Interlude: In Which Charlene Overhears Some Very Compelling Bathroom Chit-Chat

Charlene had gotten stuck dancing with Colin again. Well, maybe “stuck” was the wrong word. He’d been very polite about asking, and he was actually a pretty good dancer. And they’d been right next to a speaker, so the music drowned out most of his latest speech.

She had ducked into the bathroom and was about to leave her stall to wash her hands, when the door opened again, and three sets of feet walked in. They all stopped at the mirror, doing their makeup. And gossiping.

“I can’t believe Bobby has been talking to her all night,” a familiar voice said. It was either Cora or Louise, but Charlene had no idea how to tell them apart. “It isn’t her birthday.”

“I know. And she’s not even as pretty as his last girlfriend,” the other twin said. “And her family…”

“God, I know. I’m embarrassed for them. Even the one that’s not actually related to them.”

“The middle sister is so boring. And ugly.”

Charlene felt her chest tighten on Maria’s behalf.

Option 1: Burst out of the door and scream at them both for being judgmental brats…and probably prove their point.

Option 2: Stand here and do nothing.

Ugh. This is bullshit.

“And the youngest… God, what a train wreck, am I right?”

Both twins laughed.

“She’s a teen pregnancy waiting to happen. I hope Bobby gets over Julia or whoever soon. Then he can go back to girls actually worth his time, right, Darcy?”

That explained who the third girl was.

“I don’t do gossip,” Darcy said.

“Oh, come on, we’re alone.” Charlene barely repressed a snort. “You can be honest.”

“Yeah, didn’t you get stuck dancing with the fat one?” the other twin asked.

“Her name is Elisa,” Darcy said, her voice suddenly sharp. “And I wasn’t stuck. I could’ve said no.”

“We saw her screaming at you earlier.”

Oh, Elisa, what did you do now?

“She wasn’t screaming. It was just a disagreement. Very mature.”

“She looked really pissed off.” There was a pause. “What are you thinking? You have that look on your face.”

It was a moment before Darcy answered. “Not much. Just the…joys of a spirited girl and a pair of fine eyes.”

One of the twins snorted. “Man, you’re weird. Who talks like that?”

“I knew getting her that word-a-day calendar was a bad idea,” the other said. “Come on, Cora, let’s go dance. I think they’re back to good music.”

Cora and Louise left, and Darcy was quick to follow. Finally free, Charlene popped out of the stall and washed up as quickly as possible so she could find her friend. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d overheard. She’d had a bad vibe from Cora and Louise right from the start, but she’d tried not to judge too much. (She’d leave that to Elisa.) But it looked like, in this case, her first impression had been correct. Darcy, however, had been a surprise. Not only did she not participate in trashing the Benitez family, she’d even kind of stood up for them. Well, for one of them.

And Charlene was willing to bet all the money she had that she knew exactly which spirited girl Darcy meant, and who those fine eyes belonged to.

She paused, going back-and-forth in her head. She’d never meddled in Elisa’s love life before, but that was mostly because she had no love life to speak of. Her first instinct was to let her know she had an admirer—but given that the admirer wasn’t her favorite person, was that wise?

But they did have a lot in common.

Those two dating would be kind of amazing. Or it could lead to the end of human civilization.

Win-win.

She slipped out of the bathroom and scanned the dance floor for Elisa. No easy task, since the club was incredibly crowded, and the lighting was dim, with only occasional bursts from the strobe lights to allow her to see where she was going. Charlene almost had to laugh. Here she’d thought this would be the sort of fancy restaurant you saw on TV, with candles, chandeliers, and snooty French waiters. This was trendy, but not old-school fancy.

She found Elisa, berating her younger sisters as she led them back to the table. She didn’t even know why she was surprised.

“We were just dancing,” Camila protested.

“Yeah, what are you, a nun?” Lucia added.

“I just wanted to say, Elisa,” Maria said hastily, “that this wasn’t my idea, Lucia and Camila talked me into it—”

“Traitor,” Lucia said.

Elisa looked about ready to strangle them. “Just sit down and keep your hands to yourselves. I can’t take you three anywhere.”

“If they were just dancing, maybe you should let up a little,” Charlene murmured to her, quiet enough that her sisters couldn’t hear. She was trying to stick up for them a little bit, but she also couldn’t undermine her best friend.

Elisa glared at her.

“Or maybe not,” she quickly added.

Elisa slumped down into one of the chairs at the table. Bobby, Julieta, and the others were nowhere to be found. Probably still on the dance floor.

“Where’s Colin?” she asked.

“Getting a cab for his mother, I think. She looked about ready to leave,” Charlene said. “Her nerves aren’t so good.”

Elisa chuckled, but still looked stressed.

“I overheard something interesting in the bathroom.”

“Hm?” She didn’t seem all that interested, but she turned to listen, anyway.

“Darcy, Cora, and Louise—”

Elisa groaned automatically.

“No, it was…” She trailed off. She couldn’t very well say it was all good things. “It was interesting. Darcy was talking about a girl she likes.”

“Darcy’s a lesbian?” Elisa said, looking surprised.

“Or something.” She shrugged. “Whoever she was talking about, it was definitely a girl.”

“Huh. Man, I have terrible gaydar. Who’s the unlucky girl?”

“She didn’t say. She just said she was ‘spirited’ and had a pair of ‘fine eyes.’”

She watched Elisa closely to assess her reaction and see if she’d reach the same conclusion Charlene had.

She didn’t. She just snorted.

“‘Spirited.’ I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone use that word in conversation.”

“It’s what she said.”

“Oh, I believe you. It goes with her whole ‘I’m too smart to use one word when I can use twelve’ shtick.”

“Come on…you’re not even a little curious about who she was talking about?” she pressed.

Elisa shook her head. “Nah. It’s Darcy, what do I care about her love life? Except maybe to give the girl a heads-up…”

Charlene wanted to find the nearest wall and hit her head against it repeatedly.