The Girl With Five Watches

15: Authentic

It was a quiet and lonely Wednesday Night in the dorm. Sara had something she had to do that night and wasn't able to get together. It was also no surprise that my roommate wasn't present in the dorm. A perfect night to try and get reading done. Who knew ready could be difficult when you hear voices in your head?

"Jimmy!" the voice shouted several times. "Jimmy!"

Knock! My heart skipped a million beat to the unexpected surprise. Who was knocking at the door? A second knock led me to believe that it was death itself. Without having to get up, Karla barged in and found herself on the couch. If it weren't for Karla, I'd likely have a breakdown that night. Thank God she showed up. With Karla here, where was Roger?

"You hungry?" she asked. "There are some pretty bomb Mexican Street Tacos down the street from the campus." Looking at her without a response, she continued speaking. "Looks like you're hungry. Get your jacket and let's go."

Without having an option to go with her, I found myself being dragged by Karla to get dinner. It would be just the two of us. Why wasn't Sara or Roger coming with us? Part of me was concerned that Karla was trying to pull something behind Sara's back, but I quickly remembered the conversation from the previous night. All three of them needed to keep an eye on me. Was this the night for Karla to watch me? Was I some sort of experiment? Whatever. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to get to know. After all, she was roommates with Sara.

"I bet you never had tacos like these," Karla claimed while waiting in line to order our food. It was shocking to see a line this long. "This isn't Taco Bell. This is the real deal."

"You know, I was recently at a taco stand. I don't see how this could be any different than that."

The guy in front of me laughed at me with Karla jumping in her response. "Yeah, there are other taco stands nearby, but trust me on this. This is as real as it gets. You won't find any tacos like these unless you go to Mexico."

"It's true," interrupted the guy in front of me. "Dude, you seriously need to order like ten of these tacos, because these are amazing. I swear, I must've gained ten pounds off these tacos alone during my freshman year."

The guy looked pretty large. If I had to guess, I would say he was likely a senior this year. Once we reached the front of the line, Karla ordered for me. Just watching the person at the stand make the food was an experience. He took his time to grill the meat until it looked just right. The cook corrected my knowledge of meat to let me know that this was Carne. In order to correct my knowledge of meat, the Carne looked just right. But it was shocking to see just how small the tortilla was. Seeing how small they were, I grew concerned that these might not be filling. But Karla assured me that four of these tacos would do the trick. When the Carne was placed on the tortillas, the onion, cilantro, and hints of lime followed. With Karla ordering six tacos and me ordered four, she ended up paying for the two us.

We found a table nearby to sit and enjoy our food. Taking my first bite, my taste buds literally went to Heaven. At that moment I felt like that guy in line. I could easily see myself coming here everyday and ordering up to ten tacos. Once I realized all the weight that it was possible to gain, the idea quickly died. This moment with Karla was fine enough for me. Maybe in the future, all four of us could come here. I'm sure Sara would die once she tasted one of these tacos.

"How is it?" she asked. "I'm guessing that you're loving it?"

"It is pretty good. I honestly can't believe I didn't come here sooner." Was it too late to order another four more of these tacos?

During the middle of the meal, Karla asked me something I would've never expected her to ask.

"Can you be honest with Jimmy? Something is going on with you. You know it. Sara knows it We all know it. For Sara's sake, I don't want to see you hurt yourself. What's up with you? You're not having any mental health problems or anything, are you?"

It was hard to believe that she went there. mental health problems? I don't think I would've gone that far to say that I was experiencing these kinds of problems. What if I was though? How would I know if I was? And if I was, what would I even say to Karla? What could I say to Sara? As of that moment, I wasn't facing any mental problems, but I knew I was facing a type of problem. It was hard to tell what kind of problem it was though or how to even deal with it.

"I'm not having any mental health problems." She gave me a look while chewing her food. "Seriously, I'm fine." She continued to chew her food and I knew she didn't fully believe me. Of course, she didn't want to push anything further if I didn't want to talk about it.

"Have you ever been in love?"

That question almost had me choking on my food. She seriously asked me that? It was fine. At least she didn't ask any more questions about what my head was going through.

"No, I haven't really ever experienced being in love."

"So Sara is the first girl?" She found herself stroking her hair and scratching her lips.

My face blushed and looked directly at the table losing all eye contact with her. And it occurred of me that I shouldn't have done that.

With a deep beam on her face, she finished her last taco and spoke again. "She is, isn't she? Sara is the first girl that you ever had feelings for." A blank stare from me. "Come on Jimmy, it's nothing to be ashamed of." More blank stares from me and a sigh from me. "Seriously, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Believe it not, Roger is actually my first serious boyfriend. At first, I was a little hesitant dating him. I was aware of his reputation and all the girls he used to date. Even after I started dating him, I was still worried until I had a talk with Sara. Let me just say that the girl is amazing. She told me that it didn't matter who you've been with. All that matters is who you end up with. And she admitted she stole that quote from 'The Office,' but nonetheless felt that is was true."

"Yeah, it does bother me a little that it seems like Sara has had other boyfriends. She found out that I was a 'love virgin' the other day in English class. In the back of my mind, I was a little worried that she was secretly judging me."

"My roomie would never judge someone because of that," she assured me while putting her hand on my hand that laid on the table. "She's too good for that. And I wouldn't judge you either. You're a pretty cool guy, you know that?" An awkward silence filled the void between us until she stood up. I did the same thinking we were going to head back to campus, but I was wrong.

"You know, last year in high school there was this guy who had a crush on me and finally got the courage to ask me out. You know what I said?" She didn't wait for a response. "I said no. I wasn't interested in him. It turned out that I was smart enough to say no because the next day he shot me in the side of my stomach. The whole school went on lockdown."

My eyes widened up in shock and disbelief. Some guy actually had the guts to shoot her after she said no to him?

"I still have the scar from the bullet." She lifted up part of her shirt to show me the side of her stomach. Sure enough, there was a scar that looked like the work of a bullet. With my thumb touching it, everything in me wanted to find this guy and take care of him. Karla didn't deserve that.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!

Thoughts on Karla after this chapter?

Does Jimmy have mental health problems?

Do you want some Mexican Street Tacos?

This chapter is dedicated to @MeddieBelieber Thanks for your support for this story!