No Turning Back - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

To call or not to call. That was the question as I stared down at the little piece of paper that Mia had scribbled her number on. I had this little note for the past three weeks and I have yet to give her a call. I mean, we flirt every day in school but I haven't conjured up the guts to ask her out yet. I'm not even really sure why I was being so hesitant with calling her. I mean, I don't have to ask her out just yet, right? I could just call and we could have a nice conversation. Hell, I could even text her if that would be easier. I rolled my eyes at myself. If anything, keeping up a conversation in text was harder than on the phone. Or at least, I thought it was since I'm just that old school.
I grabbed my cell and began to dial in her number. I almost hit the call button but I stopped myself. What was I supposed to say? Damn, I hadn't kept up a steady girlfriend since Brittany and that had been almost a year ago. I shook my head at myself. I'd been so caught up with school that I didn't even have time to think about girls. I kind of still don't have time but Mia still seemed pretty nice. I could make time for her, I guess. My finger hovered over the call button but I didn't get the chance to press it before Melanie burst into my room. I will admit that a part of me felt relieved to not have to call Mia while another half felt as if my not wanting to call went deeper than me just being a rusty flirt.
"Get dressed, you're taking me out tonight," Melanie said as she walked towards my closet. I raised an eyebrow as I watched her shuffle through my clothes.
"Do you ever knock?" Melanie turned and raised a nonchalant eyebrow at me.
"Technically, I've seen everything there is to see so there is no need for that," she replied before turning back towards my clothes. I almost blushed at the memory of Melanie and I losing our virginities to each other. I mean, it was freshman year and we both had no idea what we were doing. All we knew was that we didn't want to spend our first time with people we didn't care about or didn't love us. I mostly remember fumbling around and Melanie laughing at me for most of the time. It didn't exactly help that we were with our families at our shore houses so they could've busted in at any moment. It was more like a stupid game than an actual, special event. But I can't say that I regret it.
I was suddenly thrown back into reality when I felt a piece of clothing collide with my face. I looked down to see that Melanie had thrown one of my fashionable black and blue plaid button up shirts and a pair of jeans at me. "Chop chop," she said as she clapped her hands together. "I'm starving." I smiled at her. If there was one thing I loved about Melanie, it was her bossiness. A strange thing to love, I know, but that's the whole reason we became friends as kids anyway. She practically ordered me to sit with her because all of the other kids were being mean to her and she thought that I seemed pretty cool. From that moment on, we've been inseparable. I'm not sure why I was so drawn into her commands but I just was. A part of me thinks it's because she reminds of me of my dad when he's working. He's not mean when he's ordering people around but instead he's getting things done. It's the same type of deal with her. She can attempt to boss me around but it's not to be mean. It's just so that we can get out of the house and do fun things. Plus, I think I just like myself an independent, outspoken individual.
I got up and began to get changed in front of her. Like she said before, she had seen everything there was to see so there wasn't really a big deal. But, I honestly didn't think there was much to me in the first place. My arms were subtly muscular and my torso had a nice six pack, I guess. My legs were long and everything. Apparently, my body made girls drool but I just didn't see it for some reason. I never really saw what everyone else saw about me, really.
Melanie wandered over to my desk, her eyes practically burning holes into the small note from Mia. I saw something flash through them but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what. Jealousy maybe. I mean, she was in love with me after all. I hated saying it like that but it was facts. I wished that I could try to return the feeling but I didn't want to ruin our friendship. She was my best friend. I needed her. I couldn't risk losing her. I loved her too much for that. "Who's Mia?"
"Some girl in my Calculus class," I said as I shrugged on my jacket. "She's really nice."
"Is she pretty," she asked as she crossed her arms in front of her small chest.
"Yea. She looks like a little porcelain doll if we're being honest."
"Does she look better than me," Melanie asked before striking a somewhat model pose. She had put her weight on one leg to put out her hip and put her hand on it. She also pursed her lips into a silly duck face. I couldn't help but to laugh at her.
"Oh Melanie, there is no other maiden as fair as you," I said. Melanie smiled at me as she dropped her silly stance.
