Relapse

Chapter 8

~~4:30 pm ~~

 

o   Dante

 

I stood on the curb in front of my house, waiting for Dash to come around. In a minute, a yellow cab pulled up in front of me, and sitting in the front passenger seat was Dash.

I piled into the backseat and shut the door. “Thanks for picking me up, Dash.”

“Don’t mention it,” Dash responded, then said to the cab driver, “To the Home Food Inn now, please.”

On the taxi’s way out of my neighborhood, Dash glanced at me and grinned. “Looking sophisticated today, huh?”

I glanced down at the black formal tailcoat I was wearing and chuckled. “Yes, looking quite dashing, if I do say so myself.”

“Trying to get Carol to notice you?” Dash teased lightly.

Laughing, I shrugged. “That’d be nice, but I just wanted to look dressed well and look my best.”

After about one twenty-minute ride, the taxi came to a halt in front of the entrance to the Home Food Inn, a buffet place close to the 39th Avenue train station. Dash paid the driver via debit card, then we got out and stepped into the place.

The place had a fairly large room that could seat more or less a hundred people. On the far end of the room was the stage, and on the wall hung a banner with ‘HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY, CAITLEEN’ on it, along with a couple of enlarged photos of Caitleen Reyes beside the greeting. Some of the tables were already occupied by guests attending the event, although the place wasn’t full yet.

“Dante!” someone called from behind me.

I turned and saw Angel coming toward me, Carol following closely behind her.

It was hard to tell which of the two girls looked better. They both seemed to look dazzling in their dresses.

Carol wore a cerulean gown-type dress that reached past her knees. Her attire gave me much of a chance to notice how her skin seemed to radiate and glow her semi-pale complexion. She was a little lean, not that curvy but still very pretty in her own way. She had also curled her hair, which I thought she had done a superb job with. Overall, Carol looked ready to captivate…well, captivate me. Over again.

Angel, meanwhile, wore a tube dress of a dark blue and white color. The dress itself seemed to hug her torso. She had tied her hair in an elegant knot on the back of her head. Angel’s skin was considerably darker than Carol’s, and she was more voluptuous, although she looked very much like a proper lady.

“Hey, you look…beautiful,” I couldn’t help saying with a smile on my face.

Angel turned a little red – not pink; red.

“Thanks,” she said bashfully.

I looked over Angel’s shoulder, at Carol. “You look just as great, Carol.”

Carol gave a grateful smile. “Thanks, Dante. You look good too.”

I chuckled. “So, the party should be starting soon, right? Where’s the birthday girl?”

“She’s still on the way,” Carol answered my question, “I’m guessing the party will start once she steps in.”

“Cool,” I nodded.

“The boys’ seats are over there,” Angel pointed across the room to the tables to the right of the stage, where I saw Levi Osea, Martin Esperanza, Vincent Patricio, Kevin Leander, Aaron Villan, Wesley Raymonds, and Ray Flores were sitting.