“What the hell happened, Liz?” Seri asked, closing the door.
“I have no idea, Seri. She was fine. We were planning on going shopping for her date with this thug that I don’t approve of. Nothing good hangs out at that track, but I wasn’t going to stop her. I asked her if she wanted to go shopping for her date and she said she did. She and Reese got into it at breakfast and she just exploded.” Liz spent 20 minutes telling her the things Quill had said and done.
“I was almost afraid of her for a second, Seri. Does she fight?”
Seri made a grunt noise. “That girl should be made to register those damn arms and legs as lethal. I’m going to go talk to her,” Seri announced. Quill closed her door and sat on her bed. Seri didn’t knock and slammed her door as she entered. She was pissed.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Don’t, Seri. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Pack a bag,” Seri demanded. She couldn’t talk to her yet. She was too mad.
Aquilla could tell she was pissed. She had never seen her so pissed. She did as she was told and threw some clothes into her bag. Shit. She wished she would have gotten the money from the jacket. What if she decided to run and not come back? Could she take the heavy jacket without Seri being suspicious? It was the middle of June and unneeded. No. She couldn’t take it without Seri being guarded. She would ask.
“Quill, I will see you in a couple of days. I’m not pawning you off on anyone. I want you here. I love you so much, and I want things to be good between us,” Liz said, holding both her shoulders for her to look at her. Quill wouldn’t do it. She kept a clinched jaw with her eyes turned toward the fire mantel and all of Reese’s happy little growing up portraits.
Quill moved around her without a word and walked out to Seri’s car.
“I’ll call you,” Seri assured her.
Seri didn’t say a word for at least 20 minutes.
Quill texted Patch while she waited for the silence to be over.
Quill – Sorry… Rain check.
Patch – What? Why?
Quill – Had to go to New York for a few days.
Patch – You’re not going to watch me race tomorrow?
Quill – Not unless you’re going to be on TV. We’ll get together next week.
Patch – Can I call you later?
Quill – Probably, I will text you.
“Who are you texting?” Seri finally spoke.
“What? You’re talking to me now?”
“I shouldn’t be. What the hell, Quill?”
“I cussed a little, big fucking deal. You talk like that all the time.”
“Not around your mother, and you did more than just say a couple of bad words. Did you grab Reese and put her in a Kimura?”
“She fucking swung at me. Why are you taking their side? You weren’t even there. I put her in a Kimura to keep from hurting her.”
“And what did you say for her to want to swing at you.”
Well fuck….
“Nothing, just forget it.”
“You know that temper is going to get you into a whole heap of trouble, don’t you.”
Aquilla didn’t want to be with Seri anymore. She didn’t want to be with anyone. Why couldn’t she just be 18? She stared out the window and refused to answer any more of Seri’s stupid questions. Seri gave up after a bit and turned the radio up loud, blaring Molly Hatchett.
Seri bypassed the busy part of New York City and pulled into a parking garage of an older, tall building.
“You live here? I thought you live in the city?” Quill asked, surprised by the slum looking neighborhood.
“I never told you I live in the city. I told you that I lived in Coral. It’s still part of the city, just out a bit. What do you want to eat? I’m starving,” Seri asked, as they exited the car.
“I don’t care,” she replied, deciding that she too was starving.
“Let’s take your bags in and we’ll go across the street to Bangers,” Seri offered.
“Bangers?”
“Yeah, it’s a Japanese joint with a sushi bar.”
Chapter 17
“Monica is picking you up tomorrow. You’re staying overnight with her,” Seri informed, drying her hair on a towel as she exited the only bathroom.
“Why? I don’t want to stay with her.”
“You know what, Quill? Despite the fact that Romano Chavez gave you everything you ever wanted, it doesn’t work that way. You don’t get everything you want. Try earning something for once in your life, like respect,” Seri snapped. She had enough of the spoiled little Quill too.
“You don’t know shit about what I had growing up. I never watched a movie until I was 14. I never went to a park my entire life. When I asked to go play at a park that we passed when I was six, my father had a swing set installed inside the house where I would be safe. I never stepped foot into a gymnasium, played with other kids, ate a fucking slice of pizza, don’t you fucking make assumptions that you have no clue about.”
“You can do anything you want to do now, Quill. I don’t understand why you have to be so disrespectful to your mother. She is trying, you’re not,” Seri accused, taking a joint from a small wooden box on a nearby bookshelf. She sat beside Quill on the sofa and lit it. “Stop trying to come off as a badass and accept your family,” Seri pleaded, handing her the lit joint.
Aquilla hit it and slumped back on the sofa.
They smoked almost the whole thing while Seri tried her best to get through to her.
“I still don’t want to stay at Monica’s. Why can’t I just go talk to her and come back here?”
“I don’t know. I’m not the doctor. Monica wants you to stay with her.”
“Whatever,” Aquilla pouted.
“No, Quill. It’s not whatever. The world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Why do you keep saying shit like that? I don’t think it does. I just don’t want to be a fucking Rimmer.”
“That. That right there is why I keep saying shit like that. You are a Rimmer, Quill. That is your family, like it or not.”
“I choose not. I’m tired. Where am I sleeping?”
“I only have one bed. You’re either sleeping with me or you can have the sofa.”
“I’m not sleeping out here without you. You don’t live in the best neighborhood.”
“I can take care of myself,” Seri assured her.
“And so can I,” Aquilla retorted and left her for a shower.
Seri had no groceries at all. The two of them ate a bagel at one of the local shops, and had a salad from McDonalds for lunch. Aquilla was still complaining when Monica picked her up at six.
“Stop whining. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon,” Seri chastised.
“When am I going back to my mom’s?”
“I thought you didn’t want to go there.”
“I don’t, but I have a guy and an agenda there.”
“You’re ridiculous. Stay the fuck away from that guy.”
“Why? Because Liz thinks he’s a loser?”
Seri shook her head defeated. “Go, go talk to Monica. I have no idea what to even say to you anymore. She just texted. She’s waiting for you downstairs.
Monica’s apartment was a lot nicer than Seri’s. She had nice things, two bedrooms with their own baths, sleek designs in every room, and her living area was spacious with nice furnishings, unlike Seri’s furniture that looked to be used.
Monica made her get comfortable and drilled her for two straight hours on what had gotten into her, why she reacted the way she had, what she expected to come from her episode, and what she would try to do when she felt the urge to go off like that again.