There was a long silence. As Antonio watched the road I could see him clench his teeth together. His eyes narrowed slightly and his body became rigid. “You know what? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to make me think that nothing’s going on.” I couldn’t speak, not even to lead him in another direction…..any direction other than this one. “But I’m pretty sure you already know that wouldn’t end very well…for anybody!”
“Was that a threat, Antonio?” I asked defensively.
“Not unless you’re guilty,” he said mockingly.
Antonio’s angry alter ego was beginning to rear his head, and I didn’t want that Antonio to completely take over. I had to act quickly. “Antonio, really. I can’t believe you’re getting all worked up about this guy staring at me! It isn’t even that serious.” I was trying to make him see the situation more innocently. “Besides, even if he did look at me that way, I’m with you and that’s all that matters, right?”
Antonio didn’t respond. As a matter of fact, he didn’t say anything the rest of the way home; he just concentrated on the road. I’d hoped that he was considering my words because I was desperate for him to believe me. There was still so much uncertainty inside me. The thought of either one of them leaving me before I was absolutely sure made me feel like I’d have a panic attack. I fought back the tears that were ready to flow as he pulled into my driveway, unlocked the doors, and didn’t even turn to look at me.
“Are you seriously this angry with me because of something someone else did?” I asked in a shrill voice, nearing hysterics. “Antonio, answer me!” I screamed.
He said nothing.
“Fine,” I whispered in defeat. I sat there another minute staring at him with hope that he’d say something. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I opened my door and closed it gently. Before I could even take two steps, he sped off.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I walked to the door slowly replaying the whole evening in my head in disbelief. From AJ showing up out of nowhere to the argument I’d just had with Antonio. That was a first. Daddy unlocked the door just as I was lifting my key to it. I rolled my eyes, but didn’t have the strength to be as annoyed as I should’ve been so I just turned the knob and walked in. Daddy assessed the distress in my expression and decided not to say anything other than “Goodnight, Baby Girl.”
My feet felt like they weighed a ton as I climbed the stairs. When I entered my room, I didn’t even worry about turning on the light. I stripped out of my clothes and climbed into my bed without bothering to get any pajamas. My head was whirling and I had to lie down. It felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. There had to be some way to fix this….someway to convince Antonio not to leave me. I couldn’t handle that. He needed to believe that there wasn’t anything between AJ and I. And there was only one way I could think of to make that happen. With a newfound resolve, I didn’t think twice as I pulled my cell phone from my purse and sent Antonio a text message. It simply stated,“3:00”. I turned my phone off and threw it across the room. Nothing good was going to come of this. Call it a hunch.
Chapter Six
When I awoke the next morning I was surprised to see that it was 11:45 because I didn’t usually sleep so late. Last night’s drama was still fresh in my head and today would no doubt be equally as stressful. I had no idea how this would play out, but I imagined that it would be tragic. I lifted myself from the bed and headed for the shower. The hot water helped to ease my nerves a little, but I couldn’t help but to worry. My main concern was that Antonio would create a scene, but also that AJ would be angry with me for agreeing to let Antonio come by at all. There was no way to predict the outcome.