Breaking Down (The Breaking Series)

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Breaking Down (The Breaking Series) Page 6

by Smith, Calista


  “Was there anything that happened prior to that fight, that you were involved in, that may have provoked something?” I hear the irritation in his voice, as he emphasizes specific words.

  “I did have an argument with Dante prior to class. I’m not even sure what we argued about, it was more of a misunderstanding,” I say half convincing myself. “Shaun had no idea what happened between Dante and I when he came to class. I hadn’t talked with anyone about the incident.” Okay, maybe that was a little too much info.

  “I see, so what do you think caused the altercation?” I watch him swipe his mouse and start typing something on his keyboard.

  “I’d been crying. I think Shaun may have noticed when he got to class and confronted Dante. After that I really have no idea what happened.” There is no way I am saying anything more.

  “Thank you Miss Garcia, that’ll be all for now. If you happen to recall anything further, I suggest you come straight to me with it. For now, I don’t want you discussing the events of today with anyone else. You are excused, you may return to class.” He doesn’t even look at me as he says this. He just keeps typing.

  “Yes, Sir.” God, I hope I didn’t say anything he didn’t already know. That was completely nerve-racking, to say the least. I scoot out of the chair, making a loud noise as it drags on the floor.

  As I walk out, I hear him on the phone asking someone to escort Dante and Shaun back in. I reach for the door to exit the office and I feel it opening. I take a step back as Dante walks through the door and we instantly meet eyes. He looks angry and something else, sad? Shaun comes in behind the proctor, a bag of ice to the side of his face. I suddenly feel like crying. Why did he do this? He half smiles at me and puts his head down as he passes me. I walk out, and instead of going back to class I drag out the rest of the period in the restroom.

  After school I give Nat and Aiden the full rundown of what happened. Neither is too happy and I worry that they’re both pissed at me, even if Nat insists she isn’t.

  ***

  The entire time at work, all I can do is obsess over what happened. My shift ends and just when I think my night is over, it’s far from it. I get in the car and check my phone. There are four missed calls, one from Shaun, two from Nat and one from a number I don’t recognize. I return Shaun’s call and he doesn’t answer so I leave a message. I call Nat and she asks me to pick her up from Aiden’s and then I call the number I don’t recognize.

  “What’s up?” Dante’s low voice catches me off guard.

  “Dante?” I nearly gasp, “Did you get a new number?”

  “No, I’m calling from Aiden’s house.” He mutters.

  “Hi.” I’m not even sure what to say.

  “I wanted to apologize. You really pissed me off earlier and I shouldn’t have called you that.” He grows quiet and I assume it’s my turn to speak.

  “Dante, thank you but I still don’t understand why you were mad at me in the first place?”

  “Look, forget it, ok? It’s better if we forget everything. None of it matters.” His tone grows a bit louder and he exhales loudly into the phone.

  “It matters to me. I thought we were friends?” My voice betrays me, by cracking.

  “Friends? We were never friends! God, Raquel, you’re really frustrating! It’s like I said, none of it matters. Let it go already, ok? I've got to go!” He hangs up and I’m so pissed! We were never friends? I really thought we were. Now he wants me to forget it all and act like none of it mattered? The hell!

  ***

  I get to Aiden’s and text Nat to let her know I’m outside waiting, but fifteen minutes later she still hasn’t come out. I get out of the car and knock. The door opens and Dante is standing there; somehow he manages to look even hotter as the day has gone on. I, on the other hand, look like an idiot in my work uniform.

  “Raquel?” His voice cracks a bit and I notice I’ve caught him off guard.

  I quickly try to hide my body’s immediate need to melt at the sight of him, “Is Nat here?” I ask, as though he hasn’t affected me at all.

  “She went upstairs.” He moves to the side, with a look of confusion passing through his face.

  “Thanks,” I walk briskly passed him and call out for Nat.

  “Coming! Just sit and wait, I’ll be right down!” She yells down to me.

