"hey what's up? where you been? i've been waiting by my phone. I don't know, what to think, i've been trying to figure you out. after hours, can't you tell, i've been working hard lately, tryin now to find a way to get to you."
"you're on my mind and i want you as mine but you, you waste my time so i'm always runnin. don't turn away, im not, not what they say, but you, not used to fate so you're always runnin."
"just friends don't do what we do..."
- Just Friends, Audrey Mika
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marcel.
the whole gang plus rosa spent the evening at marchellos that night and it went better then i would have thought. everyone was able to mesh so well. it's like rosalita completed the group we didn't know needed completing.
although i could sense something was up, or at least wrong. even with the fact that she was playing a whole different person, something rosalita related was going on, rather than "kim" related.
so when rosa excused herself for a minute, i waited to say i needed to go to the washroom, to lessen suspicion.
i quickly went the direction of the washrooms before discreetly changing course and hearing her just behind a corner before the woman's bathroom.
"Mom, why are you calling me right now? i'm out with them, this is risky no?" i hear her smooth low voice say.
shouldn't her mom not know she's out with me? maybe she's lying. telling her mom she's out with other people that's not actually us. why am i nervous. why am i suspicious? i don't want to be suspicious of rosalita,
i think.
"Uh, no, nothing to report so far, there's no meddling or anything like that. Wait I feel like meddling is the wrong word, there's another one i could use and it's on the tip of my tongue but i can't remember it, you know how i am with words. anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, no, he's good so far."
she's rambling. somewhere in there she's lying. whos he? me? maybe i'm too gullible. maybe someone should tell me what the actual fuck is going on.
what is she lying about and who is "he"??
i hear an end call sound and a deep breath before long legs turn a corner and i find her unnatural green eyes yelping at me.
"What the fuck ringer, warn a person."
"Who was that?" I ask coldly.
she narrows her eyes at me and answers slowly: "my mom."
"What were you talking about?" I inquire
her face gets defensive. "Respectfully, none of your business ringer, now please, mov-" she says, interrupted by my chest, which she bumps into, blocking her way back to my friends. or rather, my family.
"Who the fuck is "he?" i say a little stronger
her eyes trace my face, her wrinkled brows looking incredulously at me. almost looked like disbelief and anger. if anything, I should be shocked or angry.
"I'm sorry, i didn't know your ears were fucking broken, let me anunciante: it's. none. of. your. business." she says lowly
her upset face turns into a villainous smirk.
"Why? You jealous?" her head tilts and her tongue glides along her teeth and poked out on her cheek. fuck she looks hot right now. i just want to slam her into the wall and-
shit. this isn't how my mindset can go.
her brows raised at my absolute gawking while my mind floated everywhere but where i was.
"Oh my god, you ARE jealous."
i blurt the first think that comes out of my mind.
"I'm not fucking jealous, can you please stop trying to fucking one up me every five minutes and answer the fucking question."
her eyes roll, "Ok alpha-"
i move closer, her looking directly up at me and i feel her breath on my upper nose.
"No. No sarcasm. Rosalita I swear to god, no matter how tempting you are, in anyway, if you are a danger to maria, my mother or my friends, I will not hesitate to do anything to protect them. We're partners here, ok, this isn't what you think it is." i rasp.
her eyes look up into me as a small sliver of her cocoa eyes come out. her mouth separates slightly as she fashions an unreadable face i can't crack. even for me.
"Ok, I'm...sorry. May we go back to the table now?" she says will still an unintelligible expression. she just, apologized. my brows furrow even harder then they already were. my face, unlike rosa's, was extremely clear. confusion and uneasy.
i silently moved aside for rosa to find her place back at the booth and i was left absolutely dumbfounded at what the actual fuck just transpired.
"que pedo esto."
...
"You're not slick you know." a confident voice blurts.
"And you're not good at comfortable silence. We all can't be good at everything now can we hermana." i respond
"Hey, don't be all passive aggressive with me because you're stupid little rendezvous with Rosa didn't work out the way you wanted it to." maria scoffs.
my face hardens, the car feeling a little colder. this is not how i wanted our ride home to go.
