Salted Wound

Chapter 31 Esme- Nov 17, 2018

I hop on the porch that leads to Dante's house. I've been here before, but I feel more nervous tonight. I'm officially late, as always, but this time I have a good reason and I'm hoping it will make him happy. I take a deep breath and ring the doorbell. I look down at the blue wrapped present in my hand, hoping it isn't too much. I'm wearing a pearl off the shoulder floral top and some high waisted blue jeans. I straightened my brown hair and it makes it look longer than it normally does. I hope it's more of a casual thing than a party party. Ana said she's wearing something similar, so I think I'm good.

    The doorknob turns and Ana opens the door. She's wearing a black long sleeve crop top and denim jeans and knee-length boots. Her hair halos over her head that makes her look like Shakira but with dark hair. Her hands shift to her shirt and try to pull it down to keep her belly from showing.

    "Naomi's shirt?" I ask and she sighs and nods.

    "Can you tell? Actually, this whole outfit is hers. She just shoved it in my bathroom and told to change 10 minutes before coming here," she complains and I laugh.

I walk inside and see the familiar room. There are black couches up against the peach walls and photo frames with Dante and his younger brother, Jerome. Zamari, Marcus, and Noah are chilling on the couch and some other familiar people from school. I hear Naomi's laugh coming from the kitchen across the hallway along with the cute snort she does when she finds something really funny. There's pizza boxes everywhere and multiple red cups filled with soda.

    Noah sees me and quickly gets up to greet me. "Esme! I thought you weren't gonna come." He says giving me a side hug. I see Zamari and Dante get up to follow Noah.

    "I'm Mexican. If the party is supposed to start at 5 I get here at 6:30," I joke and give them a smile. "Hey, Zamari!" I say hi and he also gives me a side hug.

    I turn to Ana who is looking down at her phone.

    "Ana, is Luis coming?" I ask. She looks at up me furrows her brows and shakes her head as if I asked her a stupid question.

    "Nah. He's off with his cousins for the weekend. Plus he never goes to parties," she shrugs.

    "That and he's scared of me," Zamari mutters and Noah snorts. Ana rolls her eyes and smacks Zamari. I laugh thinking that might be true.

    "Ain't nobody mess with us!" Marcus jokes behind Zamari and they all start laughing. Ana puts her hand on her forehead and I giggle.

    "Hey, where's Dante?" I ask Ana.

    "He was around here earlier serving us pizzas, but his mom was bugging him for a while and he went to his room and I haven't seen him since," she shrugs. "You can try checking up on him. He might be in there." She encourages me.

    I nod and back away from the group. I see Freddie walking out of the kitchen with his arms crossed and a short girl hanging back on him. I raise an eyebrow and he rolls his eyes.

    "Help me!" He mouths and I laugh. I see Naomi following him with Kat, a girl from the cheer squad.

    "Esme!" Naomi squeals when she sees me and runs my direction and jumps on me. I grunt and stumble back but the wall keeps me on my feet.

    "Jesus. Hey!" I say finding my balance. "What's with Freddie?" I ask looking back at Freddie. Kat followed him and starts teasing him.

    "That's Angel. She's Kat's little sister and she has a huge crush on Freddie and now she won't leave him alone," she says. I continue watching Freddie and Angel in the living room and the guys are staring at the girl as if she was a fly.