"You act strange."
Sugar had found himself visiting this girl every week or so. But even though he found her presence as one that was fun, he knew that she was suspecting him of not being who she thought he was and his 'parents' were wondering about where he was going during the night.
"Well, I'm just preparing for what's coming."
"I don't think you ever told me your name."
"You can call me Sugar."
"Come on, I don't think of you like that."
"It's not what you think, it's just a nickname because I have a sweet tooth."
He could feel a bit of BB in that sentence. Almost as if he was in a car crash that left some other car's paint on his own.
"Oh…"
"Wait, do you…?"
"I don't know."
A smile crossed his face. Flattered was to be conservative. He tried to be serious because her liking him was a part of his plan but him liking her certainly wasn't. Lia was to be disappointed in him.
"Is there anything you want to do after this?"
"There's another thing, why don't you like going to my house?"
Because I don't want to get bedbugs.
"I prefer to be outdoors."
"Really? I never took you for the outdoorsy type."
I'm not.
"Yeah. Every year I like to go camping. But I was thinking that maybe we could go to a movie theater some time."
Hopefully that sounded natural. I just need to get her out in the open.
"Sure."
"Really?"
"Yeah?"
What is coming out tonight?
"Anything that you want to see?"
"Yeah, there is a movie that came out yesterday, I think. Do you want to see it?"
"Sure."
The two ended up at a midnight showing. When Sugar saw the moon, he wondered what Lia was doing. If she saw the world around her and thought the same, then Sugar would know he would make his way back to her. She too watched the moon that night.
"Here's a few bucks. Go grab some popcorn and get us some seats. I need to make a phone call."
"Alright?"
She walked into the movie theater as he went to the phone booth on the corner. He put in some quarters and dialed the state police. With a bad feeling in his stomach, he coughed up her name and the name of the theater. On the verge of shedding a tear, he hung up the phone and took a seat next to her in the auditorium. She was happily eating some popcorn and allowed herself to smile while watching.
"What's it about?"
"A hitman that's bad at his job."
"Sounds neat."
"Shh…"
He enjoyed the moment while it lasted. Which was about fourteen minutes. A part of Sugar was disappointed and upon further reflection was appalled. The police barged in. She stood to run for the emergency exit but she was tackled to the ground. Why the officers did that was beyond him. As far as he knew, there was nothing wrong that she did besides go missing.
"Make sure not to hurt her."
"Aren't you that kid that went missing?"
"No."
In and out. Thirty minutes tops. A silent vow was made. He would get her free after he ratted her out. This case had to be big.
"You were out late."
"What?"
Lia had gotten back to the cabins late. She was out at a movie theater but on the walk back stopped walking down the road and stared at the moon for about half an hour. When she reentered the cabin, Alexandria was sitting in the dark waiting for her while Joey was doing the dishes. After BB got in the house, Joey was obsessively cleaning. To the best of his abilities that is.
"It's two in the morning."
"Right."
"Would you like to elaborate?"
"No."
Lia made her way to the couch but Dr. John was already sleeping on the couch. One of them would sleep on the couch and one would get the kitchen table.
"Can you help me undress the table?"
"Will you elaborate?"
"No."
"Then no."
Lia sighed shortly before she removed the silverware and plates and placed them on the kitchen bar where Joey was working. He sighed and went back to cleaning the dishes. Then, she removed the linen from the table and laid on top of it and tossed the linen over herself as a makeshift blanket. The unit needed bigger housing.
"Are you going to go to sleep?"
"No. Not until you talk to me."
Alexandria, rightfully, was curious about what BB was doing in the time after her own and wanted to know Lia. So, using a very blunt form, she tried.
"Hey Alex, can you take the towels out of the dryer? I'll put the socks in the dryer once you are done."
She stood and walked to the laundry room. She didn't take her eyes off of Lia and even as Lia looked up towards the chandelier, she could feel Alexandria burning holes into the side of her head.
"The towels are still wet."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay, just put them back in the dryer and get it on with."
Alexandria did so but when she was back in her seat, Lia was fast asleep. She would be there all night if she had to. The room was so quiet that it made her uncomfortable.