by Carrie Asai
Finally I saw the women’s bathroom in the distance. There wasn’t even a line to it. I wavered a little as I wove to the door but didn’t feel sick or anything. I just felt giddy and a little dizzy. “I rock!” I whispered to myself, giggling. I couldn’t believe I’d just made out with someone on the dance floor. “Go, me!” I whispered. No one could hear me, anyway—the noise was deafening.
I turned the corner and a hand shot out to stop me. “Hey!” I said, possibly internally. My body tensed up.
My first thought was: Marcus found me. He drove the whole way here and found me.
But when I turned around, it wasn’t Marcus. I was staring at Teddy Yukemura.
5
There was Teddy, looking down at me.
I thought I’d seen him at Vibe, too, but that had turned out to be a mirage. But here he was, right in front of me. He mouthed something, although it was way too loud to hear anything he was saying. His face looked excited—happy, even. A little shocked but actually pretty…stoked.
My gut said, Throw him to the ground.
Wait. I hesitated. The alcohol was confusing me. Teddy had helped me not too long ago. If he hadn’t intervened, Karen could be dead or…we’d be married.
I’d even decided that it would be a good thing to see Teddy—at least with him, I’d have nothing to hide.
Finally Teddy screamed loud enough for me to hear him. “Ay yo trip!” he said, waving his arms around, widening his eyes, seeing if it was really me. “This is bizzo!”
Ok, this had to be a dream. First off, Teddy was just too stereotypically Teddy. Ay yo trip?!? Bizzo!? And he was wearing his low-rider pants, boxers hanging out, a huge Echo Unlimited sweatshirt with a hood, Armani Exchange ball cap on sideways. I mean, come on. Teddy was supposed to be in hiding. Wearing dark glasses, maybe changing his hair around or something, right? He looked the same as he always had. When I’d thought I saw him at Vibe, he’d been dressed like this. “Heaven Kiz-ogo!” Teddy said, this time not so loud.
Wow. It definitely was Teddy.
It seemed like all the alcohol hit me at once. I honestly didn’t know what to do. My head spun. I felt unsteady on my feet. My mouth crinkled itself up into something that resembled a smile, but my brain felt absolutely scrambled. The hamburger I’d eaten about one bite of hours ago churned in my stomach. And still my adrenaline raced—Throw him to the ground, my gut said. I blinked a couple of times, shook my head. Teddy stood there, waiting. People streamed by us. I considered my options. If I ran away, he’d follow me. I’d have to say something.
“Teddy…,” I said slowly, “you’re…you’re in Vegas!”
That was really all I could muster.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. But he wasn’t shady or surly about it. He seemed honestly ecstatic. “Isn’t this place great? It has the best parties….”
“I’m…I found Katie,” I said. “Katie, my tutor, remember?” I continued. “In Japan? She lives here now.”
“Oh, yeah, word?” Teddy said, grinning. Why wasn’t he cagier about seeing me? Unless he’d had a bunch of drinks, too…. Oh God, the two of us putting ourselves in danger, having this conversation…both of us drunk…
“You want to say hi?” I asked. My words and actions were slipping beyond my control. The cosmopolitans had taken over. Even my vision was now frothy pink. It was like I was still sexy Heaven, the dancer-actress in L.A., a regular girl hanging out in Vegas to have some fun, not to flee some invisible enemy. But more than that, what could I do? Now that I’d seen Teddy, I would have to talk to him. It was likely that he’d follow me, anyway. Teddy had a keen ability to track people, even if he wasn’t the brightest person in the world. I took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”
We threaded through the crowd to where Katie was standing with the guy she’d been dancing with, Steve. They were talking with Mike, and they all turned around, quite surprised, when I returned with a hulking, gangsta-rap Asian guy with bleached blond hair. He looked like my bodyguard.
“Guys, this is Teddy,” I screamed over the music. “He’s an old friend.”
“What’s up,” Teddy said, extending not his hand but his closed fist. Mike and Steve looked at him, confused, and finally just nodded. Teddy shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets, surveying the scene.
