"Hey, Josh." I hear her greet him. She's talking to that kid again? Or is it another Josh? She giggles about something he said. "Yes, I'll be there Wednesday. What time? Wouldn't Saturday make more sense? It's not right to have to rush our time to hang out. Hahaha! I know!" I'm aware that I shouldn't have my ear pressed to her door, eavesdropping on her phone call. "I'm sure I have an older cousin listening in." She knows so I walk away, making it seem as I hadn't been there to begin with. This torments me because I'm certain that she's just going to get hurt.
I pick up my private line and dial a friend's number to vent. "Hello?"
"Joey, it's Chris."
"Hey, man! What's up?"
"Remember how I told you about 'Drya?"
"That she likes this Josh kid and he broke her heart before they even got involved?"
"Yes! I think she's talking to him again."
"How do you know?"
"She's on the phone with a Josh and I guess you could say I'm almost certain that it's that one."
"You eavesdropped on her call?" he asks, knowing me a bit too well.
"Well, I only listened through the door," I sheepishly admit, rubbing the back of my neck as I sit in my beanbag chair near my desk.
"Still eavesdropping, regardless of how you slice it." He had to remind me, make me feel guilty. "I understand that you feel like you need to protect her, but you need to let her grow up, be her own person, make her own mistakes, have her heart broken a few times."
I groan at this. "It kills me to see her hurt, Joey."
"She's almost 14, man. She has to go through it just like we did, it's like a right of passage for most teenagers."
"I know, it kills me to see her in emotional turmoil."
We agree to meet up the next day after work, planning to go clubbing since I turned 21 a few months earlier and I had to back out our previous plans on my birthday because 'Drya and my youngest two sisters had gotten the flu, mom wouldn't admit she needed help but I knew better.
I head downstairs and stop halfway, hearing 'Drya talking to my mom about her weekend plans with some friends. She's going to stay at Justin's with Josh, Britney and Christina. I dou-mom just approved it?! I can't fucking believe it! Mom is letting her go! I know she's a responsible teenager and hasn't done anything to prove that we shouldn't trust her. Mom stipulates that she has to take Molly or Kate, she whines and refuses. "Auntie! I'll call before we go anywhere and when we get back to Justin's, I'll even stay near Josh or Miss Harless! Please!" she argues, following my mom into the family room in the back half of the house.
I hear mom let out a frustrated sigh, signaling Pookie has won this disagreement. "Fine, Cassandrya! You best ensure you call before leaving his mom's house and when you get back, I'll need to speak to Lynn each time you call to ease my nerves. Am I clear?"
"Si, titi! Gracias mucho!" she excitedly shouts, most likely hugging her and kissing her cheek. She runs to the bottom of the steps and spots me. "Eavesdropping again?"
"Is it the same Josh?"
"Yes, we have agreed to just be friends until I'm at least 18 and I explained it to titi." Her arms are folded against her body, major attitude ever present when it comes to me and I know it's due to rebellion aimed at me.
"What happens after that?" I'm nosy as hell, I know.
"What happens will happen."
She begins tearing me a new hole in Spanish, fluent in that and English. Mom hears her and warns her to call her friends, mom will deal with me snooping. I head into the family room, ready to face my second chewing out session. "Christopher, she's 13 and has so much more to experience. She's done soccer and basketball cheering for the past two years, beautifully at all times. She is on vacation and she had showed me her completed homework, earning her the last five days of it spent with friends," mom explains, never once raising her voice from it's soft tone as I follow her to the laundry room to help her with it.
"She told you that she and Josh might hook up in five years?"
"Si, papichulo. She'll be 18 before they attempt a relationship beyond what they have now." She folds a sheet, handing it to me and I put it in the linen closet to my right. "I gave you the same freedom."
"Mom, I only had one good friend."
"Sé que, sé que. Angelo has always been good to you. Speaking of that boy, he called looking for you. He will be flying here Friday and I told him that he can stay with us till he gets on his feet," she rattles off, hoping to say it and I wouldn't catch it immediately.
"Angelo's coming to visit?" I ask, completely shocked. "That's only three days from now! Do we really have the room?"
"The storage room could be organized and turned into one, should just take a day."
I remember that it's the room Pookie and I had fought over when we got here. Molly and Kate share a room and Taylor has one with Emily, the only ones having their own rooms are Pookie and I. That leaves two other rooms-the storage one and the one beside me. "Angelo can take the one next to mine," I offer, reminding her of the other room she had clearly forgotten.
"Si, that's right there's one more empty room. Pero, mijo, a bed is the problem."
I rack my brain on this one. "I can ask around to see if someone knows where to get one cheap."
"You do that. Thank you, Christopher." She kisses my forehead and hands me more sheets and blankets she had folded during our conversation.
I meet up with Joey and explain everything that's going on this weekend, not forgetting to mention the thing Pookie has planned and that my childhood friend is coming here in the same weekend. "Sounds like a busy weekend," he comments as our cab pulls up to the club he had chosen.
I meet up with a hot chick and dance my ass off with her, enjoying my borrowed few hours of freedom.
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