Mafia Guard Loves the Daughter

2

2

Tell Him it was Me

I have one close friend. The one I held hands with at preschool after we saw each other, and we just knew that we were going to be best friends forever. Dany is a down-to-earth kind of person, despite being so pretty and charming. Everyone liked her, but she wasn’t the kind who’d flaunt things.

Instead of parties, she went with me to the library to study. We studied and did picnics in my front yard, and she listened to me babble on about stars. She was the prettiest girl in school, but no one knew how to take her out to a party since she was friends with me, and no one would want to talk to the shy nerd, who barely said anything at school. Whose other best friend was the science teacher.

My bedroom window is always open for Dany to come in when her dad is drunk again, or she just wants company. She’s always with us for parties and holidays in the house. You won’t be able to see any pictures without her beside me, we are already mistaken as sisters rather than normal close friends.

I sat on my usual seat in the library just as Dany came in with the widest smile. Almost immediately I spot the heads that looked in her direction. Everyone wanted to talk to her or be approached by her.

But for some odd reason, she’s always talking to me instead. She plopped down beside me and gave me a huge grin.

“Did you send your applications?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

My throat turns dry. I nod. “Yeah, you?” I cleared my throat and smiled.

“I did! Early in the morning.” She grins. “Sometime next year, we’re going to get full-ride scholarships and we’re still going to study in the same university.”

My tongue feels as if burns, to tell the truth. It wiggles inside my mouth like a dying worm, but I smile instead, and that makes my heart wither and die. “I went to Professor Kurc.”

“I know, she told me when I passed by. I thought you were going to stay and hang there actually.” She took out her books and notes and laid them all out splayed in front of her.

That was the plan, but I felt even more guilty just sitting there, pretending in her face. It felt horrible to just keep talking as if nothing was amiss. It was one of the reasons why I holed myself in the library, but I should have known Dany would look for me. I was hoping she’d be asked by one of the teachers for some assisting job.

“We should celebrate!” She giggles. Leaning towards me to whisper louder in my ear. Her dark blond hair is in a tight ponytail and I try to pull her pleated skirt down so her underwear won’t be seen. “Let’s play hooky.”

My eyes widen. “I could…I can’t”

“Oh, come on, we have never broken any rules! We never played hooky before, and we should try it for the wholesome high school experience.”

Her smile is infectious, and I can’t help but think that it would be nice to walk around town. To forget. “Fine, let’s play hooky.”

She quickly packs her stuff then mine when I was too slow for her.

I let myself be swept up by Dany’s infectious joy. I would be as happy if I did what I said I did, but I could never be selfish. I walk with her down the hall. Arm in arm. She starts telling me about the gossip going around the school and then about Professor Kurc’s wedding.

“We should go.” She pouts as she pushes the doors open for us.

The air immediately ruffled her skirt and my hair. But I loved the cold and didn’t mind it that much. The way Dany pursed her lips though, was a different story, as she put her hand in front of her skirt to keep from going up.

“It is too far.” I smile. “The destination wedding is too much destination for any of us to afford.”

“Who knew Miss Kurc was marrying into money, huh?” She raises her brows. “I would get married too if my boyfriend was that rich.”

“You need a boyfriend first.” I tease while poking her sides.

She makes a face filled with disgust. “I’d rather work, and I will work. Boys are overrated.”

We continued to walk on the pavement. The straps of my backpack dug into the flesh of my shoulders, but I ignored it. Dany on the other hand was already opening my backpack up.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“You lug so many books around that you come home with stiff muscles.” She takes a few of the heaviest books in my bag and smiles. “I don’t carry a lot, so let me carry some of them. You’re too stubborn anyway to listen to us because you still keep carrying books to read!”

“I have a system.” I defend. Blushing as I turn my bag around to close it. “You don’t have to carry that.”

“I really don’t,” she shook her head and pursed her lips with that funny expression of hers. “And I don’t have to listen to stubborn people either” Then she took off running while clutching my three textbooks.

