“Probably both. I didn't ask. They don't really want me driving with kids. It's sort of a dumb rule, but they get really nuts about it.”
“They're probably right. But I'm a really careful driver. My father taught me to drive when I was nine.” He glanced over at her again with a slow smile. “Maybe I could come over and meet them sometime. That might help a little bit.” Or not, depending on how her parents felt about her going out with a boy nearly three years older than she was. Or maybe they'd like him. It was hard to tell. He certainly was polite, and nice, and respectable. Phillip Chapman was no juvenile delinquent.
“I'd like that,” she said softly, in awe of his willingness to make her comfortable, and put things right with her parents.
“So would I.”
They chatted on the way to Luigi's, and Chloe giggled a lot from the backseat. Jamie was telling her outrageous stories about the swim team, most of them lies, according to Phillip, who was far more serious, but nice to be with. By the time they'd ordered dinner, Allyson had decided that she really liked him.
He surprised her when he ordered wine for Jamie and himself, and offered to share it with them. They had fake ID's, but the waiter didn't even ask, he just brought them two glasses of the house red, and then turned his back when the girls took sips from their glasses. Phillip didn't even finish it but at dessert, Allyson noticed that he drank two cups of very strong, black coffee.
“Do you always drink wine?” She couldn't help asking. Her parents only let her sip champagne at Christmas. She'd had beer a couple of times, but she hated it. And tonight the wine had been exciting but it hadn't tasted much better.
“Sometimes,” he answered. “I like a glass of wine when I'm having a good time. I drink it at home, with my parents. And they don't mind my having some when I'm out with them.” But they would have minded a lot his ordering it with a fake ID, for another minor, and with the intention of driving after he drank it. And Phillip knew that. But out with two pretty girls, he was feeling very daring.
“Doesn't it bother you when you drive?” she asked, concerned.
“No,” he said firmly. “It doesn't really get to me. I wouldn't want to drink more than a glass though. And I had two cups of coffee.”
“I saw that.” Allyson smiled. “I'm glad you did.” She was honest with him. He was handsome, and very grown up, but she found that she could be fairly outspoken with him, and he seemed to like that.
“Were you worried?”
“A little.”
“Don't be.” He smiled, and put a hand over her own, resting on the table. They looked into each other's eyes, and then away. For Allyson, it was all a little overwhelming. They looked over at Jamie and Chloe then, chattering away about Chloe's move to the San Francisco Ballet School. Jamie was telling her how good he'd thought she was in a performance he'd been dragged to by his sister.
“Thank you,” she beamed. She was crazy about him, and his praise meant a lot to her. “Did you like it?”
“No.” He grinned. “I hated it, but I thought you were great, and so did my sister.”
“She used to do ballet with me, before she quit.”
“I know. She was lousy, but she says you're good.”
“Maybe … I don't know …sometimes I think it's too much work, and sometimes I really love it.”
“Sounds like swimming.” Phillip smiled, and then suggested they all go into the city for cappuccino. “How about Union Street? We can walk around for a while, and maybe go somewhere for coffee. How does that sound?”
“Nice,” Jamie volunteered.
“Really nice,” Chloe agreed. For an instant, Allyson had a wave of nervousness about going into the city. No one knew they were going there. But then again, what harm could it do? Union Street was pretty tame, and coffee was not exactly racy.
“As long as I'm home by eleven-thirty, it's cool with me,” she volunteered, trying not to worry.
“Let's go then.”
Phillip left a handsome tip, and they got back in his car outside Luigi's. It was actually his mother's car, he explained. They usually let him drive an old station wagon, but it was so disreputable-looking, he had borrowed her fifteen-year-old Mercedes instead, since his parents were in Pebble Beach for the weekend.