Virgin

6. Locked Up

"It's already been a half an hour, where are we going?" I ask her.

She doesn't say anything, just focuses on the road and grips the wheel tight. Outside my window was nothing but buildings and roads intertwining with one another.

"I believe we agreed on going somewhere to eat" She replies minutes later.

"Yes but where exactly?"

"There's this amazing BBQ place near my neighborhood that I recommend for a random occasion like this"

"Random?"

"Well I didn't expect a random guy, aka you, to ask me out while I was working, to go to lunch with him"

"Oh I see, so what do you usually do after work?"

"Go home, take a shower, make myself lunch, maybe even go grocery shopping or watch a movie. I'm a very exciting person"

"Wow, I wish I was you" I laugh, making fun of her a little.

"I know you do" she says back and flips her hair with all that attitude.

When we finally find this place, park and get inside, it's 1:15. There's a small line of people but the minute my nose got inside the door, I knew it was worth it. Everything smelt so fucking good and the fact that I was here with Kristen made everything better.

She went right up to the front and hugged the woman that I think was this restaurant's host. She leads us to a table, cutting everyone in the line and asks what she can get us for drinks.

"Ice Tea" Kristen says and looks up at me.

"I'll have the same thanks" then the woman smiles and walks to the back.

"So is this okay?" Kristen asks.

"Yeah this is fine, everything smells amazing"

"Yeah it's a pretty good place, I use to work here for awhile but I had more fun serving downtown"

"That's sweet, have you always lived around here?"

"Nah, I was born on the east coast in Rhode Island"

"Wow, Rhode Island is pretty small huh? Did you go to college there?"

"Yeah URI, I majored in communications and business, super boring"

"Nah that's all pretty important, why did you come here?"

"Cali?"

"Yeah"

"I wanted to explore and try new things. I heard Cali was the place to go"

"That's true"

The waitress came back and took our orders. She hurried back to the counter to put both in.

"What about you Skip? What's your life story" she asked.

"Life story hmm"

"Well?"

"I was kicked out at 17, a year before I graduated high school. I went to UNR in Nevada for college and majored in business and dropped out my 3rd year because my grandpa was dying and I needed to come home. He died a couple months after me taking care of him and decided to leave all of his belongings and money to me. I haven't worked a day in my life and my house is already payed off. My corvette was his"

"Wow, you are so lucky"

"Well, I lost an important person in the process"

"Oh I'm sorry, I didnt mean that losing your grandpa was lucky"

"It's all good"

"And so what do you spend your days doing?"

I thought about my life style for a moment. I could be honest with her and tell her im a fucking loser with all the money in the world but does nothing interesting with it. Nah, there's no way I can look at her and say I plan to spend the rest of my life taking girls virginity's and going to clubs.

"I like to hang out with my sister and her kids"

"Awe, how old are they?"

"Adian is 16 and Lia just turned 8"

"That's so sweet, do you only have a sister?"

"Yeah she's all I got, you got siblings?"

"Yeah I have two older brothers but one is in prison and one lives with my parents in Rhode Island"

"Wow, how long has your brother been locked up?"

"6 years now, he was caught with a lot coke I guess and then assaulted a police officer so he'll be in there for a while longer"

"I'm sorry"

"It's not my life, it's his. He can do what he wants"

"Wow"

"Before he got caught, I told him, if he goes to prison for it, not to call me because I will not answer the phone"

"I wouldn't"

"Exactly but he then promised me he wouldn't go to prison and here we are"

"Has he called you?"

"Not once. No letters. No messages. No call. Nothing. He hasn't called anyone"

"Not your parents?"

"No. Last time we all saw him was in court when they sentenced him 12 years"

"God damn"

"Again, his life, his choices"

"I'm so sorry"

"It's okay, I handle myself pretty well and I don't think I should have to handle him too"

"You shouldn't, your totally right"

"Yep"

Our food showed up and she dug in like she forgot I was sitting right there. She obviously wasn't tryin to impress anyone, including me so fuck it, I dug in too.

"So your sister had kids at a young age?"

"Yeah, so young that the baby daddy was sent to prison for rape"

"Wow and now she raises two kids on her own?"

"Pretty much, she has me and that's it"

"I'm not the only one with a fucked up story" she laughs and takes a sip of ice tea.