mood than when he had just departed Farrah’s.

“Ah, yeah,” Sarah said. “I live here, you know.”

“I mean meeting me out here as I drove in, just now.”

“I knew what you meant. I was just messing with you. Yeah, I could hear you heading this way some time before you showed. I happened to be heading back from the barn,” she said with a gesture.

“Oh. Right. No sneaking up on you, huh?”

“Highly unlikely,” Sarah said succinctly.

“Next time I’ll coast in from a couple miles up the road�"catch you off guard. Don’t give you any time to hide the other boys in your stash.”

“You know I don’t want anyone else.”

“Er, ah, right,” Kirk stammered thinking about his ongoing girl dilemma.

“So, what’s up? What brings you over here?”

“Oh yeah. What’ya doing a week from this Saturday.”

“Oh, nothing I can’t move around. Why?”

“I got two tickets for a concert that Saturday night. Wanna’ go with me?”

“Yeah, I heard they were playing, but, but what about�"her?”

Kirk cringed now knowing that she indeed knew about Farrah, which he figured she did, but now confirming it twisted him up inside. “She can’t go.”

“Yes! I’ll go!” Sarah said enthusiastically. “So, you’re actually taking me out on a real date?”

Kirk experienced another cringe. “No, not a date. It’s just a concert�"and we’re going to watch it�"together.”

“In other words, you’re taking me on a date to a concert.”

Kirk looked at the ground and kicked a pebble. “Yeah�"I guess if you look at it that way.”  

“Wow! It’ll be great!” Sarah exclaimed while beaming with excitement and anticipation.

The sometime twosome hung out for awhile that evening, though nothing of note came up in their chat. Later, when Kirk drove home, he wondered if asking Sarah E. to the concert was the right thing to do. Would she take it that they were on the verge of being a “thing,” a couple? Kirk felt torn about his spur-of-the-moment decision. Perhaps if he had sat on Farrah’s refusal to take off work for a day or so, he wouldn’t have asked Sarah. It was a decision impulsively made on the fly perhaps in annoyed reprisal? Kirk pondered that possibility which only bothered him even more.

So, life went on as usual for the week plus. On Farrah’ day off, they went out to eat and caught a movie like they would normally do. In the usual range of conversational topics Farrah never asked about the concert or who he asked to go with him. Kirk felt like if she didn’t ask, he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her by saying something enthusiastically like, “Oh yeah! I’m taking Sarah!” Indeed, that would go over like a lead balloon and maybe finish off their relationship for good. Kirk did contemplate the possibility of “the end” with Farrah occurring sometime anyhow�"if he happened to be in the wrong mood at the wrong time with the wrong circumstance. Especially considering seductress Sarah sitting on the sidelines.

Anyway, the day of the concert arrived. Kirk completed his day working in the shop with brother-in-law Mike working on the stock cars, but his mind pretty much stayed on the anticipated concert with attractive and voluptuous hippie chick Sarah E. By this time Kirk drove the pink van, which will be covered later in another episode. After cleaning up and donning his best casual clothes namely paisley shirt with button down collar and button fly bell bottoms, he cruised over to Sarah’s house. She blissfully bounced out of her house wearing her best bell buttons, colorful loose blouse, and the now familiar wide, floppy-brimmed hat. With her long blond hair cascading from under said hat, Kirk thought she appeared more ravishing than ever. Of course, the fling she gave him on his birthday lingered forefront and centered on his mind. No doubt about it, Sarah fulfilled the epitome of a “fox.” Jumping into the van on her own, she immediately slid over to sit next to Kirk on the van’s engine cover. They shared a brief kiss. Kirk deeply breathed in her strong aphrodisiacal patchouli fragrance. His desire grew.

