You Before Me [dave east]

| two

Xiomara;

I load the grocery bags in the trunk and yawn tiredly, walking around the car so I can sit shotgun. "Thanks for picking me up." I tell my cousin, buckling up. I had to stop by the supermarket after work but I wasn't trying to get on the bus with all the grocery bags.

"You ain't tell me what happened to your car anyway." José says and starts driving to my place.

I twist my lips, wondering if I should tell him. I finally shrug and decide that I might as well since there's nothing he can do about it now. "Somebody carjacked me." I say but wave it off. It was José who gave the car to me in the first place and I know he stole it from somebody else. It wasn't like I could afford to keep topping up on gas anyway.

"What?!" He yells, losing his temper already. "And you didn't fucking tell me?"

"Because you a hot head, José. I knew you woulda lost your shit like you doing right now." I say calmly.

He shakes his head and continues driving, not saying another word. We get to my neighborhood and pull up at my house. José helps me take the bags inside and then walks across the street to see Juan and his other friends who are sitting on the steps like always.

I close the door and start putting away groceries. Ever since I found out that Alonzo has been stealing, I figured now would be the perfect time to restock on food instead of eating spaghetti for days. Frankly, I was sick of microwaved pasta too.

I get pulled out from my thoughts when I hear somebody knocking on the door. "Who is it?" I call out as I stand on my tiptoes, reaching up to put something in the cupboard.

"The nigga who saved yo' ungrateful ass." A deep voice says so I furrow my eyebrows and pause.

"What?" I whisper to myself in confusion, walking out into the hallway. "And who are you looking for?" I ask the guy in case he's got the wrong house because I know nobody is talking to me like that.

I hear him suck his teeth. "Man, I'on know. Sum' rude ass Spanish bitch. X-i-o-mara or some shit."

I scoff and look through the peephole, seeing the guy with all the tattoos. The one who helped me the other night in the alley. I guess I can't even be mad that he called me out my name since I was kind of rude to him after he helped me. The truth is, I felt embarrassed and acted impulsively.

I swing open the door and look him up and down now that I'm getting a better look at him in daylight. Then I peep over his shoulder, seeing my cousin stand up like he's trying to figure out who the hell this man is showing up at my place. José is always watching me, even when he's not.

"That isn't my name. It's pronounced see-o-mara. Zo for short. What do you want?" I ask, trying to figure out how he even knew my name and where I live.

"Here." He says and hands over my purse. I raise an eyebrow and snatch it from his hands. I didn't even notice that I didn't have my purse on me since I used some other cash to pay for my groceries at the supermarket. I unzip it to see that everything was just as I left it.

Sighing out loud, I bite my lip, realizing I'm still being rude after yet another favor.

"Thanks." I say hesitantly. "And thanks for the other night too." I add, looking over his shoulder again to see my cousin walking across the street.