When Bluebirds Fly | ✔

Part Four : Chapter Two

"It was so crowded there, my ice cream melted before I could even taste it," I whined, throwing my arms up exasperatedly. "We shouldn't hang out in the afternoon."

"I'll go mad with that bitch in the house," Sam said, referring to his mother and kicking a stray stone in frustration.

"Abuela weirdly likes you, you know? She wouldn't mind if you stay at my apartment. She thinks you're my boyfriend." I nudged and shading his eyes with his hands, he squinted at me.

"Yeah?" His eyes averted back to the ground which resembled a hot, iron pan. "You are certainly more tolerable than Janet or Sia."

"Wasn't her name Liah?"

"Yeah that," he winced and I hit him on the head.

"Don't tell me you called her Sia or something in bed . . . " I trailed off, but he didn't contradict me. "Wait-what? Is that the reason she refuses to fuck you anymore?" He winced again, this time more severely and I burst out laughing. "Are-are y-you joking me?"

He shook his head, wearing his sunglasses. "I called her Janet, accidentally."

"I can't believe how you can- wait, why did you break up with Janet? Did you call her Liah?"

"You're just stretching now---"

"You literally called a chick, in bed, by some other chick's name."

"Technically, it wasn't a bed."

"I don't want to know where you did it---"

"Mariana!" I heard a screech which rang through the entire street, a shrill sound like the squeak of tires skidding against a slippery road during snowy days. Allison was speeding towards me with her blonde locks of hair bouncing and her shopping bags flapping in her hands. Her flushed cheeks were puffed up and she advanced towards me, her bright eyes spotted Sam and hardened. She halted instantly, her cold eyes assessing Sam with the ferocious nature of a tiger. Lately, I had been hanging out a lot with Sam, sort of neglecting Allison . . . Mostly because she made me stay for an uncomfortable number of hours at her beautiful house with her beautiful family.

"Hey," I said, my voice a bit forceful when she refused to tear her murderous gaze from an impervious Sam.

"I went shopping alone because you said you were busy," she addressed me while looking at Sam.

"My plans got cancelled," I lied, then feeling the first tinge of guilt rise inside me, I added, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you."

Her ears perked up like a puppy's and she turned to me, her eyes gleaming again. "Let's get some food now, come!" She grasped my hands and without paying any heed to Sam, dragged me across the street. I glanced back to see an amused and baffled Sam shrugging and walking away. "I stopped by your place in the morning, but your grandma said that you were out with that boy."

"Oh yeah? That's Sam-wait, how did you know the location of my apartment?"

She didn't respond anything, just flashed a naughty grin, implying that she had taken up a new hobby of stalking me. I grew mildly concerned since she had discovered my living conditions after years of carefully hiding it, but I barely had any time to ponder over this with how we we flew from street to street as if we were late to school. She led me straight to the vegan café, opening the glass doors and nearly shoving me in.

"I thought you gave up on being vegan," I commented, remembering the last time that she was tearfully stuffing her mouth with bacon after Tony (for the hundredth time) stalled in having sex with her.