At the pitcher's mound, there was a machine that shot balls out at a not-so-frightening speed, so that the players could practice batting. I saw some girls running and sliding themselves over white plates on the grounds.
"What are they doing?" I asked.
"Warm-up homerun drills," she said. "Want to try?"
"Oh no, I don't think I can," I said. “It actually looks scary to throw yourself down like that.”
Jordan laughed. Then she handed her ball to me.
"Alright then, let's play catch first," she said.
She let me wear her cap and baseball jacket and a mitt. After that, she showed me how to raise my shoulder, my left leg and swing my hips before throwing. Jordan taught me how to hit the ball with a baseball bat. I'd never held a baseball bat before, and I was excited.
"Okay, this is how you stand, Nina," Jordan said and came behind me to demonstrate. She patted the back of my knees to make me crouch down a little and then wrapped her arms over mine to show how high I should lift the bat and swing. I was too excited that I wasn't aware much of the physical contact we made.
At the center of the field was a pitching machine. Jordan went to turn it on.
"Ready for some game?" she called out. My palms sweated as I shifted myself nervously.
I nodded back because I didn't trust my voice to carry any confidence in it. Then the ball popped out from the machine like a canon. I looked at it like it was a grenade and swung my bat with a yelp. I heard Jordan giggled. I missed the ball completely.
"Just concentrate," she encouraged. And I lifted my hands again. This time, the ball landed on the ground with a thud behind me.
"I'm so hopeless," I sighed with my shoulders slumped.
"You're new at this," Jordan said, still smiling. She came and gave my shoulder a squeeze. Then she stepped aside a bit farther away from me. I guessed she was probably trying to avoid getting brained out by my bat. But the next round, I actually hit the ball. The sound was marvelous in my ears. I cried in triumphant joy as we watched the ball sailed high into the sky. It flew in a large arc and then dropped again—nailing another player in the head.
"Oh, dear," I gasped. "Did I hurt her?"
Jordan laughed when she saw who my victim was. The girl with a high ponytail wearing a baseball uniform picked up the ball and headed towards us. Her cheeks were flaming red.
"I'm sorry about that," I said with an apologetic smile. The girl tossed the ball to Jordan, who caught it with her glove.
"Who's this?" she growled and glared at the still-grinning Jordan.
"My friend, Nina," Jordan said. "I'm teaching her how to bat."
"She doesn't look like she belongs on the baseball field," the girl said with a judgmental look. "Why don't you take her to a cheerleader squad or something?"
Despite the annoyed look she displayed to me, I could detect something else that smelled like jealousy. Then the girl tossed her ponytail and walked away.
"Sorry, that's Rachel. Don't mind her, Nina," Jordan said with a sheepish smile. "You did me a favor by boinking her with the ball. She's kind of annoying sometimes."
"She's kind of cute, though," I told her.
"Oh please, she's a real pain in the rear," Jordan said with an eye roll. "She's a lot less cute when you miss a homerun."
"So you admit that she's cute?" I teased my friend. Jordan's cheeks reddened a little.
"Well, I didn't mean it that way...not that she isn't pretty or anything. I mean, she's fast and a good pitcher and all, but I don't think she's batting for our team."
Then she grinned at me. It took me a moment to get it and we both laughed.
"You know, Jordan," I said, "You've definitely got crush potential. Who knows, maybe she secretly has a crush on you."
"As in crush you into pieces is more like it," she said and I giggled again. "Anyway, how about a homerun now?"
"Huh?"
"You hit the ball! In the game, you must run over those home plates," she said.
"Oh!" I said.
"Go! Go!" Jordan urged.
And I dropped my bat and sprinted as fast as I could, pretending that I was in the real game. Jordan cheered me on. I got carried away and when I made the round, I was running too fast. Jordan was standing only a few feet in front of me.
"Brake, Nina! Brake!" she cried. I tried to skid to a stop but couldn't. My body collided into hers. Jordan tried to catch me, but we stumbled backward and fell to the ground together.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" I cried a moment later.
