SCOUT
“Are you awake?”I called out the moment I closed the door of my place. “Brenda?”
“You’re early.” She popped her head out of the kitchen and gave me a finger to hold on. She had the phone to her ear. I dropped my bag and kicked my shoes off, then I plopped down on the couch and waited for my friend.
“All right, I’ll talk to you later, Papi. I love you too.” She put the phone back on the hook and came into the living room, crossing her arms. “Why do you look so happy to have had your shift cut by, like, three hours?”
“I know, normally I’d be stressing out but… he came back,” I gushed.
“Who?” She cocked her head and then her eyes widened. “The guy from the other night?” She hurried over and sat, crossing her legs on the couch. “Forget my story, tell me yours.”
“What’s your story?” I laughed.
“My dad. He’s getting prank called. It’s so dumb but he was going off.” She waved it off. “This is more interesting. Tell me what happened.”
I told her about Desi showing up at dinner and staying until ten. “He was reading a book and just sitting there smiling and watching me.”
“That’s it?” She frowned. “He just watched you?”
“No. We chatted some. Every time I passed by, he had something stupid to say.” I grinned, recalling how cute his smirk was. “And then we got slow and they were sending people home. I’d fight to stay, but then someone offered me a ride home…” I raised an eyebrow. “In his 1992 Ford Mustang.”
“A Mustang? What color?”
“Black.” I bit my lip, recalling the smell of the leather. It was the cleanest car I’d ever been in.
Brenda swore. “Fucking lucky.” She pouted. “Alexander just has a rusty truck. Wait.” She paused. “So that’s it? He took you home and said good night?”
“Yeah, he was really nice. Didn’t even try touching me or anything.”
“And what’s his name again?” She squinted.
“Desi. Or Desiderio, but I call him Desi.”
Her hands shot to her mouth to hold in a gasp.
“What?” I frowned.
“That’s the guy that’s been prank-calling my dad!”
* * *
I was nervous all day,waiting for my shift. I had never been excited to get to work before. But today, I wanted to get there as soon as I could to see if Desi would be there again.
I had to fight my nerves to sit around at home. Our friends came over to decorate for Halloween.
“All these boxes are gonna be gone?” Teresa asked while trying to step over them to hang up orange streamers.
“Yeah. All of this will be empty space.”
“Perfect. We’ll put the keg here,” Maria said, pointing to a spot in the living room with a pile of boxes.
We danced and hung out, listening to SWV, Xscape, and TLC, while sipping on beers. Finally, I was able to put my backpack on and grab my Walkman.
“I’ll see you guys this weekend.” I waved goodbye and hurried outside before I was offered a ride. I needed this time to prepare. I was either going to have another night with Desi, or I was going to be disappointed. I needed to be ready for both. I’d been let down so many times in my life, so what was one more?
He never said he’d be back. I had just kind of… hoped.
And there it was. I got to the parking lot and was flooded with sadness so hard my eyes watered. His car wasn’t there. I blinked away the tears and hurried inside. I changed quickly and went to find Kiki, the hostess. She was grinning when she listed off my tables.
