Friend-Zoned (4 page)

Chapter Three
Shit just got
serious

Max looks incredulous as
he slowly asks, “So you’re telling me you agreed to be friends with
her?”
I sit at the table in our ‘chill out’ room.
I do a lot of business dealings at the club during the day. The
club consists of two floors. I own the building. There were vacant
rooms on the second floor, one of which is my office. There are two
conference rooms. Lastly, the ‘chill out’ room which has a huge LCD
TV, cable, DVD player, computer, stereo, board games, the most
comfortable sofa you’ve ever put your ass on, dining table and
chairs, refrigerator, a cupboard full of snacks, and coloring books
and markers (for my niece).
I’m looking down and tearing up a napkin into as many small pieces
as I can.
I respond, “I know, right? What the hell is wrong with me?”
My brother looks at me and smirks. He says, “She got under ya
skin.” He laughs and continues, “She
is
pretty damn cute. And that
ass
, mmm nice.”
I have the sudden urge to slap him across the back of the head. My
brother Max is my best friend. Well, he is, and so is Asher who we
nicknamed Ghost. We all grew up together, went to school together
and towards the end of our high school years Ghost moved with us.
This made Mom extremely happy because as she said his parents are
‘
mala gente
’ or
‘bad people’.
The whole town knew this.
Mom loves Ghost as her own son. She refuses to call him Ghost
though, but he doesn’t mind. He calls her Mom and he loves her as
much as I do, maybe even more.
Ghost would sneak out of gym class so nobody could see the bruises
all over his body. I knew they were there but it was forbidden to
speak of it. I brought it up with him once and he disappeared for a
week. The next time I saw him I told him I wouldn’t mention it
again but let him know he was my brother and I had his back.
Always.
Asher and I are thirty four. Max is a year younger than
us.
Ahh, the golden boy
himself!
Ghost walks into the room
followed by my cousin Diego who we call Trick They both take a
seat.
Max starts, “Hey Casper, guess what Nik got himself?!” He’s
practically giddy.
Idiot.
Ghost runs a hand
through his blonde hair and turns his brown eyes towards me.
He guesses, “A new car?”
“Nope.” Max pops the
p
. He turns to Diego and tells him, “Trick you get one
guess.”
Trick looks like us in every way, same facial structure and skin
tone. He is a little shorter than us but is still tall. He’s the
same age as me but we went to different schools. His mom and mine
are sisters. The only difference between us is his eyes are
hazel.
Trick asks, “A dog?”
Max starts laughing. He says, “Get this,”
Shut it knucklehead
. I glare at him
from across the table. “He’s got a new friend. And it’s a
girl!”
Both Ghost and Trick jerk their heads up wearing questioning
expressions. I nod in confirmation.
They are silent for a while before Trick smirks at me and asks,
“Wait, is this a
friend
-friend?” He wiggles his brows at me.
I laugh and respond, “No, man, just a friend. She works across the
street at that chick store Safira.”
Max chuckles “She sent him candy and a note!”
Ghost, who is staring at me like I’ve lost my damn mind, bursts
into fits of laughter. He says, “What are we in fourth
grade?”
I glare and tell him, “She’s nice.” I say
nice
like it’s a bad thing.
Trick tilts his head to the side and looks over my shoulder like
he’s thinking. He enquires, “I don’t think you’ve ever had a
girl
friend. I mean a
friend who you won’t be gettin’ any nookie from, right?”
I frown and nod.
“You’ve lost your damn mind,” Ghost mutters. “You better get a file
on this broad. Just in case.”
He’s
right.
Damn it but he
is
right. I need to call
my guy and get file a put together. This is one of those things
that comes with having money. It’s not that I don’t trust people
but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I work with family and I
have to make sure their safety comes first. Always.
All I know about her is her name is Tina. She took my card so I
guess I’ll have to wait for her to contact me.
***

Rawr Raaawr
I look to the front
of the store, smile and say, “Hey Honey, how’s it going?”
Lola runs across the studio to the staff room. She’s running a few
minutes late and she knows I won’t care but she always makes an
effort to please.
