Calypso High
Episode 10: So Young
"Blaine, you'll be late if you don't-- oh," Mrs. Brison said as she swept into Blaine's room at ten.
Blaine was mostly asleep, in his chair backward, head on arm on the back of the chair. He somehow had managed to keep his eyes open and focused on Mari for the past seven hours. Mari was asleep on his bed, still in her jean shorts and halter, shoes removed. A sheet covered her lightly.
"When did you get in?" Blaine's mother asked quietly.
"Three," he said, voice cracking with lack of sleep. "And I swear I was in this chair the whole time."
Mrs. Brison looked at Mari again, then back at Blaine. "Oh, please. You don't have to be a saint all the time. Get some sleep. And for the love of God, would you have the sense to lock the door?"
Blaine blinked at his mother, not comprehending.
"Remind me to tell you how your father and I hooked up."
"Are we in trouble?" Mari asked sleepily, rolling over and rubbing her eyes. "Ow, my back."
"No, I don't think we're in trouble," Blaine told her, still somewhat confused as he disentangled his legs from the chair rungs. He sat down next to her on the bed, still regarding his mother warily. "What gives, Mom?"
"People in glass houses," she shrugged.
"Did you sleep?" Mari asked Blaine, looking at his bloodshot eyes. "If you didn't sleep on account of me--"
"You're so cute when you're sleeping. You snore."
"I do not!"
"Kids?" Mrs. Brison said, raising an eyebrow. "I just want some kind of timetable for the two of you, then I'll stay out of the way."
"Blaine's gonna sleep," Mari pronounced, pushing Blaine down onto the bed. "I have to go to work at four."
"Mom, Mari needs a place to stay for a while," Blaine interrupted, sitting up again. "Her parents are trying to make her marry some guy."
"Arranged marriage," Mari clarified.
"Oh, in that case, you can stay as long as you like, honey," Mrs. Brison said. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen next week."
"Hm. Then you have some legal recourse against your parents. The 1979 Arranged Marriage Law. Let me get out my books, this one doesn't come up often..." And Mrs. Brison was out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Your mom's a lawyer?" Mari said, amazed.
"Hey, I forgot about that," Blaine said.
"Go to sleep, silly!" Mari pushed Blaine down on the bed again, then sat with her hand on his chest until she was sure he'd fallen asleep.
Then she stood, stretched the kinks out of her back and neck, and set off to find Mrs. Brison. It was time to break a contract.
***
Close to six hours later, Mari was puttering down the street in her VW on the way to work at the Pilgrim's Bodega, humming along with the radio. It seemed like things would be working out rather well. Mrs. Brison, a child-rights lawyer (Mari hadn't even been aware there was such a thing), had dug into her law books and found a spiffy Layla:)n statute that made arranged marriages illegal under certain conditions. The first was that at least one of the parties in question must have been born after 1979-- that was Mari. The second was that at least one must be over 16 while breaking the betrothal-- and that was both Mari and Mackenzie Trench.
The third was that at least one must be committed to a third party in marriage before learning of the betrothal. Technically, this wasn't true for either Mari or Mac, but Mrs. Brison had also found a nifty law, carried over from early Layla:)n settlers' traditions, that might work. An old Scottish tradition called hand-fasting was usually performed over running water, and didn't require witnesses. The local adaptation was the acceptance of a proposal at the beach, in front of witnesses. There was also supposed to be some kind of ritual dance, but Mari figured that in court, in front of a judge unfamiliar with any of these laws, and with witnesses even less familiar with said laws, her "dance of joy" could be considered acceptable.
The only thing left was to follow up the "hand-fasting" with a real wedding ceremony, just in case Mac actually wanted to fight for Mari. Mrs. Brison insisted that it should happen as quickly as possible, so Blaine was making the arrangements this afternoon (after a nice, six-hour sleep) while Mari was at work. They would be married tomorrow morning, early.
Mari parked her car at the municipal lot a block away from the Pilgrim's Bodega, switched off the radio (in the middle of Good Vibrations! oh no!), put the top up on her car, and locked up. She was travelling very light today, just her wallet stuffed in her back pocket, because she had taken nothing else with her to Blaine's house and there was no way she was going back home just for clothes. In fact, at the moment, she was wearing a pair of khakis borrowed from Blaine's mother, and an Oxford shirt borrowed from Blaine. The management at the Bodega had these weird rules about not wearing shorts and halter tops to work.
Surveying the Bodega's parking lot, Mari thought it looked a lot more crowded than usual. Then she noticed that tuna and pre-formed hamburgers were being advertised, in large lettering, on the front of the store. Yup, it was definitely going to be a day to keep her mind off her troubles...
***
"Kiri! Help!" Mari whispered. She was crouched below the customer service counter at the Bodega, trying to get Kiri Heyward's attention. Kiri was in the back room at the moment, but luckily for Mari had very good hearing. "Don't look at me! Wait on the customers!" Mari mouthed frantically.
Kiri caught on and helped the next customer in line-- Mrs. DeSka. "Hi, Mrs. DeSka! What can I do for you?"
