CHAPTER TWO - ONE TRUE FRIENDSHIP

MARIA

Someone once said that great friendships often begins with the littlest things.

We can fantasize about all the magical ways you can meet someone. 

The instant connections and the common interests, 

-but sometimes all it just really takes is just being at the right place at the right time.

And when that friendship is forged, those connections might blossom into something different

-something worthy.

Perhaps a radically beautiful bond.

Alas, all of this can only be hoped as you nurture that bond, making sure not to choke it, not to overwork as it grows.

There are bound to be thorns as though a flower, but it just might never really stop growing.

That's friendship.



MARIA

DURING THE INVESTIGATION - SIX MONTHS FROM NOW

"How did you meet Kaleo?" She asked.

I met her on the road, at a McDonald's " I sniffed before I wiped my tears.

"It was a quiet sunny day, one of those days that beamed with hope-"

"One of those days where you just can't expect the worst, that was when I met her" I said as I looked to her.

"She wore a yellow dress, with a very noticeable locket" She said.

"Did she ever talk about the locket?" She asked as she wrote something on a paper.

"Seldomly but I knew she wore it to almost everywhere" She paused before looking at me.

"Everywhere?" She asked and I nodded.

"She wasn't wearing a locket the day she died"

"Well, that's strange" I concluded.

****

I drove my car slowly into the lot of the famous McDonald's.

It was often an irony, that no matter how much money I had, the love for a cheap McDonald's burger really never left me.

My oval pair of earrings jingle on my shoulders as I stepped out of the car with my sinful red stilettos.

I turned around with a skirt that barely reached my knees as I locked the car.

I had recently just curled the hair that laid wavily on my shoulders, and my last accessory was a pair of glasses that hung on my camisole.

"Dang" A passerby murmured as I stood to take in some fresh air.

Walking hastily in those heels, I swung open the door as I made my way to the counter.

"My regular, One big Mac and a chilli cheese double" I paused, failing to acknowledge the queue.

"Yeah, that should be all" I said as I raised my glasses to my forehead.

I stood akimbo, as I awaited my bagged lunch.

"I'd just make some pasta for the kids" I said as I shrugged off the thought of getting them a snack.

"Your order will be right over in a second" The attender said with his very noticeable British accent.

There wasn't a day that I came here, that it did not remind me of Ruby.

Under this same roof, and though it might not have been under a very welcome circumstance, it had forged a friendship.

A friendship that turned to my blessing and to family.



As I struggled with cash, my phone buzzed.

Rubs: Leaving the club a minute

Me: Left for some lunch, sure you can't wait? ✅

Rubs: McDonalds? Actually it's an errand, school stuff

Me: Still swing by later?

Rubs: Never missing Aal's party for anything in this world ):

Me: Thought so, later.

Rubs: gif.

Me: virtual kisses too!

****

As I reached for the cashier's hand, the moments of two years back flooded back into memory.

TWO YEARS AGO

I turned around with my wallet in my hands, before someone unconsciously knocked it over.

I turned around to the very shy young adult as she battled with her tripped bag.

"I'm sorry" She muttered under her breath as she quickly reached for my cards on the ground.

"See what you did there, clumsy imbecile" Someone said to her, giving her a push.

Her moist eyes smeared her makeup as her hair dropped unto her shoulders.

"Such a clumsy bitch" Another remarked hurtfully as he deliberately spilled the ketchup on her bright yellow dress.

"Oops" He said mischievously as he laughed to his friends.

I was dragged into the obscure scene as I worried more about the girl and less about my stained designers.

"Back off" I said the barely college aged boys before a supervisor walked out.

It took a while before I realized that the guys tormented her, for being different.

I noticed her grab a cracked locket from the ground before she decided to storm off.

"She crying off" He remarked.

"You heard me, and I don't like repeating myself" I said before they whistled.

"Looks like she got her latina maid" Another offensively objectives as he turned to leave.

"Hell no" I dragged him by the collar of his shirt just as he was about to disperse.

"What's going on here?" The supervisor asked, staring at the messed grounds.

