Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

cuarenta y ocho

Arcelia and Sebastian were both at Jamal's house, practicing one of the quince dances without Cesar since no know knew where the hell he was. And for the sake of her sanity, Jamal never told Arcelia that he was last in Prophet territory, so she wasn't worrying.

"Are you sure it's gonna be safe to life me in my dress, Seba?"

"I've lifted heavier than you and I don't think your dress more than 100 pounds." Sebastian told the almost 15-year-old.

Arcelia nodded and looked to Jamal who was nervously watching them. Jamal pressed play on the music that he had set to right before the lift and held his breath for the part of the dance where Sebastian throws Arcelia up and holds her above his head while he slowly does a 360 turn. When Arcelia was safely placed on the floor, Jamal let out a breath of relief.

"I'm so happy nothing happened because I would die if I had to explain to Oscar that you got hurt."

"Oscar likes Seba though."

"Yeah, I beat his friends in a benchpress contest."

Arcelia nodded her head as Jamal looked down to Sebastian's arms. "Okay, uh, what else should we practice?"

"Wanna do our waltz?"

"Do we have to?"

"Yes, we have to make sure everything is perfect."

"Why can't we go to In-n-Out and use his employee discount."

Arcelia turned around to look at Sebastian, who was nodding his head, before sighing. "Fine, we can practice later."

"Yes!"

× × ×

Hours of rehearsal later and Arcelia was exhausted. Sebastian walked her home and once she got the text that told her he made it home safe, she took a bath, but ended up falling asleep in it.

"Celia? Are you done? I gotta piss." Oscar was banging on the door, and was getting a little worried when he didn't get a response. He ran his hand over the top of the door frame and once he got the key, he wiped the dust off of his fingers. "Celia?" Oscar slowly peeked in and saw Arcelia's head on the side of the tub with bubbles surrounding and covering her entire body, thankfully.

Oscar groaned and then decided to be a nice brother and wake her up before she accidentally drowned herself.

"Five more minutes."

"No, go sleep in your bed. I have to piss."

At the mention of bed, the place she thought she was in, Arcelia opened her eyes and looked around the bathroom confused. "Get out, I'm naked."

"I literally used to give you baths, but okay." Oscar said, walking out so Arcelia could do her business. "I'll just use the other bathroom."

Basically, Oscar did his business in his bathroom and Arcelia did her business half asleep. Both ended up in the hallway and with her eyes closed, Arcelia hugged Oscar. "I'll see you tomorrow, feo."

"Man, cállate. Get some sleep for your quince tomorrow." Arcelia smiled to herself and Oscar watched her drag her feet to her room. Within minutes, she was passed out, on her bed this time, while Oscar was in the backyard working on the impala.

In the middle of tightening something in the engine, he heard footsteps behind him, and obviously he had his gun right beside him. When he whipped around and had his gun pointed at Cesar, he lowered it after seeing no harm.

"Get out of here."

Cesar was panting, for whatever reason, while Oscar turned back around. "I need protection." He begged, not getting an answer. "I found Latrelle. I went to go finish the job."

"And?"

"The gun jammed."

"You're 0 for 2." Oscar replied, his voice showing no signs of remorse or sympathy. "Ain't gonna be no number three. Go."

"Where?! I have nowhere to go!"

"Not my problem. There's nothing I can do for you. It's not just about you anymore. If you stay, everyone you care about is in jeopardy, so leave."

Cesar stared at Oscar's back, and began to walk away. However, not even 10 feet away, he turned back around. "You should've handled this for me. You're not just my big brother, you're my big homie. You could've taken out Latrelle. But instead you sent me to do it!" Cesar cried out.

"Do you know what the hell you did? You put me in an impossible situation with Cuchillos!"

Cesar stared up at Oscar with tears running down his face, hoping this would be the time he got shelter. "Oscar, please. I don't know what to do."

Cesar fell sobbing into Oscar's chest and Oscar became conflicted, but he then gave in and pat Cesar's head. "Hey, hey. I love you, mano. But you're done. Happy birthday."

The quince boutta be awkward as hell 💀 pero surprise guest at the quince 😶 hehehe