Loved In Pieces (19 page)

I wasn’t completely sure of how Liz and Carlos met, but from what I understood, Manuel’s parents met when Carlos delivered a package to the same apartment Liz has now, but at that time she shared it with her mom. She thought he was the sexiest man she had ever seen and flirted with him while she slowly signed the tracking receipt. It was a very hot day and she could see that he was sweating. She asked him if he wanted a glass of water and flirted as hard as she had ever flirted before. She wanted him badly. Finally, she just told him how she felt and she was soon having sex with her Latino heartthrob. She got pregnant that day with Manuel.

Liz was
loving but
completely irresponsible. She often made me uncomfortable when she talked about sex and when she was brutally honest, which is the norm rather than the exception. On the other hand, I respected that her marriage to Carlos had lasted so long. After
nineteen
years, they were still madly in love with each other and truly loved their kids. Sometimes I thought Manuel became such a decent guy because he reacted against her inappropriate sexuality.

“Knock, knock,” Manuel laughed as he opened the front door. He meant to make his voice sound sinister, but I c
ouldn
’t remember from what movie he quoted.
I was an actor who
rarely
watched TV
but enjoyed the Star Trek Next Generation DVDs with the Borg. I thought of Hollywood at the Borg
.

Manuel letting himself in was no big deal to me.
Mom
ha
d
a strict rule about who
wa
s allowed the
door
code. Whoever kn
ew
the code ha
d
to sign some legal document
Martin
came up with. I never read the form that Manuel
had to
sign. I just kn
e
w that he
wa
s not supposed to give the code to anyone, including his family.

“Where
is the love of my life
?”
Manuel
yelled.

“In my room, finishing my makeup,” I answered and closed the bathroom door
so I could surprise him with the complete look
.

My cell was ringing
Dad
’s ringtone. “Hey, that’s my dad. Can you get it?” I asked with the door to my bathroom still closed.

“Hi, Tom. Manuel here. How is Northern California treating you? How are the horses?”

There was a pause before Manuel answered, “Yeah, I’m feeling pretty cool taking your gorgeous daughter to prom.” Another pause, “Yeah, of course she’s lucky, too. I
am
the bomb,” he laughed and answered another question. “
Yeah,
I’ll take good care of her.”

Manuel answered again
,
“Yeah, I was really surprised and grateful. My best friend gets me a Vespa
so I can get around without the headache of finding a parking place
. Now what should I get her for her birthday on my meager restaurant tips?”

I didn’t want Manuel to feel like he ha
d
to reciprocate. He
wa
s my best friend. I love
d
him. I ha
d
way too much money and it
wa
s absolutely trivial for me to buy him a necessary mode of transportation. I bought him his
road
bike for his 16
th
birthday, and he refused to ride it until I forgave him for a fight that we had and until he took me to
my favorite restaurant
on Wilshire for dinner. Manuel was totally broke and had to babysit his neighbor’s brats for several weeks to afford the dinner.
He liked taking me to dinner, saying that he wanted to fatten me up because I was way too thin.
I was.

“Please don’t go all out for my birthday,” I said as I opened the door.

I took Manuel by surprise. He wasn’t used to seeing me
with
a little bit of makeup on
.
Either I didn’t wear makeup or I was extremely made up.
I usually ha
d
on lipstick, sunglasses, and a hat whe
n
ever we
went
somewhere. If we
went
anywhere; he
preferred
not be
ing in
public with me. We usually just h
u
ng out at his apartment or my house. He
got
uncomfortable when
people stare
d
at me.

I was also surprised to see Manuel.
He stunned me
every time I saw
him
since I could remember, but this time I
didn’t have to hide
it
.
He looked
dazzling
in his tux.

“Wow
,” h
e said to
Dad
with a huge smile on his face
.
“
Your daughter looks pretty.”

I put my hand out for the phone. He took it, kissed the top of my hand without letting go of my eyes, and handed my cell to me.
I took his other hand in mine and smiled at him.

I laughed a bit uncomfortably, “Hey Dad.”

“
Lia
, sorry to call so late but you didn’t answer this morning. Celia and I are flying in tomorrow. We should be there after
two
in the afternoon. Celia wants to stop at
the b
akery. Do you want a pretzel croissant?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome. Thanks,” I answered and then interrupted, “Manuel, can you please zip me up?”

Dad
laughed, “
Lia
,
you’re
going to drive that boy out of his mind. Do you have any idea how hard it must be for a teenage
d
boy to zip
h
is girlfriend’s dress on prom night?”

“Thanks for the reminder, Dad. And thanks for coming tomorrow.
” Manuel kissed my back and neck while he zipped my dress. “
I will be so happy to see you and Celia! Love you.” I
concentrated to hit “end” on
the phone.

