The Los Santos Babysitter | Oscar Diaz

The Point of No Return

Past the point of no return
No backward glances
The games we've played till now are at an end
Past all thought of if or when
No use resisting
Abandon thought and let the dream descend

No one was paying for my god damn door.
Pfft, whatever.
Plus side was I got a job making more money, and that got me thinking maybe I could let my job at the convenience store go?
Working half the hours with the same pay by babysitting compared to the 40 hour work weeks at the convenience store.
I was all for it.
Hell yeah.
I was busy throwing out the last few remains of what was left of my bedroom door when the doorbell started going off.
Like a lot.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Dhfjfjsjsksbfnfggmf.

"I hear you!"
I rushed to open my door when I felt several arms envelop me.
What the .... hell.
"Ay dios mio!" Ruby said squeezing onto me.
"We thought you were dead," Jamal said making a muffling squeak into my shoulder.
"It's all Jamal's fault," Monse said flatly.
"Why would y'all think I was dead?" I said shoving the guys off me.
"And what is Jamal's fault?"
Jamal looked at me eyes wide and tight lipped.
But not before he always exploded.
"Okay! It's not my fault, I mean it is..." he said throwing his arms everywhere as he talked.
Someone was anxious.
"...But I was walking with Ruby and Monse, minding my own business, like how I do, you know how I do," Jamal said looking into my eyes pleadingly.
"Spooky called my name, and then he said he needed a favor, and I was scared but he said he wasn't asking, and before I knew it I was telling!"
Jamal ran up to me grabbing two fistfuls of my shirt,
"Elaina, he threatened me! I was fighting for my life!"
Monse rolled her eyes.
"But I thought he was gonna kill you Elaina!" He yelled sliding down to the floor dramatically, still holding onto my shirt as he did so.
"But you're alive!"
"God is great," he said raising his hands in the air.
"Hallelujah," Ruby chimed in.
"Amen," Jamal continued shaking his hands in the air.
Now I was the one rolling my eyes.
"Yeah, I really don't got time for this, I got a broken door that I need to finish tossing out into the dumpster," I said already heading out towards the backyard.
Everyone's eyes widened.
Monse cut me off and stood in front of me.
"Wait? What happened!" She said holding tightly onto my arms.
"He said he wasn't going to hurt you!" She said scared.
I've never seen her scared before.
"He didn't!" I said grabbing onto her just the same.
"We just talked.." I continued, "the door was a misunderstanding."
I damn sure wasn't going to tell them how I slammed my front door into him, or how I tried to escape out the window, but not before Spooky Diaz body slammed me into the bed, choking me and shit.
No, I was going to leave that part out.
"You sure," Ruby said coming up behind me.
"I can try and talk to Cesar," Monse said matter of factly.
"Guys really, I'm fine," I said making my way outside.
But not before I realized something.
I turned on my heels facing Monse, who was right behind me, catching her off guard.
"I thought you and Cesar weren't talking?" I asked eyeing Monse suspiciously.
"Oh, well - uh, you know," she said stammering.
Ruby looked her up and down like she was crazy.
"You okay?" He asked turning the back of his hand to touch her head.
She shoved him off and stalked out to my back door.
"Despite what y'all think, I'm not petty or crazy," she said pointing at the both of us.
"Cesar's our friend, and I'm not going to let one altercation get in the way of that," she yelled.
"Okay, okay geesh," Ruby and I both murmured in unison.
"Now that we know Elaina isn't dead..." Jamal said coming up from behind us, throwing his arm around my shoulder.
"...You need help with that door?"

************

I went in for my shift at the diner later that day, telling Jacobo thanks for recommending me, even though we both agreed shit could have hit the fan.
"I wish I would have had a heads up when you came back in the kitchen the other day," I said laughing to Jacobo.
"I was like did he just say babysitting?"
Jacobo grinned as he was counting out my till in the office, "Estaben's a hot head, and then when I cooled him off he was talking about how he needed child care," Jacobo said as he licked his thumb and started counting the money.
"Those guys have been coming here for years, they mean well," he said shrugging.
"But don't ever say some stupid shit like that to Estaben," Jacobo turned to me raising his eyebrows, "the man is always acting like he's on his pinche menses."
"Yeah I realized that relatively quickly," I said shuddering at the memory from when he started choking me.
The guys seemed to like doing that.
The rest of my shift went by relatively fast, as soon as my last table left, I clocked out and waved goodbye to Jacobo.
I walked out to my car when something immediately caught my attention.