Breathe

by Tania Trozzo

She put her hand on his arm and he took the opportunity to try to pull her in for a hug. She laughed, ducking under his other arm and headed outside. She took a deep breath, put a smile on her face and headed toward Sal and the others that had now congregated around him. She looked at him and smirked, he immediately laughed, a silent conversation going on between them.

  Sal’s phone rang and he looked at the screen and immediately answered. He asked the girl on his lap to move, stood up and took a few steps away from the group. He was nodding and looked at Connor and called him over. They spoke a few minutes. “Shit. Now? Why?” Connor groaned.

  “Some neighbor called the police due to the noise. You just have to make sure no one is out front loitering on the sidewalks and shit,” Sal told him.

  “If it’s just Officer Clarke with his partner then it should be ok. He usually comes to check in. Let me ask Alex and Gabe to help me.”

  Connor took off inside. Sal turned to Clara. “Maybe we should head out. The cops are on their way and I’m not sure I want you here. Aunt Nina and Uncle Frank would kill me if something happened to you. Even though I am pretty sure that the cops are here only for a warning. But let’s go, ok?”

  Relieved to go, but yet disappointed to leave, if that made any sense at all, Clara agreed. They headed in the kitchen to head out the front door and to say their goodbyes. As Connor was saying that he would see her Monday, she caught a glimpse of Alex and Gabe talking to Bobby. Bobby headed upstairs after she heard him say “I’ll check on him,” probably to go check on Leo. Gabe and Alex headed outside. They ushered a few people inside, while a few other guys were throwing away cups and ensuring there were no beer bottles outside. Sal, David and Clara walked out the front door and towards their car. A cop car had already pulled up to the driveway and two officers were looking around. Connor stepped outside.

  “Hi Officer Clarke. I haven’t seen you in a while. I was wondering when you would come say hi,” Connor joked. Clara knew he was instantly trying to lighten the mood.

  Officer Clarke shook Connor’s hand and said, “Hello Connor. The station got a call about a lot of noise coming from this address. Now, I’m here and I don’t hear a lot of noise but I need to make sure it stays that way.”

  As he was speaking his partner looked at everyone and walked a bit to the side, where he picked up a little baggie with a few dots of weed. “Maybe we need to check a little further here,” as he showed Officer Clarke the baggie.

  “Now, Connor, please tell me there are no drugs on your property because then this is a totally different kind of visit then.”

  “Officer Clarke, sir, you know that I don’t do that shit and I don’t condone that behavior either.” Clara had always noticed that Connor was a jokester and a flirt, but his tone completely changed. He wore a serious expression on his face. “My friends also know that crap doesn’t fly here with me. I have no idea where that baggie came from but if I were to find out it was someone at my party, putting my rep and the soccer team on the line, I would be seriously pissed. You know that much about me. You can even search my friends if you have to, but I am more than sure you won’t find anything.”

  Clara looked at Gabe from where she was. His hand instantly went to his front left pocket. Crap. She remembered the conversation she overheard upstairs while she was in the bathroom. He must have taken the leftover weed from the guy. What would happen if the officer really did search everyone? Shit. She knew she had to do something. He was located behind Connor and a bit to the side. The side that was towards another entrance to get to the deck and the back yard. She turned to Sal and told him that she forgot to say bye to Sonia. He looked at her like she was crazy and insisted that she would just see her Monday. As the officer and Connor kept talking, she turned to Sal, took a deep breath and looked at him with what she hoped were her puppy dog eyes.

  “But, Sal, she starts school on Monday. You told me to make friends and from what I could tell she seemed cool. Plus, maybe we should take her home. The boys seem a bit busy here. Let me at least offer.”

  When Sal sighed, she knew she had won. “Fine, go get her or ask her if she wants a ride home. But hurry.” He turned to the other officer, who he happened to know.

  “Officer Bland, she is just going to get a friend, is that ok?”

  “Yeah, Sal, you guys should be fine. This is probably just a misunderstanding and hopefully we will be leaving soon enough.”

