Frank Lopez's Last Words
Elvira didn't know why Frank insisted on going to the Babylon Club again this week, but what else could she do? She went with him, no matter how bored she'd be, it was her duty. Her duty was to sit there and look pretty, it always had been, always would be. She didn't really mind though, it gave her all the nice things she wanted in life and how else would she get them? If it meant sitting through yet another night of drinking the same fancy wine and listening to the same dull business talk she'd do it. Not as much for Frank, but for herself.
When Elvira, Frank and his bodyguards arrived she scanned around the place, looking for a familiar face. The same cocaine sniffing, sleazy, greasy, crazy crowd as always, much to Elvira's annoyance. It was irritating how the same sort of people always stuck around this place. She scoffed at the crowd and spied around further to find a free booth.
"Find a spot, won't you, Elvie?" Frank asked, spotting yet another acquaintance he had to say hello to, "I'll be back in a minute". Frank strolled over to the man he had spied a minute ago and Elvira raised a perfectly manicured brow.
"Alright", she muttered to herself more than Frank. She looked around the club again, sneered and strutted over to an empty booth, making sure to avoid anyone looking for a dance partner.
When Elvira plopped into the seat she took out her purse and dug around for her pack of cigarettes. She gave an irritated sigh when they refused to show themselves to her. Aggravated and already bored, she lifted her elbow up onto the table and placed her chin firmly on her palm. Elvira observed the crowd of people having the time of their lives, dancing their stupid, little hearts out. Most of the time she couldn't stand people, especially the brainless ones. If someone even wanted to hold her attention they had to fall under one of the categories. Rich, powerful…and yes, she even thought…sincere. Someone terribly sincere was always interesting to Elvira. She continued to watch the pack of people on the dance floor, some trying to pick up a late night screw, others high out of their minds and then the rest-well, the rest were just bad dancers, in her opinion. She watched as a few people broke away from the group and sneaked into the bathroom, no doubt going for one quick line of cocaine.
She sneered down at them all. Sure, she snorted cocaine, she even admitted she enjoyed snorting cocaine, but at a place like this? Elvira scoffed at their lack of discipline. Even she wouldn't do it in such a public place, how would that look? It would make her look like an idiot, and she hated idiots.
Elvira rolled her eyes and set her sights on her purse again.
"I need a cigarette", she muttered. "Where are my fucking cigarettes?" she dug around in her purse again until she heard a voice.
"Hello", she turned and looked up to see Tony Montana staring down at her.
"Hello", she responded, staring back at him with a quizzical look.
Tony took a seat before she could object, so she scooted over an inch, keeping an eye out for Frank. She didn't want any trouble tonight; she was in no mood for trouble.
Mel Bernstein, the crooked cop Frank did business with, swooped by and gave Tony a short pat on the shoulder while exclaiming, "There, now that's the idea", then walked off.
"Ok, Mel", he called back.
Elvira rolled her eyes and picked up her purse again, searching around for the cigarettes she knew were in there. After a second or two Tony leaned over and watched Elvira intently. She tried to ignore him.
"You think about what I said?" he asked his words not hiding his Cuban accent.
Elvira still tried her best to ignore him, now shaking out the contents of her purse onto the table. Finally the box of cigarettes fell out. She stuffed her make up and wallet back into her bag and peered out of the corner of her eyes. Tony was still watching her, with his big, dark, intense eyes. His expression looked the same as that day by the pool.
It was a typical bright, sunny, hot Florida day. Elvira was tanning out by Frank's pool, idly reading a magazine and drinking some sort of iced beverage. All of a sudden the peace was broken by Tony Montana strolling into her private pool area in a white suit, red shirt, and those sunglasses he always had on him. Elvira tried to ignore him but she had a bad feeling he was here to see her, though God knows how he got onto the property. Last she heard Frank and Tony had a falling out over some sort of business trip to Bolivia, where Tony had taken a big gamble on the amount of cocaine that was to be shipped up to Florida. Of course she didn't really hear all the details; she was too busy doing something else when Frank was discussing it with his partners.
"Hi there", Tony called over to her.
"Tony", she thought before continuing, "You just missed Frank".
"Oh yeah…too bad", he grinned. "Only I didn't come to see Frank", he said, turning around the bend in the pool to approach her.
"This is not the time or the place, Tony. Next time make an appointment first", she jeered, looking back down at her magazine.
"That's ok; I got something important I want to talk to you about", he expressed while he strode around the last stretch of the pool.
Elvira snuck a peek out of the corner of her eyes and saw him slowly approach the trolley full of ice and drinks.
"Ok? So why don't we have a couple of drinks, act normal, and just take it easy, huh?" Tony began to push the cart up to where she was sitting. "Come on I like scotch", he insisted, letting go of the trolley and standing by a lounging chair, waiting for her to give him silent permission to sit down.
Elvira rolled her eyes, set down her magazine and replied coolly, "Sure, why not?"
"Okay, I won't bite you", Tony said. He unbuttoned his jacket, gave her a quick smile and eased into the lounge chair.
"We're all normal here", Elvira stated, walking up to the trolley and setting out some cups, getting ready to fill them with scotch and ice.