"Good answer."
"I mean it," I told her, letting the smile drop from my face. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I want you to know that." Melanie blushed deeply as her eyes widened a bit. She opened her mouth to say something but she seemed to be at a loss for words. I was about to ask her if I said something wrong before I realized what I had said. Dammit. I needed to stop leading her on. But, that was the truth. I did think that she was the most beautiful girl. A beautiful girl that deserves a great guy. Sadly, that guy just wasn't me. "Come on. I thought you were starving," I said as I gave her a teasing smile. She snapped out of her gaze and gave me a soft smile. I grabbed her hand as I led her out the room. We made our way downstairs to the living room where my mom was watching TV with little Zac. "I'm going out, Mom," I told her.
"Okay. I expect you home by 12," she replied.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Crawford. I'll have him home by then." My mother smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Melanie." My friend nodded as she pushed me to walk on towards the door. We hopped into my car and I started the engine.
"So, where do you want to go," I asked.
"I want to go to the new grill that opened downtown. I went there with my parents last weekend and it was amazing! The food was so good and they had a live band and a bar and a dance floor. You'll love it." I nodded as I started to hook up my GPS. Once Melanie helped me plug the address into the device, we were on our way. The drive wasn't long since my house was basically on the corner of the city section of town. I think it took us about 10 or 15 minutes to get there which isn't long at all. The place was packed though. As I circled around the building to the parking lot, I could see lots of high school kids, college students, and adults walking around to get into the place. I was genuinely surprised at the diversity. A lot of the clubs or restaurants in town only attracted a certain type of crowd. Whoever owned this place was smart to bring in all ages so they'd get more money.
The spot was called Luces Baila which means dancing lights. The Spanish name was lit up against the building in bright, neon blue lights. It was a moderately sized building with about three floors from what I could see. There were neon lights flashing through the windows of the upper floors and dim ones from the lower one. "There's a club and lounges upstairs for the older people. They also have teen nights in the clubs twice a month. Pretty cool huh," Melanie explained. I nodded as I settled my car into a parking space. We got out the car and I followed her around the perimeter of the building until we got to the entrance. I held the door open for her before following her through the open lobby where there were chairs and a couple desks with people waiting to help there. We walked up to a door that read Restaurante above it. Melanie pulled me through the door into a dim lit room. There were round and square tables lining the room, a bar against one of the walls, a cleared out floor space in front of a moderately sized stage where a band was playing, spinning red, blue and green lights from the ceilings, and people chattering along to the sound of the music. A host was at the podium in front of us. I recognized the boy from my school – one of the kids from the south side who was on a scholarship. He was in Ashley's grade, I think. He was about Melanie's height with short cut black hair, deep brown eyes, and deeply tanned skin. He smiled brightly at us.
"Hello, welcome to el restaurante de las luces baila. Just the two of you tonight," he said. His voice was still a bit high but it was obvious that it was in the stage of getting deeper. Melanie nodded and the boy got out two menus from under the podium. "Follow me, por favor," he said before walking down to the table area. We followed him down to a small square table near the stage. I helped Melanie into the high chair before getting into my own. "A waiter will be with you shortly," the young host said before hurrying back off to the podium.
"So," Melanie said as she leaned her head into her hands, "What do you think? You like it so far?"
"It's pretty nice so far. It'll be when I taste the food that I will get you my full opinion." Melanie rolled her eyes at me.
"You're such a guy." I opened my mouth to throw a smart comment back at her but the voice of our waiter prevented me from it.
"Hello, welcome to el restaurante de las luces baila. My name is Jayden; I'll be serving you guys tonight. Can I start with getting you something to drink?" I felt my mouth tighten up at the sound of his voice. Dammit. I looked over at him to see a ghost of a smirk was playing on his lips as his green eyes observed me. I sent him a glare which caused his small smirk to grow, showing a bit of white teeth. "Wow, Daniel, you actually don't look like a scumbag outside of school."
