Page 29 of Here to Stay
“He’s nice and all, but I’m determined to keep my focus on my job.”
MORE LIES.
“Riiiiight. I’m gonna let you continue to spew lie after lie, because I want to hear the rest of this mess with Vicki, then we’ll get back to Rocco with the good back piece.”
I snorted at that. “You think you’re hilarious.”
“You’re laughing.”
“Anywaaaaay, when we were at the game and the twins, like the two that own all of Sturm’s, showed up and were fawning all over him, he was sort of a jerk to me, like totally iced me out there in the suite.” I was not going to go into details about what we’d been doing right before the chill effect. “Then one of them told me she was glad we were ‘hitting it off’ in a way that made me very jumpy. I don’t know if she said something to him too and that’s why he got all weird.” I let out a long breath, closing my eyes. “Fuck, this is too much drama. If I had two ounces of sense, I’d keep my distance.”
“Hold up. Did she ask you to get with him?”
“Girl, I’m not even sure, but after almost getting caught kissing him not ten minutes earlier, the comment hit me mad wrong.”
Alba’s screech in my ear made me jump up like a foot in the air. “First, I knew you liked him! And getting a little skanky at the baseball game.” This was said accompanied with snapping fingers. “Legend.” I had to smother a cackle. Encouraging Alba was never a good idea. “Second, although it’s always good to keep an eye out for your employer possibly pimping you out, uh, that’s a reach. They may just be happy he’s getting along with the people from the store. And maybe he got nervous. I mean he is the consultant. It makes sense for him to not want to appear like he’s trying to get with you.”
It was true that they hadn’t said anything nefarious and it wasn’t like they’d talked to me about it before or after.
“I was such a jerk to him after, I got all paranoid... I wanted to kiss him real bad too, Albita.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. I’m switching to Hangouts cuz I want to look you in the eye when you tell me what happened.”
“No.”
“Switch to your iPad, Julia del Mar!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine!” Even though she was a pain in my ass all the time, seeing my best friend’s face did something to calm all the fretting I’d been doing. This thing with Rocco and the mess at my job were getting to me.
Her smiling face and those piercing brown eyes stared at me from behind stylish rose-gold glasses. Her eyes were a little smudged with eyeliner and she had her thick long mane in a bun on top of her head.
“You kissed Rocco Fucking Quinn?”
I once again thanked the gods for my non-blushing brown skin. “I said ‘almost.’ The word ‘almost’ was used. And that’s it. Nothing else happened.”
I squirmed on my couch as she gave me the look that said “you can’t fool me” and I really could not.
“Fine, so he ended up picking me up, since José ‘couldn’t.’” I made air quotes with one hand, I was still salty at José for that. “We were the first ones to get to the suite and things got a little heated. I’d love to say something particularly sexy occurred, but basically I sniffed him, panted some, and then fell off a stool.”
She laughed, but only a second, before giving me a sympathetic look.
“He’s so soft, Alba.” I shook my head, feeling stupid. “He’s easygoing, and thinks all the way off-the-wall shit my family does is hilarious.” I smiled, remembering how wistful he was after my parents called me while I was in his car. “You know how Matt always needed to ‘mentally prepare’ for my family.”
This elicited teeth sucking and a middle finger I assumed was being proffered to Matt, wherever he was.
“I mean I would never feel embarrassed about my family. You know that. And I didn’t really let him get away with being an asshole to them, but now that I think about it, now that I’m here, I realize that I was a lessmeversion of myself when I was with him. Like Julia but with the DR/PR thing on the lowest setting.”
Alba’s face was thunderous. “Every time we talk about that fuck face I wish you would’ve let me twist his balls in college that time he got drunk and threw my phone in a pool. Comemierda.”
“Your hate for him truly knows no bounds.” I blew her a kiss because I knew Alba would hide a body for me and I’d do the same for her. “Honestly though, one of the best things about being here is that I don’t have to be anything other than what comes naturally to me. It’s like now that I’m not around my mom or dad, and Matt’s not being an asshole, I can just be me for the sake of me. And thismewants to do the most when it comes to repping my culture.” I shrugged, not even sure of what I was trying to say. “I don’t know, I feel free and I like it. I like that Rocco really digs this version of me, because I like her a lot too. It took leaving home to find her, but this Julia’s here to stay.”
“Babe, I’ve always loved all the versions of you, and I am so glad the one you’re becoming in Dallas fits you. As for Rocco, let it take its course and see what happens.”
“Alba, Rocco doesn’t even live here. He’s going back to New York as soon as the project is done.” I put a hand up, as if to stop myself from even considering Rocco and I could go anywhere. “And please don’t forget that the last time I let my life plans get hijacked by a man, I got dragged out here.” I slumped, looking away from the screen.
“Don’t do that, Juli.” I smiled at her use of my nickname. “Matt was a fuckboi from day one, yes, but you can’t feel bad about that. You loved him and you triedhardto make that relationship work. You believed in what you had with him. Hon, don’t hate yourself for believing in someone you loved.”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “I just feel like I’m exactly the same person I was in high school, same hang-ups, same drama. Hell, until a couple of months ago, I even had the same boyfriend.”