"I need to speak to Marianna. Is she on break?"
"No, actually, she's on a special project in the back and the manager would be really mad if she was disturbed," Kiri lied quickly. "Something to do with increasing profit margins or something. Anyway, she's the only one with the math skills to do it."
"Hmm," Mrs. DeSka frowned. "Well, when she's finished, tell her to call home."
"Will do!" Kiri said cheerfully. She watched until Mari's mother had walked out of the store and was safely away, then signaled to Mari that it was safe to stand up.
"Phew. Thanks, Kiri. I owe you."
"No problem. So what's the deal?"
"I can't really talk about it right now," Mari evaded. "I'm sort of in... litigation..."
"Say no more," Kiri grinned. "Your first lawsuit, huh? Congratulations, you're a grown-up now!"
Mari just smiled weakly and went back to waiting on cranky old people.
***
Marianna was nervous, but it was the good kind of nervous. She was in the ladies' lounge of the local quickie wedding chapel, Dream fretting and wringing her hands in the corner, and Suki Kyoko flitting about excitedly. Blaine and his brothers were in the gentlemen's lounge not fifteen feet away. Luckily, Suki hadn't caught sight of Blaine's lifeguard brother yet, or she wouldn't be helping Mari adjust her veil right now.
This was, oddly enough, how Mari had always envisioned herself getting married, although she had figured on being 40 at the time, and that it would be in Las Vegas, not Layla:). But if this was the only way she could continue to be with Blaine, then so be it.
Mari had also planned on having her sisters around, but she'd only seen Dani and Dora briefly when she'd gone home Friday afternoon to collect her things. Dora had been online, and Dani was on the phone with some boy. Or maybe it was the other way around, it was hard to tell these days. Anyway... And she didn't want to call, in case one of her parents answered. With caller ID, they could find out she was living at Blaine's parents' house, and then they'd be in a fine mess. No, there would be no contact till after this wedding.
"Dream, you look like you're gonna puke," Mari laughed, looking at her elfin friend.
"No, that's impossible," Dream said absently. "I haven't eaten all day."
"Geez, Dream! You're anorexic! Eat something!" There was a complimentary fruit basket in the lounge, so Mari tossed a banana at Dream. Then, considering, she took an apple for herself.
***
In the gentlemen's lounge, Blaine's brother pushed a banana into his hand.
"You have to eat something. You don't want to faint. The poor girl would probably have a heart attack."
"I don't need a banana, I need a Valium."
"Oh, for..." Davy ate the banana himself, then placed the peel carefully next to a pile of orange peels and an apple core. "At least the fruit is good. I want to know who their supplier is."
"Uh-huh." Blaine was staring out the window, with a bit of difficulty since the window was near the ceiling and he had to stand on a chair to reach it.
"What is out there?"
"I'm just worried that Mari's family will find out and try to stop her."
"She loves you, man, nothing's going to stop her from marrying you!" Davy grabbed a bunch of grapes and started using them for target practice on Blaine's head.
"Knock that off. They can guilt her into marrying that weird pale guy."
"Guilt her?"
"Yeah. You know, like Mom gets me to help out around the house and drive you guys places. But she gets it worse 'cause she's a girl."
"Oh. Wow, that's pretty deep."
"Like the Marianas Trench," Blaine said, rolling his eyes. Then he froze. "Oh, geez. If she married that guy, her name would be Marianna Trench."
"A fate worse than death-- a pun!" Davy said, going quiet. "You have to save her, man."
"No kidding."
***
Mari was vaguely aware of Suki and Davy making eyes behind her and Blaine's backs. It was a bit distracting, but she did her best to pay attention to the Justice of the Peace.
The JP was a chubby, middle-aged woman with an eyebrow piercing. She also had a no-nonsense way of dictating the vows that made it slightly less romantic. "Now place the ring on her finger-- no, the other left, hon-- and say, 'With this ring, I thee wed'."
"With this ring, I thee wed," Blaine said. His hands were shaking, but since Mari's were also shaking, it sort of evened out.
"Okay, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Mari beamed up at Blaine, who now looked relieved, and accepted a very chaste kiss from him. He'd explained, after dinner last night, that he got sort of freaked out having a girl around his father. Kissing a girl in front of him was even weirder. Although, now that she was Blaine's wife, Mr. Brison really couldn't say much to them about smooching.
They walked down the short aisle together, having rice thrown at them by Dream, Suki, Davy, Blaine's youngest brother Chris, and Mr. and Mrs. Brison. The elder Mr. and Mrs. Brison, Mari realized with a shock. How odd to be a "Mrs." at only 17!
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Mari asked as she and Blaine stood outside the chapel. It was a gorgeous summer day, much too warm for the suit Blaine was wearing, but his hands were still freezing.
"Yeah. Probably in shock," he smiled. It was that slow smile that Mari had first been attracted to.
"I love you. Hey, since we're married, that means we get to... consummate, right?"
Blaine blushed. He actually blushed, bless his soul. Then he grinned wickedly. "Yeahhh..."
***
To be continued soon...