She dug up a particularly stubborn root, and unearthed several pill bugs in the process. They promptly rolled up into balls. Rita laughed, and rolled them around with a twig. Theo came up behind her and smacked her lightly on the top of the head.
"You are supposed to be working. Stop playing with bugs. You act like you never did this when you were little."
"Maybe I didn't. Maybe you're supposed to be working, too, stooge. What happened to that?"
"What happened to labor laws? That thing it terrible! Is there any way to sharpen those blades? It's going to take me all day to cut the grass." He shielded his eyes from the sun. Rita smacked a hand lightly against his stomach.
"You could use the work out, sissy boy. I bet you couldn't bench press a hundred pounds."
"Could too. I could pick you up with no problem."
"Could not. I bet you couldn't." She folded her arms and tried to make herself as heavy as she could. He wasn't lying. He could lift her easily. "Okay, okay!" she said as the ground rapidly departed from her seat. "I get it, put me down!"
"Oh no," Theo smiled, one dimple showing. This made Rita very nervous. "I'll put you down in due time. Just enjoy the ride, babycakes."
She clutched his arm. "Put me down right now, you oaf. I need to weed the garden."
Theo stopped, his black hair flapping in the breeze. His face, already close to hers, came forward. "Are you sure you want me to put you down right this very second?"
"Yes!" Rita shouted, then hasitly observed the naughty glint in his eyes. "No! No!"
But it was too late. Theo dropped her straight into the creek behind the house without a second thought. Rita flowndered for a moment before standing up, completely soaked.
"You are going to pay for this, Theodore Brown. Help me up right now." The water was warm because of the climate, but it was the principal of the thing. She stood there, jean shorts chaffing her skin, Theo smiling down at her and eyes narrowed. She looked something like a wet cat after it's been given a bath. Theo was enough of a gentleman to help her out. Rita was not enough of a lady to keep from pulling him in with her.
Theo hit the water with a huge splash that sent Nicole and Gaetano running. He came up laughing and coughing. Rita stood over him, holind a large makeshift club in her hands.
"Now we're even. Let's join forces and get the other two." She put out a hand, both to shake on it and to help her friend up. Theo shook, and rose out of the water and walked menacingly towards where Gaetano's head had appeared through the weeds. He quickly came up behind his unsuspecting relative and pushed him in the creek. Nicole was even easier; Rita just reached a hand up and tripped her. This pulling of people into the water was clearly an act of war, so Nicole and Gaetano duly joined forces. Rita and Theo, who were not sneaky by nature, usually splashed wildly until they hit someone. Gaetano came up with strategies and Nicole carried them out.
"Hey, Rita!" a voice sang sweetly over her head. She only had a second to see Nicole perched in a tree before a bucket of water fell directly in her face. She laughed and coughed at the same time, and when she got the water out of her eyes, Nicole was gone. It didn't take many of these types of ambushes before Theo and Rita surrendered. They were forced to carry their friends piggybacked all the way back to the house (they'd gone further and further downstream as the war had progressed). It was getting dark by then, so Rita was not altogether miffed by the extra heat protacting her back. The girls allowed Theo and Gaetano to take baths first, since they had to go back to Gaetano's apartment and didn't want their car smelling like a creek. They finished quickly, and Rita allowed Nicole to take a shower while she saw the guys off.
"Thanks for coming to help. See you later." She blew kisses to each of them. Theo blew one back in a prissy fashion. Rita rolled her eyes. Gaetano half hugged her. Gaetano hugged everybody. He hugged other guys, he hugged old women, he even hugged people he didn't know that well. It was his way of making everybody welcome.

She was cold by now. The water in the white claw footed tub was steaming, and felt like fire against her cold flesh until she got used to it. Rita yawned, and felt like going to sleep right there in the tub. You'll probably drown, she thought. She pulled lumps of dirt and grass out of her hair and put them outside the tub. She didn't want her bath getting muddied.
