Chapter 32

I stare at the bubbles in my soda. I softly blow into the straw, creating more. Ahmity clears her throat loudly and I kind of jump, knocking the straw out of the cup. Why did I let her drag me along? I look at Preesh, and he's looking back and forth at Eric and the menu, his fingers intertwined with Ahmity's. Eric is drinking his water, pretending not to notice, but he keeps glancing at my sister. Ahmity keeps fidgeting, because I know she's uncomfortable. And I'm here by force, feeling very awkward, not being allowed to make bubbles in my soda. It was just supposed to be Ahmity and Eric having lunch, but Preesh invited himself along, and no matter how hard I tried to convince him to go anywhere with me, he didn't take no for an answer. So since Ahmity was going to suffer, she dragged me with so I could suffer with her. I look around for the waiter cause the awkward silence is killing me. I don't see him. I sigh and leaf through the menu for the hundredth time. "I'll be right back I have to go to the bathr--" Ahmity furrows her eyebrows at me and shakes her head no. "Orrr, I'll just sit here" I say and sit back down. The waiter finally comes to take our order, giving me a few minutes of salvation. Or so I think. He stares at Ahmity, with a huge grin on his face. Eric glares at him. "Ay dawg, You gonna take our order too, or do you want me to send you a pic so you can stare at her more later?" My eyes widen and Ahmity's face turns as red as mine usually does. The waiter fumbles with his pad. He takes our order and walks away quickly. Eric shakes his head. "I don't know about people these days jeez. Guys just don't give a shit if a girl's with someone, I don't know what makes them think they'll be able to just take her away or something.." he says. Phred glares at him and I stare at the door, wishing with every ounce of my being, to run through it. I see Ahmity loosen her fingers around Phred's. He does too, but he doesn't say or do anything. "I mean it wouldn't be a problem if they clearly weren't together, you know just a guy and a girl hanging out.. No feelings. Just. Friends." she says. I glance at Eric and he's clenching his jaw. "Yeah, like they're just homies or something. I mean, a guy and a girl can be friends without feelings being involved.. I see it all the time. Where would you be without friends huh?" Eric says. Ahmity swallows and looks at me. I don't even know what to say. Phred sucks loudly on his straw. "Friends are great and all.. But friends don't always stay friends, They stray and find other friends.. And soon forget about their old.. Friends." Phredley says. Jeez. I feel my eyes crossing and I want to bang my head on the table. "Could say the same thing about boyfriends." Eric says, staring intently at Phred. I stand up abruptly, my chair screeching against the floor. "I have to pee." I say, bluntly and walk away. I go into the bathroom and breathe a sigh of relief. I pull out my phone and text Bruno, even though I know he's not able to text back. "SAVE ME!" As soon as it sends, I get one from Ahmity. "SAVE ME!" I start cracking up, than cover my mouth because my laugh echoes loudly against the bathroom walls. I text her back. "What am I supposed to do?" As I wait for her to reply, I turn and look at my reflection in the mirror. I look completely different than I did almost a year ago. My face is long and my cheekbones are very present, when before you couldn't see them at all. I'm 4 sizes smaller than I used to be. Since I've been back with Bruno, I've gained some weight, but he told me it was a good thing because before I was too skinny. Which I agree with. I was a stick with a booty. Now I'm filled out more.....with a booty. My phone vibrates. "I don't know.. Pretend to be sick or something! Just get Eric out of here." I throw my head back. "Okay, I'm on it. Is fainting and falling to the floor too much?" I text back. Her reply: "EL OH EL! Just a little Lena." I roll my eyes. "Okay.." I take one last look in the mirror and put my 'sick face' on. I walk out the bathroom and slowly sit down. Eric is concentrating on eating his food. Phred is the one that notices. "Lena are you okay?" he asks. I shake my head, making a face. "What's the matter?" he asks. "I don't know, my head hurts and I feel dizzy." I say, a little too dramatically. I see Ahmity's mouth twitching as she tries not to laugh. It takes all I have in me not to either. "Maybe you need to eat. Your food just got here." He says. I look down at the chicken on the plate. My mouth waters and I want to dig into it so bad, but instead I force myself to gag. I cover my mouth. Eric finally looks up. "Come on now Lena, I'm eating." I gag again and run back to the bathroom. A second later, Ahmity busts in. We both start laughing, holding each other up. "You almost made me blow it, I saw you trying not to laugh!" I tell her. "I couldn't help it! I saw how bad you wanted that chicken. I love you for that!" she says, and hugs me. "You better, I sacrificed chicken for you! I don't even do that for Bruno!" I say. She hugs me tighter. "Ready?" she asks. I nod. We both walk out, Ahmity holding me up slightly. "Eric, she needs to go home. Can you please take her?" She tells him. He glares at both of us. He looks into my eyes, and I know he can see straight through me. "You know what, I think we should go to the hospital. You're dizzy and throwing up.. It might be something serious." he says, his eyes gleaming. I want to kill him. "I think if I just lay down I'll be fine." I tell him. He stands up, and grabs my arm. Were out the door before Phred or my sister can say anything. "It would of been a lot easier to try and get rid of him, than me. He was the one that invited himself and intruded. This was supposed to be just me and Ahmity, not the whole damn Brady Bunch!" I pull my arm away from him because he's squeezing