Disclaimer: Not mine. I only wish I was creative enough to write something like "In the Heights."
Author's Note: I have no excuse for this one other than I've listened to "In the Heights" about eight times in four days. Takes place just at the end of "The Club," and into "Blackout." Another of those, "I need to get this down or I'm going to lose it," one shots that I will probably go back and fine-tune later.
Usnavi de la Vega jumped backwards out of the way as Jose came flailing off the end of Benny's fist. The other man hit his head on the edge of the bar and slid, dazed, to the floor. Usnavi looked up at his friend. Benny was clearly drunk (maybe the shots were a bad idea, Usnavi thought), his eyes bright as he shook out his hand and swore in Spanish. It was a phrase Usnavi had heard the cabbies that worked for Kevin Rosario say over the dispatch on really bad days. Benny's picking up more Spanish than he thinks he is.
He heard Yolanda tearing Benny a new one en heated Espanol. Toward the back wall, Nina and Vanessa were both frozen, eyes wide and staring agape at Benny, Nina especially, like she couldn't believe what Benny had just done.
Benny stumbled his direction and Usnavi moved to intercept him. "Damn, man," Usnavi breathed, then, louder, "Yo, we should go-" He reached an arm around Benny's shoulders to lead him toward the door.
He felt his arm almost hyperextend as Benny yanked his arm off and tossed it away. "Get off me, man!"
Usnavi groaned. "Man-"
The lights went out, plunging the club into complete darkness. "Wha-" Usnavi stumbled, hitting his knees as someone collided with him. Girls were screaming. He heard glass breaking on the dance floor, and then a wave of bodies knocked him to the floor.
Benny sobered up faster than he ever had in his life. His head spun as he fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone, flicking it to life as chaos erupted around him. "Nina!" he yelled into the fray, cursing the uselessness of his cell phone in the wave of bodies as everyone surged for the exits. Or tried to. Even the emergency exit lights were off in the black hole of the club. Benny reached a hand out, catching someone in the chest. Said someone swore in Spanish and Benny felt knuckles connect with the bottom of his chin- a lucky shot, considering. Benny reeled, felt his jaw, and then continued his search. "Nina!"
Usnavi managed to get back on his feet, the palms of his hands stinging from the broken glass and the heels and sneakers that had stepped on him as he'd tried to get up. He grabbed ahold of something to pull himself up, felt that it was one of the high top tables. He hung onto it like a life preserver. Like Benny, he reached into his front pocket for his cell and the screen emitted a weak blue glow as he waved it around. "Vanessa?" he called out into the craziness. Someone ran into him, shoving him into the table and he nearly dropped his phone. "Yo, quit shovin', you sonofa-" A girl ran past him, screaming/crying. "Somebody's gonna get killed, for real!" Usnavi yelled at the top of his lungs, but nobody could hear him.
Sonny jumped off the top step onto the sidewalk and took off at a run down the street toward the bodega, a baseball bat in his hand. The second the power had gone out, he'd found the Louisville slugger signed by Alex Rodriguez by feel, and ran in the direction of the bodega. He nearly ran into Graffiti Pete, who was coming from the opposite direction. The streetlights were out and Pete grabbed him by the hood. Sonny took a swing, almost catching him before he saw who it was in the dim light of a cell phone screen. "The hell, man?" Pete ground out, keeping a firm grip on the bat. "Where you goin'?"
"Gotta get to the store," Sonny breathed, "gotta guard the store!"
Pete nodded. "I'll go with you! They're tearin' it up out here, throwin' bottles, lootin'. Pretty sure someone popped some shots off a block over. Where's Usnavi?" he asked as the two of them ran the direction he'd come from.
Sonny didn't let up. "The club. With Vanessa. Shit, I hope he's okay!"
Vanessa was pinned in a line of people. When the blackout happened, she and Nina were close to the door, but now nobody could find it in the darkness. A hand flailed desperately behind her, catching her in the back of the head. "Someone better open these goddamn doors!" Out of frustration and terror, she yelled over the din, "Usnavi! Help me!"
Someone finally got the doors open, and she felt herself being carried out into the night in a sea of people.
Usnavi had finally collared Benny, literally reaching out a hand and by sheer luck, grabbing hold of his best friend's blue collared shirt. Pale blue light illuminated his friend's face as Benny reared back for a punch. Usnavi threw an arm up, "Don't hit me, bro, we need to find the girls and get the hell out of this place!"
"I can't find Nina!" Benny yelled back, dropping his fist instantly. "Nina, where'd you goI?" he screamed.
A thought hit Usnavi like a truck and he grabbed a fistful of Benny's shirt and pulled. "I need to get home, I gotta check on Abuela," he yelled frantically.
"Go, man, go." Benny told him, pushing his friend in the general direction everybody else was going. "No pare, sigue sigue!" Usnavi let go of his shirt and Benny was alone in the crowd again.
Then he heard it. Above the yelling and swearing.
Crying.