As had grown to be her habit whenever she had a spare moment, Rita began running lines in her head. "What is this? Sleeping pills?" she muttered to herself. "No, that's not right. Where is my script?" It was on her bedside table, of course, where it always was. It was not helping her much there, and she couldn't go get it. Well, you can, but it would require leaving the bath tub which is really too much to ask someone who's been chased around by crazies all day. It'll just have to wait. She closed her eyes-
And thought of Dov? Where did that come from? She usually daydreamed about Theo. What did Dov have to do with anything? You're just tired, she thought, and forced the image of Theo into her mind. She felt a smile form on her face, adn she tried to imagine him telling her that he loved her.
Nothing. Absolutely no words issued from the image of Theo's face. Is that an omen? she wondered. No. No omens. I am not a suspicious person. I am reasonable and critical. All it means is that I need to go to sleep. She sluiced the dirt off her body, washed her hair and got out as quickly as she could. She wrapped herself in her robe, and as soon as her head hit her orange pillow she was asleep.

"Like, no way!" Rita squealed, opposite the woman playing her nurse. "There's no way his dad's a police officer! He's way too cool for that!" She put a hand to her forehead dramatically and looked up a the celing.
"I'm afraid it's so, ma'am. He told Ben, and Ben told Cara and Cara told Ashley and Ashley told Kyle and Kyle told Travis and Travis told Joye and Joye told me. And now I'm telling you. The boy's father is a police officer, and he's training to be one as well." She waited for Rita's reply, trying to look as if she were waiting for something to gossip about. Rita made her face as blank as possible. Georgette's, the girl playing the maid, face fell. "Oh well, ma'am. I'd best be on my way. The other women are waiting for me, you know. I'll just be off." She mosied toward the door, taking only a few steps before stopping. "You know, he was awfully handsome." She leaned forward, waiting for a responce. Rita turned away. "I would like to spend a lot of time with him, if I could, ma'am. But he's too good for the likes of me. A girl like you would be able to keep his attention, though." Still nothing. She took a few more steps. "I hear he's in love with Rosalyn, actually, so I guess it's no use my trying to get his attention." Rita's jaw twitched, and she spun around.
"In love with Rosalyn? Why, she has a new beau every week! If he won her over he would only have her won for a few minutes!" She spat the words, but tried to make herself understandable.
"Well, he's in love with her for all that," Georgette said with a wide smile, now that she had something to contribute to the gossip vine. Three of her teeth were blacked out. She shrugged her shoulders. "Good night, ma'am."
"That's good, stop for a moment." Dov said from his chair. Rita dissolved into giggles.
"I'm sorry," she gasped, "But that part makes me crack up. Georgette, you are great." Georgette dropped a curtsey. Dov, when Rita had gotten herself under control, winked at her. She was flaberghasted. Dov didn't wink, did he?
"Rita, I love how you're turning more and more into the lovable airhead. Georgette, you are almost perfect. I think you need to be just a little more gossipy. Push you glasses up a few more times. Pretend your chewing gum. I don't know, just do it, yes? Next scene." Dov sat back down, and Theo, Givovanni, Paolo and Franchesca came onstage. Theo brushed against her arm, but she didn't feel the blush rush to her face like she usually would. Stress, she thought. Chalk it up to stress.
As soon as Theo began to talk, Dov put a hand up. "No, no, no, Theo. You need to be more of the steriotypical hero. You need to thrust out your chest. Think a bit of Elvis, I think. Yes, Elvis. Hips and all, you know? Do it again."
Theo said his line, and tried to swivel his hips, but failed.
"Again." Dov barked.
"Hello, little lady-"
"Again."
"Hello, litt-"
Dov stood up. "Like this." He thrust out his hip with a cheesy smile. "Hello, little lady." He struck a pose, arm against his waist and weight on one foot. Rita couldn't keep from laughing. The whole thing was made twice as funny by Dov's accent. He smiled at Rita, a real smile, not the Elvis version, and went back to his seat. "Try it like that." Theo managed somehow, and Rita had another giggle fit, along with most of the other members of the cast, including Dov. "Very good," he commented as they acted. "Very good."

"Rita?" Georgette came up to her after practice, when she was waiting for Nicole to come pick her up to take her to work. Theo had left already, using his bike. Rita had one, but they still had the car, since Rita had rented it until the beginning of August, which was only three days away.
"Yeah? Great job with your part, by the way. It just gets better and better." She folded her arms. When will I learn that this place is cold? Rita thought.