“Hey!” I called after her and ran to catch up to her.

I heard the car engine before I even saw it as Dany ran to cross the street. I push my legs and reach for her shirt. I pull her back and her laughter is cut short.

“Look at the street signs!” I pant, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath. My bag is lighter, but the sudden run truly didn’t change things. This girl is shortening my lifespan by forcing me to do exercise.

“It’s fine, it’s like you don’t recognize his car at all.” Dany rubs my side and nudges me to look up. “See.”

The loud car engine revved and became quiet as it parked in front of us. I looked up and immediately our eyes met. He is so close, closer than he has ever been in the years we have lived together. My breath silently hitches in my throat, but I think he heard me as he raises his brows at my reaction.

“Hey, Dieth” Dany’s voice is higher, and she makes a small wave that withers at her side the next second.

“Why do you look like you run track?” He says to me.

I blush. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I met his gaze and I smiled. “I don’t”

“Where are you two off to?” Vincent in the driver’s seat asks.

It is still strange to me how the class valedictorian is close friends with Dieth. And I’m not the only one who thinks this as Vincent is cut from the preppy cloth, and Dieth is… alternative. Both of them are battling for the valedictorian spot, but their styles are incredibly different.

“To the mall” Dany locks her arms with mine. Still conscious of Dieth’s eyes on me. “We’re playing hooky.”

I look away, or he’ll see my shame.

“Why aren’t you talking to me?” He continues to ask me.

I breathed in then looked at his nose. “I remember the rules.”

He huffs. “Good job…?”

I purse my lips. He still makes me feel so nervous even though I have seen this face for years now, through every birthday and Christmas. He always had that effect on people. The only one who doesn’t get intimidated or see that is my mom.

“We’re also going to the mall. You can come with us” Vincent says. “Just move the sleeping Adel, and you’ll fit. Hey! Adel! Wake up”

The pierced and incredibly popular Adel jumps up from the backseat. He blinks his almond-shaped eyes and licks his lips. He looks disoriented for the first few seconds before scooching without complaints.

“Really?! Thank you!” Dany opened the door before I could even decline the offer and pushed me in first. Making me sit on the middle seat beside Adel, who looks out the window.

Dieth’s car smells like Febreze and rubbing alcohol. I find that a strange mixture for a teenager in high school would have, and Adel strongly smells of rubbing alcohol as well. Dany plopped down beside me, and the scent of her cherry perfume chased all the other scents away.

“Ready?” Vincent asks us over his shoulder.

“Yeah”

“Yup”

He drives smoothly down the road. It doesn’t surprise me that they’re all playing hooky as attendance for advanced students isn’t mandatory. Dieth and Vincent were fighting for the spot for valedictorian, and Adel had great grades that didn’t fluctuate, and he remained consistent. There is a rumor that he has OCD as he specifically makes the same mistake on the same numbers in all tests.

I mostly hear rumors and gossip through Dany. Other than Professor Kurc, there was no one else to tell me about the latest gossip in school. I hang out in the library where everything is quiet and not a lot of students go there to make friends.

“So, what are you planning on doing at the mall?” Vincent looks at us through the rearview mirror.

“Look at books”

“Go to Starbucks”

I look at Dany and she’s done the same. Our eyes met and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the stark difference between our answers. She laughs along with me and rolls her eyes. “You don’t need more books.” She looks pointedly at the textbooks on her lap.

My bag on my lap is still somewhat heavy. “I can still have more.”

“You’re going to end up bowed back in your 70s.”

“I think its worth it” I admit quietly as I felt everyone’s gaze on me. “We could go to Starbucks after” I offer.

She sighs. “Fine, it’s not like I could stop you. I need to get a few things in the bookstore anyway.”

“What universities did you apply in?” Vincent asks Dany.

“Around the same as Ehryl. MIT, New York, Caltech, and some state U’s. nothing unusual”

“I have been going to your house for years and you two have really become inseparable, huh?”

