Mysterious

Chapter 7

Arissa heard a knock on her door the next evening. She was not expecting anyone or anything so she was shocked to hear the knock the door. If it was anyone it would be Anna, Natalia or her mother bringing her something for dinner.

She opened to door to find her ex-boyfriend, Robert, standing at the door with a dozen roses and a soccer ball in his hand. "These are for you..." he handed her the roses. "And then I thought maybe you could come with us and play soccer. We need another girl. Rachel's out because of the baby..."

"Oh...umm...thanks...but...I'm really tired." she looked down at her clothes and realized she was wearing his old high school tennis shirt and a pair of running shorts. Damn. But it was comfy. Fuck him. "You caught me after I put on my pajamas...."

"Oh come on, Rissy..it's only 7:30. The game starts at 8:45."

"I said no. I don't want to go." He walked over to her and touched her face. She backed up away from him moving his hand.

"Arissa, please..." he pleaded touching her again. This time he leaned in to kiss her. She got tense and pulled away from him. She ran to her room, took off the shirt she was wearing quickly, threw it at him and started to yell.

"Get out of my apartment right now."

"Who are these flowers from? And your necklace? What the hell, Arissa? What have you been doing? You really are a whore. You were just putting on a front for me." He opened the card next to the flowers and read it to himself."Bruno? Bruno? What the hell kind of name is that? Is he some ghetto Mexican guy from the westside you met while you and your chola friends went to Empire? God Arissa. You really have no class."

"Get the hell out of my apartment. Now." the last piece of his insult really stung. Tears started to roll down her cheek.

"No wonder I met you online...." he trailed off slamming the door.

She slunk down on her couch in tears. Oh my god. Why would he show up like that? They didn't need a girl to play. Rachel would have texted me if they needed someone. He just needed to get laid. Of all the times in the world; I was finally gaining my confidence again. I don't know how much more of this I can take....She started to drift off into sleep, listening to the Style Network. Suddenly her phone vibrated. I don't want to look at it....but I probably need to look at it....Oh, my, god. Why would he call me again?\

"Hi Birthday girl minus 364 days!" he said in a happy voice when she picked up.

"Hi...how was your show tonight?" she asked him.

"It was great!" he described everything in detail for her. He was so happy. So different that she was. She sniffed to cover up a tear as he finished up talking about something Janelle had done that made everyone laugh that day. "Were you crying Arissa?" he stopped blabbering about his concert to talk to her.

"No, no. It's allergies." she covered up the sniff with a little white lie.

"You usually cut me off before I can get to the good part, Rissy, what's wrong?" he asked her concerned. The use of her nickname caused her arms to tingle. She still wasn't going to tell him what was going on, though.

"Nothing is wrong. I just have really bad allergies. That's all." she felt the tears come down her cheek.

"Those are not allergy tears, Arissa Henderson." he told her. "What happened today?" he asked her, still with concern in his voice.

"I don't want to talk about it. It's the past."

"When or if you want to talk about it you can tell me, Arissa, okay?"

"Okay."

"So you're coming to Vegas, right?" he asked her.

"What? You were serious?" she asked shocked.

"Yes! Serious!" he exclaimed.

"No, I'm not going to Vegas! That's weird, Bruno!"

"But...but...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...." he told her.

"Oh?" she questioned him thinking of his past.

"Yes! It stays in Vegas!"

"Okay...maybe." she responded. He told her the dates and that he would get everything together for her and whoever she wanted to bring – even if it was Anna and her boyfriend. She was surprised he was trying so hard at this. He didn't have to do any of this for her. She still didn't understand it. It was so weird. After talking about Vegas she asked him to tell her something she wouldn't have found online about him. He told her about his family and how he loved them all – how big it was and how he missed not seeing them all the time. She listened intently to everything. "Bruno...I don't want to fall asleep on the phone with you when you're telling me all this juicy stuff."

"Then don't fall asleep!" he laughed.

She yawned and started, "But I am going to fall asleep."

"Okay, okay, okay. I know you are. You have the world's best yawn. It could put anyone to sleep. Good night, Rissy."

"Good morning, Bruno." they hung up their phones.