❹
Marisol decided to stay with Cesar to keep him company as she walked him back to Ruby's house. They walked side by side, laughing and joking until their conversation died down and then silence took over. After a couple moments, Cesar spoke up, "I'm sorry that you and Travis broke up."
"Don't be, it was bound to happen."
"What do you mean?" Cesar asked, his eyebrow raising in confusion.
Marisol shrugged, not knowing how to explain how she felt, "I don't know, lately, it just became boring to be with him. You know when you know someone for a long time and your time together just slowly begins to run out?"
Cesar slowly nodded, understanding what she had meant.
Marisol continued, "And I knew when I told him about my dad becoming more strict, having him sneak in and out of the house, on top of a bunch of other things, it just got to a certain point. I could tell he wanted to break up for a while."
"So, you're not upset?"
Marisol sighed, trying to put together what she wanted to exactly say, "I was more upset that he made our argument about you being at house when we both knew it was more than that. It was about him being a Prophet and you being a Santo, and the 'rules' that come with it. You've never had a problem with him but he had one with you, because he always felt like he had to. It was stupid."
Cesar didn't say anything, just continued to walk.
When they reached the Martinez house, Cesar asked one more time if Marisol wanted to join. But, she just shook her head and nodded for him to go forward. Before he left, he gave Marisol another hug, thanking her for what she had said to Oscar. She gladly told him she would do it anytime.
The next morning, Marisol was woken up by her alarm clock. The girl groaned, feeling the painful headache she always recieved from smoking the nighf before. She rolled over, turning the annoying sound of and rose from her bed. Marisol quickly got dressed in her normal attire and said goodbye to Monse before leaving.
When Marisol got to the bodega, she shook her head at the mess she had found outside. It was Freeridge tradition to loot and trash the streets more than usual on New Year's Eve. Marisol didn't realize how annoying and disruptive it was, until she was the one who had to clean up the mess.
As she pulled out her keys, Paolo got out of his car, tiredly sipping his cup of coffee. The girl nodded him good morning before unlocking and opening the door for him, "Long night?"
He groaned, looking at the mess outside before stepping into the store and turning on the "Open" sign. "New Year's with the in-laws," he shook his head, grabbing the broom from behind the counter, "mother hates me, father hates me even more, has for more than twenty five years. Usted sabe cómo va."
As he began cleaning up the empty beer bottles and Modelo cans, he cursed up a storm like usual, "Malditos niños, siempre están haciendo un desastre!"
Marisol began counting the register, making sure the correct amount was left in it's place. She closed the drawer, leaning against the counter as Paolo finished cleaning.
He took one last look outside before coming in to empty the trash, "Where is your cousin? I swear, that girl is never on time."
"I'm here, I'm here," Athena roughly entered through the door, setting off the bells that hung above. Her hair was a mess and dark sunglasses loosely hung on her face as she made her way around the counter. She threw her bag down in it's normal spot, taking off her pink jacket.
"Are you hungover?" Paolo questioned, squinting his eyes at the girl.
"Aren't you?" Athena sassily replied, fixing her sunglasses up on her nose. Paolo waved her off, going down the aisle to bring more stock to the front. "Bitch," Athena started, letting her hair down from the messy bun she had put it in, "you should've went to that party last night. I have so much to tell you."
She ran a hand through her hair, beginning to style it quickly as she went on about everything that had taken place.
Paolo slammed a box on top of the counter, frightening the girls, "Finish your story after work."
"You," he pointed to Marisol, "you're on stock and you-" he pointed to Athena, "ya que decidiste llegar tarde, you can spend all day cleaning."
Athena scoffed, gesturing to her pink tracksuit, "Does this look like an outfit to clean it?"
Paolo scoffed back at her, mimicking her girly voice, "Does it look like I care?"
Marisol chuckled at Athena's shocked expression as she took the box off of the counter, bringing it down the aisle.
