A Night On the Town

"Man, where the hell is she?" muttered Luis, annoyed. Cabs and cars stopped by the curb every now and then, and each time he prayed that it was her, but to no avail. He sat down on the bench in front of the restaurant, spread his arms out, and pulled a smoke out of his pocket. The cigarette hung loosely from his lips and he furrowed his eyebrows as he rummaged through his other pocket for a lighter.
         "God damn it," he grunted. He snatched the smoke out of his mouth and put it back in the box, tapping the top of it impatiently.
         "Do you need a light?"
         Luis looked around and saw the source of the voice.
         She walked over some and smiled. "Are you okay?"
         He was taking in her odd beauty; a mischevious smirk, piercing blue eyes, striking cheekbones, porcelain skin and flaming tomato locks. She was tall, lithe and sported tremendously worn-out brown boots that clearly only one in a million could pull off without looking homeless. She took a drag on her cigarette, still looking at him with a cocked head.
         "Helloooo?"
         Luis shook his head. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just kind of got in a... trance. Yeah I need a light, please." He was shooting off and rambling around a pretty girl -- a trait about himself which he absolutely despised. He smiled back at her in a nervous and embarrassed way.
         He got a closer look at her cigarette while she rummaged in her purse for her lighter. "Is that a Gauloises?" he asked in awe.
         She nodded and chuckled. "Yeah, my favorite. My brother's at school in France. He sends me lots of them, never at my expense," she added. She walked over and sat down next to him, offering him one of hers.
         "Yeah, definitely. Thanks a lot," he said, taking the lighter and the Gauloises from her. "What's your name?"
         "Bonnie. Y tu?"
         He chuckled and turned his head to exhale. "Luis. You're up on your Spanish, huh?"
         She smirked. "Yeah, it was my minor at university. Conjugations and all that shit were drilled into my head. I hated it," she said with a sigh, "but it's turned out to be rather useful." She took a drag of her cigarette, smiled at the same time and looked Luis directly in the eye.
         Never had a girl made Luis so nervous before. He was normally quite arrogant, charming, and mildly egotistical and was usually the one committing the intimidation -- after all, he was an extremely attractive and educated Brazilian man living a nice lifestyle. He had no idea why, but this Bonnie girl was turning everything around on him. Damn, she's got me all quiet and shit. What is it, though? Her height? Her boldness? That look she's got on her face? Man, I don't even know, he thought to himself.
         "Yeah, it has, but I speak more Portuguese than I do Spanish," he responded. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and examined it, looked at her and nodded in approval. "This is some good stuff."
         "Nothing but the best. You're Brazilian, yeah? What are you doing out here by yourself? You're a dapper fella, you should have a lady on your arm," she questioned, examining his face and clothes and making him even more uncomfortable -- yet interested.
         Luis noted her slight British accent and looked up at the sky. "I'm not supposed to be by myself. I'm waiting on my uh... my girlfriend." As soon as he said the words he wanted to rip the nearest pole out of the ground and give a huge blow to himself in the head. Why the fuck did you just tell this intriguing girl that you have a fucking girlfriend you IDIOT?
