Chapter 28

"Hello."

"Hey Sunny this is uber random but I was wondering if you knew any good Italian places in town?" Ella's asks.

There's a girl in a black hijab as I enter the elevator and I smile at her but she doesn't return it.

"Italian restaurants? I'm not exactly sure if there are any in town..." I speak into the phone.

"Denny's, it's in Yorkie Square." I jump slightly at the girls voice.

I turn to smile at her again and this time she does return it.

"Sunny?"

"Apparently there is one called Denny's and it's in Yorkie Square." I tell Ella.

"Perfect! That's like 10 minutes from here, thanks so much Sunny." She says, ending the call as the elevator doors open and the girl gets out.

I wait for a few seconds watching her shuffle furiously through her bag then slam her hand against the door.

"You okay?" I ask and she jumps at the sound of my voice.

"Yeah, I just forgot my key at work." She groans, shaking her head, "I'll just have to go all the way to Hillside to get Russel's." She mumbles.

"That's a 20 minute drive." I state.

"It is." She deadpans.

"It'll begin to rain soon."

"I guess." She walks back into the open elevator.

"I'm at 4D if you wanna wait out the rain." I offer.

"What?" She frowns at me suspiciously as she leans over to press a button on the elevator, "I don't even know you."

"Oh I'm Sunny." I hold out my hand.

"Of course you are." She rolls her eyes and scoffs. Even though it's a sarcastic smile it is a very pretty one.

"I'm Fatima, 2D." She shakes my hand.

"Oh how perfect."

"Yes..." She drawls, still eyeing me cynically.

"So..." I say as the elevator opens at my floor, "You coming?"

She smiles more sincerely this time and rolls her eyes. "Why the hell not?" She shrugs, following after me.

"Does this Denny's place deliver?" I ask, opening my door.

"Yeah, their Alfredo is probably the best on the planet." She says, her voice not as guarded as before.

"You have a roommate?" She asks, entering the apartment.

"Yes, how'd you know?"

"You left the door unlocked," She shrugs , "Figured they're on their way in."

"Super perceptive." I smile, taking in the beautiful eyeshadow she has on, "But she's already here." At the sound of my words she frowns suddenly and walks backwards. I'm almost certain she's rethinking her decision and making an exit but she in fact just turns around to lock the door.

"You not from here originally?" She smirks.

"I am a Finridge native. Grew up in Dolton." I reply, walking towards the kitchen and I hear her heels clicking behind me.

"I'm guessing upper Dolton though. Estate maybe?" She asks.

"Yes! How'd you guess?" I laugh out loud in bewilderment as I fill the teapot with water.

She shrugs and giggles too sitting down behind the counter.

"Would you like some tea? Or a soda or anything?"

"Just a water is fine." She says.

I turn to grab a glass from the cabinets and begin filling it with water.

"Sunny did y- Oh hi?" Lucy's voice goes high in fright at our guest.

I turn around and see her looking at me expectedly.

"Oh Lucy this is Fatima, 2D." I smile at Fatima as I say the last part and she returns it, accepting the glass of water.

"Hi... I'm Lucy. Are you a friend of Sunny's I've never seen you before?" Lucy asks, eyeing her closely.

"No, we just met on the elevator a minute ago. I forgot my key and Sunny said I could stay and wait out the rain before going to pick up my boyfriend's key at his work." She explains then nods over at me, "Your roommate's kinda weird."

"She is but she's hot so folks overlook it." Lucy comments, walking around the counter to me.

"That must be why I'm in a stranger's apartment right now." Fatima shrugs.

"I'm not weird." I defend.

"You are totally weird, Sunny," Lucy sighs patting my back, "And totally dead! How could you not ask if I wanted takeout." She yells, aggressively picking up my milkshake container and taking a sip and not breaking eye-contact as she does.

"I'm sorry I must've just forgotten."

Fatima giggles, watching our interaction.

"You sucked him off in the drive thru, didn't you?" Lucy says, eyeing me suspiciously.

I gasp, shocked by her words, "What? Lucy I did not... do that!" I protest.

Lucy doesn't respond and hums to herself as she walks to the refrigerator. I turn to Fatima to see her holding the end of her scarf over her mouth to keep from giggling out loud.

"You're in charge of dinner tonight seeing as you forgot to get me anything." Lucy speaks with her head still in the refrigerator.

I roll my eyes at the dramatic girl and pull my phone out to search for the number for Denny's.

"They usually take forever to deliver but if your friend's there maybe she could add your order to hers and drop it off here." Fatima suggests.

I have no idea how she figured I was about to call the restaurant because she can't even see my phone from where she's sitting.

"I'm convinced you're not human." I smile suspiciously as I exit the room.

"Hello?" Ella's answers after a few rings.

I added a meal for Fatima just in case the rain continues after Ella pops by.

She's a really nice girl. She grew up in Finridge too and spent most of her life here in Dolton but I've never seen her before. Probably because if I wasn't at school I was at home preparing for school or sneaking over to see Neoma any chance I could.

It's humorous when people ask me about Finridge because in all honesty I've never really explored beyond Dolton.

The knock on the door halts our conversation and Lucy rushes to open it.

Fatima and I look at each other and shake our heads. Lucy's been complaining about hunger pains for the last ten minutes. I think her and Fatima are really getting along, they're quite similar.

"Oh my god that's so much food." Fatima comments as Lucy and Ella walk in each holding plastic bags in their hand.

I move to relieve the weight from Ella and she smiles at me before exhaling dramatically.

