ACT ONE
Scene Twelve:
"Siempre"
"'I'm happy to see you again.'"
Vi and Babette sat across from each other in one of the drugstore's booths. On a Sunday, it was a particularly slow day and they had nothing else better to do than start counting the till and reorganize the change into coin rolls.
Vi was smiling at Babette despite the woman giving her an incredulous look behind her glasses resting on her nose.
It didn't take much to notice the girl had been in a particularly good mood ever since last night.
"'Me alegra verte de nuevo,'" the woman translated for her.
She helped Vi repeat the phrase as the girl started writing it down with a pencil on a notepad.
"So, who are you so happy to see again?" Babette asked.
Vi grabbed more quarters on the table in front of them to pack them in the sleeve of a quarter roll. She couldn't stop her smiling even if she tried.
"Last one," she said, "'You look beautiful.'"
"¿De verdad?" Babette asked.
Vi immediately started writing down, eagerly. "De verdad…"
Babette cocked her head to the side. "¿Una puertorriqueña?"
Realizing what she meant, Vi put her pencil down and sat back, a little bashful.
"I wanna do like Doc… find me a Puerto Rican girl."
Babette sighed tiredly, rubbing her head. "Ay, Violeta, you don't have enough troubles?"
Vi frowned, a little annoyed. "I don't want to jinx it, but maybe I'm done with trouble," she said, hopeful.
Babette shook her head. "You are never done with troubles. Nunca." She sliced her hand in emphasis.
Vi nodded, not offended. "Nunca. 'Nunca' means 'never'?" she asked.
"Uh-huh," Babette replied.
Vi looked down at the table, pursing her lips. "What's 'forever'? Like… 'I wanna be with you forever'?"
Babette gave her a long look over her glasses.
"You don't want to start, maybe, with, 'I'd like to take you out to coffee'?"
"No. Come on, tell me," Vi said, gently.
"'I wanna take you to Chock Full o' Nuts for a cream cheese sandwich on a raisin bread'?"
Vi snickered. "This ain't casual like that."
"Oh." Babette nodded, sagely.
She looked in Vi's eyes, knowing the girl was serious. She never really beat around the bush when it came to expressing herself. Of course, she'd say something so formal.
Babette sighed through her nose. Who was she to get in the way of love?
After a moment, she answered slowly, "'I want to be with you forever'… 'Quiero estar contigo para siempre.'"
Vi picked up her pencil again. "Quiero estar… con…con…" she faltered.
"Contigo. 'With you'," Babette supplied. "Para siempre."
Vi finished writing and looked to her, repeating, "Siempre."
Babette took off her glasses, nodding. "Siempre." She leaned on her chin, smiling to herself. Glancing at the table and at the girl across from her. "'Forever.'"
…
Vi had finished packing up the last of the inventory she needed to make quota for the day. Although reluctant at first, Babette had agreed to let Vi off work early, if she managed to finish all her duties for the day. And if she promised she wouldn't do anything to get in trouble.
Vi happily worked twice as fast, daydreaming as she watched the clock slowly grow closer to 2 p.m.
Walking down the stairs to the subway platform, Vi took Caitlyn's hand, not wanting to lose her in the moving crowd.
"I wanna show you something. It's a surprise, uptown," Vi said, trying not to shout in her ear, but raising her voice over the din of moving people.
Caitlyn smiled faintly, nodding vaguely. Vi immediately noticed.
"You seem sorta…"
"There's a fight, tonight," Caitlyn said, unable to hide her frown. "Between my brother and his friends –"
As the train started to pull into the station platform, people moved closer.
Vi furrowed her brow in surprise. "That's news to me –"
"– and your sister… who helped you when Jayce…"
"Oh… Jinx," Vi supplied, upon realizing what Caitlyn had meant.
"Tell her, Jinx… tell her not to," Caitlyn said, urgently, tugging on her arm. "It's because of us they're gonna fight, verdad?"
"Why not get your brother to call it off?" Vi asked.
The train doors opened, letting people pass in and out. When it was Vi's turn, she stepped onto the train.
"Jayce is too angry." Caitlyn shook her head, holding Vi's hand, but remaining on the platform, hesitating.
With her free hand, Vi quickly grabbed the closing train door, holding it open. "Well, Jinx is angry, too, so…" She smirked, lightly tugging on Caitlyn's hand. "C'mon," she chuckled, encouragingly.
As the train horn sounded, Caitlyn sighed and stepped onto the train, bending under Vi's arm to step into the car.
Vi let go and the doors closed with a hiss behind them.
As they sat down adjacent to each other, the train moved, and a silence resumed between them.
Vi's leg was a little jumpy as she sat in place. She tried to control it, so it wouldn't get annoying for the pretty girl beside her.
"This place we're going, it's, uh… it's up past Harlem," she said, trying to be helpful, "It's practically at the tip of the island."
"My brother…" Caitlyn minutely shook her head. "There's so much more against him than Jinx. He's angry because –"
Vi moved closer, having to stop her there. "The whole world has been against Jinx since the moment she was born."
Caitlyn gave her a long look.
"Do you think it's easier for us?" she asked.
Vi shrugged with her hands in her pockets.
"Ah, well, I think you come from families, homes. You and Jayce, you have hope. You think Jinx has that?" she asked.
Caitlyn leaned closer, getting more passionate. "Jinx could have hope if she didn't try to take it from people she doesn't know."
Vi blinked. She had a point.
Vi chewed her lip. "But Jinx didn't start this, it was Jayce. He came after me –"
Caitlyn interrupted her, "After Jinx su pandilla –"
"– just 'cause I wanted to dance with you!" Vi finished.
Caitlyn stamped her hand on the seat, gripping it tighter. "Vi, if someone gets hurt because of what we do –!"
Vi huffed a sudden laugh, "What did we do to anyone?"
Caitlyn blinked. She had a point.
"We didn't do anything wrong, liking each other, pero…"
"Caitlyn."
She looked up at her and was surprised at the softness in her eyes.
"I don't just like you."
Caitlyn looked down and swallowed.
"We can't pretend what we do doesn't cause trouble."
Vi nodded, leaning back in her seat, resting her head against the window. She frowned, empathetically.
"I can't talk my guys out of making trouble. Trouble is… what they're made of," she said somberly, glancing out the train window.
/
"¿De verdad?"
"Really?"
"¿Una puertorriqueña?"
"A Puerto Rican girl?"
…
"verdad?"
"True?"
"su pandilla –"
"Her gang –"
"Pero…"
"But…"
[Side note: Empathy is when you personally have gone through a similar experience and understand the experience of the person you're trying to connect with. Sympathy is when you have not gone through a similar experience, but you are still showing support for the person.]
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