The Italian Dons Bargain

Chapter 1

Light drizzles fell on Nadia's face as she walked through the busy streets of New Square Village. Pulling the sleeves of her jean jacket over her hands she wiped her face as the drizzles became heavier, and covered her head with her hoodie to protect her earphones from getting wet.

The sky was blanketed in gray clouds giving no hope of sunshine whatsoever, it had been that way for a while. Passing by her everyday landmarks, the post office, the cafe, and alleyway where homeless people would huddle for warmth, Nadia reached her destination, the grocery store.

Taking off her jacket as she walked in, she placed it on the coat rack and put on her apron, the wrinkled blue material needed fixing but the store manager had ignored Nadia's requests eventually leading to her not caring anymore.

Nadia yawned as she took her place at the till, the same dull music played through the only working speaker at the back of the store, for that reason Nadia always brought her earphones to drown out the annoying instrumentals. The music was bad enough, the store's interior made it worse, with only a handful of shelves that were never fully stacked, refrigerators with musty glass doors, and a ceiling waiting to fall to someone's head.

Her playlist shuffled from Kesha to Katy Perry to Jorja Smith, looking through the store waiting for a customer, Nadia lazily played with breath mints beside her, she had just gotten to work and already couldn't wait to leave and meet up with her friends. Her daily routine was so boring she wondered why she even had it, it wasn't fun to have one. Getting up every morning to work was a lifestyle she never agreed on having, she just had to take it on because starving to death wasn't exactly the way she wanted to die.

After a while, customers began to line up at the till, the first one, a middle-aged woman in a pink blouse wanted to purchase deodorant, dog food, and two liters of water, Nadia shivered as she passed the goods over the scanner wondering if someday that would be her life, buying dog food and water in her old age.

She was just about to scan the big bag of dog food when a man about 5 foot something in a tacky red Hawaiian shirt cut through the line and stood in front of the elderly woman. Nadia looked at the man in shock which slowly faded to disgust, he was one of 'those' customers;

"I wanna buy these cigarettes", he spoke with an unbearable accent, further irritating Nadia

Nadia looked away from the man and focused her attention on the woman behind him;

"This is a really big bag, got a lot of pups at home?", she proceeded to make small conversation with the woman

"Ah yes, I-"

"Scuse me? I said I'd like these cigarettes love"

"I ain't your love, number one, and number two, you clearly saw this woman was in front of you yet you bulldozed your way here like a moron thinking you get by, not on my watch, wait your damn turn"

Nadia proceeded to scan the dog food and gave the woman her receipt, after the elderly woman paid she said thank you to Nadia and exited the store. The man still stood at the front despite Nadia telling him to go to the back;

"Next?"

"Are you kidding me? It's just one pack of damn cigarettes, am I supposed to beg for service?"

"You're so annoying, take that pack and shove it right up your a-"

"Nadia! What's going on here?"

Her nasally voice was easy to recognize from anywhere, Nadia rolled her eyes as the plump Caucasian brunette waddled towards the till, the smell of tuna her perfume;

"Is there a problem?"

"You bet there is, she won't give me no damn service and I was here first"

"If you were half as smart as you're fooling people to be you'd know, one, we have surveillance cameras and two, a line of witnesses can say otherwise", Nadia retorted.

"Nadia, how many times have I told you not to argue with the customers?"

"As many times as you've worn those pumps, Rose"

"That's it, you're off duty for today, and that's with no pay", Rose crossed her arms over her chest

Nadia removed her apron with ease and tossed it on a pile of boxes with a smug smile

"You pay me dust anyway, it doesn't matter"

Grabbing her jacket off the rack she gave Rose and the customer one last look;

"Breath mints are only a dollar sir, take some before you ruin someone elses' day"

With that, she was out of the store and dashing down the street, the wind blowing through her luscious hair as she picked up the pace.

***

It was a fifteen-minute jog from the grocery store to the playground and ten minutes if you ran, in no time Nadia was jumping over the wired fence surrounding the former kids' park, countless accidents happened on the unstable rides causing the community to place a ban on it, it was unfortunate for the kids but for the young adults a brand new hangout was made available.

Walking underneath the rusty slide and passing by the broken swings, Nadia found her friends at the jungle gym;

"The girl has arrived", Nadia announced herself

"Hey girl", Holly, a redhead in camo shorts and a black vest waved from the top of the jungle gym

"Here so soon, it's only...", Terri, a blonde wearing a gray tracksuit checked her watch, "1"

"Miss tuna let me off early because of some turd, not that I'm complaining though", Nadia climbed the bars with ease and sat next to Holly

"I'm glad you're here, we've been sitting here bored as hell trying to figure out what to do", Terri sighed

"That's the first, you guys always have something to do, even when I'm not around"

"Yeah well today is different, I know I'm not the only one feeling more bored than usual"

"You're not, for some strange reason I'm just tired", Holly added

"Quit it you two, I was super excited to leave work early but now, I'm considering going back"

Nadia jumped off the jungle gym and landed on her feet and hands, standing up straight she dusted her palms and looked at her friends

"Well then think of something to do damn it, that'll solve our issue", Holly fought

Nadia paced the ground, she didn't have anything in mind, most of the time she relied on Holly and Terri to bring up something fun to do and she would just follow suit. Leaning on the merry-go-round a smile crept on Nadias lips as an idea popped up.