         Bonnie tilted her head to the side, her jaw slightly dropped, but a smile on her face. "She's your lady and you didn't pick her up? What's happened to chivalry? She's probably all like, 'My squeeze doesn't want to pick me up! Oh Luis, Luis! Wherefore art thou, Luis?!'" She erupted in laughter and he noticed the adorable, cave-like dimples on her face.
         "Well she didn't ask me--"
         "Oh Luis, she shouldn't have to ask. It's like a gentleman to offer and drive over and be all studlike and pick her up for dinner, yeah?" she challenged.
         Growing a little flustered, Luis ignored her question. "Now, I gotta ask you. What are you doing out here all by yourself?"
         Bonnie grinned as she stomped out her cigarette. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
         Luis was speechless at how mysterious she was to him and how he wanted to know more.
         "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to stare?" she said playfully.
         Luis ignored her and instead turned his attention on his BlackBerry which was vibrating.
         "Hey Camille, what is taking you so long?"
         "Camille?" Bonnie mouthed in comic disgust, and she attempted to suppress an outburst of laughter.
         "I'm not feeling too well, Luis," said Camille; Bonnie could hear her borderline nasally tone through the earpiece and at that, she rolled her eyes.
         "Oh, well I can be right over. I'll bring you some medicine if you need any--"
         "No, Luis," she said rudely. Bonnie raised her eyebrows; Luis turned his back to Bonnie and tried to inch down the bench. "I don't want you to come over here."
         "Hey! I don't have the time nor the patience for your shit; I offered help and you're rude about it. Get some sleep," Luis retorted, and he angrily hung up the phone.
         "Such bullshit, I was out here for almost an hour waiting on her ass and she wants to call me saying she's sick and can't come. She sure didn't bother calling me beforehand. Damn!" He was pacing back and forth in front of the benches, thinking about things.
         Bonnie was immensely amused by the entire situation. "Mmm... Latin temper, light my fire! Ay, papi!"
         "Shut the hell up, Bonnie," he said hotly.
         She sat up on the bench and gave him a mixed look of anger and disgust; she shook her head, gathered her things and began to walk off. "Hope you enjoyed that cigarette. Nice meeting you too."
         Luis quickly realized how rude he'd sounded and ran to catch up with her. He lightly grabbed her arm to get her attention.
         "Who do you think you are?" she spat.
         He removed his hand from her arm in the blink of an eye. "I'm sorry, Bonnie; it was a slip of the tongue. I didn't know you were so sensitive."
         "Hmph. I can certainly say the same for you. Look, Luis, it was nice and fun meeting you and all of that, and I'm sure I was of great service to you what with my lighter and my cigarette, but I have to get somewhere--"
         "Okay. So do I."
         "Really? Where?" she asked curiously, making that same face as she'd done earlier.
         "Camille's, to see if she's really as sick as she says she is."
         Bonnie's eyes opened up with great shock and interest. "You can't go over there by yourself!"
         Luis shrugged. "Why not?"
         Her face grew even more surprised at his statement. "Are you really that clueless? If she decided to chop your face off or grind up your body, you'd have to have a witness to put her prissy ass in prison! I'm going with you."
         Luis had a small smile on his face. "You have a point. Come on, let's go."
         