  Clara smiled the best she could at the officer. As she walked, she turned around at a certain point to look behind her and she happened to slam right into Gabe. “I’m so sorry! I keep running into people tonight. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. Are you ok?” Gabe had grabbed her arms to steady her. Clara couldn’t help but shiver from his touch.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. Total klutz.” But she didn’t look up at him. She couldn’t. She continued rambling as she pulled away and walked to find Sonia, who just so happened to appear right at the entrance to the back yard.

  “Hey, we were leaving, need a ride home?” Sonia looked at her and then at Alex. “Umm, I’m not sure. Let me talk to my brother.” She spoke a few words to Alex and then went back to Clara. “I’m going to stay. He wants me to leave with you, but I refuse. I have to make sure everything is ok. Thanks for offering though. I guess playing on my team worked, huh?”

  Clara laughed slightly. “Yeah, I guess so. See you Monday then.” She turned around, nodded to both officers and walked toward Sal and David. She quickly got in the back seat. Sal said his goodbyes and got in the car and drove off. Clara sat in silence in the back.

  9

  Gabe

  As Connor told him a cop was on the way over to check things out, he didn’t worry. This wasn’t the first time someone had called the cops on them or a party they were at. Plus it was a cop Connor’s family knew. The cops didn’t tend to come inside because then they would see the booze and they would have to do something about it. But this way what they didn’t see they couldn’t report. Everyone knew they had parties, everyone knew they drank but as long as they kept it under control and didn’t cause havoc, then it was ignored. They would get a warning but the moment someone stepped out of line then the cops did what they had to do. It was a bit hypocritical, yes, but when you have money and payed a lot in taxes, then the law tends to be a bit more lenient, especially when they weren’t really hurting anyone. They also knew that Connor was a good guy from a good family and they wouldn’t mess that up. At least he hoped. But the moment Officer Bland found that baggie, Gabe remembered what he had in his front left pocket. Shit. He was going to punch Bruno’s face in. He already couldn’t stand the guy.

  Bruno was bad news. Leo was loyal to him because they had grown up together but he refused to see what Bruno was up to. Leo was a good guy and lived with his mom and 4 other brothers and sisters. Leo also worked to help out at home. His mom, however, kept telling him that she wanted him to focus on school and soccer so he could have a better future. But it seemed that Bruno was ready to ruin it for him. Gabe and Connor spoke to Leo about Bruno briefly, trying to get a feel for how much they could say. But Leo’s mom worked with Bruno’s mom and had known each other for years. She had been there through Leo’s father’s death so he felt that he couldn’t turn his back on Bruno. Plus, Leo believed that what they thought about Bruno was a bit exaggerated. Hopefully by Monday Gabe could speak to him about it again. Bruno had always rubbed Gabe the wrong way but add the nonchalant way he acted about Leo possibly getting drug tested and then the way he had his hands on Clara, he really couldn’t stand the guy. It took all his control to not pull her out of his grasp. Luckily, Alex intervened and Clara seemed to handle herself just as well.

  As he stood on that lawn and heard Connor offer up the chance for the officers to check his friends for drugs, his hand automatically went to his front pocket but before he reached it and drew attention there he pulled his hand back to the
side and kept his hands down. He was panicking inside but didn’t show it. He knew his father would believe him in the end, or at least he hoped so, but he didn’t want Connor to get in trouble or the hassle of having to explain everything. There were too many people caught in the middle. Just as he was listening to what Sal was saying to the officer, Clara started walking. He glanced at Alex and just as he did, she slammed into him. His hands shot out to steady her. She was extremely close. He inhaled her scent and looked at her. Fuck, she smelled good. Seriously? Of all the times and the places, this was not the moment to focus on how good she smelled.

  She quickly apologized and kept doing so but just as he was about to say to not worry about it, she walked away. He looked to where she was going and noticed Sonia had stepped outside just then and spoke to her. Gabe turned his attention back to the officers and tried to focus. A few minutes passed and Clara walked by again and got in Sal’s car and they drove off. He released a breath. After the officers left, and everyone went back inside, Alex and Gabe immediately pulled Connor upstairs to explain Leo’s situation and what had happened.

