Page 143 of Now and Forever

Chapter 49

Almost every night, I hung out with Chuey and Manolo. It seemed they were my only friends around here, and they didn’t mind that I tagged along. We became so close that, when the cast finally came off—thank goodness since I was on a verge of a meltdown—Manolo declared he would switch his schedule so we could go out and celebrate. Coming from someone I barely knew, though he was genuinely as happily relieved as I was, it meant a great deal to me. There was an emotional breakthrough that was about to happen, and to have someone there by my side meant more than words could say.

Right after the doctors, we headed straight to lunch in the cozy, boutique-esque little gem named Serendipity. Ever since I had seen that movie with the same namesake, I had always pictured Kate Beckinsale waiting like in the movie with her frozen hot chocolate.

“Have you heard from our boyfriend?” Manolo asked the moment we finished ordering.

Drew, since the night they had dropped me off, had been regarded as my “boyfriend.” He had apparently become our boyfriend the moment they’d decided they, too, found him just as irresistible. It was all sorts of funny. I bet there were tons of people who liked him as I did; what was two more flamboyant gays in the mix?

I shook my head. “No.” I hadn’t heard from Drew, and I didn’t expect him to reach out. He wasn’t that kind of guy.

“He keeps you in suspense. Es mui romantic,” Chuey giddily chirped as he clapped his hands. “He es so hot, I die.”

I couldn’t help smiling. Though he looked bulky and strong, his personality was the total opposite. He was all mushy and gooey on the inside and a hopeless romantic.

“It’s not romantic. He’s … well, you know. I honestly don’t think he likes me like that. We flirt and all, and at times, we get physical, but on his terms. When it comes down to it, he backs away. There’s a major reason for that. It’s hard to accept the truth after all these years, but he just won’t love me the way I love him.” A chaotic, tragic love story was what I had with him.

Manolo shook his head. “He’s blind. You’re a beautiful mamacita. Don’t let him think you’re not.”

It was sweet of him to take the effort to make me feel a bit better. Still, the fact remained the same, unchanged.

“He only goes for models—well, cheerleaders before he upgraded, but you know … He has a certain type.” Thin. Striking. And utterly gorgeous. Anyone with eyes could tell I was none of those.

Manolo took a sip of his iced tea before grabbing his phone and glancing my way. “What’s his Instagram?”

“I have no idea.”

“Que? What you mean you have no idea?” He seemed confused, outraged even.

Why did he find it so appalling?

“I have Facebook.” Which hasn’t been used in the past six to eight months.

He shook his head with his hand over his chest, eyes furiously blinking, acting like I had told him I had a penis. “Facebook is for boring cha-chas. Fun, pussy high in the sun is Instagram. Girl, you gotta upgrade that shit.”

Jesus, did he just imply my genitals were depressing? Whatever. Not that it mattered, not to me, anyway.

“I’ll check it out later.” Everyone had Facebook, so who needed Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat? I mean, how many places did one need to connect with friends? You could only bombard them with what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in your new shoes so many times before they clicked on that unfriend/unfollow button because they were sick of it.

Besides, I preferred to have a little mystery instead of someone knowing everything about me with just a click of a button. If a man wanted to get to know me and what I was made of, the dude had to work harder than that.

Manolo glared at me before raising that ultra-thick dark brow of his that put mine to shame. “What you mean ‘later’? Now, Chloe, now. We have to hunt boyfriend down and see if he’s being a good boy, sí?”

Must I? It made me a bit nauseous to be quite honest.

“I don’t think he even has one.” That, too, but I would rather not dig, because most of the time, those things bit back … hard, fangs and all.

Chuey nodded in agreement before taking my hand. “If he dates models, you bet his beautiful face and that sexy culo of his that he has it. Haay papi, culo de encanto…” He sighed, drawling and drooling at the thought of Drew’s butt. He was particularly obsessed with it.

It was funny how these two were just as invested as I was in Drew. The man simply had that effect.

“Yeah, yeah, but if he only hurts her, no sexy butt is worth it,” Manolo pointed out.

“Maybe es bad idea,” Chuey thought out loud, swiftly changing his stance. “You know, maybe there’s calaveras …” He shivered, looking as if he had drunk rotten milk.

Shaking my head, I decided to get through with it, so I downloaded the app. Then I typed in his name to no avail. I was almost convinced he wasn’t the kind to do social media.

Taking a chance with my brother’s name, I didn’t have difficulty finding his profile. There were tons of pictures, and I tapped on the one that had the Knicks photo and surprise, surprise, he had tagged the picture with someone who just happened to be Drew.

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