Aunt Jean, Ron, and...

copyright ©2010 by A_Satori. All rights reserved.

Author's note: This piece is a multi-sequel to three previous stories: Aunt Jean, and, An Upside-down "Y", and, Island. I suggest at least the first two titles be read prior to this story.

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FRIDAY EVENING

Jean stared over the top edge of her menu at the man. She was trying to imagine his face with a beard. She was fairly certain it was him. He suddenly looked towards her and she quickly averted her eyes to the list of appetizers. She leaned towards Ron and spoke just above a whisper, "Ron?"

He continued searching the entrees. They had only been here once last summer, the day they had gone to Lincoln Park Zoo. Mrs. T had recommended it to Jean. He was trying to remember the name of the dish with the really wide, thick noodles. It had been very tasty. "Yeah?"

"Don't look now, but wh-"

"Huh?" His eyes went to her then he glanced around the room.

"Don't look around." Jean exhaled sharply and dipped her head behind her menu.

His heart fell a little when he saw Jean was hiding her face as she had that very first time they went out. He thought she was over all that. "Jean, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just don't look around."

He sighed. "Okay. I won't. Is some... What is it?"

Jean whispered, "There's a man sitting at a little table against the wall near the front window. Don't loo-"

Ron interrupted, "Jean, come on, if he's looking over here it's because you're beautiful, it's not becau-"

She broke in, "I'm not thinking about that." She blinked. Was she being as bad as some people use to be, actually still were at times, about her disfigurement? No, it wasn't the same thing, yet she had been staring and he did have a bad scar.

Ron was clueless. His brow pinched. "What about the guy?"

She continued whispering, "He's got a thick scar on his head. In a few minutes, will you look over at him, don't stare, just casually glance?"

Ron couldn't believe she was asking him to look at someone's scar. "Jean, this... doesn't this seem a bit like-"

She interrupted again, "I know... it's... it's bad of me, but it's not about his scar. I think it's that man who was marooned on that island. Remember? Last December? Maybe around Thanksgiving? He and a few girls were rescued. He had a beard though and longer hair in the pictures I saw of him." His scar had been seared into her memory.

Ron's abdomen tensed. "Has he been checking you out? Or, are... are you attracted to him?" He wasn't sure how serious he was about the latter question.

Jean rolled her eyes and shook her head. She smiled softly at Ron. "No. I'm sitting with the man I'm attracted to. You're right. I shouldn't have stared, but... I'm just curious. It was an interesting story, and I thought I heard on some morning news show that he was thinking of moving to Chicago. I-I was wondering if that was him. That's all. Nevermind. I'm being rude to him and to you."

"Is he looking this way?"

Jean whispered again, "I don't want to look. I don't want him to think I'm staring at his scar."

Ron smiled. Sometimes it was so difficult to believe she was twelve years older than him.

She whispered once more, "Why are you smiling like that?"

"You're just very cute sometimes. I wish I could kiss you right now."

"We can't do that in the open, you know that, and... you're just making fun of me now, aren't you?"

"Jean?"

"What?"

His smile turned into a grin. "Why are you whispering?" He chuckled, then felt Jean's foot give his calve a light slap.

Jean blushed. "Shut up. You are laughing at me." She half smiled. It had been silly to whisper, the man wouldn't be able to hear her normal voice.

Their waitress walked up to the table. She raised her pad and put her pen to it. "Hi. Are you ready to order?"

Ron looked at the pretty girl, the smile still on his face. "I think we need a few more minutes, but... there's this one dish, with really wide noodles. I can't remember the name of it. It was a stir fry with meat and... broccoli, I think." He showed her the menu.

The waitress bent at the waist and pointed out two entrees to the cute guy. "Um... this one, and this one have wide noodles."

Ron had been gazing at the man with the scar. "I'm sorry, which?"

The girl smiled. She guessed he thought she was cute too. "This one, and... this one."

"Great. We'll just need a few more minutes."

Jean was trying to control her surprisingly instant and growing sensation of jealousy. She sipped her water as Ron gave the girl a smile before she walked away. She set her glass down and stretched towards him. "Which two?"

Ron leaned towards her, showing her his menu and pointing with his finger. "This one and... ahhh... this one."

"I'm sorry, which two?" She grinned.

