Crossroads

Chapter 1

Daniela Santos absentmindedly walked out of the doors of Santo Padre Memorial Hospital, scampering to her car in order to make it out without getting stopped for a favor or conversation. Glancing at her watch, she cursed to herself that she was going to be late for her shift at Cicely's yet again. Though in the first year of her internship at the hospital, her mounting medical school debt coupled with the paltry intern salary left her working a second job at the local bar and restaurant, and this week she had been late nearly every single shift. Shoving her bag and charts in to the trunk of the coupe, she quickly got into her car and threw it into reverse. Nearly immediately, a noise emitted from the tailpipe, and Daniela's heart stopped.

"Not again! Damn hunk of junk!" Plagued with a car that seemed to be a bottomless pit of problems, Daniela stared at the engine notification to see that yet again there was a mechanical failure. Just as she attempted to back out again, she spotted one of the teen volunteers coming up the stairs into the parking structure with who she assumed was the girl's older brother. "Hey Dani," Letty nodded towards Daniela while her brother smiled, "Are you having car trouble again?" she asked.

"Unfortunately. Worst possible timing, I'm late for my second job," Daniela responded while digging for her phone to call an Uber. "My dad is a mechanic; why don't you let us take it to the shop he works at and have them look at it?" Letty offered, pointing towards the man Daniela had thought was her brother this whole time. This was surprisingly chatty for Letty, considering she had spent most of the past three months ignoring Daniela's frequent attempts to talk to the girl. As the product of just about every social cliché, Daniela had spent her teen years as a hospital volunteer, thirsty to get as much medical exposure as possible while working towards her ultimate goal of medical school. Though she didn't know if Letty had that same aspiration, she was empathetic towards the girl.

Daniela paused to consider the offer when the girl's father snuffed out his cigarette and turned his focus towards her, "I'll get it towed to the yard and we can give you a ride wherever you're going. Kid says you're nice to her." Just as Daniela opened her mouth to comment on the fact she had thought they were siblings, her coworker Lauren texted her asking where she was. Snapping out of her daydream, Daniela nodded in agreement and gave the slim man the address.

The drive to Cicely's was short, and Letty's dad didn't offer much in the form of conversation, only introducing himself as Coco. As Daniela climbed out of his car, Coco let her know that he would tell them to wait until she got off from her shift before closing for the night. "Thanks again for the ride and getting my car towed. Will you be there later tonight or is there someone I should ask for when I get to the yard?" Daniela asked as Coco lit up what must have been his fourth cigarette in the past 15 minutes. "I prolly won't be there, but you can ask for my boy, Angel. He or his bro Ezekiel will be there." Daniela wrote the two names down in her phone and thanked the pair again; thankful that her meager attempts to penetrate the teen's icy exterior had made some sort of an impression.

The remainder of her evening was uneventful, and Daniela was thankful that the restaurant was slow that night. The combination of hospital stress and being on her feet for nearly twenty hours a day during the week was overwhelming at times, so Daniela was more than happy to have a calm night. As she locked up the restaurant and headed out to her normal parking place, she remembered the earlier car issue, and quickly pulled up the address for the yard. Seeing it was close to the restaurant, she kept her mace in her fist as she began the walk towards Romero Brothers.

Rounding the corner where the yard was, she was instantly anxious about what the diagnosis would be. Snapping her out of her financial fog was the sound of music and what seemed to be a party. Confused as it was nearly 11PM, she was surprised there was such a lively crowd at the yard. Spotting her Mini Cooper behind the giant gates, she glanced around for anything that resembled an office. Just as she timidly made her way towards a gentleman who looked old enough to be in charge, a man with what could only be described as plastic Wolverine gloves on his hands approached her and asked if he could help her. Daniela must have jumped a foot off the ground as the man instantly apologized for startling her, and asked again if she was there to see anyone in particular. Realizing there was some sort of motorcycle party going on, Daniela explained the situation from earlier and said she was there to see Angel or Ezekiel. "EZ is out running an errand, but Angel is right this way," the man explained, and Daniela followed him through the crowd of partiers.