"I have a question to ask you. It's kind of personal." Georgette, too, folded her arms.
"Why don't you ask me, and I'll tell you if it's too personal, okay?"
Georgina, a black haired and voluptious girl, looked a little uncomfortable. "Okay. Are you and Theo involved? I mean, is he your boyfriend?" She spun a lock of hair around her finger. "If he is, I'll lay off, but I like flirting with him, and he seems to like flirting back. I think he might ask me out, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't double timing you, or anything."
Rita laughed a little. "No, we aren't going out. We're just friends. I have to warn you, though. He flirts with everyone." She could tell as she said it, by the set of Georgette's jaw and the raising of her eyebrows, that her warning fell on deaf ears.
"Oh, that was until he met me," the confident girl said flippantly, and walked away. "Thanks for the tip, though," she tossed over her shoulder. She'll be sorry, Rita thought. A lot of girls don't pay attention, and they think he likes them more than the others. The only girl he says anything he means with is me. Unless I'm like that girl, and think that I mean more to him than I actually do. Dov's behaviour came to mind, as was happening more and more frequently. He didn't flirt with any girls. He was respectful and kind to everone she'd seen him with. He is so considerate, she thought, her gaze finding it's way to him. He noticed, and waved to her. She waved back, then heard a car horn. She jumped out of her skin, much to the amusement of many of her fellow actors, who were watching her wave to Dov. They laughed, and she bowed before looking out to see who it was. It was Nicole. She grabbed her umbrella and raincoat, and was attempting to get the raincoat on when a pair of hands came to her assistance.
"Let me help you with that," Dov's low voice was right in her ear. She jumped again, and she chuckled, straightening her collar in the back. "Your collar is always crooked. I thought I'd help you make it straight and tucked in. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," she said wispily, pulling her coat sleeves down. "I appreciate your help." She recovered her composure. "See you later, alligator."
"After a while, crocodile." She ducked out the door and into the rain before anything else could happen.

"So," Nicole slurped a soft drink. "How was practice?"
"Fine," Rita answered, shaking water from her coat and flicking it at Nicole. "I need a drink. Hand it over."
"I don't suppose you know the magic word?" Nicole continued to slurp, unperturbed.
"Open sesame. Alakazam. Honeycomb. Avada Cadavra. Hocus Pocus. Bibbity bobbidy boo. Melon." she rattled off before giving the correct answer. "Please."
"Your wish is my commmand. Don't distract me while I'm driving."
"All things considered, I think I should drive. Actually, I think I have to, according to the contract."
"You let me drive before. And Theo."
"I'm concience smitten. I need to drive. Besides you zone out an awful lot, and it's not too long before we can turn this baby back in. Which will be nice. I'm hoping to use the money from the play to pay for the rent on the house for a while longer. I'm not sure how long." Nicole opened her car door and got out. Rita clambered over the seats. Peggie would have complained about the wetness she was getting everywhere, or about how careless she was, but Nicole didn't even notice. They pulled out, and Rita watched the wet road carefully.
"Don't autogyro," Nicole said seriously. She had pulled out one of her ever at the ready to be on call and on the go books. How she fit them in her pockets, Rita had no idea.
"What? What does autogyro mean? Isn't that some kind of plane?"
"No. That's when your tires slide around and you lose control of the car."
"That's a hydroplain, Nicole! Where did you get autogyro?"
Nicole shrugged and began to read. "Whatever it is, don't do it," she said before becoming dead to the world.
"I wasn't planning on it," Rita said, even though she knew the bookworm didn't hear her.
Even in the rain, Rita found the countryside beautiful. Through the grey of the rain and clouds she could still see the colors that permiated the country. They whizzed by a sunflower field, the flowers heads facing the ground as rain poured over their muted colors.

"Hey, Mama? This is Rita. I was just calling to ask if-"
"Hello?" Her mother picked up the phone. "I told you not to call us anymore, Rita."
"I know, Mama, but I need some of my things from home and-"
"You aren't getting them. We payed for them, and they're staying here." Her voice was clipped and unemotional.
"That isn't true." Rita gritted her teeth but tried to stay calm and reasonable. "Some of them are presents from other friends, and some of them are things I bought with money I made. From a real job."
