3 Chapter Three

The police officer tapped twice on the glass and Freddie jumbled with the busted hand crank. "License and registration," the police said indifferently. The weather seemed to reflect the situation, with dark grey clouds looming over the old dilapidated bridge. Freddie made sure his hand was visible to the officer and slowly reached into his pocket with the other one.

He pulled out the ID from the tightly packed wallet, fingers shaking as he handed it over. The officer was unimpressed. Dante tried to be helpful by pulling out the truck's registration forms from the glovebox whilst maintaining the balance of the phone to point at the officer, and more specifically, at his badge number, should things take a nasty turn. "Would you like to tell me why your taillight is broken?" The officer asked in an already testy voice.

Dante tried to interject, "Actually, the vehicle is-" The officer cut him off.

"Was I talking to you?" The officer said, his voice raising. The officer moved his hand to his gun upholster. Dante said a silent prayer to himself, hoping he wouldn't be all over the news the next morning. He could almost see the impromptu memorial that would be set up across the road the next morning, filled with white and red roses. He imagined his grave would be engraved as "Dante- he was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Luckily, Alex finally woke up from his doze off, connected the fear, anxiety, and looks of hopelessness in his friends' eyes to the flashing, red and blue police lights, and jumped into action.

"Sir, what seems to be the problem?" Alex asked in a voice that seemed irritated, but was really laced with anxious tension.

The officer's demeanor changed almost immediately. The officer relaxed his shoulders and even smiled at Alex, "Sorry sir, I was just about to let these boys off with a warning."

Alex sighed with exasperation, "Look sir, you can either give us a ticket or move on. We got places to be and people waiting for us at home."

The officer chuckled, "Girlfriend, I suspect."

Alex smiled at the officer and jokingly answered, "Who else is gonna want you home at 7:30 sharp?"

Freddie flinched as the officer rested his arms on the open window of the driver seat and said, "You know what, you seem like a good guy, so I'm gonna let these goofballs go and I'll trust you'll keep them in line."

Alex nodded his head yes and smiled, "Yes sir. I'll be holding onto his paycheck until he shows up to work with a fixed tailpipe. How's that sound?"

The officer laughed at Alex's proposition, "Sounds perfect to me. Now you have a good day sir." The officer even dipped his hat towards Alex before making his way back to his car, humming "Teenager in Love" by Dion and the Belmonts all the way back

Freddie was still shaken up. He silently agreed to switch seats with Dante and allow him to drive back home. Dante buckled up his seat belt and said, "Thanks for saving us with your white ass Alex," before switching the ignition on and driving off, just as rain began pouring down.

"No problem 'mano," Alex said, already drifting back to sleep to the sound of the pitter patter of raindrops against the window.

Alex's mom had one of the sadder stories from the street. She was working as a barista at the local coffee shop. Alex's dad had wound up in their neighborhood after a series of wrong turns and decided he was in the mood for coffee. For the next two years, Alex's dad drove forty five minutes both ways to go to that same coffee house, and it wasn't just because they had the best cinnamon rolls in a hundred mile radius.

The two got engaged and the wedding was pushed up after Alex's mom realized she was pregnant. Then, two weeks before the wedding, Alex's dad got caught up in an awful car accident on the way back from wedding errands.

He didn't make it.

They'd already moved in and Alex's mom couldn't make rent by herself. Her would -be- in-laws were of no help either, considering they didn't accept Alex as their late child's son and blamed his mother for the car accident. Alex's mother lost everything she had in that one night.

She was forced to move back and returned to the cafe but probably spent more time in the bar the first few years after her return. She finally quit after her then seven year old son spent his night in the hospital after a skateboard accident and she'd spent hers in multiple bars. She was always physically present after that event, but even a stranger could have seen the pain she carried from her past life.

Like Nandita...

Dante smacked himself for letting his mind wander back to her. He shook himself off and focused back on the road.

Dante dropped Alex and Freddie off at their houses. Before he let Freddie go, Dante, in an attempt to reassure his friend, said, "It's okay man. You're okay." He was answered with an understanding nod before Freddie trudged up the steps, deciding whether or not he wanted to tell his mother.

Dante finally pulled into his own driveway. He examined a large crack that ran across the driveway. It wasn't ideal, but fixing it would have to be on the back burner for now. He ran up his front porch steps and almost tripped over a loose stone, making a mental note to fix that later. He opened the front door to the smell of freshly baked chicken.

"Oy, Mami, what smells so good?" Dante called from the empty hallway lit dimly by nearly opaque, yellow tinted Victorian style lantern wall sconces.

"Dante, we have guests," Dante's mother answered from the other side of the house.

Dante followed her voice to the dining room, assuming one of his cousins had come to visit Mami. "Who is i-"

Dante turned into the cramped dining room and saw sitting next to his brother, a girl with wavy black hair with brown highlights wearing a red off the shoulder blouse, blue jean skirt, and undoubtedly under the dining table, wearing chunky white sneakers.