Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

THIRTY FOUR

Chuck smirked at them and tried to stifle his roaring laughter.

Some people looked at them before Mateo pulled back. Ricky looked around at them and glared.

"What? He hugged me, we made up. Go back to what you're doing."

Mateo giggled as they looked away. He grabbed his glass of water and sat down on the sofa. "Ricky... come sit beside me please."

Ricky nodded and sat down. He sat his coffee and plate down on the table. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Are you alright?"

Ricky raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You've been avoiding me for a month... and we haven't fallen out, and I have given you space to sort things out... but maybe I gave you too much?"

"I'm still figuring some things out. And I figured that you're gonna have a crush on me for a while. I'd rather it be you, than some weirdo–wait you're weird–well some stranger."

Mateo glared at him. "I'm not weird."

"Yeah, you are," Ricky smirked. "But that's okay."

"So are you?"

"And?"

Mateo shrugged. "I dunno?"

Ricky smirked and whispered. "I guess that's why you like me."

"...And what about you?"

Ricky pulled out a cigarette and his lighter and got up from the sofa.

"Come out with me." He hissed to Mateo, who got up. "I needa light."

Mateo nodded and followed him out of the room. They went outside into the school parking lot, where they caught the tail end of Uncle Zeke and Tito leaving for their car.

Ricky smiled and put his cigarette back into his pocket and opened his arms for Uncle Zeke to give him a bear hug. Tito stood beside Mateo and whispered: "Have you told him yet?"

"I'm trying to get the truth out of him. We're friends again, I think."

Tito nodded. "That's good."

"But Ricky's acting weird. Like he doesn't wanna tell me something."

"Is he going through the denial stage?"

Mateo laughed. "Probably, but he's still so cute."

"You really like him?"

Mateo glared. "Yeah, as a friend, and he said that I can have a crush on him, which is fair."

"Yeah, he has come around, but he's still thinking about things."

Mateo sighed. "I will talk it out of him."

"Good luck," Tito said as Ricky walked towards them, lighting up his cigarette. "I'll go with Uncle Zeke back to his for a while. Let me know how you get on."

Mateo nodded and waved as Tito caught up with Uncle Zeke, and Ricky stood beside him.

Mateo looked over at Ricky and asked. "Will you come to Electric Tacos after you finish your food, please?"

"Sure."

____

An hour later, they were at Electric Tacos, alone.

Mateo had used the spare key to go inside the restaurant. Mateo made them both a drink of coffee and warmed them some tortillas. He spread some butter onto it.

They went to the back, where the sofa was, and set the plate down.

Ricky took some tortillas, and the coffee and sipped some of it.

"This is delicioso," Ricky said.

"I'm glad you like it."

Mateo nodded. "Yes, and I know you like someone else too, or something else."

"What makes you think that?" Ricky folded his arms across his chest. "You projecting?"

"Why would I be? You are acting really weird."

"In what way?" Mateo asked, more assertively than he usually did. "You're usually a lot more direct than this. What are you hiding? Are you too scared to say you're embarrassed by my crush on you? Come on, say it."

Ricky glared. "Not at all."

"What is it then?"

"Nothing important."

"If it's not important, why are you not saying it then?"

"Saying what?"

Mateo glared and then hissed. "The thing you wanna say, dumbass."

"I'm not a dumbass." Ricky retorted as he grabbed another piece of tortilla. "You know that!"

"What the hell are you hiding then? You can tell me anything at all. You know as your best friend, I'd never rat you out. I'm not a snitch, I'm your closest homie."

Ricky growled and slammed his coffee mug back down onto the table. "If you tell anyone, even Chico, I'll kill you. Got it?"

Mateo nodded. "I got it..."

"Aight, I need some more time, ok? To think about things. I think I might... I might have feelings for hombres too. Just let me have some space. We can still do our study group and get on with it... deal?"

Mateo grinned widely. "Oh wow... that's good to know."

"But no funny business, aight? We need to focus on the rest of the year. We're almost there. The soccer team's top of the table, we're on course to pass Science, our Art Project looks good, you're on the track team, swimming's going well for you, and we just smoked that Drama play."

"True..."

"We got each other's backs in the last stride. Trust me on that."

Mateo smiled. "Alright, okay. We'll be off for Easter soon enough, and we can finish our Art project then, yeah?"

"Aight." Ricky held out his hand. It was shaking a bit, but not sweaty like Mateo's. "Deal?"

They shook on it. "Deal."