Ares looks away. “I don’t know.”
I bite my tongue so as not to ask him any more questions.
He stands up. “I should go, I promised Apolo I would take him to the animal shelter.”
“To the animal shelter?”
“You ask a lot of questions, Raquel.” He doesn’t say it in a bad way. “Apolo fosters puppies when Mom is in a good mood and lets him. If it were up to him, we would be overrun with dozens of dogs.”
Ah, that explains the different doggies I sometimes see in the backyard.
“Apolo is a really sweet boy.”
Ares becomes serious. “Yes, he is.”
“Could you give him my regards?”
“Do you miss sleeping with him?”
And here we go, mischievous Ares is back.
“Ares, I’m going to forget you said that because you’ve been good so far.”
Go away, before you ruin the moment, Greek God.
Ares starts to say something but stops. He finally says, “Well, I hope you feel better soon. If you need anything, let me know.”
“I’ll be fine.”
I don’t have a phone to let you know.
I want to say it, but I don’t want to sound needy. Maybe he’s just saying that to be nice and he doesn’t really expect me to “let him know” about anything.
Before I can say answer, Ares climbs out my window.
Dani doesn’t blink, doesn’t move, doesn’t speak.
I’m not even sure if she’s breathing until she starts asking me what happened and if I’m okay, saying that I need to file a report, and reproaching me when I tell her no. She says the same thing that my mom said when I told her: that if I don’t, those men could attack another girl.
I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through.
So, with Dani and my mom’s support, I decide to go to the police station. I make sure to mention the bridge in hopes that they will be there again, and that the police will find them before they find other victims. Afterward, Mom drops us off at Dani’s house because she’s on duty at the hospital and doesn’t want to leave me home alone tonight.
In the comfort of Dani’s room, I tell her everything that happened with Ares. It takes her a few minutes to take it all in. For her, I jumped from stalking Ares from the shadows to fighting with him over Wi-Fi to suddenly doing things with him. I blush as I remember what we’ve done. We are sitting on her bed, cross-legged in our pajamas, with a bowl of popcorn between us.
“Breathe, Dani.”
She takes a breath, letting out a big breath of air, and adjusts her black hair behind her ears. “I must admit that I’m impressed.”
“Impressed?”
“Yes, you put him in his place when it was required. You’re brave. I’m really proud of you.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“Of course it is. I never thought you’d have anything to do with him, let alone put him in his place. Bravo!” She raises her hand and gives me five.
I give her five insecurely. “It wasn’t easy, Dani. You know how much I like him.”
“I know it wasn’t easy. That’s why I’m congratulating you, silly.”
I grab a fistful of popcorn. “Sometimes I can’t believe I ever had anything with him. He’s always been so out of my league.” I pop as much popcorn as I can into my mouth.
“I can’t believe it either,” she jokes. “Who knew? Life is unpredictable.” Dani eats her popcorn more slowly.
“Although I think he’s still out of my league. He’s not interested in me for anything serious; he just wants to have fun. I don’t even know if he likes me.”
Dani clicks her tongue. “He must like you. He’s physically attracted to you, yes, but no one gets involved with someone they don’t like, that wouldn’t make sense.”
“But he told me, with his stupid, beautiful face: ‘Because you like me, but I don’t like you,’” I repeat bitterly, trying to imitate his voice.
“If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have tried anything with you. Nothing.”
“Stop, Dani.”
“Stop what?”
“Don’t say things like that, you’ll make me get my hopes up about him again.”
Dani puts two fingers together and slides them across her mouth like a zipper. “Well, I’ll shut up, then.”
I throw popcorn at her. “Don’t be angry.”
She makes signs with her hands as if she can’t speak.