Agustin, Carlos and Sam wear their jeans too tight. They know that eyes follow them as they dangerously walk down Muriel street. Sometimes these are the eyes of men who secretly want to fuck them and other times the eyes of men want to hurt them. But Agustin, Carlos and Sam go past that fear that I’ve yet to conquer and they keep on walking.
The three of them share a mobile home in the trailer park across from the liquor store where I work at. Whenever they walk into my store, I try not to make eye contact with them.
But it’s as though I’m invisible to them.
It’s like they live in their own world and nobody else matters. Even their stealing is so slick. Sam and Carlos will make a huge fuzz about the men in the new TVyNovelas while Agustin stuffs two bottles of blue MD 20/20 in his green messenger bag. Sam approaches me and pays for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a pack of gum as Carlos and Agustin carelessly walk out the door.
“We’re having a party tonight,” Sam tells me. “You should stop by, girl.”
My face gets red when he calls me girl. I look around and make sure that the other customers didn’t hear. All I see is Dona Maria inspecting the expired chorizo and her grandkid playing with his gameboy. Part of me is scared that Agustin, Carlos and Sam can see right through me. The rest of me is uncontrollably excited at the possibility of joining their crew.
I write down the trailer number on an old receipt and offer to bring some extra chips.
At 9pm, I grab a bag of Lay’s, lock the store and cross the street to the trailer park. I walk to their trailer and knock on the door. Carlos opens the door.
“Well she came after all,” Carlos said as he took a swig from the blue MD 20/20 bottle. “Come on in girl.”
The inside of the trailer was bigger than I expected. There were two girls I knew from P.E. who were making out by the small sink. Agustin was fidgeting with what looked like a helium tank.
“Here you go,” Sam offered a red cup filled with blue liquid. “It’s a little Mad Dog and a little Alize that Cindy stole from her mom.”
Carlos comes out of the bathroom with a bag of party balloons and hands them to Agustin, who then proceeds to fill them with something coming out the tank. Everyone stands around Agustin and he hands everyone a balloon and they all inhale them. They all start to laugh and someone cranks up the music.
Sam comes back, sits next to me with a shot glass and cheers to the air.
“Don’t worry chica, you’re home now.“
