by Dexx Peay
Monica was trying to rationalize everything. “What do we do?”
“I’m going to break up with Delilah tomorrow.”
I had to.
It was the only way.
The dynamics between the gang would be thrown off. Not sure I could bring Monica around, since Delilah would be there.
“Oh,” she gasped. “So soon. How?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe the same way you did me on prom night,” I joked.
“Did you really just bring that up? El pendejo.” She sucked her teeth at me. Apparently she didn’t think that was funny.
“So this is really happening? We’re going to be a couple again?”
“Do you believe in destiny?” I asked.
“I do.”
I got off the floor and sat next to her on the couch, and kissed her on the lips.
The next day I spent the whole morning talking to Mom who was a wreck. She wanted me to come home for the weekend. I told her I would. I didn’t know how I was going to get there. I was positive Dylan wasn’t going to give me a ride home. I had to figure something out.
I told Delilah I would meet her when she got out class in front of Steinhardt. I was just going to tell her the truth. She didn’t deserve to be lied to after I cheated on her. I just hoped she didn’t turn out like Jessica and wind up having powers.
“Hey Marcus,” she said, running behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist.
She let go and I turned around. She hugged me. I wasn’t sure if I should hug her back since I was about to break up with her.
“Ugh!” leaked out followed by a slight laugh.
I hugged her back. She pulled away.
“You okay? You’ve been acting really weird lately.”
“We need to talk.” She took my hand. I removed it. “Delilah I’m breaking up with you.”
That was easy.
Her chest and her shoulders rose. It was a series of emotions I watched happen in real time. She gasped and sucked in a huge amount of air with just a tiny breath. Her breathing picked up and I heard every inhale and exhale she took. She drew her hand and smacked the guilt out of me. My head turned with the smack and I couldn’t bring myself to look back at her.
But I did.
She just stood there breathing heavily and looking. Dylan said one of the worst things a woman could give a man was silence.
“Say somethi—” She smacked me again.
It hurt me to break up with her. Dylan warned me that someone would get hurt. I thought he was talking about Delilah or Monica, not me.
She started ranting about what my reasoning was and some other stuff. I couldn’t really concentration and her accent started to get thick so her words were unrecognizable. When I finally looked up she was gone and the people around got their daily dose of entertainment.
I ran into Gunner on my way back. He noticed the indention across my face.
“Girl trouble,” he said.
“Is it obvious?” I replied.
He started asking about Dylan. I told him this was going to be a tough semester for Dylan with his class load. He urged me to have Dylan call him back, since he hadn’t been answering Gunner’s calls or texts. This was starting to catch up with me. I didn’t realize how many people were going to start looking for Dylan, and more so, looking to me for answers. I had to either figure out a lie that I could pull off for an extended amount of time, or find a way to get Dylan back.
Macchiato and Cafe Bustelo
It felt good.
She felt good.
We cuddled in the bed, completely naked with our clothes on. Just couldn’t keep my hands from touching that slim waistline. My lips were addicted to tasting her cherry chap stick. My eyes were constantly interlocked with hers.
“Do you know the risk and the danger you are putting yourself in?” I whispered.
I lit the candles that illuminated the dark filled room. It was all about building intimacy at the moment. I never knew what that meant until now.
“You’re amazing. And yes I do know. We’ve been down that road already and I am willing to stay at your side no matter what,” she whispered back.
“People will try and hurt you or worst, if they wanted to get to me.”
“I’m not losing you again Marcus. I know who and what you are which makes me better prepared in case a situation does arise.”
My fingers enjoyed the smoothness of her skin as I stroked up and down her face. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone to check the time.
“I gotta get you back to your room.”
“Is everything okay?”
I went into my closet and pulled out a ragged pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt and grabbed my backpack. I put on the clothes and flung my backpack across my back.
“I told you Mom wants me to come home for the weekend.”
“How are you getting there?”
I walked towards her and leaned down to give her a kiss. “Have you forgotten that I can fly?”
We walked to her dorm. I took my good shoes off and put them in the bag then handed it to her while I changed into beat up ones.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You have no idea how many pairs of shoes I’ve went through due to flying. I’ll take these off before I fly.”
“So why change now?”
“These powers are crazy at times. My feet may spark at anytime and I can’t ruin my best pair of kicks.”
I slung the bag across my back as she handed it back then pulled her into me. I gripped her little booty and she squealed.
“Kiss me,” I said.
She did just that.
Was it wrong that I just wanted to hold onto to her the entire night? I took a moment to just embrace her before letting go.
