my watch chimes, reminding me it's closing time. i realized i dosed off while polishing the silverware, one of those nights i suppose. i grab the keys and lock the front door to the small restaurant. johnny's. it's gotta be the best italian place in detroit. small, family-owned, and traditional. perhaps that's what gives it its charm. i've been working here for two years now, and it's honestly the best job i've ever had. i started here my senior year, after my mom died. my dad was never really around. he cheated on his wife with my mom and got her pregnant. being a bastard child and all, i'm definitely not the favorite. so when she was alive, my mom was all i had, besides my half-sisters, but we weren't that close. johnny and maria, the owners treated me like one of their own, made me feel like family. and i felt like they were my family too. when my mom died, they were there for me. i had to live in my car for six months until i could scrape together enough for a shitty apartment. maria even helped me with the decor, if you could really call it that. my mom left me some money, but not much, we weren't exactly rich. i couldn't afford to go to college so all i do is work. i've been struggling to get by for the last two years, but johnny's is my escape as well as the occasional party with my best friend nina. nina has been my best friend since the third grade, i honestly don't know what i'd do without her, she keeps me sane. we are going to another party tonight after i close this place down. i rush to finish all my closing duties, and barely make it out in less than an hour. it's ten now, so that gives me 45 minutes to pick up nina, change, and get to this party. easy enough. i change in the car before heading off to nina's.
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unlike me, nina was loaded. her mother is a doctor so her family was doing quite well. luckily nina doesn't care about that stuff, money, status, or whatever. sometimes i swear we were separated at birth.
detroit traffic is seriously the worst, finally, after twenty five minutes, i pull up to her house in my beat up '04 jeep wrangler. almost immediately, she runs out of her front door with a medium-size brown paper bag, containing what i can only assume to be tequila (our favorite). i smile ear to ear, unlocking the passenger side door. i swear, with nina's blonde hair and innocent face she looks nothing like the kind of girl who'd hang out with me or party. what can i say? nina is full of surprises. she opens the door, slipping into the seat, placing the bag on her lap.
"and what do you have there ni?" i smirk.
"hmm, i wonder what it could be? hornitos perhaps?" she slowly lets out a grin.
"WOOOOOOOO!!" i scream out the sunroof.
we both erupt into laughter. she hooks up her phone to the aux and kendrick lamar pours over the speakers. i put all the windows down, put the music on full blast and drive off to the party.
"who's party is this again?" i ask.
"uhh what's his face...dave...dave something?"
"dave winters?"
"no no, the other one." nina says.
"ohhh dave chang."
"yeah him!"
"he didn't go to lakewood did he?" i ask.
"nah he went to central catholic."
"oh so he's one of those." i say.
"one of what?" nina asks, acting offended.
"one of you." i say seriously.
we both bust out laughing. as our laughs die down, we pull up to the front gates of his neighborhood. gated? typical, i think to myself. i had to park a couple blocks down it was so crowded. i grab the tequila from nina, taking my first drink of the night. we make to the front door, and open it. immediately i'm greeted by loud music and the smell of beer and weed. we walk in, surrounded by all of these people we don't know, all of them drunk and dancing just looking for a good time. i've never understood why, but this is where i'm most comfortable. surrounded by people who don't know me, or even care enough to know me. they're all just in their own world, looking to feel something, anything. i guess i can understand that. nina pulls me into the kitchen to get cups we each take three shots of our tequila and pour the rest into our cups. nina runs to go talk to someone she recognizes, leaving me alone. i don't mind though. i take a big sip of my drink and head into the living room where people are dancing. i scan the room for someone i know. my boyfriend, anthony diaz, was supposed to meet me here. anthony and i have been together for about eight months now, he's not exactly my soulmate, but we have a good time together which works for me. i send him a quick text asking him where he is. i look up from my phone and meet eyes with someone across the room. the first thing i notice are the eyes. his eyes were a deep brown, i felt myself get lost in them. his hair is short, buzzed, but not too close. he has a tattoo across his throat, i don't know what it was about it, but it made me shiver. definitely never seen him before. i would remember. and then he gives me this smirk, i felt my stomach flip. what the hell was wrong with me? i look away, trying to shake off that feeling. i need to go to the bathroom, put some cold water on my face, i climb the two flights upstairs, looking for one. the first door is locked so i go down the hall and try another one. i see a couple on the bed, making out.
"get out." i hear the guy grunt.
"sorry." i mumble.
i'm about to close the door when a light comes on in my brain. i open the door again and squint my eyes into the darkness.
it's not just some guy. it's anthony. my anthony. and nina. my nina. my vision goes blurry, my mind hazy. for the first time in my life i genuinely don't know what to do. i didn't love anthony or anything, but he was my boyfriend, and that meant something. i couldn't think, i couldn't breathe, all i can see is red. i slam the door, and bolt down the steps, in a scramble i rush for the door, bumping into someone. it felt like a wall pushing me back. i look up. it's him. the guy from across the room.
"where are you off to in such a hurry darling? you just got here." he smirks.
again i feel my stomach flip, except this time it only makes me more sick after what i've just witnessed.
"nowhere." i choke out. he grabs my arm.
"are you okay?" he asks, his eyes softening.
"i will be." i say quietly.
i hear anthony call my name from a distance.
"um i have to go." i say, before running out the front door.
while i was inside it had started to rain. it was mid july and the hot rain felt like it was burning me. it was hot, sticky, summer rain. it stuck to me as i ran. i ran all the way to my car, unlocking it, and getting into my seat. i quickly started it and bolted out of the neighborhood. i had no idea where i was going or what i would do when i got there.
but i knew one thing. this night would change everything. i lost my best friend. i lost my boyfriend. i lost my whole world, what was left of it. i was on my own. and the man i met as i was leaving. i'm not sure why, but i have a feeling that won't be the last time we see each other.
