Street Love (An Interracial Love Story)

Chapter 19

Evie’s POV

I smile, thinking about dinner with Tony. It was amazing.

I throw myself on the couch and soon fall asleep.

An hour later I wake up to three missed calls from Tony and I'm about to listen to my voicemail when another one comes through.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Um. Is this Evie?" A small voice comes through the line. It sounds like Emily.

"Yeah, it is. Is this Emily?"

"Yeah. Hi. Um, can you and Donny come over? Like right now?"

"Yeah, Emi I guess." I look at the clock. It's 12:30 a.m. "What's going on?"

"Well, um. My mommy left for work hours ago and Tony was supposed to watch me and put me to bed but he won't come out of his room. He locked me out and and he's breathing really really really really hard and talking to himself and... I'm scared." Emi's voice breaks at that last part and my heart goes out to the little girl.

"Ohh okay Emi. You have to calm down okay? I'll be there in 15 minutes. Try and talk to Tony through the door, okay?"

"Okay." She says between sniffles.

I rush to get myself ready and check to make sure my mom is in her room. For once, she's there. I slowly open and close the front door and head out.

I make it to Tony's house in a few minutes and I knock on the door.

Emi opens the door after a moment and grabs my hand. "You gotta make him feel better like you always do."

She practically drags me to his doorway and then runs back to lock the front door. She comes back and stands behind me expectantly.

"Um, Emily? I think you should wait in your room. Just until Tony's better. Can you do that for me?"

She nods quickly and then heads down the hallway to her room.

I softly knock on the door. "Tony?" I call out. "It's me."

I don't hear anything back, so I turn the doorknob to find out it's unlocked.

I open his door to see chaos. His chair is overturned, there are papers and clothes everywhere, and right in the center of it all, Tony is balled up on the floor hyperventilating and shaking.

This has to be the worst one yet.

I step over books, pencils, random papers and clothes until I reach him. I kneel down and put my hand on his shoulder. He jumps and spins around to look at me. He's sweating and his eyes can't focus. Instead they keep darting around the room and then back at me.

"Tony. It's me Evie. Can you hear me?"

He nods slowly but continues hiccuping and shaking.

"You need to focus on breathing, and calming down okay? Just focus on me, and focus on breathing." I unclench his fists and hold both his hands so he looks at me. "Just breathe. And focus on me."

His breathing starts to slow down and I move to his side and help him sit up against his bed. "You're gonna be okay. I'm here. I love you." I start running my fingers through his hair. He continues nodding and his breathing is more regular now.

I hold his hand and he breathes deeper. His eyes start to focus finally and he looks at me.

“I think I’m okay,” he finally whispers.

“Yeah?” I lift his face and see that there are tears in his eyes. “Do you… What.” I can’t find words. “What happened?”

“Juan,” he says after a while. “He got shot. I saw him get shot.”