An Unexpected Hunger (27 page)

Ricky’s hand traveled down my chest
, landing around my waist. He pulled me in closer, my broken leg dragging along.

“This is going to be tricky,” I laughed as
I tried to inch myself closer. “This leg is going to make things very complicated.”

“
Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I just want you as close as possible.”

“Wh
at am I going to do without you…when you go back home?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, looking over at me. “It’s going to be rough.”

“I wish you could stay here with me.”

“What if I could?” he replied.

I paused, trying to read the expression on his face. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Yeah…aren’t you miserable without me?”

“Completely,” I said, laying my head on his chest. “Unbelievably miserable.”

“Exactly,” he said. “So it’s only fair that I do what
I can to alleviate that for you.”

“You would do that? Move here for me?”

“If it was okay with you,” he replied.

“But how? What about the bar?”

“I’ll sell it.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“Then why did I put if up for sale?”

I shot up in the bed, the quick movement sending a shooting pain down my leg. “You put the bar up for sale? Since when?”

Ricky readjusted himself, leaning his head against the headboard. “About a month ago. I…I just can’t be without you.”

His eyes fluttered away from my face, his gaze now directed at the space behind me.

“Ricky…selling the bar is-”

“
I want to make a life with you,” he said, interrupting me. “And if that means selling the bar, or my soul, to come here and be with you, than it’s what I’m going to do.”

“But…what about Mia?” I whispered, completely stunned.

“She’ll be done school at the end of this year. She’s not interested in working for me much longer.”

I
never thought about the possibility of Ricky leaving everything he knew to come follow me across the country. He seemed so settled where he was that I never brought the idea up. The more I thought about it, the less I was sure that I wanted to stay in California myself. I seem to find myself in some kind of trouble whenever I’m here. Back home, it was so much easier for me, and I had to admit that being close to home was nice, too. As much as mom and Nick drove me up the wall, it felt good having family around again. Here, Ricky would only have me, and I wasn’t so sure I could let him leave everything and everyone he knew and loved, just for me.

“So what do you think?” he asked. “You don’t seem t
oo happy about the idea.”

“No, it’s not that at all,” I replied.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I just…I’m not sure I would want you to
go through all that just for me.”

“I see,” he said, getting out of bed. “So…
you don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” he said after putting on a shirt.

“It’s just a big step, you moving out here.”

“Look, forget I even said anything.” He started towards the door.

“Where are you going?” I called out to him.

“To smoke a cigarette,” he muttered.

I heard the door close,
and hobbled to the bedroom window, just in time to see him drive away.

MIA AND I
stayed behind while Ricky and Nick ran out to do some last minute birthday surprise errands. Ricky had something planned that everyone knew about except me.

“Okay,” I said. “They’re gone. Start talking
.”

Mia shook her head and smiled. “
I don’t know anything!”

“You’re a liar!” I cried.

“No, I’m not!” she insisted. “It’s only one more day, and then you’ll find out!”

I rolled my eyes as she rummaged through the fridge for something to eat. I hobbled over to the kitc
hen table, and leaned my crutches against the wall.

“
So how’s everything going?” she asked. She and Nick arrived yesterday, and were staying the next couple days before leaving to explore the west coast a bit. I tried to convince Ricky to go with them so that he could take a little break himself, but he refused.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Fine
, I guess. Your brother’s been mad at me.”

Mia sat down at the table. “What about this time?”

I fiddled with my hair. “He wants to move here.”

She looked
confused. “And that’s bad?”

“No,” I sa
id. “But you know your brother…He comes here, decides he’s tired of me, and then what?”

“It’s not like that,” she said. “
When Nick told him you were in an accident he freaked out. Took the first flight out here with your mom.”

“Then why did he let me leave in the first place? I thought that he would have begged me to stay
, but it was just the opposite.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But maybe you should ask him that.”

* * *

The morning of my birthday I woke
up to the smell of bacon. Making my way into the kitchen, Ricky and Nick were cooking up a storm.

“Happy birthday!” they both shouted at once.

I smiled, and did a good stretch. “Where’s Mimi?”

“She just left for a morning run,” Ricky said, putting a plate of food in front of me. He planted a kiss on my
lips and smiled. I was hopeful that his bad mood was ending.

“Mmm, thanks. Smells yummy.”

“So,” Nick said, sitting down next to me. “How’s it feel to be a whole year older?”

“Good,” I said. “Not much different than my last birthday.”

“Twenty-four,” Nick continued. “Time to get serious about life…settle down, think about starting a family.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked him.

“Nothing,” he said, glancing over at Ricky who was trying to stifle a grin.

I rolled my eyes
, and continued to enjoy my breakfast. “So, what are the plans for today?” I asked, anxious to find out what it was they were planning the last couple of days.

Ricky shrugged. “I don’t know. Nick…what are the plans for today?”

My eyes flickered between Nick and Ricky, knowing they planned on torturing me all day.

“Well…I need a haircut,” Nick said. “And I real
ly should get some laundry done.”

“Whatever,” I said. “You two are impossible.”

