The Tutor

Chapter 13: A Change of Locale

"Please. Please please. Pleasepleaseplease."

"Shut up. Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup."

Nick's mouth dropped open in exaggerated shock. "Purple girl. Mimi-chan. Sumire-san. You did not just tell your good friend Nicholas Francesco Pensieri to shut up. Did you?"

Sumire bit her lips together in a hopeless attempt not to laugh.

"I didn't know your middle name was Francesco," she said.

"Stop trying to change the subject," he demanded.

They were sitting at her kitchen table with the movie script open in front of them. Her noisy AC unit rattled in the corner, because late July in Los Angeles was just too hot, even for a second floor apartment that caught a nice cross breeze from huge windows.

"Mine's Susan," Sumire said, ignoring him. "When I was little, I had a lisp, you should've heard me try to say my name because my two front teeth didn't come in forever. Hi, my name ith Thumire Thuthan, nithe to meet you," she said, holding her hand out with a laugh.

"Stop, stop," Nick begged, trying not to laugh. "And stop changing the subject. Please come to New York with me? We can go straight to Japan together from there. It'll be so fun, and you can meet Darcie! You'll like her, I promise!"

Sumire sighed.

"I'm sure I would," she said, nodding. "She sounds perfectly wonderful, and really fun. I just don't want you spending any more of your money on me, you know?" She sat back. "Don't you remember what it was like not to have money? And how it felt to take from people who did? Or not to want to?"

"Yeah, I do," Nick answered. "But this isn't like that. For one thing, I don't just 'have money,' Sumire. I'm loaded. I made good money as a model, and I didn't get sucked into drugs, or partying, or any of that shit. I didn't get tangled up in an expensive divorce, or child support, you know? And that was before I started acting, which is when the really crazy money started rolling in. The only big ticket items I've shelled out for are my house, and my family's education."

He sighed and shook his head.

"I won't even notice you're with me on this trip, financially speaking, and that's the god's honest truth. We can stay in a nice hotel, see a couple of plays, you can meet Darcie, and--" Nick smiled and snapped his fingers as a new idea hit him--"we'll have an extra week to study!" He lifted the script and waved it in her direction. "What about that, sensei? Weren't you just saying you wish we had a few more days to work on stuff? Polish some things up?"

Now it was Sumire's turn to sigh. "What you described doesn't really sound like there will be a lot of time for studying, though," was the best she could come up with. She knew it sounded weak.

She exhaled, a sound of defeat that Nick recognized. "Oh, all right," she said.

"Yes!" Nick fist pumped and smiled. "We're headed to New York!"

"Coach, right?" Sumire asked. "We're flying coach?"

Nick just stared at her. "Dude, I haven't flown coach since I was, like, fifteen," he told her. "I'm not going to start now. Besides," he added. "I get recognized too much in coach, the girls won't leave me alone, I can't get any rest. This smile's too famous." He grinned across the table at her.

Oh brother.

✈️🍎✈️🍎✈️🍎✈️🍎✈️🍎✈️

Sumire swiped the keycard and entered their suite at the Plaza hotel.

Wow.

Nick watched as Sumire took in her surroundings, wordlessly dropping her pull case and walking from the main room through to the smaller bedrooms and smaller sitting room.