A Girl's Guide to Being Jilted | ✓

08 | In Which The Unexpected Happens

It was already dark when I heard a horn.

I was in my bathroom deciding whether to leave my thick, voluminous curls flowing or just put it up.

Remembering how it got all tangled up under the rain — most especially the hour I spent trying to untangle it — I decided to pile the entirety of it up in a high bun.

After a quick swipe of lip gloss I stepped back and surveyed my outfit in the bathroom mirror on the wall.

I picked a short red plaid skirt with fishnets and a black grunge band top that showed a fair amount of my cleavage. Coupled with a pair of red and black Converses, the only sliver necklace I owned that wasn’t from Antonio and golden hoop earrings, I was ready for a night out.

I stared at my reflection, especially the way the dab of eyeliner I’d managed to put on looked weird against my coffee brown eyes.

I reached for a washcloth to clean it off when my stepfather opened the door.

I shrieked out of habit until I remembered I was fully dressed. Lloyd shrieked too and hid behind the door, using it to shield his face.

“Oh my God! I am so sorry, Denise. I didn’t see anything I swear.”

“Relax will ya? It’s ok, you can come in.”

“No, I think I’ll just stay in here,” he told me and left the vicinity of the door.

I rolled my eyes and opened the medicine cabinet. “I want to believe there’s a reason you’re here, Lloyd.”

Immediately I got here I had told Lloyd plain and simple that I would not be calling him dad today, tomorrow or anytime in the foreseeable future.

I took out my evening pills and swallowed them with a glass of water I brought in here.

“Um, yeah, Felix’s son is here for you.”

“His name is Mateo.”

I fluffed my bun, took in my side profile before joining Lloyd in my room.

“Right,” he chuckled. “I always seem to forget all these exotic names.”

He’d splayed himself over my chair and was toying with a pencil from my desk.

“Well then I say it’s time to consider retirement because the name only has five letters.”

I snatched my pencil from him and dropped it on my table.

“How do I look?” I asked, stepping back.

I didn’t really need his opinion but I found it was much easier to talk to him than my mom.

“Um . . .” he cleared his throat. I noticed he did that when he felt awkward. Which was all the time. He was like a teenage girl about to text her crush around me.

“Never mind,” I told him to spare him from having to answer. I walked up to my bedside table and unplugged my phone from where it had been charging.

“I didn’t mean it like that. You look great,” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Whatever,” I stuffed my wallet and phone in my back pocket and then I was ready to go. “Well, get out of this room and I’ll be back soon.”

“How soon?”

“I have no idea,” with that I opened the door and exited my room.

I started down the stairs to the kitchen and found Matty already sitting with my mom.

“Hey!” He greeted as soon as I appeared.

Matty had changed from his previously soaked attire and was now donning an all black ensemble. The golden zippers on his leather jacket caught the light every time he moved his broad frame.