by Kat Mayor
Lilly got up then and walked over to him. “No, I won’t. I’ll be getting exactly what I want. I can deal with not having children. I know we won’t grow old together, and I accept that. What I can’t handle is you leaving for Sentria in a few weeks and never seeing you again.”
Charlie looked into her eyes. He saw that she was serious. “OK. We’ll have to keep our plans a secret. Even from your mom. We’ll have to elope, because if the leaders find out our plans, they will do everything in their power to stop us.”
“Elope? Well, OK,” Lilly said, thinking. “You know, there’s a justice of the peace a few miles from here.”
“No, Texas has a seventy-two-hour waiting period. The Sentrian information systems are very much integrated into Earth’s computers. As soon as we apply for a license, I guarantee Evelyn will be notified. We won’t have a prayer. We’ll have to get married somewhere that doesn’t have a waiting period. I’ve researched it, and I believe Las Vegas is our best chance.”
“Vegas?” Lilly asked. Charlie nodded. “So when did you want to go?”
“It would be great if we could leave right now while Evelyn is still out of town. Unfortunately, I have too many loose ends to tie up. I need to get some money together for the trip. Plus, I want to wait until after graduation for your sake,” Charlie said, thinking aloud. “We don’t leave for Sentria until the fourth of June. Maybe we could sneak out the night of graduation. I’m sure Evelyn will be working at the records facility up until the moment we leave for Sentria, anyway.”
“So, we’ll need to get married as soon as we get our license.”
“Yes,” Charlie said. “We can’t go for style. We just have to go to a chapel that can accommodate us quickly. I realize this is probably not what you envisioned for your wedding day.”
“No, it’s fine for me.” Lilly may have daydreamed a time or two about marrying Superman, but she hadn’t been one of those girls who spent all her spare time looking through bridal magazines and fantasizing about the fabulous wedding she would one day have. It was Charlie who would be losing out. “What about you, Charlie? I know this isn’t how you wanted it to be. We’re not going to have the sacred service that is so important to you.” Lilly could tell by the look on his face that she was right.
“With my blatant disregard for His will, I doubt God would want to be in attendance at our wedding anyway.”
“A civil service will work,” Lilly said, trying to make him feel better. “I don’t need all the fanfare.”
“Sentrian law states that no one can intervene once we’re married. A civil service is just as legal on this world as a religious one.” Charlie looked at Lilly. “So it really doesn’t bother you? Not having a traditional wedding?” He thought most girls, even Earthan ones, dreamed about having a fairytale wedding.
“No, my only worry is my mom.”
“She’s going to be really angry, isn’t she?”
“Definitely. But mostly she’ll be hurt that I just took off and did this.” Lilly had always been the good girl. She didn’t sneak out. She didn’t drink or smoke. Even though she was eighteen and legally old enough to get married, it didn’t seem right. She still felt like a kid. This would be the most irresponsible thing she had ever done. Just as irresponsible as when Michelle and Lalo had done it. For most of Lilly’s life, her mom had warned and lectured her about what a mistake it had been to run off with Lalo. And now, Lilly was about to do the exact same thing with Charlie. Her mom would be so disappointed in her. Lilly worried her necklace with her fingers. Charlie reached over and stopped her by grabbing her hand.
“I don’t want to pressure you. If this is not something you want…”
“No. I am one hundred percent OK with this.” She smiled to reassure him and herself.
Charlie glanced up at the clock. It was nearly ten. Evelyn and the elders would return in a few hours. “I’ve got to go now.”
“You can’t stay just a little bit longer?” Lilly asked.
“It’s very tempting, but I have some shopping to do before we’re back under surveillance again.”
“Shopping? For what?”
“You already have a Sentrian engagement circle. I think you need an Earthan wedding band.” He kissed her on the forehead and then left through the sliding glass door.
