Dante came to the realization that he may possibly have feelings for a certain short girl with dark black hair around three in the morning after staring in a trance at the ceiling fan oscillating for hours until daybreak the next morning. Her calming smile occupied his dreams all night long, and it's not that he wanted to, but he'd already fallen. Even at work, his sanctuary, she had invaded in his thoughts. As he hauled heavy equipment around the house, he could feel his heart thumping to the rhythm of her name.
Nay-a.
Nay-a.
Nay-a.
The heavy downpour outside brought back memories of the first day. Her shock to see her car in the shape it was in as her soaked clothes and hair clung to her delicate figure. Her innocence made her all the more alluring. Her dark hardened eyes drew him in and her perceptive musings tied him down.
It was as if his seemingly sudden attraction had been waiting to surface and was finally released at the command of her bewitching wink, raging through his heart and mind and throwing it into a state of beautiful utter chaos.
It was impressive how the simple action of a wink had thrown him into a loop and left him completely speechless. How her wavy hair seemed to follow her in a graceful glide as she skipped down his wobbly porch steps. How her eyes carried unknown pain from the past that made Dante want to take on her all her burdens for himself and shield her from the entire ugly world.
It was incredible.
And incredibly stupid.
She's a highschooler, Dante reasoned with himself. But she's eighteen. But you've only known her for a couple days. But these past three days have been… fun. And I have a stronger connection with her than some of the closest people in my life. It's just a stupid crush that's gonna get you in trouble, like Gloria.
Dante conceded and promised himself that he just wouldn't act on his newfound feelings. Simple as that. Except he didn't have long to keep his promise though, when he saw Alex bringing in a drenched, freezing, and uneasy Naya from outside. "Guess who I found outside," he said, releasing his loose grasp on Naya.
Naya stumbled forward to the center of the open space and lowered her gaze to avoid eye contact with a fuming Dante. Water dripped from her clothes and hair into a pool that slowly began to form around her black and white sneakers on the dark oak hardwood floors.
He immediately pulled off his jacket and wrapped it tightly around her shoulders. All eyes in the room were on them. The usually bustling kitchen got pin drop silent, everyone anxious to see how Dante would handle the situation without getting him, or everyone for that matter, fired.
"What the hell? What happened?" Dante snapped. He cupped Naya's face in his hands, her rosy cheeks slowly warming up in his palms. One of the newer boys on the crew whooped at the innocent gesture, but fell mute when both Alex and Dante shot him a death stare.
"I found her hiding behind your truck out in the rain," Alex replied. He crossed his arms as if he was trying to prove his indifference, but he was obviously worried.
"Y- your boss said he didn't want me on the site and I didn't want to go home yet. I- I didn't know it was going to rain," Naya tried to explain through her teeth chattering like that of a squirrel's.
"Because of Alex?" Dante was taken aback. "You," he stressed, trying to keep his voice level, "do not need to listen to the stupid shit that comes out of Alex's mouth." Dante looked into Naya's eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill out, completely disregarding Alex's sour look.
"How about you get her out of here and take the rest of the day off?" Alex offered.
Dante broke his eye contact with Naya and looked at Alex dumbstruck. "Seriously?" Dante asked. He'd assumed Alex would have made him drop Naya at home and come straight back.
"Yeah, of course," Alex reassured, letting Dante know it was okay. That they were okay. Dante nodded silently at Alex, his arms still holding his jacket tightly around Naya.
Freddie hopped over the kitchen counter and announced to the rest of the room, "Cool, see you losers tomorrow." Alex shook his head disapprovingly and Freddie raised his hands in surrender and laughed nervously, "Or, ya know… I can work on some fixtures or something… It's cool." Freddie reached for his toolbox and pulled out a bright red beach towel zipped up in an airtight plastic bag and handed it to Naya. "This should help Dante not have a panic attack over getting his truck wet," He said.
Naya smiled with amusement as she took the bag from Freddie. "How..?"
Freddie shrugged his shoulders and said, "I was going to the beach this weekend."
Alex motioned with his head to get a move on and Dante slowly guided Naya to the car by the small of her back. The ride to the Garcia house was quiet and heavy. Even as they pulled into the driveway, they didn't get out. Just sat in their seats, twiddling their fingers, trying to figure out how to gently approach the situation.
"Thanks," Naya finally said. "And sorry."
Dante sighed, "You don't have anything to be sorry for." He let his hand fall off the wheel and ran it through his short wavy hair. "Don't get me wrong, it was stupid, but I should have realized you were out in the rain, or at least wondered where you were. You could have gone home at least."
Naya looked out the window, facing away from Dante, "I didn't want to go home."
The car fell silent.
"Hungry?" Dante asked, allowing his voice to return to his normally cheerily self. "My mom's at work and my brother's at soccer practice."
Naya's head turned around quickly as if to make sure she'd heard him right. Dante just flashed his cheeky smile in response. "Uh, yeah. Sure," Naya said, slightly off put by his wide smile but mostly amused by his childish nature.
"Great, because I know a great Nigerian place." Dante adjusted his rearview mirror and pulled out of the driveway.