His eyes met Jean's. "Hey... I was looking at the guy you think is hot."

"I don't think that." She quickly glanced at the man. He actually was good-looking, trim, muscular, but he was too old to be described as an ideal guy. She tensed for a moment as the thought made her worries about her relationship with Ron surface.

He noticed a change in Jean's expression. "What?"

She smiled. "Nothing. So do you think that's him?"

Since the previous summer he always closely checked out people with scars or disfigurements he saw now, although he made sure not to stare and to be furtive about his glances if it was in person. His reason for doing it was to see how the person was reacting to and handling the people around him or her. He remembered seeing photos, news videos, and even some segment on one of those dumb TV "entertainment news" programs he happened to walk passed in the student union. He couldn't recall the guy's face except that he had a beard, but the scar looked exactly as he remembered it. "You're right. It might be him. Did you want to talk to him or... or get an autograph or something?"

His gut tightened again. She might say yes. He knew someday she might meet a guy she wanted to get to know, then might fall in love, get married, all of it. He took a slow breath and told himself not to think about it. The summer had just started. They were still months away from having to seriously talk about it again and decide whether or not to renew their relationship 'agreement.'

Jean shook her head slightly. "No. I mean, it would be great to hear the story first hand, but... it would be rude to just intrude on him. And he's probably sick of it, I mean people asking him about it. If it really is him." She noticed something odd in Ron's eyes. She wondered if he was momentarily jealous too. She smiled. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"You're really cute, and I wish I could give you a kiss right now." She felt a wave of sadness. After months of consideration, she finally had promised herself a week ago this had to be the last summer with him, her last summer of love. She had to let him go on with his life and leave her behind in the fall. There wasn't any other option. She had to let him go.

"I really do wish I could kiss you."

"Me too."

Ron smiled and sighed. "I guess we better figure out what to order. Huh?"

Her eyes moistened. She nodded. "Uh-huh. Yam nuea and pad thai?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, those for sure." He really wished he wasn't starting his summer job on Monday. He wanted to spend every hour of the next three months with her.

Ron kept looking at her as Jean's face turned to her menu. He felt his semi grow a bit more and suddenly also wished they would have returned home first after dropping Dad at O'Hare earlier. A couple weeks ago over the phone they had made plans to have dinner here though, see Dad off then drive straight into the city from the airport. He knew they would never have made it in for dinner if they had gone home first. They had been together for a day and a half and had only been able to sneak in a few lengthy, passionate, tongue dancing kisses, the last one before leaving the airport. He desperately wanted to make love with her and was glad Jean seemed nearly as eager as him. Waiting a few more hours would just make it all that much sweeter and hotter. And he did really enjoy being out with her on a date... just being with her, period.

Ron's eyes returned to his menu. "So... what else should we get?"

*

Ted grinned as he turned into the small municipal parking lot adjacent to the el station. "I can't believe it. There's a spot open." The area was being gentrified. When he had lived in the city there had never been a question about finding a vacant space. The small parking lot was conveniently located right across the street from the restaurant. He stopped the car and switched off the engine. Kyli took her seat belt off and started to open her door. "Hey... wait a sec."

Kyli looked at him and raised her eyebrows on her smooth forehead. "What?" Her brows relaxed and her mouth formed a little smile as Ted leaned towards her. Her lips parted as his met hers. It was a warm, sweet kiss, a nice five second romantic thrill.

Ted pulled back. "Okay. I'll at least make it through dinner without another Ky fix."

She shook her head slightly and smiled. "Come on. I'm hungry."

He chuckled. "Hey, quit stealing my lines."

She stepped out of the car. "I'm not. I haven't really eaten all day."

Ted got out. "Stay there, I'll get the parking sticker." He walked over to the machine four spaces away, fed enough dollar bills into it for a two hour sticker to be on the safe side. He returned to the car and stuck it on the dash, then locked the car. He took Kyli's hand as they crossed the street to the small, storefront restaurant. He opened the exterior door letting Kyli enter first, then grabbed the handle of the glass airlock door. "Ahhh... dammit." His hand stayed on the handle but he didn't pull.

"What?"

"I can't believe it. One of my students is here."

"Should... should we go somewhere else?"

