Ride Home To Me

Chapter 3

We approach the house that's got Letty and the same man that picked them up at school throwing around a basketball in the driveway. The man sees us first and stops throwing the ball and raises up a hand to greet us, at this Letty turns and smiles when she sees me. I go to meet her and my ma heads inside.

"Gabi how you livin' girl?" she says, walking up to me.

"You sure you don't just live here?" I smirk.

"My house is over there," she points at a yellow one-story a few doors down and across the street. "I been here since we got picked up though."

"What, don't like your parents?" I chuckle, but her face drops a bit.

"Mom ain't around and Dad's...busy," she shrugs. "Mr. T pretty much raised me alongside these jerks." She jabs a finger towards the front door where another dude has joined Letty's former playmate and the second guy raises his arms like a kid caught causing trouble.

I laugh. "He seems mature," I say sarcastically.

"He ain't," Letty laughs and points at the guy and then the intimidating dude from earlier next to him. "That's Vince, that's Dom, maybe you saw him when he picked us up but he's Mia's older brother. Jessie and Leon are probably inside. Come on."

We slip by the boys on the porch and pass two more sitting on the sofa, who Letty introduces as Leon and Jessie, when we walk into the house. We round one more corner and Letty pounds on the doorframe, grabbing the attention of my mom, Mia, and a man standing next to them.

"Smells good Mr. T," she says, walking over to stand by Mia.

"Let you really gotta just call me Tony," the man laughs. "Good to meet you Gabi." He claps my shoulder, hitting a bruise and I try to hide my flinch as best I can.

"Thanks for having us over Mr... uh Mr. T?" I respond.

"Call me Tony honey," he chuckles. "It's no problem. What's one more friend around when I already gotta deal with these rugrats!" The last bit was said in a much louder voice aimed at the entry to the living room, where we heard a faint "Love you too Mr. T!" from one of the boys.

"If you girls could start getting the food on the serving plates I'll get the boys to take it all outside and set up in the back." Mr. T pats my shoulder again and pushes past me. As he walks away I can hear him call out, "Jessie, Vince, get in here and help the girls. Dom and Leon go set up the table," and the boys grumbling as they get off the couch.

Once everything is set up we go outside to eat. I reach to grab some salad but Tony stops me and chuckles.

"Ah, I should have mentioned," he grins. "House rule is whoever reaches in first gets to say grace."

My face feels hot as everyone's eyes land expectantly on me.

"Um," I clear my throat awkwardly. "Señor thank you for, uh, the food. And thank you for nice neighbors that invite us over to eat it. Amen."

Everyone laughs and begins passing plates around.

"I'll drink to that," Vince says, grabbing a beer.

"Vince put that damn bottle down you're driving home tonight, remember?" Tony says, reaching over and taking the corona out of his hands.

I smirk and look at my mom, silently begging her to let me take one. She rolls her eyes, which I take as a yes. I lean over to Letty, who's sitting next to me.

"Think Mr. T would let me grab a corona?" I whisper.

"Hell yeah girl I gotchu," she says. "Yo Mr. T can I get a beer for Gabi?"

He checks to make sure we were walking home and then grabs one and passes it down to me.

"Where you folks from, Vanessa?" he asks, sitting back down.

"We moved from Miami actually," she says.

"For real?" Leon chimes in. "Why the hell you leave? I bet it's real nice there."

"It was," Ma says. "We just had some things going on and needed the change of pace."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was afraid Ma was getting too comfortable too soon. But the conversation from there pretty much keeps to Tony making small talk with my mom, Letty and Vince arguing back and forth, with lots of laughing and lots of talk about cars among everyone. I guess these guys own a bodega and a garage. All the while I sit back and just watch. I know jack shit about cars and so I feel real out of place among my chatty mother and this tight knit family. At the end of the evening I end up alone in the kitchen with Letty, helping with the dishes.

"Wanna come and see the shop tomorrow?" Letty asks me.

"The garage?"

"Yeah."

"Uh, I don't really know anything about cars."

She grins. "That's ok girl I'll show you some stuff. We can go to the bodega and pick up lunch and head over. I got shift at two with the boys."

"Yeah, I'll have to see," I say hesitantly.

"Yo you good? You seem kinda lost," she chuckles.

Am I supposed to tell her she's standing a bit too close? That I can feel the heat from her shoulder even more than the warmth outside? That standing this close, I can see how her hair perfectly frames her face? Of course not.

"Yeah yeah I'm good sorry." I turn back to the plate in my hands right as Ma and Tony come through the doorway to the kitchen, followed by an excited Mia.

"Wanna stay the night?" she asks before Tony can open his mouth.

"Yeah for sure, thanks," Letty says. Tony then looks at me expectantly.

"Did I do something?" I ask nervously.

"No honey," he laughs. "The question was for you, too."

Letty grins at me and even my mom looks eager so I sigh and say, "Yeah okay."

So much for finding friends after high school. Looks like they found me instead.