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I have looked at the movie tickets at least 100 times now. The time on them read 7:15 PM.
I grin.
The paper had already started getting soft around the edges from how many times I'd checked the envelope.
Tonight would actually happen.
That is, if Dad said yes. That was the only problem.
He hadn't actually said yes yet. He'd said, "We'll see."
Adults loved saying we'll see, and it was confusing as hell. Sometimes it meant yes, sometimes it meant no, and other times it meant maybe.
I looked back down at the tickets.
"What if he forgets?" I muttered to myself.
"He won't." Julia's voice answered before I even looked up.
She pushed my bedroom door open with her hip, balancing a basket overflowing with clean clothes against one arm.
The sunlight coming through my bedroom windows caught the silver cross around her neck, making it shine for a second before she set the basket down on the edge of my bed with a relieved sigh.
"Those things are heavier every week."
I glanced toward the basket, scratching my neck. "Oh, I'm sorry about that. I told you, I can do my own laundry."
"That's my job, ?a que sΓ? " She began sorting through the pile. "I wouldn't be surprised if an intruder kept stuffing junk in here."
I looked at her. "You think that really happens?"
She stared back at me for exactly two seconds before laughing.
"No, mi ni?o."
"Oh."
She smiled warmly, laughing again before beginning to hang my school uniforms neatly inside the closet.
I watched her for a little while. Anything but staring at the tickets in my hand.
Julia had worked for our family for years. It was long enough that I couldn't really remember not knowing her.
She spoke English almost perfectly, though every now and then a Spanish word slipped into a sentence.
Mom always joked that Julia had raised me just as much as she had.
Dad usually nodded in agreement. That was usually the only thing he was ever right about.
Midway folding, she glanced up at me. "You've looked at those tickets at least fifteen times."
It was probably more, honestly.
I glanced down. "No, I haven't."
"Twenty?"
"Uh..sure."
She finally looked over her shoulder.
"So tell me Cam, should I start calling her Mrs. West now, or are we waiting until after the movie?"
I nearly dropped the envelope. "What?"
"I'm just asking." She looked at me with an innocent expression on her face.
"It's one movie, Julia." I cover my face in embarrassment.
"Mhm."
"We're just friends."
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm serious."
"So am I," She smiled. "Didn't you change that shirt twice?"
She was right. I originally wore a dark red shirt because that's the color I wore to dad's company parties, but I remember Dixie telling me her favorite color was green- so I settled on a green v neck.
"I have not, I was trying to find one that fit." I denied it.
"They all fit."
"Yeah well, some fit better."
"Oh, I get it." She nodded quickly. "So now we're dressing for Dixie."
"I'm dressing for the movie."
"With Dixie."
"That's how invitations work."
She laughed. "You even bought cologne."
"I already owned cologne..I wanted to know if it smelled nice."
She pointed a finger at me. "So you wore cologne for Dixie."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Maybe a little."
"Your shirt looks ironed." She laughed.
"Oh, thank you. I wanted it to look nice." I tug at my shirt.
"My point was, you've never ironed a t-shirt in your life."
"I can start."
"Oh, you're starting now because a pretty girl likes superhero movies?"
I couldn't help laughing, though I could feel my ears turning pink.
"Do you think she'll notice?"
Julia smiled warmly as she finished folding another shirt. "Oh, mi ni?o, trust me. She notices. A certain little boy must be very excited."
"I'm not little." I grin.
"Mhm."
"I'm not."
"You're enormous." She smiled again before folding two pairs of jeans.
"So you are taking Dixie?" She tilted her head.
"Yeah." My face warmed immediately at the thought of her.
"Oh..." She dragged the word out. "That's why you've looked at those tickets twenty times?"
"No..That's not the reason."
But it was.
"No?"
"No."
"It has absolutely nothing to do with the pretty little girl just a couple minutes away?"
I immediately looked away. "She's not...she's just Dixie."
"Just Dixie." Julia raised one eyebrow.
I nodded. "She's funny, and she's nice..and yeah, she is pretty cute."
Another smile spread across Julia's face. "Anything else?"
I shrugged.
She pointed toward the envelope. "What pelicula are you guys watching? You've been clutching on to that envelope for a while now."
"I don't want anything happening to them."
"And to answer your question, we're watching this new horror movie- Scream 4. Have you heard of it?"
She thought for a while before she went back to folding.
"You know I don't have the time for that. My son has probably watched it, though."
I smile. "You should invite Rio over again sometime."