The sidewalk door opened. Ted glanced behind as two girls Ky's age stepped into the small airlock, two guys in back of them waited to enter. He opened the airlock door. "Ahhh... what the hell. We don't have to talk to them. Maybe I'll just nod at him."

Ted knew he should say something to the young guy. He had been one of his better Drawing 1 students. Just a few days ago they had talked for over an hour when the kid came in for his final "15 minute" critique and to pick up his portfolio. Ted had hoped to have a romantic dinner with Kyli. He hadn't expected it would be necessary to watch his actions with her.

Ron heard the entry door hanging bell jingle. He glanced that way, then quickly looked at Jean. He muttered, "Oh crrrrap."

Jean set her menu down and saw a good looking guy about her own age entering the restaurant with a very pretty Asian-American girl, followed by two other couples. The guy was staring at her. She quickly looked at Ron telling herself the man wasn't focusing on her eye, and if he was she shouldn't care about it. "What is it?"

"That guy with the Asian girl. He's Ted Palow, my art teacher. My art professor from that drawing class I took this past semester."

Jean briefly glanced at the couple again then gazed at her menu. The man's eyes had met her own once more. Her stomach tensed for a couple reasons. He really was a cute guy, and she was now sure he had been staring at her disfigurement. "He's... he's looking over here. You... you should say hello, shouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I should. Be right ba-"

"Are you ready to order?" The pretty waitress smiled.

"Oh... ah... yeah." Ron recited what he and Jean had decided to have. When the girl left, he saw another waitress seating Mr. Palow and his date against the wall behind him. He noticed Jean was gazing over to that table, then her eyes moved to his own. She had an odd expression on her face as her hand rose and her fingertips played with and combed her hair around her disfigured eye socket and scarred cheek.

Jean stopped breathing for a moment when she noticed where Ron's eyes were focused. She lowered her hand. "Sorry."

Ron smiled softly. "You want me to tell you again how beautiful you are?"

Her eyes teared a little. She could see he truly believed it. "No."

Kyli glanced at Ted then opened her menu. "Are you staring at your student or his girlfriend?"

Ted smiled at Ky. "Yeah, I was glancing at her. The guy's good looking but I didn't think he'd have a girlfriend that pretty, even with her eye, she's... well, very attractive. Looks a little like you actually."

"He's not bad either." Her eyes moved to the second page of the plastic laminate menu.

Ted chuckled and opened his menu. "Ky, I'm an artist. I was looking at her thinking about a drawing, wondering if I could do her justice with the eye. Don't get bent every time I just look at some girl. And... I think I've seen her before. I was trying to figure out where."

Kyli exhaled. "I'm sorry. I... I know we said we should be open to going out with other people, but it-"

Ted interrupted, "That was you who said that. I didn't disagree, nor did I really agree with you either. It's been nine months and I haven't once thought of asking anyone else out."

She looked at him. Her eyes teared. "I don't know what else to do. I can't hurt Mom and Dad. We can't hur-"

He stopped her from continuing by reaching across the table and taking her hand in his. He sighed then half smiled. "We said we were just going to have a good time tonight. Let's do that. We'll talk... tomorrow about all of it... again. Okay? Mom and Dad will be gone for a week with the Bensen's."

Kyli took a slow breath. "All right." She told herself to relax. "So, are you going to say hello to your student?"

"Nah." He gave her hand a little squeeze then let it go. He looked at the menu. "There's a natural order to the scheme of things. He should come over here to say hello." He would have said hi if the kid had met his eyes when they were shown their table. He figured the young guy didn't want to be bothered on his date. Ted half smiled again. He didn't want to be bothered on his date either.

Kyli was glad he said that even though she thought it was dumb. She had wondered if he might go over to their table just to check out the girl close up. She looked towards the front of the restaurant. Her brow pinched. "Ted?"

"What?" He kept perusing the menu, even though he knew what he would probably order.

"Remember that news story last fall, I guess around Thanksgiving, about the man and the college girls shipwrecked on that island?"

"Huh?" He looked up.

"It was in the news. It was-"

The waitress walked up. "Would you like more time or are you ready to order?"

"Ky? I'm ready. Are you?"

