"What the h.e.l.l was that all about?"I lay there on the bed and cover my face.
"And why the h.e.l.l did he leave like that? I should go find him."
I walk downstairs and see Carlos sitting on the couch watching tv.
"Hey, did you happen to see where Ricky went?"
He takes a long sip of his beer.
"No clue."
"Bulls.h.i.t."
"Are you sure? Because i"m pretty sure you know where he"s at."
He tosses his now empty beer can in the thrash.
"Ok look, hé was a little upset about something. I don"t know what it was but he made it pretty clear that he did not wanna see you."
I clench my fist,
"Fine, if you won"t tell me, I guess i"ll have to find him myself."
He looks around the fridge and pulls out another can, he pops it open and takes a large sip.
"Well he didn"t say anything about you looking for him yourself."
He plops back down on the couch and turns to the sports channel.
I walk back to my room and change my clothes. I put on some shorts and grab whatever shirt I see first.
I make my way to the elevator and hit the third floor.
I wander around for a bit until I run into Lina.
"Hola Zero, ¿por qué estás aquí arriba? ¿Buscando a alguien?"
(Hi Zero, why are you up here? Looking for someone?)
"Yeah, I was hoping to run into Ricky. I really need to talk with him."
"Ahh, prueba el cuarto piso. Le gusta estar en el gimnasio, todo lo que hace es hacer ejercicio."
(Ahh, try the fourth floor. He likes to be in the gym, all he does is exercise.)
"Will do. Thank you Lina."
She nods and I make my way to the fourth floor.
***
"Wow, I never noticed how muscular Ricky is; that still doesn"t explain why I couldn"t get him off of me."
"You gonna stand over there and stare or are you gonna come out?"
I walk up to the ring.
"Hey Ricky-"
"Who told you where to find me?"
He cuts me off.
"Lina, but that"s not important. Can we talk about what happened?"
"Nope."
His punches get harder.
I hop inside the ring and put on a pair of extra gloves.
"Fine, if you won"t tell me, i"ll just beat it out of you."
He stops what he"s doing and looks at me.
"Ha, funny. Get out the ring Zero."
I cross my arms.
"No, i"m serious. Fight me Ricky."
He sighs,
"Alright, you wanna fight? Let"s go."
I smile at him.
"Oh Ricky, i"m a professional MMA fighter, not to mention boxing."
He swings at me but I doge it. He hits are hard but he moves slow. Easy for me to get to him.
I hit him in his gut and then his face. He falls back on his b.u.t.t and I pin him down like he did me.
"See Ricky, now we can talk."
I flash him a sweet smile but he rolls his eyes.
"Ok, ok, we can talk just get the h.e.l.l off of me."
I take my gloves off and toss them on the other side of the ring and sit down on his chest.
"I don"t think I want to."
He pushes me off of him and holds my hands down.
"d.a.m.nit Zero, why can"t you listen to me?"
I try to keep my cool but I can"t help it, I start cracking up in his face.
"That"s it."
He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.
"What the h.e.l.l?! Let me down!"
"No can do."
He takes me into what appears to be a male locker room. When we"re inside he closes the door behind him and locks it.
"Now we can talk."
I take a deep breath,
"Why did you kiss me last night and then run out of the room?"
He looks away.
"I don"t know. You just make me feel some kinda way."
"Can you explain?"
He wipes the sweat from his brow.
"I don"t know man, you just make it hard for me to focus on anything. Your like my every thought, Zero."
"I-is that bad?"
He smiles a genuine smile,
"I hope not."
I stand up walk towards the door,
"Thank you for answering me Ricky, i"ll let you take your shower now."
***
"And then he said I was his every thought and that he can"t focus on anything!"
"Why is that so strange to you? Don"t you two date?"
"Oh s.h.i.t, I forgot about that."
"Yeah but Ricky isn"t like that. He doesn"t tell me what he"s thinking."
"Sounds to me like he"s finally falling in."
Carlos throws his can on the floor.
"Falling in?"
"Look Zero, Layla really did a number on him. The fact that you two have been together for a while and we"re just now finding out about it is a surprise. No one expected him of all people to find another lady."
"I get that, but who"s Layla?"
"n.o.body."
Carlos and I both turn around to see who answered. Ricky"s standing in front of us wearing a small towel around his waist.
"Maldito Carlos, ¿alguna vez te callaste?"
(d.a.m.n Carlos, did you ever shut up?)
He throws a can at the back of Carlos" head.
"Ow! s.h.i.t man, i"m sorry. I didn"t know you were still hung up on that, my bad."
"Whatever. Zero, go upstairs."
His voice has such a commanding tone.
"O-okay."
I get up and walk towards the stairs as he follows closely behind me.
"Why am I listening to him?! I"m not a d.a.m.n dog and I sure as h.e.l.l don"t take orders from him."
He leans towards me and whispers something in my ear.
"The sooner you get to the room, the sooner I can show you something."
His warm breath sends chills all over my body.
"Show me what? Should I be worried? What the f.u.c.k"s going on?!"