“Thanks Burt. You don’t look so bad yourself.” She said kissing his cheek.
Burt was wearing plaid golf pants and a green polo shirt not really GQ status, but it was cute in a Ralph Cramden sort of way. I looked over at Mikey who was smiling at me looking like the proud father of a son going on a date for the first time.
Aunt Gina walked over to Nana and kissed her cheek. “Ma you behave for Nicole and Michael. No funny business.”
Nana rolled her eyes. “Go on and have a good time. Don’t worry about us kids we’ll be fine.”
“Enjoy yourselves.” Mikey added. “We’ll all be fine.” He turned his gaze to me and winked. Within moments, Aunt Gina and Burt were out the door on their way to some Doo-Wop restaurant and bar. Nana stood up slinging her straw bag over her shoulder and waved at Mikey and me.
“Alright kids, I’ll see you later.” She said, pulling a pistol from behind the couch cushions and slipping it into her pocketbook.
“Where are you going?” I asked her incredulously the idea of my grandmother going out with a gun nestled inside her pocketbook didn’t sit well with me. I looked over at Mikey hoping for him to help but he shrugged his shoulders.
“Bingo night at the Rec center. Don’t wait up things tend to get wild and crazy, especially if we have after hours.” She waved us off as she headed out the door.
“My grandmother has a better social life than I do.” I mumbled as the door slammed behind her.
Mikey’s arms snaked around my waist and he laughed against my neck. “But not a better a sex life.”
I laughed as I leaned into him. “Thank God for that.” Then I cringed because I didn’t even want to think about my ninety-three year old nana having any kind of sex life even if it was just figuratively speaking. Mikey’s hands worked the button on my jeans, popping it open as an idea came to my mind. I placed my hands over his and turned in his arms.
“They’re both out of the house Mikey do you know what that means?” I said smiling mischievously.
“Yes, it means I can have my way with you anywhere I want and not have to worry how loud you are.” He said bending down to kiss me but I took a step back and shook my head.
“Nope.” I bit my lip as I stared at him, wondering if I could get him to go along with my idea.
“No?” He asked, confused.
“It means we have no one telling us what we can and cannot do. It means we can finally go out and have some fun just me and you.” I smiled taking his hands in mine. “We don’t have to worry about them reporting back to my dad or Jimmy we can just go out and enjoy ourselves for once.”
“Nikki…” He said reluctantly.
“Please don’t say no.” I said hopefully as I watched him struggle with my proposition.
“It’s a bad idea Nikki.” He said taking a step back as he stretched his arm behind him to cup the back of his neck. “Your father specifically warned us to lay low when we were here and not make any detours.”
“It’s just one night.” I argued. “Really, how much trouble could we get ourselves into? It’s not like I’m asking you to go out all night. I just want to go to a bar or something…”
“A little bar in the middle of the nowhere where no one knows you and you could dance to whatever’s playing on the jukebox?” He said replaying the words I had spoken to him that night we went out so that he could get a taste of New York’s nightlife. I was surprised he remembered that and didn’t know what to make of it. The night of his mom’s funeral, he had vowed to pay attention to me to get to know me the fact that he repeated my words back to me made me realize that Mikey was a man of his word.
“Fine.” He said slowly exhaling. “Go get dressed.”
A smile spread across my face and I threw my arms around Mikey’s neck.
“Thank you. I promise we’ll have a good time and everything will be fine. You’ll see.” I kissed his lips softly before hurrying towards the stairs to get ready for our date. It was a date right? Well, it was for me anyway.
Chapter Twenty Three