Spirit Desire

It was the first step to adulthood I told myself as I walked around then small car dealership. It was a bit late since I had reached adult age four, almost five, years ago but I felt buying car really cemented it. Buying a house probably is probably a bit better but since I was nowhere near having enough money for a house a car would have to suffice.

Salvador was with me since he claimed to have some knowledge about cars but I'm sure he was as lost as I was. Salvador was only looking for a big car that could run fast and guzzled way too much gas while I was purely in it for a car that looked nice and wouldn't ask for too much gas. Our tastes were opposite and I don’t think we were going to find a car that we both agreed on.

“In the movies, I’ve always seen guys kick the tires,” he said as we got to a black SUV, “do you think we should do that?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him before pulling him along, “we’ll get kicked out of here if you do that.” He shrugged his shoulders and led me to some red sports car.

In the end we chose some Nissan, Salvador chose it—something about mileage, gas intake, and seats. I only agreed with him because it wasn’t the ugliest of cars and it seemed practical. I could fit five people in it and it would be better than having to borrow my mom’s mini cooper.

“You have to have the car checked out by another mechanic,” Salvador said as we both sat inside the car, “I know the dealership’s mechanic said that it was good and he said how to take care of it these next few months but you should get a second opinion.”

“It’s a new car Salvador,” I rolled my eyes and ran my hands over the steering wheel and pretended to drive, “I doubt anything’s wrong with the engine or whatever. I’m a great driver too, this puppy has at least 5 good months in it before I manage to ruin it.”

“You’re a terrible driver Adriana,” I started to interrupt him but he cut me off, “you’re not a bad driver, you’re just horrible with the engine stuff. You busted dad’s engine on the old Volvo when you were sixteen.”

“I was sixteen and I had just gotten my permit,” I rolled my eyes, “I’ve been driving for a lot more time now and I know what to do. Now, do you want a ride to the office or do you want to walk by yourself?”

“Drive me Adriana, I just helped you pick out a new car. You owe me,” he fastened his seatbelt.

“No one asked you to come along Salvador,” I said as I started driving him the few blocks to the law office.

“Well I had to go with you, you know nothing about cars,” he laughed, “you would’ve been like mom and bought a mini cooper when she had 5 kids and a husband.”

I laughed as I remember the day my mom had brought the mini cooper home and how surprised my dad had been. Gaby, Mariana and I loved the car but Salvador and Nicholas had hated it. My dad had had a serious conversation with my mom about how the mini cooper was not the most family friendly car.

“I still remember that,” I laughed, “not one of mom’s best ideas.”

“Definitely not,” Salvador said.

The next ten minutes were spent in silence as I drove to the law offices in downtown. Salvador was reading some paperwork about the car having to do with payment schedules and whatnot while I focused on driving and at every red light I would mess around with the radio. He would probably tell me everything that was written in the papers when he dropped by for dinner later tonight.

“Go get the car looked at by a mechanic Luz,” Salvador said as adjusted his tie and looked at himself in the mirror, “or I’ll tell my mom that this car isn’t reliable and she’ll have you take it back. I mean it Luz Adriana.”

I rolled my eyes at his use of my full name before I waved him off, “Go to work Salvador, or I’ll tell your wife and tell her you’ve been bothering me and threatening to tell my mom lies.”

“Tell mom that Isabel and I are going to go over for dinner tonight so she makes enough food for all of us.”

“I’ll tell her you’re going to do the same exact thing you do every Friday night,” he rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him before walking into the office that at a simple glance looked like an old Victorian house.

Fifteen minutes later I had made it to the same mechanic Salvador had recommended a couple of months earlier, Luigi’s. As I walked into the small mechanic shop to the sounds of some bickering in what I guessed was Italian.

“Do you have an appointment?” a young girl came out of a little office and asked.

“Oh no,” I answered, “is Leone here?”

“Do you want to see him?” she asked and I nodded my head, “let me call him.”

I thought she was going to leave the room and go look for him but instead she yelled out his name and proceeded to speak in Italian some more. He answered something back to her and she rolled her eyes before yelling get out here in English.

“I told you I wasn’t going to do anything for the rest of the day, I need to check the books for zio Luigi,” he said as he stepped out of the back part of the auto shop.

“Well someone specifically asked for you,” she pinched his arm and walked back into the little office and picked up a book.

“Hi Leone,” I smiled as he turned his attention to me, I waved my hand and he smiled.

“Hey Adriana,” he smiled and went for a hug, his arms wrapped around my waist and he squeezed once before letting me go and walking towards the small office, he motioned for me to follow before starting to speak again, “what can I do for you today? Or did you just want to see me?” he smiled cheekily and wrote some stuff down on a small notepad.

