Unititled For Now

Chapter 16

As soon as I closed the door behind me I got another text.

Jason: Are we still on for tomorrow? I promise I can make it.  I looked at my screen and thought about not answering. Then I thought about all the things my brother could be going through.

Ellia: I’ll meet you at the café, but if u cancel this, then no more chances.

Jason: I can definitely make it.

I laid out of my clothes the next day; I wanted to look pretty, but I also wanted to look casual. I decided to go with a denim pencil skirt, a peach top, and peach flats. I braided my hair and wrapped it into a bun.

In the middle of brushing my long hair in the mirror I heard a shout from outside. I quickly glance out my window and I saw Jason leaning against his black Vespa, which had a shiny silver stripe down the middle of it. He looked very similar to myself: brown wavy hair, skinny figure, pale face. Except he was very short, and wore his rectangular glasses over his green eyes all the time. I only wore mine when I took my contacts out at night. He was wearing an olive green t-shirt, dark jeans, a black jacket, and grey sneakers.

I couldn’t help my excitement and rushed to the door. I hadn’t seen him since he moved to Las Vegas and I to Florida, which was just about two years ago.

“How’s my favorite sister?” He picked me up into a hug. Despite Jason being much shorter than me he was also much stronger and could easily lift me up.

“Florida is great. Except for the hurricanes.” I mumbled the last part. “What’s the weather like in Nevada? What’s your job? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you ever visit mom and dad?”

Jason put both his hands to stop my rant. “Slow your roll, I can only answer so many questions.” He put his index finger to his stubbly chin. “It gets really hot where I live. I don’t think playing at casinos is a job. I don’t have a girlfriend. And I’ve only visited mom and dad twice since I moved. What about you?”

“I work as a part-time travel agent. It’s a great job because I can do it from home. I visit our parents nearly every holiday.” I paused. I didn’t know if I should tell Jason about Liam. I didn’t know how he would react.

“You dating anyone?” I shifted my weight from one foot to another and looked at the ground. “Is that a yes? Or-?”

“Enough about me.” I interrupted. “Why don’t we get going?” I said quickly, hoping to distract Jason. He gave me a suspicious look and handed me a helmet. He put on his own, sat down, and patted the space behind him.

“Why don’t I drive.” I suggested. “In my car.”

My brother rolled his eyes. “You think a car is better than this?” He asked mockingly, rubbing the side of his Vespa. “It’s perfectly safe. I’ve only fallen off...” Jason trailed off. “Just get on!” I’ve always wanted to ride a motorcycle, but this was the closest I’d probably ever get. I sat down then held onto Jason as tight as I could. “I thought you, the girl who made me wear a helmet when I rode my bike that had two sets of training wheels, wouldn’t even think about riding something like this.”

“Just go before I change  my mind.”

The café had a theme of France; pictures of the Eiffel Tower, cartoon character on the kids menu with French names, and French phrases hung over the booths. “Table for two.” I told the waitress. She was wearing a floral sundress that had a halter top and had at least three layers of petticoat skirt ruffles underneath it. She was also wearing wedges with the same floral fabric on them, and the wedge part was covered in rows of jute. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. She had vibrant pink eyeshadow encasing her cerulean eyes, and hot pink lipgloss brushed lightly onto her lips. She sat us down, without saying a word, at the only empty table, this place was packed.

I felt my hair with my hand. “No wonder you have such bad helmet hair.” I teased. “My hair’s flat just from wearing it once.”

“If you’re done making fun of me I’d really like to talk to you more.” I was surprised that Jason was making such an effort. I put down my menu and began to share stories. I told him about the day I got my new house, how much I loved the library, and Liam’s kitchen catching on fire and having to get repairs. “That must have been awful for your friend. Did he have somewhere to stay?” I regretted telling him that.

“Uh... yeah he had somewhere to stay.” I hoped Jason didn’t ask where. “Why don’t you tell me somethings that happened to you.” I quickly added

Jason laughed. “I actually have a pretty weird story to tell you. So, I was walking along the sidewalk, right? Just going to the store. And I came across this old guy. He was like, ‘Hey! Dude where’ve you been!’ But I had never met him before in my…” I started to space out a little bit. Jason started laughing hysterically and I snapped back into focus. I smiled to be nice. “Funny, right?”

“Very.” I said. “So what’s going on?” After I asked this, Jason’s smile disappeared, and he looked down at the floor. Before he could respond the waitress came by to take our orders. It was the same girl who led us to our table. “Can we share pancakes with strawberry sauce?” Jason’s look of despair started to fade a bit as he nodded at my suggestion.

“I wouldn’t recommend sharing, hun.” The waitress commented, her voice painted with a southern accent. “It’s a café, not a diner. The portions are awfully small.”

“Well then, we’ll just get two orders of pancakes with strawberry sauce.” I said.

She looked down at her notepad and wrote our orders down. “Anything to drink?”

“Water for me.” I replied. I was so tempted to say ‘diet’ water.

“I’ll have some tea. Chamomile, please.” Jason ordered after me. The waitress wrote down our orders and quickly brought out our drinks.

“Your pancakes will be a minute.” She said. “There are more people here then at a rodeo in the middle of the summer!” As soon as the lady turned away Jason leaned his head down and began to whisper.

“Ellia the truth is I had to get out of Las Vegas for a while.” Now my smile was starting to fade.

“Why? Is something wrong?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes. I-I-I can’t tell you.” He looked down.  

“Are you serious?” I asked with a bit of anger in my voice. “You come all the way out here, drag me to lunch, when I could totally be doing something else, just to tell me that something has gone wrong, but you can’t tell me about it? Now how does that make any sense?”

Jason had to take time to think about his next response. “I needed your help with it. I met some people down in Nevada, and they’re... it’s not safe to talk about it.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “This is ridiculous! You want me to help you with a problem you can’t even explain?!” I asked, raising my voice. “I just wanted to have a real conversation. You’ve only called me twice before and it was just because you bet more money than you had!” My voice dialed down again. I took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m not helping you with this problem. If it’s so bad, then talk to the police about it. I’m a travel agent, not an F.B.I agent.” Our pancakes came and we sat in awkward silence eating them when Jason’s phone went off. He looked at the screen.

“I have to take this.” He stepped into the men’s restroom. A few moments later after the phone conversation had ended Jason looked distressed. “I have to go talk to some people. I’ll take you home, then you shouldn’t leave for a while.” I stood up to face him.

“You can’t tell me what to do! And if you really want to get rid of me, just drive me home already!” I crossed my arms.

“No-no! It’s not like that! Just some business I have to take care of! Honest!” He tried to reason with me, but I pushed him aside as we left the restaurant. I sat behind my brother on his vespa with a frown on my face. No wonder he rejected his attempts to meet with me. Jason dropped me off in front of my house. “I wouldn’t do this unless I had a good reason.”

I turned away then started inside my house. “Whatever.” I slammed the door in my brother’s face.