Lisa and I are out for dinner.
I am worried about José. He still hasn't returned. He still hasn't picked any of my calls. He hasn't called me back either. This attitude is just exasperating.
At least, I know- or think- that he's just avoiding my calls because he's very busy. He will call back sooner or later- he had better. I know he's fine. I'm just worried.
He's fine. He's fine.
I did take Lisa's advice and report the break-in to the police. The report has been filed and they've asked me to make a follow-up report if the occurrence repeats itself.
I twirl my pasta in my fork as my gaze goes around my favorite restaurant. Carlo's Pot. A few years ago, it used to be just Carlo's.
This is the first time I will be inviting Lisa for dinner here when José is not coming. She looks at me with worry even though she tries to downplay the fact that my brother could possibly be missing with her good cheer. But she's doing it for me. She knows she only has to say a few worried words before my carefully-reined pessimism breaks out of me and I go into full-on panic mode.
"I don't get you," Lisa says then. "You complain about eighty-percent of what they serve here yet you're always coming back. Are you masochist or something?"
I roll my eyes at Lisa. "This is the restaurant José and I usually frequented when we first moved here. It has too many memories. No matter how we were feeling, we could always drop by for a quick burger. And…" I trail off dramatically. "...Everyone knows they have the best burgers."
She shrugs. "True that."
A second passes.
"Still haven't heard from him?"
I shake my head.
She shrugs again, but it's a one shoulder shrug. "Don't you think you should report to the police or something?"
"He's not missing-"
"I mean, with all of the weird things that have been happening to you," Lisa cuts in. "Your house was broken into-"
"-Nothing was stolen and no one was harmed-"
"You mentioned that you see some unknown yet expensive cars around the places you frequent, namely, your house, your workplace, Carlo's Pot..."
I let out a sigh. "Which could also be coincidences or my mind playing games with me."
A message notification pops on my phone and I willingly abandon my meal to attend to my phone.
It's an email. A termination letter. From my boss, Bruni, "the freaking conduit of evil" Santos. Apparently, my suspension was not enough.
I rest my head on the table, at a safe distance from my meal. Imagine getting this bad news and still ending up eating that pasta. I might just die.
Beside me, Lisa grabs my phone. It takes her a few seconds to skim through. "No, he didn't."
She pulls me up. My eyes are dry, but she knows I wasn't crying. I stare blankly at her.
"Good riddance," she says. "You'll get a better job."
"Maybe," I say. "But I will be needing a good recommendation letter to get another job in the same industry, and Bruni Santos will never give me that even though I didn't really do anything to deserve this termination."
"According to him, you're being fired for inappropriate behavior- whatever that means- insubordination- another big word- insolence, disregard for authority and a generally poor attitude to work, evidenced in your lack of punctuality," Lisa reads.
"What an ass." I fold my hands together, taking in a deep breath.
Lisa shakes her head. "I wonder why he won't just pick someone else to bother. What are you, like fifty employees?"
"Thirty-five," I say under my breath.
Imagine my luck then.
"Exactly. You're a piece of eye candy, baby girl, trust me, but I'm sure several other women will meet his tastes too, given his disposition to… philandering." Lisa shakes some pepper into her own serving of pasta. "So, why you? It's like you have prey plastered across your forehead."
"I pity his family," I say.
"They don't deserve such a creep," Lisa agrees.
"No one does. Honestly, maybe you're right. Not that stuff about me looking like a predator's meal. But about leaving that place; and getting out of his hair. He's an asshole but he scares me."
"The person that sent you that text doesn't scare you?" Lisa asks incredulously.
I thought we had forgotten about that.
I tried all day to try to get that off my mind. When I told Lisa about the text earlier, she just grew quiet and then she was finishing her glass of alcohol.
"It's not like whoever sent that text said he would kill me," I interrupt.
Lisa looks like she does not believe me right now. "Someone that makes threats like that can and has killed people. He's a dangerous person. He has your number. And he knows you. Knows your former workplace. Knew where you were when he sent you that text. And...he sort of likes you? I don't know..." She runs her hand through her curly brown hair.
"Oh shit."
"Bitch, you're screwed."
It's my turn to chug alcohol down my throat like it's water.
"But why do you attract creeps?" Lisa asks me and I send her a glare. "First, your boss and now this?"
"Do you think he's the one that broke in?"
"I don't know," Lisa says. "You're the one who witnessed the break in."
"I didn't see anyone. I just think I heard the front door open...and footsteps. More than one person." My hand grips my glass now.
"So, your problems are more than one now."
Not helping, I want to tell Lisa. But my gaze cuts to the front of Carlo's Pot. The front of the restaurant is a transparent stretch of glass wall that gives a clear view of the street. Right now, there are several people outside the restaurant, milling about the street, but I notice a shadow far from the rest, far from the light. He's tall, looks muscular under all that black. His face is concealed in the darkness. Behind him is a sleek, high-end car.
The black of the car is so deep, so dark, like pure poison and something tells me the owner, the man who stands in front of it now, is very dangerous.
The city is full of dangerous people everywhere, whether they look it or not, so that should not worry me...too much. The concerning part is that it seems- looks like- this man's gaze is on me.
In fact, the realization has the baby hairs on the back of my neck rising and my heart beat racing… From fear- Lisa just let me know that there's something absolutely wrong and I might be in danger- but also from intrigue.
I've never wanted to know more about some stranger than I do now.
"Nicole!"
I whip my head quickly to face Lisa, my eyes wide with fear. "What?"
She stares back at me weirdly. "You were gone for like a minute."
I blink. Oh. "There was a guy at the parking lot."
"How can you be checking guys out at a time like this?"
"I wasn't even able to see his face." I slap a hand across my face. "I mean, I wasn't checking him out. This one… there was something weird about him. Turn right now and you'll see him."
Lisa turns back and then she faces me. "Which of the weirdos at the parking lot do you mean?"
While that is uncharitable, Lisa has always had a sharp tongue like me, but she takes it further by having a savage personality. I don't even have the balls to smile, because I was somewhat shaken a few seconds ago.
I turn to face the glass and point out the mysterious man, but he's gone. There are just two men on one side of the porch of Carlo's Pot, discussing as they smoke. There is a woman coming inside the restaurant with her toddler. Some group of three friends laugh drunkenly as they walk past the street.
The car is gone too.
"Nicole." There is concern in Lisa's eyes.
No. Not that look. She's looking at me like I would probably look at myself now. Like I'm crazy.
"He was there. Some guy dressed in all-black," I say defensively.
"That's it, we need to call your brother. I don't want you going off the deep-end on my watch." Lisa takes her glass up and finishes her drink.
"But rather on his watch?" I shake my head dramatically at her. "I'm not sure he'll like it, seeing as you're trying to court him and all." I cackle slightly. "I would have put in a good word for you."
"Fine," Lisa says, blowing a huff of air. "We need to get to the bottom of this. I'm going to stay with you tonight. Any monsters or apparitions that try to mess with you tonight will have to go through me."
I hug her from across the table. "Love you."
"I'm sure you do. Send your brother a text now. Tell him it's a near-death situation and he should call right now."