"Ella, who was all of this for?" I ask, realizing half the food containers aren't what I ordered.

"Just me... I was really hungry." She smiles sheepishly.

"Oh I know that look." Fatima speaks, raising her brows at Ella, "What's his name?"

"Derek." Ella says, surprising me. She looks down at her fingers, fidgeting with them.

"You should stay and eat with us." I offer.

She nods still not looking up at me and I hear Lucy rummaging through the cabinets.

"If we're gonna have this kind of talk we'll need this." I turn when I hear the bang of something hitting the counter and see a bottle of wine in Lucy's hand. She's smiling deviously as she strokes the neck of the bottle. As creepy as it looks it makes Ella laugh and I'm glad she is. Ella's usually so joyful it's odd seeing her look this down.

"Can I stay too?" Fatima's asks softly.

"Of course you can. I got you an Alfredo." I say and she shakes her head at me again, smiling suspiciously.

"So weird." She giggles, grabbing at the bags and bags of takeout.

Leo

I massage my fingers over my temples but the headache persists.

"I've told you already nobody knows about Roller's guys." I state slowly, hoping this time it sets in these dimwits fucking heads.

"Are you sure? Because someone said they saw this one at a crash today. The guy who was hit was wearing green patches." Boulder points at Eddie.

I turn to see Eddie theatrically holding his chest, "Me? I think I would know if there were 2 godlike studs running around town but unfortunately for everyone there's just me and just me was getting ass earlier today. And I only fuck clingy woman who don't let me leave after so... it wasn't me."

Eddie flinches as Boulder suddenly gets up from his seat.

"Are you guys about done?" Heather asks, approaching us.

"Our boss helps to keep this place afloat, bitch so give us a minute." Terry grunts at the blonde who steps closer.

"I think we're done here." Marc says, stepping between the two.

"I think so too." I add. Boulder and Terry look at each other and decide against causing a scene, more for their sake than ours.

Heather makes her way over to us as the two leave the gym.

"Aren't you 3 months pregnant? Why are you stepping up to someone double your size?" Marc questions the woman between us.

Heather's the owner of the Fighter's Nest, she inherited it from her father a few years back. I must say I was curious as to how exactly she'd look pregnant, whether her abs would disappear but she looks pretty much the same just a little bulkier.

"You three need to stop bringing trouble into my place." She threatens with furious eyes before walking away.

"Shit. What are we gonna do?" Eddie shakes his head nervously.

"Nothing." Marc answers and we both look towards him, "We don't know about Roller's guys and if that punk was really as scared as you say then we won't be seeing him again." Marc shrugs and we nod in agreement.

"Who is Roller anyway?" Eddie asks.

I eye them hesitantly before speaking, "Lan used to run for him when I was a kid but he moved operations outta town for some reason nobody told me about."

I remember hearing mom yell at Lan about a group of friends that were no good.

"And Lan didn't follow him?" Marc questions.

"He's not exactly the following type."

"What? So he just started his own shit by himself?" Eddie asks.

"No, when Roller left only a few followed after. I don't exactly know what happened but Lan and Captain took over afterwards and everyone who stayed looked to them to lead them to some criminal Promised Land." I shrug.

"I bet Roller didn't like that." Marc comments.

"I bet he's pissed as hell." Eddie adds.

Looking up at the big clock on the wall I see it's only past six. I walk towards my bag on the bench and pull out my phone.

"Hey." Her voice relaxes the muscles I didn't know were tense.

"Not too late." I repeat her words from earlier. She doesn't laugh like I thought she would.

"Oh... Leo maybe you should come some time later or maybe I'll see you tomorrow after my extra credit class?" She says nervously.

"Something come up?" I ask through tight lips.

"Sort of. We're having a girls night." Her excitement dims my irritation, "I met another tenant and she's here right now... and Ella's here too. She's a little tipsy and kinda bummed over something that happened with Derek so Lucy said no boys allowed tonight."

"Who's Ella?" I ask, confused about all the information she's throwing my way.

"Leo!" She moans and I can't help the chuckle that escapes me, "Its like you don't listen to anything I say ever." She complains, making me me smile wider.

"And stop laughing at me." She shoots.

"Then stop smiling." I tease. I can practically see it.

"I'm not..." I hear her trying to stifle her laugh, "I am not sm-" Lucy's voice calls out to her from a distance.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" She offers and waits for the other end of the line that's gone quiet.

I'm being a brat and plus it's not like I can't find someway to speed up time.

"Fine." I sigh, rolling my eyes even though she can't see me.

"Okay bye bye." She rushes, I'm guessing it's because of the voices calling her name in the distance.

"Goodb-" She cuts the call before I finish.

My earlier headache and irritation surfaces as I make my way back.

I scan the room as I'm putting tape around my knuckles.

"You." I call out to the man in red gym shorts. I nudge my head to the side and his eyes go wide, switching between my gaze and the ring.

"No, I'm not a-" I turn my back to him as I walk away, bending to get between the ropes.

I hear a few of his friends encouraging him and I when I look over my shoulder I see him schlepping towards the ring.

"I'm not a fighter. I just train here." He comments putting on multiple pads.

"This isn't a fight. I need a sparring partner."

"B-"

"Derek you should probably just put in your mouth guard then shut it." I hear Eddie comment.

"You should listen to him." I add.

"I actually needed to be somewhere right now." His words are muffled because of the plastic between his teeth.

"So did I but here we both are." I say before lunging at the fearful man.