“As much as I enjoy seeing your face,” I rolled my eyes and he smiled widely, “I need you to check my car, just routine or whatever.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Alright, let’s go outside then,” he left the small notepad and I followed after him, “is something wrong with the mini cooper? Did you change the oil and all that like I told you?”

“Yes, and it’s not the mini cooper.” I smiled and skipped ahead of him. I gestured towards the car and smiled brightly, “I just bought this baby.”

He whistled, “This is a nice car,” he commented before I went back to his side, “is it your first car?”

I nodded my head, “it is, now inspect it so I feel like I chose a good one and that I’m not wasting whatever little money I have.”

“I’ll do that Adriana, go back inside and sit with Lucia a bit, it’s freakishly hot out here. I’ll meet you in there when I’m done, it’ll be quick since it’s a new car and I’m guessing you bought it from a dealership.”

I smiled and nodded, “I’ll see you inside then,” I walked away and felt bad for him since it was extremely hot outside and the soft wind wasn’t doing anything to help.

The girl, who I now knew was Lucia, smiled at me and asked if I wanted a drink, I politely declined and she went back to reading her book and I went to playing some game on my phone. After about fifteen minutes Leone came back into the small office and motioned me to follow him.

He took a seat in a comfortable chair and motioned for me to take a seat and I did before speaking, “look at you, you have an office space and everything.”

“Yeah, well a man needs to be comfortable to do accounting things,” he smiled and opened a mini fridge, “do you want a drink?” he asked and pulled out a can of coca cola. I nodded my head and he pulled out another can of soda and passed it to me.

“So, is anything wrong with the car?” I began, “please say no.”

“Nothing’s wrong with your car,” he smiled, “you bought it new so the possibility of anything being wrong with it was pretty slim. You just have to keep up with its maintenance and don’t do anything that you know will damage the engine of brakes. It’s all pretty simple.”

“Oh thank god,” I muttered, “Salvador and I know nothing about cars and I was worried that we had chosen a shitty car. Salvador wanted to kick the tire because he said he saw it in a movie,” I laughed and he joined as he began searching through some drawers.

“It’s so hot out there,” he commented as he opened up a binder and began flipping through some pages. “Fuck,” he muttered and brought his hand up to his face before he rummaged around in a cabinet looking for something. He tilted his head back coughed loudly before he resumed looking for what I could only think was tissues.

I raised my eyebrows before I noticed red liquid seeping through his fingers, “Oh,” I exclaimed and grabbed my purse looking for the packet of Kleenex I always carried around. I grabbed it and walked around the small desk quickly and took his hand from his nose.

He grabbed my hand as I placed the Kleenex to his nose and titled his head forward, the opposite of what he had been doing before. “Breath through your mouth,” I instructed and he did as I said before I pinched his nostrils and handed him another tissue to wipe up some of the blood that he had gotten on his hand.

“Thank you,” he mumbled as I threw away the tissue, “sorry, it happens when it gets too hot.”

“No problem,” I smiled, “you really shouldn’t tilt your head back when you have a nosebleed. You can end up getting blood down your throat and start coughing up blood, it’s not good. Now, tell me where there’s a bathroom so I can get all your icky blood off my hands.”

“You having my blood on your hands should be a privilege,” he laughed before leaning on his and pointing to his right, “just go down that hallway and it’s to your right.”

I followed his instructions to the bathroom and washed my hands quickly as my stomach began to growl. It was two in the afternoon and my body could tell.

“Hey,” I said as I walked back into his small office and dried my hands with the paper towels, “have you eaten lunch yet?” I sat down in the chair before him. “I haven’t eaten yet and I’m hungry. I also hate eating alone,” I smiled widely.

“Nope,” he popped the ‘p’ in nope and took a swig of his soda, “I haven’t eaten yet and I am pretty hungry.” He leaned back on his desk chair and crossed his hands behind his head.

“Come on then,” I hopped up from the chair and pulled at his hands, “I’m treating since I owe you.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me and he chuckled before he placed his arm over my shoulders.

“I can’t let you treat me,” he smiled, “I can’t let you pay for my lunch. My mom would kill me or send me back to Italy so I could learn how to be a gentleman.” He walked towards the mustang.

“I am treating you, I owe you from the last time we went to eat Moroccan food. A Sandoval never lets their debts go unsettled, or so my dad used to say,” I smiled. “Now come on over here silly, we’re taking my new baby,” I motioned towards my car and oohed and awed as I opened the door for him.

“Now you’re just emasculating me,” he rolled his eyes and slid into the passenger seat.

“Oh get over it and I’m treating you to lunch,” I smiled as I slid the keys into the ignition.

“I can’t let you do that,” he said as I began driving, “I can’t let you pay for me. I’ll pay and you’ll just owe me some more,” he winked. “Now, where are we going?” he asked.