                                                        ******

"Jesus H. Christ, Luis! This car is boss!" exclaimed Bonnie as she took in every little detail of Luis's Range Rover.
         "I guess," he said nonchalantly. He could feel himself warming up to her now and not feeling quite as nervous as he'd been earlier.
         Bonnie turned to look at him and pursed her lips. "Bollocks."
         Luis burst out laughing, "Yeah, it's a really nice car. Who am I kidding?"
         She turned on the radio and put it on a hip hop station, making damn sure the bass was all the way up; she did the same for the volume. Bonnie danced and moved around in her seat, her long red hair slapping Luis in the face repeatedly.
         "Bon-Bonnie," he said, furrowing his eyebrows and trying to concentrate on the road. He was laughing at the same time as well too.
         Bonnie grew bored of the music and turned it down. She rolled down the window a bit, fished through her purse and pulled out a blunt.
         "Bonnie, what the hell is that?"
         She took a long, long hit, held her breath for a bit and exhaled out the window. "What do you think it is, silly?"
         "Bonnie! That's horrible for you!"
         She threw her head back in laughter. "Are you kidding me? You smoke tobacco which is far more worse than weed. You know why they don't sell Gauloises in the States?"
         "No, Bonnie, I don't know. Humor me."
         She leaned over to whisper in his ear, as though it were a huge government secret. "Because they are superbly strong and those little Marlboros pale in comparison."
         He shifted in his seat a little, the nervousness setting in a little again because of her hot breath against his ear.
         She leaned back and sat in her seat and continued to smoke. "I mean, what do you do for a living anyway?"
         He hesitated for a bit. "I'm a doctor."
         Bonnie got a great laugh out of that. "You're a doctor?! You're a doctor and you smoke? That's like... that's like a priest fondling little Johnny after mass." She paused, thought for a second, turned to look at Luis, and was laughing hysterically.
         "So if you're a doctor, how old are you?"
         Luis glanced at her and then back at the road. "Thirty-four."
         "Yeah right! You look like you're in your twenties. You aren't a plastic surgeon are you?"
         "Hell no," he laughed. "I'm just a general doctor, like a family doctor. What about you? What do you do?"
         Bonnie exhaled and curled up in her seat; she took a while to answer his question. "I'm a twenty-two-year-old artist living on Ramen noodles, water, and air. I live in a tiny apartment with ugly furniture, pretty art, and my kittens; I roam the city when I get lonely."
         Luis felt an incredible amount of pity for her and knew she wasn't trying to be funny at all. "You'll be okay."
         She sighed. "You know, everyone likes to tell me that because they go on this guilt trip and have an endless supply of pity for me. I know I'll be okay. I am okay. Things are just... hard. Don't pity me."
         The rest of the ride was silent until he alerted Bonnie to wake up.
         "Bonnie. Bonnie! We're here. We're at Camille's."
         She jumped in her seat and sat up. "My God! What the devil does she do for a living?"
         "Nothing. She lives off of her parents," snorted Luis.
         "That's not unusual. Typical southern Californian brat, if you ask me," said Bonnie. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment.
         "I have this gut feeling, Luis," she said, looking at him square in the eye. "I just have this crazy instinct that she's not doing right. Where's her bedroom?"
         Luis squinted for a bit and then had a look of defeat on his face. He laid back in his seat and stared at the ceiling.
         "Luis, what's wrong?"
         He seemed breathless. "Her room is... the only lighted one. The only lighted one with the two shadows moving up and down, up and down..."
         Bonnie screamed into her seat. "Oh my God, Lu! I knew it! I knew your girlfriend was a nasty little tart!"
         "Bonnie, I don't think you understand..."
         "What else is there to understand? Little Camille was cheating on you and that is that."
         Luis squeezed the skin in between his eyes. "Tonight was the night I was going to propose to her," he said, his voice just below a whisper.
         "Oh, Lu... that is truly tragic. I am so incredibly sorry for you," she said, genuinely. She stroked his head and wondered why there were such deceitful women in the world. Poor Lu, she thought. That Camille girl is really missing out on a good person.
         "Luis! Luis!" Bonnie said suddenly. "I have a brilliant idea," and she put on that same, mischevious smile as she'd done earlier.

                                                    *****

"You know, Bonnie, you're different from any person I've ever met before," Luis shouted in her ear, trying to overpower the volume of the music playing. The bass at the club was thumping and they'd arrived right when the party was at its peak.
         "Yeah. Maybe that means you should keep me around," she said back. They both began laughing and kept on dancing.
         He felt his phone vibrating and saw that it was a text message from Camille. He read it first and burst out laughing, and then showed it to Bonnie.

FR: Camille
07/16/08, 2:47am
BODY:

LUIS! WHY THE FUCK IS MY YARD ON FIRE? WHY ARE ALL THOSE SHITTY MARLBOROS ON MY DOORSTEP?? WHY WOULD YOU BURN MY CHANEL PANTSUIT?!?! AND MY OSCAR DE LA RENTA DRESS? AND MY PANTIES?!?!!?!? AND ALL THE OTHER STUFF I LEFT AT YOUR HOUSE? YOU'RE INSANE! YOU INTERRUPTED MY SLEEP AND I WAS SICK AND MEASLY AND YOU GO AND PULL THAT SHIT! WE'RE OVER!