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They just didn’t know it yet.
My cell phone ringing on my coffee table tore me away from my trancelike state, only thinking about the Pierces. I hadn’t stopped thinking about them since I left their home almost three days ago.
The events played over in my head.
My encounter with the oldest boy, Jackson, the Little Miss Journey in my arms, the pictures, the house, it all replayed on a constant loop in my head. There were so many unanswered questions that had no rhyme or reason. They were just there, lurking in the forefront of my mind.
Waiting…
For I don’t know what.
“Jesus, Camila, stop,” I ordered myself, reaching for my phone from the couch. “Hello,” I answered, shaking away the uncertainty that was starting to take its toll on me.
“Camila, mami! Que paso, chica? Donde tu andas?” Danté asked, shouting over the loud Reggaetón music blaring in the background. “What’s up, girl? Where you at?”
“I’m home.”
“Perro, chica, te necesito para ahora,” he added, “But, girl, I need you tonight.”
“Danté, I already told you. I got a job. A real job, and I start tomorrow. I’m not working at your club tonight.”
“Camila, mamita, you break my heart. You’re my girl. I need you.”
“You’re going to have to find a new girl.”
“Sean know you got a new gig?”
I rolled my eyes. “Sean doesn’t run my life, Danté.”
“He know that?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Wait, wait, wait… Listen, I need ya. I’m down a bartender. Come on, do it for me. We go way back, Camila. I need you. You owe me.”
I rolled my eyes again. “How many times are you going to play the ‘You owe me’ card, Danté?”
“As many times as it takes. Mira, mamita, I know you’re smilin’ behind that bitchy face you got goin’ on these days. ‘Cuz I know my girl Camila loves to dance, and I know you hear that Reggaetón music bumpin’ behind me. Gurl, stop playin’. Come shake dem sexy ass hips over here for me tonight.”
I broke out laughing, I couldn’t help it. Danté had that pull about him, he could make a dying man laugh his ass off.
“The Sean bullshit aside, mamita, you were my girl before his. Ya tu sabes,” he reminded, “You know that.”
“Sean around?” I questioned, needing to know what I was getting myself into.
Danté I could handle, Sean was a different story. An extremely different story. I wasn’t lying when I told Skyler I had a boyfriend once.
I did.
It just happened to be the same guy I dated more than once…
“You know him, Camila, he always be somewhere. You got into that fancy nursin’ school, you gotta pay those student loans somehow, don’t ya, mamita? And I pay you cash, under the table cash. So be the good girl we both know you are and help a brotha’ out. I need you. Nobody needs you like me, Camila.”
“Is this you trying to sweet talk me?”
“Depends. Is it workin’? Or do I need to play the best friend card too?”
He was right, I had loans piling up a mile a minute. Besides, the club was within walking distance of my apartment, and maybe it would help take my mind off the Pierces. At least for the rest of the night. Between school and working at Danté’s club, I never needed more than two to three hours of sleep anyway. My body was used to it.