  I sit on the couch and Dante sits on the recliner beside me, as he watches TV. I stare straight ahead as the words we exchanged earlier go round and round in my mind. I can’t let this go. I need to know what happened. I lost my friend and I have no idea why. I look at him, “Dante?” Just then, my phone rings, I check the screen and it’s Shaun.

  “You going to answer it?” He doesn’t even look my way. I shake my head at him and answer the phone as I walk to the front door.

  “Hey, Shaun.” I say loudly for him to hear before walking outside.

  “Hey, sorry I had to deal with the parents. You ok?” Shaun asks.

  “Am I ok? Are you? What happened, Shaun?”

  “Nothing, I don’t know. I walked in and you were crying. I saw him sitting there all smug and I knew it was his fault. You heard me confront him, right?” He still sounds angry.

  “Yes, but what happened after that?” I need him to explain.

  “He punched me. I went to hit him back but someone had my arm and then someone else grabbed him, the teacher ran over and that’s pretty much it. Next thing I knew the proctors were there and we were taken to Mr. Schaffer’s office.” He says.

  “Oh my God, Shaun, are you okay? Are you in trouble? What happened with Mr. Schaffer?”

  “I’m fine. Schaffer asked what happened and I told him I confronted Dante and we were arguing. He asked who started the fight and I said there wasn’t a fight. Then he was angry and there was a mad scramble to figure out who hit who. He was pretty pissed that no one admitted to seeing anything. When he questioned you, you said the same thing. So he had no choice. He suspended us both for 3 days but its all bull. He couldn’t get us for actually fighting without either of us admitting to it and no witnesses. The teacher got there after Dante hit me and never saw me going to hit him.” He explains like it’s no big deal.

  “But your face?”

  “I told him I must have hit it on the desk when the teacher and proctors were pulling on me.”

  “So what about your mom and dad, are you in trouble?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

  “Nah, well they aren’t happy about it being over a girl, but they understand.” He explains.

  “Shaun, I was fine. You didn’t have to do that! I was mad, we got in an argument and I was upset.” I hate that he got himself so involved. I especially hate that he did all of this over me. Why would he go home and tell his parent’s that it was over a girl? He didn’t have to do that. No one asked him to involve himself; quite the opposite actually.

  “Yea, well, he deserved it. We’re cool, we’re not friends or anything, but nothing else is going to happen. Don’t worry, Rock. I can’t risk graduation.” He laughs lightly.

  I let out a big sigh, “Okay Shaun, please leave things alone. He already apologized to me. You promised you wouldn’t get involved. Things are complicated with us and I don’t need you complicating things more. I love you for caring about me, but you need to stay out of it. Please?”

  “I love you too.” He says quickly.

  “I got to go, okay. Nat’s waiting for me. Call me later.” I have to hang up. I’m so irritated with all of this right now and Shaun’s not getting it.

  I knock on the door again. This time Nat answers and she’s ready to go. Disappointed over missing my opportunity to talk things out with Dante once and for all, I reluctantly leave.

  ***

  “Is Aiden mad at me, Nat?”

  “No, he’s mad at Shaun though. That could have really messed things up for Dante, luckily Shaun lied and covered both their butts.”

  “Shaun was defending me. He thought Dante made me cry. He did, but ug
h! He was just defending me. I asked him to stay out of it. He isn’t going to do anything else.” I explain irritated.

  “Good, if he knows what’s best for him, he’ll stay away from Aiden and Dante. Look I know Shaun cares for you, but he needs to back off when it comes to you and Dante. You two need to talk and figure it out, or don’t, but Shaun can’t get involved.”

  “Sorry Nat.” I sigh.

  She nods her head in acknowledgement. “Raquel, did you and Dante talk?”

  “No, he called me to apologize for cussing at me, but he said I pissed him off. He said that we were never friends and I needed to forget about everything. This was all on the phone after I got out of work. When I got to Aiden’s I was mad. He pretty much ignored me. When I finally got the guts to confront him, Shaun called. I thought about ignoring it, but Dante acted like a jerk about it, so I answered. Then you were ready to go. So, no, we never talked.”