She comes out of the staff room replying, “Not so good. Any
cupcakes today?” She looks hopefully up at me.
I grimace through my response, “No, sorry hon. I’ll make a batch
tomorrow.”
Her face falls a bit. I love that she doesn’t try to hide her
disappointment. She says pitifully, “That’s okay.” She sounds so
forlorn I can’t help but chuckle.
“Bad day?” I ask.
She logs onto the register and says, “The worst.”
I wince as I ask, “How bad sweetie?”
She wails, “Cupcake bad!”
I laugh inwardly.
Oh woe is me!
Lola is sweet but can
be terribly naive. She is twenty five and a bit of a drama queen.
She is short; about 5 foot nothing. Her chocolate brown hair is
layered down to her shoulders and she has sweet deep brown puppy
dog eyes. So when she asks for my delicious cupcakes, she gets my
delicious cupcakes.
Lola starts, “So, get this. I drag my ass out of bed to do some
grocery shopping this morning. I’m waiting at the checkout. It’s so
early I can’t even see color yet. I look up and that bitch Nicki is
my checkout girl. She smiles and says I just want you to know the
whole time you were with Alex, I was bangin’ him,
too.”
Oh. No. She.
Didn’t.
The look on my face must
have conveyed this because Lola continues, “Uh, yeah. So I say to
her I hope you always used condoms like I did because I found out
he’s carrying!”
I burst out laughing and ask, “Is that true?”
She chuckles and replies, “I have no idea. Her face was so pale,
she looked like she was gonna be sick! Then she says, ‘He said I
was the best he ever had, he said you’re like a corpse in bed’. So
I reach over to my groceries, open a can of chopped tomatoes and
dump em on her head!”
I’m laughing so hard I’m clutching my stomach, I can barely
breathe. Lola looks at me and starts laughing just as hard. Then
she stops, looks up slightly, scrunches her face and says quietly,
“Yeah, I’m probably banned from there. I need to find a new place
to get my groceries.”
I smile, “That’s the least of your worries! Tell me it was worth
it.”
She smiles big as she responds, “Totally worth it.”
Lola used to be a little too sweet. That is until she met Mimi.
Mimi fell in love with Lola the second she met her. She took our
little friend under her wing and gave her a new motto.
Don’t Take Shit!
So, over the course of the last year, I’ve seen Lola blossom from a
delicate flower into a durable weed!
That sounds bad, but trust me, it isn’t.
“So,” Lola says while counting stock. “Meems tell me you’ve got
yourself a new
friend
.” She says friend like she wants to follow it with smoochy
kisses.
God, Mimi, you
suck.
Using my stern mom voice I
utter, “Not. A. Word.”
She sounds exasperated when she replies, “Oh, Come
on
Teeny! You
can
not
tell me
you don’t see what I see when you look at him.”
I sigh deeply and admit, “I do! I know he’s Mr Beautiful and, by
the way, you should see his brother who is Mr Gorgeous. The guy
spoke to me and I almost peed. I was
so
nervous and my neck did that
stupid itchy red thing and he was all suave with his deep bedroom
voice and…Gahh!”
Turning my back to her, I walk my way over to the staff room. I’m
almost there when I hear Lola.
“Why don’t you ask him to lunch?”
Hmmm, I might just do that.
***

Two days later
I sit at the front counter and stare
and the business card which stares right back at me. Mocking
me.
Nik’s email address is on the card. I could just send him an email
asking him to lunch or coffee.
So why is this so hard?
Stop being a
chicken and just do it. You know you want to see
him.
I log in to my email, start
writing, and chicken out at the last minute. I save the email to
the draft folder in case I change my mind.
Rawr Raaawr
My doorbell no
longer sounds like a cat in heat, now it’s more like a mooing cow.
Today is Wednesday and is the one day a week I’m alone in the
store.
I smile and look to the door. What I see there makes my smile
disappear and my heart sinks.
Miss She-Devil (from the dress return debacle) saunters over to the
counter.
Oh, Dear Lord. Please give
me strength.
I smile stronger this
time and ask, “Good Morning, Miss. How are you today?”
