Hector (27 page)

Drew’s huge smile disappeared. “Charlee, you have to hear it.
It’s
awful
. Like a horse
spazzing
out or something.” The huge smile was back instantly,
and she waved her hands in front of her. “Anyway, I ran into him the other day.
When we’d gone out, I talked about my dad collecting old records but how hard
they are to get these days. He’d told me about some place in East L.A. that
still sells all that. Long story short, he took me there today. Sounds of Music
in the heart of East L.A, totally retro record store, something out of Pretty in
Pink. So I go up to the register and pay, and there are all these flyers and
stuff on the counter. Then I notice the pictures under the Plexiglas. Photos of
what looked like the guy behind the counter with some rappers and singers, and
then there it was—a photo of the guy and Hector standing by a boxing ring.”

Charlee rolled her eyes. She knew it. They were back to this.

Drew placed her fist on her hip. “Charlee, you promised you
wouldn’t be difficult.”

Scrunching up her nose, Charlee thought about it for a second. “I
never promised that.”

“Well, you should.” Drew jumped off the bed and reached for her
purse. “Just listen to me. This gets better.” She pulled a small flyer-like
card out of her purse. “I asked the guy if he knew Hector, and he said Hector and
some of the other guys from 5
^th
Street used to go in there often
since
it’s
right up the street. Then he handed me
this.”

Charlee glanced down at the card Drew was holding out cautiously.
“What is it?”

“Read it,” Drew shook it in front of her.

Charlee took it and read the header.

Friday night
fights @ 5th Street

This Friday -- Quintanilla Vs machado

“The guy said Quintanilla is one of the other owners of 5
^th
Street.”

Drew didn’t have to tell her. Charlee already knew all about Noah
Quintanilla—one of Hector and his brother’s partners and childhood friends. She
had, after all, become the queen of Google-stalking. She lifted her eyebrow at
Drew almost afraid to ask.

“You said the guys in the chess team have talked about having
gone back to watch more fights since Hector’s, right?”

Charlee nodded, looking back down at the card, continuing to read
the rest of the details as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. She wouldn’t
tell Drew, but she already knew about Friday Night Fights at 5
^th
Street. The internet knew
everything
.
But she hadn’t mentioned it before for this very reason.

“So I didn’t know it was like this weekly thing, and it’s not
only open to the public but they actually promote it on the radio and
everything. They
want
people coming.”

Oh no
. Charlee could
already feel the uneasiness creep up her spine. As much as she’d try to fight
this, she knew that Drew was always so damn convincing
and
unwavering.

“The best part is the guy down at Sounds of Music said it’s this
big thing in the area on Friday Nights and there are always all these backyard
parties after the fights. A lot of the trainers and even
boxers
show up to them.” Drew’s eyes were as bright as Charlee had
ever seen them. “Of course, I asked if Hector goes, and he said, ‘yes’!” She weaved
her head a little from side to side then admitted. “Not always, of course, but
the guy said he’s been known to show up. That doesn’t even matter though. What
matters is
you
may not have noticed,
because you were so preoccupied watching Hector the whole time, but there were
a bunch of hot guys there watching the fight last time. I’m sure they’re there every
week.”

Charlee began to protest, but Drew was quick to stop her, holding
up her hand. The girl had obviously come here prepared for an argument. She
knew Charlee too well. “If nothing else, maybe you’ll meet someone else.
Hell,
maybe I’ll meet someone there.”
Drew made a pouty face. “You wouldn’t deprive me of the opportunity to possibly
meet a
hottie
boxer or trainer?”

Exhaling and feeling defeated, Charlee countered with the only
thing she could think of. “What about Maurice? I thought you said you liked
him.”

Drew shook her head,
tsking
. “I was
beginning to, but he blew it.”

Charlee pinched her brows. This was the first she’d heard of this.
“What did he do?”

Drew explained about the odd text she’d received from him just that
morning, telling her his body was still recovering from the night they’d had
last night. Problem was Drew hadn’t seen him in days. She didn’t seem too
broken up about it, but it was enough that she said she was done with him. That
only reminded Charlee how Hector had never even bothered asking her for her
number.

