Last Kiss Goodbye • Teenage Juice Ortiz

48 - Dates

"Well that's certainly true," she muttered.

He chuckled as he caught her answer. "You gonna change your mind about that some day, honey. One day I'll be your number two." He aimed his attention to Juan and nudged his shoulder. "Number two, ya hear me? Ain't gonna steal her from you man."

June startled when she felt an arm around her shoulder, but relaxed a little as she discovered that it was Riley. "Let's leave those two fight it out. The best way to tolerate E is to only reply to like five percent of anything he's sayin' and not even listen to the rest." She let out a bright laugh and led her to the bar. "What would you like to drink? This is my uncle's place, so he's cool with tossin' some beers towards us, but there's soda too."

"Eh, a cola?"

"Alrighty." Riley leaned over the bar towards the bartender. "This my cousin, Vic. This is June," she continued. "She's Juan's girl."

The man lifted the corner of his mouth. "I'm not surprised that he's the first of your loser friends who knows how to get a chick. What can I get for you honey?"

June repeated the words she had spoken to Riley and took the drink a moment later. Her eyes fluttered across the room. Close to her sat some tough looking guys with leathers cuts, and she shyly turned away her face when one of them made eye contact.

"You two are a cute couple, June," Riley said, sipping from her drink. "I'm glad you didn't let Beth stop you. That boy is very much in love with you."

June blushed and looked to the small group. He had sat down, but his eyes were still resting on her and the moment their eyes locked, he showed her his shiny smile again. She smiled back – for a moment she forgot about everything around her, until Riley chuckled softly.

"And it looks like he's not the only one rockin' a huge crush."

With still glowing cheeks she turned back. "It uh, it all still feels so unreal. Apparently we had feelings for each other for like more than half a year before we even talked for the first time."

"Yeah, he kept it real quiet huh? I only found out after prom, when I asked him where he went that night."

"I actually thought he was joking when he asked me to prom," she admitted. "He had never said a single word to me."

Riley chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like Juan. Not daring to say something to his crush for months, but still able to work up the nerves to ask somethin' big like that."

Chatting, they walked back to the others. June felt comfortable around Riley, but when they had returned to the guys, she didn't know what to do. The seats next to Juan were taken, but with a smirk making the blood flow faster through her veins he leaned back and offered her a place to sit – right on his lap.

She walked over to him and put her drink on the table. Then she sat down on his lap, internally glowing when he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss in her neck.

Actually she had been afraid that he wouldn't want to show affection when his friends were around, but he clearly didn't mind. So she leaned against his chest and played with his fingers as she listened to their conversation and tried to remember their names. No one talked directly to her, but she was glad about it, feeling comfortable in just listening to them.

"What the fuck is she doin' here?" Emilio yelled all of a sudden, disturbing someone else's story.

June looked to the entrance and found Jordy. She waved enthusiastically to them, Emilio's comment didn't seem to bother her at all. She hugged the boys and Riley one by one, and June also stood up to embrace her friend, followed by Juan.