Street Love (An Interracial Love Story)

Chapter 18

Tony's POV

"I would like to welcome you all to tonight's AA meeting!" Ron is smiling like a fool and standing in the center of the circle. He turns towards me and Evie. "It's nice to see you guys again." I nod at him and Evie squeezes my hand.

"Isn't this great?" she whispers to me. "He remembers us!"

I laugh and give her a sideways look. "Yeah. I guess."

"Today we're gonna talk about about coping mechanisms." The door opens and I see Smiley. He's with his mom again. This time, she looks normal and is smiling.

"Sorry we're late." She smiles at Ron and her and Smiley sit down.

"No problem Esmeralda. We're talking about coping mechanisms." Ron walks around the circle. "A coping mechanism is something that takes your mind off drinking. Something that allows you to cope, or get through tough times when you're not drinking. It can be a person, a hobby, a place." Ron sits down. "Would anyone like to share one of their coping mechanisms?"

The older white man stands up. I think his name is Eugene. "Well. I've been clean for awhile now as many of you know. When I first quit, I had a lot of withdrawals. But my coping mechanism was playing the piano. I also got my first cat then. Now I have 12 cats." Eugene smiles and I just wanna choke.

12 cats? His house must be disgusting.

We continue around the circle and finally get to me. What the hell am I supposed to say?

"It's your turn Tony," Evie whispers.

"Um." I stand up and run my hands down my jeans. "I don't really..." I look at Evie and she's looking up at me, waiting for me to go on. "I guess she's my coping mechanism." I point to Evie and she looks shocked.

Ron smiles. "That's so nice Tony! Care to elaborate?"

"What?"

"Tell us more. How is she your coping mechanism?"

"She's just always there for me." I shrug. "I know it's not easy for her to be there all the time, but she is. Even with all my panic attacks and everything. She's the only one who can calm me down." I turn and look at Evie. "I don't say it often, but it means a lot." I look back at Evie and she's smiling but there's also tears in her eyes. Ron starts clapping and I sit down.

"I love you so much," she whispers then rests her head on my shoulders.

"I love you too," I whisper back.

"Would you like to go next?" Ron waves at Evie.

"Oh." She lifts her head off my shoulder. "I guess." She stands up and sways on her feet. "Dancing is my coping mechanism. Whenever I dance, I feel free and I don't have a worry in the world."

"Thank you Evie." We continue around the circle and soon it's Smiley's turn.

He stands up and starts talking. "Hanging with my boys helps me cope. Knowing that I got a group of guys to back me up if anything goes wrong is real nice."

"Thank you Smiley. I really appreciate your contributions to our discussion even though you're here for your mom."

The meeting is done an hour later. Evie says goodbye to Ron and heads over to where I'm standing by the door.

"You ready to go?" She looks up at me.

"Mmhmm. Actually, do you wanna go get dinner somewhere?" I lace her fingers through mine and we start walking down the hallway towards the sidewalk.

"Ummm." Evie ducks her head. "I forgot my wallet at home Tony."

"Evie. Stop that."

"Stop what?" We've stopped walking and she turns to face me, crossing her arms. She narrows her eyebrows and looks at me. "Stop what?"

"Why you keep thinking you always gotta pay? You do it all the time. The movies, whenever we have Donny and Emi and when we go get food. What part of 'you don't have to pay' don't you get?" I step closer to her until our faces are inches apart.

"Look negrita. You're mi novia, so lemme spoil you a bit." I put my arm around her and we start walking again. "Okay Evie?"

"I just don't want you to think I'm trying to take all your money or something."

I kiss the top of her head. "You're not. I love you and I love Donny like he was my own little brother. So stop stressing mamacita. Cause I know you are." I smirk at her and she laughs.

"Aye Tony. Okay."

I laugh at her as we continue walking.

"What?" she asks.

"You're starting to sound like me."

She smacks me on the shoulder. "Guess we've been spending too much time together huh?"

"Maybe."

We keep walking til we get to downtown St. Monica.

"What are you hungry for Ev?"

"Anything." She smiles at me and I bend down to kiss her on the cheek.

"How about some Italian?" We stop in front of Lozano's Italian Kitchen.

"Looks delicious."

We get a small table in the back of the restaurant. Our waiter comes by to light a candle and we order drinks.

"This place is beautiful." Evie looks around. "I feel so underdressed though."

"I think you look beautiful mamas."

"How come you always know what to say?" Evie asks with a silly smile on her face.

"I don't. Just speaking the truth."

Our food comes and after we eat and talk for awhile, I pull out a little box.

"So...I got you something mamacita."

"Again?? Tony, you can't keep doing this."

I roll my eyes. "You didn't even see what it is Evie. Open it up first."

Evie slowly unwraps the box and her eyes widen when she sees that it's an iPhone 6.

"Now you have an IPhone to match your MacBook mamas."

The rest of dinner is pretty good. We talk about school and AA over dinner then order two boxes of cannolis to take home.

When we get to Evie's house, no one is home.

"Guess this is goodnight?" I ask her in the doorway.

She wraps her hands around my neck and pulls me in close. I rest my hands on her lower back and hold her.

"Today was good," she mumbles in my ear. "Really good."

"It was." I kiss her twice. "Have a goodnight and dont forget to give Donny and your mom the cannolis."

She kisses me again. "I will. See you tomorrow."

I close the door then make my way home. Right before I turn the corner to my apartment, a black SUV drives by.

I watch as the passenger window rolls down and someone pulls out a gun. He doesn't point it at me but instead, right behind me.

I turn around as shots go off and see my friend Juan fall to the ground.