(Liliana Vess)
Why must Skype always be so slow? It seems like it always takes forever to connect. I listen to the steady hum of the TV in the living room, where Josu is searching futilely for some sort of hockey to watch. I told him he'd have to watch football, but he hasn't accepted that yet, saying that it's a sport for pansies.
I'm going to Skype with my best friend, Avacyn, her boyfriend Gris, and our mutual friend Domri. I haven't seen them since I moved, because I've been so busy trying to get acclimated that we haven't had a time to sit and Skype yet. Should I tell them that I've made a friend? I will if they ask. I won't bring it up if they don't.
The call finally connects and my friends are sitting on the other side of the screen, smiling. They start speaking all at the same time, and I can't help but smile.
"How are you feeling?"
"Not great, but I'd rather not talk about it. How are things back home?"
"Deathly boring without you up here causing trouble, Lili Claire."
"Better to starve to death than be bored to death, I always say."
"How is your school?"
"I have a teacher who's a complete imbecile, but other than that it's fine."
"Replaced us yet?" Gris says, with a maniacal laugh.
"You're irreplaceable, when are you coming down?"
"Ugh, hopefully soon." Avy's singsong voice rings out.
"Have you made any friends?"
"Um.. one."
"How have you only made one friend, Liliana? People are lining up to be your friend, usually."
"I haven't really tried. These people have known each other forever, and I don't want to intrude."
"They would be lucky to be your friend, Liliana." Domri says, kind of defensively.
"So tell us about her, then, will we like her?"
"He is quite nice."
"Oh, so it's a boy."
"Yes, but we're only friends, nothing more. I can't let anyone else get attached to me, it'll be too hard when I.."
"SHUT UP!" They all roar at one time.
"Have you seen Maman or Papa around town at all?"
"Yes.." Avy says, desperate to change the subject.
"Did they say anything about Josu or me?"
"They pretended not to see us, Liliana."
I nod, not exactly surprised. Josu and I, we're used to it. We were used to being seen but not heard. We were always shunted to the side and shut up with some sort of contraption, my parents let our families' money parent us.
Josu has taken care of me. When he and Kaalia got married, she wanted me to come with them so I wouldn't have to be alone in that house all the time, and for that, I am thankful. When we were told we have to move, Josu asked them to come with us. As usual, they pushed us further away from them than we had been previously.
I don't know why they wanted children, when their children don't even know who they are.
"Anyways, it's so hot here. It is September and it's still 80 to 90 degrees outside. I can't go anywhere without feeling sweaty and sticky."
Gris, Domri, and Avacyn all shudder, the thought of extreme heat is nearly enough to make anyone from Canada squirm.
We talk aimlessly about nothing for about an hour before Sorin calls them for dinner. He pokes his head into the screen and waves kisses at me; I return them.
"Tell Josu we said hello. Are we going to Skype tomorrow?"
"No, I have a project to work on tomorrow."
"Ahhhh, I see how it is now, putting school work ahead of us."
"Ferme la bouche, Domri."
He sticks his tongue out at me, and they have to go wash up. Finding a time that works for both of us is not exactly easy. I smile at them, wave kisses, and shut the computer screen. I hear my phone buzz, and I look at it. It's Jace.
Hi.
Hey.
Don't feel like you have to type those up, by the way.
It's no big deal. I don't know how much help I'm going to be on the analyzing.
What you said tonight, it really made me think, so yeah, your analysis is spot on.
Thanks (: I think.
You wanna go grab a milkshake prior to the library tomorrow?
Nonsolid food sounds awesome, so yeah.
Are milkshakes food?
For me they are.
Fair enough.
Kaalia calls me from the kitchen, so I pick up my phone and walk in there. It's nice to have another girl around. I know I can go to Josu about anything, but it's still good to have her around. I'm trying to work out what exactly I want to say to Jace when she asks me.
"Josu said you've made a friend."
"Sure, I guess you can call it that."
"Well, we were talking, and before you go spending a whole lot of time with him, we'd like to meet him."
"You two have already met him," I say, smiling.
Kaalia rolls her eyes, and puts one hand on her hip. She does this quite frequently at both of us.