"No. I'm not sending anything to you. If you call again I'll notify the athorities."
Rita winced as the phone hit the reciever loudly on her mother's end. She made a sound between a moan and a growl. Nicole, sitting at the kitchen table eating pasta, looked up sympathetically.
"No go?" She took a bite of alfredo.
"No." Rita said heavily, and sat down. "I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't even listen. Grr. She's so- so-"
"Stubborn? Manipulative? Selfish?" Nicole suggested, pushing another blue plate of food at her friend.
"Hey, that's my mother you're talking about!" Rita said, stabbing the pasta.
"Sorry. Just trying to be helpful." She poured Rita a glass of water.
"Thanks, Nicole. Sorry. I'm just so frustrated. If I could get a hold of Daddy- But everytime I call it's her. And Daddy must have changed his work number because evertime I call that I get some Chinese dude. Which is most definately not my father." She moved her food around with her fork, unable to work up an apitite. "And things aren't going so well on the legal side of things, either. Aside from just becoming a citizen, which is no picnic to attempt, the easiest way to live here is to marry a citizen or to have some recent family member who was a citizen. There's no way that's going to work out," Rita stabbed her plate again, sending pasta sauce across the table, "because my Mom's side of the family is from Germany, and Dad's from Finland. His family moved to America with my Great Grandfather. Before that they built Saunas since the stone ages. No luck with Mom's side, either. All the other ways involve everything but signing away my soul. Possibly that, too. So maybe I won't be able to stay here, after all. I think I might need to buy that book, "How to Win Back Friends and Influence Parents to Let You Back Into Their Will." She finally took a bite of the food. "Mm, Nicole, this is really good! Did you make it?"
Nicole shook her head. "No way. I burn water. This was Gaetano's doing. He put it in the fridge last night, and I just heated it up. Microwaves are a wonderful thing, or I'd be dead of starvation by now. He says that as soon as my Italian is fluent, he'll teach me how to cook." Nicole beamed. "Then maybe we won't have to rely on someone else to cook. The only thing you know how to make is bread. Good bread, but bread."
"Hey," Rita said, eating with gusto. "It isn't my fault the only thing my mother could keep my attention long enough to learn was bread. That was sheer will on her part. 'No child of mine is going to get married and not know how to make bread.'" She posed like her mother. "Weird thing to think about, if you ask me," she continued, slumping back into her dejected posture. "Do you know any Italian guys I could marry? I'm beginning to sacrafice true love, here. I'm desperate."
Nicole pretended to put deep thought into it. "Nope. Well, I can think of someone who you could, but that would be low." Her face grew cloudy. "That corn boy."
Rita laughed. "Are you still upset about that? Geez, it used to happen all the time back home."
"One, I wasn't there. Two, you understood what those guys were saying. Three, they were guys you kind of knew, right? From school?"
"Yeah. So?"
"That means they knew you. They weren't just kissing any girl who looked nice. Let's talk about something else. You're making me make myself angry."
"I have practice tonight. That makes me happy. Very happy."
"How is it going? I heard a couple of the girls talking about a kissing scene that was happening. Is that you?"
Rita blushed. She'd been dreading the scene on stage. It wouldn't be so bad if it were some guy she didn't care about, but Theo? It didn't help that Georgette was hanging around him, and every time Rita talked to him the girl got a little protective. "Yeah. It isn't so bad as of yet because Dov isn't actually having us kiss when we practice. He says he wants it to look fresh and spontainious on stage. Which is all great for him, but I've never kissed a guy! I will have no idea what to do. I hope Theo has more experience than I do, or we're done for."
"You might not be. Go practice it with him." Nicole grinned slyly.
"I," Rita said, drawing herself up regally, "am not going to commit so wanton an act. Things will just have to go smoothly on stage. Or maybe we'll have a go at the dress rehearsal. I don't want to think about that. Right now, things are going fine. I wish we still had that dumb car. The ride there is going to be killer."
"I said you should practice when we had the car, so I could pick you up if worst came to worst."