"I'm fine. You okay?" she said. We helped each other up and burst out giggling. But then I saw Allecra standing on the bleachers, staring at us.
"Uh oh," Jordan said. My stomach did a flip.
"I'm sorry Jordan, but I think I should go," I said urgently
She saw the nervous look on my face and merely nodded. I returned her jacket and cap before I ran out of the field. My eyes darted around, searching over the bleachers, but Allecra was nowhere in sight. I didn't know what she must've thought when she saw me and Jordan, but I had a pretty good guess that it wasn’t good.
I looked for her everywhere. I even went to the parking lot. Luckily, her car was still there. She hadn't left the school. She wasn't waiting under the pepper tree either, but where had she gone to? Then I remembered the one place.
Climbing the metal stairs up to the attic, I realized I hadn't been up here for quite a while. I looked at the rusty door, which was slightly ajar, then I pushed myself inside the gloomy darkness.
"Allecra, are you here?" I whispered. Then a pair of bright turquoise eyes lit up like jewels in a dark corner. I had seen them like that before, but they never ceased to amaze me with their intensity. Before I could open my mouth to speak, I felt hands cupping my cheeks. My back was against the wall and Allecra's face towered inches from mine.
"Allecra, please, don't be mad at me. It was just an accident," I said in a nervous voice, peeking up at her through my lashes, and she was just gazing at me. Her expression was difficult to read in the dark.
"You're my girl, remember?" she growled in a low voice. "Or do you need a reminder that you're mine, hmm?"
I just stood there in agonizing silence. The anticipation before the kiss mirrored my shaking lips. After a moment, she brought her lips roughly over mine. The breath hitched in my fluttering chest. I felt so unprepared for this.
It was different from any other times when we made out. Allecra's lips were now like galaxy's edges, rough and hungry. They burned as if she was trying to engrave her claim on my mouth. My hands went up to grip her black jacket to maintain some sort of leverage in my melting body. I felt my knees weaken, and I could barely breathe.
"Wait..." I tried to gasp but trailed off when she ran her lips to my heated cheek and nestled my neck. My fingers found their ways into her silken unruly blonde lock. She and I sighed heavily at the same time.
"Shh, I don't want to hear it," she said and then claimed my lips again and unleashed her tongue into my mouth. Her long probing expert tongue coaxing my own to come and play. After a moment, I couldn't take it anymore and tilted my head away to break her fierce kiss. Besides, I needed air.
"Please, don't do that," I said and pushed at her chest.
"Why? You want someone else to do it instead?" Allecra said. Her face was hard like stone. Her eyes glowed with light. I felt my own anger flaring up.
"What are you talking about, Allecra?" I cried. Seeing the pointed look on my face, Allecra seemed to come back to her senses again. She stepped back, blinking.
"Nina," she said, frowning in trepidation and surprise. "I just...couldn't help myself."
"Allecra, why are you being like this again?" I asked. She looked at me in the eyes. Her jaw tightened.
"I was just freaking out when someone tried to snatch you away from me," she said. "I love you, Nina, and I want every goddamn ounce of you all to myself. I can lose anything in the world, but not you."
"I'm sorry for putti
ng you in this state," I said. "But you need to know that I'm not anybody else's. You don't believe in me?"
My voice cracked with anger.
"I know you're like the sea that nobody can own," Allecra said in a softer tone again. "I fell deeply and madly in love with you, as in drowning, you have to understand this, too."
We stared at each other. But Allecra looked so sad, it broke my heart.
"Allecra," I breathed and then stepped forward to card her hair gently. I pulled her into my arms, and we shared a tight understanding hug.
"You know that I'm yours, but I also want to be my own," I whispered and she nodded over my shoulder.
"I'm sorry for acting like this," she said again.
"It's okay." My hands rubbed over her back to shoo away her guilt. "I still love you no matter what."
"Same," she said.
~*~
Afterward, Allecra took me shopping to make up for it. We went to H&H Center, a major shopping complex along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I had never been to that place before. I watched the sights of buildings passing by the window. Allecra took me into a boutique that sold designer’s clothes.
