Back to Me. Earl Sewell

tried to get him to look into my eyes so that he could see the truth. He turned his cheek to me. He couldn’t even bring himself to meet my gaze.

      “Is that what you think?” I asked.

      “Please. You want Carlo more than a bee wants a pot of honey,” Viviana said, as if she were a credible authority on what I wanted.

      I stepped in front of Misalo, raised my voice and pointed my finger in Viviana’s face. “You know what? You need to stay out of my business, trick!”

      “Get your finger out of my face, Maya!” Viviana snarled, issuing a threat.

      “And if I don’t?” I encouraged her to make a move on me. I was all set to beat her down for even talking to Misalo.

      “You know what? I’m going to be the bigger person today. Besides, it’s obvious that Misalo wants nothing to do with you. He didn’t even hang around to listen to your annoying voice.” Viviana laughed at me condescendingly.

      I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough, Misalo had walked away. I scanned the crowd but could not locate him.

      “Obviously, you don’t have a clue as to what it takes to keep a man,” Viviana remarked as she turned and began walking away.

      “Go to hell, Viviana!”

      “I’ve already been there. It’s your turn now, honey,” she said, flipping up her middle finger at me.

      I was literally about to rush up to her and beat her down, but I saw my little sister, Anna, approaching her and decided against it, at least for right now.

      Five

      VIVIANA

      I couldn’t believe how Maya had come out of a bag just because I was talking to Misalo. She really had a lot of nerve. The fact of the matter was that Misalo had approached me. Right after Anna left for the concession stand, he appeared out of nowhere and tapped me on my shoulder. When I turned to see who was trying to get my attention, I was actually nervous when I saw that it was him. I thought he’d somehow figured out I’d forwarded the photos he had of Maya in his phone.

      “Viviana, right?” he asked.

      “Yes,” I answered, feeling apprehensive.

      “I just wanted to thank you again for showing me what Maya is all about. I know it could not have been easy for you to snitch on your own cousin.” Misalo had such a look of sincerity in his eyes. I almost felt guilty for causing him pain. I stood there making mental notes of his every feature. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy. He had kissable lips, dreamy eyes and, from what I could tell, a really decent personality. He was a little on the skinny side, but since he was muscular, he didn’t really look too scrawny. He clearly was much different than any guy I’d ever been with. He certainly wasn’t the thug type, but with a little help from me, I was certain I could wrinkle up his smooth edges and turn him into my own personal bad boy.

      “I don’t like it when good people get hurt,” I lied. I could’ve cared less about his feelings at the time, but now that he was single again, my position had changed.