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PARKING LOT
"I’m glad you’re here, Gabi," Antonio said softly leaning against the frame of the window. He could see the tears in her eyes and wanted desperately to explain what had happened with Ashley. "I think we should talk," Gabi admitted as she glanced back to the buses. "It looks like you’re busy." "We have a field trip today." Antonio pondered a thought for a second. "Don’t go anywhere, Gabi. I’ll be right back." He jumped up and ran over to another youth counselor standing near one of the buses. Gabi watched him in her mirror and once again thought about driving away. She shouldn’t have come; she didn’t want to hear him say how much he loved Ashley. Putting her hand on the gearshift, she started to put her car in reverse. Antonio opened the driver side door. "I’ll drive," he reported as he motioned for Gabi to step out. "But," she protested. "We have to get on the road for this field trip. I’ll drive and meet the group at the day camp." Gabi reluctantly stepped out of the car and stood in front of Antonio. "We need to talk, Gabi. You can drive back as soon as you drop me off if you want." Without a word, she walked around to the passenger side of her 4-door Toyota Camry. Antonio slid in behind the steering wheel and adjusted the seat; Gabi sat so close to the wheel he could barely fit his legs underneath. She climbed into the passenger seat and fastened her belt. She wasn’t sure what she was doing going anywhere with Antonio but she had to hear what he was going to tell her. They drove in complete and uncomfortable silence for almost 15 minutes. Gabi stared stonily out the front window as Antonio kept throwing sideways glances at her. As they drove through the neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Gabi spoke. "Where are we going?" Her voice almost startled Antonio since she had been so quiet. "North LA, to a day camp. They have swimming and horseback riding. The kids are out for Labor Day but some of their parents still have to work." Antonio didn’t want to make idle chitchat; he wanted to get down to the matter at hand. "About this morning, Gabi." "I know what I saw, Antonio," she snapped. Antonio looked in her direction just as she rolled her eyes. "You do?" He knew full well that she thought he slept with Ashley; in all fairness, why wouldn’t she? "Yes, I do. Ashley didn’t do a very good job of denying it." "Why? What did she say?" He didn’t mean to play with her emotions this way, but her attitude almost demanded it. "She didn’t have to say anything…it was written all over her face." Gabi leaned her elbow against the window and rested her temple against her knuckles. "Wow, I didn’t know I was that good," he chuckled taking his eyes off the road to gauge her reaction. "Do you think she enjoyed it?" Gabi was floored by what he was saying. She turned with wide eyes. "What?" "Well if you could see it all over her face, did she look happy or not?" Antonio had to stifle his laughter as the color drained completely out of her countenance. He was about to let her off the hook when she let loose on him. "I can’t believe you’re such an asshole!" Gabi turned and shot him the nastiest look he had ever seen. "I never knew you were such a jerk, Antonio." "Excuse me?" Antonio looked at her; the rage in her eyes was glaringly apparent. "I’M an asshole?" "I can’t even believe you are asking me what I think Ashley thought of you in bed!" Gabi’s voice was growing louder; Antonio was sure the people in the next car could hear her. "My God, Antonio, why didn’t you just invite me upstairs to do a play-by-play?" "Gabi," he tried to interrupt her realizing the joke had gone too far. "I mean she’s only been back in town for like, what, a few weeks and already she got you into bed. In my book, that makes her pretty slutty." Gabi knew Ashley wasn’t really a slut, but she was angry and the words were coming out fast. "Of course, what does that say about you?" "You’re way out of line, Gabi," Antonio warned her. "You’re going to be sorry." Gabi threw her hand over her heart. "Oh that’s so gallant, Antonio, defending your new lover." "She’s not my lover, Gabi," he said vehemently. "So she was just a one-night stand? Tsk, tsk. A former priest even," she said defiantly. Antonio’s blood was boiling and he wasn’t paying attention to just how fast he was now driving. "You know, I thought you were a better man, Antonio." "I’m warning you, Gabi. You’re making a fool of yourself." He shot her a look that she met with equal fury. "If you’d just give me a minute." "Is that all it takes you these days, Antonio?" Gabi smirked. "Poor Ashley." "You are such a bitch, Gabi." Antonio hadn’t called a woman a bitch since he was in high school; his Latin temper was raging out of control. "How can you even be acting like this?" "Like what?