“Excuse me,” I huffed at a group of students gathered in front of the lecture hall door. No one moved, and my nostrils flared. I was on a time crunch. Ma had gone to the wholesalers, and Dad was out on his usual deliveries taking food to the people who couldn’t get out of their homes. And, of course, the few people who could get to the store but didn’t want to be seen on our side of town—the poor side.
“You coming to the party tonight?” a deep voice from behind me asked someone.
“Hello?” I waved my arm in the air and in front of one of the students' faces. “Can I get by, please?” I was acting nice, but inside I wanted to yell at them to move the hell out of the way. I tried to tamp down the frustration building, knowing it wouldn’t make an inch of difference to the mellow students in front of me, but I couldn’t help muttering, “Maybe I should talk to the wall? Then I might be able to get a goddamn answer.”
Someone chuckled, and several of the students blocking my way snapped their heads around. Their wide eyes settled on something behind me, and I took their lull in conversation to push through the middle of them. Every damn week they congregated around the door, blocking the way.
As soon as I was out in the hallway, I pulled both straps of my backpack on my shoulders and speed-walked to the main entrance. Once I was outside, I’d run as fast as I could to the bus stop.
“Hey, Aida?” A hand wrapped around my bicep when I was inches away from the door, and I recognized the voice as the one from the lecture hall who asked someone if they were going to the party.
I frowned as I spun on my feet and stared up at the huge guy in front of me. “I…huh?”
“I asked if you were coming to the party tonight.” Brad—captain of the lacrosse team—pushed his hand through his highlighted hair and gave me what the other girls would have called a panty-dropping smile. But my panties were firmly attached to my body.
Wait…had he been asking me if I was going to the party?
“Erm…” My gaze batted to the door, then back to him. “I need to get my bus.” I omitted his question, not sure whether I should have answered it or not. People like him didn’t ask students like me to parties. In fact, the last party I’d gone to was during my senior year of high school, and that was only because Noemi had dragged me there, demanding I experience at least one high school party in my lifetime.
Brad’s lips quirked on one side as he stepped closer to me, his almost overpowering cologne too much for my nostrils to handle. I dipped my head back to keep eye contact with him, my gaze scanning his face and realizing he was the typical all-American guy. “I’m not letting you go until you answer my question, Aida.” He was trying to be flirty, and while I appreciated it, I had—
I glanced at the time on my cell. “Fuck,” I growled. “I missed my bus.”
“I can give you a lift home,” Brad said, his voice silky smooth. The mantra Ma had embedded into my mind blasted through me, but at this point, I didn’t have the energy to run across town so I could make it there in time. “You’ll be safe. Promise.” He finally let go of my arm and made a cross motion on his chest. “Come on, you can answer my question on the way.”
I looked around us as he opened up the doors, seeing if anyone was watching, but there wasn’t. A couple of students milled about, but other than that, we were alone. “I…I’m not sure…” I bit down on my bottom lip, fully aware that it was now me who was blocking a doorway. Brad didn’t say anything as I stared at him. He just kept his gaze fixated on my face, letting me make the decision. It was his silence that had me caving because I really didn’t have another choice. “Okay,” I whispered, opening my cell and shooting off a quick message to my sister, just in case.
Neither of us spoke as we walked across the quad to one of the parking lots. His keys jangled as he pulled them out of the front pocket of his light denim jeans, and then lights flashed on a bright red truck.
Brad walked over to the passenger side, opened the door for me, then closed it once I was inside. It smelled like cologne and…sweat. I scrunched up my nose. Was this what all athletes’ cars smelled like? I tried not to let my disgust show on my face as he got into the truck and backed out of the spot, but as soon as we were pulling out of the college grounds, I opened the window a little.
“Where am I heading?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
“Do you know Ricci Italy?”
“I’ve heard of it,” Brad said, taking a right onto the main road.
“There.”
He nodded, not saying anything else until we were pulling up outside my family store. The windows to our apartment above the store were wide open, the curtains flapping out onto the outside wall from the wind. “So…” He kept the engine running and turned to face me. “Are you going to the party tonight?”
I shook my head and undid my belt. “Can’t.” I pointed at the store. “I gotta work.” I probably could have just told him that when he’d first asked, but my brain had been trying to figure out what was going on and why he was asking me.
“Oh.” His face dropped, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I never was good in situations like this. I was awkward, and not the cute, endearing kind of awkward, just the plain awkward awkward. “Maybe another time?” I continued, feeling like it was the right thing to say.
“Next Friday?” he blurted out but immediately shook his head. “No, I have a game that day. Friday after? Two weeks from today?”
“I—”
“I’ll take you out somewhere nice. Maybe for Italian or something?”
I chuckled. “No one cooks Italian food the way Ma does.”
He laughed with me, his easy smile coming back onto his handsome face. A face I was beginning to enjoy staring at. “I’ll take you somewhere nice.”
“Like a…” I glanced over to the front of the store, catching sight of my niece’s little eyes watching me. “A date?”
“A date,” Brad confirmed, and my stomach dipped in response. “What do you say?”
“Erm…” I looked back at him and inhaled a deep breath. “I guess? Sure, why not.” He grinned and opened his mouth, but I knew I had to leave now, not just because my shift would be starting any minute, but because I had to quit while I was ahead and not embarrass myself. “I have to go.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” His lips pulled wider. “I’ll see you in two weeks if not before that.”
“Okay.” I smiled, then pushed out of his truck, not looking back once as I scooped up Vida on the way into the store and held her to my chest.
“Who was that, Auntie Aida?” her sweet little voice asked.
“No one,” I sang, boosting her on my hip and walking toward the cash register that Noemi stood behind. “You look extra pretty today, Vida.”
She giggled, her body giving way to the motion, and I couldn’t help but tickle her side, causing the laughter to get louder and her dark-brown hair to whip at my face. “Auntie!” she shouted, her body trying to squirm away from me.
Once I was satisfied that I’d successfully distracted her, I halted and placed her on the counter between Noemi and me. I should have known better than to use Vida as a shield against Noemi’s verbal attack because it was only seconds until Noemi demanded, “Who’s the guy?”