Mafia Guard Loves the Daughter

7

7. A Party to Forget

The thrum of music and noise reached our ears three blocks away. Large and ornate houses of the Hills were empty of lights, and no doubt neighbors to complain about the teenage party of the mayor’s son.

The Hills was a gated community not far from the local middle-class suburbs. A stark contrast with their palazzo-like architecture against the usual modern countryside of the suburbs gives off the usual indictment of life. The rich kept to themselves, the same way as the middle class kept to themselves, while trying not to throw a bitter glance at how the better half lived.

I felt the cool breeze of the night as the short skirt Dany let me borrow ended just below my ass. My pasty legs were out in the open with wedge heels that I could barely stand in, all in courtesy of Dany, who was dressed in a pretty blue mini dress that hugged her body likea second skin.

“I’m getting cold” I wrapped my arms around my exposed midriff. My chest prickled against the said wind.

“It’ll be really hot inside, I swear” She smiled. Her hand pried to free one of my hands in her grasp. She shone brightly against the darkness with her glittering make up. She truly looked like a normal teenager to me then.

Gone was the girl who taught me how to scope wild birds with her father. Gone was the girl who shot beer cans and glass bottles with a slingshot. Dany was just a teenage girl, who thought of boys instead of calculus with me. Tonight, she was going to live her last youth before we graduate.

“Come on” she pulled me with a loud giggle towards the loud music and large gated house with different colored strobe lights bleeding through its windows. A house large enough to house half of the two with its Spanish style design and large windows and terracotta roof. “Guy have been egging me to invite you since last time. I think he has a crush on you.”

I pursed my lips. My own makeup felt like second skin on my face and started to itch. “I really don’t like his name”

“Guy? I know it’s really lazy naming, but he’s loaded and his Dad was just elected as mayor. What can you do? At least it’s not some usual white nepo baby name like Dickson or Richard.”

I giggled. “I concur.”

She beamed. “It’s been days since you last smiled like that.”

“I… have been distracted.” I openly admitted.

The gates weren’t locked as Dany pushed them open with as much familiarity as her usual exit route in my room, which was my window, when I covered for her. Her long hair flowed freely and seemed to curl around her small body.

Many people greeted her, and she greeted them back with a smile and half a hug, she wouldn’t let my hand go, knowing full well I would have hid inside that large house and wouldn’t be found till I urged her to go home. I greeted people with a nod, unsure if they knew me or not, but didn’t want to be rude.

Dany continued to go deeper in the throng of people. Inside the house was an even larger space that surprised me. There was a DJ in one corner of the entrance room, and food laid out in the garden through the glass doors of the solarium.

Many teenagers danced in the open space, but Dany pulled us away from it. She led me towards the garden, where a pool with glowing green lights had a few kids in swimsuits.

“Guy!” Dany shouted against the music and waved towards a tall silver haired boy. “Look who I brought!”

I awkwardly smiled and gave a half wave. “hi”

Guy was a runner. One of the best that our town has ever seen, but also tall and lanky for someone so celebrated. He smiled at the both of us with his green eyes meeting mine. “Dany! Ehryl! And here I thought you two were going to be no shows.”

“Ha! You wish” Dany pulled me beside her in one tug.

“Thanks for inviting me” I eyed one girl who brushed past me with a red solo cup. She giggled profusely with a guy who was pulling her back to the house. “This…is a really pretty home you got.”

“Thank you, my mom would love the compliment, but I have been trying to get you invited here for a long time now.” Guy leaned down to my eye level, which I appreciated. His gray shirt was tight on his body and showed off his lean structure. A simple gold chain around his neck that matched his earrings twinkled when the strobe lights caught his direction. “It’s hard to get your attendance Ehryl”

I raised my brows. “Why would you want a nerd in one of your parties?”

He shrugged. The electricity in his green eyes seemed to gleam nefariously. “Dany hasn’t told you, huh?”

“Told me what?” I threw a questioning look at my friend who shrugged with a coy look on her face. “What are you keeping from me?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that he had a crush on you since elementary.”