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, first of all," he began. "Not that you deserve the truth, but I didn’t sleep with Ashley last night." Gabi exhaled loudly in disbelief. "Don’t get me wrong, Gabi. I wanted to…oh man, did I want to." He paused and Gabi nearly broke from the enthusiasm of his admission. "We started to, is that what you want to hear? I took her up to my room, we kissed and I even took off her blouse. Is that what you want, Gabi? Do you want details?" He kept turning his head as he spoke and could almost see Gabi shrinking into the seat. "I wanted her Gabi. I wanted to make love to her. She took off my shirt and we even made it to the bed." The words were like knives digging into Gabi’s heart; she fought the tears to deny him the satisfaction. "We were hot and I was hard, Gabi. I was so hard I couldn’t wait to be inside her. I needed to be with someone in the worst way." Antonio was flying down the street when he turned to look at Gabi. Huge tears were rolling down her cheeks and her chest was almost heaving with unshed sobs; his resolve instantly crumbled and he ground the car to a stop at the side of the road. "And do you know who I wanted to be with, Gabi. Do you?" His voice was almost shouting and he felt his heart pounding. "I was with a beautiful woman who wanted to be with me; who was in my arms and in my bed, half undressed. She was ready and willing and all I could think about…was making love to you." Antonio slammed his hand into the steering wheel making Gabi jump. "Damn it!" He raked his fingers through his hair. "All I could think about was you." Gabi was stunned. She choked back her sobs and raised her eyes to look at Antonio; he was staring straight ahead out the windshield. "Antonio…I…" "You what, Gabi? You want to know what happened next?" He dropped his head and shook it slowly. "I said your name," he admitted miserably. "I said ‘Gabi’, alright?" Gabi wanted to reach out and touch him; she was afraid he would push her away. He was so angry and upset and she had been so mean. She tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. "What did you expect, Gabi? Did you want me to just love you from a distance for the rest of my life?" The pain in his voice tore at her heart. "I can’t do that, Gabi. I have to move on. I have to live my life. Like you." Finally, she found her voice. "Live my life? Is that what you think I’m doing?" Antonio looked at her in confusion. "Because I’m marrying Ricardo, you think I’m living my life?" "You accepted his proposal, Gabi." Antonio stated the obvious. "Why wouldn’t I, Antonio?" Her voice was growing once again. "You wouldn’t be with me. You wouldn’t leave the priesthood for me, remember?" Gabi’s dark eyes shone with anger. "How many times did I ask you, Antonio? Do you know? I do!" "It wasn’t an easy decision, Gabi, you know that." "Well, it seemed pretty easy after I was engaged to Ricardo," she challenged him boldly. "You couldn’t make that decision for me, but you could make it just like that for yourself?" She snapped her fingers to make her point. There was a brief silence before Antonio took a deep breath. "You didn’t tell me that you still wanted to be with me." She let out a gasp and shook her head. "Couldn’t you tell?" she wondered in amazement. "What?" he guffawed loudly "You mean every time that you kissed Ricardo in front of me? Or when you would throw your arms around him and tell him how much you loved him…was I supposed to know then, Gabi? Or every time that you made love to him, I was supposed to know that you still wanted me?" Fresh tears stung Gabi’s eyes as Antonio grilled her. "How about…when I was standing in Ricardo’s damned doorway when he proposed to you the DAY after we made love? Huh? Was I supposed to know that you wanted me when you looked into my eyes and then said ‘yes’ to my brother?" Antonio shouted the last words then rammed his elbow into the door of the car with a grunt. "Damn it, Gabi. I’m sorry I was SO blind." "You wouldn’t leave it for me," she screamed. "You didn’t love me enough to stop being a priest." Gabi broke down in sobs and leaned her face into her hands. "I had to move on, Antonio. I couldn’t just love