“I know you,” Katie said. Immediately she pulled me aside and spoke quietly. “Heaven,” she said. “What is he doing here? What the hell? You said no one would be here that you knew, and…are you in danger? Why are you hanging around with him?”
“I don’t know what he’s doing here,” I said, slurring my words a little. “He’s hiding from his dad, I think.” I giggled, thinking about a little kid Teddy hiding under the dining-room table from his father. Not that Teddy and I had been friends when we were kids or anything. I could just imagine it. Teddy was such a wimp when it came to his father.
“But…God, Heaven, isn’t it dangerous to be around him?” Katie asked, wide-eyed. “And don’t you hate him?” She was hysterical. “What if…what if he sends people to attack you?”
“That won’t happen,” I said, giving her a playful punch. My other personality, sexy Heaven, had definitely taken over for good. “He helped me out of a kidnapping….” God, I could sort of hear myself from way inside my head. I sounded a little insane. But the truth was, I did trust Teddy. This wasn’t all a drunken act; I didn’t even consider it a mistake. It was freaky that he was here, but in a way, I was glad to know he wasn’t dead. I knew this would be a very difficult thing to explain to Katie, especially since I’d told her Teddy was part of the yakuza.
“We were almost married!” I said gleefully. “Can you believe that? Me almost married?” I hummed the wedding march song: “DUH duh duh duh!” Katie looked at me suspiciously.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned. Teddy loomed above me, huge. I saw Mike and Steve in the background, looking completely confused. “Hey,” Teddy said. “I don’t think I’ve met your fly friend here.”
“This is the Katie I’ve been telling you about,” I said. “Isn’t she fly? I was just thinking that myself.”
“Oh God,” Katie said, rolling her eyes, careful not to look at him. “I believe you said the same thing to me at one of your engagement parties.”
“I don’t think I ever met you,” Teddy said. “I’d remember. Heaven never told me that her tutor was such a honey.”
“We did meet,” Katie said in an icy voice. She looked back and forth awkwardly from Steve to Mike to Teddy. She shrugged to the boys.
“Listen, I’ve got access to the VIP room,” Teddy said. “You ladies wanna get a drink with me in there instead of out in this ghetto club? It’s dope in’nere.”
“Katie! Doesn’t that sound cool?” I said, my voice ringing a little louder than I meant it to. “The VIP room!” I leapt up and down.
Katie looked at me crazily and murmured out of the side of her mouth, “Couldn’t that be dangerous? And what about what’s his name?”
“Who’s what’s his name?” Teddy asked.
We all looked over to the boys. Oh. Yes. Mike. I giggled. Suddenly everything seemed funny. Katie’s lip gloss, for instance. The song that was playing through the speakers. I kept giggling. I knew I was drunk. But I couldn’t control myself.
Katie’s shoulders moved up and down, her hips shifting back and forth in frustration. “Heaven,” she started. “You’re really drunk.”
“I am not,” I said, feeling quite energized. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“What’s the deal with what’s his name?” Teddy said again.
“Mike is his name,” Katie said, “and he and Heaven were having an intimate conversation.”
I started laughing uncontrollably.
“Is that right?” Teddy said, looking at me. “Well, who’s he, anyway?” He puffed up his chest, brought his sunglasses down over his eyes, moved a little closer to me.
Oh my God. Was Teddy jealous?
The DJ swi
tched to a slower song. A rush of people moved by us to get to the bar. I glanced at Steve and Mike. They were talking quietly, probably trying to figure out what to do. Was Teddy really so scary looking that they were just staying away completely? Whatever happened to friendly male competition?
“Come on, Kelly,” Teddy said, changing the subject, trying to take Katie’s arm. “Let’s hit the VIP room. The VIP room is smokin’.”
“It’s Katie, not Kelly,” Katie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think we should stay away from him,” she said loudly, this time so Teddy could hear.
“Look, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll come with me to the vip room,” Teddy said, saying “vip” instead of spelling it out. “They’ve got Cristal in there…and Courvoisier…. I’m in there….”
“So?” Katie said. Teddy put a hand on the small of her back. She jumped away. “Don’t touch me!” she shrieked.
“Katie, calm down,” I said. “This isn’t a big deal. Teddy’s an old friend. Honest.”