"You don't have to do that," I said.
Allecra scowled.
"Isn't that what girlfriends do? They go shopping together," she said as if I hadn't known it before. "And don't worry. You just help me spend my spare change."
"Ugh, spoiled rich alien kids," I muttered under my breath.
Inside the shop, she picked out two dresses for me, both made of silk material, one in pastel pink and the other in white with black designs—the kind of dress I could never afford. They even felt expensive. She bought an orange boxy jacket, a textured mini skirt, and a chambray shirt for women, and some other outfits.
Allecra seemed to have a clear image in her mind of how I would look in them. It took her no time to pick out what she liked. I would have spent more time at a stationary store choosing a new eraser. But I had to admit that her taste in clothes was short of astonishing and classy. The color and style of every shirt and dress she chose were all stylishly coordinated.
Allecra paid with her credit card.
"Now, it's your turn to pick out my outfits," she said, grinning at me.
"Can't you do it by yourself?" I asked.
"I want you to dress me," she said. "Or you want your family to see me in this?"
She gestured to her clothes. Allecra was always stylish, but she had a point that it would be an element of surprise if she dressed the way she dressed to meet Aunt Vikki and Robert.
"Okay, but don't mind me, I'm very picky," I said. It was just my excuse for being indecisive. I had never shopped for anyone before, not for a boyfriend and especially not for a girlfriend.
Yet I knew Allecra preferred androgynous fashion. I chose some tomboy apparel for spring. I got her a black tuxedo-like blazer with a white button-up oxford blouse. It came with a pair of oxford feminine loafers. I could imagine her looking all refined and elegant in them already.
But I also picked some ridiculous outfits just to annoy her. I made her wear a floral patterned jacket and leopard-print pants, and a hot pink tee, but when she got out of the dressing room, Allecra still looked like art.
I forgot that she used to be a model.
"Nice choice," Allecra complimented my taste, but I could see her smirk. I stuck my tongue out at her, and she chuckled back.
"You don't want to try yours on?" she asked.
"No," I said. "If I look ugly, it'll be your fault."
She came to wrap her arms around my waist.
"How could you ever be ugly when you make the world so beautiful?" she said. Allecra made me shy like an idiot, and I had to bury my face into her neck.
"Aw, Allecra, stop," I said. She laughed again and held me closer in her arms. She gave me a kiss, and I didn't care that the sale persons and other shoppers were staring at us.
~*~
Regardless of our almost-fight yesterday, this morning I woke up with a start. Today was Saturday and also my birthday. I could barely contain the thrilling sensation that coursed through my body. With a newfound energy and enthusiasm, I got out of bed and got ready for the brand new day.
I was relieved that Allecra and I had worked it out in the end. It would be terrible if we got mad at each other just before I turned eighteen.
Breakfast was not yet over before men came to put up the marquee. The hired gardener had been up since dawn, mowing the lawns and sweeping them until the grass and the dark flat rosettes where the daisy plants had been seemed to shine.
Soon the florist van pulled up and brought over the roses. Everyone agreed upon roses because they were the only flowers that everybody would recognize. Hundreds, yes, hundreds of them had been delivered to the house. I had never seen roses in such profusion.
The vase stands were loaded out of a red truck to be arranged on the garden lawn.
"Where do you want the marquee at, madam?" one of the workers asked Aunt Vikki when we came out to inspect the progress. Robert came down in his silk kimono jacket.
"What do you think, darling?" my aunt asked her husband, who scratched the back of his bald head.
"You're the organizer. It's no use asking me," he said. Then Piper flew in, still in a turban of a white towel.
"Whoa, are they starting already?" she asked. "Mom, dad, you can leave it to me. I'm determined to get everything right. I love to arrange parties!"
"Only if you don't go out looking like that, honey," Aunt Vikki said and then shoved her back inside to get dressed.
Four men in their short-sleeves arrived in a group to the garden. They carried staves covered in rolls of canvas, and they had big tool-bags slung over their shoulders.