The same terrified tears he'd heard from a seven-year-old little girl when lightning had hit the antenna on the building one over from hers, sending sparks flying over the edge of the roof and onto the fire escape- Benny's hand grasped an arm and he pulled a sobbing Nina toward him. Nina couldn't tell it was him and tried to push him away. "It's okay, Nina, it's me!" he yelled in her ear. "Come on, we gotta get outta here."
"Benny!" Nina sobbed into his shirt. "Oh, God, I just want to go home!"
"I'll get you there," he promised, wrapping one arm protectively around her waist and one around her shoulders.
Sonny yanked hard on the grate, trying to pull it down over the window. "I can't get this damn grate to come down!" he swore at Pete.
"Yo we can't stay here," Pete said, looking around nervously. He couldn't see shit. "They're gonna bombard the store 'til you ain't got a store no more!"
"Usnavi's got another bat in the back," Sonny replied. "I can't let anything happen to this place, man."
Movement caught Pete's eye. "We're gonna get jacked up," he whispered. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a Roman candle and lighting the fuse.
Sonny gaped. "Where the hell you'd get that?"
"Does it matter?" Pete countered, holding it out in front of him. The firework ignited and the first shots exploded in the street, light and sound echoing up the block and rattling the windows. In the bursts of light, he saw the two hoods who would've looted the store take off down the street, hands over their heads.
Usnavi ducked out of habit as the first fireworks exploded out on the street. What the hell was that? he thought as he banged on Abuela Claudia's door. "Abuela?" he yelled, fumbling with the doorknob. "Abuela it's Usnavi- open the door!"
The door popped a crack and Usnavi could see candles burning in the back as Abuela Claudia slid the chain off the lock and let Usnavi into the apartment. "Usnavi, are you all right?" she asked, taking in his disheveled appearance. She was remarkably calm, considering the state of the neighborhood.
"Fine, fine, abuela, what about you?" Usnavi replied, swallowing hard, trying to catch his breath. "I shouldn'ta left you alone-"
"Usnavi, mijo, I'm fine," Abuela Claudia reassured him. "It's all right. You're here now, and I need you to-" She broke off and led him over to the kitchen, pulling a brown paper bag out of her freezer. "Usnavi, I need you to promise me. Promise me that you'll guard this with your life." She held out the bag with both hands. Usnavi took his cell phone and shone the display over the opening…revealing stacks of green bills.
His jaw dropped. "Abuela?!" he gasped. "You-" He looked up, her eyes meeting his. She nodded once.
Abuela Claudia bought the winning lotto ticket. I'm staring at $96,000! Usnavi swore, "I've never seen this much money in my life!"
Abuela finally nodded off but Usnavi spent the entire night sitting in front of her apartment door, a knife from the butcher block in his hand. 96,000. Gotta keep it safe. "Safe," he whispered aloud. "Oh, shit. Vanessa." He yanked his phone from his shirt pocket. Dead. He leaned back against the door again and closed his eyes. Please let her be all right…
The realization hit him almost as hard as he'd hit the table in the club. I don't wanna lose her. Second light came, he was gonna be out looking for her.
Benny didn't let go of Nina's hand until they reached the bottom of the stairs at 181st street. A squad car raced past them, siren blaring, lights ablaze. In the blue and red flashing lights, Benny caught a glimpse of Nina's tear-stained face. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, pulling her into his lap as he sat down on the steps. She curled into him. "We'll find the way home," he reassured her. "Promise."
Nina leaned into him harder and he ran his hands through her hair and whispered reassuring things to her, what few positive words he could remember in his limited Spanish. Ten minutes later, he finally felt her relax. It was only then that he let out the breath he'd felt like he'd been holding for the last eight or nine blocks. He'd found her. She was safe, and they were fine.
"Hey," he whispered. "Teach me."
He felt her head tilt upward, and he ran a finger down the side of her face. "Spanish. Give me a word. Any word." Benny encouraged her.
After a moment, Nina's voice whispered brokenly, "Bombilla."
"Lightbulb." He chuckled softly. "I see what you did there."
The last of the Roman candles burned away and Pete turned back to Sonny. "We gotta go, man, we don't have a choice. Cops'll be around to check out the fireworks, we need to run!"
Sonny gave the security grate one final tug. The stubborn gate wouldn't budge, and he smacked it with an open hand. "But the store…Usnavi'll be so pissed!"
"Better him pissed at you tomorrow morning than mourning you in a robbery," Pete offered, and Sonny sighed in frustration because he knew Pete was right. The two boys took off around the corner just as a police car came roaring past.
"You did everything you could, man," Pete whispered to Sonny as they waited for the lights to pass. "Usnavi'll understand."
Vanessa let herself into the salon and locked the door behind her, sinking to the floor under one of the sinks. She pulled her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. Usnavi…you left me…I hope you're all right but you left me alone! She pulled her cell phone from her bra and punched in Usnavi's number, but it went straight to voicemail.
She closed her eyes and sobbed in the darkness. Usnavi I don't wanna be alone…SOS…
Vanessa remembered Usnavi's awkward hello that morning. Good morning, Vanessa. The prettiest girl in the place!
She held onto his voice as she drifted off into a restless sleep.
And the sunrise brought hope to the neighborhood.