I Was To Drive South But No, I Drove North.
Hot dates, Private club. rich USC girls, wanted us to enjoy a Sunday on their beach... Issue # 58
ifOnlyi…had driven South instead of going North, how would it all have ended?
One of my friends, Terry, who had graduated a year earlier than me, got accepted to the University of Southern California (SC). He wanted me to drive there to see if I could crash a Fraternity House Party.
I thought that was awesome, so I drove to SC for a party with Terry. That night, we both got into the party and met two beautiful girls who were hanging out at the fraternity. Terry also loved them.
The night was super fantastic, with loads of flashback conversations from different High School memories that we all went through. The good times were about to improve.
We were very excited to receive an invitation from the two girls to pick them up the following afternoon and take them to their private Yacht club, The Balboa Bay Club, in Newport Beach, California. They lived nearby, and I hoped to live on the USC campus soon.
We were indeed fired up, hot girls, going to this beach club on their dime. We came from some money and were sure they were flush, so it had nothing to do with using us. We said YES!!!!! Life was starting to look like there was a future that we could be a part of.
I picked Terry up the following day, and we left for Newport to pick up the girls. Terry asked me, “Do you know where we are going?” “Yes, I do,” I replied with excitement in my voice. “We take the 405 Freeway (FWY), which will take us all the way there.” We exit off Sunset, and we will be there soon.
I got on the FWY heading north, which was a smooth drive, and I took it very often. As we got closer to the time to pick them up, I realized we were at Sunset and that I needed to exit Sunset Blvd. Newport Beach had to be coming up, so we had to be very close. Terry kept asking, “Do you think we’ve gone too far? Something doesn’t seem right.”
“Let me pull off at a gas station or anywhere we see a Phone, call my folks, and ask them how much further we need to go. We only have 10 minutes left to get to our destination to pick them both up.”
We pulled into a gas station, I called, and my Mom answered.
“Mom, Terry, and I are in Malibu. We took the 405 and exited Sunset, making a Left towards Newport Beach. We thought we were close when we hit the ocean in Malibu, but we had very little time left before we needed to pick up the girls. Do you know how much further we must drive before we reach Newport?” Mom busted out laughing!
“Can you hear my Mom laughing, Terry? Hear it! It’s loud.” Then Dad got on the phone because Mom couldn’t stop. Dad said, “You are almost two hours away.” “What do you mean? Why so long? We should be here by now.”
The response was simple: “OLLIE, you are an Idiot, and you must get rid of your car compass. It must not be working!”
“You drove “North.” You needed to drive “South” to Newport Beach. “But Dad, I always drove on the 405 because of my door-to-door sales for your company. I am very familiar with it, and the girls said, take the 405 Fwy!” I had never taken the 405 South before, so in my mind, I was taking the freeway I knew so well. Going North was a natural thing for me to do.
I did just that. I took the 405… North. I was not told I needed to go South and never thought to ask. Duh!!!
Now, we were beyond late. When we stopped again and called the girls ’s home number, sadly, there was no answer. I guess they left without us, and why not? They probably thought we were not coming. What a mess!
We decided to drive to Newport anyway, buy some flowers, and leave them at their front door with an apology note.
We then tried to get into the “Private” Yacht Club, but there was no chance, as our names were not on the list. Security would not check if the girls were there; we only had their first names and were over three hours late. It all seemed beyond any chance of redemption.
The results were that we never connected up again. There was no phone call, no thank you for the flowers, just total embarrassment on my part!
When I returned home that evening, Dad got into my car, looked at my compass on the dash, and tried to face it dead South. It went dead East instead. He then ripped it off and threw it as far as he could, and now I enjoyed a large hole in the vinyl dash.
Things went from Great expectations to disastrous outcomes.
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#…ifOnlyi… short stories are published chronologically and follow my life growing up in California from 4 years old. If you’ve just found me, the stories will come together when you start reading from...Issue #1