Her eyes slowly opened the next morning to the hot snoring atmosphere. Directly against her back, Michael's naked torso was flat up against her clothed one, his soft snoozing audible against her ear and his arm resting slack over her arm.
Despite how it looked she, for one of the rare moments in her life, had gotten to experience how it felt to fall asleep next to a man who didn't expect her to be at his disposal and naked at his side.
The two lay sandwiched together with nowhere else to go on Michael's single bed that they had cramped in and shared the whole night.
Opposite them Tito snored heavily in their direction.
When she moved to get up Michael's grip suddenly tightened on her just before his eyes slowly opened and he blinked lazily at her.
"Oh...Good morning." He'd smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile stupidly back. "Did you sleep well?" he'd asked her. She nodded, her eyes glowing like bright passionate orbs.
"Good...I'm glad one of us did." He whispered gripping his chest and raising his brows as though he'd been squashed up the whole night. She nudged him and rolled her eyes before she bent down and collected her shoes at the base of the bed. "Wait, you're not leavin' yet are you?" Michael had asked her with intrigue, and she'd felt the smile fade from her lips at the sight of their now intertwined hands on the bed. "Stay." His gentle voice had uttered. "I would love it if you stayed a little longer."
*
Breakfast with the Jacksons was quiet to say the least. She shovelled scrambled eggs into her mouth to the chorus of chomping mouths dotted around the room.
"So...Lia." Marlon attempted to strike up a conversation and Michael had instantly hit him with a defensive look. "I know you and my brother have been knowing each other for some years now, how long has it been?"
"Very long." Michael answered for her. They gazed between each other and Marlon waved a hand that indicated he would leave the topic alone. The awkward silence soon dried up as the chorus of chomping mouths continued
Ramel had woken up and gone to the kitchen without saying a word to any of them. Lia had quickly sprung up from her place on the sofa and followed him, approaching him quietly once they were out of ear shot.
"Morning." She'd said jamming her hands into her back pockets. He'd turned to look at her then turned back to the cup he had set out on the side. Lia cleared her throat softly in response to his icy silence. "Hey, thank you for picking me up at the beach last night. I don't know how you found me but I'm glad you did." She said as he picked up a plate for himself.
"Yeah..." he grumbled. Almost without thinking she took his plate from him and began to shovel food onto it for him. She handed it back to him and he simply took it shooting her an awkward look.
"Uh thanks..." He finally said and left her standing in the kitchen alone. She had no time to ponder on his weird behaviour because Michael soon appeared behind her.
"How about...we get gone?" His high yet mischievous voice had whispered in her ear as he leaned past her and scraped his plate into the metal trash can.
*
"You look like your brothers." She'd said as they walked slowly side by side down a deserted field. In the distance children could be heard playing soccer on a dusty pitch. They followed the light trail all the way down and struck gold when the fairly empty old park they used to play in came into view.
"Yeah..." Michael's shy voice had laughed in a fashion that was fairly misplaced considering the simple comment. She raked a hand through her hair and reached into her back pocket drawing out a pink lighter as two boys eyed them on their way past. She'd felt their stares penetrating her exposed flesh below her shorts.
The cat calls had come right after they had passed by a safe distance and she'd placed the cigarette in her mouth. Michael slowed even more, his eyes now trained on her.
"Can I ask you something?" he'd stopped walking completely. She'd stopped too, facing him. "What do you get out of doing that?" he'd asked. She stopped when the flame was lit and she inhaled deeply, blowing out a large puff of smoke.
"Doing what?"
Michael had jutted his chin toward the lit cigarette, motioning cutely with an imaginary cigarette in his own hands. Lia shrugged.
"I feel like you have asked me this before...and like I said before, I just like it." She'd answered, looking out at the sparse grassy patches of ground beneath her feet that were gradually fading into flat sandy dust, forming the foundation of the park.
"Really?" Michael had asked her, pointing a long finger at her chest. "Is that honestly what you, Lia, feels inside of herself?" he'd asked, and she didn't honestly know why the answer had jammed in her throat. His question made her uncomfortable and instead of answering she'd turned away from him, taking the initiative to keep walking. Michael followed a short way after.
Finally, she was granted a reprieve from walking and rested her behind on a set of swings and pushed forward joyfully.
"Do you remember this place?" She asked. With ease, she'd overridden the curiosity that burned in his eyes with a new one.
"Of course, wasn't I the one who introduced you to this place?" Michael had said absently, trying to catch a white butterfly that was fluttering at his eye level. Lia had shaken her head, entranced by his actions. Somehow, he managed to get the butterfly to land gracefully upon his outstretched finger and assessed it mid-air.
He peered closely at it, watching it with acute fascination. "I think those boys like ya." He finally said.
Lia had wandered how he'd noticed they were still standing around in the distance with his back turned to them. She glanced over and caught them grinning in her direction, laughing to one another at jokes that were too quiet to grasp from where she was. She'd taken another breath in.
"Yeah well...a lot of boys like me." She'd said matter-of-factly. Michaels eyes had fluttered against the sun, batting almost as frantically as the butterflies wings as it made a quick escape out of his grasp once again.
He sat down on the second swing behind her, his face now serious as he gazed over at the boys still stood loitering there.
One of them placed a hand on his chest and stretched his free one out in her direction. "Eu amo você!" his screamed on the wind. His friend laughed loudly, pushing the boy in the orange shirt as his braces glistened in the sun at her. Her expression hadn't changed at all from it's unimpressed glare, she simply looked on, unphased by the attention.
