Fabian Forte In Love!

Fabian is in love. Her name is Kathy Kersh. She lives in Montebello, California. She is sixteen (Fabian’s age). She is blonde and cute as a button. Her father runs a supermarket. Her mother is a housewife. Kathy herself is a part-time model and recently was named ‘Miss Boysenberry’ in a local fruit-picking contest. Primarily, however, she is not a professional, but an average high-school teenager, who adores movies, eats up fashion and movie magazines, digs rock ‘n’ roll the most.

Not long ago, Kathy met Fabian.

They fell in love.

This is the exclusive story of their love . . . its joyous beginning, its sorrowful middle, its bitter-sweet ending.

It began that late-afternoon on the beach at Paradise Cove; Kathy and Fabian had just finished posing for a picture layout. For Fabian it was the tenth such layout in five days. For Kathy it was one of those once-in-awhile assignments that happened to come her way.

They walked barefoot now along the sand, alone, relaxing, talking. They’d met for the first time only an hour earlier. But they’d hit it off fine, and they were good friends already.

Fabian kidded Kathy.

“Tell me,” he said, “just what did those judges think you had in common with a boysenberry?”

Kathy pretended to be insulted. “Well, Tiger,” she said, “—that is what they call you, isn’t it? Tiger?”

They both laughed.

And Fabian took her hand.

And he began to run toward the water, pulling a shrieking Kathy along with him.

“My dress . . . my dress,” her voice came over the waves’ loud roar. “I’m getting drenched.”

“So’m I,” Fabian shouted. “So what?”

A big one came rolling toward them now and broke only a few feet away from where they stood, sending a splash of spray smack into their faces.

“Look at me now,” Kathy said, wiping the wet from her forehead and her cheeks. “Oh boy, just look at me.”

Fabian grinned. “You look awful pretty,” he said, his voice suddenly a little husky.

“I’ll bet,” Kathy said.

“You do,” Fabian said.

Impulsively then, quickly, he reached for her and took her in his arms and kissed her.

It was a long kiss, a warm kiss.

And it would have been even longer and warmer if another giant wave hadn’t decided to come swooping down on them at this moment, nearly knocking them over with its playfulness.

Fabian and Kathy stepped back onto the sand and, holding hands, they looked at one another.

“That was nice,” Fabian said, softly.

“Nearly drowned us,” Kathy said, “—but it was nice.”

And again they kissed.

And again.

And again.

And then, once more, they began to walk.

“Can I see you again, Kathy?” Fabian asked.

“Yes,” she said, “of course.”

“Tomorrow night?” Fabian asked. Without giving her a chance to catch her breath, he explained, “I know it sounds as if I’m pushing this. But I leave Hollywood day after tomorrow on a tour. And tomorrow’s the only night I’ve got left.”

Kathy tried hard to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“Well, that sounds all right then,” she said.

She smiled.

And stopped walking.

“That sounds wonderful,” she said. . . .

“I saw him first!”

“I was too thrilled to keep the news to myself,” Kathy remembers. “After school the next day I met my girlfriends at the luncheonette we always stop at and I told them. They nearly flipped. One of them, in fact, spilled half her Coke. ‘Where’s he taking you?’ they wanted to know. ‘What are you going to wear? Do you think he’ll bring flowers? What time’s he picking you up’ . . . I don’t know, I’m so excited right now, I don’t know anything,’ I said. ‘He’s going to call me at five. That’s all I know.’

“I ordered a soda. I could hardly drink it for the way my hands were trembling and for all the talking at the table. The girls wanted to know all about the day before on the beach— and I told them a little, just a little. Even with that, they swooned. Then one of the girls giggled and asked if she could come over to my house tonight. I’ll hide upstairs,’ she said, ‘I’ll get in the fireplace, anything just so I can see him when he comes to pick you up!’ The others all chimed in, picking out their own hiding places. But I said, ‘No ma’am, I saw him first—and he’s all mine!’

