Sarah closed her eyes and put her hand on her chest. “God, I’ve been so nervous all day. I’m a mess.”
“About what?" Valerie walked in and sat down on Sarah’s bed.
Sarah slumped her shoulders. “I’m telling Angel tonight.”
“Telling him what?”
“About Syd.”
Valerie’s eyes opened wide. “He still doesn’t know?”
Sarah rolled her eyes. Valerie always had a way of making her feel worse, especially about this. “No, but he’ll know tonight for sure. No buts about it. I’m telling him.” She turned back around to look in her closet. “I’m just not sure where to start.”
“Well, expect the worst.”
Sarah spun around and shot her a look. “Gee, thanks. That helps.”
Valerie shrugged. “I’m just saying he’s gonna be pissed, Sarah. You know he is. Shit, his brother still had the nerve to tell me he didn’t like me talking to Reggie. I’m not even seeing him anymore, and he was never my boyfriend to begin with, but Angel has it bad. And he has a little more right to feel like you’re his, all his. He is not gonna be happy about you going back to Sydney, your guy friend.”
“I have to tell him though,” Sarah said.
“Yeah, and you should,” Valerie said. “Have you thought about what you’re gonna say?”
“All freakin’ day.” Sarah plopped down on her desk chair.
“Maybe you should dress up really nice,” Valerie said. “You know, do yourself up extra sexy. The distraction might make him a little softer, less mad.”
“You think?” Sarah looked at her apprehensively.
“Yeah.” Valerie jumped off the bed. “I have a really hot dress you could borrow. It’ll be a little short on you, but you won’t look slutty. I promise.”
Sarah watched as Valerie ran out of the room. She chewed her lip, thinking about it. It seemed so silly, but she was willing to try anything that might help.
Valerie came back in holding a black dress. It was low-cut in the front and had slits on the side of both legs. It looked like it might be about an inch or two above her knees. Sarah stared at it. “Am I gonna fit in that thing?”
“Try it on.” Valerie shoved it at her and left the room.
Sarah tried it on, and it was a perfect fit but a lot tighter than what she normally wore and a heck of a lot more revealing. It really showed off her cleavage. They were supposed to be going to a party on the east side, a bit ritzier than their usual backyard parties. But she had a feeling that after he saw her in this dress, they may not make it there and instead head back to the restaurant, which was just fine with her.
She turned around to get a view from behind in the mirror when Valerie walked back in. Sarah turned to see her holding her hand over her mouth. “What?”
“Oh, my God, I’m a genius.” Valerie laughed. “I doubt he’ll even hear a word you say. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”
Sarah glanced back in the mirror. The dress was so unlike her. Angel was going to know something was up the second he saw her. “Is your dad even gonna let me out in this?”
“Ooh, good question,” she said circling Sarah, still sizing her up. “What time is he picking you up?”
“Around seven.”
“Oh, you’re good.” Valerie still had that evil grin on her face. “They’re going to the show and dinner. But they’re cheap, so they like catching the earlier show around five.”
Sarah turned back to the mirror. That ugly feeling in her stomach was back, but dress or no dress, she was telling him tonight—no matter what.
She started getting ready just after five. Valerie helped her with her hair. Sarah’s hair was fairly straight, but Valerie said straightening it even more would make it look extra sleek and super sexy.
Sarah watched Valerie through the bathroom mirror as she concentrated on the flat iron she held in Sarah’s hair. “So how was it last night with Alex? You two looked real chummy.”
Valerie glanced up at the mirror and shrugged. She continued concentrating on Sarah’s hair. “Well, I think he turned his phone off or put it on vibrate ’cause it didn’t go off once last night. I tried to resist him as long as I could, but it’s so damn hard. I didn’t sleep with him though. I told him I’m not doing that anymore. So he asked if it was because of Reggie. I told him, ‘No, it’s because it hurts too much.’ Then he made a stupid joke apologizing for his size.”
Valerie’s expression was disgusted, but Sarah couldn’t help laughing. Alex was too funny.
“Stop,” Valerie said. “You’re gonna make me burn you.”
Sarah controlled her laughter as best she could, and Valerie continued to tell her about the rest of her evening with Alex. Sarah couldn’t help busting up several more times.
The way she saw it, Valerie was partly to blame for Alex thinking the way he did. She had given herself to him way too easily and with no strings attached. But Alex had no right to demand she stop going out with or even talking to other guys. He was, as Valerie put it, pretty ridiculous.
Valerie said he agreed to going out but no sex, and they were already going out again tonight. Sarah had to laugh at that too. If it was true that Alex was just like Angel only intensified times three the way everyone made it seem, Valerie was dreaming if she thought she’d keep that guy off her. Not that she thought Alex would ever force himself on her. But she was sure he’d find a way to manipulate the situation. If it were anyone else, maybe Valerie could find the willpower to stand firm. But with him, Sarah highly doubted it.
Valerie left to get ready herself, leaving Sarah to finish getting ready on her own. When she was just about done, she heard the doorbell ring. She glanced at the clock. It was only six-thirty. Angel had said he’d call if he would be early. She continued working on her makeup, and then she heard Valerie.
