The day started normally. Dante drove. Naya's house was finished and the crew was already working on the next project. Dante had helped Freddie install cabinets in the kitchen. There was a weird conversation, but Freddie was hardly paying attention.
"What's the point?" Dante asked, seemingly out of the blue when he was holding the cabinet steady for Freddie as he drilled them into the wall.
"What do you mean bud?" Freddie asked distractedly, "We're making nice homes for those nice people."
"No, we're making houses for them," Dante corrected, "There's no guarantee they're gonna turn this empty shell into a home for their daughter." If Freddie had been paying attention, he would have realized that was the first time he had even indirectly mentioned Naya in over a week.
Freddie aimed his power drill, "Just wait until they get this place furnished. It's gonna look great," Freddie yelled over the drone of the power drill.
"A couch doesn't turn a house into a home," Dante grumbled.
The rest of the day continued as it normally should.
After work, Dante grinned with satisfaction as his engine came to life. He prepared to pull out when he suddenly remembered.
"Where is she?" Dante asked. His eyes scanned the open road for a short Indian girl wearing bright colored clothing.
"Where is who- oh shit," Freddie had almost forgotten about Naya too. He'd been too busy trying to fix Dante. "She's probably held up with something at school. We'll just have to wait for her for a little while," Freddie resolved. The clouds seemed to darken at the news. Droplets of rain water began to drizzle down.
Alex gently taped on the glass, pulling his jacket over his head as the drizzle began to pour harder. "What's the holdup?" he asked.
Freddie answered for Dante, who was still waiting for Naya to slosh down the streets to the safety of his car. "We're just waiting for Naya."
"You want me to drive down to the school and see if she's on her way?"
Freddie was about to refuse Alex's offer when Dante interjected, "Could you please?"
Alex nodded and went to start his car. Dante called his mom and asked her for Naya's number. He went as far as to even beg his mom to call Naya and ask where she was. Freddie, not knowing how to contribute to the impromptu search party, sat quietly in the car.
"Hey God, I know we don't have the best relationship or whatever, but could you maybe make sure my friend Naya is safe?" Freddie prayed silently. He sighed and thought, "God doesn't want to listen to sinners. If he is even real."
Alex returned empty handed. "I didn't find her walking here or at the school," he said as he got into the truck, taking refuge from the now heavy downpour.
Dante began to hyperventilate. "Shit!" He pounded the wheel.
"You kissed her, didn't you?"
Freddie and Dante looked at Alex, their eyes wide with surprise.
"Alex!" Freddie chided. Then, to Dante, "You did though, right?"
Dante stuttered, looking panicked. Alex smacked Dante uptop the head and shook his head with disappointment.
"Idiot."
"I didn't kiss her! She did!" Dante finally managed. "She kissed me!"
'Uh huh. For some reason, I don't believe that," Alex scoffed.
"I'm serious!" After you let us go..." Dante proceeded to tell them the whole story, about her apology, about the Nigerian restaurant, and finally, the kiss"...and then her face just changed to absolute horror or disgust! She looked so scared. I don't even know what happened, but I know whatever it was was probably my fault." Dante slammed his head against the wheel so hard the horn activated.
"Maybe the kiss sucked," Freddie suggested.
"Dude, that wasn't it. Have you ever kissed someone and felt like everything just clicked?"
"Yes."
"No."
Freddie and Alex looked at each other. "It clicked for another reason," Freddie clarified. He obviously hadn't found his soulmate, but at least he'd figured out which direction to look.
"It was like, for a second, we were one. Like something out of a movie. Actually, it was probably better than something out of a movie. Everything just made sense. And she looked really happy about the kiss too," Dante continued. "It was after, like when she'd realized what she'd done.
The trio fell silent as rain pelted against the metal top of the truck. "Damn, I don't know what to tell you," Alex began, "but we've waited long enough, Dante. She probably ordered a ride service or something. You guys need to go home." Alex climbed out of the truck and to his own car.
"Shit!" Alex shouted with frustration.
The outburst, followed by a hollow metal clang, left little to the imagination.
"Need a ride?" Freddie asked with a cheesy grin. Alex begrudgingly climbed back into the car. Dante was compelled to circle around the high school one last time before finally heading home.
When the rundown pickup truck finally made it to the bridge, fog filled the narrow, empty, road, which, when coupled with heavy rain, made it nearly impossible for Dante to see more than five feet in front of him. He'd had to swerve to avoid an adult-sized indigo tinted bike placed haphazardly into the road by an idiot, or perhaps the sheer force of the winds had thrown it there. The sudden jerk was enough to wake Alex up from his car nap.
Alex groggily groaned, "What the-"
The car screeched to a halt, nearly skidding on the overflowing roads. Freddie and Alex lurched forward. Dante rushed out of the car, frantically shouting a series of meaningless sounds while reaching for something deep in the fog. Freddie focused his eyes on the object of Dante's insanity.
"No..." Freddie was too shocked to react. In a blink of an eye Naya went from standing on the flimsy railing of the bridge to jumping into the powerful waters below. And in the next blink Dante jumped in after her.