"Wow, Jayden, you're still an asshole even outside of school," I replied. I looked him up and down to see that he actually did look a lot different out of the school's preppy uniform. He was dressed in black jeans, sneakers, and a black shirt like all the other waiters but it was different. The shirt was fitted and expressed his muscular torso and his toned arms. A tattoo actually peaked out a bit under his short sleeve. I wasn't too surprised at that. What I was surprised at though was that he actually looked sort of...decent. The black really brought out his skin tone and his strange colored eyes.
"Now, now, remember what we talked about, Danny boy. Watch your mouth or I'll be happy to stick my fist right into it." He shot me a joyful smile before turning to Melanie. "I'm sorry that you're stuck with him, senorita."
"Just get her a Shirley Temple and get me a Coke will ya," I told him. Jayden shrugged.
"Whatever you want," he replied before walking off. Melanie's brown eyes watched him as he went before turning her eyes to me.
"Did I miss something here? I feel as though I missed something."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I thought you were done with trying to get your ass kicked. What the hell happened after you guys' small spat?"
"Well, we have AP Chemistry together at 8th period and we're partners so that means we sit next to each other every day. Three weeks ago when I first stood up to him, I kind of challenged his patience a little bit. Ever since then, we sort of argue...a lot. I'm not sure if we'll ever physically fight or anything though?" Melanie frowned.
"Danny, please don't fight him. He will kick your fat head from here to Alaska."
"Actually, I can kick his fat head from here all the way to China," Jayden said as he appeared with our drinks. He set them down in front of us as I narrowed my eyes at him. Melanie giggled softly but I could tell that it was fake. She didn't really want to disagree with him. There were a lot more of kids like him from where he came from. Any wrong move around him could mean a beat down. That's actually why I'm surprised as to why he hasn't punched me already. Maybe he actually likes arguing with me. Fucking weirdo.
"You guys ready to order or what," he asked as he took out his little book from his pocket. I rolled my eyes but told him what I wanted and let Melanie do the same. The exchange was quick so I didn't have to deal with him for long.
"I can see that you guys don't like each other very much," Melanie murmured once Jayden finally walked away.
"He's an asshole," I said as I rolled my eyes.
"Be careful," Melanie warned. I reached over the table to grab her hand. Pink flooded her cheeks as I squeezed softly.
"Don't worry, Mel. I promise I'll be careful." Melanie gave me a weak smile as she returned the squeeze. I decided to move on to a lighter topic to talk about as we waited for our food. So, we conversed about movies and books and college and all that other good stuff before Jayden came back. This time was different though. He didn't meet mine nor Melanie's eyes nor did he speak much. He just set the food down in front of us and told us to let him know if we needed anything else. I noticed a sudden hardness in his eyes as well as his tightly clenched jaw. It was obvious that something was wrong. Although I did wonder what was bothering him, I knew that it was none of my business. Melanie and I ate to the sound of the new band that was playing and I had to admit that it was some pretty damn good food.
The next time Jayden made an appearance, he didn't speak at all. He just took our empty plates and walked away without a word. The action startled both Melanie and I. We exchanged a worried look. If Jayden was in a bad mood then that didn't exactly mean good news for me. It wasn't long before he came back with the check. He handed it to me and forced a smile as he waited me to pay it. I put my debit card in the small slot and handed the little black thing back to him. "Don't run off with it," I warned him. Jayden rolls his eyes at me.
"Oh please. That would be too easy," he said before walking off. When he returned a few minutes later, I got my debit card back. Jayden took a step in an attempt to walk off but I held my hand up.
"Wait; let me give you a tip." He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Thanks but no thanks," he replied before walking off. Dammit, why did he always have to be difficult? Even when I was trying to be nice, he seemed to have a problem. I told Melanie to go dance or whatever; I'd catch up with her in a minute. Then, I sought out my new arch enemy. He was near one of the back doors shrugging on a hoodie with a backpack at his feet. His school backpack, I think it was.
"Hey," I said as I approached him. "You forgot this," I said as I held up the five dollar bill. Jayden glared at me.
