A Brew in Time

by Robin Roseau

  She turned to look at me. “Nothing.”

  I reached over and took her hand, holding it both of mine. She looked down at our hands. When she looked up at me, I thought I read pain in her eyes. “Lydia…”

  “I’m having a nice time,” I told her.

  “Me, too,” she whispered.

  “How long have you been thinking of asking me out?”

  “A long time.”

  “Are you disappointed?”

  “No! Um.”

  “Sometimes we make a big deal of something only to find it’s not as special as we thought.”

  “You’re plenty special.”

  That felt really, really good to hear, and I grinned. “So are you,” I declared. “Are we going to do this some more?”

  “Hold hands while parked here?”

  “Is that what you think I’m asking?”

  “No,” she said. “I want to,” she whispered.

  “Is there a ‘but’ in that?”

  She looked up. “I hope not.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “Good. Are you nervous?”

  “Terrified.”

  “I’m not terrified, but I’m nervous,” I admitted. “Why are you afraid?”

  “I really want to kiss you,” she said, whispering again.

  “Good. I really want to kiss you, too.”

  “You do?”

  “But not here,” I said. “Take me home.”

  “All right.”

  I missed her hand.

  * * * *

  We pulled into our driveway. I knew Mom, Dad, and Sere would be home. I didn’t see anyone watching for us. Janie put the car in park, and then we turned to look at each other. She was biting her lip. “Let’s go to my room.”

  “Your parents…” she started to say.

  “Will ask us how the movie was and then leave us alone.” I glanced at the car’s clock. “Do you have a curfew?”

  “Another half hour,” she said. “I’m 18, and I still have a curfew.”

  “I haven’t even thought about that. I’d like you to come in.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  We got out of the car. We didn’t hold hands, although I desperately wanted to. Maybe she did, too, but I didn’t take her hand, and she didn’t take mine. But we stepped in.

  “Hey, honey!” Mom called out.

  “Hey, Mom,” I called back. “Janie and I are going to my room for a few minutes.”

  “Uh, uh,” Mom replied. “Come here, both of you.”

  We eyed each other. I offered a silent, “I’m sorry.” But we followed the voices. Mom and Dad were at the dining room table playing cards, but both were facing us when Janie and I stepped in. Mom smiled. “Did you have a nice time?”

  “Yes. We saw the Brie Turner movie. It was good. Are you really telling me we can’t go to my room?”

  “I meant to say, you weren’t going to your room before you both said ‘Hello’. You look nice, Janie.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Davis.”

  “Is Janie staying long?” Mom asked.

  “Just a little while. She has to get home.”

  “All right, then. Serephine is asleep.”

  “We won’t wake her,” Janie promised for us.

  “If you do, it’s the two of you who are putting her back to sleep.”

  “We’ll be quiet.”

  “Good.”

  I turned to Janie then, together, we both turned and headed for the stairs. Once inside my bedroom, I closed the door and leaned against it. Janie prowled for a minute before turning to me. “We don’t have to kiss,” she offered.

  Was she getting cold feet? Or was she worried I was? I didn’t think I could figure that out, so I asked. “Did you change your mind?”

  “Did you?”

  “I asked you first.”

  “Are we playing that game?”

  “You started it.” We grinned at each other. “I’m a little nervous.”

  “I’m a lot nervous.”

  “Are you afraid I’m a terrible kisser?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hey!” I complained. I sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  “That I’m a terrible kisser?”

  “No. That I am.”

  “Oh. Why did you say ‘yes’?”

  “Wasn’t I supposed to?”

  “Can you just answer?”

  I looked at her then pushed off the door. I plopped onto the bed. Janie climbed up with me, and we sat, facing each other. I leaned forward and caught her hand. She let me have it. We both looked down for a minute. “I don’t think I could have asked you,” I admitted. “Was it hard?”

  “I was terrified.”

  I looked up, meeting her gaze. “I’m glad you asked.”

  “I’m not sure I would have, if not for Rose telling me to. Twice she almost asked you out for me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” she said. She laughed. “She’s been texting me all night.”

  “How do you know?”

  “My purse has buzzed. Someone has been texting me, and I bet if I look, it was her. Could I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What’s up with that other girl?”

  “What girl?”

  “That goth girl.”

  “Lamia.”

  “What kind of name is that?”

  “It’s a nickname,” I said. “She says her mother is a bitch, and she asks people to call her that just to piss her mother off. Why are we talking about Lamia?”

  “She likes you.”

  “I’m likeable.”

  “Tell me you know what I’m talking about.”

  “She’s my Aunt Phoebe’s cousin,” I said. “Why are we talking about her when you should be kissing me?”

  “Are you dating her?”

  I dropped Janie’s hands. “I’ve seen her all of twice, once at my aunts’ wedding, and then again last night. I didn’t even know she was in town. She’s from Connecticut.”

  “Do you like her?”

  I blinked a few times. She was starting to piss me off, which was odd, because if we’d had this conversation two days ago, I would have reacted far differently. But while I may not have had much (any) experience with dating, I wasn’t a complete idiot.

