There was a commotion by the bar with the guys and Sal looked over to see Jason on the floor between the barstools, laughing and telling everyone he was okay. Some of the fuzzies rushed over and one of them bent down to help the other guys get Jason up. Sal couldn’t make out what the fuzzy said. She sounded like the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons. After that so did everyone else. Someone else handed him another Liquid Cocaine. He wasn’t even aware that he’d drunk the first one.

It got harder and harder to open his eyes after every blink but he was sure no one noticed as he stood there, holding on for dear life to the bar stool next to him. Jason said something to him he didn’t understand and he felt an arm link onto his. Stupidly, he let go of the barstool, apparently the only thing that was keeping him up. If whoever held his arm hadn’t been there he would’ve gone down for sure.

It got real loud all of a sudden and there was a scuffle. Sal couldn’t even make out who was shoving who but he heard glass break. Someone pulled him away from the shoving crowd and he struggled to stay upright. He blinked, the whole room blurring in and out as they stumbled toward the exit. He noticed people looking at him as he walked through the casino, but he could barely focus his eyes. Each time he blinked, it got darker until everything finally went black.

~*~

Rose’s face lit up when she read her text and Grace frowned. Lately that had been happening a lot. Rose had never smiled so much from reading her texts. She knew exactly who the text was from. “Rose, I hope you’re not getting too friendly with Vincent. Sal was adamant that he’s bad news.”

“How friendly can we get? He lives so far.”

“He’ll probably be driving soon.”

Rose finally looked up from her phone. “Oh yes, he’s gonna wanna drive all the way to Chula Vista from La Puente, just to see me. That’s over two hours.”

Grace slipped on the shorts to her pajama bottoms. “You’d be surprised what a man would do when he’s really interested in a girl.”

Rose laughed. “A man? He’s sixteen. He can’t even afford to call me because we’re on different carriers and he’s not allowed to use up his mom’s minutes or they’ll take his phone away. Besides who said anything about him being interested?”

Grace gave her a look. Rose was showing her innocence, but ignored her question, not wanting to push that topic further. “Aren’t weekends unlimited?

“Not his. His mom got the cheap package so even on the weekends they only have so many minutes.”

Grace shook her head. She’d mentioned to Sal how Rose and Vincent had been texting. He wasn’t happy about it at all. But Rose was right. Grace didn’t see the harm in them texting, as long as nothing more became of it.

“He is going to Rosarito in a few weeks with his family and he asked if maybe he could meet me somewhere as he passed through here.” Rose’s eyebrows went up and she gave Grace an imploring look. “We’re just friends.”

“Nope, not happening.”

“Why not? He just meant like grab a hamburger or something. His whole family is going to be with him. It’s not like we’re gonna be alone.”

Grace plopped down on the bed. “Because Sal wouldn’t be so dead against it if he didn’t think it was dangerous.”

“Did he tell you what he did that’s so bad?”

“Tagging for starters.” Grace lay back, resting her head on the pillow. “And what sixteen-year-old gets a tattoo?”

“Oh my God! Lots of them. A whole bunch of kids from school have them.”

Putting her hand behind her head, Grace frowned at Rose who was looking at her incredulous. “Aren’t you supposed to be eighteen or something?”

Rose laughed, lying down next to Grace. “No one checks your I.D. You just tell them you’re eighteen and that’s good enough for them.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know people that have gotten them.” Rose lifted herself onto her elbow and faced Grace. “He’s just misunderstood, Grace. That whole tagging thing wasn’t even his fault, he was with the guys that were doing the tagging and they all got hauled in together. Even the tattoo he says he regrets. He and a few of his friends did it on a whim. He calls his it his incredibly stupid, temporary insanity moment and he says he hopes that’s as stupid as he ever gets. He’s actually really smart.”

Grace didn’t like how empathetic Rose spoke of him. The few times Rose had spoke of any of her guy friends, she had very little to say. Maybe it was because this one happened to be her boyfriend’s cousin, but Grace could totally relate to the excitement she saw in Rose’s eyes when she looked down at her phone and realized the text was from Vincent. It was the same way she felt when she got a text from Sal. This was disquieting to say the very least. Her sister was only fifteen after all. Rose glanced down at her phone and her face lit up.

“What is he saying that has you smiling so big?”

She saw Rose try to wipe the smile but it was a fruitless effort. She did for a second, then shrugged and laughed. “He’s just so funny. The way he speaks and texts is hilarious. Most people shorten words in texts like OMG and JK; he writes it all out. And you saw how he looks like this hard ass bad-boy with a tattoo and all, but the way he speaks is so not like that. I noticed it right away when he schooled me on the differences between koi and regular fish. Then just now I told him I was in my room talking to my sister and look what he responds.” She showed Grace the text and Grace read it out loud.