Mobster's Girl (5 page)

We sit with Alessandra and her friends for a
few minutes while we finish. Troy pulls my hair, tells Alessandra
outrageous stories about us and is his usual dynamic self.
Alessandra is acting odd. I have never spent more than five minutes
with her, so I guess this could be her normal.

“Well, we should be getting back.” I say
standing and Troy follows suit.

But Alessandra pipes up, ”Did you tell Troy
about my party Saturday night?”

Whoa! Where did that come from?
“Ummm,
no.”

She speaks to Troy, “I’m having a party this
weekend. I would love for you to come-with Megan, of course.” She
adds.

“As I would love to spend more time with my
Besty
,” Troy says putting his arm around me and with fake
conviction. “I am heading to Notre Dame this weekend to join the
world of collegiate academia.”

“So your college bound, huh?” Alessandra says
smiling.

“As hard as it is to believe, yes.” He says
bowing like the weirdo he is.

“Well, maybe I’ll see you around when your
home on break,” she states.

“I don’t think so.” Swiveling his head,
scanning the surrounding area, “I don’t believe I even live around
here.”

It is truly a good thing that Troy is
handsome because with the way he acts, people tend to think he’s a
nut-job.

“Megan!” He pats the top of my head and says
in a fake panic, “Megan! He’s feeling my head all over like a
dweeb, “Is that you?” He looks down at me, “Oh, sorry. I was
temporarily blinded by your hair.” I elbow him hard in the
ribs.

“Shut up.” I look at Alessandra. She’s
smiling at me. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

The ice cream was delicious and just what I
needed. We hit block two and the kids have opened up the fire
hydrant. A heavy stream of water is spraying all over the road.
Barefoot kids are running, jumping, and kicking the cold water. We
stop to watch.

Troy looks down at me and an evil grin
spreads across his face. It takes one second for me to register
what he’s thinking and I start running. I don’t even get a step
away and he has tossed me over his shoulder headed straight for the
hydrant.

I yell and fight. I even smack him in the
butt, but he smacks me back. I try pleading with him. But to no
avail he plops me directly in front of the heavy, cold, stream of
water. I let out an earth shattering screech. My clothes and hair
are immediately soaked. He holds me so I can’t move. Troy’s getting
wet too, but not like I am. I try to dodge out his reach and he
thrusts me back.

I lunge to get out of the stream, but he’s
too fast. He grabs me and forces me back to the spot directly in
front of the water. We’re struggling and laughing. I’m squirming
and feeling like I’m in a wet t-shirt contest. The kids are egging
Troy on. They think we’re hysterical. The commotion is enough to
wake the dead.

Troy notices something over my shoulder and I
feel him stiffen. He doesn’t let me go, though. I am still held
under the rushing water. I look over my shoulder when I hear two
car doors slam. The doors belong to a black Cadillac.
Uh
oh!

Marrone! (mar-own): Dammit!

Antonio:

I was on the fence about going out with Vito
tonight to throw a few beers back. I wanted to unwind after the
ass-kicking but I’m tired too.

As I get out of the car, after sitting with
Vito watching Megan play dirty dancing in the water with some tool
I’ve never seen before. I realize
I am
being punished-or
tested, or something.

She looks like a super model in a naughty
photo shoot-her pale skin glistening against her slick wet hair.
All of her curves showing through the thin material of her clothes.
I think I licked my lips like a fuckin’ stalker.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out
of the car to- do what? I don’t know. Stop it, talk to her, find
out who this chooch is she’s with, kidnap her and take her back to
my house.
Shit! I am a fuckin’ stalker
.

There’s a creeping thought in my brain that
this guy might possibly be her boyfriend. And that makes me want to
hurl and punch him at the same time.

I lean against Vito’s car and light up. “What
are we doing, Dude?” he asks me. “You’re acting oobatz! What the
fuck is wrong?”

I shrug my shoulders and take a long drag off
my cigarette just watching.

“Do we need to fuck this guy up or
something?” I don’t answer him.

Vito goes quiet resting his hand against the
door of his car. Without warning, Vito starts laughing
uncontrollably. “I know what this is!” He says between fits of
laughter. He slaps his hand on the roof of his car, “I got it! You
fuckin’ like her! You don’t just want to screw Red! You… You like
her like a girlfriend. Holy shit! I never thought I’d see this
day.” He’s getting louder and really pissing me off.

