Santos Song

Chapter 3

I wake up to the sound of clanging pans, and Meek Mill. Well, now I know Marcello is up. I get up to let Melo out for his morning piss. I find him waiting at the sliding glass door leading to our backyard which is alot of land. It was a cold bright sunny morning. The sun reflecting off of the seven inches of snow laid on the ground. Melo does what he needs to do, and comes sprinting back into the house. I shut the door, and clumsily fall back into bed to see if I can squeeze in a couple more hours of sleep. I close my eyes, and suddenly hear my phone go off. That's strange. I only have Javier and Marcello's numbers in here. Maybe it's the Stanbury's. The rent is due next week. Maybe they want it a little earlier. I check the phone, and nearly throw up, I'm baffled at how this happened.

Message from +3084683556: Hey it's Jason. I hope you're not dead. We need to talk.

How on earth did he get my number?

To: Jason
Jason as in Jason Rymer as in my ex boyfriend from 10th grade?
From:Jason
Yes, Luisa?
To: Jason
How the fuck did you get my number?
From: Jason
Whoa, nice to hear from you too??
To: Jason
I'm not playing around Jason how did you find my number?
From: Jason
It was in a yellow pages from like 3 years ago geez calm down.
To: Jason
Ok well I can't talk to you ever again so let's pretend this never happened
From: Jason
Luisa, I know what happened to you. One day you were in school, the next you don't text me back you don't come to school. It was pretty obvious immigration got you guys. It was hard on everyone back home, teachers, students, I heard Coach Carter gave a pretty moving speech, he nearly cried. Anyway, after you left I never loved another girl, I never dated, had sex with, or kissed another girl. Honestly I can't see myself with anyone else but you. So, I was hoping we could start again. I'm a freshman at Ohio State. The yellow pages said you're still in Jersey, but you're phone number has a Cleveland area code so I don't think you're too far. Let me know what you decide, so I can plan our first date.

Fucking fantastic. On top of everything else I have to worry about, now Jason is one of them. To be completely honest I really never forgot about him. I missed him alot for a solid year and a half. So much that it hurt sometimes. I still miss him, because I never stopped loving him after 3 years. We never officially broke up either we just assumed we'd never see each other ever again. I'm gonna take some time to think about this. I put my phone on my nightstand, and close my eyes.

• • •

"Luisa it's 3 pm, get up this is ridiculous" I hear Javier say as he violently shakes my bed
"Yo chill the fuck out" I say showing my level of annoyance.
"We're hungry Luisa get up" he complains.
These guys are fucking useless. Without me they'd have starved to death ages ago.
"I thought I left some chicken in the fridge. Make yourself a quesadilla or something." I grunt and turnover in bed to get more comfortable.
"Yeah, but you make them the best" he says quietly.
"Holy shit fine! I will make the fucking quesadillas" I yell frustrated
"Thank you! By the way Marcello and I are having a FIFA tournament if you'd like to join us"

For those of you who don't know, FIFA is soccer. It's like the equivalent of the NFL or NBA. FIFA is also a soccer video game. It's our favorite video game, and we always have tournaments. But it's not really a tournament. We play against each other and the loser has a punishment. Usually a certain amount of push ups. Other times when we're feeling frisky, we do more drastic punishments. Last week I made Marcello lay in the snow in his underwear for a full minute. It was 8 degrees outside that night.

"Um yeah sure, just let me make you kids your quesadillas first" I haul my still exhausted body out of bed, and first go to feed Melo, he hasn't eaten all day. I pour his food in his green bowl, and he basically assaults it when I put it down for him. I see nobody is using the stereo system for once. So I plug in my iPod, and play my music for a change. It's not that I don't like rap and hip hop. I love it, but I just crave variety. So I put on The Beatles spotify station. Blackbird comes on first. A personal favorite of mine.

"Oh c'mon Luisa, get this pussy shit out of here." Marcello walks into the kitchen whining. His black curly hair messy as ever, and his thick eyebrows furrowed.
"Do you want your quesadilla?" I question.
"Yes." he whispers just loud enough for me to hear.
"Ok then I get to listen to my pussy music" I answer.