"How old are you? 15? 16?"I asked, holding him close to my gnashing teeth.

" Do you have a job to do than just to pick on the random strangers you meet?" I asked as he struggled against my tight grip.

"You're pathetic, your life is pathetic and this whole show you're putting on to make you seem cool is even more pathetic" I said.

"I would've demanded your apology but I'd rather you save it for your mother, for having to raise a wretch like you" I said.

I pushed to the ground as i walked past my spilled lunch and his deflated ego.

The spite that glowed in his eyes melted into tears before he ran off.

"Ma'am" The supervisor called.

****

PRESENT

"Ma'am" The cashier called to my attention as I zoned out for a bit.

"There's a line" Someone muttered from behind the queue.

"Here's your order" He said.

"Keep the change" I said as I turned around.

Until I stopped and I looked to the ground, the exact same spot of two years back.

And maybe it was just my eyes but that stain was never really wiped off.

I'm happy I found someone like Ruby.

DURING THE INVESTIGATION

"I was happy because that day I ran into the lot and there she was" I told her as she scribbled something unto the paper.

"I offered her a change of clothes and a new friendship" I said as I cupped my chin.

"She was new here but she held unto that locket as she hugged me" I added.

"Kaleo, she said. And then I told her Maria. That was how I met Ruby" I concluded.

"It was not in a club, nor in a bar. Just in the famous McDonald's" I whispered.

****

I pulled my Honda Acura over as I took a moment to pause.

I wrapped my hands around the steering wheel before I placed my head gently to it.

I was unexplainably nauseated as i placed my food on the passenger's seat.

My appetite was gone and it was in regret that I turned off the engine.

"Te vas a quedar ahi?" She said as she opened the car doors.

"Are the kids back?" I asked as I stepped out.

"Good afternoon?" She said as she closed the door.

"My bad, how was your day?" I asked.

"Same as always, just came back from work" She said as she grabbed my bag.

"Their bus hasn't arrived yet" She said.

"No te ves muy bien" She said.

"I don't feel too good, just want to grab some medicines" I said as I walked across the kitchen.

"You're headed out again?" She asked.

"Actually, I just need to get some party stuff for a little get-together later" I said.

"So you'll be coming late?" She asked.

"I can't tell for sur-"

"You're exhausted, you still want to go and get some stuff?" She raised her voice.

I ran my glass under the tap before drinking off the tablet I placed in my mouth.

"They need me at the club" I said.

"I don't know why you still manage two indignifying jobs" She said.

"Excuse me?" I turned to her.

Then the bus honked at the front porch.

"Whatever I do, I do it for us" I said.

"No vuelvas a levantarme la voz" She said.

"You know it's to make some money for the family, right?" I said.

"There are other ways to make mone-"

"Running a library like you do is enough to put food on our table, pay the never ending bills" I said.

"Is it enough to more than want a better life for my kids?" I said.

"No. I'm tired of always saying this" I said.

"You think there's anyone that's willing to employ an uneducated Latina woman here in Miami" I replied with shrugged shoulders.

"Mama" Rafael yelled with a frantic hug.

"Come here, Mateo" I held unto him.

"Abuela" They yelled, on sighting their grand mother.

"I try to give them the best, so they won't have to go through to half the shit we went through" I said as they walked into the kitchen.

"Remember coming here, to America" I said.

"That's not the kind of life I want for them and I do t expect you to understand" I said as I grabbed my bags from the counter.

"Atleast you should get used to it" I said.

I walked out into the rather uncomfortable weather before walking into my car.

She stood by the door as I reversed unto the roads but she didn't wave goodbye.

****

It's okay for these bonds to falter, to be over-worked.

To be stressed to their breaking points.

-because it's at the worst of times, the times when all seems bad, that friendship is tested.

And we can hope that it might be strong enough, as family.



TWO YEARS AGO

"Well, to me there are two people in this world-" I said to her.

"The people that give bullshit and the people that take them" I said and she laughed.

"That is why I try not to take any bullshit. I'm the I make my rules kind of bitch" I said and we laughed.

"It was like reliving those days of high school. Boys are horrible people" She said.