"Fine, I'll ask him over for dinner."
My sister in law and brother want to meet you if I'm going to be spending any extended amount of time with you.
Will you be?
I guess that's up to you.
We talked about this earlier.
So, are you coming for dinner tomorrow, then?
Is this an invitation?
Yes.
We'll I'd be delighted.
*eyeroll* they're pretty lame, if you ask me. Adults and shit.
I think I understand about feeling human.
What do you mean?
I don't know, it's hard to place. I don't really want to talk about it.
Okay, Jace. What do you want to talk about?
We said we were going to be friends, right?
Right.
So tell me something about you.
Like what?
Anything. What's your favorite food?
Umm, probably poutine, but you most likely don't know what that is.
Negative.
It's basically cheese fries with bacon and it has gravy on it. It's a Canadian thing. What about you? What's your favorite color?
Blue. Just generic blue. Not sky blue, or turquoise, just blue.
The conversation goes on and on until I fall asleep. It seems like mere seconds when Josu is shaking me awake for school. Nausea this morning can hopefully be controlled with a couple pills, the fatigue is a different story. Josu brings me to school, and Jace is standing at the entrance again. Josu waves and Jace returns it, smiling.
"Eat your breakfast bar."
"Ugh." I roll my eyes at my brother, getting out of the car.
Jace takes my bookbag off of my shoulders again, I go to take it back, but he won't let me.
"I can carry it, Jace."
"I know."
"Then why are you.."
"Because I want to."
"Okay, whatever. You don't have to."
The school day passes without any drama, other than Gideon coming up to Jace again. Yet again, he refused to go out with them, to do anything with them. He has such a menacing look on his face that I just let the subject drop.
When we get out of school that day, we head to the diner. I order a half chocolate and half strawberry milkshake; Jace just gets vanilla.
"That's no fun."
"I'm not a fun person."
"Shut up, Jace."
"Is your brother this protective over you all the time?"
"Yes. Josu is not my brother, Josu's the closest thing I have to a father."
"You're lucky, then. At least he cares."
"I am very lucky to have him. Kaalia too."
He gives me that look that like he's trying to figure me out as I stop drinking the milkshake and grab a spoon.
"You have chocolate on your face, Liliana."
He reaches over and wipes off the corner of my mouth with a smile. When he touches my face, there is a static that shoots through my body, from my head to my toes. Jace felt it too, the atmosphere in the air changed. Neither one of us say anything about it, though.
The ride there was pretty much silent.
I'm typing our analyses when Jace comes over and looks over my shoulder. The paper should be done within the next thirty minutes, but we also have to do a poster of the poem and our analysis.
"I don't really feel like cutting and gluing today, Liliana."
"That makes two of us. Do you remember how to get to the house?"
"Yeah. I'm nervous as shit, can you tell?"
"Not really. There's nothing to be nervous about."
"I shouldn't be nervous, I feel like."
"You really shouldn't."
We chat on the way to the house, just chattering.
"Stay put. I'll get your door and your bookbag."
"Jace! I'm not helpless."
"I know you're not helpless, but you're a lady."
I roll my eyes. He pulls a frustrated face and it makes me laugh.
"You're impossible."
"Who? Me?" I poke Jace in the side, playfully.
"Yes, you! Don't act all innocent with me." He pokes me in the side. Ow. That's probably going to bruise, but I play it off.
Unfortunately, Kaalia saw the whole exchange . She's going to grill me about it later, I know it. Now, she just smiles and opens the door for Jace.
"Dinner is almost done, guys."
"I'll go grab plates and forks. Jace?"
He takes this as a hint and follows me into the kitchen. I grab the glasses and fill them with ice.
"Where are the plates?"
"I'll get it, you're the guest, Jace."
"Where are the plates?"
Kaalia comes in and gestures for Jace to sit, and he doesn't give her any lip. I think it's because she's an adult, little goody-two-shoes. Asshole.
She puts down Shepherd's Pie as we all get situated around the table.
"How did you two meet?" Josu asks calmly.
I start, but Jace is louder than me, so I let him talk.
"Well other than the day at the diner, I was in the office getting my schedule at the same time she was. I missed the first two weeks of school too. We actually ended up in all the same classes, too."