Stopping off for some fast food, Kirk felt very excited to attend a concert for the very first time and being able to experience it with comely Sarah. While they waited for their food at the counter, Sarah swung sultrily over and around the partition railing taking various poses and sways. Kirk could only watch this joyful beautiful girl as she unpretentiously eyed him back. When they got their orders, as usual or so it seemed already, Kirk ate heartedly while Sarah ate next to nothing. Afterward, the drive went smoothly with Kirk planning to arrive plenty early enough which turned out to be a good plan because they had to park quite a hike from the auditorium. Of course, paying for parking and then heading out to walk on the damp streetlight lit sidewalk in the autumn’s cool drizzle proved anything but cheerful, though just the same, they walked arm in arm, she standing hardly up to his shoulder, along with the other couples and loud-mouthed groups of boys obviously high.

Making it more of a real-life experience they got thoroughly chilled as they waited in line for at least 45 minutes with the multitude of other excited young people. After getting their tickets punched, they received maps of the aud to locate their seats. Not quite nosebleed seats, but definitely not stage front either, and not stuck behind a pole either. Just up halfway, slightly left of center stage. Nearby, a few people already lit joints in anticipation of what was to come.

After a several minute wait, the lights went down and the “Opening (Excerpt from) Firebird Suite” classical musical piece rose up in volume which led into a recording of birds singing with the blazing of two powerful search lights on the largest twin mirror balls the couple had ever seen. With the illuminated white flashes swirling around the auditorium a multitude of lighters ignited to light off the same number of joints as a searchlight illuminated the single lead guitarist began quietly, melodic, and precise. Even though everyone familiar with the band knew it was coming, suddenly the entire stage lit up and the other band members joined in with the bombastically grandiloquent extended composition.

Now able to take in the whole band, the stage set was decked out in a brightly colored nautical setting with giant sea creatures like a lobster, stingray, and a shark.  Interestingly, the keyboardist sat inside a giant clam that opened and closed seemingly clamping down on the keyboardist as he pounded away on those keys. Halfway through the first set, the smokey haze had thickened. Shouting to Sarah even though she sat only inches away, Kirk told her that he felt high from all the smoke. Reassessing what he experienced, Kirk realized he probably felt the excitement of the crowd and the channeling of the music that induced his euphoric sensations.  The pair just got into it and savored the whole experience. With a break after an hour and a half the band came back and played it hard and grand. After the same period of time, the band finished up with one of their most famous tunes with added flourishes and extended refrains. Too soon it ended. The buzz of the audience replaced the band’s playing with conversation and exhilaration.

Kirk and Sarah embraced and shared a long kiss. As they moved out with the exiting crowd, in a relative quieter auditorium, they shared their thoughts that the concert turned out better and bigger than they ever imagined. Moving with the now subdued crowd down the black rain-slicked streets and sidewalks, they made it back to the van.

Kirk had to sit in the driver’s seat to relax for a few minutes held in an embrace by Sarah that she punctuated by kisses. Still filled up with the adrenaline of the excitement, Kirk let out a long breath.

“Hungry?”

“Famished!”

So, they merged with the brisk traffic and headed out of the big city. After about 45 minutes, they found themselves on the main drag heading into suburbia. They came up to the intersection where Kirk witnessed/caused the infamous ambulance crash. Kirk would never be the same because of the event and so whenever he passed through, he would recall that fateful day.

“Hey! How about pancakes?” He asked.

“Oooohhhh, that sounds so good! But where?”

“Right around the corner,” he pointed putting on the van’s turn signal and swerving over two lanes into the turn lane. He eyed his rear views; Kirk wasn’t about to ever let an ambulance surprise him from behind ever again.  

Practically next to the dealership where Kirk worked sat the all-night pancake restaurant named “Uncle John’s.” As they pulled in, they were surprised how busy the restaurant was after midnight. After getting the van parked, they headed inside allowing the warm, tastebud-activating aroma whet their appetites, not that they needed it. They were seated rather quickly and handed menus.

 “All pancakes, all the time!” It said.

