by David Smith
Malaysia suddenly realized that this was the first time she had ever cried in front of someone other than her family.
Blain tilted her head up, turning it toward him. With a most tender touch, Blain kissed her tear-streaked cheeks, kissing both sides. He kissed the corner of each eye, the corner of her mouth. He tasted her tears, kissing them off her face. Malaysia could feel his lips on her and she reached out to him, absently, lost in the depth of her new-found emotional awareness and emerging joy.
It was a communion of emotion, sharing a part of each other that was as private as it was personal. Blain savored the taste of her tears, consciously realizing he was taking her into him, taking emotionally-packed tears—a very real part of Malaysia—and combining her with himself. He realized, both symbolically as well as physically, they were sharing each other in a way that was truly intimate.
Holding Malaysia tight, together they sat in silence, watching the fire blaze against the darkness that surrounded them. The sun was long gone; the stars now twinkling in the sky above them. The cloak of night separated them from the world, wrapping them up in a blanket of shadows.
Blain held her for a long time. She felt his strength, his warmth.
Malaysia felt real love for the very first time. She felt a connection that she could only describe as…Perfect.
Except for the fact that her perfection was to end in only a few day’s time.
Malaysia squeezed her eyes tight, wanting to take hold of this feeling, make it last for a lifetime…but feeling the minutes slipping through her fingers like grains of sand.
CHAPTER 33
Realization
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
9:45pm
Malaysia fell asleep with her head on Blain’s chest. Between her raw emotions, the full day of sun, her performance the night before, and their time at Disneyland two days earlier, Malaysia gave into near collapse. Add the soothing cadence of the ocean’s surf beyond the stretch of sand, the warmth of the fire and the desire she felt for Blain, it was inevitable that she would fall into slumber quickly. She also felt so at ease with Blain; his strength and his tenderness, his humor and his sensitivity all contributed to the ease in which she fell asleep against him, her head on his chest. The last thing she consciously thought about was that she could feel Blain’s heart beating in his chest, beating softly against her face.
Blain had lain back on the blanket, his eyes gazing up to the night sky. He felt Malaysia breathing with his arm around her, his fingers absently caressing her bare shoulder. He had pulled the extra blanket over Malaysia.
After a while, Malaysia stirred, opening her eyes and orienting herself.
“I’m a fun date,” she whispered, her sleepy eyes looking into Blains as she lifted herself a few inches from his chest. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Only a bit,” Blain said lifting his other arm and looking at his watch. “About thirty minutes is all.”
Malaysia laid her head back on his chest, her hand open on his chest under her head. “Mmm,” Malaysia said. “This feels so good.”
Fifteen minutes later, with the beach closing at ten o’clock and the fire they had enjoyed now but a few remaining glowing embers, they had folded up the blanket and gathered their things, including the lighter and the Mystery Box that Malaysia had given Blain.
Blain put everything in the trunk except the mystery box which he was trying to close once they got back inside the car.
“I’m glad you mentioned that the box wasn’t really empty,” Blain said, pushing on the bottom panel to slide it back over the secret compartment. “I probably would not have thought to look or figured out where the tickets were hidden until it was too late!” he added, as he got the wooden plate back in and started to close the sides, doing the reverse of what he did to open the box.
“I had to read the instructions a couple times to figure out how to open it to hide the tickets,” Malaysia said. “I am impressed you were able to open it so soon. I had anticipated you figuring it out after you got home later tonight.”
“Well, I loved both gifts, the box and especially the tickets.” Blain thought of something else that he was in love with. But he resisted the desire to share that emotional revelation.
“You can always use the box to hide something you want to keep secret at home,” Malaysia said, just as Blain finished closing the box completely.
“Wait a minute,” Blain said, his hands holding the box that now sat on his lap. “What did you just say? If I wanted to keep something secret?”
“Yes, why?”
Blain was quiet for a moment, picking up the box and absently turning it over in his hands. “That’s it,” Blain whispered, smacking a hand on the top of the steering wheel in front of him.
“What’s ‘it’?” Malaysia asked, taken aback by his sudden inspiration, wherever that inspiration was coming from.
Blain looked at Malaysia for a moment, digesting his thoughts. “Malaysia. Think back to the school for the blind. Do you remember me checking the locker, examining the walls within it?” Blain asked, dangling the question to see if Malaysia might come to the same conclusion as he.
“Yes…” Malaysia said, recalling Blain banging on the walls inside and even looking at the lockers around locker eighteen.”
“What part of the locker did I not examine…that I couldn’t really examine?” Blain asked, prompting her as if giving a hint to some riddle.
Malaysia thought back to them visiting the school. After a moment her eyes lit up. Suddenly she got it.
“The BACK!”
“The back. That’s right,” Blain said. “There had to be a reason for Nathan to have put that key in that envelope along with that note.” Blain held up the Mystery Box. “And whatever Nathan had to hide would have had to have been hidden pretty well; otherwise someone probably would have found it by now.” Blain paused, and then added, “Hidden so well, perhaps, that no one would be able to find it without knowing ‘the secret.’” Blain emphasized the last two words and again held up the box.
“You have to know the secret!”
