He raises his hands in surrender.
‘What’s there to eat then?’ Stella asks Taki, and emits a huge hiccup. She covers her mouth. ‘Ooops. Sorry.’
Taki waves towards all the raw meat inside the glass case.
While Stella leans against the glass counter and looks at the food on display, I order a bag of chips, and turn to Noah to ask if he wants something to eat. He shakes his head quickly and turns his attention back to a group of young guys outside who’ve had a lot of drink and are obviously spoiling for a fight.
‘What’s the lowest calorie thing you have here?’ Stella asks.
Taki picks out a lemon slice decorating the edges of a plate full of skewered meat and, grinning widely, holds it up to Stella.
‘Ha, ha. Very funny,’ Stella says and leans her cheek into her palm. ‘You know what. Fuck it. I’ll break my diet for tonight. Give me a large lamb kebab with salad and lots and lots of garlic sauce since I won’t be kissing anyone tonight.’
‘Oki-doki,’ Taki says and goes off to shave some meat from the rotisserie.
We stand by glass window and wolf down our food between sips from cans of coke. Afterwards, we walk back towards the place where the driver’s car is parked. Noah stuffs Stella into the backseat of the car and shuts the door.
‘Wait here,’ he says to me. ‘I’ll bring my car around.’
The back window winds down and Stella pops her head out.
‘Where’s he gone?’ she whines.
‘To get his car.’
She grabs my hands. ‘I know I’m drunk and raving, but you do know that I love you with all my heart, don’t ya?’
I feel such a great love for Stella at that moment I want to hold and protect her from every man that could ever try to hurt her. ‘You know I really love you too, right,’ I choke.
For a second Stella looks like she is about to burst into tears and I bend down and kiss her cheek.
She grabs me tightly. ‘I can’t wait for you to come back. You don’t have to clean the bathroom anymore. I’ll do it,’ she says in my hair, her voice wobbly and I feel my heart clench with sadness. I truly am going to miss this girl. I know I will have to tell her soon that I don’t know when I will be coming back, but I have no heart to say it then. Another day. I’ll say it another day.
At that moment Noah’s car roars into the street and both Stella and I turn to stare at the massive black machine with surprise. It is like something from a superhero comic book.
‘Wow. Is that a bat mobile?’ Stella asks.
‘I don’t think so, but it sure has one heck of an angry engine.’
Stella hiccups. ‘My brother calls them go-home-in-a-neck-brace cars.’
‘Your brother better not be right. I have to get into it.’
Stella laughs uproariously.
Noah stops next to a car behind us and signals the driver to go. The car starts to move and Stella emerges out of the window waist high and waves her arms at us.
‘Nite, nite, my babes,’ she shouts, her voice sloppy and happier than I have heard in a long time.
‘Get back in,’ I shout.
She quickly gets back into the car and a couple of seconds later I hear her scream in a high-pitched voice ‘weeeeee,’ and see a pair of long legs waving slowly out of the window in a slow scissoring motion. Just like a Folies Bergère dancer. Laughing, I pull my phone out and take a video of her legs. I’ll post it on Facebook in the morning. I bet she won’t remember.
‘Let’s go,’ Noah calls.
As I am about to turn away one of her shoes comes off her foot and falls to the side of the road. Before I can do anything the traffic lights change, Stella retracts her legs, and the car speeds off. Stella is so plastered she doesn’t even realize she has lost a shoe.
‘Come on, Dahlia’ Noah urges again.
‘Just hang on one sec,’ I say, and run the few yards to pick up her precious shoe, but as I get to it a man who was coming from a different direction bends down and takes it in his hand. He straightens and my mouth drops open.
‘Mark,’ I whisper.
‘Hello Dahlia,’ he says softly, and holds the shoe out to me.
I take it from him. ‘What are you doing here?’ A gust of wind blows hair into my face. I push it back and stare at him.
‘I was in the neighborhood,’ he says.
Even in my intoxicated state the statement doesn’t make sense. ‘Look Mark, I-’ I begin when I feel Noah step next to me. I turn my head and look up at him and his face is like granite. His eyes are cold and hostile and his mouth is an intimidatingly straight line.