The menu had a mind-blowing pictographic selection of about thirty kinds of pancakes. Sarah zeroed right in on the blueberries and cream pancakes, that is, topped with vanilla ice cream�"a short stack of course. Kirk couldn’t decide and so when the waitress returned, he sure wasn’t going to send her away without ordering so he settled on the Hawaiian pancakes which turned out to be basically coconut pancakes topped with bananas and macadamia nuts topped with pineapple sauce. Wowzah!

Despite getting the short stack, Sarah didn’t eat all of her pancakes, but she finished off every drop of the ice cream. Kirk said he was so stuffed that they would have to roll him out to the van, but he made it on his own with a few stiff maneuvers and groans. They took off toward Sarah’s house. She cuddled up closer to Kirk than usual and nuzzled his neck which he eagerly leaned into.

Between kisses, Sarah cooed, “let’s go parking.”

Kirk didn’t need convincing. “Any place you have in mind?”

“Head to swamp road. Do you know it?”

“Yep,” Kirk answered with the flip of his turn signal and a right turn off the main drag.

After about ten minutes of convoluted turns and a turn onto the deserted uninhabited swamp road, they found a nice quiet place to park. After a bit of long kisses and preliminary petting they moved to the back of the van lying down on the carpeted platform back there. Not so slowly or carefully the couple shed their clothes. They cuddled under a light blanket letting their bare skin touch in the most sensual ways. After a few minutes of rising intensity, just when they were about to get to Kirk’s favorite part, Sarah put her hands against his chest, pushed him away and said,

“Stop!”

“What?”

“Sssshhhhh! I hear something�"a car, I think.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Ssshhhh. Wait.”

Kirk then heard something determining it was indeed a car. “Ah, they’ll just drive by.”  But he picked up his clothes anyway.

They didn’t say a word as the sound got louder and louder. It slowed and stopped next to the van. Suddenly, a very bright light flashed into the windows one at a time. Kirk and Sarah frantically started to pull on their clothes. The vehicle then slowly moved to in front of the van and just as abruptly brilliantly bright red, blue, and white lights began frantically flashing.

“Damn and s**t!” Kirk muttered as he pulled his pants up the rest of the way.

He jumped up and moved to the driver’s seat without shoes on as a uniformed policeman tapped on the window with the unlit end of a flashlight.

“Hello in there!” the policeman said. “Roll down your window please.”

Kirk did as he was told.

“Anyone else in there with you?”

“Yes, I’m here!” Sarah said, half-shouting.

“Morning ma’am. Are you all right?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Sarah said cheerfully as she settled in her seat.

“Sir, could I see your license?”
“Of course,” Kirk said nervously pulling his wallet out.

He handed the license to the policeman who scanned it with his flashlight. He handed it right back. Kirk was greatly relieved that the policeman didn’t run it in “SCMODS” because he’d find that offense of “failure to yield” he had gotten with the Bug.

“All right. Just checking on your vehicle parked out here in the middle of nowhere, so I am double-checking here�"ma’am, are you sure you are okay with your current situation.”

“I’m good and fine,” Sarah cheerfully said.

“All right, then,” the policeman said. He stepped back away from the van. He chuckled a bit. “Goodnight. Have fun you two!”

“Ahhh, thanks, officer,” Kirk managed to answer rather dumbfounded over the transaction.

After getting in the squad car, the policeman doused his blinding lights, and after a moment pulled away and disappeared around the next bend.

Well, that turn of events pretty much put a damper on the expected early morning activities so they just cruised back to Sarah’s house for their customary cup of hot Nescafe coffee at about one-thirty AM in the morning. Kirk would never be the same after what had transpired that night which ended up very memorable in a few different ways.

***

 An evening later, Kirk went over to spend time with Farrah, but putting a hindrance on any meaningful interactions some of her family members were at home. Kirk, still mad over Farrah’s refusal to take one night off to go with him to the concert, didn’t say much afraid that he would get riled up and say the wrong thing, but then, he didn’t want to let it go either. On the other hand, Farrah seemed tight-lipped about talking about anything at all. In those respects, they just sat there watching TV at a very low volume resulting in many tense, silent periods. Finally, Farrah took in a long breath and turned to Kirk.