Tuesday June 29th, 2010
10:18pm
On the drive home from the beach that evening, Malaysia told Blain the truth about her parents.
Leaning back against the corner of the leather seat and the passenger door, Malaysia sat with her legs crossed extended out comfortably in front of her. She looked at Blain, watching him drive while answering questions that were hanging ever since Blain had revealed his knowledge of who she really was.
“My parents are home in Switzerland,” Malaysia said. “Yes, Laura is really my sister. And no, this is NOT my natural hair color,” she added, twirling her finger around a brown curl.
“That was the clue that helped me figure it out,” Blain said while driving north on the Newport Freeway.
“My hair? How did that help you figure out who I really was?”
Blain smiled, stealing a glance at Malaysia as he cruised north on the Costa Mesa Freeway, doing the speed limit. “You’re going to laugh. I saw your picture in People Magazine this morning,” he explained. “There was a picture of your album cover and a brief bio about you.” Blain paused and then added, “I’ll get you a copy of the magazine tomorrow, if you don’t have one,” he offered.
“I would love to see it, Blain,” Malaysia said. Being more interested in how Blain figured her out than what the famous magazine had to say about her, she said, “But go on. What was it that gave me away?”
“Well, you know how you are standing, leaning with your arms apart on the wooden rail on your album cover?” Malaysia nodded, remembering the photo-shoot that was done not far from where she lived. Blain continued, “It happened to be the exact way I noticed how you were standing while we rode the Mark Twain waiting for the fireworks,” Blain described. “I, uh, couldn’t take my eyes off you,” he added, looking again at Malaysia for a brief moment. “Much like now.”
Malaysia blushed, reme
mbering the night very well. She also felt Blain’s eyes on her for that brief moment; she felt both alluring and sexy at that moment wearing her light-colored tank dress that accented every curve of her body.
Blain continued. “It made me wonder, but at the moment I was also thinking that it had to be just a wild coincidence; you had brunette hair, not blond. I still was thinking that you just possessed an uncanny resemblance to the girl on the album cover in the magazine.”
Absently, Malaysia kept playing with the ends of her hair, imagining what Blain must have been going through.
“Soooo, I took a brown marker and colored your hair in the magazine.”
“You didn’t!”
Blain shrugged, nodding. “It was you. I knew it from that point on.”
When Blain pulled into the short term parking area at the Marriott Hotel, Malaysia had wanted to ask Blain up to her room, but knew Laura would be there. She felt such a bond that she didn’t want to let Blain go. He convinced her that she had a big day with rehearsals at the Honda Center and a huge show on Friday; sleep was the one thing she did need.
Blain walked her to her hotel room door and they kissed, holding each other tight for a very long time before he helped her open the door with her room key and said, “After your rehearsal, I’m going back out to the school to check the locker. Do you want to come with me?”
“Of course! I’m just as curious about this whole thing with Nathan and the undiscovered money,” Malaysia said, holding his hand. “I feel like Sherlock Holmes!”
“It is fun, isn’t it? Who knows, maybe we’ll solve a decades-old mystery!”
“I know!” Malaysia agreed. She then was quiet for a moment. Blain was holding her waist, feeling the soft curves of her figure. Malaysia then lowered her voice a little. “Blain, could there really be something in the locker we missed?”
Blain shrugged. “Don’t know. But I know just being there with you looking for anything will be worth the effort.”
Malaysia smiled, taking a deep breath. “I wish I could just fall asleep on your chest like I did on the beach tonight,” she said, then yawning.
“Been a busy day…and the excitement for you is still to come!” Blain said, holding her hand.
“Kiss me before you leave,” Malaysia said.
CHAPTER 34
The Big Stage
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
9:30am
The next day, Blain watched Malaysia and her band rehearse on the main stage at the Honda Center.
Blain was sitting with Genevieve in the middle seats a couple rows back on the massive arena floor in front of the band. Gen was curious about him and Malaysia but didn’t ask Blain anything about it. Instead, knowing he played in a band, she asked him how he liked certain elements of the rehearsal. Blain felt a sense of appreciation for his input as witnessed by the fact Genevieve took notes on a number of things he had mentioned.
Completing a song, the band talked about it on stage and then ran through the last few measures of the song again, liking the second ending better. The band stopped and everyone took drinks from plastic water bottles; Malaysia was talking with her lead guitar player then moved back up to her microphone.
“Blain, can you come up here,” Malaysia said into the microphone. Blain almost jumped hearing his name boom across the huge auditorium’s speakers.
Blain excused himself from Genevieve and walked up to center stage when Malaysia pointed to the side stairs and said, “Could you come up here?” After climbing the half dozen steps, he walked across the black, elevated stage. Blain looked out from the huge stage as he walked over to Malaysia; certainly it was bigger than any stage he had ever been on. It would be something he wouldn’t soon forget.
“I want to ask you something, Blain,” Malaysia said quietly, her band still in performance positions poised on stage.
“Sure, anything, Malaysia,” Blain said as Malaysia reached out to one of his hands with hers. Blain still found it strange calling Malaysia by her name and not “Missy” as he had for the last few days.