you forever and watch you keep pushing me away." Antonio sighed; he knew it was true. He had pushed her away; pushed her back to Ricardo. "And when you finally left the church, you acted like it didn’t have anything to do with me. I thought that you didn’t…that you didn’t love me anymore." "Gabi, I…" Antonio had to take her in his arms; to touch her and kiss her and profess his love that had never gone away. As he turned to her and leaned across the seat, his eyes raised to the figure standing outside Gabi’s side of the car pointing a 9mm Glock at her head. Antonio swallowed hard as he froze midway across the seat. He and Gabi had been in such a heated argument that he hadn’t realized he pulled over on a nearly deserted street in East LA. Lifting his hands slowly into the air, Antonio began to speak softly. "Ok, ok." Gabi raised her head; she looked at Antonio and saw the gunman standing outside his side of the car pointing a gun at the side of his head. "A…Antonio," she whispered not knowing that there was a gun as close to her head as there was to his. Gabi froze in fear as her eyes lifted to Antonio’s. Praying to find some hope, she sunk into utter despair as he looked at her with the same horror. Gabi swung her head around to find a smiling gunman waving his semi-automatic behind her right ear. A gasp escaped her as she started to reach out for Antonio. "DON’T MOVE!" the stranger demanded stopping Gabi in a second. "Put your hands in the air, bitch." She looked up at Antonio who was shaking his head for her to obey. Gabi slowly lifted her hands into the air. "Just…just let us get out and you can take the car," Antonio said calmly. "I’ll give you my wallet and you can take her purse." "We don’t want your shit, man," the man on Antonio’s side replied. "You take the girl, dude," he directed his co-hort. Gabi began to cry as the gunman opened her door and reached in for her. "No, no." The fear in her voice broke Antonio’s heart. Disregarding their order, she grasped onto Antonio’s forearm. "LET HIM GO, BITCH," the lunatic screamed yanking Gabi from the car and into his arms. Antonio wanted to grab her but the gun was now touching the back of his head; he knew these men had no qualms about shooting him on the spot. Their eyes met and he mouthed ‘go on’ to her. "Good," the man soothed Gabi as she relented to his grip. "We’re getting in the backseat. Come on." He fumbled with the door handle and threw Gabi into the back. Antonio watched in agony as the criminal manhandled her petite form. When he pushed her into the backseat, she knocked her head into the passenger door on the driver’s side. "Gabi! Are you…" Antonio couldn’t help but speak to which the man holding him at gunpoint jammed the gun into his side. "Talk again and you die. Understand?" Antonio nodded and tried to remind himself to breathe. He had never been so scared in his life and he was more worried about Gabi. He heard her moan and bring herself up to a sitting position. The man in the back had her by the arm and raised his gun to the back of Antonio’s head. "Don’t move." As he held Antonio, the second gunman ran around to the passenger side and climbed hastily in next to Antonio. "Now drive," he demanded. "I told you to take the car," Antonio pleaded, reluctant to follow their instructions. "Please, just take…" The gunman’s eyes were cold and glazed; Antonio was certain he was on some sort of drugs. He had experience with strung-out teenagers from some time he spent working at an inner city parish, but never with any whom held a gun at his head. "I don’t…want…to…take…the…fucking….car." He pressed the end of the gun against Antonio’s temple. "I…want…you…to….drive." "Hey, hey, if he doesn’t want to drive, let’s just shoot him right now," the man in the backseat mumbled as he wrapped his arm around Gabi pulling her back against his chest. "I like her, though." He drew the gun down her cheek and held it under her chin. Antonio could see Gabi in the rearview mirror; she had her eyes closed and her body was trembling. "Let’s keep her, huh?" Tears rolled down her cheeks as the gunman pulled the gun back and forth across her breasts. Antonio was scared that the gunmen would become irrational if they didn’t obey and kill them both without so much as a blink; more than that, Antonio was afraid he would become irrational seeing them hurt Gabi and end up getting them both killed. Taking a deep breath, he started the car and pulled away from the curb.
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