My face burned. “Dany! Don’t make stuff up.”

“It’s true” he smirked. Suddenly the space between us felt like a vacuum in space, empty and gravitating towards him. Not because I wanted to, but he was stepping really close.

I furrowed my brows. “I…don’t think of you that way.”

“That’s why I said ‘had’ Ehryl” Dany smiled. “He’s just interested in being friends. That’s all. You think I’m going to let you date? Heck no! we’re single till after college.”

I relaxed a little. The prospect of being with anyone hasn’t ever reached my vernacular. There were too many real problems to tackle than a fantasy of someone. I don’t really have the fear of being alone either. My family has always been enough.

“So, I just wanted to meet you and I wanted to be upfront so we’re clear. All cards on the table to being friends” He even took a step back now, giving me space in an seemingly impossible act when there were more teenagers thickening the crowd as time went on. “Can I get you two a drink?”

I noticed his many thick rings on his fingers. How ornate they were and official. I can’t help but stare as I nodded. “a drink would be nice.”

“Oh, just juice for me and maybe just a beer for Ehryl” Dany locked her arms with mine. She doesn’t drink and never ever plans to.

“Got it.”

He left. I threw a judging look at her direction to which she just gave me a shrug and pulled me to a free beach lounge by the pool. We shared the seat, like always. Our knees touching, and my back hunched over my legs, and her leaning back propped on her arms. Compared to Dany, I’m a recluse and she’s the freest person I know, despite her situation at home.

Dany roamed the forest with such familiarity. I often thought of her was a wood sprite. She knows a tree in one glance, and named some of them. The only tether she has was her Dad. Her depressed and lovesick, kind Dad.

“I can’t wait for college” Her lopsided grin and far off look caught me off guard.

It took everything in me not to have flinched. I smiled instead. “Really?” I said.

“Yeah, I know it’s the first time we’re going to be apart, but can you believe it? I’ll be doing research as a bioengineer and you’ll be working so hard to be an astronaut.”

I shake my head amusingly. Ignoring the ache in my chest. “I’m not going to be an astronaut.”

“Pish posh. I believe in you”

I look out far beyond the fence of this rich family’s home. There wasn’t anything other than multiple trees and the other electrocuted fence of a neighbor, but the view of nature was amazing. It rivaled our own.

I thought myself a bad liar, but here I was with the biggest lie there is. I couldn’t back down, not now, but it’s scary how easy its becoming to keep this secret. I smiled at the future she imagines for the both of us, and I try to believe in it for the first few minutes that it was out there. Her words turning into images that we both could share.

“I believe in you too” I’ll take care of your dad when you leave. I hold her hand. “You know, he’s moving out first.”

She gasped. “WHEN?”

“Dieth is leaving a month earlier than me. I think he can’t stand us anymore”

“That’s a lie, you know he adores you.”

I grimaced. The image of the large and dark Dieth with the same word as adore felt wrong. The man never gave me any sort of attention that is akin to familial, and I reciprocated like a mirror. “You should say goodbye” I changed the subject.

Dany’s face turned beet red. She couldn’t even look at me as she thought of him. “It would be weird. I was just an annoying neighbor.”

“Who helped kept the secret of him living with my family”

“Still, it’s different.” She finally looked at me, her eyes filled with…envy? “You don’t see what I see”

I nodded. “I think that’s for the best. I like my bubble”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, you do.”

“Especially this one” I squeezed her hand once and smiled. “Promise me we’ll talk at least once a month. I know you’ll get busy but at least once a month”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll text you everyday, don’t be ridiculous.”

The secret burned the tip of my tongue. “Yes, every day”

But I kept it even when Guy arrived with our drinks.

He kept us company, and soon kept me company when Dany had to dance with the others. I stayed on the lounge chair with Guy across from me. He asked me many things, and I can’t help but answer him.

