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“We all judge each other at some point,” she articulates with difficulty, taking a sip.
“Believe me, I know something about it, I’m the first one to be tempted to judge people before I know them. But I’m trying to fix it. Look, I’m trying not to insult Tucker every time he opens his mouth.”
My pretend confession finally brings a smile to her face.
“He really likes you, you know?” she replies in a breath. “Usually, when he wants to have fun with a girl, he tells TJ and me everything. But he refuses to tell us about you. It’s like you’re a little secret he wants to keep.”
Of course, these words make me feel something, but I don’t answer anything.
A silent minute passes. A new tear runs down her cheek.
“Trey is leaving me,” she finally articulates.
Here’s the crux of the matter. I don’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt her. I’m not usually a good listener, but I feel like she needs one right now.
“Wednesday night he came to my house. He told me he was considering transferring to Columbia next semester. He’s been offered a crazy opportunity that he can’t refuse. He…he asked me to go with him. I didn’t know what to say because I don’t want to leave Denver. I have my life here. My family, my friends. He freaked out when he saw that I was hesitating. He wants to leave me if I refuse. What do you think I should do?”
What an asshole!
Yeleen empties her bottle in one gulp and takes mine without even asking me.
On the one hand, I want to tell her that it’s really disgusting of Trey to blackmail her and that she should send him packing. But, on the other hand, I know what it’s like to have to live without the man you love. And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
“Well, it’s not cool of him to give you an ultimatum, and you should damn well yell at him for it. But…”
I should keep quiet, I don’t want to say anything too personal, but I can’t stop myself. My tongue loosens as I’m deep in thought.
“But if you love him and think you’ll feel good with him, then maybe you should take the plunge. I didn’t get the chance, and I regret it every day. Life didn’t give me a choice, it just…took the man I loved. You have the opportunity to follow your heart, so…that’s my advice to you, follow your damn heart,” I finish with difficulty.
I raise my head and find her staring at me.
“I…I didn’t know you had lost the man you loved,” she murmurs.
“No matter,” I answer in a louder voice than I would have liked.
“What…what was his name?”
My breathing stops. My throat becomes knotted. I want to run away. Yeleen leans over to me, gently probing my eyes, a kindly look on her face.
“Rafael,” I say in a weak voice, suddenly straightening up.
Yeleen holds me by the hand. I stare at her fingers. I don’t want to talk about this, damn it! She must read it on my face because she lets go of me and nods silently.
***
For the next half hour, I continue my shift and run from right to left to the four corners of the bar, the customers flocking more and more. I don’t have time to breathe when a new table fills up. When I come back near Yeleen a little later, I notice with horror that one of my colleagues must have served her too many drinks because she is completely drunk. Damn it.
Yeleen waddles her head and sings at the top of her lungs to the music playing in the bar. When she starts to sing a little louder, Buck glances at me.
“Go ahead,” he says. “You’re almost done with your shift anyway.”
I nod and don’t ask for more. I walk up to Yeleen and a huge smile comes over her face when she sees me.
“Iris! I can’t…I can’t believe it! What are you doing here?”
I hold back a laugh and try to help her up, but she refuses and sits back down a little more comfortably in her seat.
“I work here, remember?”
