“Hey!” Shauna grabbed my elbow. She had a lot of spunk and loved to party when she could, like me. “Why don’t we go to The Partition on Friday night? Get Rob, Celine and Michael to come with us?” she asked eagerly. I had my date on Saturday with Diego, so plenty of time to sleep in on Saturday and recover.
“Hell yeah! Let’s do it. They have the best cocktails there too.”
“I got class with Celine and Rob today and I’ll let them in on it.” Shauna beamed.
“Sounds like a plan to me for sure.”
The rest of my day ran smoothly on campus. I felt like I was getting somewhere with my studies. That at least I had a solid enough knowledge for when my hospital rounds began. Tomorrow was Friday and I had a lot of studying to do before I could even think about the outfit I wanted to shake my money-maker in on Friday. When I left for the day, I resumed my studies in my room. The house was quiet. Palo must have been out. I was so hard at the books that I didn’t realize it was eight o’clock and I hadn’t eaten anything. I stretched and made my way to the kitchen to whip up some eggs. My phone pinged. Diego.
“Hey beautiful. Checking in. See you at 10 this Saturday?”
“Looking forward to it. Heart emoji.”
“Wear your hiking boots!”
“Stilettos work?” I giggled out loud.
“That's for later in the night… devil emoji.”
My heart started to beat fast. I’d never seen anything like him. Pure power, I could feel it in him. Every fiber of my Latino being wanted to be taken over by him. The man was yummy. I made something to eat, grabbed a coffee, and resumed the books until midnight.
CALIFORNIA BROUGHT on the sunshine and good vibes the next day. I had a bounce in my step and I knew Diego had a lot to do with that. Friday, as far as college was concerned, was my favorite day. A half-day. If I worked hard, my motto was to play hard. I’d seen and talked to my friends who’d made it through their residency and worked in the emergency room.
“Girl, we are on call twenty-four-seven. Make the most of your college days now.”
After arriving home from the day, I pulled out all my potential outfits that I wanted to wear. I FaceTimed Shauna.
“Hey, girl, what are you wearing? How about this one?” I asked as I put the phone on my dresser drawers. She put her nose close to the phone. I could see up her nostrils. She stepped back.
“Girl. No. I can see your va-jay-jay. Try again.” I stifled a laugh.
“You’re no fun. Okay, wait! Lemme see.” I held up a classy black dress with the shoulders cut out. She gave me a thumbs-up.
“There you go! That’s the one.” She approved. I danced around a little.
“Okay. I will see you in half an hour, I’m calling the Uber for then,” I explained. Shauna nodded on the screen.
“Okay, girl. Celine and Rob will be with me. The rest of the crew are going to meet us there a little later. I got a banging outfit, you’ll see it when you get here.”
“Whoo-hoo! I’m so excited. I can’t wait.”
“Me neither. I’ve been waiting for cocktail hour all week,” she sighed. I clicked off and put the phone down. I loved to party. Part of my bloodline’s culture. My whole family would party all the time. Every celebration you could think of, we would be dancing, drinking and embracing life.
My brother sauntered in about the same time as I was heading out the door.
“Esta bella, sis,” he said, looking me over. He gave me the thumbs-up. I kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you. I gotta go.” I headed for the front door.
“Where you going?” he inquired.
“The Partition.”
“Ah, a couple of the boys are headed there later on I think. I’m not sure.”
“Are you sending them to spy on me?” I asked as I pushed past his left shoulder.
Palo frowned at me. “Nope. I just know they mentioned it.”