"As I said, you're not slick, I saw everything dude. Todo. Why are you so tied up with this viper chick. Especially if she's the enemy, i mean i don't know about you but personally I wouldn't be all buttcheek to buttcheek to someone we don't even know and we can barely trust."
i look at maria almost incredibly at this sudden urge to share (unwanted) advice.
wait.
"Maria, are you high?"
"Extremely."
"Gotcha."
"But that doesn't make my question any less valid. She's the enemy. How do you know she's not double crossing you?" she expanded.
when i don't respond she continues "Look, I love her Marce but she's too close. Is this the way?"
my knuckles grasp the steering wheel a little harder as i feel annoyance come over me. usually i'm chill. im a chill guy. but rosalita makes it so extremely easy for me to lose all my fucking cool.
"Do you care about avenging papa at all?" i spit
"Is this still about avenging papa?"
shit.
shit,
shit,
shit,
shit,
shit.
she has a point. was this about my father anymore? yes, yes it was, no doubt about it, that's not what maria was right about. but what she implied. that this whole...situation, isn't just about my father anymore...
it might be something else, something else i don't want to come to fruition.
i felt lightheaded and way too tired to deal with the gargantuan liability that is high maria. Alex and her stupid edibles.
"Do you think rubber duckies and are elephants? Maria asked before laughing, her bangs breathing away from each other due to the now opened window beside her.
god she's in her "makes no sense" phase.
"Ok, I can't take you home, mama will have your head. and more importantly my head. Let's go see Oyera." i say signalling a turn as i sighed.
"NOOO, oyera doesn't like meeee." maria exclaimed.
"oh my fucking god, Maria, my patience is waning."
"Isaiah's mom would never let him see us again if i brought you there and Alex is off with Preeti."
"Ppppftreeettiuu." maria slurred
"Fuck, name another friend come on." I say driving in basically circles, my mind continuously throwing everything happening in my life.
she side eyes me and smirks.
no.
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no. there's is absolutely no way we are going that direction.
"What about...fuckin, Leo?" I sputter
maria's eyes aren't in focus but meant to be glaring at me.
"Broooo. Leo? From 1st grade-sed? i haven't talked to them since FIRST grads- i mean grade. but i do follow them on instagram, they go by beverly now." she slurs
i groan loudly in annoyance as I bump my head on the wheel making the horn sound.
"How dare you, beverly is gorgeous the way they are and they don't need your approv-" maria confidentiality slurs
"No Maria, i don't care about that, we need to go to someone's house or come up with something to get out of mom seeing you like this and come up with a stor-"
i gesture to her current position spiralled both in the front and back of my car.
i dont know man. don't ask.
i'm driving to, who knows where, when maria get suspiciously quiet and i look over to see her fully sitting in the passenger seat quiet almost laughing to her self, getting louder and louder until-
"Ok, maria, por favor, you NEED-"
"STEERING WHEEL ATTACK!"
...
rosalita.
i think the weirdest thing to ever happen to me wouldn't exactly be a fair question to ask anyone as that would imply what their lifestyle is like. me, a teenager "crime lord legacy" and fighter calls for...different experience, compared to...say uh, 63 year old bus driver in idaho.
my point is, that asking me "what's the weirdest thing to ever happen to you" is a valid question but within reason, but due to my lifestyle, can be..surprising.
one thing i would of never guessed saying would be:
"one time, at 11pm, a mission (an 18 year old underground illegal fist fighter) that involved playing a double agent, showed up at my back door of the facility he thinks im playing against, which i am but actually not really (besides the point) with their incredibly high sister who kept singing show tunes, crying for cereal or telling me "im prettyyyy" in a valley accent while said mission, aka the sisters brother aka the illegal fist fighter stood their covered in a sticky red substance holding said sister under his arm. did i also mention they were covered in mud? and that nevertheless i still found him extremely attractive?"
but hey, lifes full of surprises. right?
i stood there in a silk purple nightie and fluffy pink robe i wouldn't be caught dead in by anyone other then me, but when i saw ringers name on my phone, or his face in front of, or literally anything to do with him, i forget to think, so...
i'm barefoot, my hairs down in it's naturally curly long state behind my ears and all i can do is cross my arms and glare at this extremely menacing image.
i cock my head to the side slightly, and look in his beautiful black eyes, that look, so so tired, i almost wanna reach out, touch his face, but instead, i just step aside against the door and gesture my head towards the inside.
maria's constant giggling proved to be a challenge as we moved past the "mask of the building" aka my family's "law firm"
"Aren't there cameras?" Marcel uttered.