  Janie was jealous.

  Realizing that made everything easier. “I’m here with you, hoping you’re going to kiss me. I wouldn’t be thinking about her if you hadn’t brought her up. Are you going to kiss me or not?”

  She looked me in the eye and then looked down. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “You’re not going to kiss me?”

  She grinned. “Oh, I’m going to kiss you,” she said, offering a little laugh. “I shouldn’t be so jealous. But I saw how she was looking at you.”

  “Let’s not worry about her. I’ve never kissed anyone.”

  “I have.”

  “Then maybe you should show me how it’s done.”

  “If you suck, I’m going to make you practice.”

  “I thought it was called sucking face, but now you don’t want me to do it?”

  “That’s just gross,” Janie replied. We both looked down. I was unsure what to do, and I thought she might be, too. When she slipped from the bed, I was sure it wasn’t going to happen, and my heart plummeted, but she turned to me, then reached, grabbed my legs, and pulled me towards her.

  I squeaked but found myself with my legs dangling off the edge, Janie standing between them. “Oh,” I whispered. I moved closer and looked up.

  That was when she set her hand on my cheek. My heart began pounding out of my chest as I looked up at her. “I want to kiss you,” she whispered.

  “Yes,” I whispered back.

  “Don’t worry too much about what to do.”

  “I’ll try not to.”

  “Close your eyes now.” I did what she said. There was a pause, and then I could feel her
coming closer. Our lips met.

  And my brain shut down, it absolutely shut down.

  A girl was kissing me! A girl was kissing me!

  It wasn’t long, but it wasn’t some sort of brief peck, either. It was soft, and sweet, and when finally she pulled away, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging tightly and turning my head to the side, pressed against her. She wrapped her own arms around me, and we held each other for a long, long time. I could hear her heart, and it was pounding as hard as mine was. I didn’t think of this at the moment, but later I would realize everything going on was fully mutual.

  Finally, Janie said, “I want another date.”

  “Me, too.”

  She pulled away, but only a short distance. I opened my eyes and looked up at her. “I’ll ask you for our second date, too,” she said. “But I don’t want to be the only one asking.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay. I want my last view of you right here. I know where the door is.”

  And then, before I could ask for another kiss, she pulled away and practically ran from the room. I waited all of five seconds then hurried after her, but the front door closed before I made it to the stairs. I ran in time to see Janie climb into her car, and then she backed up and drove away.

  * * * *

  Twenty minutes later, while I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, there was a soft knock, and then the door opened a crack. “Lydia?”

  “I’m awake, Mom.”

  She slipped in. I rolled to the side and flipped on the nightstand lamp. Mom sat on the bed, twisting to look down at me. “How are you doing, honey?”

  “Fine.”

  “Right. Janie left in a hurry. Is everything okay?”

  “Mom,” I replied. I sat up. “She kissed me.”

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered.

  “Was it your first kiss?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “Not hers, though.” I paused. “Mom, I’m not sure her Mom knows.”

  “You can trust me,” she said. “I won’t breathe a word you tell me.”

  “Could I have counted on that if I hadn’t said something?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But you can count on it now.”

  I looked at her. I was so overwhelmed by everything, and now there was more. I threw myself into her arms, hugging tightly. “Thank you for being cool.”

  “You make it easy,” she replied. “Honey, your first kiss is a big deal.”

  “Maybe that’s why I was still awake.”

  “Did you want to talk about it?”

  I pushed away but looked at her. “I think I should think about it a little first.”

  “All right.”

  “Do you think you and Aunt Jackie could take me to lunch tomorrow?”

  “I’ll see when she’s free.” She smiled. “I imagine she’ll drop whatever plans she has if she knows why.”

  “Are you suggesting I should trade on my status as most favorite niece?”

  “Yes.” We both laughed. “May I tell her?”

  “Yes. Mom, I like Aunt Phoebe.”

  “But for this, you just want your moms.”

  She understood. She might be my Aunt Jackie, but she’d helped raise me. I nodded. “Yeah. Is that wrong?”

  “No, honey. It’s not at all wrong.”

  Lunch

  Most Favorite Niece Status worked well for me. If Aunt Jackie had plans, she didn’t mention them. Instead, we picked her up, Phoebe waving at us from the doorway. I thought it likely Aunt Jackie had told her what this was about.

  I moved into the back seat. We were barely on the way before I said, “I hope Aunt Phoebe isn’t hurt.”

  “She’s not,” Aunt Jackie said. “She said she’ll use the time to do a little class planning.”

  “A teacher’s job is never done,” Mom said.

  Aunt Jackie turned to look at me. “Answer one question. Are you okay?”

  “Totally,” I said.

  “Okay, good.”

  The two made small talk during the drive. Mom drove to one of the malls and pulled up outside the Ruby Tuesday. Inside, we took our seats, dealt with placing our orders, then made our way to the salad bar. I waited a minute and then said, “So. I had a date last night.”

  “So I’ve heard.”

