Dark Dreams

COMPLICATIONS

Of all the people I expected to see in a small Jamaican music store, Jay Bradford was certainly not at the top of the list.

"Sarah?" he asked, frowning.

He looked different from normal. The blue and white tracksuit of the soccer team, in addition to highlighting his lean, well-defined calves, gave him the air of a professional athlete. First indie singer, now soccer player too. Life should stop smiling on the same people and focus on those who'd been thrown on the scrap heap, like me. Thank God my contact lenses were bimonthly; at least he wouldn't see me with those stupid glasses on.

"What are you doing here?" he continued, bringing me back to the present.

"I work here," I said, spreading my palms as if to say it was not my fault.

"Since when? I come here often and I've never seen you."

"Well, today is my first day."

"Welcome to Chillz, then. It's a bit of a second home for me since I buy all the stuff for my band from Blaze."

Jay was damn polite.

He had never said a word to me before that famous Latin class and I didn't understand why he continued to do so. Not that I was sorry, but could I trust him?

The very idea that it could have been him who took advantage of me made me shudder.

"I didn't know you were in a band," I said, trying to exonerate him from my doubts.

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

He smiled, running his hands through his hair. I wanted to touch it too. What a stupid thought.

"The material is ready in the back" intervened Blaze between drags of his roll-up cigarette.

"Well, see you," said Jay, showing two beautiful dimples on the sides of his cheeks.

"Wait," I said, grabbing his arm. I let go of him as soon as I realized the stupidity of what I had just done. "I have to ask you something."

He put his duffel bag down on the ground, anticipating a long talk.

"The other night, did you see me go to a second-floor room with someone?" I asked in a single breath.

He shook his head.

I was sure he suspected what had happened to me.

"Look," I said, taking Chastity's camera out of my bag. "I found it in the woods," I explained, handing it to him. "It's broken. I want to know if there is any way to recover the photos inside. The camera was in the hands of almost everyone invited to the party and maybe... she took some pictures that could show me who I was with."

"You don't understand much about technology..." he said, turning the camera over in his hands, "do you?"

"No, actually. I got my first phone a few days ago and I don't even have a computer at home," I replied, a little embarrassed. I hated that my economic situation spilled out into every conversation.

"But is it written all over my face? That I'm not an IT whizz, I mean."

"No, don't worry. There are no words on your face," he smiled. He took a tiny black card out of the side of the camera. "Nowadays, photos aren't lost if the screen breaks. All the photos are saved in the external memory."

"Ah, okay," I said, moving clumsily. "I'm such an idiot."

"Based on your grades, you're anything but stupid," he said, flashing me a row of glimmering teeth.