"She mentioned that you have a project that you are working on. Why didn't the teacher give you an extension?"
"He's notoriously hard, and he's a bit of um, I don't know how to say this without actually saying it."
"I pick up what you're saying, Jace."
He makes a half smile and Josu nods.
"Where are you from, Jace?"
"North Carolina, originally. I grew up on a farm just a few minutes from Asheville. My mom was an ambassador to Benghazi. After the attack, I moved here."
I've told Josu about our agreement with no prying questions, so he doesn't say anything. Thank God.
"Most of the people Liliana hung out with before have been in our lives since they were born, we just wanted to know who she's hanging out with."
"I hope I passed your test."
"With flying colors, Mr. Beleren."
Jesus, Josu. Do you always have to be so overbearing? It's not enough that you're nearly six and half feet tall and you've been growing out a fucking ponytail since you were like ten. God. This is a struggle. I wish he'd go ahead and get the Inquisition out of his blood stream. They only guys I've ever been have been around since preschool, and this new guy is setting off Osu's guard dog effect. However, Josu seems like Jace.
I'm not trying to date anyone right now, but apparently that doesn't seem to matter.
It's not fifteen minutes until I'm in the bathroom, painting the interior of the toilet with dinner. None of it stayed down, I'm sure. I'm going to have to get fluids tomorrow, damn it all to hell. I'll be sitting at the goddamned doctor's office for twelve hours, no doubt. It's not long before there's a knock on the door.
"Go away, Osu."
"I'm not your brother."
"Go away, Jace. Why on earth did he let you come up here, I'm going to kill him."
"I brought you a popsicle."
"Is it purple?"
"Yeah."
I walk out into the hallway and take the popsicle from him. I walk back into the kitchen where Josu and Kaalia are standing, smiling. They look like they're sharing some conspiratorial thought, I want to punch both of them.
Jace and I go sit on the front porch, and I split my popsicle with him.
"No, you eat it, I'm still full."
I just glare at him until he takes the other half. The gentle rocking of the swing is soothing rather than nauseating, which is surprising.
"Can I ask you a question?"
The question seems weighted. Like we are going to break our promise, already. For some reason, I can't bring myself to hide things from him. The tempo of the conversation has changed. The nature of that question is different from the ones from earlier, different from the ones last from last night.
"Sure. If I can get one answer from you as well."
"My question is, Liliana, where are your parents? What happened to them?"
"My parents are in Montreal, in the house where Josu and I grew up."
"What?!" Jace is aghast.
"Yep. When Josu moved out, so did I. When Josu and Kaalia got married, he still had me. He wouldn't let me stay there alone. That's why Josu and are so close, why he's so protective. He feels like it's his job. Taking care of me will always be Josu's burden."
"Don't say that, he loves you. Anyone with two eyes and half a brain knows that. He doesn't see you as a burden."
"He doesn't have to. I don't want to talk about it, Jace."
"Okay. What's your question?"
"You referred to your mother in the past tense. She was an ambassador to Benghazi. What happened to her? And your father?"
"My father died before I was born. My mother was killed in the attacks on Benghazi. And that's when I moved to Baltimore to live with my uncle."
"Is he a nice man?"
Jace's eyes turn as dark as the night, with an edge of steel in them. He clears his throat, his voice shaky.
"No. If I could murder one person and get away with it, it'd be him, the decrepit old tinkerer."
"Okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
He looks at his watch and makes to go back inside to get his shoes and car keys. Josu and Kaalia are sitting on the couch watching TV.
"Thank you guys for having me, dinner was great."
"You're welcome back anytime, Jace." Josu says, Kaalia smiles and Jace waves at them both. I walk Jace to his car and stand in the doorway for a moment.
"I'm leaving school early tomorrow. I have a couple of doctor's appointments to try to figure out what's going on."
"I feel like I'm not supposed to miss you, but I'm going to."
I smile, because I'm feeling the same way. There's something about Jace that I just can't place. Something different.
"Jace?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad you were in the office. And I'm glad you're my friend."
He brushes the stray strand of hair off of my face.
"Me too."
