Song: Colgando En Tus Manos
By: Carlos Baute & Marta Sanchez
Dedicated to: My papa, he loved to sing during the holidays.
I watched as Mauricio walked inside my house holding a flan.
Everyone greeted each other and we all sat down at the table. Everything in the living room was pushed back so we could fit the table.
Mauricio, Angelina, and Reuben were the last to get here. They had visited their mom for a bit during her lunch break since they couldn't spend Thanksgiving with her at least for a bit.
"Let's eat! We usually say our thanks but everyone is hungry so we'll say them after." My dad started cutting the turkey.
And we all did as told. We ate everything into it was almost gone from their plates. Then we ate some dessert, watched a soccer game while the kids went outside to hang out.
"Will you stop eating!" Josie sits on Mark's lap and takes away the flan from his hold. She takes a bite and smirks at me.
She's such a tease.
I looked over at Elias who was glaring at Mark, Mark is protesting at her while trying to keep his hands to himself. He respects us, girls, too much to seriously try anything on us. It seems we're the only girls he respected that way.
"Mal, Ricio, do you guys mind singing us a song? I could teach Mark here some dancing lessons since he's been asking for some lessons." My dad turned off the television and looked over at us.
I'm on Mauricio's lap, legs draped over his lap, his hand on my thigh.
"Uh—" I'm sitting up, pulling my dress down not exactly liking that idea.
"We'll do it," Mauricio says next to me and I send him a slight glare.
Always going against my wishes.
"Reuben!" Mauricio yells and I watched as Reuben came running inside, "Can you go home and grab my guitar, please?" His brother nodded his head and went straight to his house to grab the guitar.
My dad called everyone in so we could all dance.
The boys helped my dad remove the table from the living room so we could have room. Mauricio and I stood by the stairs, Reuben didn't take long to bring the guitar so we were ready in a jiffy.
"What song should we sing?" I bent down connecting the mics to the speaker Vikki had set up next to me. I passed Mauricio a mic and he thanked him.
Everyone was waiting on us.
"Let's try something different today. Everyone here knows Spanish so we could do a Spanish language song. I've always wanted to try 'Colgando en tus manos'?" Mauricio suggested and I smiled at him, "That song is on our playlist. I love it. Let's do it."
"Okay, one...two...three."
He started to play his guitar, starting with the melody.
Quizá no fue coincidencia encontrarme contigo
Tal vez esto lo hizo el destino
Quiero dormirme de nuevo en tu pecho
I watched as our family and friends grabbed a partner, starting to sway to our singing.
My dad was dancing with Vikki, having Vikki take turns with him and Mark. Instructing, showing them the steps to the song. Josie was dancing with Elias and his little brother, not surprised there he probably had enough of her teasing. JT and Lilybeth danced together since Maddie was with Reuben. And lastly, Angelina and Sebastian are jumping around together.
I put my mic between us when it came to our joined voices. He put his mic down, next to his guitar.
Sabes que estoy colgando en tus manos
Hmm, así que no me dejes caer
Sabes que estoy colgando en tus manos
Mauricio gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before pulling away to sing his part.
Te envío poemas de mi puño y letra
My part came and I sang it vocally.
Te envío canciones de cuatro cuarenta
Mauricio removed his guitar from his chest and pulled me against him. We swayed together. Holding our mics up to our mouths.
Brown to green eyes.
Happiness fills my heart, having my family and friends here is perfect. Having Mauricio here makes everything even more perfect.
Que mi corazón está colgando en tus manos
We sang in sync, our voices becoming one.
So, perfect, so beautiful. It was as if we were meant to be here, together in this moment.
We finished the rest of the song like this and didn't pull away until everyone clapped and cheered.
"Promise me something?"
I looked over at Mauricio confused as I settled the mics on the speaker.
"You'll be with me after the game ends?"
Confusion, but somewhat understandable.
I nodded my head, smiling at him.
"I promise, Reyes."
No surprise, we won the game.
It was very heated and messy, Morhills Public did not hold back. Unfortunately, all their taunting didn't get them anywhere so we ended up winning.
Everyone is on the court celebrating, I'm pushing past everyone trying to find Malia.
She promised she'd be with me.
I finally see her, she has her back turned to me.
"Myers—" I cut myself off when I see her getting pulled away by Easton.
They go by the bleachers.
Anger rises in my chest and I turn around to see mama, Reuben, and Angelina walking toward me.
She fucking promised.
"Are you fucking serious?"
"Mal, I know we had plans but Jianna wants to—" I cut him off when I push him back, "Fuck you and your little princess girlfriend." I left him standing next to the bleachers.
Fucking asshole.
We had plans to hang out tomorrow morning since he's leaving tomorrow night. But he just canceled on me because Jianna wanted to spend some time with him, alone time.
I fucking hate him.
The more I think about it, the more I no longer feel any type of connection towards Easton.
There's one connection I do feel though.
I looked around for Mauricio, hoping I could catch him before he left. But it seems he's nowhere to be found.
My eyes roam around the court and they land on Elias.
He's going straight home today since he needs to babysit his little brother.
"Elias!" I yelled while walking over to him, he turns around with a confused expression, "Mal, hey, what's up?", "I'm hoping to get a ride home, please. I don't feel like going to a stupid party tonight."