“After my soda, I walked home. It would be truer to say I floated home. It was almost four o’clock. In just about an hour he would call. I thought I’d die having to wait that long.

“When I got home my mother called out to me from the kitchen.

” ‘Kathy?’

” ‘Yes,’ I said.

” ‘Just missed your phone call,’ Mama said.

‘I dropped my books on a chair and rushed into the kitchen.

” ‘Fabian?’ I asked. ‘Already?’

“Mama, who was busy starting to prepare for supper, nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said, not looking up at me, ‘and a very pleasant-sounding voice he has, too. Very polite.’

‘Did he—’ I asked, ‘did he say what time he was coming over tonight?’

“Mama cleared her throat.

” ‘He said, dear, that he was terribly sorry, but that something or other came up and that he wouldn’t be able to make it. He wanted you to know as early as possible. And he wants you to call him back as soon as you can . . . I jotted the number down. It’s out by the phone.’

“I turned around, and without saying anything, I walked out of the kitchen.

“I never did stop by the phone.

“I went straight to my room.

“And I threw myself on my bed, burying my face in my pillow.

“And though my mind was half numb with disappointment, I tried to tell myself that I shouldn’t be disappointed.

” ‘What did you expect?’ I thought. ‘For him to really come and pick you up tonight? For him to really take you out? For him to really be interested in you?

” ‘Who are you, anyway?’ I asked myself. ‘—A little Miss Nobody, that’s who. A little Miss Nobody who thought she was Cinderella all of a sudden, who thought she’d been swept off her feet by a handsome and famous prince, who thought that that prince was going to take her to the ball and make her happy forever after!’

“I hated myself for having been so stupid.

Kathy’s talk with herself

“Why hadn’t I realized, I wondered, that yesterday afternoon—on the beach—had been just another afternoon for him?

“Why hadn’t I realized that even though his kisses had meant so much to me, they’d probably meant very little to him?

“That I was silly, stupid, ridiculous to think that the secret thoughts I’d had as I lay in bed the night before, just before I fell asleep—about the two of us, going out this night, going out again, going out lots, being together, the two of us, just the two of us—could ever come true.

” ‘Kathy,’ I said to myself, ‘face the facts of life. It’s probably better this way. How could you have held on to him, or competed with all the dozens and dozens of beautiful, talented girls he’s already met, and going to meet.

” ‘He’s a star. He’s going to be a bigger one. He’s going to be one of the most famous and idolized young men in the whole wide world.

” ‘You’re Kathy Kersh. That’s all you are. That’s all you’ll probably ever be . And don’t you go forgetting it, ever!’

“I don’t know how long I continued lying there, how long it was before I heard the phone ring again.

“Mama knocked on my door.

” ‘Kathy,’ I heard her say, ‘it’s for you . . . It’s Fabian calling you again.’

“I remember shaking my head and thinking, ‘No, I don’t want to talk to him. What’s there to say, anyway?’

“But Mama’s voice called out again.

“And I remember getting up finally and walking out of the room and to the phone.

“And his voice.

” ‘Kathy?’

” ‘Yes,’ I said.

” ‘Kathy, I’ve been waiting for you to call me back,’ he said. ‘I want to explain about tonight.’

” ‘You don’t have to,’ I said. ‘Honest you don’t.’

” ‘The disk-jockey show tonight,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know anything about it. My manager just told me this afternoon. It’s not the kind of thing I can get out of.’

” ‘That’s all right,’ I said.

” ‘You do understand?’ he asked.

“I finally spoke. ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I—’

“But I couldn’t go on.

” ‘What’s the matter, Kathy?’ Fabian asked.

“Then he asked, ‘Why’re you crying? Why’re you crying?’

“I could hear him asking that, once more, as my hand went limp all of a sudden and as I put the receiver down. . . .”

Fabian’s talk with Kathy

It was a little after ten o’clock that night.

The house was quiet.

Kathy’s mother and dad were sitting on the front porch.

Kathy was in her room, finishing up some homework she’d started halfheartedly an hour or so before.