She looked over at Tony lying in the chair, trying to find a comfortable position. She poured the scotch and smirked, "I heard you and Frank aren't working together anymore?"
"That's right", he confirmed with a lightness in his voice.
She went over to hand him the drink.
"I think it's easier, don't you? Makes things easier…a lot", he seemed to say this more to himself then to Elvira. "Thank you", he mentioned sweetly.
Elvira swung around the trolley and went to where her sweater was laying a couple of seats away from Tony.
"Here's to the land of opportunity", he toasted, raising his glass and watching her.
"To you maybe", she frowned, putting on the sweater and fixing her hair. Tony didn't say anything, taking a sip on his drink instead of answering.
"You like kids?" he asked after a moment of silence.
Elvira stopped what she was doing and gave him a surprised look.
"Kids?" she huffed.
What was Tony talking about now? She wished he would just say what he came to say and then leave. He was bothering her and she didn't like to be bothered.
"Kids, you know, kids. Little kids", he lowered his hand to what must have been two feet off the ground, trying to show her what he meant, while balancing his drink in his other hand.
Smallest kids I've ever seen, she joked to herself. She crossed her arms and gave an annoyed sigh. Elvira thought for a minute before answering, giving Tony a confused look.
"Sure", she finally answered, "why not? As long as there is a nurse", she added in just to be a bitch.
"Good. Because I like kids too", he smiled ignoring the last part of her answer. "I like-boys, girls, doesn't matter to me".
Elvira rolled her eyes under her sunglasses and looked over toward the ocean view. What was he up to? Why the hell was he talking about kids?
"Look, Frank's going to back any minute", she announced, holding her cold ground.
"Come here", he signaled her to come over by lazily waving his fingers.
Elvira didn't move.
"Come on-come on", he sat up in the lounge chair. "Sit here", he patted the chair next to him. "I wanna talk to you, come on, sit down, I'm not gonna bite you".
Elvira huffed and slowly moved over to the seat and sat down in it, giving her full attention to Tony. Maybe if she did he'd say what he came to say and then leave.
"Okay, here's the story", he began taking off his sunglasses and playing with them for a minute until continuing. "I come from the gutter…I know that".
Elvira was glad she was wearing sunglasses, it was harder to tell what a person was feeling when they had them on. And a nagging sensation was telling her Tony had something imperative to say by the sincerity in his voice.
"I have no education, but that's ok. I know the streets and I'm making all the right connections-with the right woman, there's no stopping me-I could go all the way to the top", he continued, looking up into Elvira's face to judge her reaction.
Something in his face struck a chord with Elvira, she couldn't help but feel somewhat soft (was that the word?) toward him. It was almost like a whole new side of Tony she had never even guessed existed.
He looked down at his feet for a minute then raised his head back up to look at her. "Anyway, what I gotta tell you is this. I like you".
Elvira bowed her head, slightly embarrassed by his comment, though she had no idea why. It never bothered her before when men had said something like that to her, in fact it was normal, almost an everyday thing.
"I liked you the first time I laid eyes on you", she could feel his gaze still on her, "I say-she's a tiger. She belong to me".
Elvira gave an amused sigh and looked up at him again. She tried to keep her face still, to not show any of the odd feelings that were churning in her chest at his words. She couldn't really say that was what she first thought when she met him. At first Elvira thought Tony was just an annoying, aggressive, little Cuban who was working for Frank. Not exactly love at first sight like he claimed, but she'd take it, her opinion had changed of him since that night.
"Anyway", Tony looked down at his drink and then slowly rose his gaze back up again before speaking. "I want you to marry me...and I want you to be the mother of my children", an earnest glint was in his eyes now.
"Me? Marry you?" she asked in disbelief.
Elvira wasn't even sure what was going on now. The reality couldn't be what she thought it was. Could it? Why would Tony want to marry her? She just thought he was like all the others, only with a more entertaining accent and slightly more interesting things to say. Anyway, she always assumed he was just messing around with her, why would he in his right mind try to go after his boss' lady?
"Marry me", he repeated again to clarify for her.
Alright, he was serious. Elvira wanted to drop her jaw but regained composure, not really sure what kind of answer she should give him. She gave a deep sigh and looked around to the ocean before answering at a loss, "What about Frank, Tony? What are you going to do about Frank?"
"Frank is not going to last, ok?" he quickly retorted, a bit of hotness leaping into his voice, "He finished". Tony slipped on his sunglasses and then changed the subject by adding, "Just think about it".
Elvira kept the same expression of disbelief on her face.
"Okay? I want you to really think about it", he nodded his head and then looked around. "Ok? I go now", Tony rose up out of his set.
"Take care", he smiled, messed her hair up playfully and then strolled back to where he had walked in.
Elvira watched him disappear then leaned back into her chair and bit her thumb nail in thought. So, what he said was true. It was really true, and now she had to think about it. Frank…or Tony? Sure he was younger than Frank, more bullheaded, more energetic but Frank had been so good to her. Would it be fair to dump Frank for Tony, did he even have anything really going for him? Elvira couldn't commit herself to a relationship with a man with nothing even if she really did like him. It wasn't in her cards at the moment. But the one thing that Tony said that bothered her the most was "Frank wouldn't last". What exactly did he mean by that?