***
Evelyn called Jana as soon as she got back from the conference. She had to suffer through several minutes of boring details about the primitive Earthan dance they called prom before Jana finally got to the point. Yes, Lilly had been in attendance. No, Charlie was not her date. She came with someone named Jimmy. Yes, they seemed pretty serious. No, Charlie had not been there. Satisfied she had gotten as much useful information out of Jana as was possible, she made an excuse and hung up. There was only one thing that bothered Evelyn. Jana wasn’t the brightest. It would be better if she had a more reliable source.
“Now will you let it go?” Henry asked. He had been standing at the door to their room.
Evelyn turned around to face him. “Oh, so you’ve started eavesdropping on my conversations?”
“Don’t try to deflect the question.”
Evelyn sighed. “You were right. The Earthan female has a new boyfriend. It looks like Charlie is out of the picture, whether he wants to be or not.”
“And?”
“And what?” Evelyn demanded.
“You’re going to quit harassing Charlie and quit spying on the Earthan girl.”
“No way. Not until we are all safely back on Sentria. You don’t know Charlie like I do. He’s devious. I know he’s up to something. I will not be his fool.”
“One day, when you’re not too preoccupied with Charlie, it would be nice if you got back to being my wife.”
Henry walked off, and Evelyn just rolled her eyes.
***
For the next two weeks things went back to the way they were before the elders went out of town. When Charlie came over at night, they made their preparations. Charlie had been saving the money his parents either gave him or just left lying around, and Lilly raided her piggy bank. Right before they left she would take most of the money out of her checking account. That should get them to Las Vegas and get them started wherever they ended up. They only had one worry: that Evelyn might find out. Unfortunately, she had started staking out Charlie’s house again, but more stealthily than before. Charlie wasn’t sure what this could mean.
***
Evelyn had put in a busy day at the records facility. She started at five in the morning and would be there until at least six o’clock that night. Thank goodness for Earthan coffee. Although coffee had no stimulative effect on her Sentrian system, something about the warm drink revived her. The one thing she took comfort in was that by this time next week she’d be on a shuttle headed for Sentria. She decided to take a break and get a late lunch. While she was sitting at a café in the mall, she heard a small voice ask, “Evelyn?”
She turned around and saw a tall, plain-looking Earthan female sitting at the table behind her. The girl looked vaguely familiar to Evelyn, but she couldn’t be sure. These Earthans all looked alike.
The girl spoke again. “It’s Shelby. From English class.”
“Yes, of course,” Evelyn said. She couldn’t care less. Then she noticed the girl had a camera case slung across her shoulder.
“Aren’t you in yearbook or something?”
“Uh-huh,” Shelby said.
“You must be busy this time of year, what with prom and graduation,” Evelyn noted.
“Yes, well, it’s part of the job. The trouble is, I’ve got so many pictures, and I can only use a few in the yearbook. Like at prom, I had to take pictures of every couple as they were leaving in addition to the dance photos and prom king and queen. You can just imagine how many photos I’ve got to sift through. But what about you, Evelyn? Everyone wondered what happened to you.”
Evelyn didn’t want to discuss her sudden absence from school, but it looked like she woul
d have to in order to continue this conversation with the yearbook girl. “I went back to live with my mom and stepdad. I’m just here for the week visiting my aunt and uncle. Did you say you took pictures of all the couples at prom? That’s a lot of pictures. What are you going to do with the extras?”
“They’ll be tossed as soon as we decide on the final ones for the yearbook, but I have a lot of sorting to do between then and now,” Shelby said.
“Do you think I could see these pictures? I had to leave before prom, and I won’t be here when the yearbook comes out.”
“Well, I guess that would be OK. I’ve never done it before. I mean, I’ve never shown someone the pictures before the yearbook comes out. Seeing as you won’t get a chance to see them otherwise, I suppose I could make an exception. I was just headed back to school to do some of the layouts. Do you want to come with me?”
“I’d love to,” Evelyn said, smiling.
***
Evelyn convinced Shelby she could help with the sorting process, so she was sitting at a corner desk with huge stacks of raw photos in front of her.