“I’ll call you when I make it home.”
I headed to my old practice building with the two flashing blue lights, climbed the fire escape, jumped off the ledge and took off into the night.
The house was quiet and dark. I walked inside the house, then to my room. Light escaped from under the door.
Elias was still up.
We never went to sleep with the lights on. Couldn’t afford it. I walked in. He was in bed watching TV.
“Marcus?” He jumped out of bed and ran over to me.
I hugged my little brother.
“What happened to your clothes?”
“I just need to change. How are you holding up?”
“Ugh,” he sighed. “Mom is all over the place. I had to miss school today to stay home and watch Katie cause we couldn’t find a sitter.”
That was unacceptable. I had to do something and fast.
“Where do you think Dad could be?” I asked.
“Somewhere with a bottle of vodka in both hands.”
“Watch it Elias, that’s still our dad,” I scolded.
I took a seat on my bed. He remained standing, pacing around the room.
“I don’t care Marcus. Do you know the situation he put us in? He is gone and you’re gone and now—”
“Now you are forced to be the man of the house.” He stopped pacing. “You don’t think you’re ready?” I got up and stood next to him.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m too young.”
“You wouldn’t be put in this situation if you weren’t strong enough. You just have to find the strength because you have it.”
Thanks Monica.
“What do we do?” he said.
“We get some rest and tomorrow, we go find our dad.”
I got up earlier than the rest of the family to make a trip to the grocery store. I wanted to cook for them to start their day off right. I got some eggs, orange juice, pancakes and sausage. I wasn’t a chef so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Working at the restaurant for two years did give me a heads up on how to throw some things together and call it edible.
When I got to the house Elias was lying on the couch watching kiddie cartoons while
Katie sat Indian style on his stomach. They both turned and looked when I opened the door and walked in with bags of food.
Once the food was complete, I woke up Mom. She wrapped her arms around my neck when she opened her eyes. I told her to come get some food. I fixed a plate for everyone and we sat around the living room.
“Marcus and I are going to find Dad today Mom, don’t worry,” Elias said.
She hardly touched her food. Katie kept running up and grabbing food off her plate and running back to the TV.
The dark circles under her eyes were prominent, her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed or brushed in days. Either she had been on the bottle herself or she wasn’t sleeping.
I went with the latter.
“Mom you have to get some sleep,” I said. “Elias is right, we’re going to find him today.”
She leaned over the infamous squeaking couch and hugged me.
“I love you Mom,” I whispered.
I took her plate, she got up and I showed her back to her bed.
This was going to be a proactive trip. No sulking. There was work to be done. First, I cleaned up the living room and the kitchen. Next, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I was looking for.
It started to ring.
“Hey Mrs. Perry, I was wondering if you could watch Katie for me today… Yeah I came home for the weekend… No Dylan is still at school. I caught a ride with someone else… She isn’t doing too well, Elias and I are going to handle some business today and look for him… I will let her know… okay, thank you Mrs. Perry, we’ll be right over.”
“Elias we have a lot of work to get done today,” I called out. “Can you get Katie ready while I finish cleaning?”
“You got it!”
We pulled up to the house. I got out and grabbed Katie and her bag, while Elias grabbed her toys. Mrs. Perry walked out and met us at the door. It was hard looking at her knowing what was happening with Dylan. She had no idea what was going on, or even if he was going to survive.
“There’s my little Katie bug,” Mrs. Perry said so sweetly.
She held her arms out and I leaned Katie forward. She took her and we all walked inside. I loved Dylan’s house, it was much bigger than mine. My family never had space to grow. I can’t remember having my own room before Elias came. The spare room was always an office until Katie was born.
She put Katie down and Elias handed her a toy. The three of us took a seat at the dining room table.
“Be honest, how bad has she been?” I asked.
“She took two sick days at work this week.”
“I have to bring him home. I can’t afford this right now Mrs. Perry. I have so much going on at school and just in my own personal life aside from my family issues.”
“I know you do Marcus.”
“Elias and Katie don’t need this right now either.”
We talked a little more.
She told us to take as much time as we needed and that she would have some dinner cooked for us when we came back to pick up Katie that evening. We thanked her and got back in the car.
“Where to first?” Elias asked.
“The scene of the crime,” I replied.
We got to the Carrot Cake first. The place was a ghost town. The two employees we had working there were sitting at the booth with their temples resting in their palms wishing for customers. They looked up at us when we walked in and went back to resting.
“Hey guys. Mind if I talk to you two?”
We both walked over to the booth and took a seat.
“What is it?” one of the guys barked.