"Mmm... yes." Kyli named a dish then she and Ted discussed which appetizers to get. They settled on fresh spring rolls and the pork satay. Kyli closed her menu and waited to hand it to the waitress after Ted finished ordering. She looked at Ted's student and his date. They made a cute couple. She wondered how the girl got injured. She was very pretty. Kyli figured Ted had been checking her out, not thinking about a drawing. She was glad the girl didn't have big boobs. No matter what Ted said to the contrary, she was sure he liked big boobs. All guys did, yet he never seemed disappointed in her chest. Maybe he wasn't lying?

Kyli couldn't see the guy's face now, just his back, but the glance she had before, he was cute too. He abruptly turned around and his eyes met hers. For a moment she felt breathless and confused enough not to look away. He is good-looking. Finally she broke eye contact and picked up her ice water. The waitress took her menu and went to the kitchen ordering window. Out the corner of her eye Kyli saw him stand up. He was coming to their table. She set her glass down and saw Ted turn his face toward him and smile. She felt nervous for a second and then thought it was an odd reaction. Maybe not so odd. She and Ted were on a date and he had run into someone he knew.

"Hi, Ron. What are you doin' here? I gave you your grade already, didn't I?" Ted smiled.

Kyli mouth curled at one corner and she shook her head slightly a couple times.

Ron smiled. "Hi, Mr. Palow. Yeah, you did but I still think I should've gotten an A."

Ted stood. He didn't like guys who didn't stand to shake hands. He wouldn't do that to the kid. He held out his hand. Ron shook it firmly. "I told you at the start of the term I was a tough grader, but yeah, like I said the other day, you were borderline to an A. Tell you what, take Drawing 2, work as hard as you did this past semester, have your drawings turn out as well, and I'll give... you'll earn an A."

Ron grinned. "Guess what? I pre-registered for it. I'll be in your class in the fall."

Ted sat down. "Ahhh... damn. Me and my big mouth." He looked at Kyli trying to decide out how to introduce her, not her surname, she hadn't changed it back to her maiden name, although she had been talking about it for a few months. He realized he didn't have to give any title to her. "Ky, this is a really good drawing student, Ron Mazur, but I think he's going into architecture." He looked at his student. "Ron, this is Kyli... Yiu."

Kyli smiled and offered her hand. Ron shook it firmly but not crushingly. It surprised her. Guys either limply gripped or they crushed. "Hi, Ron."

Ron smiled. He felt he had seen her somewhere before but he couldn't think of where. "Hi. Nice to meet you, Kyli." Both his dad and Jean had said to always say a person's name when being introduced so it would be easier to remember it. He doubted he'd forget Kyli's name. Their hands parted. He wondered if she lived in the city and Palow was visiting her. He kept smiling as he looked at his drawing instructor. "Well, I just wanted to say hello. And... thanks again for the talk on Tuesday. I appreciated it. I'm glad I was the last crit of the day." Ron had enjoyed the art class, had really gotten into it. It had him wondering about what it might be like to be a professional fine artist. He had been thinking a lot about majoring in architecture though.

"Yeah, good seeing you, Ron, and I enjoyed our conversation too." Ted glanced at Ron's date. She was watching but looked away when his eyes met hers. She picked up her ice water. There really was something familiar about her, but he couldn't place her. He looked at Ron. "Hey. Did you meet the girl you're with down at school?"

"Huh? Oh... ahhh... no. No. I... uh... knew her before college." Ron got nervous. He didn't want Palow asking more questions. "Well, nice seeing ya."

"Yeah, you too. Have a good summer break."

"Yeah, you have a good one too." Ron smiled at the beautiful girl. "Again, nice meeting you, Kyli."

"Have a nice evening, Ron."

Ron headed back to Jean. Their table was on the opposite side of the fairly narrow room. He was sure he had seen Kyli before but couldn't recall where. He had definitely seen her face. Maybe she was with Palow on campus? He also knew he could be confusing her with some other beautiful Asian-American girl he had seen. Actually, it was probably Chinese-American. 'Yu' is Chinese, isn't it? He thought she looked more Japanese than Chinese. Could he really tell the difference? He sat down and smiled at his last thought. He put his cloth napkin back on his lap then met Jean's eyes. "He asked about you."

"He did? What?" Jean's stomach tensed and her eyes grew slightly.

"He asked if I met you at school."