“It’s not like we’d agreed to be exclusive or anything, but the
lengths he went to try to cover it up were such a turn off.” She made a gagging
noise. “I would’ve had more respect for him if he’d just fessed up from the
beginning as he tried to do later when he finally figured out I wasn’t buying
it. Then he tried to act as if he was being all noble about coming clean and
he’d sent the text to the wrong girl.” She shrugged. “Whatever! He was a good
kisser, but I never felt anything like what you said you felt when Hector
kissed you.” She went all dreamy eyed and sighed. “I think I’ll hold off until
I find someone that makes me feel that way too.”

Not wanting to look at Drew anymore, Charlee glanced back down at
her laptop. She knew her friend meant well, but she hated when Drew brought up
Hector’s kisses. And she did it a lot—each time with that same wistful
expression she wore now. Charlee didn’t need constant reminding of those kisses—kisses
she may never get to experience again.

“So,” Drew stood up off the bed.
“You and me.
Friday night. 5th Street.” She lifted her hand before Charlee could even begin
to protest. “I won’t take no for an answer, Charlotte Brennan. The last time
you went out was the night of Hector’s fight. I won’t let you do what you did
back home and sink into your lonely little cave.”

Charlee’s
shoulders slouched in defeat.
“I wouldn’t dream of arguing with you, Drew.”

“Good,” Drew smiled proudly, “because you’d never win. Now I’m
off to brainstorm in the shower.”

Charlee fell back on her pillow dramatically. “I wish you’d left
that last part out.”

“Okay,” Drew winked at her. “Forget I said that then. I’m off to enjoy
the vibrating handheld shower.”

Charlee’s
jaw dropped, and then she burst
out laughing.
“T.M.I!”

“But I’ll do it while thinking of Hector,” Drew added as she
walked out the door.

That immediately shut Charlee up.

“You know what I meant!” Drew yelled from the hallway.

Charlee thought about it for a moment then smiled. She had no
idea what Drew had in mind exactly for Friday night, but her insides were already
beginning to bubble.

~*~

Hey stranger! I’ll be in town for a while. I know we sort
of lost touch, but I really would like to get together if anything maybe just
to grab a burger or something. Let me know if you’re up for it.

Hector sat in the gym’s office and read the text from
Lisa, tempted to ignore it as he had most of the other ones she’d sent him, ever
since he’d figured out she was seeing someone else. The only ones he ever did
respond to were the ones that had no flirtatious undertones whatsoever. He
didn’t want her to think he was all bitter and shit, so he could still be
friendly, but he kept his responses short. He stared at his reply for a few
seconds before he responded

How long will you be in town?

Typically, he wouldn’t be so
uptight about knowing if the girls he hooked up with were doing so with him
exclusively. Since he never made any promises himself, he didn’t expect any in
return. He actually preferred it that way, but Lisa had been different. Even
though he didn’t feel even the tiniest bit of what he once thought he felt for
her, she wasn’t the kind of girl you hooked up with and then just dropped. He
already knew firsthand what it felt like to do that to a nice girl. Even though
Charlee pretended not to mind, actions spoke louder than words. They were
hardly speaking anymore, and Hector didn’t think that had much to do with what
he’d said about her and that guy. He saw it in her face now. She was hurt, and
it was a real shitty feeling.

His phone vibrated on the desk,
and he picked it up again.

A few weeks maybe longer.
I
haven’t decided.

That could only mean one thing. If she was texting him, wanting
to get together and she wasn’t sure how long she’d be around
and
she didn’t sound anxious to get back,
she must not be with the guy anymore. Hector wasn’t sure how he felt about
that. She
had
been a consideration
before she started seeing someone else.

Before he put too much thought into this, he’d get one thing
straight. The conversations they’d had even back when she was seeing the guy
but called him “just a friend” had been flirtatious in nature. For all Hector
knew she might still be seeing the guy.

