Us by Emily Eck Page B

down by Mexico City. They're called Kalibre Magnum. You into it?" Fernie got excited talking about his home-country and his music.
    "I don't know what they're saying, but the flow is good. Beats are on point." I shrugged. "I miss home."
    "I know the feeling, and I am home," Fernie said, a sense of longing in his voice.
    "You miss your family?" I kept forgetting that although Fernie was in his home-country, he was here without his parents or siblings. Abuelita was great, and my parents could be a hot mess sometimes, but I still loved them. I missed my crazy mother.
    "Yeah." Fernie didn't elaborate, so I dropped the topic, not wanting to turn what was supposed to be a fun night into a sad one.
    "The park is beautiful." It was my lame attempt to change the subject, but it was the truth.
    The park was beautiful, with lush green trees surrounding the path as we drove farther back into what seemed like a forest a la Robin Hood. I was waiting for his Merry Men to pop out at any second. Once we were deep into the forest, I heard rushing water.
    "Is that water, Fernie?" I poked his arm that was draped over the center console in the front seat. Somehow J and I, the two tallest people, had ended up in the back of what I swear was a Pinto. I was surprised when it started, and even more surprised when it moved. I felt like a clown, J and I cramped in the back of this tiny vehicle.
    "It's the cascada ."
    "The what?"
    "I don't know how you call it in English." And it didn't seem like he was about to try and explain.
    "Well, explain what it is." I wasn't letting him throw in the towel just yet.
    "It's like, uh, this falling down of water on the other side of the bridge. People play in the water and stand under the cascada as the water comes down from high on the mountain."
    "A waterfall? " I'd never seen a waterfall, and fuck if the need to keep our presence on the down-low kept me from wanting to see it. "Can we check it out?"
    Fernie exchanged some words in Spanish with his friend. What was his name? I had no idea so he was going to be The Driver until I figured his name out and put it to memory.
    "Yeah. We're gonna park and find a spot first, then we can walk over the bridge to the cascada . It's dark enough that no one will notice."
    "No one will notice you and two giant gringos ?" I laughed at my joke, though no one else did. I could see J's eyebrows working, expressing his unease.
    " Can we just go for a minute and check it out?" I leaned over and whispered to J. I could see the cogs working in his head. After finishing the trilogy with the luscious Jesse Ward and the stunning Ava, I'd figured out turning cogs were the brain thinking things over, and that's just what J was doing—planning, assessing the danger, making a course of action for whatever drama might occur. I played dirty and sucked his ear lobe into my mouth. "Please," I murmured.
    "That's dirty, woman." He wore a giant smile as he said this, and I knew I'd won, even if it was a terrible idea.
    The Driver pulled the Pinto up to an area with a table, a cement grill, and a rusty, metal trashcan. We got out of the car, much like clowns, and J began to survey the area. We were well concealed, with other groups set up at picnic areas similar to ours, though there were a few tables between us and them. This seemed to please J. I walked over to the grill and thought about how good a juicy steak would taste. All I needed was the meat, a little seasoning, and my trusty tongs. I realized I hadn't grilled anything in days, a normal thing for most, but quite out of the ordinary for me, someone used to having a knife and/or tongs in my hand for eight to ten hours a day.
    "Come on." Fernie motioned for us to follow him, his friend having wandered ahead on the car path. I looked at Fernie, seeing him less and less as a cub. What did you call it when he wasn't yet a lion, but he also wasn't exactly a cub anymore? Was there a name for a young adult cub? Fuckin' A. My mind was wandering, and