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I cried out, hiccupping at the same time, “I’m”—hiccup—“so”—hiccup—“sorry. I didn’t know”—hiccup—”what Kira knew. I really didn’t. I mean it, and I went to ask Scout”—hiccup, hiccup, hiccup—“what he told her.” I managed out the rest as we sat in the gravel parking lot, arms still half-hugging but leaving enough space for me to tell her everything.
“What the ever-loving fuck! That rat bastard,” she seethed through gritted teeth.
Tires driving over gravel sounded behind us.
A car was coming up. Theresa behind the wheel. Alred with her. They parked and both ran over, dropping down around us. I moved back a bit more so all four of us were in a circle, our knees touching.
Arms were lifted around our shoulders, so we were literally hugging each other. Heads bent forward, and I filled them in.
“He did what?” Theresa growled.
“I can’t believe it!” Alred was aghast.
“I’m just sad, and I also want to slip some razors in his toothbrush.” That was from Gem.
“Oh my god.” Alred was aghast again.
Theresa eyed her cousin warily. “Gem.”
Even I winced at that one.
“I will never do anything or say anything to end up as your nemesis,” Alred loudly whispered to Gem, who shrugged.
Okay then.
We sat there for another twenty minutes before the back door opened.
“Gem?” An older woman’s head poked out. When she saw us, her eyes flashed with concern. She came toward us, speaking Spanish, then switched to English. “Is everything okay?”
“Tía Lupe, what would you do?” Gem filled her in on everything.
The door opened a second later. One of the busboys came out.
Then two of the dishwashers.
One of the servers.
Uncle Hector was the last one.
All listened to Gem, Theresa, and Alred fill them in, and we were given their opinions after.
Uncle Hector gave his first before heading back inside. “I’d leave that boy alone. He’s not worth the tears or your time. A better boy will come, especially for someone so beautiful and kind-hearted.”
Theresa laughed a little, shooting me a look. I was on the same wavelength. I wasn’t sure if I’d call myself kind-hearted . . .
The server’s opinion was that I should slash his tires, then give him a bag of spikes as a gift so when he’d open it up, it’d be so full that the spikes would fly out.
I was thinking the server was also related to Gem.
The busboy told me to brush it off, he’d take me to Homecoming.
And he was kinda cute, but everyone else said, “No!” at the same time, so I was taking my cue from them. Tía Lupe pretended to swat him up the backside of his head, her Spanish coming out fast, but I caught enough to know she was saying how he was too much of a lothario. He was ordered back inside. “The tables aren’t going to clean themselves.”
The dishwashers had the best advice, in my opinion. The first one was tall and lanky, a crooked grin on his face suggested I stop dating boys altogether, wait for men. He gave me a wink.
It wasn’t his advice that I thought was the best.
The second dishwasher, who was shorter with a bit of a tummy on him and some frizz on his chin thought I should let it all go because the universe obviously gave me a red flag. I should kick back, chill, enjoy some gummies because they came in all colors of the rainbow, and wait for a leprechaun to bring me my pot of gold. He also said he’d be up for sharing. (The gold and gummies.) And he mentioned listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album at the same time we enjoyed the gummies.
He was shooed inside right after.
The aunt gave me a hug, telling me it was early love and everything would get better. She gave me a kiss on the forehead before she headed inside.
It was the four of us.
We looked at each other.
After a pause, Theresa said, “Let’s get ice cream, then some alcohol, and go and get wasted at the river by his uncle’s gym. When he shows up to train, we’ll go to his house and put bleach in his laundry basket.”
“If we’re drinking at the river by his gym, won’t his uncle catch us?” Alred asked.
“There’s a sitting area to the side, kinda hidden. Scout and the triplets party there sometimes.”
We had a plan, and all of us stood. We turned almost as one entity, and stopped again.
“Wait.” Theresa pointed to my car. “When did you get a car?”
I winced. “I didn’t. I kinda stole my mom’s.”
“Okay. Let’s revise the plan.”
The plan was revised. We returned my mom’s car and took my bike back to my place.
Gem asked once we were really on the way for the original plan, “If we’re drinking, how are we going to get to his house?”
No one said a thing. No one had an answer.