“Heaven, what are you talking about?” Katie said. “He’s…You said he’s part of…”
“Come on,” I said, gritting my teeth. I knew what Katie was getting at. The yakuza.
“Is there a problem?” Steve stepped forward, trying to look tough. Although he looked pretty pathetic, really. He came up to Teddy’s chest. I hadn’t realized how tall Teddy was before. That made me laugh, too.
“No trouble, bro,” Teddy said suavely, barely breaking a sweat. All he had to do was step forward a little and Steve backed off. “I got it in check, yo. Y’all are dismissed.”
“Huh?” Mike said. I looked at him apologetically. Although in the light, he really wasn’t so cute.
“Ya know, like the MTV show? Dismissed? Word,” Teddy said.
“What?” Katie asked.
“Listen,” Steve said, mustering up some courage from somewhere. “I’d watch it if I were you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Teddy said, then put his hand on something under his coat. “Oh, yeah?” he said again.
The boys backed up.
“Dude, I thought they had metal detectors in here,” Mike said.
“Heaven…,” Katie protested, looking nervously from me to Teddy.
“Not me,” Teddy said. “I got in the back way. ’Cause these are my peeps.”
My head spun. Teddy wasn’t dumb enough to pull a gun in a crowded club. Right? I covered my mouth to conceal another giggle. I really had to stop this. I suddenly started to hiccup.
Katie stared at us all, horrified.
“Look,” I said to Katie. “Let’s just go for a little bit. For a drink. For half a drink. Then we can come back and find Steve and Mike or whoever. Or we can just dance. Whatever.”
Katie looked at me like I’d lost my mind. The boys, by this point, had drifted away.
“Fine,” she said at last. She looked pained. “Fine. But look, I don’t think this is a good idea. If anything gets weird, seriously, Heaven, if you’re coming back to my house, we have to get out of there. Quick.” She bit her lip. “I want you safe, but I have to look out for me, too. I don’t want to be involved in any of this again.”
“No, no, I totally get it,” I said. “I don’t want this to be a…danger to you. We’ll talk to him for just a couple of minutes.” If I had been in a more sober mind-set, perhaps I would have been more timid about walking into the VIP room of a club with Teddy Yukemura.
And I knew that if I didn’t follow Teddy and hang out with him for just a little bit, he might get mad enough to report back to his father and…something might happen. I could get myself into the same kind of troubles with the Yukemuras all over again. So I had to play it cool.
I wanted to explain this to Katie, but there was no time. Teddy swept us into the VIP room. Katie scowled. “Come on,” I whispered to her. “It’ll be okay. Just one drink.”
To my relief, there were other people in the VIP room. Teddy had been telling the truth—it was an honest-to-God VIP room and not some weird Yukemura hangout. Normal-looking people stood all around us, laughing, drinking, smoking. Most of them looked totally smashed. One guy tumbled off his bar stool, and his date bent over, laughing, not even helping him up.
Teddy walked in front of us. When we hit the inside of the room, he quickly strolled up to two well-dressed Latino guys sitting at the bar. They both had slicked-back hair and impeccable suits and were smoking skinny cigars. They swayed on their stools, quite drunk. He bent his head down, looked shiftily back and forth, and put on this weird, ass-kissy, fake smile, as if he was trying to appease them. They stared at him coolly, not saying anything back. One of them stared directly at me. He didn’t blink.
Something about them seemed shady. Katie tensed up.
Teddy called us over. “This is Pablo and Diego,” he said. Up close, the guys were just as smooth as Teddy. Diego even kissed Katie’s hand. Katie looked a little nervous. “Hi,” she said back, trying to smile. I smiled at her sweetly. “We’ll get out of here soon,” I murmured.
Pablo and Diego turned to me. Diego did the same hand kiss, but Pablo was still staring at me intensely. One eyebrow was raised. He was staring unashamedly. He was making me blush. “What?” I said finally.
He looked away. “Nothing,” he said. “Forgive me. You are very beautiful. That’s all.” He gave Diego a look. Teddy tried to signal the bartender.
“So listen,” I said to Teddy in a low voice so the weird dudes he was with couldn’t hear. “Were you in L.A. a couple of weeks ago, at a club? I thought I saw you….”