A moment later, Piper came back out in her pink tank top and white short shorts. Some of the men pretended not to notice as she walked around, bending over to sniff the roses. Aunt Vikki was busy talking to the hired servants and managers on the phone. I had to follow my cousin around.
"What about the lily-lawn? Would that do, miss?" said a muscular sandy-haired dude. His smile was so easy and too friendly that Piper blushed.
"Yeah, that's a good spot," she said. The men went off to set up the marquee. My cousin turned to me and smiled.
"What nice eyes he has! So blue!" she said. "Isn't he hot?"
I rolled my eyes at her. "Lukewarm, maybe."
"Oh come on, Nina," Piper said. "You've dated guys before."
“What does it have to do with that?” I asked her, but my boy-crazed cousin just went on and on about it.
"Gosh, he's sizzling! He's explosive! He's—"
"Girl, show some class!" I cut her off. "I know he can be a nuclear meltdown, but control yourself!"
Piper pouted heavily at me. Her face emanated hurt. I almost felt bad about it, but sometimes, she needed a mental slap.
"Listen, Piper, you don't have to chase after people. A person who appreciates you will come to you," I said. "They need to know that you're real and you're important. Don’t run around to prove that you matter. You deserve someone who is crazy about you too, and who can make you forget what it feels like to be heartbroken and lonely."
Piper teared up.
"Oh Nina," she said. "I think I want to cry."
"Well, don't," I said. "We need help arranging these flowers later."
While we were watching the workers put up a small stage where the band was going to perform, Aunt Vikki appeared. Then my aunt paused and looked at Piper up and down with a sour face.
"Have you forgotten your pants?" she asked. "Go back inside now and find something to wear."
"Mom! I haven't forgotten my pants. I am wearing shorts," Piper protested.
"Go change them immediately, young lady," my aunt said sternly. "Why can't you just be like your cousin?"
"Gosh! I feel like I have two moms now!" Piper groaned and then stomped off.
"I don't get kids these days, they might as well walk naked," Aunt Vikki sco
ffed and then turned to me.
"Hmm...Anything I can help?" I asked. My aunt smiled and handed me a name card.
"Can you go with John to pick up someone at the airport for me? I have so many errands to run before the party starts," she said.
"Oh yes, no problem," I said. "But who is it?"
"She's a daughter of Robert's closest friend. He sent regrets that he couldn't make it to the party. But his daughter could come on his behalf. I heard that she's a talented violinist in New York, and she came here as a visiting music teacher at UCLA music department. It's nice that she offered to perform for us tonight too."
My aunt was a classical music lover. Several times I had heard her humming along to Nessun Dorma. A person who could more or less manage a good rendition of Puccini and Turandot would never miss a guest performance like this. Aunt Vikki already seemed excited about it.
"So what time will she arrive?"
"Around ten, I supposed," she said.
I nodded and reassured her that I would get ready soon. Then I went back inside the house and looked at the sleek-looking card with its glossy creamy color. The address and name printed on it were in cursive style, but what made me freeze was the name, Eva Shapiro.
Piper insisted on coming along after she found out that I was going to pick up a rather famous person. At the airport, we saw the violinist the second she stepped out of the aisle. She was hard to miss, considering she was wearing a black jacket, black capri pants, and chic brown ankle boots. On her head was a brilliant red over-sized beret. She was holding a violin case in one hand while the other dragging a wheeled pink luggage from behind. Immediately, I felt kind of dorky wearing just my jeans and a white button-up shirt with my old jacket.
She was even more gorgeous outside, still in her early twenty. Her almond eyes were the color of the forest. They sparkled pleasantly as she smiled when we introduced ourselves to her. I had no problems meeting new people, but even so, I had my moment of anxiety when facing this young woman. I had done a little internet search, and there was only one Eva Shapiro, who was a rising music prodigy.
Could she be Allecra's last potential?
I tried not to jump into conclusion, but the question kept pricking like needles in my mind.
Black Knight Page 27