  “It was my first ever date, although she dated a girl last summer at camp.”

  “So she’s had a little bit of experience,” Aunt Jackie said. “That should help a little.”

  “Dating can be so awkward,” Mom pointed out. “Wonderful, too, but awkward. Honey, do you know what you want to talk about?”

  “No,” I said, but then I laughed. “Maybe. I don’t know. Some.” I sighed. “I sound like a ditz.”

  “Oh, please,” Mom said. “Lydia, your aunt and I have both been through this, and I don’t know that we were any less ditzy than you’re feeling. But you have advantages we didn’t have.”

  “I’m that awesome?”

  “True,” she said. “You have your awesome Mom and your awesome Aunt Jackie.”

  I laughed again. “You had awesome Aunt Jackie, too.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not like we talked about guys,” Mom said. Jackie made a face. I laughed again. “Honey, we won’t judge, and anything you say stays between the three of us. Do you want to tell us about the date? Start from the beginning. Tell your aunt what you made for dinner.”

  I told them pretty much everything. I even told them about hearing Janie’s heart pounding. They sat quietly through most of it, grinning a few times. I told them she said she wants to ask me out again, but she didn’t want to do all the asking.

  That was when Aunt Jackie said, “She did the hard part. The first time is the worst. After that, you already know she’s going to say ‘yes’, so it’s not at all as scary.”

  “I know,” I said. “I don’t think I could have asked her.” I paused. “Aunt Jackie, did Phoebe tell you I asked her to introduce me to Lamia?”

  “She said you asked to be introduced to her entire family. Was that a cover story?”

  “No, but I might not have thought about it if I hadn’t wanted to know who Lamia was, and what her story is.”

  She nodded. “So you used an intermediary.”

  “Because I wasn’t brave enough to just walk up to her.”

  “In fairness, she didn’t introduce herself to you, either,” Aunt Jackie replied.

  “Still.”

  “Still,” she agreed. “So, you had a good date. You’ll see her again. You’ve been friends for years, so you already know what she’s like, but this is a change to you.”

  “A big change.”

  “Do you know what you want to talk about?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. They waited, watching me. I looked down at the food for a minute. “If I ask her somewhere, do we just do dinner and a movie?”

  “That would be common,” Mom said.

  “But not very creative,” I admitted.

  “No,” Aunt Jackie said. “But do you want a hint?”

  “I’d love a hint.”

  “You can google ‘date ideas’.”

  I laughed. “I bet there’s a million and a half hits.”

  “I can’t comment on that specific number, but I have personally used things I found that way.”

  “For instance?”

  “Phoebe and I went to a go-cart track.”

  “I remember that.”

  “And she took me to a gaming store. We joined a bunch of geeks, and they taught us how to play Dungeons and Dragons?”

  “Seriously?”

  “It was fun.”

  “Were they cool?”

  “As in, did the guys stop hitting on us when they realized we were a couple?” Aunt Jackie laughed. “Yeah, they were cool.”

  “Your father and I took a cooking class together a few years ago,” Mom said.

  “I remember.”

  “It’s not about what you do,” Aunt Ja
ckie added. “It’s about who you’re with, and that you share a good time. Do you want some general advice?”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re both young. I know, at 18, you’re an adult, but you’re still young. You’ll be going to college, and it might not be the same school.”

  I stared at her. We’d had one date, but suddenly this came up. “It’s a little soon to think about that.”

  “Maybe, but it’s easy to lose yourself, Lydia. And then it’s a little late.”

  “I suppose.”

  “So just remember that you have your entire life ahead of you, and you’re coming into that portion of your life with the greatest changes.”

  “I suppose,” I repeated.

  “And maybe you’ll both decide you’d rather go back to being simple friends.”

  “She said she’s been thinking about dating me for a long time.”

  “And you?”

  “I hadn’t really thought about anyone in particular. Well, I suppose, but I was thinking about a lot of people. I didn’t think I’d ever be brave enough to actually ask someone.”

  “I understand,” she replied. Mom nodded. “I’m just giving you things to think about.”

  “What else?”

  “Make each date special,” Mom said. “Like you did last night.”

  “Dress up.”

  “That’s part of it. Consider it special. Don’t take her or the evening for granted. It’s easy to fall into patterns.”

  “Really easy,” Aunt Jackie added. “Don’t be in a hurry, either.”

  “Was that about sex?”

  “Yes, but it applies to everything.”

  “It’s not like she can get me pregnant.”

  “Perhaps that’s something you can think about for yourself,” Mom said, and I nodded.

  “What about… When I ask, will I be able to borrow a car?”

  “If you coordinate,” Mom said. “For a price.”

  “A price?”

  “You will clean the car you use.”

  “You think we’re going to pit it out?”

  “Nope. Call it rent.”

  I laughed. “Okay.”

  “It can be a day or two ahead, or a day or two after, although if you do pit the car out, it will be before the next time the car’s owner drives it. Am I clear?”

  “We won’t pit out any cars.”

  “If you do,” she repeated.