After breakfast, Ricky disappeared into my room, carrying out a small duffel bag. He handed it to Nick, and they both headed for the door.

“Where are you two going” I asked. “You’re going to leave me alone on my birthday?”

“Don’t worry,” Ricky said. He planted a kiss on my forehead. “We’ll be back soon.”

“How soon?” I said, getting up off the couch.

“Very soon,” Ricky said. “Just relax. Mia will tell you what to do when she gets back.”

He closed the door behind him
, and I flopped back down, not having a clue in the world what they were up to.

* * *

When the doorbell rang later that day, I opened the door to the last person I expected to see.

“Danny,” I said. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He was holding a bouquet of flowers, a faint red scar lined the top of his eyebrow. “Happy birthday,” he said, handing me the flowers. “I wanted to see how you were doing…Can I come in?”

I looked back to make sure Mia was still in the shower. “Fine,” I said. “But not for long. I have plans in a little bit.”

I laid the flowers on the kitchen counter as Danny followed behind me. I didn’t offer him anything to eat or drink, or even bothered to tell him to sit. I didn’t want him to get too comfortable.

“How’s your leg?” he said, nodding towards my cast.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Hopefully, the cast will come off in a few weeks.”

“That’s good,” he muttered.

“So what are you doing here?” I asked. I didn’t have time to beat around the bush.

“I know it may seem like I’m apologizing all the time but…I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what exactly? For lying to me or for crashing your car into a pole?”

He le
t out a deep breath, and brushed his hand against the top of his head. “Both,” he said. “For the whole night.”

“Well, it’s over now
, and I just want to forget it ever happened.”

“I understand,” he replied.

The bathroom door swung open, and Mia came traipsing out, wrapped in a towel. She pretended not to be interested in the strange, yet attractive, man standing in my kitchen. She headed towards the bedroom, and closed the door without saying anything.

“I think you better go
,” I said.

“Have plans for your birthday?”

“Something like that.”

I hobbled towards the door, hoping Danny was following behind me.

Once we got to the threshold, he paused, turning to face me. “I wish things worked out better between us,” he said. “I would have done a lot of things differently.”

“Well…it wasn’t all bad.
But, I think that it’s better if we don’t see each other anymore.”

“Okay,” Danny said. I sensed
he wanted to say something to convince me to change my mind. I braced myself for a rebuttal, but all I got was a request for a hug.

“Take care of yourself,” Danny said. He
pressed his lips on mine. I stood there, too stunned to process what was happening. When I finally came back into focus, Ricky was in the hallway, his mouth gaping.

“Ricky
!” I said.

He came charging towards Danny, his jaw clenched and his fists ready to unleash in a fury.
An eerie quiet settled over him as he slammed Danny against the wall of the hallway.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
he said in Danny’s face.

Before I could react, Ricky’s fist
was pounding Danny’s face, over and over.

“Ricky! Stop!” I shouted.

People peeked through cracked doors, trying to get a glimpse of the scene unfolding.

Mia ran to the door, her hair still dripping wet. “Ricky! Stop!” she pleaded, but he ignored her.

Ricky’s eyes glazed over. With one hand, he gripped the collar of Danny’s shirt, pummeling him with the other. Danny wriggled on the floor as he tried to block each blow with his arm.

Mia and I watch
ed, horrified, as Ricky disregarded our persistent pleas. Every punch he dealt seemed to move in slow motion. Danny recoiled back, trying to release himself from Ricky’s grip.

Nick
appeared around the hallway, pausing for a brief moment to witness what was happening, before springing into action. He grabbed both of Ricky’s arms, and it took all his effort to pry him away.

Ricky finally relented, his chest heaving up and down, his fists stained with Danny’s blood
. Danny struggled to get up, and I hobbled over, offering my hand to help him.

Danny’s nose looked broken
, and Mia grabbed a dish towel to catch the blood pouring from his nostrils.

“I think you should go to the hospital,” I said. “Mia…can you drive us?”

She nodded, and Danny fished out his keys from his pocket.

Nick pushed
Ricky away, guiding him back into the apartment.

* * *

Mia and I waited as Danny got patched up by the doctors. We sat in the waiting room, exchanging looks every once in a while, but not uttering a word. I watched as doctors and nurses walked by, some pushing patients in wheelchairs and hospital beds.

“I hate hospitals,” Mia muttered. We both watched as an older man, skinny and hooked to an IV, scuttled past us. He glance
d over our way, an oxygen tube wrapped around his ears and under his nose. I smiled at him, but he just continued to stare and trudged along, using his IV pole for balance.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “Me too.”

“Brings back too many memories,” she continued.

I looked over to her. “I know what you mean.”

I’ll never forget that day. It was inscribed in my memory like the stitch of my name in my chef jacket. Mom called me, rushing me to come home from the restaurant. I figured it was about something Nick had gotten into at school. I rolled my eyes at her as she sat at the kitchen table, sulking.

When she looked up at me, she dabbed under her eyes with a tissue.

“Mom…What’s going on?” I asked her.

We rushed to the hospital, my whole world turned upside down in just a few seconds.