"Look, rich boy, I don't have time for this. I have a bus to catch," he said as he picked up his bag. "If you're going to waste my time, then you'd better get original."
"I'm just trying to be nice," I said as I held up my hands. "Besides, since you're catching the bus, this can count as transportation fare or whatever. It's not a-" Suddenly, I felt myself get pushed forcefully to the ground. I landed straight on my back with a loud thump. Thankfully no one was near us and the music was too loud for anyone to notice. The fall really hurt though. I think I almost cracked one of my bones. This dude was pretty strong...stronger than I thought.
"Stay the hell out of my way, Crawford. I mean it or else," he growled at me before stepping over me and walking out the door. I stared after him with a dumbfounded look on my face. What the hell was that? Did I offend him? Hell, how could he take that as offensive? I was just trying to be nice and give him a tip. I know he didn't like me but I thought he'd at least like a nice payment. But then again, it did seem like something was bothering him long before that. What was going on with him? Why did I care?
X
"Zac, what's an atom," I asked as he bounced on my bed. I was sitting at my desk with my AP Chemistry book wide open. It was Sunday and I had the test the next day so I was trying to get some studying done. But, of course Zac wanted to play. I wasn't exactly complaining though. He looked kind of cute as he bounced on my bed idly.
"What's an atom," he asked, his small face balling up into confusion. "Is it red? It sounds like it's red." I nodded.
"Yea, I think it's red. I don't know. Apparently, they make up all types of matter."
"Matter," the little boy asked. "What's the matter?" I chuckled at him. He was so innocent and empty-minded. It was too funny sometimes.
"Daniel," my dad said as he poked his head into my room. "Come on, son, get your shoes on. We're going out for a little while."
"Where you guys going," Zac asked as he stopped bouncing. "Can I come," he asked.
"Of course," my dad said as he smiled at him. Zac beamed back before hopping off the bed and running down the hall to his room. With a sigh, I closed my textbook and did what I was told. I guess I should've been surprised when my father took us to the place that I had been on Friday night but I wasn't. Of course, Jayden and I would keep getting thrown into each other's faces. It was just an inevitable fact when it comes to people that you don't really like. I felt a bit uncomfortable though. I'm not exactly sure why but my stomach rolled uneasily at the thought of facing Jayden after what happened the other night. I still wasn't sure what I did to make him so upset with me in that moment and I sure as hell didn't know how to not piss him off any more than he already was. I may not know for sure if any of the rumors about him were true but I sure was not trying to test it. Jayden already warned me and I was challenging that statement enough. I don't think I needed to make things any worse than they already were.
I spotted Jayden the moment we walked into the restaurant. He was behind the bar on the far wall, cleaning the countertop with a rag. He glanced up at the door and met my eyes for a brief second before he went back to what he was doing. I was surprised to see that he didn't even make a face at my presence. Or maybe the glance was too fast that he didn't even notice who he was looking at. It might have just been more customers from his view. Either way, I was pretty relieved. "Why did you choose to come here," I asked my father as I helped Zac into his seat at the table the new hostess had guided us to. "This isn't one of your usual spots."
"I know but I thought we could give this place a try. An old friend of mine owns the building so I thought I might stop by and check out what he's got going on," my dad replied as he smiled confidently at me. I began to raise an eyebrow but my unasked question was answered when a man approached our table. He was a tall, lean man with jet black hair, bright green eyes, and deeply tanned skin. He immediately reminded me of Jayden for some reason. They were probably related. I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually his father. They looked enough alike with the facial structure and the vibrant eyes.
"Johnny," the man exclaimed as he came over. A strong Hispanic accent was laced into his loud, booming, jovial voice. "Johnny, is that you?"
"The one and only," my father said with a smile as he got up to hug the man. "Man, I haven't seen you in years."
"Yea, yea. It's been too long, amigo. Way too long." His green eyes went to Zac and I who were staring at the two men in confusion. "Are these your sons? Wow, look at them! They look just like you!"
"Thank you," my dad said as his smile began to harbor a bit of pride. "I have a daughter too but she's at home with her mother."