“I feel like something Asian,” I started, “do you like Thai food? There’s a great little place over by the bay that has the best pad thai I’ve ever had.”

“That sounds good,” he answered and we fell into silence as I continued driving.

“I’ve been here before,” Leone commented as I parked the car and slid out of the driver’s seat, “I hate this strip mall,” he scrunched his nose.

“Well, regardless of your feelings towards the strip mall this place has the best Thai food so let’s go and eat,” I smiled.

“So what’s good?” he asked as we both looked at our menus.

“I personally love the pad thai,” I said as I scanned the menu, “every time I come here I look through the menu and think today I will try something new but I always come back to the chicken pad thai. You should get that, although according to my little sister the red curry is a lot better than the pad thai,” I shrugged my shoulder and took a sip of my water.

“I’ll just get the pad thai, I trust you,” he smiled.

I nodded my head and closed the menu before placing it on the table. “I think I’m going to get the spicy red curry.” I smiled and he raised an eyebrow before closing his menu.

Leone ordered for us when the small waitress came to our table and set down cups of water.

“Jesus Christ, I hate this strip mall,” Leone mumbled and ran his hand down his face.

I rolled my eyes and started eating before he mumbled fuck under his breath, it was only then that I realized he was looking at someone who was sitting at the table behind us. After some shuffling and the sound of a chair being move girls came into view but Leone seemed to only be focused on one of them.

She was tall, it made me feel inferior as she stood at near six feet and I am only five foot three. She was also thin, incredibly so and it was obvious by the skin tight black shirt she was wearing. She had her hips pierced and her black jeans laid low on her hips showing the small bars. Her hair was black—blacker than mine which made it obvious that it was dyed—and cut in a bob that framed her face perfectly.

She smiled as she looked at Lucan but the smile left her face as she looked at me—her cheekbones could cut right through me and I felt myself growing self-conscious at how chubby I felt my cheeks were and about everything else as she stood there tall and beautiful.

“Hi Leone,” she smiled widely.

“Emily,” he nodded his head and looked towards the girl who was standing next to her—equally as beautiful—“Patricia.”

“Hey Leo,” she smiled, “how have you been?”

Before he could answer Patricia, Emily spoke again, “so who is this?” he asked.

“This is Adriana,” he smiled at me.

“Hmm,” Emily said distastefully, “hi Adriana,” she said as if my name was disgusting and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, “didn’t think this is the type you went for. I mean look at—”

“Knock it off Emily,” he said angrily, “don’t even start.”

She waved her hand dismissively and some swirls of colors could be seen underneath her sleeve, “I’m not starting anything Leone, I just didn’t think you’d go for this type.”

“What type?” I asked before I could stop myself since everyone knows the correct action to do when something like this happens is to just let everything slide off and not respond.

“Boring and plain,” she rolled her eyes at me and turned to Leone, “not at all like your other girlfriends.”

“Oh you’d think you’d say something more exciting or hurtful, that was extremely lame,” I commented and grabbed a napkin from the table before unfolding it and placing it on my lap.

She turned to me but before she could say anything Leone stopped her, “Knock it off Emily, we’re trying to have lunch.”

“Come on Emily, our break is over already and we need to get back,” the other girl said and pushed her back slightly. She smiled apologetically before hiking her purse higher up her shoulder.

Emily rolled her eyes again, “I know,” she said to Emily before she turned back to Leone, “I’ll see you around Leone,” she smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly, “call me when you’ve gotten over,” she gestured towards me, “whatever it is you’re going through right now.”

“For Christ’s sake, leave Emily,” he mumbled.

She smiled at me before her and her friend walked out of the small restaurant. Leone rolled his eyes and muttered somethings under his breath and I arched an eyebrow at him. “Jesus Christ she’s pretty, like really really pretty. Why’d you let her go?” I asked.

“She’s pretty alright, but a right bitch,” he answered, “she works at a beauty salon around here.”

“She’s totally the type. Did you meet her getting your hair cut?” I smiled goofily and he shook his head.

“No, we went to the same tattoo parlor and we got to talking. I got this puppy done while we were in there,” he pointed to his bicep where some roman numerals were, “she was getting something on her back, I forget what.”

“Why’d you two break up?” I asked.

“She’s crazy,” he muttered under his breath, “we were dating for about six months and she wanted to have a baby. Nothing against the little gremlins but I was like I don’t know you well enough to have children or anything. So she proposed, now call me old fashioned or whatever but I feel the man should be the one asking the woman. Not the other way around. I broke up with her and she couldn’t get over until like six months after it happened.”

“You just broke up with her after she said she wanted to get married?”

