“So I noticed.” He followed my lead and looked towards the street. He ran his hands along his thighs stopping at his knees. “It sucks that she’s gone. I just wish there was something I could’ve done to keep her from being on that road that night.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was awful at consoling people. I was a realist and I knew those few words wouldn’t help. Nothing I could say would bring back his mother and nothing I said would mend the hole in his heart losing her surely left. The only thing I could do was offer a distraction. There would people bombarding him in the next few days offering their condolences suffocating him with the words “I’m sorry.”
“Who is Rico?” He asked, still looking straight ahead.
I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know about Rico?” I didn’t have to turn my head to know that he had turned his. His eyes were fixated on me and I knew because my body told me so. Strangely, I never had that feeling before. It was as if his eyes were swallowing me whole. How could one not feel that?
“When I came outside you were talking about Rico and his muscles.” His voice held the slightest hint of humor in it. “So I was just wondering…” He cleared his throat and I assumed he did so that he wouldn’t laugh in my face. “Who Rico was?”
I turned to face him, which was a big mistake. His chiseled jaw was covered in a day or two of scruff and he was scratching the side of his jaw trying hard not to smile at me. He dropped his hand from his face running his tongue over his lower lip before winking at me and treating me with a sly smile. I swallowed hard moistening my suddenly dry throat.
“Rico is my boyfriend.” I croaked. I literally sounded as if I had been stranded on a desert for days with no water. I watched as he straightened his posture. His face didn’t give anything away as to what he was thinking. The silence was annoying and lasted longer than I would’ve liked it to make things even more awkward.
“Anthony mentioned you had a boyfriend on the way here.” He leaned forward so that his head was level with his knees and stared back towards the street. “Hard to believe you have a boyfriend.”
“Excuse me?” I said finding it hard not to take offense to his comment. Maybe my sister was gorgeous, but I was no slouch. I busted my ass every morning in the gym so I didn’t feel guilty for the amount of chocolate I consumed in a day. I could probably afford to lose five pounds but…
He laughed beside me peering at me from the corner of his eye. “You should see your face right now.” He placed his hand on my kneecap and his eyes met mine. “I meant it’s hard to believe that you’ve grown up into this woman who has a boyfriend. My little Nikki is all grown up.” He shrugged his shoulders all the while keeping his eyes on mine. “You don’t look like a little girl anymore.” His voice dropped. “You’re beautiful.” He nodded his head, as he looked me over as if to confirm what he was saying.
Mikey thought I was beautiful… I didn’t know what to think of that. I liked it. I liked the way he looked at me when he said it. I liked hearing it come from his mouth. I opened my mouth to say thank you maybe throw in a ‘you’re not so bad yourself’ but was interrupted when the storm door opened behind me.
“Jesus Christ, it’s colder than a witch’s titty out here. Are you kid’s crazy?” Jimmy said as he lit his cigarette.
Mikey leaned into me. “Is he always like this?” He whispered against my ear.
“Pretty much.” I said as Jimmy started cursing because the flame of his lighter kept going out from the cold.
“One of you kids got a light?” He barked.
I rolled my eyes and pulled out the lighter from my coat pocket holding it above my head for him to take. Once he lit his cigarette properly, he took a drag before he spoke.
“Your old man sent me out here to ask if Val was eating dinner or if he’s in a hurry to get the fuck out of here.” He took another puff on his cigarette. “Boy has it out for your pops.”
“I’m right here Jimmy. If you’ve got something to ask me why don’t you do so?” Mikey said through clenched teeth. I watched as his jaw ticked and his foot tapped nervously against the concrete step.
I looked back and forth between Mikey and Jimmy just as Anthony stepped outside. I was thankful the big brute came out when he did because I didn’t know how to handle a pissed off Mikey. What he was pissed off about had something to do with my father and I was anxious to know what that was actually about.
“Mike… Grace ordered some pizza’s do you want to stay or do you want to head back to my place?” Anthony asked.
“So I guess it’s been decided that I’m staying with you while I’m here?” Mikey said, sounding rather perturbed and a bit defeated all in the same breath.