She didn’t hear the car pull up outside.

She didn’t know anything about what was happening till her mother poked her head into the room and, smiling, said, “You have a guest, Kathy . . . Fabian’s here.”

The girl stared at her for a moment.

“Yes,” her mother said, “he’s out on the porch talking to Dad. Aren’t you coming out?”

Kathy nodded, but didn’t move. “Kathy!”

The girl put down the pencil she was holding. She rose, slowly. And she followed her mother outside.

“Hi, Kathy,” Fabian said, when he saw her.

“Hello,” Kathy said, softly.

There was a long moment of silence.

“Well,” Mr. Kersh said, “guess it’s about time we went inside, don’t you think, Mother?”

His wife nodded.

“Yes,” she said. To Kathy and Fabian she said, “There’s some lemonade in the refrigerator, if you should want some.”

“Thank you,” Fabian said, “but I won’t be staying long. I have a six o’clock train to catch tomorrow morning.”

“Well, have a nice trip,” Mrs. Kersh said, as she and her husband left the porch, “and good night.”

“Kathy,” Fabian said, as soon as they were alone, “I don’t have much time.”

“I know, you have to leave on your big tour tomorrow, don’t you?” she said.

“Yes,” said Fabian. “But before I go, I want to tell you something. I tried to tell you on the phone. You hung up on me. I was going to call back. But then I realized I really wanted to see and tell you.”

“I know,” Kathy said, “you’re very sorry about tonight.”

“Yes, I am,” said Fabian. “But what happened tonight always happens at my stage of the game. . . . You see, Kathy, I’m really just a beginner. I owe an awful lot to a lot of other people. And when they ask me to do things for them—and for myself—well, I’ve just got to. Maybe someday it’ll be different. I hope so. But for now, this is the way it’s got to be.”

“I see,” Kathy said.

“What I really wanted to say, though,” Fabian went on, “was to ask you if you’d drop me a line once in a while, while I’m away, when you have a chance.” He handed her a piece of paper he’d been holding. “See?” he said. “I’ll be away five weeks, and here are the names of the places I’ll be staying, and the dates. I wrote it all down for you. . . .

“And,” he said, “one other thing. I’ll be back on a Saturday, exactly five weeks from tomorrow. And I was just wondering if you’d keep that night open for me—so we could go out.”

Fabian’s promise

He took a deep breath.

“How about it, Kathy?” he asked.

She didn’t answer.

“I know,” Fabian said, “you’re probably thinking to yourself that something else’s going to come up that Saturday night, too, just like tonight . . . Isn’t that it?”

Kathy shrugged. But she said nothing.

“Well, I promise you,” Fabian said, “I give you my word that that’s one night nothing is going to stop us from being together. Nothing . . . Okay?”

Again, Kathy didn’t answer.

“Come on,” Fabian said. He smiled. “Come on.”

He looked at her, and waited.

And when, after a while, he realized that she was not going to speak, he lowered his eyes and turned around and he began to walk away.

“Okay,” he heard her say when he was halfway down the steps.

He turned around, quickly.

He could see that she was smiling now, and nodding.

“Okay,” he heard her say again.

He rushed over to where she stood.

He put his arms around her.

“I’ve missed you so much, Kathy, only since yesterday,” he said. “Five weeks is going to be a long, long time . . . They say that when you feel like this about someone, that a minute apart is like a century.”

He kissed her.

“I don’t know what to say,” Kathy whispered, after the kiss had ended.

“That you’ll write to me?” said Fabian.

“I will,” Kathy said.

“That you’ll wait for me?”

“I will.”

“That — that you feel something for me, too, like I feel for you?”

Kathy hugged him.

“Oh I do,” she said. “I do. . . .”

They remained together a few minutes more.

And then Fabian left.

And Kathy walked back into the house, to cry again a little, and then to laugh, and then to go to bed and dream sweet dreams.

THE END

You can see Fabian in HOUND DOG MAN for 20th-Fox.

 

It is a quote. MODERN SCREEN MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1959