“Look, you just got chased by a guy you don’t remember meeting for fifteen grand. Maybe little brother can connect you with some doctors that can help you, or at least let you stay there until things die down here. He’s your family,” he says, sincerity lacing his voice.
“I-I don’t think I can do it,” I say quietly. My mind is spinning. I just went from being the only person in my world besides Kam to being connected to three other people on the planet. Three other people who possibly have no idea I exist. One who is virtually unreachable for the past six months and is a documented liar, the other whose life is so perfect she’d probably hate it if I showed up and ruined it, and another loaded and who will probably think I’m a conwoman.
“Stop thinking of all the things that can go wrong,” he says, pulling me into a hug.
“Doesn’t the universe owe us a break?” he squeezes me a little harder.
“What if this could be the best chance you ever took in your life? What if this guy could really help you? Then you could come back and be with Kam and live the life you’ve always wanted,” he says convincingly. I close my eyes and imagine what that would be like. I’ve never ever been able to live the life I’ve wanted. The small moments I’ve enjoyed always seemed like I was on borrowed time, a clock that was winding down before exploding.
“I don’t even have the money to get to frolicking around Chicago.” I say becoming overwhelmed with the idea of this. He lets out an annoyed sigh, takes an envelope out of his pocket, and counts off a thousand dollars and puts it in front of me. I look at him as if he’s lost his mind.
“What are you doing?” I ask in disbelief.
“Something nice, don’t tell anyone,” he says with a wink. I shake my head, sliding the money back over to him.
“I can’t take that from you. Why did you even bring that?” I ask him adamantly.
“It’s my side money, so just take it,” he says firmly. I refuse.
“Look. Just think of it as an investment. Let’s just say everything does go right and you and little brother become besties or something. You put in a good word for me when I graduate.” He picks up the money, folding it up and stuffing it in my bag.
“Thank you Blue,” I say. I rest my head on his shoulder and he gives me another quick hug, but his body tenses, going stiff as a board.
“What the fuck!” Blue screeches. His body stiffens and he slides out from the booth. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong when I see Katie standing at the opposite end of the restaurant with another guy whose hands are on her ass and her tongue down his throat. He’s tall and has a really big tattoo on his arm and his hair is spiked.
Geesh, Katie has a type. I grab Blue’s arm and he jerks away from me and charges towards them.
“Blue, don’t do anything crazy!” I plead, trying to figure out what to do. I grab both our bags.
“Who the fuck is this Katie?” he yells, stalking towards them. Katie’s head shoots up like a deer caught in headlights.
“Blue, what are you doing here?” Her small voice echoes through the restaurant, which is now quiet, everyone’s attention on the spectacle that’s about to happen.
“Dude, back the hell off,” Spikey Hair says, holding on to Katie’s wrist.
“I’m her boyfriend you shit bag,” Blue shouts, pushing the guy in the chest. The guy pushes him back. Katie yells for them to stop right before Blue’s fist hits the guy’s face, and they fall to the ground in a full-on fight.
“Blue stop it! We’ve got to go!” I scream.
“Stop it! Stop it right now!” Katie screams, in tears, attempting to pull Blue off of the other guy without getting knocked down in the process.
“Stop it or I’m going to spray you guys with mace!” I yell at them, which is pretty useless as they both continue to throw punches at each other.
“Not in here!” a bartender yells as he approaches. Me and Katie jump out of the way as a waiter across the hall comes behind us and with the assistance of another customer breaks them apart.
“Blue I’m sorry!” Katie squeals. The first bartender pulls him to another side of the restaurant as the customer does the same to the other guy.
“How could you do this to me!” Blue screams, his voice full of fury and desperation, and she stands there looking absolutely pitiful in the middle of the restaurant with all eyes on her.
“You all need to leave right now before we call the cops,” a heavyset man says authoritatively, who I’m assuming is the restaurant manager. Katie starts to walk towards us.
“No! You stay the fuck away from me!” Blue shouts at her, getting away from the bartender who was still gripping him.
“Katie. Come on!” Her spikey-haired boyfriend calls her from the other side of the restaurant. I think for the first time tonight she realizes I’m standing here. She looks to me for some type of sympathy or encouragement and I can’t help but look at her, disgusted.
“Just go Katie, don’t make this worse than it is,” I tell her pleadingly. Her face scrunches up and her eyes narrow in on me.
“You can’t judge me. You’ve probably cheated on Kam. George told us about you working at that ‘club.’ You left my brother devastated last night. What are you even doing here together? Are you screwing Blue?” she screeches, and I feel like I’ve been knocked off my feet by her words.
“You’re a dumb whore!” Blue yells at her, grabbing my arm and pulling me in the other direction.
When we get outside of the restaurant we see a cop car pulling up.
“Shit!” I hear Blue mumble. He grabs my hand and pulls me to his car. He opens the door for me casually. The cop walks past us into the restaurant, and Blue jumps in and pulls off.
“I’m so sorry Blue,” I say tentatively. I can’t believe what we just saw, that Katie has been sneaking around on him. I thought she loved Blue. I saw it.
“It doesn’t matter. She was too good for me anyway.” He shrugs with a chuckle. In the rearview mirror I see tears in his eyes.
“Don’t say that. She cheated on you!” I tell him sharply.
“To think that I’d be enough for a girl like that. Who was I kidding?” he grumbles.
“She doesn’t deserve you Blue. You’ll find someone else who really loves you,” I tell him even though I know it’s the last thing he probably wants to hear right now. I try to think of something to lighten the mood.
“That guy was a shitty knockoff version of you anyway,” I say, nudging him, and he gives me a weak smile.
“Kam never mentioned anything to you did he?” he asks with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“No, never. He had no idea, trust me. He’s not that type of person, he would have made her tell you if he’d known,” I say without a second guess.
“You’re right. Kam’s a good guy,” he agrees.
“Then again I thought she was…” He trails off. I put my hand on his and squeeze it.
“She was the first person I let in. You know?” He’s quiet but I can hear the break in his voice.
“I know,” I reply, nodding in understanding. Kam was the first person that I let in. Before him everyone was shut out. Every person I had attempted to trust either betrayed me, or I was afraid I’d betray them. He was the only person who made the risk worth it, but look where that got us.