Daylight

Viv’s POV

To my great relief, when I went to the Daylight Bathers’ bus the next morning, Petula was right where I expected her to be—in her bunk.

“Hi, Aunt Viv,” she greeted me sleepily. “What’s up? Why are you up at this ungodly hour?”

I smiled at her; she was so pretty. I’d almost forgotten how much.

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” I said, moving her hair out of her eyes. “I hadn’t spoken to you for a few days, and then—well, yesterday….”
She grinned. “Yeah, wasn’t that something? What a riot.”
I took a deep breath. “So, uh, what’s up with you and Joe?” I asked as casually as possible.

Petula groaned. “Oh God, not you too!” she whined, burying her head in her pillow.
“Oh, honey,” I tried to reassure her, “I just wondered. You don’t have to tell me anything that you don’t want to, you know that.”
Suddenly she smiled wickedly. “Where’s everyone else?” she asked in an undertone.
“They’ve all gone to get breakfast. Why?”
She sat up as well as she could in her little bed. “Oh my God, I’ve been dying to tell someone, but Sal and Mo were—well, you’ve seen how they are.” She chuckled. “Can you keep a secret, Aunt Viv?”
I swallowed. “It depends on the secret,” I replied cautiously.
Petula leaned in closely. “Well, you know how I stayed over with Joe the other night?”
I nodded.
“Probably much to the dismay of my friends, but very much to my relief, Joe was a perfect gentleman,” she giggled.
I was confused as to why this should be a secret. “Why is that a problem for your friends?” I had to ask.
“Because they don’t get it,” Pet replied happily.
More confusion. “Um, I kinda feel like them now, honey,” I responded. “What don’t they get?”
“They don’t know for sure whether I slept with him,” she answered, “and it’s driving them nuts. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. It’s amazing to get to see Mo and Sal trying not to ask me, when it’s all they wanna do!”
It took me a minute or so to unravel that thread.
“I…see…?” I finally said.
“But the bigger secret…” Petula continued, “…is that Joe asked me to be his girlfriend. And I said yes. And they don’t know!”

I was less confused, but still a little concerned.
“I dunno, honey,” I said. “I mean, all this time I thought you were 24 and a college graduate…and really you’re just sixteen and still in high school.”
She just beamed at me. “Is that so wrong? I’m having a great time.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Now it was Petula’s turn to be confused. “What?”
“If you have mood swings,” I told her, “I’m just glad most of them are happy.”

She rolled out of bed then, swinging her feet to the floor in an almost-graceful maneuver that made me wish I could move like that.
“Let’s go eat!” she suggested enthusiastically, hugging me close.
Just then, we heard a man’s voice calling, “Hello? Anyone home?”

Petula perked up even more: of course it was Joe.

Joe’s POV

“Pet? You there?” I called from the bus steps. There was a bit of feminine chatter, and then two lovely redheads were suddenly in me sight.

It struck me—just for a moment—how much alike they looked. I mean, I’d never seen Pet’s mum, so maybe it was just the normal family resemblance, y’know?

No matter; I went straightaway to my girl.
“Hello darlin’,” I greeted Pet, kissing the top of her head.
She looked up at me happily. “Hey, Joe, good morning,” she answered.
“And to you as well,” I replied. “And Vivian, how nice to see you too. What’s it they say? An embarrassment of riches, yeah?”

Girl and auntie looked at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“We were just going to get some food,” Pet stated.
“Oh, well then, in that case, allow me to escort you,” I joked.
“I have to get dressed,” Pet said, looking sideways at Vivian. “But Joe…I, I wanna have breakfast with you, but…I haven’t seen my aunt in a couple days, and we wanna catch up. Is that okay?”
I pulled me best injured face. “Oh, don’t worry about me,” I said dramatically, “I’ll be just fine…I don’t mind being ignored, really I don’t….”
“Stop it,” Pet said sternly, but she was smilin’. “You can sit with us if you want, but I can’t guarantee the conversation will include you—or make any sense either.”
I smiled back. “No, luv, s’alright. You catch up with your auntie, and I’ll see you a bit later, maybe for lunch, yeah?”
She nodded up at me, and I couldn’t resist givin’ her a kiss, right in front of her godmother.
Vivian said then, “Honey, we’ll just step outside and let you dress.” And she chivvied me right out the door.

Once outside, Vivian tugged me arm.
“You really like her, huh?” she asked casually.
I smiled back and nodded.
“Petula’s…very special to me,” she added.
“And I can see you’re the same to her,” I replied.
We waited another minute in silence, then Vivian spoke.
“You’ll be good to her, right?” she questioned me. “Because if you’re not, I’d hate to have to kick your ass, you know?”
Given her size, I thought she may have been shittin’ me, but…better safe than sorry.
“I’ll be nothin’ but good to her, Vivian,” I assured the lovely woman. “She’s summat else, for certain.”
“You’re right about that,” the lady agreed. “She’s a handful, all right. But in a good way.”
Before I could ask what she meant, Pet appeared—lookin’ just lovely, I might add—and off they walked together.

Viv’s POV

As we headed for the concessions, Petula took my arm and hugged it to her. I smiled; she used to do that to me when she was younger.
And I still loved it.
“So what’s to eat?” she asked.
“Oh, all kinds of things,” I said vaguely.
Petula looked at me suspiciously.
“Aunt Viv,” she said in a warning tone.
“Hmmm?”
“What’s going on?”
I looked at her. “What do you mean?” I asked as casually as possible.
Petula shook her head. “Oh, God, Aunt Viv, you are the worst liar,” she told me.
I tried to act surprised. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She stopped walking. “Aunt Viv…you have that look on your face.”
“What look?” God, she’s right; I stink at lying most of the time.
“That I’ve got a surprise look,” she answered.
I flushed. “OK, so there is sort of a surprise.”
She giggled. “This is sorta like when you took me to see the Souls the first time, for my 15th birthday, remember?”
I smiled. “Yeah, of course,” I replied. “How could I forget?”
“So what’s the surprise this time?” Petula asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Patience,” I told her.
“Where are we going?” she asked me impatiently as we resumed our walk.
“To get breakfast.”
“But that’s not all, right?”
“Honey…come on, we’re going to be late,” I said, tugging on her arm. Oh shit.
She stopped short again. “Late for what?” she demanded. “Concessions are open all day. So what’s up? Spill it, Aunt Viv.”
I held out my hand. “I’ll tell you in a minute,” I promised. “Please, honey, let’s get something to eat and some coffee.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but came along anyway.

When we got to concessions, the rest of the Daylight Bathers were already waiting.
“Jesus, I thought you’d never get here!” Mo, the lead guitarist, shrieked.
“Story of my life,” I heard Petula mutter.