"Look at them. Don't they look like some fools?" Michael chuckled under his breath as Lia took another draw of smoke. "Look at the one on the left. He's wearing an orange shirt with green pants. Who even wears that..." He looked on sinisterly poking fun at one of the kid that had professed his love to her, who looked about 15 or so.
It seemed however, their joy and curiosity were short lived and they continued walking off in the direction they'd come in. Lia had turned to Michael, not used to hearing him this way. He'd snapped out of it as soon as he caught her staring at him.
"So...where have you been girl, what have you been up to all these years?" Michael breathed. Lia shrugged.
"Nothing important." She said, her face serious.
"Come on, you must have been up to something. Ramel told me you were thinking about going to college." Michael mentioned excitedly. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"Ramel seems to say a lot of things about me, doesn't he?" She said and sensed the confusion in Michael's gaze. She knew he possibly wouldn't understand the bitterness coming through in her tone of voice. She turned to him trying to read his gaze and figure out just how much he knew but Michael gave nothing away. "So, what else has Ramel told you about me?" she proceeded to dig for information. Michael shrugged slowly before dropping his shoulders in thought.
"Not much. Neither you or him seem to want to tell me anything interesting about you."
"Maybe because I'm not interesting."
"Well I'm interested in you." Michael had said and she'd felt the wind stir her hair across her face. She scooped strands of hair behind her ear. "So why don't you tell me...tell me something about you that nobody else knows." She'd felt her shoulders tense and her cigarette raised up to her mouth again.
"I don't know, why don't you tell me something instead." She said spinning the game on him.
"Hey, I asked you." He said and she met his eyes with more conviction this time.
"And I asked you too." She knew she was being defensive, but she felt it necessary to push back his intrusive curiosity. With a heavy sigh Michael grabbed a hold of the bars and swung back, his head tossed upward in thought.
"Well...I'm scared of dogs." Lia felt a rumble of laughter escape up her throat.
"I KNOW." she said rolled her head back with amusement. Her hair fell back over her shoulder as she flashed him her amused expression. "I remember when we were little and you came to my neighbourhood-"
"Oh yeah, the first time I met Jose's dog? You know I really don't ever like to wish anything bad on any kind of animal but that dog..." She chuckled into the open air.
"He has a new dog now. The same breed."
"Does it bark any less?" Lia shook her head with mellow amusement.
"No, but anyway try again, tell me something I don't know." She'd told him.
"Something you don't know...well...I'd like to be the greatest entertainer in the world one day." He said and she'd seen a glowing passion in his eyes when he spoke.
"Like a magician?"
Michael's voice had bellowed out a high pitch laugh.
"No silly. Singing. Dancing. Planting joy in people's hearts through music you know." Lia nodded slowly. She'd felt a jab of jealousy go through her as he openly shared his monumental ambition. In a way it directly reminded her that she had none.
"I've heard you sing before, you sound good. But that is a big dream, to be the greatest in the world." She'd said and Michael had pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth.
"What, you don't think I'm good enough to do that?" she smiled and shrugged again.
"I think you would have to be like a famous millionaire or something to be the best in the whole world." She said. Michael had turned to look on ahead of them again. His eyes slowly falling to the ground as he swung absentmindedly.
"I don't know...my father always taught me that I should believe in myself, no matter what." He rolled his shoulders forward, hunching them, and turned to her when there was no response. "Didn't your father ever tell you that girl?" he'd asked and suddenly she felt as though the slightest gust of wind would work the tears up out of her eyes.
She inhaled smoke again but didn't answer.
"Well my father did." He finished and then placed both hands on his knees, rubbing them with anticipation. "Come to think of it, I never heard you say nothing about your father except that he built that old cabin on the beach, so whats your story huh? How'd you end up living with your uncle?" he pried for more information than she was ready to give. She paused mid puff then shook her head bemused.
"Who told you that I still live with my uncle? Ramel?"
"He might'a mentioned it once or twice-" He started.
"Well you should tell him to stop spreading so many rumours about me." She said bluntly. Michael watched her. His eyes gazing over her entire face before resting on her eyes again. She finally sighed at his unwavering curiosity, knowing her words had not sufficed. "I live with my uncle because my father is not around. Obviously." She snapped reluctantly answering his initial question. Michael's gaze lingered on her a long moment.
"Girl, you're wound up tighter than a button." He said standing up. He stood in front of her and extended a hand, she stared at it unassumingly. "Come one, let's go have some real fun."
"On the seesaw?" she asked reflecting on old times.
"You couldn't pay me to get on that thing again. You know Ramel can be so evil, I don't know why he liked to jump on it like that when we were younger. I still don't know if I'm gonna be able to have kids when the time comes."
She'd taken his hand with an amused expression.
"Hey you used to be afraid to climb big trees when we were little, are you still scared?" he asked. She'd loosened her hand from his and pushed him aside, grabbing the branches with two firm hands as she began a fluid ascension. When she looked down between her legs Michael's eyes had flashed quickly from gazing presumably at her behind to her eyes in less than a second. She squinted at him.
"I guess not menina." He'd teased her and she turned her attention back to climbing further up, ignoring his sneaky glances. When she'd reached the top, she stretched a hand down for Michael. "I don't need your charity, stand back and watch how a real man does it." he'd launched himself up in an impressive manoeuvre from branch to branch. Finally he rested atop a branch just opposite to her, a smug smile written across his face. "How do you say victory in Portuguese?" Michael asked.
She leaned back against a sturdy branch and smiled at him, for a brief moment feeling like just a kid again in his presence and happy to be one.