“I would like you to do something for me,” she said looking into Blain’s green eyes.
“Anything, really. Just tell me what you would like,” Blain said. “Do you need me to get something for you guys?”
“Well, what I really want…is for you to join me, playing guitar on one of my songs.”
Blain was dumbfounded. “What? No way!”
“Blain, really! I would love for you to play with the band, just for fun. You know one of my songs, Heart Wide Open. I know you can play it, I’ve heard your band play it…and you rocked when you did.”
“But this,” Blain waved his arm across the stage looking at her six piece band. He then looked across the arena, looking at the vast expanse of seating that went all the way up to nearly the top of the building. He looked down and saw Genevieve sitting in the center section alone. She looked so small from up on the stage. He then turned and looked back over at the band. When he did, Jonathan Markum, Malaysia’s lead guitar player, walked over to Blain taking his guitar strap off his shoulder.
“Malaysia said you kicked some butt when she saw you play her song. Go ahead. Please, take it,” Markum offered speaking in a heavy German accent while holding the red and black guitar out as if was a religious offering.
Blain slowly took the customized Fender Stratocaster that was plugged into an amplifier that sat atop a stack of Marshall Speakers. He looked the musical instrument over, almost as if it were an expensive work of art, and then slowly pulled the strap over his head and around his neck. Blain nodded to Jonathan, saying, “Thank you.” Jonathan smiled, knowing what Blain must be feeling. Blain then took a pick that was among a dozen taped along the microphone stand in front of him.
Working his fingers along the neck of the guitar, feeling the fast fret board, the action of the strings, Blain found it to feel very close to his own Stratocaster that he had done some customizing on over the last year.
“Heart Wide Open, right?” Blain asked, a little tentative, looking at the full band. They all shook their heads.
“Key of C?” Blain asked. The bass player nodded.
Blain took a deep breath and looked at Malaysia who was smiling broadly. “Okay, let’s try this,” Blain said, adjusting the volume control on the guitar, played a muffled chord against the palm of his hand to hear the guitar volume levels; he turned to the drummer, “Alright…go ahead. Click it off.”
The drummer, a guy by the name of Rick Penner, clicked his sticks and counted off, “One, two…one-two-three-kick it!” The band joined in with the rocking chorus intro, Blain reeling off the opening licks as if he were indeed part of the band. Malaysia watched, enjoying what she was seeing and hearing. She looked over at her bass player who nodded this guy can play, hearing Blain’s opening lick.
Malaysia sang the opening verse, singing with a look of joy on her face. She looked over at Blain. His infectious smile brought it all home for Malaysia. The least she could do for Blain was give him the chance to play on a really big stage.
She realized that, besides the concert tickets and the mystery box she had given Blain, for the first time in four days, she was able to really surprise Blain.
Blain was still high as a kite, even on the short drive back to the Marriott. Malaysia had Genevieve take a dozen pictures of Blain jamming with her and the band. At worst, Blain would have a pictorial memory of him playing at the Honda Center. She hoped it was something he would remember for a long time.
She hoped he would remember her for a long time.
“Malaysia, thank you so much,” Blain said. He had never had anyone do anything like that for him…and probably never would. “And thank Jonathan for letting me sit in for him during the song. That was class.”
“He loved it! He was so impressed. He even said that if he got sick, to hire you to fill in!” Malaysia honestly said. “Oh, and Blain…I loved it too,” she added, putting her hand on his thigh as he drove. She
leaned in and gave him a kiss on his ear, blowing a little air. She could see him shiver. She also wanted to tell him something else, but knew she shouldn’t.
“So, you talked to Janet at the school?” Malaysia asked as Blain made a left onto Harbor Boulevard from Katella.
“Yes. She agreed to meet us at one o’clock.”
“Do you think you will find something?” Malaysia asked, trying to keep from getting too excited.
Blain shrugged. “Heck. Probably not. Even if there was something hidden, you almost have to think that with the removal, moving and re-installation of the lockers, someone would be sure to have come across whatever might have been hidden.” Blain was quiet for a moment. “Whatever might have been there probably was tossed in the garbage a decade ago.”
Maybe so, Malaysia thought. But she too hoped otherwise.
For the first time, Malaysia asked Blain into to her hotel room. As she used her keycard to open the door, Blain walked in and saw now what a Marriott Suite looked like. “This is spectacular,” Blain commented, looking at the large living area. There was a door to the right and one to the left to separate bedrooms.
“That’s Laura’s room,” Malaysia said, pointing to the door on the right. “Mine is this one,” she said, walking into the other bedroom. Blain sat down on the overstuffed couch. Turning on the television when he heard the shower turn on, Blain used the flat-screen TV to take his mind off what he was imagining at the moment; cascading warm waters flowing over Malaysia’s spectacular figure. Ten minutes later, Malaysia came out having showered and towel-dried her hair. She had changed out of her jeans and sleeveless blouse she wore during the rehearsal and now wore a beautiful flowered sundress. The top had wide-set straps with small bows attached where the straps met the open, sloped neckline. Like the tank dress she wore the night before to the beach with Blain, this dress clung nicely to her shape; the short hem was accented with lace trim.