"I'll erase them later." i muttered back.
things felt so...awkward, which, duh of course they did. he threatened me and for the first time ever, i was scared. but not scared for my physical health or family or whatever. i was scared of losing...other things and hurting his family.
who the actual fuck am i? scared of losing?
to a guy?
"Yeah duh. She'll erase them later. She's not dumb." maria slurs on our way to the elevator.
i shudder at the thought of elevators.
we step inside and i turn to a standoffish marcel and a twirling-in-his-arms maria.
"I need you both to cover your eyes." i state
"Ok!" maria giggles and they put her fingers on her eyes so that she can see between them. i almost laugh while marcel looks annoyed.
"Why?"
"To get where we're going, i need to do something that's strictly viper knowledge."
he scoffs. "Seriously?" his attitude is pissing me off and turning me on at the same time.
"Yea, seriously, I might be helping you but i follow most rules." i cross my arms
he rolls his eyes, and i swear i can feel my hand urging to hit him anywhere i can.
note to self: print picture of marcel and put it on my punching bag.
"Ok if you're gonna be an ass I can gladly let you out. You're leaving a trail of red everywhere you walk anyway." i roll my eyes
"I'm not being an ass."
i scoff loudly on purpose.
"And i have a six inch dick. We can all tell lies." i retort.
"God! Why the fuck did I come here?" he says rubbing his hand over his face, still
holding up a very confused maria.
"I don't know, I was perfectly fine without you here." I reply
his eyes reach my face and his jaw twitches once they've landed on my eyes.
"Ok. So. I know they don't teach a lot of common sense in "knife spy school", but that's what we like to call, a rhetorical fucking question."
"GUYS." maria whined
at this point i realized we were moving.
maria was no longer twirling in the the arms of
marcel, who i realized was just purely facing me, his hands in mid air paused as he stopped talking. maria had found the secret stone containing the secondary elevator panel and pressed the highest number, aka the lowest level.
marcels expression changed from upset to ragingly annoyed.
"That was your stupid secret we had to turn around for?" he gestured while his eyes
found a new insult to lock and load at the back of his head. (he rolled his eyes, im just clever.)
"Would." i retort
"Huh?" his eyebrows furrow.
"Would. Not had. Would. As in, would have turned around for if you didn't argue with me and kept a handle of your sister." i sass not wanting to be too loud, i never know who's in this building.
his eyes are so incredibly tired. i don't know if this anger spawned only from me and me only. i'm not marcel, i can read and memorize every detail of everyone and know what it means. but what i do know is that he's barely here. and telling me. and rosalita doesn't back down from a fight.
"I hate you." he replies, sizing me up with his stupid chest and height. god forbid his 6'2 ass leave my alone. i'm 5'9 and he's one of the only
people to make me feel as small as he does. his face is really close to mine but i don't back down.
i'm not known for it.
"Then leave." I say stepping closer, my eyes could honestly touch his if he bent down and i leaned up...but i think that'd just be kissing him, which i have no opinion on whatsoever.
"Uh guys," a squeaky voice says causing me and marcel to maintain proximity but turn our heads to stare at this voice."
"The elevator has been open for like, years...or like 7 minutes, I have no sense of time. Anyone have a brownie?" maria says on all one breath.
the door is indeed open to the right floor. i turn my head back. "Stay behind me and watch your sister."
"Don't tell me what to do." he scoffs
God! when did he turn into such an asshole. this is giving marcel back when we first started this.
so i guess the asshole never left.
i leave first out and check to make sure noones around, it might be late but you're never 100% alone. i lead the siblings through the tunnel
like interior of the underground floor and pass into the room i'm looking for, room 204.
i unlock the room and turn on the light.
marcel and maria look around in valid confusion.
"Oh my good we're on the moon!" maria gasps looking around at the white stone and floor surrounding us.
