The pain had moved to my upper back and now it hurt to breath. Maybe dancing wasn't such a good idea. I rolled out of bed with a groan and walked to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and changed quickly. I put two patches on this time. This pain had to go away somehow.
I started packing for the trip to Punta Cana. I was leaving with Tina in a few hours and I had two test today, might as well leave somethings ready.
I had breakfast in the cafeteria close to the house and then passed by the pharmacy to get more patches. I had to get through this pain somehow.
My first exam was fairly easy and quick, the other one which was French I had no idea how I was going to do it. I went to the building earlier to see if I could find one of my classmates to study with.
When the time for the exam came I was more confused than before. I did the best I could but I knew while I walked out the classroom that I might be forced to study more or to take it some other time.
I went straight home and finished packing for the trip. I didn't think about packing condoms because even though I was going to be alone with Tina, it wasn't among my intentions to have sex with her. I closed the gray carry on and placed on the floor.
"Fuck" I grunted because my back hurt when I carried the carry on. I sat down on the bed and placed my hand on the patch.
The door opened and Ivan walked in.
"Blake" he said and then saw where my hand was "what happened?" he asked looking at me. I looked to the floor and placed my hand in my lap "another fight, Blake?" he asked closing the door behind him.
He sat down next to me and kept staring at me, waiting for me to say something.
"It's nothing, I was practicing in the gym and got a little carried away" I said, shrugging and stood up walking to the closet and getting a t shirt out.
"Blake, you know that if you have any problem you can count on me, right?" I nodded not able to look at him "anyways, Jason told me you're leaving with Tina tomorrow?" he asked and I looked up. He was smiling.
"Yeah, I'm leaving with her" I answered smiling. I still didn't know how would I keep this lie up while we're alone. I mean, I liked Tina and by now, I liked her enough to do something stupid.
"Be careful with her" Ivan said with a concerned tone "Jason loves her and I wouldn't like to lose Jason because of your bet" he made emphasis in 'your' like he wasn't there when they decided it.
"I will" I answered with honesty. I didn't want to her Tina or Ivan or Jason. I didn't want anyone to get hurt but it was almost inevitable.
Ivan left after our short talk. I felt awful for not telling him the truth but I knew that the moment he found out I was involved in a illegal fight, he would kick me out. The worst part was that I had nowhere to go, the moment I got kicked out of the house, I'll be by myself. I might just live in my car. I think is the only option left.
My phone vibrated on the nightstand and I looked at it. It was a message from my bank letting me know that I had received a transfer of $1400 dollars from an unknown account. fuck. The money from the fight.
***
I drove to Tina's place with an uneasy feeling on my chest. I did what I did for the money but now that I realized all the consequences I don't want the damn money.
"Fuck" I murmured gripping the steering wheel tightly and looking at my phone on the seat next to me, almost as if it was some strange thing creeping on me.
I parked in Tina's building and took my carry on out. I walked inside the building with the feeling that I was being watched. I knew it was my mind playing tricks on me. The elevator was working so I took it, avoiding carrying the bag up the stairs with my pain.
When I got to Tina's floor, Jason and Olive were getting out of the apartment. They both greeted me with a smile. Tina walked them to the elevator while I left my bag in the room. My phone vibrated on my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen before answering. It was my dad.
"What's up, dad?" I said already knowing that he was calling me because of the money that was just transferred to my account.
"So, you first steal money from my company and then you waste it on buying a ticket to Dominican Republic" he was yelling, as per usual. I shook my head wondering why the fuck haven't I delinked our bank accounts "did you use my card?" he asked.
"No, I didn't use your card, dad" I answered with a long sigh "I swear I used my money"
"Where did you get those $1400 from?" he asked now. fuck me.
"What do you mean where I got it from? I have a job" that was the biggest lie I've ever told.
"That I know of, you only work for me" he remarked with a sarcastic tone. I rolled my eyes.
"I got a job with a friend" he laughed. I felt the anger rising up in my body. My hands were into fists already.
"Do they pay well?" he asked and I felt temped on answering sarcastically but to avoid more screaming I kept calm.
"Yes, it was a one time thing but I earned well" I said looking out the window of the room distracted.
"Hope you realize nothing's better than this company" he started with the same thing as always "you'll never find anything where you'll be good at, this is your only choice" my hands were trembling.
"Okay, fine" I hung up before he could keep going. I didn't need to lose my temper in front of Tina. I turned around to go find Tina.