“Sarah, it’s for you.”
Maybe he got off early and wanted to surprise her. Sarah was glad she was ready. She put all her things back in her makeup bag and stuffed it in her purse. She sprayed herself with a little perfume and grabbed her purse. She inhaled very deeply then took one last look at herself in the mirror. He was going to flip when he saw her.
As she rushed out, she glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of that unmistakable 1964 canary yellow Chevy Impala parked directly in front of the house. It couldn’t be.
She turned the corner into the front room and went numb. There he was, all six feet of him, standing there looking at her from head to toe. For a second, she was unable to speak.
“Sydney!” She jumped into his arms.
He hugged her tight. The smell of his cologne brought back all the wonderful memories. When they pulled apart, she stared at him, still in shock. “Oh my God, what are you doing here?”
“We gotta talk, Lynn.”
***
Angel had taken off early, feeling a little guilty about leaving when the restaurant was still busy. But he hadn’t seen Sarah all day, and he was getting antsy about it.
He’d gone home to change and was just pulling out of his driveway, when his cell phone rang. Glancing at the phone screen, he smiled, thinking she must’ve read his mind because he was about to call her.
“Hey, babe.”
“Angel?” She sounded odd, and immediately it made him uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Well, something’s come up. The neighbors up the street. The uh . . . Gleason’s, they had an emergency and they need me to come over immediately to babysit. They’re desperate, Angel. I couldn’t say no.”
Feeling disappointment, but at the same time warmed by her sincere concern, Angel sighed. “Is it for the whole night?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “But I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
“All right.” He turned in the opposite direction back toward the restaurant. “I love you.”
There was a long silence; then he heard her again. “Okay, bye, Angel.”
He’d been back at the restaurant for a little over an hour when his phone rang. He answered it immediately without even checking who it was, thinking it’d be Sarah.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Angel.”
He was quiet for a second. “Dana?”
The only times she’d called him since the day he told her off were a few times to leave drunken messages, but he hadn’t actually talked with her since. Now he regretted answering.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“What do you want?” It wasn’t his thing to be rude, but he wasn’t about to get in hot water with Sarah. The last thing he wanted to do was encourage Dana.
“I’m not calling to rub it in or make you feel worse if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m just calling to tell you I’m here for you.”
Angel rolled his eyes impatiently. He had no clue what she was talking about and, really, no interest. “Dana, I don’t need you here for me, okay? I’m working right now. I gotta go.”
“Angel, I know I pissed you off, but before anything ever happened between us, we were friends. I don’t know what happened with you and Sarah, but I know you were really into her, so if you need someone to talk to now, remember I’m still your friend.”
Her words were all over the place, and still Angel couldn’t make anything of them. He decided to just humor her. “All right, thanks. I gotta go.”
No sooner had he hung up with her when the phone rang again. He glanced at the caller ID a little annoyed, thinking it would be her again. It wasn’t. It was Eric.
“Hey, dude. Where are you guys?” Eric asked.
“I’m working.”
“Working?” Angel heard Romero in the background. “Ask him. Ask him!”
Angel smiled. “Ask me what?”
“Is Sarah with you?”
“No, she had to work. The restaurant was busy, so I just came back.”
“Oh, so Sarah's not with you?”
Then Angel heard Romero again, “I told you! Didn’t I tell you? That was her. I know it was.”
“What’s he saying?” Angel asked.
Eric told Romero to shut up. “Nothing, man, this guy’s just tripping. He thinks he saw Sarah a little while ago.”
Angel was undaunted. “Nah, she’s babysitting.” He stood there smiling, listening to their conversation. He couldn’t tell if Romero had been drinking or was just being obnoxious.
Eric and Romero went back and forth for a few minutes, then Angel heard a struggle, the phone got muffled, and the horn honked. He chuckled. Idiots.
“All right, man,” Eric said to Angel.
Angel laughed. “Is he that wasted already?”
“No,” Eric said. “He hasn’t even been drinking, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he’s acting.”
Angel’s other line beeped.
“Don’t answer your other line. It’s just dumb ass,” Eric said.
“Answer it!” Romero yelled in the background.
“Hold on.” Angel chuckled, clicking over to his other line. “Wadda ya want, ass?”
He stood at the hostess stand at the entrance of the restaurant, looking back in to see how many customers were left. It was early, but most of the guys in the kitchen were on overtime now, and his dad had told him, if it slowed down enough, to close early and let them go home.
“It was her, man,” Romero said.
He walked back casually, sneaking a peek in the second dining room. It was empty. He knew Romero couldn’t be right, but he went along anyway. “Yeah, where?”
“In a car—a fucking yellow Chevy Impala, one of those old ones, all cherried out—with a dude.”
Chapter 20
Sarah was both shocked and overwhelmed with joy when she saw Sydney. She hadn't realized how much she’d missed him until she felt the emotion in his hug.
She had had so many questions for him she almost forgot Angel was going to be there any minute. She’d felt so rotten having to lie the way she had. But she knew there was no way Angel was ready to meet Sydney—not like this. It would be a slap in the face. She needed to explain everything to both of them before she could have them meet.
