“It was not Ally’s idea!” I cried.
“It wasn’t!” super-power-eared Ally yelled from the open back window of Lee’s Explorer. “It was Sadie’s idea. I just was offering moral support.”
“Shut up, Ally!” Indy shouted out the open passenger side window.
“I will not shut up! I’m not taking the fall for this one!” Ally shouted back.
I turned to the car, dislodging Lee’s arm and lifted both my hands and pressed down. “No one’s going to take a fall. Everyone calm down. It’s all okay. It’s rock ‘n’ roll!” I screamed.
“Righteous!” Ally screamed back.
“Rock on, sister!” Indy screamed too.
“It’s rock ‘n’ roll?” Lee asked, sounding as amused as he looked.
“You all wanna quit screamin’ at three o’clock in the mornin’ in my fuckin’ neighborhood?” Hector suggested.
Mm, well maybe we were being an eensy bit loud.
“Time for beddie by,” I announced (sounding like Ralphie), got up on tiptoe, kissed Lee’s cheek (like Ralphie and Buddy would do to me), turned and gave Indy and Ally a double devil’s horns (like Ava taught me) and shouted, “Rock on!”
They shouted back in unison, “Rock on!”
“Christ,” Hector muttered but I ignored him, walked into the house and headed toward the stairs.
I was in his bedroom, I’d turned on the light by the bed and was sitting on its side when he arrived.
“What did Lee try to stop?” Hector asked when he hit the room.
I leaned over and yanked off a boot then held it up to him.
“Look at this boot!” I cried, “Isn’t it aces? Daisy and the gang bought it for me. They bought me my whole outfit!” Then I threw the boot at him, thinking it was so cool, he might want to get a closer look.
He caught it, stared at it for less than a second then tossed it toward the pile that had somehow sprung up in the short time since Blanca’s tidying effort.
“Hey!” I snapped. “Don’t throw my new boot. It’ll get scuffed.”
Hector advanced, saying, “It’s a motorcycle boot. It’s supposed to be scuffed.”
Oh.
I didn’t know that.
Boy, I had a lot to learn about being a Rock Chick.
I was going to have to start taking notes!
I leaned over and pulled off the other one while he stopped in front of me. Then I hesitated.
Oh, what the heck.
I threw it in the pile and took off my socks.
“Can I ask you to do somethin’ for me?” Hector said.
I looked up and saw he had his hands on his hips and was towering over me. I couldn’t read his expression mainly because it was unreadable.
I decided I didn’t like him towering over me. I also decided I didn’t like so many clothes on him. He looked far better naked.
So I stood up and started to unbutton his shirt.
“What?” I said to his shirt, concentrating on my task.
“Burn that fuckin’ skirt.”
My hands stilled and my head snapped back.
“Excuse me?”
“That skirt. Burn it.”
I was confused, I liked my skirt, no, I loved it.
“Why?” I asked.
His hands came to my shirt and he pulled it up, my arms went with it and he whipped it off.
“Mamita, just don’t wear it again.”
I decided to give in, not wear it in front of him but not burn it. I could wear it on Crete and he’d never know.
“Oh, all right,” I agreed but I didn’t sound happy about it (because I wasn’t).
His hands came to my hips and mine went back to his shirt.
“Now, what did Lee try to stop?” He went back to his earlier subject.
I’d kind of lost track of things so my mind rewound the evening and I remembered Eddie’s fight with Jerry which Lee didn’t even see and I got confused.
“Me stun gunning Jerry, my father’s henchman?” I guessed as I finished with the buttons, lifted my hands and pulled the shirt off his shoulders.
His hands left my hips when I leaned into him and tugged the flannel down his arms. Then I whipped it around, shrugged it on and started to button the two buttons at my breasts while his hands came back to me, this time to the front button and zip on my skirt.
“Nope, Eddie called, told me about Jerry. Lee knows I know about that. What else happened tonight, after the fight?”
I pulled in my lips and tried to think as Hector slid down the zip on my skirt (and thinking was not easy to do). I decided to help him and lifted the hem of the flannel to get it out of his way. He slid the skirt over my hips and pushed down, it fell to my ankles but Hector’s hands, and body, froze.
Then he moved, one hand went low on my right hip, the other one went to the side of my belly by my hip and he framed the bandage that was at my hip bone with his hands.
“What the fuck?” he muttered then his eyes cut to me.
“Oh yeah!” I yelled, even though he was right there, barely a foot away. “I got a tattoo.”