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It was just a date, a simple date that would have probably had no meaning five years from then. But, the date escalated in surprising ways. In ways no one would have expected.
Hand in hand, Michael and Valentina walked down the streets of the Bronx. The night was beautifully dark, perfect for a first date. The couple mostly discussed things about themselves, their lives and other irrelevant things. They got to know many things about each other, things no one else would ever know.
"So, you want to be a DJ too? Like Jo?" Valentina queried as she kicked a rock out of her paved path.
Michael shrugged. "My friends all wanted to be a DJ, so I joined the bandwagon. Jo became interested, but I never thought she'd actually pursue becoming a DJ." He mentioned.
"You don't want to be a DJ, then?" Val asked as she tugged at a piece of her hair.
Michael nodded slowly. "Then what do you want to be? And don't tell me nothing! I swear if your just another one of those street hoodlums without a dream—" Valentina began rambling.
"And if I was?" Michael raised a questionable brow at Val.
Val stopped walking abruptly. "You wanna stay in the Bronx forever? You wanna stay in a low income neighborhood forever? Don't you wanna sip fancy drinks and eat those big fancy shrimp with all those rich people with white fur coats and expensive cars in Manhattan?" Valentina looked out onto the Manhattan skyline, her eyes filled with wonder and aspiration.
"No... but I don't want to be around those snobby motha—" Michael was interrupted.
"Don't you want to dance in those big fancy ballrooms in expensive clothing with, like... Misty Holloway or something?" Valentina grabbed Michael and put him into a waltzing position.
Michael spun her out of that proper stance back to his side. Michael admired how much Valentina dreamed of leaving the same continuous loop of living in a bad area. Although she had came from Chicago and Michael had came from Queens, it was all the same. No matter where you went, the slums were the slums and there was no way of getting out of them unless you really made it. He thought about how much he'd want to be Valentina's superhero and get her out of the Bronx.
"Well... I always wanted to be a singer." Michael confessed.
Valentina looked at Michael with a confused look, then snickered. "No way." Valentina couldn't take him seriously.
"What? You don't believe me?" Michael playfully nudged Valentina's side.
Valentina began cackling. She couldn't help but to laugh at the image of Michael singing. "Sing me something so I can actually believe you." Val suggested.
Michael shrugged and began to tap his foot. He opened his mouth to begin singing, however, as he was looking past Valentina into the city's silhouette, he noticed a burning building. "Is that Shao's place?" Michael gasped.
Before Valentina could even say anything, Michael grabbed her hand and began to running toward the burning building a few blocks away. When they arrived in front of the building, they spotted a crying Shaolin staring up at the burning building. "Stay here." Michael told Val, for it would've been far too embarrassing for Shao to be seen crying by another girl.
Valentina stayed put and simply looked up at the burning building. A few moments into gazing at the flaming sight, a large hand was placed on her shoulder. Val shot her head around then relaxed when she recognized the familiar face. "Hey, Ezekiel." Val greeted.
"Hey, Val." Zeke shot her a lopsided smile.
"That sucks, huh?" Val pointed at the burning building.
Ezekiel nodded. "All of our records and turntables are gone now. Shao's pretty broken up about it." He informed.
"You and your group... you guys weren't in there when the place went up in flames were you?" Val asked, worriedly.
Seek shook his head forcefully. "Nah, and luckily too. We'd probably all be dead." Zeke laughed.
Val scoffed at his joke made at such an inappropriate time. "You should go to the Cruz's Iglesia, mañana. Mylene got a whole record producer going in to watch her sing there. It'd be good to have a familiar face there for her." Ezekiel suggested.
Val laughed. "She got into a fight with my girls, I don't think she'd appreciate my presence very much." Val told.
Zeke pouted. "Go, Valentina. We need someone to keep the producer distracted in the crowd if something goes wrong." He grabbed Val and shook her like a whining child.
Val huffed. "Fine. But... don't tell anybody I was helping Mylene Cruz." Valentina ran her fingers through her fluffy hair.
"Thank you, Val." Zeke gave her a European-esque cheek kiss before scurrying away back to his usual friend group: the Fantastic Four plus One, leaving Valentina all alone once again.