“Take out the pictures that are no good because of technical factors, such as blurriness or lighting issues. Later, our editors will decide which of the good pictures will make it into the yearbook.”
“Will do,” Evelyn said.
Evelyn had to admit that Shelby was a good photographer. She had to remove very few poor-quality pictures from the stack. It seemed to Evelyn that the yearbook staff had a preference for a few select individuals: cheerleaders, drill team, and athletes. These must be the beautiful ones by Earthan standards, Evelyn thought. By comparison, there were very few photos of the band. After looking for about half an hour, she finally found what she was looking for: a picture of the Earthan girl Charlie was so smitten with, and her date. Evelyn squinted and pulled the picture closer to get a good look. It was Charlie, of course. He had altered his appearance, but he was still recognizable to Evelyn. “I knew it,” she said under her breath.
“Did you say something, Evelyn?” Shelby asked.
“I just looked at my watch. I didn’t realize it was so late. I’m afraid I’ll have to go, but I did finish these two piles.” Evelyn slipped the incriminating photo into her purse and got up to leave.
“OK. Well, thanks for your help.” Shelby thought it was odd that Evelyn had seemed so insistent on seeing the photos and then decided to leave before even looking through a quarter of them.
***
When Evelyn got home, she ran up to her room. This photo was the proof she had been looking for, but it didn’t explain everything. Evelyn had been checking the logs and knew that Tamar and Charlie were speaking every night. Was he such a slime that he would deceive Tamar just so he could date his annoying, tawny-haired wench? Unspeakable. In the whole history of her planet she had never heard of anyone doing such a thing. She pulled out the logs to examine them more closely.
That was when she noticed something she hadn’t before. Every night they spoke at the same time and for the same length of time—there was no deviation. She used her security clearance to override the password code and opened a log from the last month. This was considered a breach of privacy, but she knew if she found evidence against Charlie, the elders would overlook it.
Evelyn began watching. She should have been looking at a video feed of Charlie and Tamar, one on each side of the screen. Instead, she saw a side-by-side view of their empty bedrooms. She flipped through several days’ worth of entries but always found the same thing: two empty bedrooms with no sign of Charlie or Tamar.
What is going on? Evelyn asked herself. She picked up her PCD and put in a link to Tamar. She could understand Charlie’s motivation to lie, but why would Tamar go along with it?
Tamar appeared on the wall screen. “Hello, Evelyn,” she said meekly.
“I’ll get to the point. I’ve been going through the communications, and I know you and Silas are recording empty logs. The evidence is irrefutable, so don’t bother trying to deny it. What I want to know, Tamar, is why?”
“Well, the truth is, I found my One a few months ago. I told Silas right away, and to my relief, he wasn’t even mad.”
I bet he wasn’t, Evelyn thought. “Why didn’t you contact me with this information? I could have found a suitable replacement for Silas.”
“I…I…was going to,” Tamar stuttered. “But Silas asked me not to. He told me if his parents found out that our engagement was over, they would be disappointed and would try to set him up with someone else right away. He wanted to wait until he returned to Sentria. Elias and I weren’t planning to announce our engagement until later this summer, so I saw no harm in complying with his request.”
“I see,” Evelyn said.
“Evelyn, what’s going to happen to us?” Tamar asked.
“Tamar, do not worry. You are not in any trouble. I wish you much happiness in your upcoming marriage.” Before Tamar could respond, Evelyn terminated the link. She had no interest in punishing Tamar. She was an innocent pawn in Charlie’s twisted game. Evelyn decided to focus all her wrath on the person who did deserve it.
***
When Charlie got home from school, he went upstairs to set up the nightly link with Tamar. He saw he had a message from her on his electronic note pad. He hadn’t spoken to Tamar since she told him of her engagement. His heart sped up as he opened the link.
“Hello, Silas. I’m afraid Evelyn knows that our engagement is off. She did some in-depth investigation of our logs. She told me she wasn’t mad at me, but she seemed angry. Watch yourself, Silas. I don’t trust her.”