I make those two dorks there food and hit the shower. Avoiding the mirror after what happened last night. I lock the door. Strip my clothes, and hop into the shower. As I'm turning on the water. I wonder if I locked the door. I step out of the shower, see that the door is locked, unlock it, re-lock it, then get back in the shower. I'm still not 100% sure I locked it, and one of my brothers could walk in and see me naked. So I get out of the shower, unlock the door, step outside of the bathroom, close the door, open it, go back in the bathroom, lock it, unlock it, lock it, unlock it, lock it, then step back in the shower, and proceed to shower. I used to take medications for my OCD, but ever since we left New Jersey, I haven't taken my medication. I have three types of OCD. Checking (if you couldn't already tell) counting, and intrusive thoughts. So it was all under control, then we left and I went fucking insane. The medication was for the intrusive thoughts mainly, because that was what crippled me the most. Intrusive thoughts are involuntary thoughts of somebody doing violent or sexual harm to someone they love, the thoughts are sometimes so horrific and messed up that I'm ashamed that  I am capable of even thinking about it. It gets to the point to where I go great lengths to avoid that person. Counting, for me is counting literally everything. I walk into a foreign room, and begin to count away. I count the number of stairs in every staircase I take. I count the amount of times someone knocks on the door. For me it's also doing things a certain amount of times. I do alot of things four times. I fluff my pillow four times before I go to sleep, I grip my steering wheel four times before pulling out of the driveway. I knock on every door four times, and brush my teeth four times every morning and night. The counting isn't as bad as it sounds, it's just time consuming. The counting and checking comes in handy when I'm working. It prevents errors when robbing a bank. As we all can assume there is little room for errors when committing a crime. So constantly checking for surveillance cameras or possible witnesses isn't too bad.

I finish my shower, quickly dry and dress myself, and join the boys in the living room.

"Who's who?" I ask.
"I'm Belgium, Javi is Colombia" Marcello answers just as Javier scores his second goal.
"Damn Marcello, you're just gonna let him do you like that?!" I say to get Marcello angry.
"Luisa, if you're gonna be annoying just go back to sleep" he says in a frustrated tone as he shanks what could've been a perfect shot.
"Hell no, I showered for this. I'm not going to sleep" I say.
"Okay Lu you play winner, so next game you'll be playing me" Javier states.
"Both of you shut the fuck up, this is gonna be the comeback of the century" Marcello claims as Javier scores his fourth goal.
The whistle beeps signaling the end of the game.
Marcello sighs and hands me the controller.
I'm in the midst of picking my team, when I see my phone screen light up. I take a quick glance.

From: Jason
So what do you say?

I gulp heavily. This kid is not gonna stop I know him too well, and if he is still the boy he was in high school then he will not stop until he gets that date.

"Luisa who texted you?" Javier asks confused, with a stern face.
"Oh no that's just a game letting me know they have more levels" I say and roll my eyes for dramatic effect.
"Oh I fucking hate those they are so disappointing" Marcello adds.
"It's not like anyone is going to text you anyway" I say.
Javier keeps his eyes on me for a few more seconds and starts the game.

• • •

I did a total of 160 push ups tonight, and miraculously got Javier to do 20. I lay in bed and scratch Melo's head. He nudges his head further into my leg. I unlock my phone, and pull up my conversation with Jason. Javier's look of suspicion was eating me alive. If I persue anything with Jason, and we get discovered because of it. I know Javier will kill me. It's best if I end this before it even begins

To: Jason
I'm sorry, I would like to go on a date with you, but I just can't.
From: Jason
Why not? You just said you want to. What's stopping you?
To: Jason
I'm a fugitive. I'm in hiding, running from the law. Now, I don't believe you want to rat me out, but I just can't risk it. I'm sorry Jason. Take care.

My heart sunk a bit, but at the same time a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Knowing that everything was back to normal helped ease the anxiety of everything happening right now. Little did I know.