Elias nodded his head and had me follow him to his car. We got inside and headed home.
On our way to our neighborhood, he says I can hang out with him while he babysits. I agreed not wanting to be alone tonight. I'm afraid of my thoughts.
When we enter Elias's house his mom was gone and his little brother was sleeping in Elias's bed. The mom had left five minutes before we got there so Elias didn't make a big deal about leaving him alone.
"So, is there a reason you decided to skip out on tonight?" Elias plopped down on his sofa and I sat across from him.
"Nothing important. I didn't feel like drinking."
Even I didn't believe that lie.
Elias didn't press on it though.
"Why isn't your step-dad here?" I asked, hoping I didn't overstep.
"Jail."
My eyes widened at how casual he said it.
Okay, well, change of subject, please. This is what I get for being a nosey bitch.
"Is there something going on between Mauricio and you?" He asks so unexpectedly and I'm staring at him, trying to say no but nothing comes out.
"Why are you asking that?" I turned away from him, not making eye contact.
"I see the way you two look at each other. It's the same way my parents looked at each other before my dad walked out on us."
Oh god.
I remember that day.
Everyone could hear the screaming from Elias's house. Elias's mom was yelling at Elias's dad, begging him not to go. But the guy got into his car and never looked back. He left Elias behind with nothing, not even a goodbye.
The little boy who loved to draw wouldn't draw for anything anymore after that. He stopped drawing completely and would refuse to draw any time we were given an art project during school.
It seems though he put some of those drawings into his arms because every tattoo looks too good to be random. His arms, legs, and chest are covered with them.
I shrugged, sighing, "I have no idea. One minute we hate each other and the next we're—" I cut myself off realizing what I'm saying.
This is not okay.
"It's okay. I won't say anything just like I know you won't say anything about Josie and me. She told me that she told you."
I nodded my head, I trusted Elias.
"Do you feel anything towards him besides hate?"
"Yes, there's something there. It's always been there, but I'm afraid of expressing it. It'll ruin everything. What if he doesn't feel the same?"
Elias stood up from where he sat and walked toward me. He pulled out his phone and sat next to me. I watched as he went into his photo gallery and pulled out a Thanksgiving photo. He points to Mauricio.
"While everyone is looking at the camera, Mauricio is looking at you. And he's looking at you as if you're the most perfect person in the world. Trust me, Mal, he feels the same way."
This warms my heart.
Mauricio has his arm wrapped around my waist, I'm leaning against him, hand on his chest while I pop my leg up.
Elias is right though, he is looking at me while everyone else looks at the camera.
Maybe I should stop my doubts.
After a while, I decided to go home. I was getting sleepy and I overstayed my welcome. Elias thanked me for keeping him company right before I left too.
I'm now in bed reading apology messages from Easton.
"Yeah, well fuck you, Easton." I turned off my phone and turned to my side.
I should sleep.
Suddenly my window is being opened and Mauricio is jumping inside.
"What the fuck?" I shot up from the bed and walked over to him.
"You could've warned me before you came, you know. I thought some fucker was breaking in." I rolled my eyes smacking him on the chest before walking back to my bed.
He snorted behind me and I turned to look at him confused.
I see his eyes moving up and down my body. I follow his eyes to see myself in a tank top with no bra and in n out boxers.
I should be concerned about the no bra part but I'm not. It's the in n out boxers that concern me more.
"That's cute, anyway, climbing in without you knowing is more fun."
I laughed sitting down on my bed, "Asshole. Why are you here, huh?"
Mauricio comes to sit down next to me and says, "I can't visit my girlfriend?" He laid down on the bed and I snorted, laying down on him, "Fake girlfriend. Seriously, is everything okay?"
"You know me too well." His fingers skimmed my back and I didn't even try to send a snarky remark back.
"That's a first. What happened to my snarky Myers?"
I love the way he said, "my".
"I'm not feeling the best today. Easton canceled on me again and I'm getting tired of it. In the beginning, when we started dating it was whatever. But now that we're in a serious, official relationship it's as if it's the most important thing in the world."
I started to trace the tattoos on his right arm, taking them all in.
"You chose this, Mal. You knew the risks of being in a relationship with him."
A pain shoots all over my chest, but I know he's right.
This one is on me.
"Do you think I should break up with him?" I looked up at him and he looked at me with a whirlwind of emotions. Nothing I can pinpoint.
I sat up a bit, looking down at him, waiting for his answer. My hand is on his chest while the other holds me up, pressed down on the bed.
Mauricio sighed, putting his hand on my cheek. I leaned into it, loving the warmth of his hand.
"The relationship will go nowhere in the future, Myers. Especially not with Easton's dad still threatening him."
It was the truth.
The hurtful truth.
I laid back down on him and held back the tears. They filled my eyes, almost spilling out.
He wraps his arms around me tightly, kissing my head.
Even though I wanted to cry, he comforted me. Mauricio made me feel safe and comfortable no matter what.
I hope this never changes.
"I didn't see you after the game."
"...shit, I'm sorry. It slipped my mind, I'm—" I quickly caught my rambling and he stared down at me, "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to be with you now."
And with that, we fell asleep in each other's arms as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Author's Note:
3 more chapters until Part 2 ends!!