it. "Hey! I didn't want to be here at all, I was forced. And you know when my sister has her mind set on something, you can't change it." I say to him. He clenches his jaw, knowing exactly how she is. "She wants to talk to you." I tell him. I see him swallow. "Now's obviously not the right time.. But she will." I say. His face remains hard, but I can see the hurt and the softness in his eyes. I ruffle his hair a little. "It's gonna be okay kid." I say, trying to imitate his voice. He smirks a little and swats my hand away. "I'm over this." He says, glancing at the restaurant. "Me too." I say and he throws his arm over my shoulder as we walk to his car. My phone goes off. Bruno. "Hello?" "Babe! Are you okay?!" He yells, frantically. I pull the phone away for a sec than say, "Yes! Why??" "Your text said Save Me! I just saw it, and I didn't know what to think!" Oh shit. I guess I should choose my words carefully. Last time I was here and he left, I was gone when he came back. "I'm sorry baby, That's not what I meant. It's this whole thing with your brother and my sister-- I'll just talk to you at home. I'm okay! Calm down." I hear breathe deep. "Don't do that to me Lena. I almost had a fuckin heart attack." He says. "I didn't mean to, I didn't think. I love you." I say. "I love you more, I'll be home in a few." he says. Eric shakes his head as he turns the car on and drives. "What?" I say. "God forbid if anything happened to you, We would all be losing 2 people instead of 1." he says. I don't how to take that, but it hits me hard. I understand what he's saying. It would be the same if something were to happen with Bruno. I would be of no use in this world if he was gone. He drives off. It's silent in the car. I know he's thinking about Ahmity. I turn on the radio to fill the awkward silence. It doesn't really work. At a red light he looks at me. "It's not fair!" He looks like a little kid, with his eyes big and his lip sticking out. "He's only known her for a day.. I've known her my whole life but she just chose him like I'm nobody." he says. "Eric--" "Lena, I know what you're going to say. Even if she does talk to me, it doesn't mean it's gonna change things. She's moved on.." He looks so sad, I reach over and give him a hug. He puts one arm around me, but stays stiffened up. The light turns green and he slams his foot on the gas. He's trying hard not to let his feelings be seen, but I can see it plain as day. He pulls up to the apartment. I slowly get out. "You're not staying?" I ask him. He shakes his head. I close the door. Eric rarely goes to his own place. He spends majority of his time at Bruno's. He drives off and I watch his car til it disappears. I sigh and walk upstairs. When I get to the top, I hear a piano and voices. Bruno doesn't have a piano. I open the door. Bruno is in the living room, playing a keyboard. There's a tall, guy with glasses and chocolate brown skin next to him. At the same time they both sing at the top of their lungs. "SOUR CREAM AND ONION, I love the way you taste. SOUR CREAM AND ONION..I WANT YOU ALL OVER MY FACE!" I hide my smile, and watch them because they don't know I walked in. Both of them sing "We love the wayyyyy... Youuuuu.." They pause for a second and Bruno sings high "Tasssstteeee..." Mr. Glasses grabs a bag of chips off the keyboard and takes a bite of one, closing his eyes like it's the best thing he's ever tasted in the world. Bruno takes one and licks it from one end to the other. I raise my eyebrow, watching the way his tongue moves. They both bust out laughing and I snap out of my mini trance. "Yo dawg, that shit is hot!" Mr. Glasses tells Bruno. "Hell yeah! Best song I ever heard bout a bag of chips" Bruno says. Mr. Glasses covers the bag. "She's just not ANY bag of chips, She's sour cream and onion." He says, whispering the last part. "Oh shit my bad baby, Barbeque ain't got nothin on you!" Bruno says, the both of them laughing His whole face is lit up. He sees me. "Babe!" He gets up and squeezes me, picking me up. He kisses me on the lips, long. My face gets red because I don't know who this man is, just standing there while Bruno's tongue is in my mouth. I kinda push him. I clear my throat. "Who is that?" I whisper. He turns around smiling. "Babe, this is Phil.. Phil this is my girlfriend Lena." He says, beaming. Mr. Glasses..err Phil, walks towards me. "Whoooo! You were telling the truth dawg.. Gorgeous!" He spins me around. If my face was red before, I don't even know what to call it now. Bruno's perfect pearling white teeth are showing as he looks at me. "Nice to meet you Lena, believe me when I say, Bruno talks about you..ALL THE TIME!" Bruno pushes him a little. "Shut up dawg, no I don't." he says under his breath. Phil looks at him. "Riiiight you right, You don't talk about her when I'M talking..Muh bad dawg!" He says and they both bust out laughing. I never heard 'dawg' used so much since the last time I kicked it with my brother and his friends. "Where's everybody else?" Bruno asks me. "Ummm, Ahmity and Phred are still eating, and Eric.. went home." I say. Bruno furrows his eyebrow instantly. "He went home? Why?" I swallow, and shift my weight uncomfortably. "Lena, whatever you say to me you can say in front of Phil." He says. Phil nods. "This is true." He says. It's not that I don't believe him, but I just met Phil and I don't know him. "Why did he go home Lena?!" He says. "I don't know! I guess he's mad over the whole thing with my sister and Phred. I know he's hurting so he probably wants some alone time." I say. "Dammit.." Bruno says. "What?" I ask. "Phil, can you drive us there...We need to hurry." He says. "I got you." Phil says. "What are talking about?" I say as they both start walking towards the door, Bruno pushing me. "One thing you and my brother have in common. When you're hurt, you run." He says.................................