Story Time (Take Me Home Tonight)

It is, to me, not only the sexiest song ever, but the greatest song ever in my book. Very few songs have had the kind of impact that this song had on me. It’s called “Take Me Home Tonight” and it is sung by Eddie Money with an appearance by Ronnie Spector.

I actually remember the first time I heard this song. I was 14 years old. I was at the lake with some friends. Some girls came up and I had a crush on one of them. Her name was Katy D. (Everybody had a crush on Katy. She was sweet.)

She was the most beautiful thing I ever saw at the time. Too classy for me. Or so I thought. It was a Saturday night and me and the boys got our hands on some beer and when the girls arrived, it was game on!

I thought I would end up with Sharma, she was the “put out” girl of our class. Long blonde hair, blue sparkling eyes, gorgeous smile and standing about 5 foot seven inches. Slender at about 100-110 pounds. (I’m not good with girls weight) She was a couple of years older than me. She knew what to do to please a guy. Rumor had it, she hooked up with a couple of teachers and one of my friends dad. But those were only rumors.

Katy, on the other hand, was short, about 5 foot four, maybe 5 foot three inches. She wouldn’t have broken a hundred pounds maybe soak and wet. But I do recall her having one tight little rear-end on her at age 14. And as I stated earlier, beautiful beyond the stars. (Yeah, she had short black hair and naturally dark completion. More tanned than anything else.)

As fate would have it, Sharma ended up with Gregg, a casual friend of mine who always liked to upper hand me at every turn. He was the same age as Sharma so, maybe it was for the best. Besides, I already had Sharma by then so it didn’t matter. (Are you reading this Gregg? How did my sloppy seconds taste, bud?) That’s right, boys locker room after basketball practice one Monday evening. (She was a cheerleader) Eat that, Gregg!

So, I got stuck with Katy. (Stuck being the wrong word, but I didn’t know it at the time)

We were all just hanging out by the parked cars that were scattered here and there. We had the trees and bushes and the lake. One of the pickup trucks had the radio on when somebody suggested a cassette of some music he put together. I recall sitting on the hood of my black colored Chevy. (Yes, I had a car at age 14.) My friend Paul drove me around in it (he was 19) and he drove us to the lake that night in it. (Don't ask me the year because I can't remember. I am not good with cars. Ironic isn't it? My nickname is Carz.)

This is a picture of what it looked like. This is not the actual car, but it looked just like it. (My brother later borrowed the car one night and totaled it. Not to worry, I got reimbursed nicely for it.) It was probably for the best anyway, I would have just got killed in it myself. And I did get to drive it on occasion. Just because I didn’t have a license didn’t mean I never took it out for a spin here and there. Not in town, hell no, but out on the rural roads, sure.

Anyhow, back to the story. I was sitting with Katy on the hood, looking out towards the lake and we were just talking. I wanted to make my move. I had wanted to make it all night. Or at least for about two hours after Gregg and Sharma disappeared. But golly gee, she was just so nice and sweet. I couldn’t risk offending her, could I?

So, this guy puts in the cassette tape, I ask Katy if she wanted a beer. She said yes and so I went to go get us a couple of beers. A couple of my friends eye-balled me with a grin. They knew I got stuck with “sweet” Katy. Nobody ever got to score with her. She was so sweet.

I just rolled my eyes in response and give them the proverbial “mental” middle finger. “Enjoy sucking face.” I whispered behind my teeth with a grim expression of envy, bending down and pulling out two beers from the over-sized cooler. All I could think of as I wandered back was, ’Someone is gonna have to call her bluff someday.’ But knowing that I wasn’t having much luck in summoning up the courage to try. I mean, come on, this is “sweet” Katy we’re talking about here. Nope, I was just going to be a gentleman until she made the first move. If she made a first move. She never made a first move. That was the scoop on her.

And nobody before that night ever got to first base with “sweet” Katy.

I was halfway to the car when the song came over the speakers. It blared out into the night. From the opening beat of the song, I stopped in my tracks for a moment to take it in. I don’t know what happened inside of me but I thought, “What the hell?”

The song was actually arousing me. By the second verse, I turned to look at the car and at Katy, standing in front of it, waiting for my return and the beer I was bringing for her. My God, she was so effing beautiful in that dress. I took a deep breath and resumed my pace. By the time I got to her, the song was close to wrapping up. I stood in front of her and smiled. She smiled. Along came a gust of wind and she tossed her hair back a little. I lost my breath. “You’re gorgeous.” I muttered, extending one of the can of beers out for her to take. And she took it. “Thanks.” She smiled.

I couldn’t resist, the song was intoxicating my courage and she was stirring my hormones. I leaned in and in the same motion, brought my empty hand around her head while hanging onto my beer in the other. I brought her lips to mine. We came together. She dropped her can and wrapped her arms around me. I dropped mine and did the same. As the song came to a close, we stood there by the lake, under the moon surrounded by trees and night. We swayed like one with that mild blowing wind. She discovered that I was a pretty good damn kisser. And I discovered, even sweet girls need loving too.

Another rumor soon began to go around the school that next week. That “sweet” Katy lost her virginity over the weekend. And while I also learned that “sweet” Katy was indeed, “sweet” - as for the rumor? - I will never tell.

*** Wink ***