Jig walked down Deerborn Street and onto the sidewalk of a house she frequently visited. She looked briefly up at the clear black sky with its million small lights coming from a million stars a million miles away. As her eyes fell to the house in front of her she noticed a figure lying on the porch roof. She stopped walking and sighed.
"So you are home! Ephram! It's only eight o'clock! You and Desi are supposed to be smooching somewhere!" she yelled. The figure on the roof sat up and sure enough it was Ephram still in his tux. The bow tie was hanging loosely around his neck, the sleeves were at his elbows, and the jacket was open, but he was still in his tux.
"Things go badly?" she then asked him. Ephram let out a sigh so loud she could hear it from the sidewalk and he lay back down. Jig sighed and walked into the house.
A few minutes later Jig crawled out of Ephram's window and onto the porch roof. He looked at her as she sat down next to him, then he looked back to the stars.
"What took you so long?" he asked her.
"I had to pee…" she told him and he chuckled slightly.
"I'm up here in anguish and you had to pee…"
" 'Anguish' huh? How bad?" Jig asked him. Ephram sighed.
"Bad bad…" he replied. Jig sighed now.
"Well go on…" she said. Ephram sat up and looked at her.
"Okay, the night before I asked one of the maids who works there to set Desi's alarm clock of twelve instead of six, right? So when I get there the flowers have all arrived and she's still asleep. So some of the maids, all a lot of nice people, help me making her breakfast and help set the flowers up in her room. Anyway, at twelve her alarm goes off, she turns it off, and sits up. Then she makes this loud gasping noise and looks around with the most beautiful smile on her face that I've ever seen. I mean, smiles were not made to be this beautiful. Then I walk in and she runs over to me and hugs me and kisses me."
"So she loved it?"
"She loved it. I thought she was going to, explode, or something…"
"Then what went wrong?"
"Well, we had breakfast, and then watched The Patriot. She loves that movie, I dunno why."
"Really? I never liked it. The two cute guys die."
"Two? I thought it was only the one."
"No, there's the one in the beginning, remember?"
"Him? You thought he was cute?"
"Well, certainly worth a second look. Or, a 47th look…" Jig said biting her lower lip and looking up at the stars in thought. Ephram frowned but decided to drop it.
"Anyway… As we're watching it we start, you knowing, kissing and touching and all kinds of stuff on her bed…" Ephram said. Jig raised an eyebrow.
" 'All kinds of stuff?' " she asked him. He frowned at her so she wiped the grin from her face.
"Sorry. So what happened next?" she asked. Ephram sighed and looked across the street.
"Then her father walked in…" Ephram said. Jig cringed. She patted Ephram on the shoulder.
"Poor boy," she said. He nodded.
"Well when we saw him Desi told me to run so I did. Been here ever since."
"Have you talked to her?" Jig asked him. Ephram shook his head.
"She hasn't called me, and I'm afraid to call her," Ephram explained. Jig nodded.
"Well, hopefully you'll get to talk to her before they send her off to boarding school in Switzerland," Jig said. Ephram frowned at her.
"Not even funny…" he told her. She nodded.
"Sorry. So do you want me to call her?" Jig asked suddenly. Ephram looked surprised.
"You would do that?" he asked her. She nodded.
"Sure. She might be allowed a call from a girl," Jig said. Excitedly Ephram ran into his room and over to his phone. He picked it up and began carrying it back to the rooftop.
"Hold on! Hold on! I'll come inside!" Jig said as she did so. When she was in he pushed the phone on her and dialed. She sighed as the phone rang.
"It's a good thing I went to the bathroom before I- Hi! May I speak to Desi please? This is Jig. All right…" Jig said and was silent for a few moments, waiting for Desi to get to a phone. When she did Jig shoved the phone to Ephram who, very surprised, took it and spoke into it.
"Desi? It's Ephram! How are things? Yea, yea that was Jig. She figured we'd get to talk if your parents thought it wasn't me. Yea she usually is…" Ephram said, smiling.
"I'm just going to go now…" Jig whispered and headed for his door. Ephram grabbed her arm, commanding her to stay. She sighed and sat down on his bed.
