Delayed (18 page)

Olivia walked on stage, right as the boy who played her supposed love pulled out a fake weapon. He said his line.
 

“Gia? What are you doing here?”

“It’s my father’s bar,” she said. It was the twist of the play; the audience found out that Gia had been hiding her identity from her lover.
 

Two actors behind Joshua pushed him to complete the task. Olivia watched his expression change. The script had said he had to have a look of remorse, since he knew he was about to lose one of the two things he valued the most. He held the spray-painted water gun up.
 

“I’m sorry,” he managed.
 

Olivia waited for the too young of an actor, assigned to play her father, to scream. He did.

She jumped in front of him, as the sound of a gun going off filled the small theater. She fell to her knees, hoping the fake blood would kick in. Joshua ran to her, but only for a moment. He stood and shot her father. Then the curtains closed.
 

That was the end of the play. Morbid, messy, and written by one of their own theater group members. Olivia hugged everyone back stage. They congratulated her. She didn’t know why. Then she looked to the mirror in the dressing room. There was a single tear in her right eye. She took a step back. It couldn’t be. She had never been able to cry on stage before. Even in the rehearsals the director had given up on telling her to shed a tear. Yet there it was, new and wet.
 

Olivia wiped it away. She stepped out of her costume and changed back into her twenty first century attire. It had taken her a year to cry about it, the idea that she had lost a person she had liked so much. She knew it know. She missed Simon, admired him, and his visions of grandeur for his future. She had believed every word he had said. And he’d betrayed her, not even for a better choice. Rumor was Kate had broken things off a few months after.
 

“You have someone waiting for you,” Jeb called out.
 

Olivia turned to him. “Who?”
 

“There are three people. They say they’re fans.” He stepped out of the dressing room.
 

She picked up her things and walked outside. Fans? It was her first performance as a character with an actual name, fans were not a part of the package. She walked out in search of her entourage.
 

“Olive. Over here,” someone called out.
 

Olivia turned. She saw a person she didn’t expect to see. Mimi stood tall, not as tall as Nick, though. She didn’t look the part of preteen anymore. Her dark eyes were traced heavily with makeup and her dress carried the aura of a night out.
 

Her brother stood next to her, smiling, as he always seemed to do. Olivia dropped her bag and ran over to them. She wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck, having to jump to accomplish the task. He held her close, neither one seemed to want to let go.
 

“Do that on your own time,” Mimi said, making them break the embrace. Olivia noticed now there was a boy standing next to her. He looked about her age. He had curly black hair, and a very knowing sort of smirk on his face.
 

“This is Diego,” Mimi said.
 

“Her boyfriend,” Nick added. “And this is their chaperoned date.”
 

Olivia smiled at the thought that Mimi was dating. But then she stopped and her lack of romanticism took over.
 

“If you hurt her in any way,” she began.
 

“We’ve had that talk,” Mimi said, crossing her arms. “I’ve already given him all the warnings.”
 

Nick nodded. “She took over my job.” He turned his attention to Olivia. “You were amazing tonight.”
 

She felt her cheeks flush. “Thank you. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? The drive from Glensford is four hours long. You didn’t have to come.”
 

He shook his head and pointed to his sister. “Mimi was the one who planned all this. We’ve been here for the weekend to sight see, and some of Diego’s family lives here too, so we’re staying with them.”
 

Olivia felt a little defeated. “You were going to be here anyways.
 
You just stopped by on your way into the city.”
 

Mimi took her boyfriend by the hand and they went over to meet the rest of the cast. Nick cleared his throat.
 

“I also wanted to see you in person again. It’s been too long.” The words made his cheeks redden slightly.
 

“Well. Then I guess I’m still thankful. Should we grab dinner? I just have to drop these off at my apartment. It’s not too far from here.”
 

“I wish we could, but we’re driving back tonight. Finals week starts tomorrow, and the two teenagers have school. I’m sorry.”
 

Olivia shook her head. “No. Don’t be. I’m thankful that you showed up. It feels good to have someone cheer me on tonight. Good luck on your finals. You better ace them.”
 

She didn’t like this, seeing him for a few minutes only to have to wait another month to see him again.
 

“I should get going then, before it gets too late. I have weird neighbors.”
 

“I can walk you back if you want. Mimi and Diego are still getting autographs from everyone else.”
 

Olivia nodded without thinking it over twice. Nick went over to tell his sister of the change in plans and then they were off.
 

He kept his hands in his pockets as they walked the ten-minute path to her shared studio apartment. Luckily, her roommate was part of the stage crew, and they liked to go out for after performance parties until late into the night.
 

“How has New York been?” Nick asked
 

“It’s been tough, but I like it. It revalidated my choice of career path,” Olivia said. “What about you? How’s school been?”
 

He shrugged. “Lonely,” he managed. “I didn’t realize how lonely until you got up and left for a year.”
 

Olivia stopped walking. She gulped down air and stood silent. Her heart thumped against her chest cavity.
 

“You have other friends, though.”
 

He nodded. “I do. Old roommates, high school classmates, but they didn’t replace you.”
 

She had never seen him so serious, so straightforward. “I’ve missed you too Nick,” she said.
 

He stared at her, leaving a gap of space between them. Nick leaned his neck down, and took a step forward, and for a moment, just the hint of a second, she thought he might do to her what she had done on the plane. He stopped.
 

“Then promise me one thing,” he said.
 

“What?” Olivia managed.
 

“Don’t run away for another year. Come back to Glensford. Please.”
 

She tilted her head, and leaned up to meet his face. Without a word, she pressed a kiss on his cheek.
 

