Burning Salvation

Episode 1- Surprise and Surprised

DORA

I found myself sitting in an absurdly long booth in a loud and trendy restaurant for one reason and one reason only. Gina.

As my best friend and the birthday girl, she got to pick the restaurant. To be fair, Gina had endured plenty of outings she wasn't crazy about for my happiness and not just because it was my birthday. My favorite place just so happened to be a dive bar outside of town because they served amazing deep-fried noodles.

That's not to say Gina didn't ever get her way. It was more like she always got her way and threw me a bone every once in a while. I didn't mind. I liked to keep the peace and it was hard to complain about Gina's wild plans when they almost always ended up in a spectacular and life-changing night.

"He's in town ya know," Gina said in a clipped yet casual tone as she checked her long, pointy pink nails.

"No, I don't know. Who?" I asked.

I was only half paying attention while simultaneously buttering the complimentary bread and studying the pretentious menu. We'd been sitting there for over fifteen minutes and I was still unable to determine one edible-sounding thing to order.

What is niçoise anyway?

A different waiter than the one who brought out our afternoon cocktails and admired my chest the same way Gina did the drinks. He paused a beat longer than necessary at the table and I wondered if he was going to pull out his phone to snap a pic of my tits.

"That'll be all," Gina barked, sounding like my best friend for the first time since we sat down to lunch.

She's off. This isn't good.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" I asked with a laugh as I chewed my hunk of warm bread.

"Chase."

I coughed, choking on the warm, salty crust. "Chase?"

"Yes. Chase."

Gina's light eyes were wide and wild and her odd behavior of the day finally made sense. She'd been sitting on a massive secret and she was just waiting for the right time to tell me.

Reaching for my pink cocktail I took a long sip and my worries of it being too early in the day to order such a drink disappeared. Instead, I found myself wishing I'd ordered vodka on the rocks, or whatever it was people ordered when they needed a good stiff drink.

"Sorry to catch you off guard, but I needed to tell you now because he's coming to my party tonight." Gina's eyes nearly bulged right out of her head. "I can't have you making a scene and taking attention away from me," Gina said with a forced laugh and a hand to her chest.

But she didn't fool me. She was worried about me.

"How long have you known?" Suddenly, I had no idea what to do with my hands. I picked up the curled ends of my long, dark hair resting on my shoulder to look for split ends.

"A few hours I guess," Gina said while looking at her rhinestone-covered phone. "He came over this morning and woke me up. Scared the shit outta me."

Under the table, I slowly walked my fingers over to my purse. When they touched the supple-slouchy leather I dove in and searched for my phone only to find a blank screen. It was stupid to think he'd contact me, but I couldn't concentrate on anything until I checked.

"I don't know how you feel about this, Dora. You've got to say something, so I know if we're angry, happy, or...whatever." She pounded her palms on the table and the sound her rings made on the wood made me jump.