"When was the last time we had something to drink?"

Holly and Terri shared a grin, jumping off the jungle gym they grabbed Nadia by both her arms and ran towards the wire fence.

***

Benji's liquor store was at the corner of the street, it might have been small but it contained the best spirits, wines, and whiskeys. Before she turned 18, Nadia was only sipping on the leftovers from her father's bottles and when she turned 18 she was gifted a brandless whiskey that knocked her out after two glasses.

Running across the street, Holly, Nadia, and Terri stood outside the store devising their plan to get free liquor;

"So, what's the plan?", Terri whispered

"Nadia? You're the one that suggested it"

Nadia studied the shop from the glass door, Benji, was reading a magazine, her gaze moved from him to the bottles of liquor laying on the floor unattended to;

"Two unlabelled bottles of whiskey and one vodka, you two go and I'll distract him, use the back to leave"

Holly and Terri entered the store at the same time and immediately headed to the bottles, Nadia walked in five minutes after not to raise any suspicion. Benji's eyes moved from his magazine to Nadia's face, a smile formed on his face

"How can I help you?", he closed the magazine

Nadia walked to the front of the counter and smiled, brushing her hair behind her ear she leaned closer over the counter

"I want uh...something strong but", she looked from left to right, "I'm underaged"

"Seriously? but you look really mature"

"I get that a lot, I am mature...just not in age"

Benjis face lit up, he turned around and looked through his liquor selection, the expensive ones, Holly and Terri took the opportunity and ran through the back exit.

Turning back around he placed an actual branded bottle of Johnny Walker, leaning forward he whispered making Nadias skin crawl;

"It's a pretty expensive bottle, how much you got?"

"Not much, unfortunately", Nadia came close to his face before backing up, "maybe next time"

Hurrying out of the store she bolted across the street and linked up with Holly and Terri who began running once they saw Nadia was in the clear.

***

Laughing their way to Holly's apparent building, Nadia, Terri, and Holly rushed indoors as night quickly fell, the streets of new square were no place to be at night if you were a woman.

Running up the flight of stairs to Holly's room, Nadia opened the door and the trio retired. Kicking off their shoes, Holly turned on the lights revealing her surprisingly clean living room, the room was a bright aqua color with minimalistic furniture like a coffee table in the center of the room, two sofas and a nightstand where a stereo was placed;

"Someone cleaned up", Terri marveled

"I'm a lady above everything else, I don't live in filth"

"Show the girls how it's done lady", Nadia mocked

"Ladies don't shoplift", Terri added

"Oh please, it was barely a shop", Holly opened one of the bottles of whiskey, "by the way, stunning job back there"

"Right, you were a whole seductress", Terri drank from the open bottle

"Aww, you think so? I was a little nervous"

"Didn't show one bit"

Nadia sat on the floor and opened the bottle of vodka, Holly tossed her glass and she poured herself a shot;

"Wish I had a lemon"

"One venture at a time please", Terri drank from the bottle again

"Oh no, whiskey and wine I have no problem stealing, but food and clothes are out of the question", Holly warned

"Aren't we modest?", Nadia took another shot, she scrunched her face as the liquor burned her chest

Holly and Terri sat on the floor beside Nadia and they began trading bottles, Nadia was the first to get tipsy, she never was good at holding her liquor, she always laughed and yelled loudly.

"What did they say about drinking on an empty stomach?!", Nadia yelled

"They say keep your mouth shut or you'll wake the neighbors", Holly giggled, she too was tipsy

Terri got off the floor and staggered towards the stereo, she was the last one to get tipsy, hitting the play button, songs came bursting out of the speakers. Nadia stood up and took off her jacket, she swayed from side to side as the music played, with encouragement from Holly and Terri she danced more.

Not wanting to get anymore tipsy or fall heavily drunk, Nadia continued to dance as Holly and Terri drank to oblivion. The room was warm, song after song played and Nadia danced on into the night, first with Holly and Terri then just Terri then all by herself, she started losing energy when Detention by Melanie Martinez started playing.

Taking one last shot she threw herself on a sofa and stretched her body, Nadia was about to let sleep consume her when her phone vibrated in her back pocket, groaning she rolled over, took her phone out, and unlocked it, in the notification bar was a message from Alex, her father.

Rolling her eyes she reluctantly opened the message;

"In some trouble, need your help asap"

Sitting upright, Nadia tried to focus on the text but her vision was getting blurry, dropping her phone on the ground she fell back and closed her eyes.