“Yup, we’re close that way.”

I zone out the rest of the drive. Looking at Dany’s window as Adel seems to be looking at me now. I sit straight and rigid with my hands on my knees and my bag tucked tightly to my abdomen.

The attention is making my blood boil and turning my body flush. It was uncomfortable, but Dany filled the silence. I looked around from time to time and caught Vincent’s gaze for most of them. He continues to ask Dany and I try to answer, but the heat reaches my nape and I have gotten too shy at this point.

Dany opens the door and climbs out. I immediately jumped out of the car and said a quick thanks to Vincent before marching towards the bookstore. Dany catches up to me and nudges my side.

“Hey, you look as if you’re escaping your stepbrother.”

That was who he was in our household. He was my “Stepbrother” even though my mom never remarried or that the house was empty of a “Stepfather” Dany took the reason quite well, and didn’t question it even early on, when he appeared at our doorstep.

Dieth was just Dieth. My mom accepted him as easily as she accepted that Dany was going to be part of our lives. She was that kind of mom.

“You know how he is” I rub my neck. “he never liked me”

“Are you kidding? He likes you”

“Remember the rules he told me I should follow at school? That I can’t talk to him or even be seen socializing with him” My steps were getting quicker as the throng of people clamored in with me to the airconditioned mall.

“I know, but I think he was just avoiding the unnecessary questions, like why you don’t have the same last name or why he lives with you guys instead of his dad”

I purse my lips. Lying hasn’t always been my forte, but running away from the topic is. “Right, you’re right. He has his reasons, but I really just want to focus on looking through some books and we could eat in your Starbucks.”

“Starbucks? I was just fibbing! I don’t want those stale pastries and overpriced coffee. Let’s just go to the food court for food.”

I smile. “You had me there for a second.”

She laughs.

The bookstore didn’t have a lot of people, and Dany and I immediately parted ways in our own line of shelves. The local bookstore had a lot to offer and actually offered coffee inside the shop. I shuffle through the fiction aisle. Reading the spines of the book in great focus

“Where were you this morning?”

I jump and almost yelp in surprise. “W-What?”

Diet leans on the bookcase. The usual grumpy look on his face. “You suddenly ran out on us on your birthday this breakfast. Rami was worried”

Right. “I had to send my applications.” I made sure my face was passive. Emotionless and not guilty.

He stares at me for the longest time. There weren’t people even going to the aisle we were in, and he was confidently leaning on the bookcase with no fear that it would fall over or something. He blinks a few times. “You have to apologize to Rami”

“I will,” I say almost immediately. “Mom would understand.”

He nods. “I covered for you this one time.”

Is that to make up for the hundreds of times I covered for you? I make a tight smile “Thank you”

He nods again.

My heart beating erratically in my chest. This has been one of the longest conversations we had without my mother in the same room. I almost fainted when he leaned towards me, his black tee hanging slightly around the collar, but tightly on the other parts. “What is wrong with you? You’re acting strange lately” he whispers in my ear.

I freeze. I hold my breath to lower my heart rate. I could smell him, he had the same scent as one of those perfumes I passed by in the department store. He is close enough that I see the silver earring on his ear.

“Nothing” I breathe out. “I’m the same as I have always been” Blood rushes out to my hands for some odd reason.

He scoffs. “I know you Ehryl, and that’s simply not true.”

“You… I know you too.” I hear myself say those brave words, but I have no idea where it's leading. “I hope... You don’t climb through my window when you’re drunk.”

He chuckles as he leans back.

I’m back to reality again and I can finally breathe easily.

“Don’t let Dany lock the window again” he leaves.

“I…” I closed my lips as he was already leaving the store. His hands were in his pockets and his combat boots slapping the tiled floor in some sort of rhythm.

I forgot yet again to tell him that it was me who locked it, he doesn’t know it, but he says the most heartbreaking things when he’s drunk and asleep. And I can’t afford to feel bad for the person my father left behind for us to take care of.