“I promise,” she said.

21

Junior Year
 

Olivia kept her promise and Nick kept his. She came back in the fall, after finishing off a summer of small theater performances in New York. He went to the train station to pick her up, Mimi almost came too, but she ended up going out with Diego again.
 

The fact his sister had had a boyfriend for the better part of the year, was something he still needed to process. The little girl he knew was gone. It wasn’t just teen rebellion. A grown up, snarky person had taken his sister’s place, and Nick was still trying to become accustomed to it.
 

He spent more and more time away from home in the Fall semester. His core classes consumed his time; the days of general electives were far behind him. The worst part was that his guidance counselor had convinced him to take up a double minor, in Statistics and American History. The history classes had required reading lists that went on for pages, but he enjoyed statistics. For the first time in his life, he found that attending math classes wasn’t as life consuming as it had once been. These classes made sense.

Nick made a larger group of acquaintances, mostly people that he kept having classes with, others who shared his major. He still lived in his tiny shoebox apartment, a few miles from campus, and after a summer of interning at a law firm, he had managed to pull the money together to put a down payment on a car. He let Mimi borrow it on the weekends he went home. Usually she’d use it after getting into some senseless fight with their dad. The fights were becoming a more common occurrence. She would ask him questions, things that girls were supposed to ask their mother, and their dad would get frustrated.
 

It was in those moments that Nick would think how things would have turned out differently. He didn’t like to think about it. It had already been seven years. The memories of his mom were no longer as vivid, and they had lost their luster.
 

It was like replaying old movies and hoping to learn something new from them. His mom was there, her voice and her face, her stories, and the unwavering love she had for him. Memories were memories, just as pictures were pictures: moments frozen in time, mere snippets of what once was.
 

Nick turned into the beach house. Mimi didn’t want to come this year, and their Abuela was in Mexico again. Their dad, he came alone sometimes, but never with them. No one understood why he had to come back every year.
 

“The dead don’t have birthdays,” Rita had once said. He remembered how she’d reacted when she’d found out his mom wasn’t buried in a cemetery. Her tombstone was the beach house, and her graveyard the vast ocean.
 

Rita, his first and only girlfriend thus far, and Mimi still bothered him about it. Nick had gone out on dates. He’d gone on almost four of them with a girl from his speech class. That had been last year, when Olivia disappeared to New York. They’d gone to a movie, dinner twice, and a dance performance. She said they should stay friends, not that they had ever been too friendly. There had been Kate before that, and Joan after. He didn’t realize Joan had his grandmother’s name until later on. It gave him a reason to stop seeing her. Nick dated. He just didn’t have relationships.
 

He put his car in park. The sand gathered around the wheels, and as he opened the door, the cool March breeze met him. It carried the scent of salted ocean, of places far away and undiscovered lands.
 

He’d order Chinese food, turn on the TV and try to get a local show. Then he’d blow out the candles for his mom, and wish her a happy forty-fifth. No matter what Rita or anyone said he would come back every year, alone if had to.
 

Nick walked to the door, and began to fumble for his keys. He looked at his watch. Olivia was probably already at her audition. He’d called her to wish her luck, not that she needed it. There weren’t a million callbacks, but work had been steady for her. Wherever she went, the palm tree keychain dangled from her purse.
 

“I’m freezing. How slow of a driver are you?” Nick turned. He squinted his eyes, noticing that a coated figure stood in the arch of the doorway. Her hair was cut short, falling right above her shoulders. It took him a moment to realize it was Olivia.
 

“When… how long have you been here?” he asked, trying his best not to stare at her new haircut.
 

She shrugged. “Thirty minutes, an hour maybe. Mimi told me you were supposed to be here at four. It’s almost six.” She pointed at her head. “Yes I got a haircut. I wanted a change. No commentary allowed.”
 

“It looks nice,” he said, because it did. It made Olivia look older, defining her features, making her more beautiful. “Mimi called you?”
 

She nodded. “She wanted to know if I could show up. She said she didn’t like the idea of you being here alone.”
 

“What about your audition?”
 

“There will be others. Now, are you going to open the door or let me freeze to death?” She rubbed her hands together, blowing into them.
 

“Yeah. Sorry,” he opened the door. “Come in, come in.”
 

Nick held his breath. He didn’t know what to do with someone other than Mimi here. How could he explain he held a birthday for his deceased mother? What if she shared Rita’s opinions?
 

“I already ordered the Chinese Food. Your sister may have given me the number.”
 

They walked to the kitchen. Nick looked around, suddenly aware of everything or anything that might be out of place. He hung up his coat on a chair, and took Olivia’s.
 

“I’m okay, being alone I mean. You didn’t have to miss your audition.”

Olivia took a step toward him. “I did actually. I’ve known you for too long, not to be here. I mean if it’s okay with you. I know you’re private, but I wanted to try.”
 

“I just don’t want you to think it’s strange,” he said. “I mean the fact that this beach house is supposed to symbolize her last resting place…”
 

“I think it’s poetic,” Olivia said. “You’re mom’s free to roam anywhere she wants for the rest of her afterlife. There’s no coffin binding her down under six feet of earth. She’s free, really and truly free.”
 

Nick felt warmth at her words. He didn’t feel ashamed of his dad’s choice. His mom was free, whether people viewed it that way or not. He stared at Olivia, wondering what he could say next.
 

“Oh and there is one more thing. This I will say was not Mimi’s idea.”
 

“What wasn’t?” he asked.
 

The doorbell rung and Olivia ran out of the kitchen. “I’ll show you later,” she yelled behind her.