Trailer Park Princess (15 page)

“So I have some news for you, Princess.” He says with a huge smile on his face.

“Oh no, should I be worried? How much more good news can you have?”

We are interrupted by Rio from the kitchen. “Yummm, Princess, you make the best mac and cheese ever!” Rome bursts out laughing, his mouth full of food.

“Don’t open your mouth when it’s full of food,” I say. “You’re teaching the boys bad habits.” As I point over at the table, all three of them are opening their mouths at each other. “See!”

OK
, seriously, I bet I have a boy because I am overrun by them as it is!

“OK
, first thing’s first. You have a gig this Saturday night at Reds with me. Don’t say anything because Mrs. Riaz already knows! And you are off but making up the time with your new schedule. Apparently, you are going to be getting some more hours during the weekdays now.” He smiles. “Oh, and that is news, too. You’re getting more hours soon. She told me when I called her about the gig. That older waitress asked for three half-shifts, so you will pick up her other halves, making you almost full-time.” He smiles even bigger. I know he would do anything to make my life easier. He is going to die when I tell him what I did today.

“Rome, before you tell me anything else, I need to tell you something.” I grab his hand and grimace. I know I am going to upset him, but reality is: it’s my choice to make. “I went by…” I stop and try again. “I… after I finished the test…” I shake my head, trying to clear my mind, and almost start crying.

“It’s OK, Rory. Whatever it is, I’m here for you. Just tell me.”

Closing my eyes and centering myself, I start again. “Today, I went and told Mrs. West about the baby. She knows it’s Toby’s and didn’t seem surprised, even said she believed me. But…” I stop again, “but she wanted to pay for me to ‘get rid of it’, so I called her a few names and left.”

He pulls me into a hug. “You should’ve waited on me. I would’ve went with you.”

Pulling back and w
iping my eyes, I say, “It was OK; I’m a big girl.”

He smirks, “I know; trust me.” He pinches my side, and I laugh, thinking back to the night of the party. Ehh…yeah, he knows exactly how grown I am. I am so grateful he’s not one to harp on things or pick about certain stuff.

“I miss Mando so bad. I need to text her and let her know I tested out.”

He throws his cell at me. “Here, use mine. Don’t waste your texts; mine are unlimited.” He finishes his supper and grabs the boys’ bowls to wash them up. “Get done so I can show you my surprise.”

The car bumps over the tracks, and I look around. The boys are all strapped in the back, making crazy noises and fighting with each other. Next time, we’ll put Thax in the middle. Rome gets on to them, but usually he just laughs at how silly they are. “They’re just little boys,” is his usual response unless one gets hurt.

“Where are we going?” I ask. We are now driving down a residential street, just two blocks from The Diner.

“Here is my next surprise.” He pulls up in front of a small house; it needs repairs and the lights are off, but something about it is beautiful. It just screams “home” to me. Whoever lives here has to be happy; it is a home with love written all over it.

“Whose house is this? If I had known we were visiting friends, I would’ve cleaned me and them up,” I say, pointing to the back seat.

Smiling, Rome says, “No one lives here, yet. I actually…um, well …OK, this is harder than I thought.” He squirms. “Get out a second so we can talk in private,” he says, cutting his eyes at the back seat. “Boys, stay in the car a second so I can talk to Princess.”

He opens his door and s
teps out, and I follow suit. “OK, Rory, I um, I rented this house.” I blink and smile.

“That is awesome, Rome! You and the boys getting out of the park is wonderful news!” Then, my smile fades. “Oh, you aren’t going to be walking d
istance at night. I see. It’s OK, Rome; you doing better for you and the boys doesn’t change us. We will always be friends. The baby and I can stroller over. It’ll be OK.”

He blinks hard and rapidly. “What? No! Princess, I rented it because it has enough room for us all. Me, the boys, you, Thax, and the baby. There’s plenty of room. We stay together till time to sleep anyways, so it makes sense. The boys will all have a yard here to play in; the baby will be safe; and it will actually be cheaper with one rent. Please say you’ll do it.”

I let out a squeal and grab his neck. “Heck yes!”

We laugh as he drags me to the windows, pointing out all the rooms. It’s amazing.

“We can afford this?” I ask him.

“Yep, I work on the owner’s bike at the shop, and he’s pretty cool. He is giving us a great deal. He’s going to supply the materials, and I’m going to fix it up for him.”

When we get back in the car, I have to ask, “When can we move in?” I am so excited; I can’t wait.

Cutting those beautiful eyes at me, he answers, “Sunday. Your stuff comes over while you work, so pack what you can till then. I’ll get it all, and when you get off, you will come home to the new house.”

Looking out the window as we travel back to the park, I feel weightless. “I can’t take anything from the trailer except the stuff in our rooms. Carol owns everything else, kind of.”