  “Con, when you told Officer Clarke to check your friends for drugs, I wanted to kill you,” Gabe said.

  “How was I supposed to know? When they had found that baggie, I knew I had to say something to them to appease them. I didn’t think they would actually search you guys, and thankfully they didn’t. Get that crap and flush it down the toilet please. I don’t think they will be coming back but hell, I’m not taking any chances. We have enough booze here to open a liquor store, the last I need is weed on top of that.”

  “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

  At that moment Bruno walked in again. Gabe instantly wanted to punch him. “I thought you were watching Leo?”

  Bruno looked at Gabe and said “I did but then I had to take a piss and get something to drink. I got a little sidetracked with all the little ladies down there. Sue me. I saw that you guys had company outside. Must be nice to get a little “warning” instead of just being shut down like everyone else’s parties are.”

  Gabe fisted his hands. He was ready to lose his shit but Connor intervened. “Bruno, this is the last time you will ever come to one of our parties if you don’t back off. You could have caused some serious problems here tonight. Own it.”

  Bobby walked in at that moment. “I just checked on him and left Henry with him. He puked a few times but he seems much better now. I gave him another bottle of water. He actually seems like he can focus and speak a full sentence now.”

  “See? No harm, no foul. He’ll be fine. We’ve all been there, drunk off our asses.” Bruno began speaking.

  Connor interrupted him immediately. “Get out, Bruno. Leave. I’m two seconds from hitting you. We’ll take care of Leo tonight.”

  Bobby and Alex stepped forward, “Let’s go Bruno.”

  “I don’t need a freaking chaperone. I’ll see myself out.” Bruno stormed out of there.

  Bobby looked at everyone and blew out a breath, “I’ll make sure he gets out.”

  “Thanks Bobby,” Alex turned to Gabe and Connor, “mark my words but this guy is going to be a problem. If not for us, for Leo for sure.”

  “Agreed. He needs a serious beatdown. I don’t trust him. I was ready to lose my shit a few times,“ Gabe said.

  “We could tell, Gabe,” Connor laughed. “We’ll have to watch out for him. And for Leo. I’ll let him stay here tonight and talk to him in the morning.”

  “I took his phone. It’s in your room. I didn’t want Bruno to start texting him crap. This way you have a clean slate tomorrow morning. I have to go check on Sonia. Gabe – get rid of that shit before we go,” Alex remarked.

  “Yeah, I’ll do it now.” Gabe reached into his front pocket but found nothing. He checked the other one and again found nothing.

  Connor and Alex looked at him. “Dude, tell me you didn’t drop it?”

  “I couldn’t have dropped it. The bag was in my front pocket. It was the only thing in there. Fuck.” Gabe cursed.

  “Ok, let’s just retrace your steps. It has to be somewhere and if it isn’t then someone picked it up and is probably smoking up somewhere. Let’s just make sure it is not anywhere on the floor so Connor’s family doesn’t find it.” Alex calmly responded.

  “Ok, I’ll check on Henry and have him search the room Leo is in, just in case,” Connor stated.

  “Fine, only you, Alex, Henry and Bobby know. We have to find it somewhere. If not, you’re right. I’ll retrace my steps from here to the front lawn. Connor – check the kitchen, Alex and Bobby– check the deck and the front rooms,” Gabe spoke sternly.

  “On it” “Got it” Both Alex and Connor replied.

  All three guys looked carefully throughout the house. Henry checked the guestroom where he was with Leo but found nothing. Bobby helped Alex out by looking in the front rooms of the house. At a certain point Gabe was on the front porch and Kristin came from the side entrance. “Hey Gabe. What are you doing out here? I haven’t seen you all night baby.”

  “Kristin, now is not the time. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer but I am not interested.”

  “Aww, come on Gabe. I’m pretty sure I can remind you how good we were. Don’t you remember? It’s not fair that you aren’t even giving us the chance to see what we could be.” She approached him as she said this, her hand caressed his arm while her other hand was on his chest moving towards his abs. Gabe was definitely not in the mood to deal with her anymore and had lost his patience. He pulled his hand out of her grasp, took a step back and looked her straight in the eye. The only way for her to get over him was for him to act like an asshole.