"So how are things? That bad huh? But he has met me! Yea I know. They're making you what? But we'd never-! I mean we'd-!" Ephram started yelling, a little upset. Jig by now had gotten off of his bed and walked close to him, looking at his face. He was too busy on the phone to notice her stare.
"I mean maybe we would-! But I'm not saying-!" Ephram continued not finishing his sentences.
"You're blushing!" Jig yelled. Ephram took a few steps away from her and turned his back to her. Jig, now grinning fully, walked around again to look at him. She took the phone from his hand and held it to her ear.
"He's gotta go now, Desi, an oddity rarer than Hell freezing over just occurred…" Jig said into it and hung up. Ephram frowned at her, but the reddish of his blushing still apparent on his cheeks. Jig ran her hand down the side of his face, feeling the extraordinary warmth. He stepped away from her, even more embarrassed than before, making the redness of his cheeks grow even greater. Jig laughed slightly.
"Ephram, you're blushing! What exactly are Desi's parents making her do?" Jig asked him. Ephram frowned, but the blush remained.
"Nothing…" he said. Jig frowned.
"You don't blush for 'nothing,' Ephram…" she told him. He shook his head.
"I doesn't matter. She's trying to talk them out of it, and she will…" Ephram said. Jig nodded, understanding.
"Hey, I got some shopping to do, want to come with?" she asked him. Ephram sighed.
"Promise never to mention my blushing again?" he asked her. Jig bit her lower lip thinking about it.
"Alright fine…" she said. Ephram nodded.
"Fine, I'll come with you…" he said and the two left his room.
Since the Izquierdo family was leaving the next day, Hasina and Murasaki were both sleeping over at Delia's house. Delia now laid in her bed, and Murasaki and Hasina on cots on either side of her. Murasaki was already half asleep but the remaining two were holding a quiet conversation.
"I'm glad you came," Delia said.
"Me too," Hasina agreed.
"Hasina?"
"Yea?"
"Who moved into our apartment?" Delia asked, the first curiosity on the subject reaching her. Hasina sighed.
"An old couple with their grandson. He's about our age," Hasina said smiling. Delia and Hasina had been friends for such a long time, Delia could tell by the sound of her voice that Hasina was smiling.
"And you poked at me for my crush…" Delia said. Hasina laughed slightly.
"That's because your crush is in high school!" Hasina told her. Delia sighed.
"Delia you like someone in high school!" Murasaki yelled, surprised. Delia sighed angrily and buried her face in her pillow. Hasina broke out into laughter.
"So he actually talks me into going to this party, right? So we get there, and after we take one step into the apartment this girl runs by us, completely naked," Ephram said as he and Jig walked into her house. Jig started laughing.
"So what happened?" she asked him.
"Well, Skug ran into the room and I slowly walked backward out of it," Ephram said and Jig laughed again. Irv and Edna watched the two of them as they made their way across the living room toward the kitchen.
"You're looking nice, Ephram…" Irv pointed out.
"What's with the get up?" Edna asked him. Ephram looked down to see that he was still wearing his tux. He laughed and Jig did too, both forgetting he was wearing it.
"Oh, uh, it's Valentine's Day…" he said. Edna's eyes widened in surprise and looked at Irv who was smiling at the ground, shaking his head.
"It is? Why didn't you tell me?" Edna asked him. Irv laughed slightly.
"Because you hate Valentine's Day…" he told her. She frowned.
"I know. But you like it," she told him. He raised his hand.
"It's okay, Edna, don't worry about it."
"I wasn't worried…" she said defensively. He chuckled slightly and turned to the younger two.
"So why did you decide Valentine's Day of all nights to go shopping?" Irv asked more Jig than Ephram. She shrugged.
"Had some stuff to get," Jig told him. Irv nodded.
"And, uh, you needed Ephram to help you?" he asked. Jig grinned.
"Bag boy strike…" she said. Irv chuckled slightly and Jig and Ephram walked into the kitchen. Irv turned back to Edna who was grinning at him.
"You landed on Boardwalk…" she told him. He looked down at the Monopoly board in front of him and sighed.
"Bankrupting me on Valentine's Day. Have you no decency?" Irv asked her handing her his remaining money. She chuckled and took it.
"Not since '78 sweet cheeks."