"Are we in the right place? There's nothing in here.." marcel assesses.
i smirk. "Wow captain obvious, i guess the UBH doesn't have an extensive budget huh?" i exclaim before pressing my hand on a place on the wall triggering the seemingly white stone wall to spread into two and open up to a room of gadgets, computers and lounge space.
i hear a high pitch squeal-gasp.
i'm surprised to see it isn't marcel.
"The moon has wifi!" maria smiles before zooming into the hidden room.
i turn to marcel, my expression extremely easy to read.
"What in the actual fuck did you feed this girl?"
...
"Maria, drink the fucking water." i deadpan. like i have been for the last 37 minutes it's taken to get maria to drink this water with what used to be ice but is now just more water.
"No, it's yucky."
"Ria, it's water."
marcel grumbles behind me and i almost ponder whether jail time is worth it.
"here, let me." he says grabbing the cup.
"Hola hermana, porque no bebas água?"
"Porque, he dicho: ITS YUCKY." she spits
i groan in annoyance and frustration and step away for a second before i explode.
i have so many questions and not enough answers. why did i even let these two into my house? they could be planning something and both playing dumb and i'm in here letting my guard down for what?
a minute later marcel steps out of the mini room inside the secret room.
"She's in a "i wanna act like a baby" phase right now so i'm giving her space." he huffs sitting down on the couch.
i hate how lately, or really ever since i met marcel, i've been...feeling. everything.
and right now while marcel is covered in what im assuming is jelly mix and water, he's
just infuriating me more by being a simple reminder of...feelings.
"Never said you could sit there." i say passively
he looks at me with a tired face.
"Really pink bow, you're playing this game today?" he rolls his eyes.
rude.
"I'm sorry, i just didn't want jelly all over my couch."
"Well then why not just say that instead of being a-"
my eyes grow wide at what he insinuated, what he would have said and i feel my last nerve tick in my head.
"Oh I hope for my anger management you finish that sentence so i can show myself exactly what not to do when someone says shitty things." i exclaim.
"Oh right, because a pink robe and tight pjs are something to be afraid of." marcel snorts standing up.
"I'm sorry ringer are we forgetting who took you down when we first met?" i say closing the physical distance between us.
"and do we remember who was able to get out of it." he says in a low voice, similar to one he used in the bathroom which feels like moons ago.
he was red and sticky and i looked like a girl in a pillow commercial and yet i could sense....something.
his golden speckled eyes, the way he drank me down with his stare. i couldn't stand him. we were civil 20% of the time and i never wanted him to leave.
i couldn't tell you why my body closed the gap and why marcels sculpted body felt so right this close to me.
"How'd you know it was jelly?" he rasps
"they taught me it in knife school." i mock, looking up at him through my lashes.
my breathing gets faster and i feel my feet tingle. before i do something stupid i back up and sit back in my couch.
"What the fuck happened anyway." i change subject.
marcel ran his hands through his hair before grabbing towels i left on a chair for him and maria.
he wiped his pants and used a towel i'd provided and sighed.
"Maria fucking grappled onto me and the steering wheel and made me swerve all the way back to mexico, thankfully the road was empty. and her being maria, she had fucking koolaid packets in her bag and they exploded, along with her water bottle."
"Now i'm a fuckin jelly koolaid hybrid. Don't ask me how it got to a jelly substance, maria's bag is always a mystery." he finshes sitting down, clean may i add. he takes off his leather jacket and i have to physically restrain myself to keep my eyes straight and unaffected like he did just open up my insides with one movement.
he had a single barbed wire looking tattoo circle his bicep that's id never noticed before.
my legs were uncharacteristically fidgeting.
it was silent for a bit as we sat on the couch. i felt his eyes on me but i couldn't bring myself to look at him.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you at the restaurant, and elevator, i guess. I didn't mean to offend you." he murmurs.
my head slightly swivels to him before i can even think. "What type of apology is that?" i judge from one side of the couch.
"Hey, im not hearing anything from you, my bad for being civil." he retorts
"Passive aggressiveness isn't civil. And why would I apologize, I did nothing wrong." i reply
"Right the secrets and insults are just customary to Rosalita charm, i forgot." he mocks
the amount of frustration i have is starting to physically make me hot. marcels legs tapping and he's hunched over.
marcel stands and goes back to the room where maria is and i let out a breathe and groan.
what the actual fuck is going on. what am i doing.
__________________________________
- oyera e. love