"You still with Bethany?" My dad nodded. "Ah, the perfect couple just made all of us single people even more jealous." My dad chuckled and hit the man's arm.
"Hey, I can't say that I'm having all the fun here." My dad then winked and the unknown man shook his head at him.
"Johnny, Johnny, you're still the same, chico. I love it! So, tell me, tell me, your sons." He motioned back to me and Zac.
"Ah yes. This is Zachary. He's four and he's my little man," my dad said as he nodded his head towards my little brother. He then nodded his head towards me and his smile grew even wider. "And this is my eldest child, Daniel. He's seventeen and a senior in high school."
"He looks just like you when you were in high school," the man said as he smiled at me. "Hi, I'm Juan," he said, holding his hand out to me. "I'm an old friend of your father's."
"More like he's the one to go to if you want to know any of my stories from high school all the way up to graduate school."
"Yea, we had a lot of good times together," Juan said, his voice lowering a bit in nostalgia. "So, Johnny, how's are your boys doing?"
"Oh they're great. Daniel here is the number one of his class ranking, quarterback of the high school football team, the best shooter on the basketball team, and he's an all-time champion around the track. He's a prospective candidate for all the Ivy League schools. They came running to him before his junior year even started."
"Wow," Juan said as he nodded in admiration. "You've got a good kid there. I wish my nephew were more like that. The boy's got a brain that could take him to some pretty high places but no common sense. He reminds me of you in high school before you got your act together." Juan gave my father a teasing smile before turning around to face the far wall. "Hey Jayden," he called. Oh shit. The other boy looked up from his task, an automatic scowl coming upon his face. He tilted his head as his eyes asked what the man wanted. Juan nodded his head in our direction, silently telling him to come over. Jayden rolled his eyes but hopped over the counter top and made his way over. Juan immediately threw his arm over his shoulders and patted his arm. "Johnny, this is my nephew Jayden. Jayden, this is my old friend Jonathon. These are his sons, Zac and Daniel." Jayden's eyes fell over my father and my brother casually but something in the way he angled his eyes was different when they fell onto me.
"We've already met," he said, keeping his vibrant eyes on me. He then murmured something under his breath in Spanish. I caught it though due to my good hearing, plus I was actually pretty good in understanding my Spanish classes throughout my school years. Apparently, he'd called me a stupid white boy. A part of me felt insulted at the comment but another part of me just got angry. I wasn't a racist person at all. I've never really given much thought to people's ethnicity. Hearing this now that Jayden probably does made me a bit angry. There was so much more to me than just some white boy. But, of course, he's probably too narrow-minded to see that. "I have work to do," Jayden muttered before stalking back off to the bar. Juan shook his head after him.
"He your brother's or your sister's," my dad asked.
"He's my sister's kid. He's not the oldest child but he's the oldest one that's still around. I wish that I knew what was going on back at the house but my sister won't talk to me anymore and Jayden has a pretty tight lip. All I can tell is that he needs some guidance, for sure. He's not getting any of that as far as I can see. It's kind of sad, I think. He's got all those brains with no direction. I barely got him to apply to college." My dad nodded.
"Just keep trying, Juan. One day, you'll get through to him." Juan nodded, concern still visible on his face.
"I hope so." He then shook his head, a newfound smile coming upon his face. "Back to the happy stuff now. What do you guys want? I'll give you anything you boys want on the house!" My dad replied something back but I didn't pay much mind to it. Instead, I looked back over at Jayden who had gone back to wiping down the bar. Surprisingly, he was staring back at me. His gaze only held for about a split second before he averted his eyes elsewhere. He may deny it later but I did see that strange look on his face. I wasn't sure if it was envy or annoyance or even anger. All I knew was that there was a silent storm going on his life – something that he made sure no one else would find out about. I wanted to find out though. I'm not sure why but I was a bit curious now about him and what he hid under that mask of his. I wondered if the person he was inside was truly different than the one he made himself out to be. I didn't have much time to dwell on that though. My father had called me back into the conversation. Something about food. I guessed that Jayden and his little mysteries would just have to wait.