"That's my problem, Nicole. I'm too lazy. I don't do what I need to do until it's too late. I heard someplace that you can tell a lot about a person by when they buy Christmas presents. You know, serious and sensible people buy them early, normal people buy them in November. Do you know when I buy Christmas presants, Nicole? I buy them the week before Christmas. I even have to go out on Christmas Eve to get stuff. That shows what kind of person I am. I'm a dumb person." She planted her face on the table. The silverware and plates jumped. A glass nearly tipped over on her reclining head before Nicole steadied it deftly. Rita moaned.
"I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. And my favorite shoes are in my closet in America. In Illinois to be more specific. Actually, they're not in my closet anymore, since nothing in that house, it seems, even belongs to me. They're in my parent's closet. Or my mother's closet, since my father obeys her every word." Her voice was muffled by the tablecloth. "And now my nose hurts because it sticks out from my face and my face is on the table, leaving no room for my nose. I'm going to get bone fragments in my brain and die." She sounded resigned. "What's worse, I just remembered that my shoes aren't in my mother's closet; they're in Peggie's, and if there's any place where I am less likely to get my shoes back than from my mother, it would probably be from Peggie. Great. Is it possible to die because everything is piling up on you? Wouldn't that be suffocation? I think I need some chocolate. But we don't even have any. That's how pathetic my life is."
Nicole patted Rita's back helplessly, and played with her hair. "Rita's hair, likes to dance, likes to dance, on her head!" she sang. Rita sat up.
"What does that mean?" There were tear marks on her face, and an imprint of a lace doily Nicole had made. Ignoring the dirt under her fingernails, Rita wiped her face off.
"It's just a song I made up. Do you feel better?"
"No. Not really. But at least I don't have to kiss anyone tonight."
Nicole patted her hand. "That's right. Go take a bath. You'll feel even better. And we do have some chocolate. Look in the pantry. It's only a Hershey's bar, but it's better than nothing. Be happy."
Rita lept up, knocking over her chair, and rushed to the pantry. She pulled out the bar with a yell of joy. "I've got a golden ticket! Do you want some, Nicole?" She broke it in half, and offered some to her.
"No thanks. It's yours. Now go!" She arose and pushed Rita gently up the stairs. "I also have some bath salts in the cupboard. Use them. I'll tell you when you have to leave." She walked out, and Rita shut the door.

"No, no, Pastor Tom. We want to be married." Rita giggled.
"But Juliet! You're father will have me killed when he hears about this!" Ricardo, playing Pastor Tom, quaked.
"No he won't, you big silly! He'll get over his little tantrum, and learn to thank you."
"I'm afraid he might have killed me when he gets over his little tantrum, as you say." Ricardo held up a hand in front of his face. The hand was shaking enough for even the people in the back to see it. There was laughter.
"He won't. Just marry us, and we'll be off!" Rita took his hand, and looked into his face imploringly.
"Oh, all right. But what about that man your father wants you to marry?"
"He's just some hit man. He won't ever win Daddy over." Rita laughed at the very idea of such a grimy, disgusting man marrying her.
"Okay,that's good for tonight. We'll stop there. Theo, Rita, I want to talk to you for a minute," Dov said, waving his hand to dismiss everyone else. "And be on time, next time, okay, Ferdinando?"
Rita made her way through the press of bodies on their way out to Dov. The setting sun hit his hair, making the dark brown look like there was a halo over top of it. "Yes, Dov?" she asked. Theo was already there.
"I wanted to talk to you two about your interaction. You don't seem as...close as you used to be. It's a little odd, because usually as the practices progress the actors get closer. Did you have a fight?" Rita and Theo looked at each other in surprise.
"No," Theo said, looking back at Dov. "Not anything big."
"Ah." Dov nodded wisely, rubbing his chin. "I wonder... Did you two know each other for a while before this?" They both nodded, brows furrowed. "I think I know what the problem is. Rita, Theo, you are thinking of each other as Theo and Rita. You need to think of each other as Romeo and Juliet. If you do that, I gauruntee it'll be more convincing. And don't worry about the kissing. It'll come naturally, trust me." He smiled. "You can go now, I just wanted to see if anything was wrong between you. I don't want fights breaking out among the cast."
"I understand," Theo said with a grin. "I wouldn't want that, either. I've gotta go, I'm running late for my other job." He sped off, and Dov turned away.
"Um, excuse me, Dov? I had a question." Rita almost tapped his shoulder, but restrained herself. She was not a little girl.
