Mimi
2000, Fort Lauderdale (Two Days After the Execution)
Mimi clung tightly to Elliott’s back as they sped through the streets of South Florida.
The motorcycle vibrated between her thighs as she rested her chin on his shoulder. The wind so strong against her face, blocking out the scent she’d come to associate with him. She loved how Elliott smelled, and her emotions were so conflicted at what had happened two days ago that she wanted more than her chin resting on his shoulder. She wanted to feel his arms around her. To bury her face in his chest. She wanted to feel safe. She wanted to feel loved.
She wanted to feel special.
“I promised Edith we’d have a late breakfast with her. Hope that’s okay with you,” he said loudly as they idled at a red light.
Mimi gave him a thumbs-up, and twenty minutes later they were sitting across from Elliott’s grandmother at the tiny table in her cozy kitchen. Elliott had introduced Mimi to his grandmother not long after their first date at Marcella’s earlier that year. She’d yet to introduce Elliott to her parents. She still wasn’t ready.
“My friends are picking me up soon,” his grandmother told them. “We’re going to see “Death of a Salesman” at the community theater. I’m sure there are plenty of tickets left. Would you two like to come?”
Elliott smiled at his grandmother. “I know you’re worried about leaving us alone in the house—”
“Young unmarried couples were never left unchaperoned in my day,” she told him in her gravelly voice. Elliott had told Mimi his grandmother had been a smoker up until she’d had a lung removed five years ago. Her voice always sounded like she needed to clear her throat.
“We won’t be here long after you leave. We’ll clean up the kitchen as a thank you for making this great breakfast.” Elliott looked at Mimi, who gave a quick nod. “Then I’m just going to take Mimi for a nice long motorcycle ride. Maybe up by the beach.”
Edith looked at her grandson with an expression Mimi couldn’t read. She patted his cheek a little too roughly as she stood to excuse herself. She would need to brush her teeth and freshen her lipstick before her friends arrived.
“Just don’t do anything that would make me ashamed of you, Elliott.”
Her voice almost had a pleading sound, and Mimi could see the worry on her lined face.
Elliott stood then and gently took her by the elbow. “Those days are gone, Grandma. I’ve straightened up my life, and you know that. I’ve proven it to you.”
“I guess you’re right. I thank the good Lord every day that you stopped your shenanigans before you got into any trouble with the law. You’re blessed, boy. I hope you know that. You don’t have any record, and the Lord’s seen fit to give you a new start. Use it wisely.”
“I am, Grandma. I’m trying to prove to you and God and my new girlfriend,” he paused and winked at Mimi, “that I can do something with my life.”
He gently guided her out of the kitchen. Mimi could hear him continuing to give his grandmother gentle reassurances that he wouldn’t be going back to his old habits.
Mimi smiled to herself and started to clear the breakfast dishes. She remembered her first date with Elliott and how he had shown her the beautiful cross tattoo on the underside of his forearm. She remembered how she took his arm in both of her hands that day and slowly turned it over, noticing some of the tattoos on the other side. She’d stiffened when she saw a heart with the name Edith in the center of it. She shook her head now as she loaded the dishwasher. She’d had an instant jolt of jealousy after seeing that name and knew she blushed when Elliott had quickly explained, “Edith is my grandmother.” She thought she remembered him blushing, too.
She had just closed the dishwasher when she felt arms surround her from behind and a soft kiss on the side of her neck.
“You should’ve waited for me to help,” he whispered in her ear.
She turned her face sideways so his mouth was now against her cheek.
“You can wipe the table,” she answered, her voice coming out like a squeak.
They pulled apart when they heard a horn honk, and Elliott went to find his grandmother. After a quick hug goodbye and an insistence that Mimi come back to see her, Edith let her grandson escort her to the waiting car of her elderly friends.
Back inside the house, Elliott took Mimi by the hand and led her to the sofa. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked gently.
She chanced a look at his face, and her eyes filled up with tears.
“It’s done. It’s over with. I only saw my dad for a few minutes before you picked me up. I haven’t seen my mom yet, so I don’t know how she’s going to act.”
“How did your dad act?”
“When I got home this morning I found him in the den by himself. Just staring at the wall. When I tried to get his attention he barely heard me.” She got quiet then and looked at Elliott’s chin. “I lied again. Told him Lindsay and I were invited to spend the day at Courtney’s. I have until late tonight, so we can do anything you wanna do.”
