Blue Roses

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗲

𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖'𝙨 𝙋.𝙊.𝙑
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This particular night was cold and aesthetically pleasing. The air was crispy and the night sky looked like Vincent Van Gogh had used it as a canvas. It was calming considering tear trails stained my chubby cheeks. Antonio's words were replaying in my mind like a broken record." Get out of my trailer you worthless bitch. You've never done shit for me but I gave you a bed to sleep in. Why should I let you stay any longer?"

"Please! Antonio! Maryannes out of town and I have no where to go!"

"I said get out. I don't care what happens to you."My backpack went flying at me as Antonio slammed the door in my face. Earlier that day I had lost my job as a waitress. He obviously didn't take the news well.

Throughout the night I had wondered around New York City. This night was deathly quiet. No people were on the streets and no cars were speeding by.

Soon my shoulders ached with pain from carrying my heavy backpack. It was all that Antonio let me take. There was a bench in an alleyway between two buildings. I laid down on the wooden bench and used my backpack as a pillow. The wind picked up and my whole body shivered as my worn out thin jacket didn't provide much warmth. My eye lids started to droop from tiredness and soon after I fell asleep. My sleep was short lived as loud shouting had waken me up. Curiosity had the better half of me and I stood up to my feet. They lead my body to peek around the corner. The streets were relatively empty except for a decently large crowd gathered around a section of the road. I walked over and excused myself as I made my way through the crowd.

Two Lamborghinis were side by side on the road with a topless lady standing in front of them.The Lamborghinis were painted with names on each side. Ramirez and Gonzales. Curious, I asked the closest man to me what was happening.

He laughed in my face." Are you blind?"

"Obviously not if I can see the cars." I rolled my eyes.

"I'd keep that mouth of yours shut little lady."He snarled at me.

"Or what? What're you gonna do bout it?"I snapped back at him.

I noticed he reached for his back pocket when a man behind him stopped him. They exchanged looks and the man moved his hand away."You really wanna know what's going on?"

"Well duh. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't wanna know."The man rolled his eyes at me.

"This is street racing."

"Street racing?"

"How retarded can- yes. Street racing. Drivers race on the roads at night when it's clear. People place bets. Whoever wins gets 3/4 of the money and whatever the men bet between them."

"Meaning?"

"Territory. Or maybe just for the money."

"Territory?"

"You really are dumb. Gang territory. Mobs. Gangsters. Whatever you wanna call em."

My heart ached and suddenly my breathing picked up. Mobsters? Like criminals? Panic kicked in and I glanced around me. People were cheering and shouting out the names that were painted onto the cars. Ramirez! Ramirez! Gonzales! Gonzales! The Lamborghinis revved their pipes as the lady and the crowd started counting down from 10.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
As soon as they yelled one, the drivers sped off down the road. They were going the fastest I've ever seen a car drive. I can't be here. What if the cops show up? I hated the cops. They were always in and out at Antonio's. I started making my way through the crowd. I quickly went grabbed my bag and speed walked down the street.

As quickly as I left, I found my feet stop at Central Park. My breathing had retreated back to its original pace. I huffed and sat on a bench. From that man saying mobsters, memories started to flood in. Without noticing, tears started to fall down from my eyes. Hot and heavy.

I took my cracked phone from out of my backpack and dialed my best friend Maryannes number. A raspy tired sounding hello came out from my phone.

"Mary?"I asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes? Angelica?"She questioned.

"Yeah. I um..."I gulped."I need you like...soon. How long are you gonna be gone for?"

"Maybe a day. Why? What's wrong? Did Antonio do something to you?"

"Yeah...he kicked me out. For real this time."At this point I was sobbing. It was uncontrollable.

Mary was quiet for a few minutes. She listened to my sobbing. How embarrassing."I'll be there tonight."

"But...you said a day."

"Now I'm saying I'll be there tonight."She said sternly."I'll be there in an hour and a half. Where you at?"

"Central Park."

"K. Wait for me."Then she hung up.

That's exactly what I did. I waited for an hour and periodically checked my phone. After about an hour and a half like she said, I saw her red fiery hair and bright green eyes and pale skin. I quickly jumped up and ran towards her. She embraced me in a hug and I sobbed into her shoulder. She just patted my back and rubbed it. We stood there for a good 10 minutes without saying anything before a man approached us.

"Angelica?"I recognized that voice. Alejandro Gonzales. Mary's boyfriend of 4 years. Since we were in high school. He's also my boy best friend."I didn't know you were with Ann."His brown eyes looked at us worried."Cmon. I got hot cocoa packets waiting to be warmed up."He smiled his perfect pearly white smile. His curly light black hair was dancing in the wind, his perfect caramel skin was also shivering."And I'm cold as hell."He softly laughed.

I wiped my tears, grabbed my bag and followed them to their car. Which to my surprise they had an unexpected passenger. We got in the car and Alejandro turned to look back at me from the drivers side."Oh! I forgot to mention, I brought a friend. He's also gonna crash with us tonight. Ang, this is Grayson Ramirez."He smiled.

The man looked me up and down. Studying me. He had jet black hair that was fluffy and wavy. His eyes were dark blue. Then he smiled. Oh that smile. His teeth were so white they were almost shining. He had creators for dimples on each side of his cheeks."Hey. Aren't you a catch."He smirked.

"Hey. Aren't you a prick."I rolled my eyes. Which made him laugh.

"Fair enough."

"Hmph."I looked out the window and watched the buildings go by as we drove back to Mary and Alejandros apartment. I didn't pay much attention to them as I was zoned out until they mentioned a race. To which my ears started listening.

"Yeah you should've seen. Someone cheated and took a short cut."Alejandro glanced back at Grayson.

"Hey, alls fair in road and race."He smiled.

Alejandro muttered something under his breath."It was a good race."

"When was this?"Mary asked.

"Not to long ago. Maybe 2 hours ago? It was in the streets up north."

Streets up north? That's when it clicked. Ramirez. Gonzales. 2 hours ago. That was Alejandro and Grayson! I looked at them and they both were laughing from a joke Mary had made. They're in illegal racing? Mobs? Gangs?  My heart raced. My breath picked up slightly like before. Alejandro doesn't do illegal things!He's only a pothead but he doesn't do anything like street racing. He's a bartender not a criminal. But what if there's something more?

Grayson looked at me with a stone cold facial expression. I looked back at him and our eyes met for a split second. It was electric. I felt something deep down inside. Worry? Enticement? I don't know but one thing I do know is this guy gives off  a dangerous vibe.

(A/N: Yes I write other things besides the outsiders and gay smut. But I hoped you enjoyed it anyway! I'd like to hear your thoughts bout it.)

//Published on 3-18-2020 \\