“Chill out dude. That’s Marcus, the boss’s son,” Mitchell warned.
Mitchell had been working there a little longer than me. He was a real asset to the business, but this guy I’d never seen before.
“Yeah, well, where’s the boss?” he said sarcastically.
He got up and got a soda out the cooler behind the register. I could tell he was a bit aggressive.
“That’s what I am here to talk about. Can you do me a favor Mitchell?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Call all the employees and see if they can come in for a meeting in two hours. The employee directory in the office has the contact info for all current employees, use that.”
“Got it.”
“I have some things to do and I will be back in two hours guys.”
Elias and I walked out and got back in the car.
I exhaled.
I knew what needed to be done.
“Elias reach in the glove compartment and hand me those papers I put in earlier.”
“Here you go.”
I looked through them then drove off.
“So how’s high school going?” I asked.
“Different, I like it. I like the girls.”
“The girls didn’t like me in high school.”
“So do they like you now?”
I laughed. “Sometimes.”
It got silent for a minute. The heat blowing from the vents and the engine served as our background music.
“Do you miss being home or do you like being away at college?”
“Both. It gets complicated man. I miss being home with the family but I need to be out on my own and find things out for myself, learn major life lessons that I just can’t learn anywhere else yanno.”
“What have you learned being away from home?”
I learned that I am an alien and that this world is not what I thought it was before I started to shoot fire from my hands.
“I’ve learned who I am, who I really am.”
We got to the electric company. I put some cash inside the envelope along with the bill and put it in the drop box. Next stop was the post office to mail off Mom’s car payment. After running the remainder of the errands, Elias and I headed back to Carrot Cake.
We pulled back up to the restaurant, and as we walked inside, it looked like most of the employees were there. They were sitting around at the bar, tables, on the bar or standing—gossiping about what was going on.
“Okay guys,” I said.
I wasn’t loud enough.
Nobody could hear me.
Needed to get everyone’s attention.
I used my fingers to blow a whistle.
They all stopped talking. Elias took a seat at the bar next to Mitchell.
“I know things have been crazy around here guys.”
“Yeah, damn right!” Someone shouted.
Whoever that was, incited more craziness and curse words. They were like children, but I couldn’t fault them though. I moved my hands up and down to get them settled again.
“I know, I know. I’m just gonna go ahead and explain to you guys what’s going on and how I plan to solve it.”
I didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want my family’s business out there but they had to know what was going on here. If it was me, I’d want to know.
It was the fair thing...the right thing to do.
“My dad,” I hesitated.
I looked up and saw my brother’s eyes wide and glossy. Family first, I thought.
“In the past my dad has had a drinking problem. When he first opened the restaurant it was doing pretty good until he started drinking heavily. When he did, he ended up on the streets, leaving his family...leaving us behind. The restaurant closed and my family had to find a way to save it before it was too late. My dad was found and he got himself cleaned up and opened it back with a lot of hard work.
Unfortunately, we’re in the same predicament again. I need all of you guys’ help, to help my family, help the restaurant, save our jobs and in the process, save my dad.”
“You can count on me Marcus,” Mitchell said.
There was one girl to my left who was wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. Her reaction caused me to start wiping tears from my eyes.
They all agreed.
“Here is my plan. I’m officially promoting
Mitchell to assistant manager. From here on out, take all direction from Mitchell and please go to him with any and all concerns. Mitchell?”
“I’ll take it boss,” he said.
“Perfect. Now we all know Carrot Cake isn’t the most happenin’ place in town, but I have a way we can increase sales and in return generate more money for our servers and maybe get a raise for our hostess and cooks. Is there anyone who knows anything about graphic design?”
The girl that was to my left, raised her hand.
“What’s your name?”
“Rachel,” she replied. “I work part-time at the smoothie bar.”
“Great. I need you to work on a flyer for me. I will email you when I get back to school to tell you what I want on it. What we’re going to do guys is pass out flyers to the high schools in the area. Starting next week, every Friday is high school day. Half-off appetizers and drinks with a school ID. Wednesdays will be dedicated to our kids five and under. They eat free with the purchase of a meal. I will create some coupons and we can start giving them to our customers along with their bill. I need all of you guys to keep this restaurant going and to remain positive. We can do it team.”
Everyone’s spirit was boosted. I could tell by all the smiles, hi-fives they were giving each other, and the handshakes they all gave me. I didn’t want to take on this extra responsibility but I had to. At the end of the day aside from the powers, the girls and school, I had to take care of my family even if that meant putting Dylan on hold also.