"Oh, Rita! Pardon me. I didn't realize. Go on." He turned around and patted her hand.
Rita was a little disconcerted, but went on. "Um, you said that- This is kind of embarrassing for me- you said that the um, the kissing would be natural? What if, hypothetically speaking, an actress has never kissed anyone in her life. What would you say she, um, do about that." She bit her lip.
Dov threw back his head and let out a large chuckle. "Why didn't you tell me that's what you were worried about, Rita? There's no problem with that! Theo has probably kissed many girls, he'll know what to do."
"But how do you know," Rita stressed.
"I know he's kissed at least one because I saw him." He noticed Rita's eyes widen, and put his hand up. "No, I'm not going to tell you who. But I would say that you have nothing to worry about whatsoever."
"But how can I be sure?" Rita knew she was being a pest, but Dov just smiled.
"You could kiss someone, I suppose." Was it just her, or was his smile a little suggestive. She remembered the wink. She blushed.
"I don't really have anyone to kiss," she stuttered. "I mean, not anyone who means it. Not that they need to if I'm practicing, but I don't know, maybe it would be nice if they actually meant it..."
"You have no boyfriend?" Dov's bushy eyebrows rose. "Do you mean it?"
"Yes, of course I mean it." Rita watched his face carefully, and saw some emotion flash across it. It looked surprised, but something else, too.
"Would you like to-" But Rita was not to discover what Dov wanted to do, because at that moment, Ferdinado ran up.
"Dov! Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" Dov shook his head quickly, and turned away from Rita.
"No. I'll talk to you later, Rita."
"Oh good, because-" he went into a stream of Italian. I must really be annoying, Rita thought regretfully. He couldn't wait to get away from me and my stupid questions. And Theo kissed a girl? That brought him down a few notches in her book. She knew that he wasn't involved seriously with anyone because he did tell her about girlfriends. When he'd had a crush on Penny Hinklethwait he'd told her and Peggie, and when he'd gotten over her he told them, too. He still told Gaetano, Nicole and her about all the girls who flirted with him, and if they meant anything to him other than a little fun. Recently there'd been no one. Probably Dov was wrong, Rita concluded. It was probably someone else. Like that corn boy. she strode out the door with a mix of confidence and self-rightous anger, whether at herself, Theo or Dov she didn't know, and straddled her bike. She kicked up the kickstand, and pushed off.
And promptly fell over. She inspected her knee, which was only slightly scratched, and kicked the bike. "Dumb thing. I bet Dov could ride you." Where did that come from, she wondered. She mounted the bike again. This time she hit her stride without falling. Go me!
She rode this way, getting progressively faster as she grew more confident. The road was mostly level with no huge hills she had to overcome. She was fairly speeding along, when, as is always the case, she grew too cocky.
It was all the fault of her nose, which was itchy. She got up the courage to scratch it, but with one hand off the handlebars the bike wheel turned and hit a large pothole. Her bike flew one way, and she the other. This time some damage was sustained. She hissed as she peeled her jeans away from the cut, from which crimson blood was flowing. "I don't think all this dirt sticking to it is sanitary," she said, and tried to brush it off. No good. It stuck to her wet knee, and rubbing the skinned knee was a no-no. She glared at the bike. "Dumb machine." A car drove past, and slowed to a stop in front of her before backing up.
"Hey," Dov said, "Are you okay?" She turned around and realized that the black car was his.
"Yeah. I'm fine," she said, flustered. "I'm just great, except this stupid bike is trying to kill me." She pointed to her knee, then displyed it in all of its gory glory. He sucked in a breath sharply.
"That looks like it hurts," he said, getting out of his car. "How did it happen?"
"Oh, it's no big deal. I just scratched my nose, then went out of control and hit a pothole. It's not that bad, I've had worse in my time." She wished for a hair tie. The breeze was strong, and her hair whipped around her face and caught dust; probably not very attractive.
"But you'll probably have a hard time riding home. Those cuts aren't very serious, but it probably hurts to bend." He knelt on the ground to look at it. She bent her knee, trying to show him that it was fine, but couldn't help wincing. He looked up. "Yes. Where are you going?"
"I was going home. It's a few miles up this road, then a few more to the left. I'll be fine."