This whole mess was her fault, and now it threatened to blow up in her face. She was a nervous wreck all day, and now she felt on the verge of a meltdown.
Sydney said he wanted to talk to her, and she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a short conversation. The only places she knew were places Angel had taken her. All of which were frequented by everyone from school.
There was no way she was taking him to her and Angel’s special place. So she decided to go to a place further down the beach where she’d never gone with Angel. She figured it was safe.
Getting there would prove otherwise. They got stuck in Saturday night traffic. It seemed everyone was out that night. She sunk in her seat several times when she thought she saw people from school—guys from the football team even.
When they finally got to the beach, Sydney dropped a bomb. She’d been expecting something big since he’d driven all the way out here, but she was still shocked and upset when she heard it.
“Lynni,” he started. “I should’ve told you this a long time ago.”
Sarah braced herself. As long as he wasn’t sick she could take anything else. “What?”
“Remember Carina Santiago?”
Sarah thought for a moment. “The girl in orchestra who plays the cello?”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Well, just before you left, me and her started talking—a lot. We actually started seeing each other. But you were going through so much crap and stressing out ’cause of your mom’s problems that I didn’t want to tell you about it.”
Sarah shook her head. “Why?”
“C’mon, Lynn, you had so much stuff going on. Half the time you were almost sick with worry about your mom. How could I sit there and tell you about how good things were going for me? It didn’t feel right, and even after you left, you were so miserable, and that’s when everything really started to happen for me and Carina. I couldn’t do it.”
Sarah stared at him, almost sick to her stomach, feeling so self-centered. All this time she’d been going on and on about having to be there for Sydney, and now she was finding out that she’d been too busy wallowing in her own crap to listen to him. He’d been there for her, and through it all, he’d kept his own feelings to himself, never once able to share his own anxieties or excitement about his own brand new relationship. Unless he’d kept anything else from her before this, Sarah knew very well this was a first for him too.
“Oh, Sydney, I’m so sorry.” She hugged him tight.
He pulled back gently. “What are you talking about? I’m the one that kept it all from you.”
“Yeah, but you did it for me because I was such a whiny useless wimp. I dumped all my crap on you, time and time again, and never once thought about how hard it must be for you.”
Without warning, the tears came en masse. She felt terrible, but when her eyes met his, he looked mad. “Don’t you dare do this, Lynn.” He wiped the tears gently from her cheeks but spoke firmly. “You’ve been the best friend that anyone could ever ask for. You think I’ll ever forget what you did for me? If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have made it through middle school. I was the fattest, laziest piece of—”
“No, you weren’t!” She stopped him, infuriated.
“I was, Lynni. But you were the only one that didn’t think so. And just like right now, you were ready to kick some ass if anyone ever made me feel like I was.”
“That’s because I’ve always known what a beautiful person you are, Sydney. They didn’t know you like I did.”
“And I’ll never forget that about you. But I keep hearing you talk about how much you owe me. You don’t owe me shit. You got me through the roughest years of my life. If anything, I owe you—big time. If it hadn’t been for you, I might have shot myself.”
She stared at him, stunned.
“It’s true, Lynn. I’m ashamed to admit it, but there were times I was thankful that things weren’t perfect for you because I knew if your life had been just an inch more normal, maybe you wouldn’t need me so much.”
“How can you say that?” The tears burned in her eyes. “I would never turn my back on you.”
“I know that,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. You have to stay, Lynn. You belong with Angel, just like I belong with Carina. Why do you think I accepted the scholarship to Columbia?”
Sarah stared at him blankly.
“She’s going there,” he said. “It’s been killing me because I know you want to stay here with Angel. It’s where you should be. If you came back to Arizona just because you felt you couldn’t turn your back on me, how am I gonna feel when I leave for Columbia? What if because you insisted on coming back to Arizona, you lose Angel, and you’re on your own? How am I supposed to live with that? I’ll drop out of school, Lynn. I swear to God. I’ll lose Carina before I abandon you.”
“No!” Sarah gasped.
“Then stay here, Lynn,” he said. “Stop being so damn stubborn, and tell him you love him already. Stay here and be happy. He looked deep in her eyes. “Me and you, nothing will ever break us apart, not anyone, not any distance.”
Sarah smiled, feeling her heart swell a million times over. “This is why I love you so much, Sydney.”
“I love you too.”
Sarah hugged him tightly. Then they hung out for about another hour, with Sarah insisting he tell her all about Carina. Sydney didn’t hesitate, telling her everything. To Sarah’s shock, they’d been intimate for some time now. Sarah tried to shake the guilt off. He should’ve been able to share that with her. She knew it was huge. Then he hit her with yet another surprise. “She doesn’t know I’m here with you.”
“What?”
“Everyone at school knew how tight we were, Lynn. She did too. When we started going out, she was incredibly insecure about you. You’re a pretty rough subject with us, but I’m trying to get her to understand. It’s too soon though, and I know if she knew I drove all the way down here to see you, it’d be over.”
[Moreno Brothers 01.0] Forever Mine Page 18