  “Damn you both! Swear to bears you guys are the most confusing, stubborn— ugh! Ok you know what, I’m done! Aiden and I can’t keep getting involved in your guys’ crap. Sorry Rock, but you and Dante need to talk. I can’t be the one to fix this or explain it. That has to come from him and you need to figure that out with him!” I know she’s mad because she’s talking with her hands a lot.

  “I can’t make him talk, Nat. I can’t make him be my friend. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. He’s making it nearly impossible to figure out. Please don’t get involved anymore. I know you love us, but I don’t want to be the cause of all this drama in your life.” I plead with her.

  What a Monday! Bleh!

  CHAPTER 9

  The next three days are awkward at school. I hang out with everyone at lunch, but I refuse to discuss what happened. The couple of times Aiden does bring up Dante are not in context with anything to do with him and me, or the altercation. Still, I feel the hurt in my gut at the mention of his name.

  My grades are not suffering so much at school and that is a plus. No work tonight and the nursery didn’t need my help. All of my friends are working, grounded or busy. With nothing else to do, and before I can chicken out I decide to get to the bottom of all of this, once and for all. I lay in bed; my hands get clammy as I scroll to the number he gave me and hope it’s the right one. I decide to put it on speaker phone and place it on my pillow, so I don’t drop it.

  “Hey” Dante answers in his usual low voice.

  “Dante, look before you talk, I have some stuff I need to say. Do you have a minute?”

  “Go ahead.” He says.

  “Can we meet up? I’d like to talk in person. Please?”

  “Just say what you have to say already, Raquel.” He isn’t making this easy.

  “Dante, please meet with me?” I hear him clear his throat and I know that he’s conflicted. I imagine him clenching and unclenching his jaw, because I have seen him do that when he’s irritated. “Please, just a minute? You can pick where.” I try desperately to get him to agree.

  “No. Just tell me where, okay?” He agrees, but he doesn’t sound happy about it.

  “Thank you. How about my house? My mom’s at work till late tonight, so we won’t be interrupted.”

  “Fine, when?”

  I try not to get annoyed at how short he’s being towards me. “Whenever. As soon as you can, tonight?”

  “Alright, be there in a minute.” He finally gives in.

  I give him the address and he hangs up without even saying goodbye. I guess I should at least be thankful that he’s willing to talk.

  I run to my room and reapply my eyeliner, comb through my hair, spray my favorite body spray and throw on some fuzzy socks since I don’t have time to redo the toe nail polish that I accidentally chipped earlier. I decide to stay in the cute owl pajama shorts and t-shirt I had thrown on earlier. I run to the living room and pick up my napkin and trash from the frozen pizza pocket I had for dinner and the empty water bottles I had left around. I refold the throw blanket I was using and drape it across the couch and I throw the cover over the bird to keep him quiet. Then, I can’t decide if I should turn on the TV or put on music; I opt for music.

  I hear his car pulling up so I run to the garage. I told him he could park in my mom’s spot so he wouldn’t have to drive all over looking for parking. Even though it’s Thursday, these apartments get crowded at night. I see him and immediately regret my pajamas. He looks so good in his jeans and solid black shirt.

  “Hey, thank you for coming,” I say with a smile as I awkwardly hold the door open.

  “Yea, no problem.” He walks in and moves to the side of me, his hands in his pockets. He shifts from one side to the other and then pulls his hand out of his pocket, jiggling his keys.

  “You want anything to drink?” I walk towards the kitchen, unsure what to do next.

  “Nah, I’m good.” His answer stops me in my tracks and I divert over to the living room.

  “Ok, so um, we can sit here,” I sit on the couch. Grabbing the remote, I turn down the music so it’s not interrupting our conversation.

  “Lionel Richie, huh?” He says, like he’s mocking me.

  “Mom loves his music; I grew up on it so it’s soothing to me.” I explain a little embarrassed, “I’m surprised you knew who it was.”

  “My parents listen to him too.” He says dryly.

  “Oh, you don’t?” I can’t help but tease him.

  “Sometimes. He’s alright.” A slight smile shows, before quickly fading. “So—” He says, as he rubs the small amount of hair on his shaved head.