As soon as they opened, regular customers began flooding in, getting their groceries before everything good was sold out. As Marisol restocked the dairy products, the bells above the door signaled that another customer had walked in.
"Aye, Don!" Paolo shouted, greeting the customer.
"Que onda, jefe?" Oscar replied, making Marisol roll her eyes at the sound of his voice. She continued doing her job as the men went back and forth.
"Las cosas son buenas, no puedo quejarme. Gracias por la semana pasada, I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for you. Estaríamos de pie en la oscuridad si no fuera por ti," Paolo thanked.
"Ay, no problem at all, jefe," Oscar laughed, "sabes que siempre te daré lo que necesitas. Todo lo que tienes que hacer es llamarme."
"Thank you again, Oscar."
Marisol couldn't hold back a scoff as she could hear him make his way through the store. She continued to overhear his conversation as she began putting the carts of eggs away.
Marisol heard a voice, sounding like a lot like Ruby's complain, "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? I know I stepped out of line, but I really don't have time to be your valet."
Oscar came around, opening the last refrigerator in the row, grabbing a beer. He put it in a basket that Ruby had been holding for him. Oscar closed the refrigerator, looking up to see Marisol, who tried her hardest to pretend to be focused on her eggs.
"We need to grab a few huevos," he told Ruby, making her silently curse herself.
"Excuse me," he knocked on the glass of the refrigerator next to Marisol, giving her a snarky smirk when she looked up.
"Ah, look who it is," he gasped, sarcastically, causing the girl to roll her eyes at him.
"You know I work here, Oscar."
"Can we get a cart? This is getting heavy," Ruby groaned from behind Oscar, who ignored him as he continued to look at Marisol.
"¿Puedes pasarme esos?" He gestured to the eggs in her hand and she sighed, grabbing the colder ones out of the fridge over him. He gave her a smile as he took her from her, "You've seemed to warm up since last night."
"And you're seem to be just as annoying and obnoxious," Marisol chuckled, going back to what she was doing before.
"You need to let go of that, chica. Anything that happens between me and Cesar isn't your business."
"You're right," Marisol put as many carts as she could fit before slamming the fridge shut, "now, leave me alone."
Marisol made her way back up to the counter, breaking up the empty box before throwing it in the pile with the others. She began to ring up the customers on line, smiling and waving them goodbye as they left.
She caught sight of Athena, who was stuck washing the windows outside. Her cousin nodded her head to Oscar and Ruby, mouthing to Marisol, "What the fuck?"
Marisol shook her head, ignoring her as she continued to help the next customer. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Oscar and Ruby grab whatever they needed, wondering why they were even together after what happened.
Out of nowhere, Ruby shouted in the middle of the store, "Cuchillos can suck a dick!" Everyone turned around, staring oddly at the pair, before going back to what they were doing.
After a couple of minutes, Oscar took the basket from Ruby as they watched up to the counter. "Bag please," He flashed a smile to Marisol, making her feel sick.
She roughly bagged his items, ringing them up as she went along.
"You used to smile a lot more," Oscar nodded at her, looking at her lips.
Marisol laughed, "I do smile, just not for you."
"I heard about your little breakup."
Marisol slammed his bag on the counter, "Don't, seriously."
Oscar put his hands up, backing off, "Okay, okay, just saying if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here."
"Me too," Ruby spoke up, making Marisol lean over to counter just to be able to see him. She rubbed the hair on top of his head before her face fell when she glanced back at Oscar, "I'd rather not."
Oscar leaned against the counter, a smirk still planted on his face, "Oh, you'll change your mind."
Marisol let out a deep breath, wanting this conversation to end. She looked at the screen in front of her, "That's going to be 42.74."
this was kinda a long chapter tbh but for my readers who don't speak spanish the conversation betwwen paolo and oscar was paolo thanking oscar for his help with the bills for the store. yeaaa bitches oscar can be nice