Or was it? He knew it wasn't. They were always the first ones to arrive at the garage in the mornings so no one saw it when he drove her and it wasn't as if he and Alison had made an announcement one morning to the garage that they were going out on a date; a date Yuriel still had to take her on because he had absolutely no idea what to do. Dinner and a movie? Isn't that what dates usually were? He had asked Benny about it and that was what he had suggested they do but Yuriel was still unsure. It just all sounded so damn boring and typical and he wanted to do something with Alison that millions of other guys didn't do for the girls they took out.
But it had been nearly two weeks since he had asked her out and he still hadn't gone through with it even though they seemed to spend time together nearly every night after work. And every night, Yuriel told her that this wasn't their first date and Alison just smiled and laughed softly at that and he knew that she was fine with always hanging out in his trailer but taking her back to his trailer was not a date.
Deciding he needed a cup of coffee from the pot Alison brewed in the office every morning, he pulled his head out from the car and wiped his hands on the rag as he crossed the garage, pausing in the doorway when Zach said something and then laughed at whatever it was, Alison still smiling at whatever it was but not laughing.
Yuriel didn't say anything as he went to the small machine on the table and poured himself a cup. He had his back to them and he took his time fixing himself a cup but he couldn't help as the clenching of his jaw grew tighter as he listened to Zach telling Alison all about some party his friends from college were throwing that weekend and Alison just had to come because there would be a pizza eating contest and two kegs and Yuriel wondered if Zach knew Alison at all because Yuriel knew that nothing about that sounded appealing to Alison. Of course he didn't know her though. He was just going after her because Alison was a pretty girl and she kept turning him down.
"Zach!" Martin suddenly barked from his office. "Leave Alison alone and get back to work!" He shouted to him and Yuriel had never loved the old man more than he did right then. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Zach give Alison a wink before he sauntered out of the office.
Yuriel told himself that throwing coffee on his coworker was never something to do.
When he turned around, Alison let out a small sigh of relief and then looked to Yuriel with a soft, warm smile.
"Hey, you," she said and there was something about the greeting that had his stomach flipping around as if he had just drunken way too much booze.
"Hey," he grunted. He took a sip of coffee even though the charade of needing to get some was no longer needed and he didn't even really like coffee.
And Alison knew that because she just kept smiling at him. "Do you want to split lunch today?" She asked.
"What'd you have in mind?" He asked though he knew that anything she wanted to get, he would eat.
She laughed a little and stood up to go to the file drawer to get something. "Well, Zach just put me in the mood for pizza. Maybe we could get one delivered?"
His lips twitched a little at that and nodded. "Sounds good."
He went into the small employee bathroom to pour the coffee down the drain and to rinse out the cup and when he turned to leave, he nearly leapt back a step when he saw Alison suddenly in the doorway.
She looked at him, stared at him, intently and silently as if in deep concentration. And then, without saying a word, she stepped fully into the bathroom to join him and she closed the door behind her. Yuriel felt his throat grow thick and he tried to remind himself to keep breathing while keeping an appropriate distance between them though the bathroom was so damn small and there was nowhere for him to go.
"Yuriel," she said his name quietly, her eyes still on him. "Are you ever going to take me out on our date?" She asked him and the question didn't surprise him but he still felt suddenly winded as if she had just punched him.
He nodded and swallowed, trying to gain use of his voice again. "Course I am. I'm just tryin' to think of somethin' for us to do."
"Why do you think I need something special?" She asked with her head tilted slightly to the side.
She took a small step towards him and it was just like how it had been in his trailer a few nights earlier before Benny had come and interrupted them. She had stepped into his space and hadn't stopped staring up at him and she looked like she wanted to kiss him and he nearly started shaking because he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He wanted her so bad, he dreamt about her and then woke up in pain and he had to take care of himself in his tiny shower. But he couldn't kiss her here in some tiny shitty bathroom in some shitty garage. Alison deserved to have kisses in settings just as pretty and awesome as she was.
Yuriel shook his head slightly as if he didn't know why she didn't get it. "'cause you're special," he said in a soft voice, his eyes hardly able to look at her now.
The bathroom was silent after that except the drip of water from the faucet in the sink and the air felt so heavy, swirling around him, he wondered if she was able to breathe because he suddenly was having a hell of a time.
"Yuriel," she whispered his name and he finally looked at her again.
But his eyes were only able to focus on her for a moment before she was right up against him. It all happened within a second – the feel of her body pressing against his, her hands sliding up his chest and then lifting to his face, her fingers pushing his hair back and then her lips on his. Her lips were soft and almost hesitant against his but the instant he felt them, he nearly groaned and the dam of control he had been fighting when beside her for so long now split open and he was lost.
He heard her gasp a little with surprise when he pushed back against her. His hands found her hips and he pushed her backwards until her back hit the door and he wondered if he was just too rough with her. But when he thought to begin to pull away, Alison's fingers tightened in his hair and she pressed her body a little harder against his and Yuriel sank against her, his mouth kissing her hungrily and urgently.