"Well most people that say that often forget that they know people on that same table that they judge" I replied.

"My dad was horrible, and I hardly keep any friends especially after I dropped out" She said.

"So what brings you to Miami, Kaleo?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Pursue your dreams?" I guessed and she shook her head.

"Actually, I want to go to college. Maybe have a chance at real life" She said as she placed her burger to the table.

"We'll, that is an irony. Miami is more for the party goers, the dream chasers" I said.

"More like a chance to escape my past" She said.

"You must have some past" I said and she laughed.

"Don't we all?" She asked.

"I have my own share of dark secrets, how about we talk. I have the whole day" I said.

~

"He'll often throw my mum across the room but seldomly really touches me" She said.

"So you fled?" I asked.

"I think I've really said enough, see why is said men were horrible" She said to me.

"Kaleo, you can trust me" I reassured her and she looked away.

I had forgotten she had only just met me sk I reached out to her palms.

"I'm an escort, more of a stripper though" I said and she laughed.

"That is your dark secret?" She remarked.

"There are also some things I'm not really proud of" I said.

"I run a group, we're like low level sex workers but without the sex. We just extort money from people" I said.

"-sexually" I concluded as I smiled.

"God help me if that's not the most confused thing I've ever heard" She said.

"You use sex to extort money from people?" She asked and I laughed.

"We use more than one way" I said.

"To me, that's hustling" She said with a smile.

"That's survival" She added.

"But to the government, that's fraud" I said.

"Well, if it's so illegal. Why don't you stop?" She asked and I sighed.

"Maybe because I'm beginning to love it. The ecstasy, the drugs, the men. All of it" I replied and she smirked.

"I'm not sure you're supposed to be talking about this in public then" She said.

"This is McDonald's, please" I said and we both laughed.

"Maybe I love the danger, the dancing, the moves or just my girls" I said.

"Somehow, you're the one that pulled the group together?" She asked and I nodded.

"I'm just there to make sure it doesn't fall apart" I said and she smiled.

****

DURING THE INVESTIGATION

"I had never met a free spirited person until I met Kaleo" I said to the investigator.

"She didn't have anything when she came, no apartment, no friends" I said.

"She said she stole her college funds from her dad when she ran" I said.

"After all, all he did was take out of it" I added and she looked up to me.

"Did Kaleo ever mention her father to you?" The investigator asked and I nodded.

"He's behind bars" I replied.

"Did she ever talk about her mum? Any way we could contact her" She asked.

"She hardly spoke about family, she said she already found one" I replied.

****

PRESENT

I walked to the club with my party bags.

"I told you Aaliyah's going big, that's 24 years" Wu yelled as she grabbed the bags.

"There's the birthday girl" Jacq said as Aal walked back on stage.

She barely had any make up on, just a flee caftan and a well fitted hijab.

"I've got news, my parents might be on their way" She said.

"That will not be until tomorrow, so you're getting hungover as hell" Wu chanted as she brought out the champagne.

"No drinks till after decorating" I said before snatching the bottle from her hands.

"Any word on Rubs?" I asked as I stared back at my wristwatch.

"She hasn't called ever since she left" Jacq said as she took out the banners.

"That's strange, she's never late" Wu said as she shrugged her shoulders.

****

Though this friendship never really stops growing, it's still prone to the risks.

To the loss and very much of bad things until it dies but its okay.

The beauty is in letting go of such friendship, knowing full well that another is bound to come.

And while you're not willing to remake those mistakes, you'll find out alas

-that's the true meaning of friendship.

Finding each other, Helping each other, needing each other, comforting each other in mourning days and loving each other.

That's the right kind of friendship.

****

DURING THE INVESTIGATION

I looked up with my sore red eyes as they walked in.

"Can I get home to my kids?" I asked.

"Well, once you tell you the truth" She said.

"I told you everything I know including how I met her" I replied.

"Not everything" She plainly accused.

"How about you start by telling us why your fingerprints match the exact ones on the murder weapon?" She asked bluntly.

Then she slid a graphic photograph across the table.

"Does this look familiar?" She asked.

To be continued...