For a second, Dante thought he was hallucinating. Before he could start drafting his resignation letter to Alex due to his early onset insanity, Dante's mother pulled her son's wet coat off and asked, "What took so long, mijo?" She saw Dante lock eyes with the stranger sitting across the table and exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce you two! Nandita, this is my son, Dante, and Dante, this is Nandita. She's helping your brother Manny with his SATs."
"Just call me Naya, Mrs. Garcia," Naya said, "and we've actually met already." She lowered her gaze and dozily pushed her food around her yellow stained plate, a behavior Mrs. Garcia didn't approve of from her own sons.
Oh, so we're doing this- Dante thought to himself as he absentmindedly fixed himself a plate of chicken tinga.
"Oh really? From where?" Dante's mother asked, surprised.
"Nandita's moving into the house we're working on now," Dante said cautiously. It felt almost wrong that someone who was going to live in the house he was building had invaded his own home.
Dante's mother was oblivious to the tension between her son and her guest and continued making charming small talk, "Dante, aren't you building some really big houses now? You must be excited to move in, Nan-" Dante's mother paused, remembering her guest's name preference, "I'm sorry, I meant Naya."
Naya just seemed glad she didn't have to answer the question, "It's okay, Naya is just easier to pronounce," she explained.
Dante's mother tapped Naya's arms lightly, "Oh, I get it honey. I had a friend named Xiomara spelled with an X in highschool and she used to everyone call her Xo like Zoe with a Z, My friends and I were always in the back of the class laughing our butts off whenever we had some random white substitute teacher spend ten minutes of class trying to pronounce Xiomara's name. God, Xo hated it!" Dante's mother continued to drone on about her highschool friends while Dante tried to focus on his chicken tinga.
Manny, Dante's sixteen year old brother, kicked Dante in the shins under the table, trying to get his attention. Dante looked up, slightly annoyed. Manny raised his eyebrow. It was his way of asking his brother what was wrong. Dante gave him a look that assured Manny that he would hear about it later. Thing was, Dante wasn't sure if he even knew what the big deal was himself.
Soon after dinner wrapped up, Naya put on her jacket, ready to face the pouring rain all the way to the safety of her car, when Mrs. Garcia luckily stopped her, "Hun, where'd you park your car? I don't want you to get too wet."
Naya answered casually, "I just parked it two streets over." Mrs. Garcia, Dante, and Manny froze and looked at her with complete horror. The three rushed out into the pelting rain, Mrs. Garcia yanking Naya's hand and dragging her out the open door with her two sons. They ran to the corner of Fifth and Park, but it was too late.
Naya, confused by defeated faces, said, "Guys, the car is still here…"
"Yeah, but you ain't goin' nowhere without no wheels," Manny answered, wiping the rainwater off of his face. Naya lowered her gaze, and sure enough, her red Audi was resting on cement blocks instead of its normal tires.
"Oh honey, rookie mistake..." Mrs. Garcia said sympathetically, "Kids around these parts like to steal car parts, but there are some blind spots they respect. Our street is one of those blind spots, but this one…" Mrs. Garcia bowed her head out of respect for the missing tires.
Dante looked at Naya, who was so shell shocked she wasn't even aware of the fact that she was drenched, her hair and clothes sticking to her and her white chunky sneakers becoming more of a runny mud color. Then, he realized they all looked like that.
"No point standing out here out in the rain. I'll give you a ride," Dante offered. The group slowly started heading back to the Garcia house.
Naya was still soaking wet when she got in Dante's truck, which was usually a huge no for Dante, but he figured this girl had gone through enough for the night so he decided to let it slide. The cloud of awkward silence from the dinner table had followed them to the truck and seemed to be amplified without Mrs. Garcia's cheerful chatter. Dante was about to break the ice but Naya beat him to it, "This is a nice car. "
Dante was genuinely surprised. People called his car a lot of things, but never "nice". Her approval almost seemed insulting to Dante, like it was good enough for him but not her. He had seen what was left of her car and knew it must have been ridiculously expensive.
"What do you mean 'nice'?" he accused.
"It's a good car. The car is a vintage and it runs great all things considered," Naya stated matterfactedly, "It's kind of paradoxical. The car is so old it's worth more than when it was first bought while new cars lose value as soon as they leave the dealership, and it runs better despite being from an older generation, whereas cars nowadays start breaking down after a couple years- at least definitely before they get to however old this car is."
Dante was stunned. It was as if everything going through his brain when his friends ridiculed him about the quality of his car had finally been put into words. To be perfectly honest, even Dante had begun questioning if his love for his truck was unsupported and was glad to know it did have some merit.
"Damn, you're just spitting facts here," Dante chuckled, "So how'd you get roped into tutoring Manny?" Dante asked, wanting to continue the conversation.
Naya turned around to face Dante, "Well I did decently well on my SATs last year and now that I'm a senior, I figured tutoring kids will really spice up my college application and-" Naya sighed, "Actually that's a lie. I just wanted to do something productive that would help other people and would give me some space to do what I wanted to without someone looking over my shoulder. The college application thing is just a bonus."
Dante nodded along, assuming he knew what she meant, "Yeah I respect that," Dante began thoughtfully, "Eighteen is a weird age. You're technically an adult but still gotta deal with all the kiddie rules: no drinking, no mj, be home by eleven. The only new thing is you can vote or become a felon."
Naya chuckled, "Exactly."
Dante suddenly felt more comfortable around Naya. "Music?" he asked.
"Go ahead," Naya replied. Dante tuned the radio to the closest pop station. It wasn't something either of them listened to, but it was tolerable, even enjoyable. The cloud of silence had returned, with the exception of Naya's occasional directions to her house, but this time it was a silence of appreciation and understanding. The two had moved past their initial misguided mistrust and were now able to take comfort in the silence of their companionship.
Dante dropped Naya off at her rental house, which looked like a miniature version of what Dante was building already for them, and watched from his truck to make sure she made it safely inside.
The rain trickled down to a slow drizzle, but the drive home felt heavier with Dante having to carry the cloud of silence by himself. Even the Latin station on the radio did little for his uneasiness.
Dante was about to turn into his driveway when he saw a familiar figure sitting on top of a beige car, smoking a cigarette. The woman jumped off the car and walked towards the truck as soon as she noticed its arrival.
Dante simply got out of his truck and leaned against it, waiting for the curvy woman wearing a neon green tank top and red athletic shorts to make her way to him, her light brown curly hair bouncing with every step. Her smile seemed to emulate domineering confidence, but Dante had done this enough times to know it was all just for show.
"What do you want Gloria?" Dante asked impatiently.
"You know exactly what I want," Gloria replied in her sultry, silky voice that made it impossible for Dante to say no to her. She trailed the tips of her long nails against Dante's jawline.
Dante let in to the temptation and grabbed her hand, "But not here," he whispered harshly, scared his mother might walk out any minute and see him falling back into old habits, "And you're paying for the room."
Gloria bit her lip and winked, "Whatever gets you into bed babe."
"You don't get to call me that anymore," Dante said, grinding his teeth. Gloria flinched at the harshness of his words but nevertheless followed Dante into his truck to the closest motel.