“Keep your fuckin’ voice down.” I flick my
cigarette butt and glare at him.

“So what do you want to do? Mess up this
chooch?” he asks getting serious.

I look over at Megan and her ‘whatever’ and
they’re staring at us. Probably wondering what we’re doing. At
least they stopped fooling around.

“Nah, I can’t do that. She’s already
petrified of me.” I say disgusted. Yeah, I want to mess him up-but
I can’t. It would hurt her. I reach for the door handle to Vito’s
car and get in. I guess I achieved what I wanted. They stopped and
I realize the only person I want her doing that shit with is
me.

Vito pulls away from the scene that contained
any guy’s
fucking
nightmare
involving a girl he
likes. “Ugh!” I punch the dashboard, “I’m in fuckin’ trouble,
dude!”

All Vito says while laughing is, “Yeah, you
are.”

Vito drops me off at home and I sit on my bed
replaying beautiful Megan in the water. She was so carefree and
breathtaking. I’m still hard from watching her.
Who was that
fuckin’ guy?
He had his hands all over her. Jealousy sweeps
through me and I know that I’m losing the battle to stay away from
Megan.

Buzzing sounds from my dresser. I pick it up.
Text from Alessandra:

You home?

Antonio: Yup

Alessandra: I’m coming over.

Ten minutes later I’m still lost in my
boiling jealousy when my bedroom door opens and Alessandra walks
in.

“Hey San.” I say too depressed to even get up
off the bed.

“Hey.” She says plopping down in my desk
chair.

I sit up. “What were you talking to Megan
about this morning?” My interest is totally piqued.

“Oh… I was doing you a favor,” she says
walking to the bed were I’m lying and starts poking me in the
chest.

“Me?”

“Yeah you-I’m sick of you looking like a
stunad
whenever she’s around.”

“What?” I quickly sit up.

“How stupid do you think I am?” She asks
sarcastically. “I have known you way too long for something like a
crush on the Irish Princess to slip by me. It’s just gotten to the
point that you’re getting pathetic.”

“Huh!”

“Oh, puh-lease, Tonio!”

I hang my head, she knows. Everybody knows.
Even my grandmother knows.

“So,’ she says excitedly, “I invited her to
my house on Saturday night.”
What?! “
And I got her phone
number! I think you should call her.”

“My father will shove my feet into cement and
throw me in the river!”

“What? Why?” San asks incredulously.

“Because my father gave me and everyone else
the ‘don’t date her; don’t fuck her’ speech about five years
ago.”

“Ohhh… that explains a lot.” she says
thoughtfully, “She really is nice. No wonder you guys treat her
like a leper. Well, anyway. She’s got this really cute friend. He’s
tall and blond…”

“Whoa! Stop right there.” My heart halts in
my chest. “What are you talking about?”

I was at DeMarra’s Ice Cream and Megan shows
up with some guy. Well, they show up running, actually. They were
racing or something…” She trails off, “Anyway, I went up to Megan
to say hi and we all started talking. Troy is very funny. He made
me laugh so hard… He starts college next week….he can’t come to the
party… I hope I see him again… I want to…” San was talking a mile a
minute.

“Stop! You know the guy’s name? Is it her
boyfriend?” I practically yell.

“You know I was gonna ask her but I got
different vibes. I got the brother/sister vibe and the boyfriend
vibe. I was planning on texting her to ask.”

“What-you besties with her now?” I ask
feeling slighted. “Besides I get the boyfriend vibe.”

“What do you mean?” San looked
disappointed.

“They were putting on a fuckin’ wet’n’wild
show an hour ago at the fire hydrant near her house. It was fuckin’
disgusting.”

“How disgusting?”

“Wet, clingy clothes and hands all over.
Laughing too. There was lots of damn laughing.”

“Hmmm.” She says grabbing her phone. “I’m
gonna text her.” San types on her phone and shows it to me.

Boyfriend or crazy friend? LOL

I look at the text. “Why LOL?”

“He was really crazy,” she says beaming.