His arms slid around her ridiculously small waist and her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he felt like he was crushing her body to his but she wasn't squirming to get away. If anything, she kept herself pressed against him as if desperate to get closer. And Yuriel held onto her tightly, wondering how he had managed to last this long without feeling her body against his.
She tasted sweet – like peaches and cream – and there wasn't a single part of him that was surprised. It flooded his mouth and pulsed through his body and he nearly groaned as every inch of him reacted to her, his jeans beginning to feel tight and the rest of his body straining like a rubber band being pulled to its maximum stretch.
He almost smiled when he finally pulled his mouth back and she whimpered softly with protest. He looked at her, keeping her body still pinned to his and his face still close to hers, and it took her almost a minute for her eyes to flutter open. Her skin was flushed and her lips were swollen and he couldn't believe that this girl had just kissed him and that she had let him kiss her in return.
She looked at him curiously but she didn't have to ask the question.
"We're at work," he explained. "Can't kiss you like this while we're at work."
Alison nodded and he was honestly surprised she didn't argue. He looked at her and wondered where that girl was who always kept her eyes down and blushed too much because that girl and this girl who had just pushed him into the bathroom to kiss the hell out of him couldn't have possibly been the same girl.
She kept his hair back from his face as she looked into his eyes. "Will you come over to my house tomorrow night after work?" She asked. He must have looked confused because she smiled a little. "My daddy's been wanting to meet you again."
Yuriel did his best to swallow past the sudden cotton ball lodged in his throat. He had already met and spoken with Lawrence Silver but why did he feel like this time, meeting him would be different? What would Alison say he was? Was he s
till just her friend or was he maybe something more? He didn't even know what he wanted to be. He still couldn't even quite believe that they had just kissed. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that he and Alison were spending so much time together; that they were friends and now they had kissed and he didn't know what the hell to think or do.
"Uh, sure," he heard himself stutter.
Alison smiled brightly at him and he swore he saw relief in her eyes and he didn't really blame her because even though he had given her an answer, he still felt unsure. She gave his shoulders a squeeze and he wondered if he should kiss her again – he knew he wanted to – but she turned away from him, slipping out of the bathroom first and closing the door behind her. Yuriel took a moment, leaning against the wall, trying to breathe and calm himself – all of him – down again before leaving that tiny space that still smelled like Alison and going back into the garage.
After a few deep breaths, he finally left the bathroom. Alison was behind her desk, talking on the phone, and their eyes locked for a moment before she looked away, smiling faintly and her cheeks blushing. Yuriel couldn't help but have his own lips twitch as he headed back out to the garage.
As his head returned to under the hood and he began work once again on the dead alternator and tried his hardest not think of Alison or her hands or lips, a car pulled into the garage lot and moments later, he heard feet approaching him from behind.
Yuriel lifted his head, flicking his head to get the hair out of his eyes, and he saw Benny coming towards him. And it looked like the man needed to talk. The man always needed to talk nowadays, it seemed, and as his best friend, Yuriel filled in the role as his confidant – which Yuriel was more than fine with except when Benny showed up at the trailer and interrupted time with Alison but he wasn't going to be mad about it. Yuriel knew that if the tables were flipped, Benny would listen to him no matter what.
Without a word, Yuriel met him halfway and they went back out to the parking lot. Yuriel pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and lit one as Benny stood there, fiddling with his Sherriff's hat. They had grown up together – meeting in elementary school and for a long time, besides Carlos, Benny was his only friend; the only kid allowed to play with him. When his mom died and Carlos split, leaving him alone to be his old man's punching bag, the Kerry family had him over as much as possible and did everything to stop him from dropping out of high school and following after Carlos when his older brother came back. When Yuriel finally returned to town a few years later, ready to get his life in order, Benny accepted him right back into his family as if he hadn't been gone at all.
"I did what you said," Benny said.
Yuriel's brow furrowed a little. "What did I say to do?"
"Follow her. I followed her. To the grocery store. The library. She didn't go anywhere." Benny sighed heavily and Yuriel wanted to tell him that he was just kidding when he told Benny to follow his wife; something he said just to say something but if Benny had actually gone through with and done it, Yuriel wasn't going to tell him he shouldn't have done it.
Yuriel liked Helen Kerry. She was a nice woman; had always been nice to him, and Benny was crazy about her. Together, they had two kids – Carl and Aubrey – and if Yuriel didn't know any better, he would think their life was perfect. But Benny was beginning to suspect that Helen was having an affair and Yuriel had spent nights listening to the man's theories and that small evidence he had gathered in his defense. She was happier – which Yuriel had thought was a crazy ass reason to think a wife was cheating but Benny explained that her skin was glowing and her eyes were bright in a way he hadn't seen in years and he said there was no reason for her to be looking like that again all of a sudden. There were other little things. She was working out, getting her body back in shape, never letting him see her cell phone when his own had gone dead, encouraging him to go to that Law Enforcement Conference in Atlanta for the weekend.
Yuriel didn't want to think that about Helen but at the same time, if Benny was so convinced, all Yuriel could really do was show his support to him since Benny was his friend – practically another brother.
"It's Travon's day off tomorrow. Maybe I should have him tail her all day," Benny said.