"I can drive you," he offered, and that same expression was on his face again. Great, she thought. Thanks a lot, bike. As if my director didn't hate me enough already. Now he has to drive me home. Don't talk too much, Rita. Don't talk at all. "It's not out of my way at all." He stood, and the same breeze that made her hair look ratty made his look like a movie star's.
"You really don't have to," she said, trying to let him off the hook, "but if you insist, I'd be glad to let you take me." She gulped, and repeated her urge to herself not to talk fervantly in her mind.
She ducked into the black leather interior quickly. "You can sit in the front, you know. I won't bite." He gnashed his teeth at her, and she laughed.
"I'm used to Theo and Peggie fighting over the front." She closed her eyes briefly. Don't talk too much, especially not about Peggie. "Thank you so much."
"It's no problem. I'm happy to help." He patted the passenger seat. "Now come sit up here. I can't see you if you're back there. And if I can't see it is no fun to talk to you. You have such wonderful expression."
Rita moved to the front. "You're too kind," she said demurely. She hated how she sounded. She sounded like some society lady. But if she tried to sound like herself she would undoubtably annoy him.
He looked at her oddly. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head? You don't sound anything like the Rita who came to practice today."
"Well, I'm trying not to be annoying." She covered her mouth. "Um, to be blunt, and all. I didn't mean to actually say that."
"Annoying? Who said you were annoying? You are a funny and engaging person! Let me at this person who called you annoying." He didn't look at her because he was driving, but he almost did.
"No one did," she said, taken aback. "I just thought- because of after practice- it's just-" She took a deep breath. "I thought today you didn't want to talk to me anymore because I was annoying. I was annoying. Aggrivating, immature, weird. Anything else."
He pressed a hand to his forehead, and pulled the car over onto the side of the road. Oh no. He's going to kick me out for being a pest. Or maybe he's going to kill me. There's a sunflower field right there. He's going to chop my head off and throw my dead body into the field, and no one will know where I am. Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.
"Rita," he said, bringing her out of her head, and into the real world, where the moon was out, and he was looking into her eyes. His eyes weren't green like Theo's, but they held her captive just like his did. Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with color, she pondered. Theo's eyes didn't hold her as firmly as they used to, after all. "Rita," he repeated. "I wasn't angry with you. I was nervous. I was embarrassed. I was going to say that I wanted to get to know you better. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out and have dinner sometime. I was going to say a lot of things, but that wasn't the time. When Ferdinando came in I realized that. It was too public, and you were too distracted." And I'm not now? Rita thought sarcastically, until the words sunk in.
"Wait a minute, what? You were going to ask me out?" Her hand flew to her cheek, which was burning with a fierce blush.
"I was," he said, looking out the window. "I was and now I am. What are you doing Saturday night?"
"Nothing, I don't think." She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. From annoying to attractive in less than ten minutes!
"Would you like to go with me to Buono Sapore that night?" He looked at her now, and his eyes were bright. It struck her that he looked like a live version of the Saint George statue she'd seen in Florence.
"I would love to," she said faintly. He started to drive again. His normally serious looking face was broken into a grin. "Bene! I'll pick you up at eight. Unless you want to ride bikes?"
Rita shook her head vigorously, and they both laughed. They drove in silence for a while, until he pulled into her driveway.
"I'll see you on Saturday," he said as they both got out. He opened the trunk and handed her the bike. She rubbed the orange surface gently. Thank you, bike, she thought as Dov drove away, and the red dust followed his car. You might not have meant to, but you made my day.

Rita walked into Nicole's room and turned on the light. Nicole, who went to bed early and was a light sleeper, awoke with a start.
"I think I was wrong about Theo." Rita sat down hard on the bed. "How could I be wrong? I think that I'm actually interested in Dov. My director! I feel like some kind of crazy movie star. Except then I would have ended up marrying Theo, because he stars opposite me. And that's the way those things work. But I'm not marrying anyone."
"What on earth?" Nicole said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She looked at Rita's face and flopped back down. "Of course Theo wasn't right for you. He's too carefree with his flirting. You want someone who only loves you."
Rita's hands fell to her lap. "You mean you knew that all was lost with Theo? You knew that we weren't right for each ohter and you didn't SAY?"