Teddy shook his head. “I split out of L.A.”
“But how? And what happened to you? And why did you help me?”
“Hold up there,” Teddy said. “I split out of L.A. One of my peeps helped me. I’m hidin’ out from my pops for a while, but I’ll be goin’ back eventually. I have to patch things up, but we both need a little time to cool off.”
“Your pops and his goons tried to kidnap me again,” I said sullenly.
“Are you sure?” Teddy asked, his voice edgy.
“I looked right at him,” I said. “It was one of the guys from the garage.”
Teddy grunted. “Yo, I knew nothing about that,” he said. “I didn’t know they were going to try to do that. I’ve been in Vegas for a couple of weeks now.”
I thought I’d seen Teddy at Vibe. Was he telling me the truth, or had he been in Vegas for only a few days? Could he have seen me at Vibe and tipped off his father’s henchmen that I was in the club? Would Teddy do that? No. I had to believe him.
We were quiet for a minute. “Listen, thanks…,” I said. “I mean…I don’t know why you decided to give me the information on where the kidnappers would be, but I really appreciate it….”
Teddy started waving his arms around. “Heaven, no worries. Don’t even sweat it,” he said. Then he signaled the bartender. “Dewar’s, rocks,” he said. He looked at me. “What do you want?”
“Cosmo,” I said. “But you know, I was worried about you after that.”
“Word?” Teddy asked, grinning. “You were worried about me?”
“Well, I mean…” I trailed off. “Yeah, I was. You looked out for someone other than yourself, and I know you needed the money, and I’m sure your father was really upset….”
“Naw, they were holding me for a while, you know. No biggie. Then my boy busted me out.”
Teddy was looking in the other direction when I saw the scars on his arm. They were black, about the size of a dime. Six each. Had someone put out burning cigarettes on his arm? Were they torturing him? Would his own father torture Teddy? I felt a little woozy. My eyes darted over to Pablo and Diego. They were talking intensely. Both were chain-smoking brown cigarettes.
“I had to get outta town, lemme tell you that,” Teddy continued. Then he looked off into space.
“Are you going to go back? What are you going to do?”
“I have a couple of deals working in other places,” Teddy said cry
ptically.
“Yo, T.,” Pablo said. “I got a call from Raphael earlier about the craps table. He lookin’ to collect.”
“I already gave him what I owed,” Teddy said gruffly. I stood there, waiting. Teddy’s tongue lolled out of his mouth. He seemed pretty drunk.
“No, no, you didn’t,” said Diego, wavering, nearly falling off the stool. “You did the hard eight a coupla times and then you crapped out and lost all yo’ chips.”
“What the hell are you talking about, bruthuh?” Teddy said, slurring his words.
“The hard eight is harder than the easy eight,” Pablo mumbled. “Those dice are loco.”
Diego started to laugh.
“I don’t owe nobody money!” Teddy said gruffly.
“I’m not even talking about the big money, T. You wanna get into that now, d’jou?”
Katie and I stood in the corner quietly, watching the conversation continue. “Let’s get out of here,” Katie said. “This doesn’t look good.” Who were these guys? What was this money Teddy owed? Did he have a gambling problem?
The clock was nearing 4 A.M. Katie glanced at the angry Diego and Pablo again. They glowered at Teddy. Teddy scowled back. I worried: Were they the types of guys who were totally aggressive and angry when they got drunk, like the tormenting crowd in 8 Mile? Or like those guys in Fight Club? I thought about a bar brawl, complete with Teddy’s gun, and shivered.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. I hadn’t really talked with Teddy about what I’d wanted to talk about—namely, why, exactly, he’d saved me from being kidnapped and what had happened to him afterward—but I was dead tired, too. I tapped Teddy on the shoulder, breaking him away from his argument. He looked up, stunned. Apparently he’d been falling asleep midargument.
“We’re gonna go,” I said.
“No, don’t go!” Teddy said. “Seriously, stay a little longer.” I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. To me, it sounded like “stahhalugger.” That Dewar’s on the rocks must have hit him hard.
“No, we’re tired, seriously,” I said.