She swallowed hard and chanced a glance into his eyes. What she saw scared and excited her.
Elliott stared for a second without answering.
“I know what I want to do, Mimi,” he said without breaking away from her glance. “For God’s sake, I’m a guy. Do I need to spell out what I want to do? What I’ve always wanted to do? But I’m not going to. I’m not going there with you. Not yet anyway.”
“But, I—”
“No. You heard Edith. You heard her talk about making the right choices. She’s right, you know. It’s a miracle I didn’t get arrested for all the shit I’ve pulled. I’m lucky my friends got caught, but I didn’t. Lucky they didn’t point the finger at me. I know it’s a shitty way to think, but it’s true. They have records now, not me. I can’t blow this.”
“How is being with me going to blow it?” But she was secretly relieved. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the physical awakening her body had been experiencing. She was raised in the church and knew premarital sex was wrong.
“You know how. Our ages. When I turned eighteen, you became officially off limits to me.” He sighed and in one quick motion hefted her off his lap and placed her next to him on the couch. He adjusted his pants. “I shouldn’t have pulled you down on my lap like that.”
“What are you waiting for? My parents’ blessing? Because there is a pretty good chance that won’t happen.”
“And it will definitely never happen if I don’t meet them.” His voice turned hard. “How can I ask for their blessing if they don’t even know about me?”
She started to say something, but he put up his hand to stop her.
“You told me you were going through some heavy shit, and you needed time, and I understand that. Man, all that crap you told me about your real father and the reporter approaching you and all that. Yeah, I get it, Mimi. I really do. I even understand why you’ve had a serious hard-on for your parents all these years. They should’ve told you.” He saw her chin start to quiver and reached out to steady it with his hand.
Tilting her face up to his he continued, “I’m sorry, Mimi. Maybe this isn’t the right time to bring up meeting your parents. I just really care about you. I want to be able to meet your dad for the first time, shake his hand, and look him in the eye knowing I didn’t do anything to disrespect him. I feel bad enough sneaking around behind their backs, and I’m even lying to Edith. She’s asked me more than once if your parents approve of me.” He looked away, shaking his head. Then something occurred to him. “Are you crying because he’s dead? You got tears in your eyes when you told me he was dead.”
“Oh, Elliott, I don’t know what’s wrong.” She swiped her fingers beneath her eyes. “Maybe I feel bad about it in some way. I mean, a guy is dead. Or maybe I feel guilty for helping Leslie behind my parents’ backs. I don’t know why I’m crying.” She sniffled. “We get so little time together, and I don’t want to spend it blubbering all over Edith’s couch.”
She smiled at him then and sat up a little straighter.
“Can we go for that long ride on your bike now?”
He took her hand and gently kissed it.
“Yes. And I’m limiting my kisses to your hand, because if I start kissing you the way I want to, I’ll never stop. It’s probably not a good idea to be here alone, you know. Unchaperoned.”
They both laughed out loud at his use of Edith’s antiquated term.
Late that night, Elliott laid on his bed and listened to Judas Priest’s “You've Got Another Thing Comin'” blaring through his earphones. He thought about his day with Mimi and how when they weren’t on the motorcycle, she had opened up more about her biological father and some of the more recent tidbits she’d learned about him from Leslie.
The journalist had been filling Mimi in on some of the stories she’d been pulling out of Mimi’s mother. Apparently, Leslie hadn’t told Mimi anything since her accident a few weeks ago, but Elliott hadn’t known about that. Today was the first day he’d spent with Mimi in almost a month.
He shook his head as some of those sordid tales sunk in. He’d definitely heard the name Grizz before and tried not to let Mimi see the recognition on his face when she’d first started confiding in him. Her real father was one bad motherfucker. Good thing he was dead.
A combination of his dark thoughts and the loud music were starting to make him antsy. He wanted to scream, shout, put his fist through a wall, raise hell. He wanted to do anything but lie in his bed and do nothing.
He reached for a cell phone on his nightstand and quickly sent a text, smiling at the reply that came back almost immediately.
He then sent another text. This time to Mimi.
Did you talk to them? Can I meet them this week?
Mimi’s reply was almost immediate.
No. My mom moved out today.
“Fuck!” he shouted out loud as he threw his phone across the room.
He sat up quickly and pulled his boots on. He left his room and grabbed his helmet off the chair by the front door.
He wouldn’t worry about his motorcycle waking up Edith. She slept like the fucking dead.