After verifying that she was, in fact, broken up with her
boyfriend now and that she was out here alone staying with a friend who was
not
a dude, Hector agreed to meet up
with her, but not in an intimate one-on-one setting. He’d even told her to
bring her friend. Lisa had been a serious consideration before her boyfriend
came into the picture, but that was before Charlee. As frustrating as it was to
admit and as nice as it had been to kiss Lisa, it didn’t even come close to
what he’d felt when he kissed Charlee.

He’d learned his lesson already. The way he was still feeling
about Charlee there was no way he’d be considering anything serious with anyone
for a while. At least not with anyone like Lisa anyway—someone he knew that
like Charlee would not appreciate the one-night fling thing. And he wasn’t
about to add another thing to his already guilt-ridden conscience.

***

So far anything to do with the U.S. chess team had
consisted of conversations on Skype with the coaches and downloading tons of
apps they wanted Hector to use for training. With an impending trip coming up
in a few weeks to D.C. for one of their first meetings before the Jr. World
Olympiad, Hector was hoping to make things a little more amicable with Charlee.

They would be spending an entire weekend traveling together, and
since Hector, Walter, and Charlee were the only team members coming from Los
Angeles, they’d be on the same plane and sharing the same transportation to and
from the airports they arrived at. Not to mention they’d be put up in the same
hotels. And this would be happening with every event the U.S. team attended.
It’d be awkward at best if things between them continued the way they were now.
He didn’t want a repeat of the day before when they hadn’t spoken a word to
each other in the lab, so Thursday, Hector made it a point to sit next to her
in between games.

He’d planned on just making small talk—something simple and safe
about chess. But the second he took the seat next to her and she turned to him
with those big startled baby blues, the last thing he anticipated saying to her
flew out.

“I’m sorry.”

She stared at him, looking almost as stunned as he felt.
“About what?”

“About everything,” the vomit of the mouth began, but he now very
consciously wanted to finish, only he lowered his voice. Walter was a few
tables over, and he wanted to be absolutely sure he didn’t hear him. “About
that day I went off on you the way I did for talking to that guy.”

She shook her head. “No, I get why you were mad. And I only said
what I said that day because I wanted to avoid any violence. I figured if I
seemed agreeable he’d leave faster. But I don’t plan on being his friend or
anything.”

Hector gulped, staring into her eyes like he hadn’t been able to
in so long. He noticed how she didn’t conceal her freckles the way she had
tried to that night of the party, not even a little bit.

“And I’m sorry about being such an asshole about what happened
between us the night of my fight.” Her eyes widened at that. “I know you said
you’d forgotten about it, but—”

“I hadn’t.”

Her admission silenced them both momentarily. Then she spoke
again.

“I just . . .” she shrugged. “I just didn’t want you to think
that . . .”

“It hasn’t been my week all week.” Walter said, plopping across
from them.

Hector turned and glared at Walter. The guy couldn’t possibly
know what he’d just interrupted, but Hector felt like killing him anyway.

“First Dempsey beats me the other day, and then Samir pulls a
Charlee stunt on me just now, playing my own game against me.” He turned to
Hector, who was grinding his teeth already. “Like you, I never even saw what
hit me until he had me cornered.” Walter shook his head. “I’ve been slacking.
With all the time I’ve put into working out lately, I haven’t been doing much
research or even playing online. I’m getting rusty.”

Charlee sat up, smiling. “Well, you can’t do that, Walter. Our
first meeting with the U.S. team before the Jr. Olympiad is in a few weeks.”
She stood up and grabbed her sweater from the chair it hung on. “You need to start
training again.” She pulled her purse over her shoulder.

“You’re leaving already?” Both Walter and Hector asked at the
same time.

Walter and Hector glanced at each other, and for an instant,
Hector regretted sounding as desperate as Walter always did when she left
early. But he
did
feel desperate.

“Yeah, I’m going shopping with Drew tonight.” She smiled, holding
Hector’s gaze a little longer than she had since he told her to pretend nothing
ever happened then said goodbye and started for the door.