Charlie’s mind raced. He knew he didn’t have much time. He grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and quickly wrote Lilly a note. He hoped he could get it to her before it was too late.
He ran out to his car and headed straight to McDonald’s. Luckily Beth and Ian were still there. Charlie ran over to their table. “Beth, please, I need a favor.”
“Calm down, Charlie. What is it?”
“I need you to get this message to Liliana. It is imperative that she read this today.”
“OK, Charlie. Sure thing. We’ll leave now.” Beth grabbed her purse, and Ian followed her out to his car. With great relief, he watched as they backed out of the parking lot. The easy part was done. Charlie got back in the Mustang and mentally prepared himself for what he would face when he got home.
***
There was a knock on the door. Lilly peered out of the peep hole. Ian and Beth were standing on the front porch. Lilly opened the door, and Beth shoved the note in her face.
“Here,” Beth said. “You need to read this now. It’s from Charlie.”
“Yeah,” Ian said. “He acted like it was some kind of emergency. I wanted to read it on the way over, but Beth wouldn’t let me.” Beth hit him in the arm, but Lilly wasn’t paying attention. She was engrossed in the note. Her knees grew weak. She had to sit down.
“Go get her a glass of water,” Beth told Ian. “Is everything OK?”
“No, not really,” Lilly said. Evelyn knew. This was no bueno. Lilly didn’t know how much trouble Charlie was in, but she realized that Evelyn would never let him out of her sight until they returned to Sentria.
While Ian was in the kitchen, Beth whispered a question to Lilly. “You and Charlie are back together, aren’t you?”
Lilly was in a fog, but she managed to nod. “I knew it,” she heard Beth say. Lilly continued reading the note. At the end of the note, he asked her to be prepared for a change of plans and look for messages from him in her French horn case. She read the last line of the note: Do not worry and do not be afraid. We will get through this. Love, Charlie.
She wanted to believe Charlie, but she didn’t know how anything was going to be OK ever again.
“Lilly, what’s wrong?” Beth asked.
Lilly didn’t answer her question. Instead she said, “Look, guys, I’m going to ask you for some rather odd favors in the next few days. Please
just trust me.”
***
Charlie had gotten out just in time. On his way home he spotted Evelyn’s red convertible tailing him, but he was sure she hadn’t followed him all the way from McDonald’s. Charlie pulled into his driveway, relieved that at least Lilly had been forewarned. Evelyn got out of her car and approached him.
“Charlie, I don’t suppose you know why I’m here,” Evelyn said.
“I don’t have the faintest idea,” Charlie lied, wanting to protect Tamar. “But I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Let’s go inside and wait for your parents.”
***
An hour later, Louis and Helen arrived. For Helen it was like a sick sense of deja vu: Evelyn sitting in their living room, telling them what Charlie had done wrong.
“Hello, Louis, Helen,” Evelyn greeted them.
“Evelyn,” Louis said. Helen refused to speak to her.
“Sit down,” Evelyn commanded. “We need to talk about Charlie.”
“What’s the matter now?” Louis glared at Charlie. Charlie looked down at his shoes.
“Charlie’s no longer engaged to Tamar, if he ever was.”
“What? What happened? You two seemed to be getting along so well,” Helen exclaimed.
“Seemed is the operative word. They have been pretending to speak. He has programmed the logs to open automatically and shut down after an hour. They have been recording some pretty scintillating scenes of their empty bedrooms.”
“You had no right to check our logs. That’s a breach of privacy—completely illegal.” Charlie’s voice rose as he stood up.
“Sit!” Evelyn commanded him as if he were a dog. “Once the elders see all the proof of wrongdoing I have, they will commend me for violating your privacy, and you know it.”
“What have you done?” Helen’s hand went to her mouth. She was shaking badly. Charlie said nothing and leaned back against the couch.
“Tamar found her One,” Evelyn answered for him. “Charlie asked her if she would pretend they were still engaged, supposedly to keep from being set up with someone else. Of course, it was really so he could continue his relationship with the Earthan girl.”