Awkwardly, I turned to Manuel, smiled, and
kissed him.
“I
can’t believe
you’re my boyfriend.” I hugged him and rested my head on his chest, careful not to get makeup on his tux.
His hug was wanting and rigid. I stepped back and studied his expression. “What’s up? You look nervous.”

He smiled as he took my hands in his. “I have naughty thoughts.” He laughed, “I
thought I could stay with you tonight, ya know, but of course we wouldn’t have sex.” He brought me into
a hug and smiled at me. “I sure would like to wake up next to you. Please don’t think I’m trying to get some before you’re ready.
But I want to be with you all night.”

Waking up with him would be glorious. I certainly could trust him. “I’d love that, too.”

He lifted me
up
when he kissed me. I floated. We both relaxed after I
touched
the ground. I asked,
“Now that we got past my parent, let’s get on to yours. Do you want to drive my car? I don’t mind being a passenger if you want to feel manly.”

“From one sissy vehicle to another. With all your money, why can’t you get a Ferrari? Now that would be a fun car to drive to prom,” he laughed as we he headed to the garage.

When we got there I looked at
M
om’s Porsche and
then looked at him. I smiled and
asked, “Why don’t you drive Michelle’s car?”

He smiled,
“No way. That’d be awesome!” He took out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed her number.

“Hey, Michelle,
”
h
e smiled at me and answered her question. “Yeah, we’re ready now.”  He answe
red another question
, “
Well, I wanted to know if I could borrow your Porsche?” He smiled. “Thanks
!
That’s so awesome!”
He listened again and raised his eyebrows. “
Well, that’s up to her.” He grinned, “
Claro.
Adiós
.”

I went inside and got her keys out of the drawer and then handed them to Manuel. I laughed because he was so happy.

It only took a few minutes to get to his home. His parents and sister
waited
outside a carport that Liz waved us into, borrowing it from one of her renters.

Liz was attractive, striking but not pretty. She had the most perfect skin I had ever seen. It
looked like
milk
. She had brown hair and brown eyes, never wor
e
a touch of makeup, and had several tattoos. I had rarely seen her wear anything
on her feet
but rhinestone-studded flip flops.
Her nails were usually painted in some awful color like black, fire orange, or green. Her toes were painted green with yellow daisies on top. She was in a low v-cut sun dress and black bra. It was always either this look or colored bra, tank and bling jeans. She liked to show off her
“
art.
”
She must have known that she had
perfect
skin. I followed her.

“How are your tenants? Any surprise evictions this week?”
I fumbled.

Liz laughed, “Lord.
You know you live in Santa Monica when a prospective tenant hands you a business card and her job is
‘
writer and wellness enthusiast
.’
You know how that translates in my mind: unemployed. I see an eviction in my future.”

“You both look gorgeous together. Now let’s see the love,”
Janet
said as she snapped some photos.
Janet was
stunning
but had an edge to her. She looked much older than fourteen and already had tattoos and piercings.

“You do look handsome, Manuel,” I
agreed
.

“Thanks. You look totally
gorgeous
.” He smiled and held my hand as we followed Liz to the courtyard.
We had held hands since his
break-up
with
Kate, but holding his hand
in that moment
was different.
I felt his love emanate from his body, so much so that I didn’t want to let go of his hand. I didn’t want to be far from him. I wanted to be attached to him at the same time that I felt awkwardly nervous around him.
I had to concentrate on breathing when we put our
arms around each other for the prom photos.
I definitely thought my heart stopped when he kissed me
before I got back into the Porsche
.

Perhaps I was ready to make love.
I
’ve known
Manuel my whole life
, and I
was in love with him
. I wanted him once, when I had just turned fourteen, but that feeling never returned for him or for any other guy I
’ve
dated since.

Most teenagers d
idn
’t talk to their parents about everything, including sex and
insecurities. But I
did, except about
Byron
—
I didn’t want
Mom
to punish him
.
I confided in Mom and Grandma May because I thought there was something wrong with me.
I d
idn
’t have friends besides Manuel
,
Evan
and
Franz
so shoulders to cry on
we
re few
and far between
. My
best girl
friend
used to be
Kate
but I had to choose whom to support
before
the break-up and I chose Manuel. Even with
Sam,
Alan
, Beth
and
Mitch
I guard
ed
my feelings, guard
ed
my privacy. As a celebrity, it
wa
s difficult to trust that someone wo
uld not
sell my secrets.

I asked
M
om about how she felt about her lovers to help me figure out what I
thought about having sex with Manuel
. She explained that she only felt passionately in love with
Dad
. N
o other lover has held her heart as he did. She said that she was a virgin when she married
Dad
and making love to him was glorious. She never cheated on him
. Although she
had too many offers to count to cheat on him,
she
never wanted to. She loved him, just not enough to leave her career.
S
he
told me that she lost her sex drive when she lost
Dad
.