Rio was Julia's seventeen year old son. We were on the same baseball team, and sometimes when Julia couldn't find anyone to babysit Rio, she brought him over.
"Oh, he'll like that idea." She said,
She glanced at me before giggling. "Mijo you're going to break your hand if you keep holding those tickets like that."
"I just don't want them to be destroyed, that's all."
"They're in an envelope."
"They could bend."
She shook her head affectionately. "You sound exactly like your father."
"I do?"
"Mmmhm. When he buys something important, he checks it every five minutes too."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Oh. Maybe that's where I got it."
"I think so."
I actually hated the idea of inheriting anything from my father. I vowed to never be like him if I had kids one day.
For a few quiet moments, the only sounds in the room were hangers sliding across the closet rod and the soft rustle of folded clothes.
My stomach twisted as I looked down at the envelope again.
"What if Dad says no?"
Julia looked at me properly this time. "He won't."
"You don't know that."
She walked over and gently sat beside me on the bed.
"Cameron."
I looked up.
"Has your father ever broken a promise to you?"
Truthfully speaking, no. When Dad said he would do something, he did it.
"No." I say.
She nodded. "He'll come around."
"I know..but what if something important happens?"
Julia smiled softly.
"I think your father already knows how important tonight is." She lightly tapped the envelope in my hands.
I wanted to believe her.
"If your father said he would think about it, he'll think about it."
I wasn't nearly as convinced. Dad had been busy lately.
Really busy. He always looked busy.
Sometimes I wondered if businessmen ever actually worked or if they just talked to each other all day. And if they did talk to each other all day, hopefully it would be about baseball.
I wouldn't have a problem becoming the next Ralph West if that was the case.
But it wasn't.
Julia stood again. "You could always ask him again."
"I will."
"When?"
"Eventually." I sigh.
"When you're forty?"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm waiting until he's done talking."
"Good plan."
There was this one time I had accidentally disturbed Dad's phone call with a 'really important business lady.'
I remember he had gotten so mad at me that day, he went two weeks without talking to me. It had to take my Mom to plead with him, so I would have a father to talk to.
I was only 10.
I never forgot that feeling. Standing outside his office door, wanting to knock but being too scared to.
I didn't want tonight to become another thing I waited too long for.
Tonight wasn't just about watching a movie. It was the first time I'd asked Dixie if she wanted to go somewhere with just me.
Away from all the business parties, and speeches. It would just be us.
If Dad said no, I didn't know when I'd be brave enough to ask her again.
Just then, voices drifted upstairs from below.
They were deep voices. I could hear Dad's practiced laugh, and another man's.
Julia looked toward the hallway. "I think Mr. Jones is here."
"Dixie's dad?" My head immediately lifted.
She nodded.
"I believe so."
I was already halfway off the bed. Now I was definitely going downstairs.
Julia laughed behind me. "Don't run."
"I wasn't!"
"Cameron."
I grinned to myself as I hurried toward the bedroom door.
If Mr. Jones was here, then maybe Dad was finally finished with work.
And maybe today was finally going to be the day Dad said yes.
Dad's office door was open. I recognized his laugh first, then another voice.
Robert Jones. Mr. Jones.
Dixie's dad.
They were standing beside the fireplace with coffee mugs in their hands, talking about something I absolutely did not understand.
Business people really did have their own language.
Too bad I didn't have any intention of learning it.
Dad noticed me first. "There he is."
"Afternoon, Cameron." Robert turned around with a smile.
"Hi, Mr. Jones." I smile slightly.
"How's school?"
"It's okay."
"Just okay?"
"I... I mean, I was made captain of baseball."
"That's usually better than okay." Mr. Jones lifted his mug, taking a sip.
I shrugged. "I guess."
"You need something, West?" Dad smiled.
Just then, I forgot every speech I'd rehearsed upstairs.
It was strange- I could stand in front of hundreds of people during a baseball game and call plays without thinking twice.
I could talk to teachers, coaches, and my friends.
But standing in front of my own father, I couldn't remember how words worked.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Dad's smile slowly faded. I noticed. "Cameron?"
I swallowed. "Uhh..."
Great start.
Really fucking impressive.
I had spent twenty minutes practicing what I was going to say, now was the perfect time to forget English.
Robert looked between me and my dad. He chuckled softly.
"He's nervous."
"I'm not." I immediately looked away.
Robert raised his eyebrows. "You're stumbling over your words, kid."