Rome pu
ts his hand on my knee. “It’s OK, Princess; I have everything we need other than your clothes, of course.” He winks when I look at him. “She won’t give you crap about Thax, will she?”

I shake my head. “She won’t as long as I let her keep him on her food stamps. She’ll be happy
not dealing with us; it’ll be OK. I don’t eat much, so he can have mine. Besides, I signed up for W.I.C., the assistance program people use during pregnancy, and they will give me the foods I need for the baby.”

We talk about everything the rest of the way home. Apparently, with Rome’s new job and the bar singing, he is making plenty. Then, when you add in my new hours and my new gig at the bar, we shouldn’t struggle as long as we live within our means.  We will finally get basic cable: thirteen channels of clear TV. It’s better than anything we’ve ever had.

The next week goes smooth enough. I haven’t heard from Toby, and my heart hurts. I thought he would call when he found out about the baby. I miss him so much. I have a thousand things to tell him, but he isn’t around anymore. It’s almost like he died. Maybe he wasn’t even real.

The house looks great. Rome did a great job, and as predicted, Carol didn’t give a crap. She still isn’t speaking to me anyways because of the baby. We painted the baby’s room last night and plan to show the boys today. It’s our way of telling them what the gender is. We want them to be a part of it. So I bought these cheap little stars that glow for them to help me put all over the walls. Mando about blew my eardrum when I called to tell her what we found out. I say we because, of course, Rome was right there for it all. He is the best friend a girl could ask for. They pick on him at the clinic calling him the rent-a-daddy! He laughs, but I know it bothers him because for all intents, he is the daddy. He will love this child as much as I do.

“Are you guys ready to see what color the room is?” Rome asks the three overeager boys standing at the door. All three scream, “YES!” and he throws the door open. They all run in and look around. It’s not a normal room, but it’s ours. A twin bed is on one wall, and a crib on the other, with a small table between with one lamp on it. There’s also a dresser that will house mine and the baby’s clothes and things.

I look at the boys, and they are all fist pumping and jumping around saying different variations of “YES, HECK YEAH, and WHOOP WHOOP!” I laugh at them. They are such little nerds.

“Are y’all happy about this?” I ask.

“Yes, we need another girl around here so you aren’t alone.”

I reach down and hug Rio. “I’m not alone, silly boy; I have you guys, and I love all of you.”

I feel another little hand on me. “We wove you, too, Pwinsiss.”

I reach back and snug him close. “Love you more, Denver.” I laugh, thinking about their mom naming them after places she wanted to go. Then, a tear slides down my face thinking about Denver. Rome told me once that when she got sick, she wanted to go to Denver because for her that was home, and she wanted to be there when she passed. She never made it back. She would be so proud of Rome for bringing them up right
.

I am sweating as I stand to the left of the makeshift stage. I cannot believe Rome talked me into this. I’m a nervous wreck, but he knew I would be, so he put the keyboard beside him but back just a enough so the shadows will cover most of me. He looks up at me from his perch on his stool and winks. I smile back, waiting for him to finish so I can join him. He hits the last string of notes.

“I would like to introduce you all to someone extremely special to me. Aurora Wilde, better known as my Princess.” He smiles at me again over his shoulder while I get seated. “She is amazing, y’all. Her voice is like honey, and her fingers shred a piano like no one I have ever heard. She can turn an opera song into rock with those keys, no joke.” I hear the hoots and hollers, and I smile out at them. The sweating is getting so bad I bet I look like I’ve been swimming.

Rome turns to me. “Start when you’re ready. You got this, beautiful.”

I smile and set my hands on the keys. Once I close my eyes, my reflexes take over, and I let go, my fingers moving so fast I don’t even feel like I’m controlling them. I open my mouth. I can feel my body swaying to the beat and my lungs pushing out the words, but I cannot hear myself. I do, however, hear when Rome starts in with his guitar. The rest of the room begins to come back slowly. I don’t look out at anyone; I just watch the space in front of me. We changed up the rap song
Heartless
by K. West by slowing down the beat and adding the guitar. It changes the whole dynamic of the song. It was a gamble, but when we finish, the room is standing, clapping, and screaming, so I guess we nailed it.

Rome jumps up, grabs me by the hand, and bows us both. I start laughing and waving. “I cannot believe I done that!” I exclaim in complete ecstasy. “I feel so high on life right now! Just…WOW!”

Rome hugs me as he pulls me from the stage “You were amazing, Rory! Man, I swear you should be playing Madison Square Garden.” We laugh and run right into Red as we are walking out.

“I want you both back as soon as you can. They loved it, and they want more,” he says as he points to the room where everyone is still looking at us. I nod my head in agreement, and Rome lets him know we will set it up next week. Red hands me two hundred dollars and says, “Good job! Here’s your cut.”

