Must the Flowers Die

Chapter 12: Deserts

Mia was surprised the next day when she spotted Liam pulling up outside her house. She had been lounging around in her "pajamas," an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt from her elementary school days with puffy paint. She had not yet brushed her teeth or taken a shower. She thought of refusing him entry but quickly rejected the idea. That would be perceived as high-maintenance and crazy even though he was the wrong who showed up early in the morning, uninvited, sans text. She once again silently cursed the injustice of it all and shook her fists at the ceiling. How was she supposed to be presentable and chill at the same time? The expectations were impossible.

Gary, who was mowing the front lawn, waved Liam in through the open front door. Liam leaned in for a casual kiss, and Mia urgently shook her head, not least because her breath smelled with wet death. She pointed at Gary, who had a direct view of them through the large front windows and mouthed, "No PDA."

She added, not able to resist herself, "Don't get me wrong, especially after last night, I adore you. But I don't think I'm being too fastidious in requesting a text if you are going to come over before ten on a Saturday."

"It's ten-thirty."

"Nuh-uh." No way that much time had passed. She woke up early and had since been foolishly daydreaming about college living with Liam by her side. Rationally, she knew it was too early, but no reason to deny herself a little imaginative indulgence.

Liam held his phone to her with the front screen lighted. It was 10:40 a.m., in fact.

"Well, my statement still stands. That's why God invented the cell phone."

"Actually, Martin Cooper invented the cell phone to promote the bottom line of Motorola." He smiled wickedly.

Mia rolled her eyes. "Ok, smart aleck. I guess I should shower and get presentable. You want to wait around, or I can call you when I'm ready."

Liam opted to wait, which made Mia itchingly uncomfortable. She still didn't like the idea of her parents having independent access to Liam. There would be no intervention were they to venture into embarrassing territory. She rushed through her morning routine. When she came down, her dad was having a beer while giving Xiao a back massage. Liam was nowhere in sight.

"A little early to be drinking a beer dad. Where's Liam?"

Gary had the decency to look sheepish when he pointed to the front yard with his beer bottle, where Liam was pushing the lawnmower.

"You didn't!" Mia exclaimed.

"He volunteered!" Gary countered defensively. Then as if it made it better, he added, "He is much younger than me."

"I am."

"Huh?"

"He is much younger than I am, not me."

Gary then muttered a torrent of Chinese, only some of which Mia could catch with her toddler-level competency. She didn't wait for her dad to repeat in English and flounced out to save Liam. She returned to the kitchen five minutes later, unable to convince Liam to leave the task.

Gary smirked. "Told you," he said. "The boy must be head-over heels."

A surprisingly short while later, Liam came in, looking obnoxiously refreshed. Somehow the manual labor did not cause a hair to fall out of place. Gary, apparently finding Liam's general unwearied demeanor suspicious, went to check Liam's handiwork. He returned muttering his under his breath about the injustice of aging. Before her dad could draft Liam into cleaning the gutters, Mia dragged him out of her house into her car. Liam, who was in a jovial mood with her parents, quieted down.