I have to suffer through a day without the dance academy on Thursday. I don’t have class myself, no wheelchair ballet, and Danika would be displeased if I tried to see Blitz again, so I can’t go practice. Mom would get suspicious too.
I don’t know what to do. I try to study my SAT, but I can’t concentrate. Andy gets frustrated with my lack of attention when I help him with math. Mom starts to notice.
I’m saved by Irma, who calls the house saying she just got a delivery of new pew cushions and she could really use my help. Mom sends me on my way with a sack lunch, which means I don’t even have to keep myself straight in front of Dad.
When I get to the church, Irma is all aflutter. “They are doing everything wrong!” she says. “Can you man the phones while I stay on top of this?”
“Where’s Father Stephen?” I ask.
“Playing golf!” she says in exasperation. “It’s some diocese thing. Today of all days!”
I want to point out that she could have had the cushions delivered some other day, but think better of it.
“Just handle the calls. If anything is something you can’t answer, take a message and I’ll call them back when this is done.”
I nod and shoo her back to the sanctuary, where I can hear people dragging things around. I want to peek in, but then I spot the laptop sitting out and open. It’s right beside her chair.
I sit before it, my fingers itching to search. Irma was in the process of ordering new prayer books. The website is up. I open a new tab and start a search for “Benjamin Castillo.” Danika called Blitz that yesterday.
Wikipedia sends me to Blitz Craven, which I read the other day. But I want to know more about Benjamin, at least more than the facts about his show. I want to know everything.
I find what I’m looking for on the third page of results. A fan has created a site with all the pictures and information that’s out there from interviews, school yearbooks, and social media.
Benjamin was a class clown, voted “Best sense of humor” by his senior class. When he was runner-up for Prom King, he kissed the Queen before the winner got a chance.
That figures. I can totally see Blitz doing that. I stare at his senior photo. His expression is serious at first glance, as if he’s been told to look that way. But I can see the smile flirting with the corners of his mouth, and the laugh in his eyes. He’s always been fun loving, that is obvious.
Everything I see there matches the Blitz I’ve seen up close.
I wish I had known him then, when there wasn’t such an experience gap between us.
Irma comes into the room and I frantically kill the tab. When she sees me on the computer, she frowns, but I say, “I really like the cover with the doves. Does it come in purple?”
She relaxes. “Why don’t you pick it, Livia?”
“Happy to,” I say, eyes back on the screen.
A crash in the sanctuary makes her jump straight in the air. “Oh, those people!” she says.
I have to hold in my laugh. Irma is like one of those cartoon angry people whose curse words are always funny symbols. @%$#!
When she’s gone, I have to start the search all over. This time I click on an interview with an entertainment magazine. The picture that accompanies the article is gorgeous, Blitz dancing solo on a dark stage with streaks of light behind him. I wish I could make a poster of it for my wall. God. My dad would freak.
Irma appears again, and I close the tab.
“The roses are in the lead now,” I tell her.
She nods and hurries back to the storeroom. I sigh. If she’s going to dash around, I’m not going to be able to look anymore. It doesn’t matter. I have the real thing. And tomorrow I’m going to see him again.
I rest my chin on my hand and stare dreamily at the wall. I relive every moment I’ve had with him, from his arrival during my practice to the girls’ ballet class to the dance lesson yesterday.
I have no frame of reference for how I’m feeling. I guess it would be a crush. A starstruck fantasy. For all I know, Blitz is acting this way with plenty of other women. When Mindy and I searched for girlfriends the other day, there was no shortage of recent love interests.
But he hasn’t been in San Antonio long. Why did he come here anyway?
Irma passes by, holding a box fan by the handle. I wait for her to disappear through the door, then open the tab one more time. I go back to the Wikipedia entry. This time I notice a detail that I missed before.
Born 1990 in San Antonio, Texas.
When Blitz got in trouble, he came home.