“You want to tell me something but don’t know how,” she correctly assumed.
“Stop thinking you know what’s in my head.”
She rolled her eyes. “But I do. And now I know something’s going on. And you just confirmed my suspicions when you got defensive.”
“Cheese and rice. I’m not defensive. Now shut up.”
She laughed and cleared our plates while I remained at the table. I still hadn’t come up with a good way to tell her that I’d officially be a stripper come Monday. And she was almost ready to leave.
“Does it have to do with Sebastian?” she asked when she came back to the table.
“What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
“He’s not here tonight. And he’s always around. Did you two have a fight?”
I got up and started pacing. “It has nothing to do with my roommate. This is something about my work.”
I looked at the ceiling and shook out my hands. “I’m going to start stripping.”
There. That wasn’t so hard. Just out with it.
Malena froze, her arms still suspended over the table where she’d picked up plastic cups the kids had used. “Say what?”
“It’s better money.”
“Do you need money? I can give you money. I have money. I don’t need it. And I live at home. I have hardly any expenses and a life insurance payout I don’t know what to do with,” she said, the sentences flowing into each other, her voice getting higher and higher.
“I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I just can’t take you up on it.”
“You and your misplaced pride,” she ground out, eying the kids to make sure they didn’t witness our argument. “You’d rather strip than accept a loan from a friend.”
I shot up, my chair scraping back at the sudden movement. “It’s not like that. I just can’t keep depending on everyone else.”
Malena put the cups back down and ran a hand through her hair. “But that’s what friends do. They help each other out.”
“Stripping isn’t all that bad.”
“I’m not worried about the stripping. But I know you. This is the last thing you want to do. You can’t even take your top off in front of me.”
I glared at her. “Hey, that’s not true.”
She braced her hands on the table, leaning forward. “Definitely true. Remember when we went to the mall and there were no other changing rooms and we decided to share one? You made me turn around before you took your top off.”
I did do that. And I really didn’t like taking my clothes off in front of other people.
“I’ll be fine. I need to face my fear eventually.”
“I have to get Felix home, but this conversation isn’t over yet,chiquita,” Malena said and pulled on her coat.
I followed her around the room as she first collected Felix’s jacket and then Felix. He didn’t want to leave and tried running away. When she caught him, he screamed, and she had to carry him out.
“It’s going to be fine,” I said, not sure who I was trying to convince, her or myself. “It’s just a job.”
“I’ll be back in a few days to talk some sense into you,” she called over her shoulder, a struggling Felix under her arm.
“I love you,” I yelled.
“Love you too,” she returned.
