You can't make this up
Since I last wrote things have changed considerably... and for the worst. I spent the whole morning up re-reading the text that Lugo sent me. I knew very well that he was right. His past was not going to let him go on peacefully if he didn't tear himself away, and doing that would mean he would have to do so fast or else his environment would continue to taint him like an overgrowing cancer. I texted him back and agreed that he needed to be out of White Plains, and agreed that he would probably be safe if he stayed with me. Out of courtesy to my sister, I asked her permission for him to stay. Her initial response was of indifference, "It's whatever you want to do." So, I let her sleep on it and then I asked her again Friday before I made plans to pick him up and she said the same thing. At that point, I actually figured that I could do whatever I wanted, and so I did. I drove to White Plains on Sunday night to get him with all of his belongings. When we got home we decided to watch the playoffs game before we unloaded his stuff from my car. My sister was not home, she had been at my parents' but once she did come in she was silent. She walked right past us, and went straight to her room. When she came down, she had her hamper filled with clothes, a blanket, and a pillow. I knew right there and then she had something brewing in her mind and wasn't going to be good. Within a ten minute span my mother forcefully pushed open the back door and started yelling, "What is going on between you and your sister? And, who the FUCK is that?" On impulse I turned my attention to Lugo who looked up startled, but in an instant panic I asked my mom if we could discuss this somewhere else, and pushed her towards the door. I went over to her house (which happens to be yards from my backdoor) and before I could say anything she started yelling at me in a violent tangent, already breathless. How could you do this to your sister? Do you not think about other people before you do things? How are you going to have your young sister in the house with a man? Wait. What? All I kept hearing was my sister, my sister, my sister. When I had lived with my mother, my younger sister and I had shared a room because my Uncle had decided that he wanted to come back to live with us after his divorce was final. My mother made my sister gave up her room, and I was forced to share my space. In our teenage years, my sister had met a guy off of Facebook and they decided that they wanted to meet. Dude flew in and stayed a month with us. And not just with us, but he stayed with my sister and I in our already small room. My mom made no fuss and I had no choice. So here I am, being a good friend to someone, and not just being a good friend, but asking permission of my "roommate" who says, "Do what you want." and when I do what I want, she gets upset and cries to mommy? Hello! I pay rent, and we do not share a room anymore, we share a place. Where is the disconnect here with this madness? But no! You won't let me speak so how can I explain anything to you? No! You are selfish! You never think before you do something! You've been ruining my life since you were 16 years old! The dragon lady continued. She wouldn't let me speak, and when I tried to my father was in the background calling me stupid and when I told him to stop, he flared in a rage. Had I said anymore he probably was going to hit me. The conclusion of that one-sided fight was that she wanted him to leave, immediately, right there and then. I shook my head in disbelief and walked out of the house.The whole drive by was orchestrated by my sister who I wish had just said flat out, "No." if it was going to be a problem instead of an "It's up to you." But then, asking permission from someone who had plans to move in her boyfriend and didn't ask me how I felt about just seemed redundant. She wanted things her way so she ran to my parents because she knows hell have no fury like the wrath of a woman, my mother. My sister came in the house about an hour later with a nonchalant look on her face and sat on the couch looking on while I chatted with Lugo in silence. He stopped our conversation to speak to her, "I'm not here to intrude on your space. This is your home, the rules will be followed. I just need to get out of my environment, and your sister happens to be one of the few people in my life that I can trust. I don't know what happened but it seems like you may be unhappy with me being here so if you don't want me to be here... I will leave." She told him it was okay for him to stay, to his face. He and I locked eyes and stayed silent. But what my mind was really thinking was, you BITCH. From that moment on, I knew deep down inside that my sister was driving the car and that my mom would be the passenger. I called out of work Monday morning to help him start looking for jobs, it was going fine but around noon time my mom called out of nowhere and told me to have him gather his stuff because he had to leave. I asked her, why are we at this again? he's not leaving! but she didn't want to hear any more so she interrupted me and started yelling again, insisting that he leave or she was going to call the cops. Threaten and manipulate. Mom: 1, M: 0. What even made matters worse is that my sister didn't say anything. She didn't bother to mention that she DID say it was OK. I knew she had been up to no good all along.
I helped him drag some of his belongings into my room and went on a mad hunt to find a motel that would hold him up for 2 days because I wasn't going to get again until Wednesday and there's no way I was driving him up to PA (where his mom lives) on a Monday when I knew for sure I had to come to work today. My sister, the conspirator came along (I think she wanted to make sure I was putting him up and not running away) and we found a dirty, nasty motel that would cover two days of a stay with what I had remaining in my bank account. I could not be more stressed out by the sudden change of plans and Lugo could not be more unhappy with the situation. After I got him settled in the room, I went to dinner with my sister to try to talk the situation out but it was a no go. She didn't want to compromise and I wanted to know why. For someone who had claimed that we were "best friends" she was acting like I had killed her pet rabbit and I had scarred her for life. We ended up exchanging words and she just wanted to go home so I ordered him food to go, took her home and went back to his room. He was stressed and just didn't want to talk (can't blame him) so I left. When I got home I got a random text message from him that made no sense,
Lugo:I'm out in the middle of nowhere with no protection. I find it funny how you put me up in a room the same time your ex calls you. Just know that if anything happens to me my people know where you live.
I texted him back and asked him what the hell was going on in his mind, but clearly, he just felt all kinds of disturbed. He had been told that it was okay for him to come stay with me and in a matter of 24 hours he was being put up in a trashy motel room and told that he had to stay there until further notice. He would have been better off sleeping on his aunt's couch if this is what it was going to come down to. I moved him out of his comfort zone into a mess.
So today I'm at work and all I can think about is Lugo and what he is going through. I could barely wait until my lunch hour to go check on him, the guilt had been riding my ass pretty hard. So, I went to Panera and brought him lunch and we talked briefly. I told him I'd be back as soon as work was over to hang with him but he didn't seem to care if I was there or not. When I got back to work my sister had a sudden change of heart, her conscience shocked her and apparently she decided to call my mom and tell her that we never took him home and that we put him up in a motel and that due to the weather I couldn't take him to PA. In her book she was doing me a favor, which I still don't see how it's a favor but anyhow, because of the impending weather tomorrow my mother is "letting" me let him stay with me until Saturday. Oh thank you, so generous.
written on 01/21/2014 at 4:00 P.M.
-