CHILDHOOD ❥ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

❷❺

The arcade to your left, a vending machine that never worked to your right. Marisol couldn't hide the smile on her face as the two walked up to the booth.

A man, with a sandy blonde hair, smiled at them from across the counter. He had a name tag clipped onto his striped uniform shirt.

"Can we have two?" Oscar asked, nodding over to the girl on his right.

The man behind the counter leaned forward and Marisol quickly recognized him. She sat in front of the boy during Calculus her senior year.

"What size?" The boy questioned.

"12," Oscar answered.

"7 and a half," said Marisol. The man went to retrieve the correct sizes, leaving the duo alone. Oscar leaned onto the counter, looking over at the grinning girl.

"You haven't stopped smiling since we got out the car," he chuckled lightly.

Marisol shook her head, "I don't know, we just haven't hung out here in so long."

Oscar sadly nodded, glancing away from her, "Yeah, I know." The boy came back, two pairs of shoes in his hands.

He carefully placed them on the counter, his face friendly, "Here's your skates, guys. Have fun." Marisol thanked him while Oscar just gave him a nod before they took the shoes off of the counter.

They took a couple of minutes to exchange their regular sneakers for the skates, making sure they fit well.

Marisol flaunted out her skates towards Oscar, moving her ankle around, "Perfect fit." Oscar shook his head, smiling to himself before they stood up.

She held onto his arm as they carefully walked across the carpet onto the wooden rink.

After three hours and a bunch of falling later, the two finally grew tired. Marisol let out a sigh of relief as she took a seat on the wooden bench.

She quickly began to untie the skates, groaning, "My feet are killing me."

"Me duelen las nalgas," Oscar rubbed his backside. Marisol let out a laugh, her hand covering her mouth as she began putting on her sneakers. Oscar looked down at her, watching her silently.

"You hungry?" He spoke up, tilting his head towards the food stand where a teenage girl stood behind the counter.

Marisol glanced up towards that direction, shaking her head, "Yeah, a little."

"-And it's just annoying because now I have to be back at a certain time or I can't leave too late," Marisol continued her rant, picking up a french fry from her plate. She waved it around as she spoke, "It's really fucking lame."

Oscar let out a stiffled laugh, leaning back in his chair, "Wow, you have a caring dad."

"A strict dad," she corrected, rolling her eyes as she put the food into her mouth.

The Santo shook his head, "Atleast yours is around, you know?" Marisol watched as Oscar's eyes dimmed as he reflected back to his memory of his own father but, within a few seconds he snapped out of his thoughts.

He cleared his throat, bringing his elbows on top of the table as he sat up, "So, where does he think you are right now?"

The girl shrugged, "Athena's."

"How is she doing?" Oscar asked.

"Better," Marisol answered, eyeing the plate in between them, "she hasn't really talked about that night but I'm not going to push her to. It's not really my place."

The two fell silent for a minute, making their way through the food as a new conversation emerged.

Soon, the teenage girl who had served them before came over to the table. Marisol noticed the absence of people at the rink and the lights beginning to dim.

The girl had a white rag in her hand and smiled at them, "Hey, sorry guys but we have to get ready to close soon."

Oscar pulled out his phone to check the time, not feeling how fast it had went.

Marisol nodded, grinning back up at the blonde, "Yeah, we're gonna head out now, thank you." Oscar gave the girl a silent nod before she turned to walk away. The two wrapped up their meal before cleaning up their table.

Marisol awkwardly walked next to Oscar, her head barely reaching his shoulder. As she reached to open the door heading back out to the parking lot, Oscar stopped her.

He whistled at her, making his way over to one of the arcade machines.

"Dude," she groaned, standing next to him.

He tapped on the glass, pointing to one of the stuffed animals inside, "I want that one."

"They're closing in like six minutes," the girl reminded but Oscar didn't care.

He began to search his pocket for his wallet, eyeing down the Charizard plush that laid in the corner of the display.

The Santo put in the dollar and Marisol watched as his hands gripped the controller, moving it straight for the toy. He pressed the button hard, the crane slowly coming down.

The metal barely gripped around the toy before it dropped back into its previous position.

"Fuck," Oscar cursed under his breath, making Marisol giggle.

"Okay, come on," she nodded towards the door as more lights began to dim, "let's go."

"Nah," Oscar shook his head, putting in another dollar, "one more try."

A long story short? It wasn't just one more try. Oscar spent $17 and the rink didn't close until ten minutes after they were supposed to but, he got the Charizard.

As the two walked back to his car, Oscar had a proud smile on his face.

Marisol rolled her eyes playfully, chuckling, "I can't believe you."

Oscar unlocked the car before they entered, "What?"

"Everyone was so mad at us," Marisol referenced the workers, "you took forever."

"It's not my fault the stupid crane wouldn't grab him," Oscar held up the toy.

"They're designed for that," Marisol reached over her shoulder to grab the seatbelt.

"Here," Oscar held out the Chizard towards her.

Marisol smiled, taking it from him, "Why are you giving it to me?"

"Because I won it for you," he shrugged, turning on the engine of the car.

sorry that ive been gone for so long i wasnt really feeling inspired for a while but im back now bitches!!!!