Recognizing a few of the girls from her mother's club, she made a mental note to ask her if she knew some of her girl's were at an event tonight when the plastic handed man said "Angel, this is Daniela, the doctor with the Mini Cooper." Daniela's eyes snapped up to the tall man and instantly felt her body flush. Nearly half a foot taller than her five foot eight frame, Angel was wrapped around two girls, or rather, they were wrapped around him. "Hi Daniela the doctor. We were able to take a look at the Cooper, follow me into the office and I'll give you a breakdown of what the issue is. Thanks Chucky," Angel dismissed the plastic man now known as Chucky, and motioned for Daniela to follow him. They entered the small office only to walk in on Coco with a petite blonde bent over the desk, the sounds of nighttime activities bouncing off the concrete walls. "Shit!" Coco barked, standing up and rearranging himself as the blonde pulled her skirt into place and turned to run out of the office. "Dani!?" She said, and instantly Daniela recognized the small woman as Chrystal, one of the weekend dancers from the club.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chrystal asked with a grin on her face as she looked between Daniela and Angel. "Evidently, not having as good as a time as you are; the Cooper crapped out again today and one of the volunteers from the hospital has a parent who works here. Actually, it's him." Daniela pointed towards Coco, amusement gracing her face. "Well, I'm just here as a guest, ok? Not doing anything I'm not supposed to be!" Chrystal looked at Daniela emphatically, hoping she caught on to what she was trying to get across.

Daniela's mother Jasmine owned The Pleasure Chest, Santo Padre's only strip club, and Jasmine had a hard and fast 'no trick rule' for her girls. Though Daniela wasn't wild about her mother's career, it was nothing new, and over the past 7 years, her mother had gone from dancer to manager to owner. Daniela nodded, and reassured Chrystal that nothing needed to be said to Jasmine. As Coco and Chrystal left the office, Daniela sat down in one of the chairs while Angel sat down behind the desk, his face one containing a million questions. While explaining the extensive repairs needed on the car, he considered Daniela now that they were in better light. Beautiful with long wavy dark hair and dark eyes, she was dressed in a black button up that unintentionally showed off her ample cleavage and black pants cuffed at the bottom.

Alternating between small talk about the hospital and the needed repairs on the car, Daniela and Angel lost track of time as they chitchatted. Realizing it was getting late, she softened the ground for her to politely decline any expensive repairs when he interrupted her and asked, "Wait-I thought you were a doctor?" "What? Yes, I am a doctor." Daniela said, her brow knit in confusion at this tangent. "It's just, you're not in scrubs," Angel said, trying not to stare at her legs as she crossed and re-crossed them. "Oh, yeah. I work a second job, hence the non-slip shoes," Daniela said dismissively, hoping this wasn't some ploy to avoid disclosing the cost of the repairs. "But how do you know Chrystal?" Angel blurted out, faster than he wanted to. Here it was, what Daniela was avoiding. "Well....Chrystal works at my mom's club," Daniela looked at the desk, avoiding eye contact and reading the label on the stapler. "Your mom is Jasmine?" Angel was incredulous as he worked on figuring out how old they both were. "Yes. And, before you say what everyone has said to me for the past 27 years, she was 15 when she had me." Daniela had been able see the wheels turning and decided to preempt the inevitable.

"Wow." Angel found himself speechless, a rare moment for such a chatty man, and he sat back in the chair, thinking to himself for a moment. Daniela shifted awkwardly, suddenly feeling bashful, both due to the attractive man in front of her and the discomfort of realizing that he may or may not had seen her mother naked. As the got back onto the topic of the car and the repairs, Angel offered her a sizeable discount and the option to make payments. Shocked and slightly suspicious of this surprise generosity, Daniela quickly agreed, and she left her information for them to call her when the car would be done.

Declining his multiple offers for a ride home, Daniela shook Angel's hand and called her Uber. Walking through the now thinning crowd to her ride, Daniela happened to glance behind her in time to see Angel, leaning against the huge gates, beer in hand, smiling dreamily at her.