Behind Her Smile

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten: Phone Sock

Dex thinks Ro still feels guilty about making her cry because they have gone to get ice cream everyday for the past week. Dex had recovered, mostly, but she is still wary about what she says around Ms. Whalen. Rosie has at least made it bearable to be in detention.

Afterwards Ro had parked in front of the apartment building. "Bye Ro!" Dex says just before she closes her door.

Dex wiggles her sticky ice cream covered fingers at Ro who laughs. She ducks into her apartment with a smile on her face. What a good way to end a day with a mouth full of sugar.

Then the phone rings and her smile drops as she recognizes the ringtone. 

It is not the one in her pocket, no, she would be happy to answer that phone if it meant that she didn't have to answer the other one she has hidden in her room. Which could only mean one thing; her family is calling.

Every trill of the phone is like a sledgehammer to her brain, annoying and obnoxious and her stomach sinks lower and lower. This couldn't be good. She keeps her phone calls to her family to a minimum because the risk that it being traced to her is too high. So if her family is calling, then it has to be about something important. 

Like a zombie, she walks to her room. She grabs the nearest chair and drags to the foot of the tall bookshelf. Dex steps on the chair and reaches the top and grabs the sock that contains her phone. The sound, that was only slightly muffled by the sock, rings full blast when she takes it out. Dex flinches. 

Dex grabs the phone and her thumb over the green button to answer the call, but still she hesitates to press it. But finally logic wins over, they wouldn’t call unless it was important. They knew how dangerous it was for her and them to contact her. She pressed the accept button when it was nearing its last ring and presses the phone to her ear.

"Hola mija. ¿Como esta, querida?" Her mother says in a rush, but Dex can hear the shakiness in it. Something is wrong. Her worst nightmares are coming true is her first thought.

He must have found her.

Her grip on the phone made her fingers turn white as she exclaims in worry. "Mama. ¿Que paso? ¿Por que esta llamando?" Dex hasn’t talked to her family since she had moved to California. That was over two years ago. 

She missed them dearly every day, but it was dangerous for them to call. Too much of a risk.

So something must be horribly wrong if they are calling her. They knew better than to risk him finding her. She closes her eyes in trepidation as she waits for her mama to respond.

"¿Que? ¿Un madre no puede llamar a su hija por casualidad?" Mama gives Dex a quiet laugh, too high and ringed out forced. Dex shakes her head as a tear drop out of her closed eyes.

"Mama. No me mentiras. ¿Por que es llamando? Dime que esta pasando." Dex says and her voice cracks at the end. She needed to know what is wrong.

‘Be strong, Dex. Be strong.’ Dex says to herself.

Dex bites her lip to stop from blurting more as there is silence on the other end. Then there were some shuffling, then a new voice greets her.

"Hola, Gordita!" the chipper brother of her older brother, Leonardo, makes her lips quirk up despite the situation.

Man, she missed him. She wishes she had her old life back. Before she met him.

Leo still calls her that silly little nickname he gave her as kids. She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry that he still is the same. At least he hadn’t changed after all this drama. Nostalgic tears prick her eyes as she leans her head on her bed room wall. The cool temperature felt nice on her heated face.