The night was bright, and the moon lit his eyes in an angle that surprised me. It was a full moon tonight, and it rivaled the tiki lights planted on his garden. Guy was charismatic and knew many, but I see it now, his interest. How he paid attention to me even when people tried to get his.

I let myself imagine a normal life. A life that I wanted for my mom and I. One without a complicated mystery filled father, and the boy he left at our doorstep. I imagine this boy that likes me just sitting beside me now. How he lights up when I laugh at his small anecdotes and I’m surprised that he has one. He had always been just a popular and athletic kid. What if we do end up together and get married? Isn’t that normal? No shadows and just a simple mediocre life.

The image was comforting. Enough so that I leaned towards him as he continued to talk about Syracuse and the future, he’s going to have there. When our lips touched, and the taste of bitter beer and mint landed on my tongue, I dared myself into thinking that I was a normal teenager without a secret upon a secret.

He reciprocated. His mouth warm and honey-like in texture. His hand grasping the back of my neck, and I swam in the thought that I was just a girl he liked and I could like him back. A life where the future is normal and mediocre.

“Ehryl”

He didn’t shout. He didn’t have to, as I extricated my lips and tongue from Guy and stood in front of us was the secret upon a secret. He looked menacing just as menacing as the sound of his voice.

“Dieth” His name came out like a gasp. My lungs burned for air and I could feel the flush on my cheeks till the tip of my ears. I didn’t know kisses could be this pleasurable. No wonder why people kept doing it for hundreds and thousands of years.

The scowl on his face and glare burned me with shame. Caught in the act of kissing someone I had no feelings whatsoever for. It suddenly felt wrong. The warmth gone and deflated in to cold shame.

His stance was wide. Hands turned to fists on either side of him, but his presence was large and imposing. He didn’t have to speak a lot to be intimidating or threatening. Guy even looked rattled as he knew Dieth’s reputation.

“Hey man, we’re kind of in the middle of something” Guy unwittingly said.

Dieth barely acknowledged him. “I think it’s time to go”

He didn’t pose it as a question.

I wanted to protest, but the shame addled any fight from me. “I’m sorry Guy, but I do have some things to do.”

“But wai—”

Dieth grabbed my wrist and I’m dragged out to his car in front of the house. The usual muscle car worth more than our ranch house. His usual lackeys aren’t within the vehicle and that made me wonder.

“Get in” He opened the door for me with his free hand, then he let my wrist go.

I did what he said and sat on the passenger seat. I put my seatbelt on as he climbed in the drivers side. Then he drove.

“Dany—”

“my friends would take her”

I nodded. “How did you know I was there?”

He looked at his rearview mirror, as if someone was following us. “I just know.”

“What do you not know?” I heard myself daringly ask.

“…”

I blinked and looked at the road in front of us. Orion’s belt blinking mightily in the sky, as it was that late already.

For someone with a fast car, he drove slowly. Slower than he usually goes, and it seemed to take longer to get home than it had to.

“Do you like him?” He broke the silence.

The question rattled my brain. “What?”

He met my gaze even as he drove. “Answer the question.”

I frowned and shook my head.

“Then why?”

“I wanted to try something new” I admitted. Maybe it’s the alcohol Guy drank or the fact that I’m just truly exhausted that’s why I’m answering without a fight. No usual avoidance. “I don’t think its part of your job description to stop me having a normal teenage experience.”

“You’re far from normal Ehryl” his voice softened on my name. The only time I have ever heard him soften. “You shouldn’t settle for normal”

In a moment of weakness, I couldn’t help but smile at him and said the following words. “Even normalcy isn’t allowed for someone like me, huh?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I shook my head. “Dieth, we both know that you hate me. You tolerate me. I’m a job to you, and I respect that. But my mom doesn’t see it that way, you’re family. He isn’t here to force you to stay. You could leave.”

His face darkened, and for the second time, this is a first for me. How his animosity has now become obvious and directed at me. I see that he wanted to say something, but he gritted his jaw closed and wrenched his gaze from me, and towards the road.

The drive became faster then. The silence stretched as it did.