west side

.02

"ciggy." reina groaned, shuffling down the steps of chico's house.

she was wearing a tight black shirt with a cut neckline, short red pajama shorts with white hearts on them, and orange banded tube socks. an extremely messy bun was placed on the top of her head. she was clearly hungover.

"yeah?" he tossed his cigarette on the curb, propping his foot on the edge of his car.

"take me to waffle house." she mumbled.

"is chico gonna come?" ciggy walked across the car, looking back at the house.

"he's still asleep. i just left him, he'll be pissed if we wake him up." she scratched her butt cheek, opening the door and getting in passenger.

"waffle house at nine a.m." he lit another cigarette and started the car.

"i've got to be back before 11." she tilted the rear mirror towards her and attempted to fix her hair. "chico will be up at probably 11:30."

"why do you take so much care of him?" ciggy glanced at her.

he'd always wondered about the two of them. it was like they were in love but hated each other at the same time. it was like both of them surpressed their feelings.

"he's got a claim on me. we don't know how long we have with him. i guess we make him happy while he's here." she sighed, pulling the cigarette out of ciggy's mouth and placing it between her parted lips.

"you don't treat the rest of us the way you treat him."

"none of the rest of you have claims." she passed the cigarette back. "danny had a claim on natalie, and now he's dead."

"you love chico?" ciggy questioned.

"no." she shook her head, smiling. "we're friends with benefits."

"what's that mean?"

"sex." she dumbfounded. "that's it."

"i don't think that's what he thinks." he smirked, gripping the driving wheel.

"ciggy, shutup." she moaned, shaking her head. "he knows what we are."

"i don't know." he shrugged. "the way he looked at you on the steps yesterday."

"stop. he didn't look at me in an way ciggy. we are friends."

"be honest," ciggy glanced at her again, turnung the music down. "would you let him be your vato?"

"i don't know." she picked at her nail.

a few seconds later and she still hadn't said anything else.

"he's," she paused, racking her brain for a way to explain. "violent."

"huh?" ciggy looked confused. chico wouldn't hit a hyna.

"look." she turned towards the door and pulled her shirt up, revealing a large circular bruise on her lower back.

"what's happened?"

"last night he pushed me up against his bedroom door and i hit my back on the doorknob." she laughed, running her hand over it lightly.