Nobody Girl (5 page)

***

Every night ended the same way. After dancing the evening away in one of the ship’s nightclubs, they would stroll along the deck and talk for hours then kiss in front of Delia’s door. Chase told himself that as long as he didn’t let it go any farther he’d be fine. He wasn’t too attached and he could leave the ship with no strings.  In a few days or weeks he’d get over her. He looked down at the sexy black cocktail dress she wore. Okay, maybe months.

“I’m not wearing underwear,” Delia giggled, suddenly snapping Chase out of his thoughts about how to end their romance. She rested her head onto his chest and nestled closer to him as they slow danced to “Bewitched” by Frank Sinatra. His whole body tightened as he resisted the urge to run his hands over the smooth curve of her butt.

“Did you hear me? I’m not wearing any underwear.” Delia lifted her head and kissed the bottom of Chase’s chin. Then she kissed down his neck to the top of his chest, sending a thrill throughout his body that landed in his loins.

“Delia, I think you’ve had too much to drink.” For the first time in a week, he had seen her drink more than two sips of an alcoholic beverage. That night at dinner, she’d had not one, but two glasses of wine and he could see the effect it had on her.

“You’re probably right. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m not wearing underwear, does it?” she said in a singsong voice before giggling again.

He had tried to be a perfect gentleman all week. He had tried not to get too close to her even though their make-out sessions in front of her door lasted longer and longer each night.  He only let the conversation dwell on superficial things, especially after he learned that she too was from Washington D.C. Even though Delia had revealed so much about her life including her sister, her failed marriage, even about being adopted, Chase hadn’t revealed anything about himself.

All she knew about him was that he and his grandmother were very close. Anytime Delia wanted to know more about him, he expertly directed the conversation toward the topic of Felicia or to his fascination with the fifties. He’d played it as careful as he
could,
knowing the feelings that were developing in him and knowing that if she found out the truth about him, she would probably run away screaming.

“Maybe we should go,” Delia said dejectedly after she received no response from him. She pulled away and ran her fingers over her long hair which she had recently straightened.

“Delia, I
— ”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so embarrassed.” She turned and dashed out of the nightclub.

He had to be discreet. He had to use discretion.

“Delia, I just don’t want to take advantage of you,” he said once he caught up with her in the hallway.

“Chase, I’m a grown woman. I know what I’m doing.”

Discreet.
Discretion.

“But there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“This has been the most romantic week of my life, Chase. I just wanted … I just thought
… ”

He sealed her lips with a kiss that made her melt in his arms.  They stumbled around the corridor until he had her pinned against a wall. His hands caressed the silky contours of her dress until they reached her glorious panty-less bottom.

Screw discretion …

“So, what’s his name?” Donna Lee asked as she licked duck sauce off each of her fingers with a disgusting
slurp
sound.

“I hate when you do that,” Delia said.

“What?  It’s not like I’m sucking
your
fingers.
Chill.”
  She continued to slurp.

“Donna Lee, please, we’re in public.”  Donna Lee let out a ferocious man-sized belch.  A few people in the Chinese restaurant turned around to see who could be so crass.  Most people assumed it was the overweight white man sitting in the table next to them.  No one imagined it would come from such a petite and elegant looking Asian woman. But they didn’t know Donna Lee.

“You’re so embarrassing,” Delia said as she put her head down and tried to hide her face.  It was little things like this that made Delia wonder how they could have been brought up by the same parents.  But Donna Lee was full of surprises.  She loved obliterating the stereotypes people formed in their heads.  She loved the looks people gave her whenever she mentioned that she and Delia were sisters.  And she always found a way to mention it no matter what the situation.

Most people assumed there was no way Delia could be related to the petite, Korean Donna Lee. Especially since Delia was … well, no one really knew for sure what Delia was.  They were both adopted when they were infants.  Donna Lee came straight from an agency located outside of Seoul.  She knew who her parents were and had even spoken to them on a few occasions.  Lee was her real parents’ last name so her adopted parents kept it as her middle name so she would never forget her true heritage.

After finding out the truth about her infancy, Delia secretly called herself the “dumpster baby” or “nobody girl” whenever she got depressed.  But she felt she was getting better. She had to make sure she never used those nicknames again. Even though she had started to gain some self-confidence, it still didn’t change the fact that she had no idea where she came from. With her olive complexion, green eyes, and curly dark brown hair, Delia had imagined herself everything from white to black to Spanish.  For a while, she even thought she might be part Greek.  She finally settled on telling people she was of mixed race and leaving it at that.