“Yeah, obviously. If I wasn’t going to want to get married with her at that time then I would probably not want to marry her after. I liked her well enough to not string her along,” he started, “I don’t understand why she went to bat shit crazy after I told her I didn’t want to get married.”

“Some girls just really want to get married, doesn’t mean she’s crazy” I shrugged my shoulders, “besides we all grow up wanting to get married. The whole white dress and a totally hot guy that cries when he sees us walking down the aisle. It’s our dream.”

“She is crazy, she wouldn’t leave me alone for about six months. My mom got on my case because she would go over to her crying,” he started, “is that whole wedding thing your dream?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “the marriage? To the right guy I guess so.”

“So soon I’m guessing, Chris said you and Javier have been dating for like 5 years. That’s a long time,” he said.

I rolled my eyes and tore apart the wooden chopsticks, “I wouldn’t count on it. We’re taking things slow in regards to that, like snail pace slow. At this rate I’ll probably be 40 and still not married.”

The same small waitress from before came to us carrying the plates of food. I smiled at her when she placed down the dishes.

“Don’t worry about that,” he smiled and picked up his fork, “you’ll probably be married by the time you’re thirty. If I was Javier I’d have you done at city hall in two seconds. I’ll make you a deal,” he continued, “if you’re forty and single and I’m forty and single, I’ll take you to Vegas and we’ll get married in five seconds and we’ll go see Celine Dion or something.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled, “so you don’t know how to eat with chopsticks?” I asked as I pinched them between my fingers and picked up some noodles.

“Never learned,” he shook his head and the previous conversation was never touched upon again, “I grew up on pasta and my grandma’s pizza. I never needed to learn with anything other than a fork.”

We spent the rest of lunch in silence, only really commenting on the food, to which Leone said I had been right about the pad thai.

“You should never doubt me,” I said wisely, “I am always right.”

“I’ll make sure to remember that,” he said and we both watched as a different waitress than before brought the check over to us. She placed it on the table and smiled before turning and both Leone and I launched our hands to get it. I stuck out my tongue at him as he brought out his wallet and placed it on the table.

“She left the check closer to you,” I pouted as I looked through my purse and pulled out a few crumpled bills, if I wasn’t going to pay for the whole meal, the least I could do was leave the tip. “It’s not fair.”

“Because she knows the guy is supposed to pay for the girl,” he smiled as she took his card and the bill with her.

“I invited you out, I was supposed to pay” I said pointedly, “plus, now I owe you twice, and as you can tell I just bought a car and I hate owing people money. “You could’ve just let me get it over with.”

“I’m sorry Adriana, but a man never lets a woman pay for his food,” he paused and signed his name on the small receipt and stuffed the other one into his thin wallet, “besides, I never said you had to take me anywhere for food. I live with my brother you know, all we eat is take out. A home cooked meal is better for me,” he winked and I shook my head.

“Well, I’ll let you know that none of my mom’s cooking skills rubbed off on me. The only thing I can make well are quesadillas and rice.”

“Damn it, and here I was looking forward to you making me some enchiladas to settle this bet,” he smiled crookedly and a tiny dimple on his right cheek appeared.

“Tough luck,” I smiled and folded my hands over the table, “now do you want a ride back to your uncle’s shop? I need to go shopping for interview clothes.”

“A ride will be pretty cool since you drove me all the way out here and forced me to pay for lunch,” he winked and I rolled my eyes as I stood up, “you’re going for an interview?” he added as an afterthought.

“I am,” I said enthusiastically as we walked out of the restaurant and he swung his arm over my shoulder, “you remember that opening I told you about during Chris and Natalie’s engagement party?”

He nodded his head, “yeah, for a nurse at the Children’s hospital right?”

“That’s the one,” I unlocked my car door and unlocked the rest of the car, “my sister-in-law, Isabel, works at the hospital and she put in a good word for me and now I have an interview with the will be head of pediatric nurses when the new wing opens up. I’m so excited and I want to get the perfect outfit for it you know?”

“Congratulations tesorina,” he congratulated me and I commented on how I still hadn’t gotten the job but he shook his head, “regardless, I’m sure you’re going to get it. You’re a perfect fit for it.”

“Thank you, that’s sweet, but I’d rather not get my hopes up just in case I don’t get the job. It’s my dream job so I know I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get it and I want to soften the blow and not think about it.”

“Don’t stress about it Adriana,” he smiled and opened his door, “I’m sure you’ll get the job. Now go and get a nice outfit to make the head of nurses fall in love with.” He pointed to his temple, “mentally and psychologically,” to his heart, “emotionally,” and then thrust his hips into the air, “and physically.”

I laughed loudly and smiled at him as he shut the door before he folded his arms where the window was rolled down, “I’ll see you around Adriana, and take care of this sucker.” He waved his hand before knocking on the door once and turning around to walk back to the auto shop.