Tamara held the door for him as he walked inside. It was the same old McDonald's that he'd been to a hundred times before. Only now he was seeing it from a much lower perspective than he'd had for years. The two of them passed by a girl that looked to be about 10 or 11 years old. She seemed so tall to him.
There was no line. Tamara walked up to the cashier and started ordering, "I'll have a Big Mac, and my friend here will have a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets."
"Is that all?" said the cashier.
"Wait," interrupted Jeff. "Hold it a second. Who said I wanted a Happy Meal?"
Tamara looked a bit embarrassed and said to the cashier, apologetically, "Can you wait a second?" The cashier nodded, and Tamara turned to Jeff. "What's wrong with a Happy Meal? I thought you loved them."
Jeff felt that tingling sensation again and replied, "Well, yeah, of course I love them, but I wish you would ask me at least before you order."
"Sure," she said. "Sorry, I just thought you wanted to make it quick."
"It's alright," he said, and Tamara nodded to the cashier then paid for their order. As they waited for their food, Jeff felt a vague sensation that something was off somehow. He knew that he loved chicken nuggets, but for some reason that seemed wrong to him. He couldn't figure out why, though.
Their food came, and Tamara carried their tray to a table near the play room. Jeff climbed up on his chair before she could help him up. He wanted to be as independent as possible. She sat down across from him, and they dug into their food. Jeff greedily devoured his french fries and nuggets, dipping them in loads of ketchup and sauce. It was all so tasty. Then, he felt a tingle again. Suddenly, he realized that he'd forgotten the most important thing about a Happy Meal, the toy. He excitedly dug through the box and pulled out a Kermit toy. "Sweet!" he said and started to play with it.
"Are you enjoying your meal?" asked Tamara. Jeff was startled to hear her talk. He'd all but forgotten that she was there, since he was so focused on Kermit's adventures. He looked up to see her barely containing a laugh.
"What's so funny?" he asked, still clutching his Kermit toy.
"Nothing," she said. "I just think it's nice how you can still enjoy the Happy Meal toy like that."
Jeff looked down at Kermit. It did feel strange to be playing with it, but he felt like he wanted to keep playing, nonetheless.
A sudden shriek next to him drew his attention. Some girl in the play room was making a lot of noise on the slide. Jeff looked over at the slide and the tingle hit once more. "Can I go to the play room now?" he asked.
"Are you done with your food?" Tamara asked.
"Yes," he said excitedly. "Can I go?"
"Alright then," she said. "That's why we came here, after all." Tamara stood up and Jeff hopped off his chair.
He all but ran to the door, and raced through it when Tamara held it open. Immediately he crawled into a big purple tunnel and started exploring the twisting passageways inside it. He ran into a kid, who looked to be about 7. "Hey," they said to each other as they passed and kept on crawling. Soon, he had climbed his way up to the top of the slide. He looked and found Tamara waiting patiently at the bottom of the slide. He waved to her, and said, "Tammy, watch me slide."
"I'm watching," she said, giggling.
He leapt down the yellow slide and felt the exhilaration of racing up and down the humps on it until he hit the bottom. He giggled uncontrollably as he sat at the bottom of it. "That was awesome!" he cried.
Tamara lifted him off the ground and set him back on his feet away from the slide. "It looked like a lot of fun," she said. "You want to go again?"
"Uh huh," he nodded, and raced back to a ladder behind the slide. Again he sailed down the slide giggling all the way. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun. No, wait. He could. It was the last time he and Tamara had come to McDonald's. He was starting to remember other playgrounds that they'd been to together as well. He would play while Tamara watched. That was the normal start to their dates. It had always been that way. Still, somewhere in the back of his mind, the whole situation made him feel uncomfortable. Something seemed a bit wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
After a few more slides, he was getting a bit tired of the play room. He ran over to Tamara, who was now sitting on a bench, and hopped up next to her.
"Tired?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said a bit out of breath.
She took his hand in her hand and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. He felt himself blush. He felt a strange mixture of emotions for her just then. He loved her. There was no doubt about that. And yet, he felt a bit awkward with her. The size difference was one thing. He felt so powerless next to her. The fact that she seemed so much more mature than him was another thing. She just felt so grown up compared to him. He wanted to play while she wanted to sit and watch. He looked up at her with longing and realized that he wanted her to like him a lot, but he was scared that she might not like him. Basically, he had a huge crush on her.
If someone had asked him then if he had any sexual feelings for her, he would have been confused about what the question meant. What were sexual feelings supposed to feel like? He had no idea now.
He hugged her, and she hugged him back and then kissed him on the cheek. Then, she held his head in her hands and kissed him firmly on the lips. His eyes went wide. This was amazing! This mature girl was kissing him. She released his lips and leaned her forehead into his as they stared lovingly into each others' eyes. They became suddenly aware that they were being watched. A mother from the other side of the play room was giving them a disapproving look. Tamara looked back at her defiantly and said, "What are you looking at? This is my boyfriend. He's sixteen."
The woman shook her head and said, "Whatever."
"Hey," said Tamara. "He may look young, but he's a high schooler and a gentleman and smart too." Jeff felt a surge of pride to hear Tamara describe him so flatteringly.
The woman stood up and grabbed her daughter's hand. The girl started to protest, but her mother just said, "Amy, we're leaving. I don't like the company in here."
Tamara stared daggers at the woman until she was gone.
Jeff fiddled nervously with his little fingers and said, "Maybe we should go too."
"No, Jeff," said Tamara rubbing a hand on his back. "Don't let that old bitch bother you. She just doesn't get what we have between us."
"What do we have between us?" he asked, finally breaching the uncomfortable subject of her attraction to him.
"Jeff," said Tamara, taken aback. "I love you. You know that." She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in close. "You're my sweetie boy, Jeffy."
He smiled but felt a bit confused. "What do you mean by 'sweetie boy' exactly."
Now, Tamara appeared a bit uncertain of how to reply. "Oh, well, maybe we should talk about this in the car," she said.
They went to her car. This time they both climbed into her back seat. She held his hand after he sat down in his safety seat. "You know about my condition, Jeff," she said. "How I'm wired differently than most other girls."
"Oh," said Jeff, feeling a bit of a tingle. He did know that she was different somehow, just like he was different.
"I like little boys," she confessed. "That could be a dangerous thing, if it weren't for guys like you."
"Like me?" said Jeff.
"Yeah," she said. "You're my age, but your body is still a little boy's body. We can be together without breaking any laws because we're the same age. I get what I want, and you get a girl who will love you in spite of your body. Actually, you get a girl that will love you because of you body." She caressed his cheek gently. "It's win win for both of us."
Jeff smiled, satisfied with her answer. "I love you," he said.
She kissed him deeply and said, "I love you," when they released. He was so happy to have Tamara in his life. She really wanted him. He felt so warm and safe with her. And yet, there was still something. He felt like he was forgetting something important. He tried to remember what, but it was like trying to remember a dream after waking up. He had a sense of what it was, but the details had all faded away.
"I'm going to buckle you up," she said as she strapped him in. "Then, we're going somewhere to forget about that old bitch."
Jeff smiled and happily forgot to worry about something he couldn't remember anyway. "Sounds good," he said.
Tamara sat down in the driver's seat, and they were off to the next stop on their date.