Bruno was fourteen when his life changed forever.
he pulled tightly on his ruana.
His sisters were helping the Encanto and Gus had gotten injured so he was in line to be healed by Julieta.
Normally Bruno would go hide in Casita until one of them could be moral support.
But his Mama had told him he had to help the Encanto today.
People were glancing at him warily as if he would curse them if they talked to him.
he blinked rapidly, staring at the ground. Just wait until Gus or Julieta or Pepa were done...
"Actually Hugo I'm spending the day with..." He felt a hand grab his and he jerked up.
A girl with brown hair done in a ponytail, with golden skin, brown eyes and wearing a wine colored dress, was clinging to his arm. She meant his confused look with a pleading one.
"Uh...Si, si we are hanging out today."
The boy, Hugo, frowned before huffing away.
The girl let go of his arm when he was out of earshot, placing a hand over her heart.
"Gracias...." She said.
"...De Nada...but I don't think you wanted to do that..."
"Why?" She turned towards him, head tilted slightly, voice innocent.
"He'll probably tell people you're cursed, cause your hanging out with me."
The girl looked confused before laughing.
"I'd much rather he think I'm cursed than think i'm going to accept his offer to court me."
"What?!" Bruno exploded.
"I know!" She laughed, before her expression darkened. "Mama and Papa aren't going to be happy if they find out I turned Hugo down..."
Bruno felt something in him want to help this girl.
"You can...uh...spend the day with me...if you want to...."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah um...I was waiting for Gus to be healed...but I think he got distracted...so...."
"Bueno!" She clapped. "I'm Maria Montez by the way."
"Bruno..."
"Bruno Madrigal. Everyone knows you." She smiled, so he would do his best not to take that in the wrong way.
"What do you want to do?" he asked instead, rubbing the back of his neck.
Maria put a finger on her chin as she paused. "I can take you to my favorite spot..."
"R...Really?"
"Mmhm, come on!"
They pass Felix, who's babysitting and gets a knowing expression on his face.
Bruno wasn't going to read anything into it.
He's not sure where he expects to be lead but his favorite spot in the Encanto was not it.
"This is my favorite spot!" He said out loud.
The spot in question being a very old tree that was crooked and twisted from weather conditions. He had beneath it's branches many times, trying to work through the unfairness of life when his Mama didn't want him at Casita.
"How come I've never seen you..." He asked but he gets his answer when he sees Maria starting to climb.
"Come on!" She called.
"Oh no, no i'm pretty good on the ground, thank you." He said.
Maria poked her head down from the branches, her ponytail falling in her face. "Por favor?" She begged with a slight pout.
"Uh...okay but I'm not sure how good I'll be at tree clim..." She's pulled him up before he can finish.
"It's nice up here..." He said once their situated on the branches. The leaves provide a shelter for them, no one can see an inch of them and they can't see an inch of anyone else.
"Si...I like it up here because Mama and Papa can't tell that I'm doing something "improper." Maria joked.
Bruno was a very observant teenager.
Maybe it was his gift, maybe it was because he was on the look out for people suddenly deciding to hate him, but whatever the reason, he noticed that Maria seemed to feel the same way about her parents viewing her as "improper" as he did about his mama viewing him as "a curse."
His face warmed when he realized he didn't know how to tell her that he understood.
Instead they sat in silence for a few more minutes until Maria started laughing.
"What?" he asked.
"Lo siento, I was just thinking...this is like a scene out of a telenovela or something..."
"You like those too?" Bruno gasped.
"Si..."
Bruno's chest overflowed with warmth and he opened his mouth.
Thunder cracked and he heard "Bruno!!!"
Bruno blushed. "That's um, that's Pepa...I guess I should head home..."
"Si. I probably should too." Maria said. "Gracias for the escape Bruno."
"Gracias for hanging out with me. I only have one friend that's not my hermanas." Bruno said.
Maria helped him out of the tree. "Two."
"Que?"
"You have two friends that aren't your hermanas. Gus, and me."
Bruno had to look away to hide his blush. When he looked back, Maria was gone.
"There you are Brunito, I hadn't seen you all day and was worried something happened with the villagers..."
"Lo siento Pepita..." he said, as she grabbed him a tight hug. Rain soaked his hair but he didn't care.
"I just was talking with..."
"Talking with someone? Who? Agustin was helping Senor Rojas today and Julieta had her stand and I didn't see you..."
"Maria Montez." he cut his sister's excited rant off.
"Hm...the name sounds familiar..." Pepa said, before she squealed and hugged him again, a rainbow appearing. "Mi hermanito bebe has a friend!"
"I am only three minutes younger than you..."
He laughed on his way back to Casita.
He wasn't laughing when Pepa pulled Julieta closer to her and whispered conspiratorially.
"Hola Brunito..." Mama said, diverting his attention. "Did you help the Encanto today?"
He thought back to Maria needing an excuse to not spend the day with Hugo and him providing that.
"Si." It wasn't a lie. Just because he didn't use his gift didn't mean he didn't help Maria.
She seemed to really appreciate it.
"Bueno." She smiled at him and he smiled back.
A good day.
As he got the table ready for dinner, Maria entered his mind again.
He wondered if she meant it.
If the two of them were really now friends.
And if that was the case, why he was feeling so warm?
He didn't feel warm when he thought about how Agustin was his friend, he just felt shocked every time he thought about it.
When he thought about Maria possibly being his friend...he felt shocked and warm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hola Mija." Ana Montez called as Maria took a deep breath, entering the house.
"Hola Mama..." She hesitated.
"How did things go with Hugo?" Her papa asked as he entered from checking on the animals.
"...Hugo will not be my betrothed..."
"Maria!" Ana hissed.
Maria shrugged. "It just didn't work." She said dismissively.
"But Hugo is one of the finest young men in the village!" Manolo Montez harped.
Maria sighed. "But I don't love him."
Ana and Manolo shared a look.
"Isn't that important..." Maria pressed. "Don't you want me with someone that I love?"
"I want you to be with someone that can take this wildfire and tame it." Manolo said.
Maria fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"Look at you, your dress is torn, her hair is a mess...you were tree climbing again weren't you?!" Ana said as she plucked a leaf from her hair.
Maria blushed a bit but nodded.
"You need to be with someone that can tame you. That's a good match for you." Ana tried to speak gently.
"And love always follows a good match." Manolo said, kissing his wife briefly before turning back to his daughter.
Disappointment was written all over both of their faces.
Maria squirmed a bit.
"Go get changed mija...your mami and I need to talk." Manolo said.
"Si Papi..."
Maria had been expecting that, she headed to her room to find a new outfit that wasn't torn.
As she was shaking the leaves out of her hair, she smiled slightly.
Normally she would have had to put up with Hugo for a day then realize that he was just as bad as she thought he was.
But normally she didn't see him flirting with other girls while waiting for her.
That had left a bad taste in her mouth and when she had asked if she could go get a drink, he had followed her.
He didn't let her have any sort of freedom.
And she only was stuck with talking with him for five minutes.
She felt a bit bad that she had thrown Bruno into it, but he had gone along with it.
And she had had fun.
So even if Hugo was the worst person she would ever be matched up with, at least one good thing came out of the deal.
A friend.
Why did that make her face feel all warm?