she’d ever wanted in a boy. She lowered her head not wanting him to see how very much the kiss had affected her.
Dari had felt the jolt, too, but just thought Lia was shy and smiled to himself. What a girl! The most beautiful in the whole town, and she was with him. How could he have gotten so lucky? He’d have to get down and kiss Butch’s feet for suggesting they double date and Jenny’s for asking Lia. He couldn’t wait to get to know everything there was to know about this girl. She was so darned special.
After the movie, Butch suggested they go down to the river and watch the boats for a while. Another month and the boats would be in dock and none of them would be out. Getting too cold for that. Lia was hesitant, thinking she should be getting back to her mother, but she didn’t want to leave Dari just yet. And a walk along the riverbank would be something she could tell her mom about. She sure couldn’t tell her much about the movie! She’d been too excited just sitting beside Dari.
It wasn’t long before Lia understood what was going on. Butch and Jenny went one way and she and Dari walked another. She’d never been alone with a boy in her life! What would they talk about? More importantly, what did he expect from her? Was he one of those guys who were nice to a girl and then expected her to put out? She wasn’t like that and she sure wasn’t going to start now, although she’d never seen another guy she’d rather be with than Dari.
Walking along, slowly, he pointed to different speedboats, telling her who they belonged to, that he’d worked on this one or that one, and it set her at ease. The river was clean and beautiful, and she could look down into the edge of it and see some small fish swimming close to the bank. The lush trees and brush, just turning gold and orange, hid them from view, and she started to get a little worried. He held her hand, but that was about the extent of it, until he asked her if he could come pick her up the next Saturday night and they could cruise together.
“I don’t think so, Dari, but maybe I can meet you downtown. I’ve told you how my mother is. She’d have a conniption fit if she knew I was here right now and I’ll have to be going soon. If I’m gone too long, she might get suspicious.” God, she hated to lie about her mom like that, but what else could she do? If Dari ever saw the rooms they lived in over her uncle’s garage, with cast off furniture, he’d never even look at her again. His dad owned a garage and he probably lived in a very nice house with a mom and a dad and maybe even a couple of brothers and sisters. She only had her mom and the proverbial church mouse had more than they had. And they wouldn’t even have that place to live in if her Uncle Warren changed his mind and decided he wanted them out. Probably wouldn’t be him since he’d suggested it in the first place, but would be that old witch he was married to, Patience. It was a constant fear for them, him putting them out when they had nowhere else to go.
They turned and strolled back toward the marina, meeting Butch and Jenny walking from the other direction. Jenny’s hair was sort of messed up and Lia wondered if she and Butch had been making out. Dari hadn’t even touched her except to hold her hand, but as the other couple approached, he casually took his arm and put it around her waist. Why now? Why hadn’t he done that while they were walking along the bank? Perhaps he thought she might object but with Butch and Jenny there, she would feel safe, wouldn’t feel like he was rushing things.
Lia couldn’t even suspect what a battle Dari had fought with himself when all he wanted to do as they’d walked along was grab her and kiss the mortal life out of her. And it didn’t help to know that was probably what Butch was doing with Jenny. But he didn’t want to scare Lia off by making her think he was that kind of guy. It was even hard for him to talk in a normal voice. He’d never met anyone as sweet and nice as Lia, and had certainly never been with anyone so beautiful. He didn’t want to mess up a good thing by coming on too strong.
Making their way back up to the cars, they all decided they would cruise together the next Saturday night, and when they got to the Mercury, Lia unlocked the door and Dari opened and held it for her. She got into the seat and looked up at him with his arm lying across the top of the open door. He reached down and kissed her, deeper than he had done in the movie theater, and she thought she would surely melt into the seat.
And Dari thought he wouldn’t be able to walk back to his car. His legs felt like willow branches and he was about two feet off the ground. He wanted to go on kissing Lia, but a yell from Butch brought him back down to earth. Forgetting there was anyone else in the world except Lia, he finally realized he had to go.
“See you at school. And I can’t wait until next Saturday,” he fairly whispered to her. He didn’t trust his voice.
“Yeah. Me, too. Oh! Thank you for the movie. I had a really good time. See you, Dari.” She was so rattled by the kiss that she almost forgot to thank him. That would have been real nice of her, to let him go without even a thanks. And she backed out of the parking space and sped away, her heart beating as fast as the engine was revving in the powerful Mercury.
“Well?” her mom said as soon as she walked in the door. “How it go? I see you still here so he not steal you.” She smiled at her daughter and Lia thought her mother was as excited as she was. Lia sometimes forgot that her mother was only sixteen years older than she was. May Li had said that she and Taylor had married when she was fifteen, so she had to be just sixteen when Lia was born. She sat down on the floor at her mom’s feet anxious to tell her all about Dari.
“Mom, he’s wonderful. I’ve never met anyone like him.” Then she giggled. “I’ve never met any boy before now. I wouldn’t let myself. But he’s different. He’s… He’s…”
“Wonderful, you say. And makes you feel like queen. The way he looks at you, you melt down in puddle and his kiss set flames running up and down body. You not want to ever, ever leave him.”
Mylia gave her mother a skeptical glance. “How did you know that? You don’t know Dari.”
“True. But I know your father, and it does not change. Every generation think these new feelings, but they been going since start of time. If they not, none of us be here,” and she held out her thin arms, palms up, shrugging her shoulders. She smiled at her daughter, who was blushing, and knew that this boy was special for Mylia. Although Mylia had only known him for a short time, she was already fascinated by the boy. God, how she’d love to meet him! But that was impossible. They could not have him come here to this place. She would not bring shame to her Mylia.
Four
All that week, Darian would find Mylia between classes, walk her to her next class, and then at lunch time, he, Lia, Butch and Jenny would walk around the campus of the school. If it rained, they stayed inside, standing in the hallway, and Lia met a lot of the kids she went to school with. She hadn’t planned on that, but she didn’t realize how popular Dari was.
She had some trouble with him pestering her for her phone number, but again, she used the excuse that her mother didn’t allow her to have phone calls, and her number was unlisted. What else could she do? Couldn’t she sneak a phone call to him when her mother was out or something? No, her mother never went anywhere unless Lia went with her. Actually, her mother went nowhere except to the doctor. She thought once of giving him a fictitious number, but as sure as she did, someone would have that number. So she resorted to driving to a payphone and calling him every once in a while, telling him she just happened to be out. More and more she hated lying to Dari, but she couldn’t tell him they couldn’t afford to have a phone installed.
That Saturday night, they met downtown; she parked the Merc, and climbed into the Chevrolet with Dari, Butch and Jenny. They cruised up and down the streets, and Darian sat a little taller in the seat, thinking every guy was staring at him with envy. And Lia seemed as if she were a dazzling butterfly who had left the cocoon. She acted