She smiles back and replies “Oh, I’m great Hon. How are you
today?”
Uh,
What?
I’m immediately suspicious of
her because she’s smiling like the cat that got the cream.
I say, “Well, we aren’t too busy today so I guess we could be
better. What can I help you with?”
She responds, “I just wanted to come over here and apologize for my
rude behavior the other day. It was totally unacceptable and I’m
really truly sorry.” She’s trying to look contrite but it comes off
as constipated.
I’m shocked. I stutter my response, “Um, wow. I, ah, thank you.
That’s really nice of you to do that.”
Then it comes.
She puts on a sad smile and sighs. “I know you understand as a
woman, we like to wear nice dresses for our men. But three hundred
dollars for the dress I bought was probably overkill.” She laughs a
bit too cheerfully and places a hand on her cheek. “I honestly
don’t know what I was thinking. My husband owns the club across the
street and that dress was far too formal to wear there. He didn’t
even look at it twice.”
What. The.
Hell. Did she just say she was Nik’s
wife?!
I take a close look at her.
She can fake sweet pretty well. If she were auditioning someplace,
I’d be impressed.
She is thin, a little taller than me and maybe a year or two older.
Her long bleach blonde her is bordering silver. Her eyes are blue
and look ice cold.
She-Devil sighs hard and musters up the sweetest voice she can and
tells me, “It would be such a huge help if you would
please
take the dress
off my hands. I made a mistake and I promise I’ll never do it
again.” She sounds like a five year old. “My husband is really mad
at me. I really need that money back.”
This doesn’t make sense to me.
Firstly, why would Nik care about a measly three hundred dollar
dress when his shirts are silk and probably cost that much for a
single shirt?
Secondly, he owns the club! The club is very popular (according to
Mimi); they can’t be strapped for cash.
The confrontation flush I get is already attacking my chest and
climbing up my neck.
I clear my throat and say, “I understand you have a predicament and
I’m very sorry for you. Even if I take the dress from you I can’t
re-sell it. If I can’t re-sell it, I can’t offer you a refund. So
unfortunately, my answer is still no.” Somewhere deep within me
courage blooms, “And that is my final answer.”
She-Devil’s murderous scowl reappears.
Oh, hey you! There you are! I’ve missed
you.
She hisses at me, “This is
BULLSHIT! You think you’re so high and mighty in your damn clothing
store. Well, guess what? Your clothes look like shit. I’ve seen
better shirts at Target! You think you’ve seen the last of me,
think again! I’ll be back every damn day til you give in. And you
will, Honey.” She looks me down at me, smirks, and says, “I suggest
you lose twenty pounds if you want to look good in the clothes you
sell.”
And then she’s gone.
Oh, Hell
no!
Shit just got serious.
I walk into the staff room, grab my keys, lock up and I’m out the
door.
***

“
You can’t use a draw four
there!”
Max has been doing this since we were kids. Making up his own rules
to games which he knows won’t even help him win.
I respond, “Pretty sure I can, bud.” I place the card down and he
groans.
Trick can’t control his laughter and asks, “Why do you even bother,
Nik? You know you’re gonna win.
He
knows you’re gonna win. It’s like torture
watching you two. Hilarious torture!”
Ghost watches from the sofa smirking.
Clip Clop, Clip Clop
High
heels.
One of my sisters must be here. I don’t get up; they know where to
find me.
Clip Clop, Clip
Clop
The steps come quicker and
harder. I face the doorway to see Tina storm past the ‘chill out’
room obviously going towards my office.
“Tina?” I yell out. I hear her stop walking and she appears at the
door.
Holy Hell, she looks
pissed!
She looks beautiful, too.
Wearing her hair in a messy bun at the top of her head and very
little make up. Her skin is flawless. She’s wearing white ankle
boots and a black and white patterned knee length dress that has
three buttons down the front of the chest; it’s open a little
low.
God, she’s
hot.
I can see her cleavage but I
don’t stare.
She notices there are other people in the room and her face
softens.
She says, “I’m sorry. I’ll just go. I don’t want to interrupt
your…Is that Uno?” Her face brightens.