  He shook his head, “Listen, Kristen, just in case I wasn’t clear until now. We fucked. It was just sex and it wasn’t that great. There was no us and there will be no us. Get that in your head.” Gabe really hated being such a dick but he definitely was not in the mood. It was better that he was harsh and left her no hope, than being nice, and leaving her with hope that he would change his mind. Kristin’s face went from her trying to look all coy and seductive, to shock, and finally a flare of anger.

  She was seething. “Fine, Gabe, this was your last chance. I’m done!” And she stormed off.

  “Finally,” Gabe breathed. He looked around some more.

  Connor came outside and as soon as he saw him, he said, “So I take it you finally got Kristin off your back, huh?”

  Gabe let out a breath and answered, “I hope so, she wasn’t taking the hint.”

  “Dude, some chicks need that. I’m pretty sure you were clear in the beginning but some of them don’t get it and think they can change your mind. She’ll get over it. Have you found it?” Connor asked him.

  “No, I was just going to check the front yard before she interrupted. I’m trying not to attract attention and get people wondering what I’m doing.”

  “Good. Let’s just check together, we can say we are looking for something else, ” Connor said and Gabe nodded. They searched the entire front lawn but to no avail. Connor had locked his parents and sibling’s rooms so it couldn’t be in there. All four guys checked the guest rooms and the basement to make sure his family wouldn’t just find it unexpectantly lying somewhere. They agreed someone must have taken it wherever it had fallen. Gabe and Connor were going to touch base the next morning and have a sit down with Leo about Bruno and what happened.

  Gabe and Alex headed home with Sonia in tow, all three pensive and not in the mood to talk. They said their good nights. Alex decided to sleep at home since Sonia was there. As Gabe laid in bed staring at the ceiling, he was having a hard time falling asleep. He was irritated with himself for losing the weed in his pocket, angry with Bruno for putting any of them in that predicament and frustrated with the entire situation. Thanks to Sonia he was able to spend some time around Clara but the situation didn’t ex
actly call for conversation especially with all the people staring at their beer pong game. That, and of course he couldn’t seem to form cohesive sentences around her. Not that he would ever admit to that. When he did finally fall asleep in the early hours of the morning, it was with a picture of those green eyes in mind.

  10

  Clara

  For the most part, Clara was silent as she sat in the back seat of the car. She contributed to the conversation when Sal or David asked her a question, but she wasn’t paying much attention. Sal continued to look in the rearview mirror at her, while David kept turning around and glancing at her. They dropped her off with the intent that they would be in touch tomorrow. Thank goodness she was at the karate studio for most of the day, she could avoid Sal until late afternoon or more. Before she got out, David went to walk her to the door but she stopped him.

  “I’m fine David, no need.”

  “Clara, are you ok? You seem extremely deep in thought and we just came from a party. Don’t worry about what happened there, they will be fine,” David tried to tell her.

  Sal looked at her and she knew she had to say something. “I’m fine. I actually had a really good time. Thank you both for coming with me. I am just really tired all of a sudden and yeah, I am just worried about them. My first party and the cops show up.” She made sure to chuckle.

  “Why don’t you come to a party at the university tomorrow night? If Sal can’t come, I’ll come and get you,” David insisted.

  Clara stiffened. He knew Sal had plans tomorrow night. “No, thanks, one party is enough for me this weekend. I have karate all day tomorrow so I think I am going to chill tomorrow night. I promised Julia we would do something. Thanks, though. I’ll see you soon. Good night Sal, see you at Nonna’s on Sunday.”

  “You got it, good night. Call me if you need me.”

  She went upstairs and immediately went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Before washing her face, she put her hands on the sink and looked up at herself in the mirror – and really looked at herself. It wasn’t something she did often. It wasn’t that she never looked in the mirror but she didn’t take her time to do so. Her makeup usually took 5 minutes since it consisted of lipgloss, some eyeliner and mascara. Once in a blue moon she would venture out like tonight and put on a little bit of blush. She did like clothes so maybe she took her time a bit more then, but she never looked at herself in the eyes for more than a few brief moments.