PROMISE ME (OSCAR DIAZ x OC)

Chapter Four (Ruby)

CHAPTER FOUR

Ruby

September

            "What do you mean I don't get my own room!" Alana shouted at Mami as they were folding laundry at the dining room table. Abuelita sat there folding towels and Mami was folding Luis and Luisa's clothes. Alana had her own basket and was folding her clothes, but the shirt in her hand was clutched so tight in her grasp it might burst.

            Mami kept her cool. She knew that Alana was her exact replica. They looked the same and acted the same all the damn time. She knew if she screamed at Alana, Alana would scream back. If Alana threw a tantrum then Mami would end up throwing one too. It's always been that way. They matched each other's energy.

            Usually it was them ganging up on Papi and Mario and even me. And when Abuelita is in the mix? Forget about it. No one is safe. But this time I kept my cool. Alana looked at me with tears from anger welling in her eyes.

            "Tell Mami it's not fair!" She shouted. "I just turned 18! I was told I could have my own room for one year! One! And now I don't?"

            I shrugged and looked at Mami. "Why can't she have her own room? What happened?"

            "Your prima needs a place to stay, so she's going to share a room with Alana. Tell your sister she should be grateful that she has a home always and that me and Papi wouldn't ever get deported." Mami folded Luis's shirt and put it down into the pile, picking up Luisa's dress and putting it on a hanger.

            Alana dropped her hands down to her thighs noisily and grunted. "Come on! I'm an adult now-"

            "Then act like it." Mami snapped at her. "Your prima is a nice girl. Give her a chance."

            Alana snatched her laundry basket and quickly moved past Mami and back into her room, slamming the door shut. Abuelita jumped slightly and then her eyes went from my mother and then to me. I chewed my lip and waited for the sound of Mami screaming to fill my eyes but she kept her cool.

            "Oh, that girl is going to get it one of these days. She's been on one lately. I don't know what's gotten into her." She said as she aggressively folding a pair of pants. "Ruby, do me a favor and help Olivia get her things from the car?"

            I looked up and saw the most beautiful girl of my life. "How is she my cousin again?" I smirked as I looked at my mother.

            "She's my friend, Rosa's daughter." Mami explained. "Just because she's my friend's daughter does not give you an open invitation to flirt with her by the way! Just grab the boxes of her things and bring them into her new room. And if Alana gives you any lip about it send her out to me."

            "Got it." I said in a haze as I looked at Olivia. She was taller than me but everyone was. She had long brown hair that was curly and kind of mess but in the cutest way possible. Her nose twitched like a bunny's nose when she smiled at me.

            "Hi Ruby, I'm Olivia." She reached her hand to me and I gulped loudly and choked on my own spit just from feeling her hand on mine.

            Holy shit... Am I in love with this girl already? No- no I can't be. Fuck.

            I smiled at her unable to fully speak and just went out to the car and grabbed her things, struggling to carry them all but somehow I managed. My arms burned and I nearly dropped everything in the living room but I pushed through and made it all the way to Alana's room and when I walked in she was sitting in a ball in the corner of her bed and sobbing with her headphones in.