  “So, the reason I asked you to come is that I know you told me to forget everything, but I can’t. Dante, I thought that we were cool. I thought we had fun and were hitting it off. I don’t understand a lot of things that have gone on. You disappearing, the first time to "deal with stuff",” I say making quotations around my head. “Your girlfriend or your ex, or whatever she is. You hooking up with me and then ignoring me at school. You show up with her at dinner and then texting me. The argument at school, you accusing me of starting stuff with you—” Before I can finish he interrupts.

  “Really, all of this is on me?” He’s sits up straight. “First of all, I did have stuff to deal with and I didn’t just disappear. You and I were just getting to really know each other and I wasn’t about to drop all my crap on you at that time. I find out that you called my phone and when Mel answered you threatened her. Then, I hear that you and Shaun had been hooking up that whole time. You said you two were ‘just friends’,” He mocks my hand gesture, putting quotations around the words. “But you guys were much more than that. Here I was thinking we were cool and no, we weren’t friends Raquel, we never started off as friends. I never thought we were headed in the friends direction, okay?”

  Each time I try to interrupt he hits me with something more and stuns me. I can’t even protest to the things he is saying, I’m so completely flabbergasted.

  He continues, ignoring my gaping mouth. “I showed up with Melanie, because you were with Shaun. What did you want me to do? Wait around while you flaunted him in my face? Sorry, but that wasn’t going to happen. I texted you messing around, so I could break the ice between us. I figured we had to learn to get along and be around each other. Then you run off freaking out and everyone is looking at me like it’s my fault! How the hell does it all get turned on me? So yea, of course I confronted you at school when you rushed passed me all pissed off. I had a right to know why you did all of this, don’t you think?” He clenches his jaw and his icy stare causes me to look away. He’s so angry with me and he believes every bit of what he is saying.

  Tears swell up in my eyes, I don’t even care that I smudge my makeup. I wipe desperately with the back of my hand. I have such anger and frustration at everything he has said. “Dante, I didn’t—,” I swallow the lump and start again. “Ok look, I would have understood anything you told me. I told you so much that day, about me and my screwed up life. I already knew you had a lot going on. I woul
dn’t judge, but I guess in your defense you didn’t realize that, fine! But I never threatened your ex, she threatened me! I texted the number that you gave me in class. I wasn’t sure which number to contact you at because you keep switching them. She called me and told me those things. She said that she was your girlfriend and that I needed to back off. I didn’t even know what to think. Given your reputation, I assumed you played me, like you did to other girls. I thought maybe you cheated on her and she was upset because she found out. I felt so stupid! When you ignored me that day in class, I thought it was because the two of you were back together. As far as Shaun goes, he is my friend! That’s it, a good friend. Nothing more! He may have an interest in me, but I don’t like him like that and he knows it. I took him with me to dinner because we are friends, not as a date! You showing up with Melanie only clarified what I suspected and what she said to me. So when you texted me I was so hurt with you. I thought you were taunting me. Here you are back with your girlfriend and texting me too? What was I supposed to act like? As far as what you’re hearing from people, I don’t know who these people are, but they have no idea what they’re talking about!” I try to calm myself down, because my hands have started flailing about as I explain it all. It’s a habit Nat and I both have.

  “They don’t? That’s funny! I think they do. They should, at least. Honestly, Raquel there’s nothing you can say at this point that will make me believe you. I get it. The player got played. You had your fun. See, this is why I said we should just forget it. Melanie and I are back together, you’re with Shaun. What does it matter? Be with him. Be happy. I am!” His voice went from angry to calm by the time he finished saying what he had to say. It felt like a punch in the gut. He’s back with her and he’s happy. He wants to forget about me. What do I do? I don’t have a choice.

  “Ok, ok you’re right. Friends. Can we at least try that?” I come to terms with the fact that we’re clearly over for good.

  “Let’s settle for cordial acquaintances, alright? That’s the best I can do. I got to go.” He brushes imaginary lint off of his jeans before looking at me.

 

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