Getting a load of my mountain of candy-covered yogurt, she busted my balls. “Nice sugar-free diet?”
“You got me.” I winked.
We took a seat at the bright, orange-colored table that was slightly sticky from the previous customer.
Lilith and I ate in silence until she finally spoke.
“Why do you come see me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you show up every week? My mom says they don’t pay you.”
“It makes me feel good to be around you, makes me feel like I’m contributing to this world by being a role model for you when I didn’t really have one myself growing up.”
“But you seem sad some of the time.”
“Yeah, well, maybe that’s my mood when I arrive sometimes, but I always leave happier after I’ve hung out with you. How about that?”
She reached over and grabbed a piece of Kit Kat from my cup. “Okay. I believe you.”
I finished before she did, so I alternated between watching her eat and looking out the window toward the parking lot. The phone conversation with Landon started to replay in my head, and I must have been smiling to myself when Lilith interrupted my thoughts.
“Earth to Rana. Why are you laughing?”
“I am?”
“Yes. You were just staring out the window and laughing. You looked silly.”
“Well…” I sighed. “Today was kind of a funny day.”
“Why?”
“Someone from the past called me, and he made me laugh.”
“And you were thinking about it just now?”
“Yes.”
“Was he your boyfriend?”
“Definitely not, no.”
“Who, then?”
Hesitating, I had to think about how to sum up Landon for her.
“He’s someone I used to know when I was a little older than you. We’d hang out—kind of like you do with your friend, Jasper.”
“So, he sticks his hand up your shirt?”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “What?”
“Just kidding.”
She liked to fuck with me like that.
“Don’t scare me.” I placed my hand on my pounding heart. “You little jerk.”
She played with the gummy worm hanging halfway out of her mouth. “What kinds of things did you guys do?”
“We hung out, talked, rode bikes…stuff like that.”
“Why did he call you?”
“I called him, actually, the night before, so he was calling me back, I guess.”
“Are you going to see him?”
“No. He lives in California.”
“I’ve always wanted to go visit television.”
I squinted. “What?”
“Everything on TV is located there. California is television to me.”
“Ah.” I smiled. “Well, maybe we can take a trip there someday when you’re old enough.”
“My parents won’t let me.”
“Well, when you’re older, you can make that decision for yourself.”
“We won’t know each other anymore then.”
That hurt me to hear her say that. She just assumed I would ditch her at some point?
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“You’ll get sick of this. And I’ll be too old for this Little Sister stuff.”
“Don’t be so sure. I kind of like bugging you every week. This would be a hard habit to break.”
Lilith abruptly changed the subject. “Does anyone ever call you Jasmine?”
“What do you mean?”
“You look like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, except your skin is a little lighter, and your eyes are green. Your hair is exactly like hers, though. Do you pretend to be her when you’re dancing at that Gyro place?”
“Gyro place.” I chuckled. “You’re funny.”Barely out of my belly dancer garb, I rushed to pick up the phone when it rang at eleven on the dot.
Out of breath, I answered, “Hello?”
Landon sounded full of energy. “Hey!”
“You seem…happy. Are you drunk?”
“Full disclosure. I am drinking, but I hold my liquor pretty well, so sadly, I’m not drunk like I’d hoped I would be.”
“You’re failing at this drunk dialing thing.”
“I know. I’m more like a buzzed dialer.” He laughed. “So, how was work?”
“It was okay. My feet are tired.”
“When did you learn to belly dance, anyway?”
“I taught myself. Video tutorials. I have the exotic look, so I figured I’d go with it. Took a while to learn and find a gig, but I put my mind to it, and it finally happened.”
“I still can’t picture you belly dancing.”
“That’s because you’re picturing roly-poly Rana Banana.”
“Maybe. So…you look different? What do you look like now?”
“You won’t get to find out.”
“I’m starting to think that. I’ve tried to look you up on social media, but I couldn’t remember how to spell your last name for the life of me. The best I could come up with was Salami.”
Laughing, I corrected him. “Saloomi with two ‘O’s. But I cancelled all of my social media accounts, and there are no pictures to be found of me.”
“I don’t have Facebook, either,” he said.
“I know.”
“Oh…so you looked me up before the drunk dial? Was that like the prelude to dialing me? I guess I should be grateful. If you could’ve just quietly stalked me, you might not have called.”
I promptly switched gears. “What did you feel we needed to talk about tonight?”
“You seem to have some misconceptions about me that need to be cleared up. When you first called me, you started spewing crap—assuming things. You said you believed I thought my shit didn’t stink. You also assumed I lived in a mansion. What kind of fuckery is that? You seem to have the impression that I think I’m high and mighty.”