Audrey Hepburn's Pearls: Part II

Chapter 112.2: 1995, Ruiz

Chapter 112.2: 1995, Ruiz

Near the end of our shift, I was drying a dish when Tony stopped what he was doing. I looked up and he was staring at my face. He seemed so serious, so I stopped what I was doing, too.

He stared at me for what seemed like a long time, so I started to blush.

"What?" I asked, quietly. I put the dish down on the stack next to me and waited to pick up another one, but he didn't resume washing. I couldn't work if he didn't. Nervousness overcame me as I stared down at my empty sink. I couldn't tell him what to do.

"Um, I wasn't going to ask." His gaze didn't waver as I glanced back up at him. I stared down at my sink harder.

"What did you want to ask?" I picked up my dish towel and wrung it out, but it didn't need to be wrung out.

"What happened to your face?" He continued to stare and I blushed harder. Oh. It had stopped hurting this morning so I ignored it like everything else. I just wanted to go to work. Forget about it...that it even happened. Like it was a dream. He seemed to notice my blushing maybe, and looked down at his sink, too. He picked up a dish and started washing it. Over the noise of the faucet he spoke again, muffled now. "I wasn't going to ask, because you said you were okay."

So he had noticed this morning, when I said I was okay. He had gone on talking, so I thought he hadn't noticed or forgot about it. I guess not.

He swallowed, handed me the dish to dry. I was glad to do something with my hands. Glad to have something else to focus on.

He sighed and I felt him staring again, a creepy feeling on my neck. I looked back at him.

"You..." He was nervous now, his voice a little wavering. "You have a massive black eye. Your lip is wounded. You have bruises and cuts on your cheeks. What... what happened?" These last two words were dripping with concern. Like I was his little sister and he wanted to beat up the guy who did it, but had to take care of her first. I didn't know how to feel about that. He paused, then added quickly, "how did you get through work with your face like that? Doesn't it hurt?" More gentle now.

I didn't know how to respond. What do you say to that? I was just numb about it. It was like all the feelings from this morning were gone, and I just wanted to dry these dishes then switch off and wash some more.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I looked up at him and his eyebrows were tweaked. He felt bad for me, and it made my eyes pinch at the corners. "I don't know," I sighed.

"You don't know what happened? Were you drunk?"

"No."

"Then, what... They look fresh."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

He continued to wash his dishes. A little while later a bus boy came by and piled more dishes into his sink. I was glad about that. And twenty minutes later, it was time to go home. I never wanted to go home more. Miss Cha Cha would be there, but she'd probably be doing business stuff at the kitchen table. Georgina would be eating lunch in her room. I wanted to sit with her. It was comforting. She needed somebody, too.

I was thinking about that as I cleaned up the sinks, when Tony came back with his dark blue backpack over his shoulder. He startled me as he spoke again.

"You know what, I think I'd better take you home." He was doing the big brother voice again. Full of concern.

"It's okay." I was staring at the sinks, unblinking. My arm was going, forcefully thrusting into the corners of my sink again and again. I made to go to his sink and his arm was on my arm and I started so bad that tears came to my eyes. Where had that response come from? I wrenched my arm away and held it.