I heard the bathroom door close when I stepped into the hallway.
"Tina?" I called her.
"Yeah?" she said from the bathroom.
"I'm thinking about ordering something to eat, do you want anything in special?" I asked leaning on the door with a smile on my face. She must be embarrassed to be having a conversation with me from the bathroom.
"Whatever you choose is fine" she replied. I nodded and walked to the living room.
I ordered a pizza. It was the quickest thing. I stood by the window while I talked. Tina's apartment had a nice view to the street. You could see the lights of the cars driving around the dark street. It reminded me of a poem that compared the streets lights to ghosts. I smiled distractedly.
Tina came into the living room and we waited for the pizza sitting on the couch, playing a game on her cellphone. She really was the biggest nerd I knew but it was kinda cute. I received the pizza and then went to the little corner store in the same block as Tina's to buy something to drink. I walked back to her building and took the stairs to get up faster.
When I was opening the soda, it sprayed everywhere because I moved it when I was running upstairs.
"Blake!" Tina squealed running out of the kitchen. I ran after her and hugged her, covering her on soda just like I was "Stop!" she said laughing and trying to get away from.
"Come on, is just a little bit of soda" I said hugging her tighter. She stopped fighting and stayed on my arms. I leaned down and kissed her. She kissed me back and bit my bottom lip "ouch!" I complained. She smiled and kissed me again.
We sat down in the living room, still covered in soda and ate the pizza. I got inside the bathroom first to take a shower while Tina cleaned the mess. When I got out of the shower I didn't take my clothes inside with me so I walked out of the bathroom with only the towel around me. Tina rolled her eyes at me and then got inside the bathroom.
After Tina showered, we laid in bed. We had to be up at 12 AM but I wasn't sleepy and I didn't think she was sleepy either. Still, we just laid in bed giving each other our backs. Tina moved and I knew she was awake but I didn't want to bother her. After a couple of more minutes of silence, I spoke. We talked for a few and then we fell asleep.
***
At 12 Tina wanted to order an Uber but I insisted so much on driving that at the end she agreed. I didn't mind paying $25 dollars to leave it in the airport.
We did the whole process of boarding pretty quick since none of us were carrying a big bag. Tina did pretty much everything since I was more asleep than awake. She made fun of me for being so cranky but who wouldn't be cranky with so little sleep.
We boarded the plane on time but got delayed because the pilot was running late. I distracted myself by staying on my phone, not really doing anything in particular. I was very inpatient, I didn't like waiting for anything and planes made me nervous too.
Tina seemed pretty calmed but she had confessed last night that she was scared of flying. I held her hand when we took off but quickly fell asleep. In my dreams, Tina was on top of me on the beach with a blue bathing suit loosely tied and her cheeks light red because of the sunburn.
"I love you" she whispered leaning down and kissing me. I smiled and placed my hand on her lower back pressing her against me.
Someone tapping on my shoulder interrupted my dream. I opened my eyes and saw Tina looking at me. I felt my a hotness in my face.
"We're here" she said with a smile. I nodded and looked around, there was line of people in the hallway waiting for the plane door to open so they could get off the plane.
After the line went down a little bit, we stood up and walked down the isle. The flight attendants and the pilot said goodbye in Spanish.
We walked down the hallway and took like ten set of stairs before we got to immigrations. Since Blake was a visitor we had to go through the line of visitors and pay the $10 dollar taxes.
"Buenos dias" said the lady in front of me and I went blank. I didn't know one single bit of Spanish.
"Hola" was the only thing I was able to say and it sounded kind of weird.
Tina carried on the conversation from there. She smiled and laughed with the lady and I only looked at them talking. The lady smiled and gave us our passports back.
"What did she say?" I asked Tina when we left immigration.
"That you are adorable" she said chuckling. I took her hand as we walked down the hallways towards the exit.
The Dominican airport had a little runaway for you to walk once you were out. It made me laugh that there were tons and tons of people waiting by each side of the path. They cheered when they saw their families and rushed inside to hug them.
Tina rushed towards someone and I supposed it was her parents. I followed closely, mostly because she was still holding me hand and only let go once we were in front of her parents. Her dad picked her up the floor and hugged her tightly. Her mom smiled at me warmly.
"Hello sir" I greeted her dad suddenly feeling really nervous. My heart was pumping really hard on my chest. I extended my hand to shake his.