“I’ll stop, if you tell me about him.  You know you want to. You haven’t stopped smiling since we sat down.”  Donna Lee loved torturing her sister.  She always thought Delia was too uptight anyway.

“Fine,” Delia said, actually happy to have an excuse to tell her about Chase.  Donna Lee took a napkin and cleaned her hands like the polite young woman her sister always wanted her to be.  She tossed her waist length jet black hair over her shoulder and got prepared to hear the juicy details. 

Smiling uncontrollably, Delia started to describe every detail of Chase’s appearance from his sexy well-maintained facial hair to his full dark pink lips to his perfectly sculpted legs.  Delia always had a thing for men’s legs.  She remembered the first time she saw Jason’s legs as he played ultimate Frisbee on the mall in D.C.  She never imagined that she would date, let alone marry, such a perfect physical specimen of man.

Donna Lee nodded her head impatiently, waiting for her sister to get to the good stuff, but Delia kept rattling on about his penetrating blue eyes with the long dark lashes, his luscious hair,
his
movie star smile.  It was downright sickening in Donna Lee’s book.

“Did you screw him or not?” 
she
asked finally when she couldn’t take anymore of Delia’s romanticized descriptions.

“Donna Lee!”

“What?  I’m sorry, but you needed a good lay.  I mean, really, how long has it been?”

“It hasn’t been
that
long.  My divorce isn’t even final.”

“Well, the last three years of your marriage weren’t much of a marriage, now was it? Even in the beginning I bet that selfish bastard, Jason, never loved you properly.”

“My sex life —”

“— or lack thereof,” Donna Lee interrupted.

“My sex life,” Delia started again as she glared at her sister, “is none of your business.”

“Since when?”

“Since now.”

“Whatever.”  Donna Lee rolled her eyes then grabbed a handful of noodles with her bare hands and stuffed them into her mouth even though there was a perfectly good fork right next to her.  Delia cringed. “So, have you spoken to him since the cruise?”

“No, and I don’t plan on it. I don’t think I’m ready for a serious relationship. He was what I needed when I needed it, but I’m happy with leaving him as a precious perfect memory of summer.”

Donna Lee eyed her sister skeptically. “He was bad in bed wasn’t he?”

“No, it’s not … he … I am not discussing this.”

“It’s okay Dee. Not everyone is going to be as good as Jason. I mean Jason had a lot of practice. I mean
a lot
of practice.”

“Check, please!”

***

Delia was serious about not seeing Chase again.
At least, not anytime soon.
She knew he took the Golden Swan cruise every summer, so when she was ready, she could find him again. Right now, she needed to concentrate on herself. She’d decided that losing her job with the National Science Institute may not have been the worst thing. Staring into a microscope all day long without any interaction with other humans wasn’t good for her psyche.

While packing the last few belongings from the condominium she shared with Jason, she noticed some brochures from local private schools. She wondered why they were in the house. They didn’t have any children. They didn’t even talk about having children. Then Delia had a dreadful thought. What if he wanted kids with Gina? Maybe she was already pregnant and they were deciding on a school for their unborn baby.  The waiting lists for some of those schools could be years.

She banished the thought from her mind. Jason was too narcissistic to even consider having children. There had to be another explanation. Delia sat down and studied the brochures more carefully. Then she had a bizarre idea. Why not become a school teacher?  She certainly had enough education and it might be the welcome and drastic change she needed from her previous life. Maybe it would give her life some purpose and direction.

After forwarding her resume to five different D.C. private schools, she received four phone calls within the week. Even without a teaching degree, she received offers from all the schools that called her. Three of those schools were amongst the brochures she’d found at Jason’s place. Delia didn’t think anything of it at the time. She settled on Saxon Arms because she happened to find an affordable apartment within walking distance.

“Are you sure you want to move out so soon? I really don’t mind having you here,” Donna Lee said to Delia on her last day in the apartment. Delia loved living with her sister even though she was a pig, but four people in a two bedroom apartment was getting to be a little much. She looked forward to spreading out in her own bed instead of falling off the couch each morning when Shannon started
blaring
her music. Or was it Sharon that
blared
the music?

Suddenly, in a blur of movements, two speeding and identical figures burst into the living room and clamored for the couch. One of them turned on the TV, while the other arranged the pillows into a comfortable layout.

“What’s going on?” Donna Lee asked.

“
Shh
! Tom is giving a press conference today,” Sharon said, waving her hand impatiently.

Donna Lee rolled her eyes.

“Tom, who?”
Delia asked.