Daniel P.O.V.
Thanksgiving break.
It's only three days of no school, however it's not really a break when you are busy each of those three days. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so my mother is barking orders at Mrs. Lupido to get the house as clean as humanly possible. After 17 years, Im still not used to my mother screaming all day about mops and sponges.
I was waken up at 6 a.m. to her shrilly screech. "Please make sure that you get every single corner of this bathroom bleached! Jesus, what do I even pay you for?!" Rolling my eyes, I shoved my face into my pillow and groaned loudly.
The only reason my mom gets like this is because Thanksgiving is more of a business party. She has to look perfect in front of her boss and colleagues. If she wanted to have a business dinner so bad, I shouldn't have to come. I guess the Tyson family just has to look perfect.
Flipping to my back, I grab my phone and check text messages and social media. In the midst of my scrolling, I get a text from the most amazing person ever.
Nida: hey
Daniel: who's this?
I laugh, knowing she won't handle the joke well. As sarcastic as she is, she doesn't understand the difference between me being real and sarcasm when we're texting. Thinking about her makes me fucking elated. Like, she's so sweet and sarcastic and...
I don't know. She's great.
I get a call about 10 seconds after I press send.
"Hello-"
"I hate you." She breathes, as if she's relieved to know I was kidding. I smile.
"Good morning baby doll."
"Don't you 'baby doll' me. You know I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not you dick!"
Just as I'm about to saying something, distant yelling comes from her end of the phone and huge thud. Because I am who I am, I get very concerned quickly.
"Nida?" I say frantically, sitting up quickly.
"Lo siento! Lo siento!" I hear her say, however I'm not sure what that means, so I get more worried.
"Nida?" I repeat, my heart beating a little faster. Please be okay.
"Ugh! Yes Daniel?" She huffs, a weight being lifted off my shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Nida huffs again.
"My mom threw a sandal at me because I called you a d-. *pause* d-i-c-k." I laugh loudly and she mutters "Shut up." at me. "Wanna come over?" Nida blurts out, as if she was saying it before losing her nerve. A smirk creeps up on me.
"Gimme 20 minutes."
We hang up and I jump out of bed, walk past my annoying mother and go down two flights of stairs to the bathroom in the basement. It takes me about 15 minutes to shower and to get dressed. I leave without saying bye to anyone.
Her apartment is about 15 minutes away from mine, so it's a relatively short drive. I don't play music in the car, because I never do, and make it to her parking garage. Taking the elevator up, I push the 3 button and wait. I walk to her apartment and knock on the door, her mother answering it.
She smiles at me takes a step to the side to let me in. "Hi." She says.
"Hi Ms. Vargas, how are you?" Her mother sits down on the couch and sighs.
"I'm fine." Her smile drops significantly and her eyebrows knit together, something clearly bothering her. However, it's not my place to ask. Throwing a smile her way, I slowly turn around and towards the hallway.
Just as I'm about to walk to Nida's room, her mom calls my name, stopping my in my tracks. When I see the look on her face, my heart drops a little: she looks as if she's about to cry. Ms. Vargas opens her mouth and then closes it, saying nothing until "Can we talk?"
My mind races to all the things she could possibly want to talk about, but every conversation I can think of has to do with Nida. I've never had a parent talk to me about their child before, so this is new ground for me. Never been with a girl long enough to meet their parents, hell I've never had a girlfriend before.
Even though Nida's not my girlfriend...
That'll change.
I nod slowly to Nida's mom and follow her back to the living room, having a seat across from her. Ms. Vargas takes a deep breath, folds her hands, and begins to speak.
"Nida has gone through much more than she deserves. She does more than is asked, and she asks for nothing in return. Nida has had to act much older than she really is, her childhood was taken from her at such a young age. I couldn't thank her more for that, I couldn't have asked for a better daughter."
Ms. Vargas doesn't look at me the whole time, her eyes trained on the floor. I'm trying to find what she's hinting at, but she's just like her daughter: doesn't tell you how she feels until she directly shows you. No words come from me, but I just listen.
"Her father is gone. And she has stepped up to the plate to help in every way you can think of. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be here now. So-" Ms. Vargas clears her throat and looks up at me. "She may seem closed off, or hesitant, or scared. She doesn't know what it like to have a man stay. Please, be patient with her. Teach her what it's like to be cared for by a man. To not be hurt."
My heart clenches at her words and my mind automatically gets defensive.
"I promise, I'll never hurt-"
"No!" She snaps, her eyebrows coming together and her eyes darkening. My mouth clamps shut and I listen. "I can't have her hearing more broken promises. Don't promise that you'll never hurt her, because I know you will. Just promise me to try your best." She says the last bit with the most emotion I've heard from her.
I nod. "Okay."
"Say the words."
"I promise."
Ms. Vargas smiles at me and stands up. "Have fun." She says and walks away.
With all that bearing down on me, I walk to Nida's room and knock on the door. She opens it, her hair down and she's bare faced. She's dressed very casually, yet still beautiful. I grin and she grabs my hand, pulling me into her room and shutting the door.
We lay on her bed and stare at the ceiling, the words her mom said not being able to escape my head. What did Nida go through that hurt her this badly? What could I do to help? I don't ask Nida, but grab her hand. She lays her head on my shoulder, and I feel my heart flutter.
"I'll try my best Nida." I whisper. I don't expect her to hear it, but she replies with the most shocking words.
"Want to hear a story?"
•••
[A/N]
Ohhhh snaapppppo story timee!!!!!!
I think as a 'sorry for not updating' that she may or may not, idk (I do know cuz I'm the author but you don't so HA!), tell Daniel her story. How have you guys been?? Gosh I missed you so much! You guys have no idea how much I love reading comments cuz you guys are so fucking funny. Um.... I've been obsessed with the 'A Flair For The Dramatic' album by Pierce The Veil (my fave band). So check it out if you like rock music or want to experiment. That's about it for me.... Love y'all :)
~ Erica Letta
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Spanglish | editing
Teen Fiction"Daniel please-" He growled cutting me off mid sentence; making it obvious that he's pissed beyond belief. I never knew that telling him my past would upset him, at least not like this. I thought that after all we've been through, after everything t...