Nicole sat up again, somehow sensing that Rita was not going to let her just go back to sleep. "If I told you, it would be too easy. I thought you didn't want anyone running your life. If I told you, that would be running your life. You wouldn't have listened to me anyway, and would have stuck with Theo no matter what if I'd have said something. So I didn't say anything. What caused this realization?"
Rita folded her hands. "Several things. I thought about kissing Theo, and nothing happened. I didn't get a funny feeling. I didn't even really want to. Then Dov told me that Theo had been kissing some other girl. I guess I realized what you just said; I don't want flirtation, I want something more than that. And I realized that Dov is respectful, and kind. He doesn't flirt, he says what he means. And I like that. Then he asked me out."
"That's wonderful. Now why don't you get some beauty sleep. You'll need to look your best." She looked Rita over. "What happened to your knee?" She looked more concerned about the injury than about Rita's love life.
"Nothing. I just crashed my bike. That's why Dov drove me home. And that turned out great. So everything's wonderful. You can go back to sleep now. I'm pretty tired, too." She yawned, and left the room. Nicole shrugged and picked up a book as Rita skipped out of the room.

Saturday could not come soon enough for Rita. ON that fatal day she rushed through all her hosehold chores and devoted the rest of her time to making herself as beautiful as she could. She took a long nap, took a long bath, took a long nap in the bath, slathered herself with lotions, brushed her teeth several times, ran two miles, took another bath, changed clothes too many times to count, and did her hair. Nicole left in the morning to work at the hotel. Gaetano picked her up.
"What's up with Rita?" He asked, watching her run around like a chicken minus it's head.
"Dov's taking her out on a date."
"Oh. What about Theo?" he whispered.
"Theo is too free with his flirting. She's over him."
Gaetano raised an eyebrow and rubbed the side of his nose.
"Hi, Gaetano! How are you?" Rita interupted the conversation robustly. "I'm just wonderful. I've got a date tonight. I'm happy. Are you taking Nicole to the hotel? Is she working overtime on a Saturday? You should be a little easier on her. She's a hard worker."
"Yes, she is," Gaetano commented, and looked warmly at Nicole. Nicole pretended not to notice, but looked a little proud as her chin went up. "I'm taking her to work, and we're going to work on her Italian some more. You haven't been taking lessons lately," he reproached.
"I'm sorry, Gaetano, I've just been so busy-"
"I know. I'm just teasing you. But I expect you to join her once your play is over. That's an order."
Rita snapped a salute. "Yes sir! But for now I'm getting ready for a date. And Gaetano, don't tell Theo about this."
"Wouldn't dream of it."

Dov pulled into the driveway at 7:55. Rita, dispite the odds, was actually ready, and met him at the front door. "Would you like to have a look around?" she invited. "I normally wouldn't just invite guys into my house, but you're special, and we just got some new furniture moved in. I'm proud." She adjusted her pink sundress, and led him into the living room. The couch was still there, along with all the other furniture, but Nicole had added several paintings and throw rugs, along with some fashionable lamps and bookshelves. He looked at those.
"Does someone read a lot?" he asked, fingering an old volume of Lord of the Rings.
"Yeah," Rita said, moving a pillow to a more attractive location. "Nicole. She's my roommate. Or housemate, rather. We're both renting this. We knew each other in Illinois, where I'm from."
"She has good taste in literature," he observed.
"She has good taste in everything. She decorated. Except for that lamp. I picked it out." The lamp was round and wavy. The shade was hand painted, byt Rita, with clumsy sunflowers, while the base was green with more sunflowers painted on.
"Did you do it?" he asked, inspecting it more closely.
"I did. It's not very good, though. It was just for fun. I really like the sunflowers around here. Wait until you see my room." Her voice squeaked with excitement, and she danced in place. Dov's shoulders shook with surpressed laughter.
"This is the kitchen, which isn't used very much because the only thing I can cook is bread, and the only thing Nicole can cook is hot pockets, Ramen noodles and frozen pizza. And she isn't very good at the last two, if you can keep a secret."
"I can cook," Dov said surprisingly. "I used to not know how, but when I went off to live on my own I had no roommate, and Ramen noodles get disgusting after a while."