Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

SIX

T/W: Bodily fluids

The door knocked at the Mendez household, and Sr. walked over to it and answered it.

There stood Tito, smiling with a paper bag in his hand.

Sr. grunted and said. "Marisol's not here. She's away to buy some groceries."

Tito shook his head. "I actually came to see Mateo, is he in?"

Sr. nodded and yelled 'Mateo!' down the hall. "A guy wants to see you."

Mateo shouted back, 'I'm coming soon, I need to finish reading this!'

"Would you like to come inside for a coffee? You might be here for a while waiting on him." Sr. asked Tito.

Tito nodded. "Gracias, Mr. Mendez."

He opened the door wide enough for Tito to enter. "Call me Senior, or just Mateo. It's up to you."

"Okay, Senior." Tito walked over to the kitchen table. Sr. glanced back at him. "I like your coffee table."

Sr. nodded and got out two mugs. "I made it myself."

"Nice," Tito said. "I'm Tito, Ricky's cousin, nice to meet you, Senior."

"So, you're the same Tito that broke my mailbox playing soccer five summers ago?" Sr. asked him, as he turned on the old Mr. Coffee machine that he'd salvaged from Electric Tacos last year. Tito nodded. "Nice to meet you again."

"You also." Tito smiled. "Fixing your mailbox was a fun project me and Jesse did."

"Thanks for actually having the gumption to do it," Sr. said, waiting on the coffee to fully pour out. "So, why are you looking Mateo?"

"I need to talk to him about his art project. We need to go over some things. I'll have him back by eleven."

Sr. nodded as he set down both coffees and sat down opposite Tito. "Not a moment after it."

Tito nodded. "Understood, Señor."

Tito and Sr. sat in silence for the next ten minutes as they drank their coffees and listened to music on the radio, mostly oldies before Strangelove by Depeche Mode came on.

Sr. rolled his eyes. "My boy's obsessed with this song."

Tito nodded his head to the beat. "It has a catchy chorus, and beat."

Sr. tried to fight off the urge to hum along but ended up singing the chorus. Once that was over, Mateo walked in time for the second verse, singing along to it.

Sr. cleared his throat and sniffed the air. "You don't need to put as much Tres Flores on your hair. Or as much cologne on."

Mateo nodded. "I know, but I didn't want to smell like ass and sweat either. I was working out at the school gym too."

Sr. nodded. "I want you back here by 11 unless you're half dead. Got it?"

"I got it." Mateo nodded slowly and grinned as he saw Tito. His heart started to beat out of his chest. "Tito's here?"

Tito nodded. "I need to talk to you about a few things and show you some stuff. It's about your art project."

Mateo went and grabbed his art folder and swung it under his arm, waiting as Tito finished the last sip of his coffee.

"You good?" Mateo asked as calmly as he could manage.

Tito nodded back and got off his seat. "Thanks for the coffee."

Sr. nodded. "No problem. Remember what I said, Mateo?"

"Back by eleven, unless I'm dying, got it." He said back as they both began to walk out of the house. "Bye."