Alessandra sends the text and we sit in
silence waiting. I feel sick to my stomach. My heart is pumping way
too hard. The anxiety is killing me. Friend I can deal with. I
think. Boyfriend, I think I will fuckin’ kill someone-starting with
Troy.
Troy? What kind of an asshole name is that? Wasn’t that a
country like a thousand years ago? What if she doesn’t see the
text?
I don’t think I can stand the wait. I am just about to
suggest that San call her when I hear my father call me.

“Tonio! Come down here!”

“I’ll be right back.” I say to
Alessandra.

I jump down the stairs and see my Dad
standing with Donny in the living room.

“Yeah Pop?”

“I know school just started but I need you to
go with Donny tomorrow. You need to help get a few things done for
me.”

“Sure Pop, no problem.” My thoughts dip even
lower because now I know I definitely won’t see her tomorrow. I
open my bedroom door and San is right there holding her phone in my
face. The screen says,

Friend

My heart spikes! I am relieved and know I
don’t ever want to feel that way again. It’s time to do something
about my feelings for Megan. I just hope my father doesn’t pound my
fuckin’ face in.

I don’t just miss one day of school. It’s
going on day three. Donny and I have collected over twenty thousand
dollars and fucked up two people. Donny said the farther he has to
travel and the more time he wastes tracking them the more he fucks
them up. We took turns-each time Donny told me exactly what to do.
‘Hit him two times in the face, Tonio.’ Or ‘Pull the arm back till
you hear a pop. That means the shoulder has been dislocated.’ Donny
could have been a doctor in an emergency room. He really knows a
lot about anatomy. I even got to count and organize the money.
Donny showed me the way to count large sums of cash. He had taken
money bands with him.

When I’m done, Donny checks it. Then he hands
me ten one hundred dollar bills. “Here, you’re Pop said to give you
this. You’re doing a great job, Tonio.”

We’re still here in northern New Jersey
because we got a runner.

We trapped him yesterday but he evaded us
again. We’re in a hotel resting up to go after him in the morning.
Donny gives me some ointment for my knuckles. They’re really sore.
The ointment shit stinks but feels good.

Alessandra gave me Megan’s number. I’m so
tempted to text or call her. I have no fuckin’ clue what I would
say though
-‘hey, how’s it going? I think you’re beautiful. I
wish I could see you tomorrow but I have to beat the shit out of
people. Bye.’

She doesn’t even know I have her number
besides the fact that she’s scared shitless of me. The haunting
images of her with that chooch Troy invade my mind. I try and
concentrate on last Sunday at church and the red dress.

I need to get out of the hotel room. I have a
grand burning a hole in my pocket and pent up energy from the
adrenaline rushes I’ve had over the past three days beating the
shit out of people. Donny’s lying on his bed watching the news.

“Don, I’m gonna go shopping.”

“Shopping? What the fuck for?”

“I don’t know. I gotta get outta here.”

“Okay, Tonio. Don’t be gone long.”

I take Donny’s keys off the bedside table and
head out the door. I drive down the main drag until I come to a
huge indoor mall. I park at Nordstrom’s. I decide that I’m going to
pick up some of my mother’s favorite perfume.

I am immediately accosted by sales
clerks-some holding bottles of spray cologne. A pretty petite girl
with blonde streaked brown hair and perfect make-up comes up to
me.

“May I help you?”

“Uh, yeah. I need a bottle of Chanel.”

“For men or women?” she asks.

“Women.” I say and follow her to a sales
counter covered in jewelry, perfume bottles, and scarves for
sale.

“I have the 5 oz or the 8 oz spray
bottle.”

“I’ll take the biggest one,” I tell her. She
slides the counter door shut and places the shiny box on the glass
top.

“That’ll be eighty-five dollars, please.”

I grab a hundred out of my pants pocket and
clerk is smiling a little differently at me-playfully. She takes
the hundred from me and asks.

“Is this for your girlfriend?” I see the look
in her eye. I know that look. I get it a lot.

“No, my mom,” I say then instantly feel
despair. I would take every dime I had and spend it on Megan. I
wouldn’t even flinch. In fact, I wish I could. It would make me
happy. “What is the most popular perfume for a girl?”