Chapter 12
“So what happened?” Belle asked me excitedly. We were both sitting cross legged on her enormous bed and drinking this really fancy and expensive brand of hot cocoa.
I took a deep breath. “I saw Benny at the mall.” I said quickly. Belle's jaw dropped.
“You did? Well what happened?” she asked, the pure excitement in her voice almost contagious.
“Nothing, it just made me nervous to see him again after that night.” I said, blushing deeply.
“You say that like you haven't talked to him since then.” she said incredulously.
“I haven't.” I said quietly. Belle's eyes widened.
“What? Are you fucking serious? What?” with every word she said her voice raised an octave.
“I couldn't bring myself to go see him.” I said even more quietly. As her voice got louder, mine got more and more quiet.
“No, no,no,no,no,no. Nuh uh.” Belle said as she got off her bed.
“Where are you going?” I asked her. I didn't get why she was mad at me. It was my life, why was she getting so involved?
She walked out of her room for a minute and I heard a lot of things being moved around. I got more and more nervous as Belle slowly walked back into her room with a phone book and the house phone.
“What are you going to do with those?” I asked nervously.
“I'm not going to do anything.” She put the book down on the bed. It landed with a dull thump in front of me. Belle set the phone down next to the book and opened it.
“Rodriguez, Rodriguez,” she muttered. She looked up to me. “What's Benny's dad's name?”
“Daniel.” I said quizzically. As Belle looked more closely at the names, I realized what she was doing.
“No, I'm not gonna call him!” I said, my voice cracking on the last word.
“Yes you are,” Belle said calmly. She picked up the phone and started dialing a number. Go figure, there was only one D. Rodriguez in suburban Los Angeles. She handed the phone to me. “You're going to call him, and ask him if he's doing anything tomorrow night. If he says no, tell him to meet you at seven at the diner on 22nd.”
I gulped and put the phone to my ear. The ringing seemed to go on forever. Finally I heard a deep voice say,
“Hello? Who is this?” it sounded kind of like I'd imagined Benny's dad to sound like.
“Mr. Rodriguez?” I asked.
“No, my name's Alejandro. Again, who is this?” Alejandro was getting suspicious.
“Alejandro? Benny's big brother?” Benny had told me about his older brother briefly while I had been in the hospital.
“Yes. How do you know my baby brother?” he was on the defensive now.
“I'm his-” I didn't know how to describe myself in Benny's eyes. “friend. I'm Benny's friend Mimi.” I said slowly and calmly. Since Benny and I hadn't decided whether we were going to go steady, I couldn't exactly call myself his girlfriend. Could I?
“Oh,” said Alejandro. “Oh! You're Mimi?” he asked.
“Yeah. I was wondering if Benny was home.” I said, blushing a little at his enthusiasm.
“Of course.” he said. I heard him put his hand over the receiver and call for Benny in Spanish. It sounded like 'Benny, su novia está en el teléfono para tú.'
