Chapter 3

Gabriela. I shot her a murderous look. She didn’t have to add fuel to the fire. “I had to lock myself in the room; that’s why it took me a while to open.”

I watched as she ran her hands over Colton’s neck and placed small, spitty kisses along his jaw. That bothered me quite a bit. If I really wanted him, I wouldn’t do any of this to him.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I grabbed Marcus’s arm, forced him to look at my face, and gave him an aggressive kiss on the mouth. That caught him off guard. Believe me, it caught me off guard too. I felt a tongue move; the sensation was like an eel trying to crawl into my mouth. This was pointless and disgusting. I was going to push it back into place, but someone else did it for me.

Colton.

His green eyes gave me a look... what, annoyed, hurt? I couldn’t tell. Why would he bother? He spent his time kissing whoever he wanted. She gave me a side smile, and before I could explain (or ask for explanations), she stood next to Gabriela and lifted her up in her arms.

“Come on, baby, it’s time to have fun.”

With that, he led her into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Shit. He also took the ice cream. And I needed a little vent.

“Okay... could you explain to me what all that madness was?” Marcus asked.

I sighed resignedly. “Believe me, I don’t even understand it myself...”

***

“You like chocolate, right?” This is how Colton greeted me every day since he discovered Marcus in the apartment (even though Marcus decided not to be part of Gabriela’s vicious circle and hadn’t seen him since).

I pretended not to listen to him and continued with my task of polishing and cleaning the empty restaurant counter. I was wearing my new “girl/slut from the future” uniform that Cliff had made from his personal collection of designs. The entire suit itself was laminated and brilliantly silver in color. None of them made it to the knees, if you were lucky, and they covered part of the thigh.

“What will you do after your shift, little chocolate?” That was Colton again. “You know you can’t ignore me forever.”

I snorted.

I fixed my eyes on his, wishing more than once that there was a long line of customers to serve so that I could occupy myself with something other than Colton Harlock and his jungle-green eyes. But in the restaurant, there were only the gray-haired lady, who always ordered a full glass of pickle juice, and Mirna, eating pork chops, shooting not-so-discreet (and somewhat leering) looks at Cliff.

“After work, I’m really busy,” I said, looking back at the overly polished counter. Rather than continue waxing it, I reached over and grabbed one of the scandal magazines Rita always carried with her, trying to focus on reading beyond the title. It didn’t even catch my eye, but I pretended to be super excited and immersed in reading about Angelina Jolie’s new adoption. Oh look, this time she adopted a Hungarian baby.

“Are you going out with Chocolator later?” Colton asked.

“Why? Do you mind?” I said in a bitter tone.

“Hmm...”

“What happened to Gabriela? Take her for a walk.”

“Do you also want me to put him on a leash and give him a treat every time he urinates in his litter box?”

“Cats urinate in litter boxes. Dogs pee where they want to,” I corrected him.

“Like someone is being sarcastic, right?”

“Oh really? I did not realize.”

I went to the next page of the magazine. A huge, garish “Madame Cecile Solves Your Problems” ad caught my eye: a woman with heavily rimmed brown eyes, bright red painted fingernails, and a colorful turban on her head. It promised eternal love or your money back. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that woman!

“I know what I’ll do after my shift,” I told Colton.

“What?”

“I’m going to see my mother.”

***

“Pumpkin pie, you came to see me!” Mom squealed when she saw me appear at her door.

Just like in the ad, she had her long nails painted red and her eyes extremely lined with black. She wore a colored tunic reaching to her ankles.

She squeezed me hard, causing the multiple bracelets on her arms to crash together, causing a wave of noise, and she planted a loud kiss on my cheek.

Then she noticed Colton, who had offered to come with me and was now standing behind me.

She gave him an appreciative look from head to toe.

“Let me guess,” she said, “your boyfriend?

“You’re not good at guessing, Mom,” I muttered under my breath.

She laughed and then walked over to Colton for a big hug, followed by a kiss.

As she pulled away from him, the imprint of her orange-lipsticked mouth was imprinted on Colton’s cheek.

“Very handsome,” she purred at him. “Tell me, Anna, what brings you here to visit your old and forgotten mother?”

I rolled my eyes.

Mom was so theatrical and dramatic.

“It’s only been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen you, and I came because I saw the ad. Now do you promise eternal love?”

“Of course, yes! Don’t tell me that’s why you brought this succulent aph******ac hottie. Because I could make them both have...”

“Mother! He is the…” 

Boyfriend, friend with benefits, lover, Gabriela’s 

other?

“Just a friend of your daughter’s,” Colton finished for me, saving me from my dilemma.

Mom opened her mouth wide, then slammed it shut.

“Still, I could...”

I didn’t even let her finish that sentence.

I made my way inside the house and stopped when I saw the new decoration that she had done to the place: red and plush walls, curtains made with golden colors that hung from the frames of all the doors, round mirrors located on every two meters, and where the living room sofa used to be there was now an unnecessary amount of red and white cushions arranged on the floor.

I heard Colton gasp behind me.

“Do you like the new decorations? I made them myself,” Mom spoke. I saw her striking figure head toward the kitchen and return with a tray of iced tea. “Your father doesn’t like it… That makes me love this place madly.”

I nodded, adjusting my vision thanks to the annoying color of the walls.

Four years ago, she and Dad divorced. Since I was fourteen, I knew what it was like to divide my time between two people who could never agree on what type of ceramic to use in the bathroom.

I was an only child, so it was easy for them to separate and rebuild their lives.

I accepted it, seriously. But last year, Mom declared she wanted to be a psychic, and Dad drove a junk car lot. I had to put a stop to it and become independent by any means necessary.

“It’s all pretty original,” Colton said. He didn’t know if she was joking or meant it.

“Thanks for the compliment, cake,” my mother flattered him.

Colton gave her one of his lopsided smiles that made my stomach clench so badly.

“So, Anna… how are you doing with love?” she asked.

Why did Mom want to press that topic?

My love situation was non-existent.

Zero.

Nothing at all.

I didn’t even have a stray foreigner who happened to come to my door, and if that happened… he would probably throw himself into Gabriela’s arms when he saw her.

Was my brown hair unattractive? I knew it was something rebellious and sometimes impossible to comb, but...

“Have you not told her that you are dating Chocoman?” I heard Colton say.

Instantly my hand shot to his shoulder.

“Stop calling him names! His name is Marcus. M. A. R. C. U. S. And he’s not my boyfriend...”

“Oh, but he had to see her that night. The Choco boy even bought her a huge stuffed bear. ‘You’re all mine,’” he contemptuously quoted the words that were embroidered on the stuffed animal.

My face turned red from both anger and embarrassment.

If only he knew that Gabriela was the inventor of all that.

Mom wisely stayed silent, enjoying the show between the two of us.

Anger flooded my system.

“And? At least he doesn’t run away every time Eder’s name is mentioned,” I told him, hitting one of my fingers against his chest. “It’s like when you say the word cat to a mouse. You wouldn’t do better than him.”

Colton’s eyes narrowed, getting so close to me that I had to tilt my head back to see his face.

Oh, that bothered him.

“Believe me, Anna, I do know how to do 

many 

things better than him,” he responded now furiously and with his face two centimeters from mine. “For starters, I know how to kiss a girl. Your Chocolino didn’t even know where to put his hands, much less how to move his tongue inside your mouth. I had to stop him from embarrassing himself and embarrassing the entire male race.”

I swallowed.

I gave covert glances to my mother, who was still standing nearby, watching us carefully, the same way you watched a tennis match.

She couldn’t believe he was saying this in front of her.

A scorching heat flooded my cheeks.