condition, Jenny. I’ll go with this Darian guy, if I can meet you there.” At Jenny’s lifted eyebrows, Lia’s brain was going crazy trying to come up with an excuse as to why she had to meet them at the theater and finally hit on an idea that might work. “My mother’s pretty strict and if she knew I was with a guy, she’d ground me. She’s from overseas and she’s so old fashioned.” God, she hated to lie about her mother, but it was the only thing she could think of at the time.
Making a face, Jenny sympathized with her. “Boy, do I know how that can be! Sometimes I think my mom lived back in the Ice Age. Okay, I’ll tell Butch you’ll meet us. One-thirty at the Orpheum. Right on the main drag. You can’t miss it. Bye.” And she ran back to her family who waited in the car for her.
She’d seen the Orpheum when she’d been out last night. And Jenny had called Darian, Dari. Evidently they shortened his name like she did hers. Mylia was such a strange sounding name, but Lia was better and everyone assumed it was Leah until they really got to know her, or she was in class with them. Pleading with her teachers to call her Lia, there was always that one who refused and called her by her full name. Maybe it would be different there. Maybe she could be halfway normal. Because of the car, things were definitely looking up.
So excited she could hardly drive home, she was extra careful with the car. She had an honest to goodness date with someone who was tough as nails! And she couldn’t wait to get home and tell her mother!
Three
Mylia had been right. Her mother was ecstatic that she was actually going out and with a boy! Her daughter stayed home and took care of her too much and since she was so ill, Mylia had to do almost everything. It hurt May Li that her daughter had so much responsibility, and it made her feel guilty. Most of the time, when she wasn’t in school or cleaning, Lia only sat and read and watched her sleep. No life for a young girl was May Li’s opinion.
Lia made the tea, took her mother a lunch tray where she sat in the deeply cushioned chair she’d dragged up the stairs for her. They sat and ate in relative silence, but every once in a while her mother would smile at her, the beautiful smile that had faded so quickly since she’d been in the hospital with the fever.
“Wear blue dress,” her mother finally broke the silence. “Make you take shape. You want boy to like you, wear blue dress. I not get you back, no?” May Li laughed a little. In her country girls were already married at Mylia’s age. She’d been only fifteen when she’d married Taylor who was twenty-four at the time. Taylor had given the orphanage five whole American dollars for her. She didn’t talk much about their wedding because Mylia must never know the circumstances that surrounded it. Sometimes she cried herself to sleep for the deception that Taylor had contrived, the deception that only she knew. And he had sworn her to secrecy, but it was not fair to Mylia for her not to know her ancestors. Ancestors very important. There was a very good explanation why her daughter looked nothing like her, but she could never reveal the reason, although Mylia had asked her time and time again why she was a blonde. Why wasn’t she short and dainty like May Li? Why was she taller and did not possess the slanted eyes of her mother? May Li only told her that she was lucky and that she looked exactly like her father. And Mylia could see it to a certain extent. She looked American and not Chalayan like her mother.
May Li had sworn to Taylor that no one would ever know that she was not Mylia’s mother. But what difference did it make now? Her country was not at war. Mylia would not be in danger any longer. May Li fought with herself daily as to whether she should do something about the situation, but Taylor never had, although he knew the fighting had been over for years. They had discussed the situation, and Taylor had said he’d never allow Mylia to go back to Chalay. But she belonged there, May Li had argued, and wondered why no one had come searching for her. Taylor had told her that he’d covered their tracks well and there was no way anyone could find Mylia. May Li also loved Mylia very much, how could she ever part with her? Mylia was her life, her very existence, but if her daughter somehow found out who she was, would she ever be able to forgive her?
Looking for a parking place, Lia finally found one that she could pull into and not have to parallel park. She hadn’t quite got the hang of that, although she’d had to park the Mercury a couple of times, always at least a foot away from the curb. It seemed she just couldn’t get the wheels of the big car to go where she wanted them to go. When she’d taken her mother to the new doctor they’d found in Speesburg, she had had to pull out of the parking space and try again. At last, on the second try, she had been close enough to the curb that someone wouldn’t come along and sideswipe the car.
Locking the door, she saw Butch, Jenny and Darian heading her way. What was she to say? What was she to do? She’d never done this before. And Darian looked so good. Tall, with an athlete’s body, he was wearing blue, too. Did they have ESP or something? She couldn’t have told anyone what Butch and Jenny were wearing. All of her focus was on Darian and her stomach seemed to do flip-flops at the sight of him.
And Dari was on cloud nine. How Jenny had managed to get this girl to consent to a date with him after the way she’d acted the night before, he didn’t know, but he was sure happy that she had. He couldn’t stop grinning, and then felt like a fool. Somehow he had to stop showing how elated he was or she’d think he was a total idiot.
“Hi” he tried to say in an offhand manner, but couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. “I’m glad you could come,” he stated, worshipping her with his gray eyes. “Looks like it’s going to be a pretty good movie,” he said, for lack of something else to say except ‘you look absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking’. Attempting to look cool, he didn’t want to overdo it and start babbling. He took her hand and led her back to where the others waited.
“I’m glad I could, too. I had to sneak out past my mom,” Mylia stated the necessary lie. “She can be pretty nasty if she thinks I’m going to be with a boy. I told her I was going to Jenny’s house.”
“It’s a shame you had to do that, but if you were my daughter, I’d probably keep you in a cell. Under lock and key. You’re not an ordinary looking girl, you know.” And he gave her a sideways grin that had her heart thumping wildly.
They sat through the John Wayne movie and Mylia could not have told anybody much what it was about. It was something about the fight at the Alamo, but she couldn’t keep her mind on the plot. The boys got up once, went to the concession stand and came back with popcorn and Cokes. She and Jenny had been giggling about Dari and Butch. How different they looked, but how much alike they were.
“They’ve known each other forever from what Butch told me. And they’re both on the football team,” Jenny said. “That’s generally all the jocks talk about is football, but I haven’t heard a word about it today. I think Dari’s got it bad for you, Lia. Looks like he’s got stars in his eyes and could eat you up.”
“I hope he doesn’t think I can get by with this every day. My mom would really get suspicious if I’d go out all the time.”
“It doesn’t matter. Dari can’t get away either. His dad owns a garage, and Dari usually works there every night during the week after football practice. He only has Sunday’s free and Saturday nights, of course, when he goes downtown cruising. Friday nights they usually have a game until the football season is over.”
“Thank goodness. At least he won’t be out looking for me.” And Jenny wondered what she meant by that, but didn’t have time to ask anything about it. The boys had returned with their refreshments.
They sat and ate their popcorn, sharing, and Dari’s hand touched Lia’s. They stared at each other, but he didn’t move his hand. He reached over and kissed her lightly on the lips, and Lia sighed,