“So how was the concert?”

Kirk’s stomach flipped. It took a moment to gather his wits. “Ah, it was great! Better than I imagined; they played music from their new album which I hadn’t heard yet.”

“Are you going to buy the new album?”

“Yeah, sure. Whenever I get back to the music store. I’m pretty busy these days with car building and work and all that…”

“So. Who’d you end up going with to the concert? Dan, Mack…”

“Ah, no. They weren’t interested or�"were busy.”

“So, did you take�"HER?”

Kirk reacted physically to her bluntness. He didn’t know how to answer.

“Well?” Farrah adamantly insisting on an answer. 

“Ah, yeah, I took her,” Kirk answered timidly with such a decreasing volume he wasn’t sure if “her” actually vocalized. He had a flash of holding Sarah naked. The sensation washed through his body, and the vision jumbled his thoughts further.  

“Really convenient that she accepted and was available to go out so late and�"stay�"out so late.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Obviously she’s very underage.”

“What are you insinuating by that?  She can stay out to whenever she pretty much wants. She has the freedom to come and�"” Kirk caught his rising volume and choked off what he was about to say. He thought about Farrah’s family sitting in the other room.

“Sticking up for her unconstrained late-night activities it seems. How nice! What does she mean to you? Never mind that, what do I mean to you?” Farrah glared at Kirk with a finger directed inward.

Kirk didn’t like emotional confrontations and knew this verbal interaction headed that direction. His face warmed and his eyes started to well up. He shrugged, unsure to what else to do, to say, and so they sat there still for a few more moments. Finally, Kirk stirred and slid away from Farrah; she eyed him guardedly. He took a deep breath.

“Let’s talk outside,” Kirk said softly, trying to handle his emotions.

“It’s cold out,” Farrah said rather forcibly.

“We can sit in the car,” Kirk said.

They pulled on their coats and started to the door. Farrah’s mother wanted to know if they were leaving. She told them they were just going out to the car. Her little sister piped up.

“Ooh, lovey, dovey time,” she said, then added a few smooching kissing sounds.

“NO! N o, it’s not,” Farrah said, controlling her irritation.

They went out and headed to his Firebird. Kirk didn’t open the door for her like usual. Sitting down in the car, they both sat outward close to the doors.

“Are you this mad because I didn’t go with you to that�"concert?”

“Well, yes. Are you mad because I took Sarah?” His vocalization of her name sent a twinge up between his shoulder blades.

“Why couldn’t you respect US�"together?”  She held her hand up with his ring on her finger.

“RESPECT US?!” Kirk looked out his side window and turned back. “You didn’t respect US when you couldn’t take one single day off�"you couldn’t even ask--for US!”

“It’s my work. My work is important to me.”

“Well, that’s obvious!”

“C’mon don’t be this way. We can work through this if you just forget about her.”

“WHAT!” Kirk couldn’t believe what he heard, he sat and sulked for a couple long minutes before he said, “Let’s go out on Saturday night and try to get past this, and, and I can forget her.”

“But I’m working on Saturday,” Farrah said quietly.

“I knew that,” Kirk said, looking straight ahead. He reached into his shirt, grasped the chain around his neck and yanked. The chain broke with her ring in his hand. He held it out to her.

Farrah didn’t say a word; she slowly slipped his ring off her finger and held it out. She dropped it into his hand and took her ring back. Farrah studied Kirk for a couple silent moments. He couldn’t look her straight in the eyes. He didn’t know if he’d explode in rage or more likely burst into tears. Neither said a word.

Farrah opened the door, got out, closed the door gently, and walked away without a gaze back at him. Kirk watched her slim profile walk from the Firebird’s gloom and toward the brightness of the house for a couple seconds before a flash of memory materialized on his consciousness.

Kirk suddenly recalled a flash of Dee walking away from him with her brief glance back to him. This breakup with Farrah definitely was not the same by any means, but Kirk would never be the same as much changed as he had been changed from his earlier break up with Dee...