Yuriel shrugged his shoulders and puffed his cigarette. "If you think it'll help," he offered because again, he had no idea what to say.
Benny sighed heavily but didn't say anything.
Yuriel dropped his cigarette – half finished – to the asphalt and stubbed it out. "When you were first goin' out with Helen and you met her folks, what did you wear?" He heard himself ask even though he really wished he would have done what he always did and kept silent – especially with the grin Benny was slowly giving him.
"I thought you already met Lawrence," Benny said, his grin never slipping.
Yuriel sighed. "Forget it," he shook his head.
Benny let out a laugh. "Well, I don't see myself doing that. Are you going for dinner?"
Yuriel hated himself for bringing this up but he felt himself shrug his shoulders. "Don't know. Alison just asked me if I wanted to go over tomorrow after work."
"Definitely dinner," Benny nodded. "Taking flowers? Wine?" Yuriel looked at him as if he had sprouted two heads and Benny laughed again. "You should at least get Alison flowers," Benny said.
"You think she'll like that?" Yuriel was frowning now because he had no idea what the hell was going on. They had kissed but that didn't have to mean anything, did it? Did that mean that he had to bring her flowers and wear a tie when he met her daddy for the second time because Alison should know that that wasn't him.
"You tell me," Benny said. "Most girls seem to like it when they get flowers."
Yuriel just kept frowning and by the time Benny left and he returned to the car in his bay, his head was pounding with a headache. He glanced towards the office to see Alison at her desk, writing and stapling papers and answering the phone all at the same time.
She had kissed him first, yes, but he had kissed her back and he wondered what the hell he had just gotten himself into with her.
Chapter Fifteen.
He was late. By nearly nine minutes. And she knew this because she was watching the clock as much as she was the front door. Her stomach was in a series of knots and she felt like she was going to throw up even though there wasn't that much in her stomach at the moment. She felt like she couldn't breathe and her lungs were hurting with the effort.
When she had left the garage after the work day, she had smiled at Yuriel and told him to come by around six. And he had grunted as he nodded his head and she had just assumed that that meant he would be coming. But maybe he wasn't. Maybe she had just assumed that he was. Yesterday, in the bathroom after their kiss, she had asked and he had agreed but she had noticed that almost immediately after, he had acted distant from her; almost like how he used to act when she had first started working at the garage. She wondered what had happened. Had she done something? Should she not have invited him to her house this evening? Should she not have kissed him? But he had kissed her back – rather enthusiastically – and even nearly thirty-six hours later, her lips still trembled when she thought about it.
And she was always thinking about it.
She felt the burning of tears forming in her eyes but she forced herself to let none fall as the grandfather's clock behind her chimed. He was now fifteen minutes late and she felt her stomach drop with the clock's bong. He wasn't coming. She knew it. And everything in her body twisted and ached and she didn't understand what had happened because she had thought everything between Yuriel and herself was going great. She wasn't exactly sure what it actually was between them but whatever it was, she had been so happy with their budding whatever and had wanted more.
And now, crushed with disappointment, she felt like an idiot.
She heard footsteps behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see Vicky coming down the front stairs. She stopped herself on the second to last one and loo
ked at Alison for a moment. Alison knew she probably didn't mean to but she hated the look of pity in Vicky's eyes. It was the only way Vicky looked at her now. With pity or with anger and she couldn't even really remember how it was between the two of them before her mom died and before she got sick. Alison knew it was never going to be like that between them again.
Alison turned her head and looked back out the front screen door though there was no reason. No pickup truck. No roar of a motorcycle. The evening was quiet except for a few chirping birds in the trees and cicadas.
"I'm sorry, Alisony," Vicky said from behind her and the words made her feel cold, goosebumps fleshing across her skin.
Alison didn't say anything, not trusting her voice to speak without shaking. So instead, she just nodded her head once and stepped outside. Her throat scratched and the tears were burning and brimming and she knew she had to get away from there before she completely fell apart.
Disappointment and anger and hurt crushed around her all at once and she felt her head spinning as she managed to walk down the porch steps. She couldn't believe Yuriel would do this. She had thought… he cared about her, didn't he? She thought of all of the little gifts he gave her and the motorcycle rides and the time spent together in his trailer. It all had to mean something, didn't it? Or had she just built it up and created something entirely fictional in her mind?
She wore the small compass he had given her around her neck and her fingers clasped around it now as she began walking. She didn't dare walk in the direction of his trailer. Instead, she faced the completely opposite direction and started that way. She just needed to get away; maybe just keep walking and walking and not stopping until she was far away from here.
She never should have come back. Her brother and sister didn't need her. Not even her daddy needed her because even with just one leg now, he was still as capable as ever. She thought of her little apartment in Atlanta that she had shared with her roommate, Rosita – a girl she had met in one of the recovery clinics, Rosita recovering from cutting. The two had met and had bonded instantly and when they were both released, they had decided to become roommates, knowing they could help one another stay on the right path. Rosita had been disappointed when Alison had to move back home and Alison wondered if she had found another roommate or if Alison was still able to move back.
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