I reply, “Uh, yeah. We were just taking a break. Are you
okay?”
She walks into the room, sits next to me at the table, takes the
cards out of my hands, and starts shuffling.
She sighs and tells me, “I’ll deal this round”
The guys are looking at her like she’s crazy. Ghost gets up and
joins the table. Max is looking at her like she’s freakin’
hilarious.
Tina finishes dealing and looks around the table. She introduces
herself, “Hi. I’m Tina. I work across the street”.
Trick smiles widely at her.
Don’t do that,
asshole
. He keeps sneaking peeks at her
cleavage. He says, “I’m Trick”
Ghost doesn’t even look at her as he utters, “I’m Ghost”.
She scrunches up her face and asks, “As in Casper the friendly
Ghost?”
He nods but still doesn’t look at her.
Her face awestruck, she whispers, “That is
so
cool.”
Total Goofball.
I clear my
throat, look at my cards and ask, “So, You looked like you were
ready to kill someone when you came in. I hope that someone wasn’t
me?”
She places a blue 2 down and goes back to her cards. She replies in
a bored tone “No. But I think the next time I see your wife I’m
going to throw a shoe at her head.”
Um, what wife?
I almost choke
on my question, “Um, what?”
She sighs and says, “I’m sorry. That was rude. Next time I see your
wife I’ll throw something soft at her head.”
The guys look at me, then at Tina, then back at me.
Max speaks up, “Babe, he doesn’t have a wife to throw anything
at.”
Tina places her cards down at leans forward closer to me and says,
“She said she was married to the owner of The White Rabbit. That’s
you, right?”
I nod. Max looks at Ghost, then Trick. They are all smiling.
I know why they’re smiling.
Sissy.
I’m going to kill
her!
Tina puts her fingertips to her
temples. She whispers, “God, I’m so confused.”
Trick pulls her hands down from her temples and asks, “Was she
tall, blonde, and meaner than a junkyard dog?”
Tina looks up at him and nods quickly.
Rage burns in the bottom of my gut. Sissy is a royal pain in my
ass. The only reason I keep her around is because she has a mouth
like a Hoover. Sissy and I are not together but she has been my
regular screw for a few months. I have never kissed her on the
mouth; she knows it’s one of my rules. Sissy teases me by calling
me Pretty Woman but I can see it hurts her. I don’t really give a
shit if it hurts her, she knew what she was getting from the first
time we had sex. I never once played games with her, I told her
straight out that she and I were only fuck buddies. She agreed. End
of story.
Unfortunately for her, after this stunt, I have to cut her
loose.
This doesn’t bother me. I’ll send her a text when Tina leaves. It
was fun but it is what it is.
I look at Tina and say, “I’m sorry, Tina. If I knew she was causing
you trouble I would have cut her loose sooner.”
Tina looks up at me with wide eyes and responds, “I don’t want you
to break up with your girlfriend because of me!”
I roll my eyes and mutter, “She wasn’t my girlfriend, just a casual
acquaintance. She was becoming a huge pain in my ass anyways. Time
for her to go.”
“So,” Tina frowns and purses her lips, “what do I do if she turns
up at the store? I don’t want her making a scene again. Its puts
customers off from coming back.” She looks uneasy.
I get up, walk over to the fridge and take out two sodas. I sit
back down and place one in front of her.
Without even a thank you she opens it and sips like she’s been
playing Uno with us for years. I respond, “Leave that to me. She
comes back to the store, you call me. Straight away.”
Nodding, she plays with the ring of her soda can and turns to check
the time on the clock on the wall.
She jumps up and yells, “Crudsickles! I’ve been here for an hour;
I’ve got to get back.” She looks around the table, smiles and says,
“Nice to meet you all. Hope I see you again
soon.”
Crudsickles?
She turns to me,
puts her small hand on my shoulder and speaks again, “Thanks Nik. I
appreciate it.”
The guys watch her leave. Well, they watch her ass sway as she
leaves.
Knuckleheads.
Trick smiles big,
still looking to the door. He declares, “I like
her!”
Yeah…Me too.