Tangled Webs -Oscar Diaz-

Chapter 14

Two Weeks Later

Sofia stood in Oscar's kitchen and scrubbed the dish thoroughly. There was a smile on her face as she glanced out the window at her boyfriend. Oscar had stepped out for a minute to talk to the other Santos about something she didn't know. In the last few weeks, she had found herself spending a lot of time at the Diaz household. It wasn't a surprise for Cesar to walk in and see her on the couch. At this point, if Sofia wasn't at their house, he was concerned that they had broken up.

The original tenseness at the start of the relationship was long gone. Everyone had normalized the relationship and didn't pay it much attention, other than Ruby. With Cesar and Olivia dating and Sofia's time being divided even more so than before, he seemed to be adjusting slower than the rest. There wasn't much Sofia could do about Ruby other than spend whatever time she had with him. Sofia glanced down at the sink and set the dish in the drying rack. "Hey," the voice belonged to Cesar. 

The girl looked over at the boy with a questioning look. "Hi?"

Cesar was gripping his backpack tightly. "Are you staying late?"

Sofia blinked, "why?"

"Ruby's hosting game night," Cesar began. "I said I would go and noticed your car outside." The car didn't belong to her. It was her mom's. However, in the rare chance they didn't need it she could use it. "I was hoping I could catch a ride."

"I forgot that was tonight," Sofia turned away and picked up another dish. "Yeah, I said I would go also. I can take you."

"Thank you," Cesar breathed out. "I'll go change, and we can go."

"Okay." With that, the boy ran out of the room to change. Sofia's attention returned to the backyard towards her boyfriend, but he was nowhere in sight. Her hands continued to clean the dish as she searched the area in front of her. Suddenly a hand rubbed her lower back, causing her to jump. She already knew the hand belonged to Oscar and smiled. "You scared me." Sofia didn't look at him.

"Sorry," Oscar kissed her bare shoulder. "Why are you doing the dishes?" He reached around to stop her, but she moved her hands.

"Hey," she scolded him. "You made dinner, the least I can do is clean up."

Oscar rolled his eyes and took the dish from her hand. Sofia let out an annoyed sigh as she turned towards him. "Seriously?"

"How was your English exam," he changed the subject.

"You already asked me that," Sofia moved to the side. "I said it was fine."

Oscar watched her as she grabbed her bag. "Are you leaving?"

"Oh," Sofia turned back. "Yeah, I forgot Ruby wants to have a game night, and I said I would go."

"Are you coming back after?"

She walked towards him, "probably not. It will be late, and I have an early Calculus class." With that, Sofia stood up on her toes and kissed him. "I can come back tomorrow if you want."

"Sí," Oscar placed a hand on her arm. "I can pick you up again. You're out at two o'clock, right?"

"Yeah." Sofia moved to kiss him again when Cesar walked into the room.

"Seriously," he dropped his shoulders and looked away.

Oscar looked at his brother closely. "Sorry." With that, Sofia kissed the side of Oscar's face and walked towards the younger Diaz and shoved his shoulder. "Let's go." With that, the two walked down the hallway and out of the house.

~~~~~~~~

"I hate Yahtzee," Ruby threw his hands up in the air. "Jamal, you always suggest Yahtzee."

"I do not," he pointed at Ruby. "I always suggest a card game."

"You always suggest a stupid game!"

Jamal gasped and put his hand on his heart, "take it back."

"No," Ruby stared at him. With that, Jamal smacked Ruby's arm. "You didn't."

"I did." Jamal hit his arm again. This caused Ruby to react and hit him back. 

Sofia breathed as she watched the two get into an argument and start hitting each other. Her eyes then went to Cesar and Olivia. They were sitting closely, whispering about something. She then looked at Monse, who was staring at them. It was clear from the look she was giving them that she was jealous. "Hey," Sofia spoke to her. "Are you okay?"

Monse looked at her, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Monse stirred in her seat. "Are we going to play a game or not?"

By now, Ruby and Jamal were in a full physical fight. "Yes," Ruby pushed away from the boy. His hair was all over the place. "We are playing monopoly."

"I hate monopoly," Cesar huffed in annoyance.

"No one cares." Ruby stood up straighter.

"I don't like it either," Olivia raised her hand with a smile on her face. 

Ruby didn't speak as he contemplated his response. Sofia decided to speak up, "what about Sorry?"

"Oh," Jamal pointed at her. "I love that game."

Ruby glared at her, "I will take that suggestion into consideration."

"Ruby," Cesar ran a hand through his hair. "We are going to argue about this all night. Maybe we should watch a movie?"

"This is a game night, Cesar," Ruby spoke with an attitude. "Not a movie night."

"I'm just saying," Cesar lifted his hands in defense.

"A movie sounds nice," Monse agreed with him.

"Yeah," Olivia and Sofia said at the same time.

Ruby rolled his eyes but walked over towards the TV. Sofia leaned into the couch as she prepared for a movie. "I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away."

"I know," Sofia inhaled. "I'm looking forward to my mom's pumpkin pie."

"Oh," Olivia smiled in excitement. "She makes pumpkin pie?"

"Yeah," Ruby sat on the couch. "It's pretty good."

"Is Mario coming home," Cesar questioned.

"I think so." Sofia shifted again. She knew Mario had said a few weeks prior that he was planning to come home. However, in the last week, he continued to evade the topic. She had a feeling he wasn't coming home but didn't want to pressure him into answering. Instead, Sofia hoped that she would be seeing her brother soon.

"How about The Goonies," Jamal suggested as the movie appeared on the screen.

"Yeah," the rest agreed. It was the fastest they had ever decided on a movie. Sofia pushed the thought of her brother aside and focused on the movie.