Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

TWENTY FIVE

He looked around the parking lot; the tree nearby, the wall, the store across the street, the park, and the liquor store, before calling at her house.

She called at the door and shook her head. "What do you want?"

Ricky was shivering a bit. "I came to apologize."

She was wrapped in a blanket, and her pajamas; a t-shirt, and sweatpants. "It's a bit late."

Ricky looked into her eyes. "I went looking for you. I was concerned."

"Where you really?"

Ricky nodded, and she glared into his eyes. "I swear I was."

She tried not to smile. "Really?"

"I swear." He wiped his eye. The coldness was cutting through it. "Can I come in, please?"

She nodded. "I guess. Electric Tacos is open until midnight tonight."

Ricky walked in. "Great, are we going into your lounge or the kitchen?"

"Or my room?" Marisol said. "You're cold. You need a blanket."

"Throw me one on your floor?"

Marisol nodded as they walked into her room.

There was a comfortable-looking lounge chair in the corner of her room, a desk, a mirror, small TV, a record player, a bookcase, a chest of drawers, a bed, and a bedside table.

Everything was neat, and the room smelled pleasant from the air freshener.

It was nicer than Mateo's room (and actually smelled good).

She threw him her blanket, and he walked over to the chair and sat down to face her. She wrapped herself in her duvet.

He faced her. "Hey, I'm sorry for saying those things to you. It was uncalled for."

She looked at him for a moment and then smiled faintly. "Look, it's okay, thank you for actually coming to apologize."

"No problem." Ricky looked around her room, and then at her. "Look, I think you're cute. Aight, like really cute, and that whichever guy you find will be lucky to have you."

"Thank you–"

"--But I'm not that guy, okay? I want to be your friend, Marisol. You have a good personality, and you work hard, and thank you for going all out tonight, and I understand if you're upset at me for that, and that you might need a couple of days for the feelings to cool down."

Marisol slowly nodded. "Thank you for being honest with me. I appreciate that."

Ricky nodded back. "No problem. You deserve it. We can still hang around at lunch, in the library, and wherever else you want to go. If you wanna do that."

"Yes, we can do that." Marisol nodded. "Can I get a hug please?"

Ricky walked over to Marisol and gave her a hug. She held onto him for a moment.

"You can sit down on my bed if you want." She said as they let go. "You don't have to sit over in the corner of the room away from me."

"You sure?"

Marisol nodded. "I'm not gonna stay mad or upset at you because you genuinely apologized."

Ricky moved beside her more on the double bed. "I didn't wanna see you mad. When someone makes an effort, they deserve the recognition."

"At the very least, you're more self-aware than Chuck, and Johnny Loko. Johnny's nice, but he doesn't really talk much, and Chuck's a dick. He doesn't get it."