"Hi Blake" he said surprising me but he did not smile or laugh or show any type of emotion to be honest "you can call me Tom, no need for the 'sir' thing" I nodded and he finally shook my hand.
Tina hugged her mom and they remained like that for a few moments. I heard her mom giggling on Tina's ear. They looked like sisters to be honest.
We walked to the car in silence. Tina said something in Spanish when we were getting inside the car. I didn't want to ask her. Once we were all in the car, Tina was having a conversation with her dad. By the tone in her dad's voice, he wasn't happy. I didn't want to bring problems to Tina.
I stared out at the sea, it was of a intense greenish-blueish color. It looked absolutely beautiful. We were on the car for about half an hour until we reached a pretty nice neighborhood with big houses with multiple cars parked in the front. We stopped in front of a white house with a lot of trees and bushes in the front. It had a big chandelier in the porch and a big brown door.
We hopped off and I took Tina's and my suitcase. We walked inside and Tina went upstairs almost immediately, leaving me in the living room with the suitcases.
"Blake!" her mom called me from the bottom of the stairs "come" she said and started walking upstairs murmuring something in Spanish. We passed three closed doors and stopped in the last one "this will be your room" she said opening the door and walking in "there's clean towels in the bathroom and more blankets and pillows in the closet" she smiled and walked to the door "get comfortable" she left closing the door behind her.
I opened my bag and took out the patches, putting on two and laying on the bed for a while. Carrying the suitcases upstairs made my back hurt.
Tina must've been very tired to go to bed straight way. I looked to the door and wondered which one was her room. Could I sneak in without her parents knowing? Probably I should't do that but it was tempting. After a couple of more minutes laying on the bed, I decided to walk downstairs. I didn't want to be with her dad by myself but I had to do it, eventually.
Tom was in the living room reading the newspaper. The house smelled like bacon and garlic. I wondered what they were cooking.
"Oh, Blake" Tom said when he realized I had walked inside the room "Sit down" he said putting the newspaper on the couch next to him and looking at me. I did so and looked around avoiding his stare "so, what's your major, Blake?" he asked making me look at him.
"Law, sir" I answered and quickly added "Tom, sorry" he smiled and leaned back on the couch.
"Do you practice any sports?" he asked studying me with his eyes. I gulped nervously.
"Football" I said with a shy smile "Since high school" he nodded and looked away. Tina's mom walked in then.
"Has he scared you off, yet?" she asked with a smile. She had a thick accent but her English was fine. I smiled shaking my head no. She laughed and sat down next to Tom. He held her hand almost immediately.
"Do you live by yourself or with your parents, Blake?" I gulped and twisted my hands uncomfortably.
"I live in a frat house, ma'am" when I answered Tom looked at me and Tina's mom too. They both tried to hide their expression but I knew what they were thinking "It's a sports frat house" they nodded and looked away.
After that uncomfortable moment, we kept talking about football and school. They asked me how much longer until I graduated and I realized I only had three more years left. They congratulated me for my achievement of becoming part of the team at a young age. Tina's mom asked me to call her Marcia. Tina came down after a while. She had that sleepy face I loved so much.
"Hey sleeping beauty" I greeted her with a smile. She didn't smile back but I saw her cheeks turning pink.
***
We ate and chatted about school and her dad made the question me and Tina did not think about. Tina came up with a story about how we met, it sounded credible but her did not like it. I just kept eating in silence, avoiding their eyes.
After lunch, I helped Tina's mom with the dishes while she and her dad made the coffee. We had kind of dessert with the coffee and then her parents left. They had to go do some errands. Once we were alone Tina looked at me.
"Why didn't we think about that questions?" she asked and looked at the door. She looked tense. I walked towards her and held her hand. She looked at me "You should've said something" I smiled and leaned down to kiss her.
We left minutes later after her parents left. Tina bragged about how I've never seen her driving while we walked towards her mom's car.
"I've never seen you cuming either" I said with a smile and saw how she turned red. She avoided my eyes.
We drove around for a while, Tina showed me the oldest part of the city and then drove me to a mall. We had some tropical fruit shakes, that were delicious and walked around the mall for a while. It was huge and full of people.
Then we drove home and Tina went to take a shower. I had brought Tina's mom a little perfume that I left in the living room. I walked up to my room and crashed on the bed. My back and ribs didn't hurt that much anymore.