My eyes bug out, and I look at Rome. “Tomorrow, after my shift at The Diner, we are going to get the rest of what we need for the baby.”

R
ome nods his head excitedly. “OK!”

As the time draws near, we have everything we need for the baby except a name. I actually have that as well, but if I tell Rome, it may hurt his heart, so I decide to wait. Work’s going great. I stay behind the counter more now—less walking on my feet—and my hours have shifted. I work a few hours each day, instead a lot in one day. It helps, and we are close, so if I do walk to work, it’s not too rough on me.

I have taken to singing regularly at Reds. I love how free I feel when I do it. No matter the pain I feel over the loss of Toby, when I sing, I feel whole.

It’s unhealthy for me to miss Toby the way I do. In reality, he was a jerk and was cruel to me. I know all the things I saw were real, and he never let Ashley go. I guess I just wanted to believe the lie. You know, first love and all. My love for him was one hundred percent real; of that, I am sure. Though, I sometimes wonder if it was true love or puppy love. I know there’s a difference. I wanted to be loved, and he provided that to an extent. But lately, I have this feeling like it was never as serious as I thought it was.

I get up and tie my shoes. It’s a little harder to do with this tummy finally sticking out. I’m not huge or anything, but it’s obvious now. I make my way out the door and to The Diner in record time. It’s a beautiful day. There are clouds threatening, but it has cooled off and is great walking weather. I’m sure I can make it before the bottom falls out.

Work is much of the same. I have only a few customers, no thanks to the on-and-off showers all day. I’ve only made seventeen dollars in tips, the weather raining on my parade after a few hours.

I think about my daughter. Just like me, she will never know her real dad. But she will have a daddy figure, which is better than nothing. Then, I think about Rome. I am killing his social life. He doesn’t ever seem to have a girlfriend, and he is always with me. He has to want to be happy, and I know I’m holding him back. I need to set him free; it’s not fair to him. The thought really bothers me because if I was half the friend to him that he is to me, I surely would have figured that out by now. Right?

I need to text Mando about it. Maybe I can call her before I leave here. It’s not long distance since she kept her same number. I’ve just got way too much on my mind today and need to talk.

I count down my money, clean the milkshake machine, and sweep the floor behind the counter. I make my way to the office to make the call. It rings six times, and just when I’m sure the voicemail will pick up, I hear her.

“What now, Mama?”

I startle, realizing she thought it was her parents. “Hey, Mando, it’s me, Rory. I just missed you and wanted to talk.”

She squeals, “Hey, Boo Boo love, how are my three favorites? Long time no talkie.”

I smile. “We’re good. The house is set up, and I, well…I just…” Then, I get interrupted. It sounds like a party on the other end. It is just starting to be late afternoon here, meaning it’s about lunch for her. “Are you having a party in the middle of the day?” She laughs.

“No, crazy, this is last night’s party. We haven’t slept yet. These people party hard, and I met this hot guy who cannot keep his tongue out my pants long enough to sleep.” I cringe.
Yuck!
“Hey, Rory, can I…uhh…ahhhh…Ohmigod, baby, wait…Rory, can I call you later?” I go to say OK, but she squeals as if she’s in heat, so I just hang up. I’m sure she had already dropped the phone anyways. That was the perfect end to a perfectly shitty day. I put my hoodie on and zip it up. I should call Rome to come get me, but the rain has let up, and I don’t want him to get all the kids out in this mess. I set out on foot. The walk will do me some good. I need to clear my mind before I head home.

It feels just like a cheesy musical to be honest. I just start wandering around town, and then the bottom decides to fall out, instantly drenching me. It’s a relief. At least in the rain, no one will see my tears. This town is horrible. I still can’t believe Toby actually left me without so much as a goodbye.

I’m not sure how I ended up in the rundown pawnshop halfway across town from The Diner. I really just needed to clear my head, but the next thing I know, I am standing in front of the store gawking at the crazy window display. I have seen the instrument in old music videos when I was a child, but never noticed it like I am now. It’s a nerdy looking thing, for sure, but I have an almost magnetized pull to it. It is beautiful to me. White with black keys, it looks like a guitar, but it has keys like a piano and many buttons along the neck. Amazing is what this is. I can’t believe no one plays this anymore.  I push the door open, aware I am bringing in puddles of water with me. The ding on the door summons a pudgy man from the back room that is cleaning a hand pistol.

“Hey, pretty girl. Can I help you with something?” He seems kind. “We have about ten minutes until we close up.”

I look around, dazed for a minute, and when I go to speak, I notice how hoarse I am from the crying.
Gulp!
You can hear the shattered soul in my voice. “I was walking by and the instrument in the window caught my attention. Can I just look at it?”