It was a very interesting French movie, entitled Illusion. It was about a young woman who thought she had fallen in love with a ghost, because when he disappeared and she went looking for him, she was told he had been killed in an automobile accident years before she had met him. Later, she discovered she had been having a romance with his twin brother, whom no one knew existed.
“How was the translation, the subtitles?” Evan asked when we were leaving.
“Just okay,” I said. “There were quite a few places where I thought non-French-speaking people were not given enough or exactly the right expression.”
“It must be something to be able to speak and read two languages like you do.”
“My mother can speak English, French, Italian, and Spanish.”
“Just like many of those people I met when we were in France,” he said. He checked his watch. “We can try walking back. We have close to an hour and ten minutes.”
“Okay,” I said. He took my hand. “Do you think your parents would let you come over to my house for dinner tomorrow night? My parents would send a car for you.”
“Send a car?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, making it sound like nothing.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask.”
“Well, maybe if I get you home before midnight, your father would let you off the base again, give you another liberty pass or something.”
“He’s not that bad,” I said, laughing.
Suddenly, he stopped walking. We had not gone very far, so I thought he had decided to hail a taxi, but instead, he turned to me and brought his lips to mine. It wasn’t a long kiss, but his lips were so warm and soft I felt myself stirring.
“I thought I would do that now,” he said.
“What? Why?”
We were still in a very busy section, and many people hurrying along paused to look at us.
“So that later, when we’re at your front door, it won’t be such a big deal to kiss you good night.”
“Well, I hope it’s still a big deal,” I said.
“No, I don’t mean that. All the little tension won’t be there now.”
“I didn’t expect it to be there later, either.”
He laughed. “Man, I do like you, Emmie. As my father would say, you’re as full of surprises as a box of Cracker Jacks.”
We walked on, talking about the school, our friends, and things we would both like to do. When I had first agreed to go on the date with him, I was afraid we would have very little to talk about, since we had such different backgrounds and he was older, but it didn’t take long for me to feel as if we had known each other a long time. If there really was something called positive energy, I was feeling it now. I think we were both disappointed when we reached my block. Both of us slowed down. He looked at his watch.
“We still have fifteen minutes,” he said. “I think it would be sinful to give up any one of them by bringing you home early.”
“On the other hand, my father will be impressed.”
“I suppose,” he said reluctantly.
It was very quiet on the street, with only a pedestrian here and there and little car traffic. Evan paused and kissed me again. He held on to me, keeping his face close.
“I really like you, Emmie,” he said. “I’ve never had as good a time on a first date or anything.”
“I like you, too,” I said, and we kissed again.
Neither of us spoke until we reached my front door. He looked at his watch. “Seven more minutes.”
“You can be sure my father’s watching the clock,” I said.