Ten minutes later, I'm tiptoeing across the hall with my shoes in my hand. I slip into the guest room, also known as Diego's old room, and crack open the window just like he instructed. I look at the tree about three feet away and cringe slightly. If I miss this jump...
"Hey!" Diego whisper-yells from the grass below. I look down at him and he nods. "You got it," he encourages me. "Drop your shoes."
My shoes make a quiet thud as they hit the ground, or him, I'm not sure which. I lean out the window and clumsily drape my arms around the tree. My body smacks against it as I pull myself out of the house. I wince as my stomach jolts from the impact. Even Diego cringes for me. I try to scoot down the tree but end up sliding uncomfortably and slowly until my feet hit the ground.
"I'd throw singles at you if I had any," he whispers as he lightly brushes my hip for guidance. In the dimly lit yard, I shoot him a glare and he grins at me. We jog out of the grass and my heart is going a mile a minute. We hit the sidewalk and slow down until we reach the corner. I see the familiar truck parked and I look to Diego.
"Isn't your dad home?" I ask.
"No he comes back tomorrow morning," he explains. "This is my last night with her." He pats the cars hood as he opens the door for me. I climb in and wait for him to join me. When he does, his eyes scan my face. I stare back and wait for a reaction but he only sighs and starts the car.
"What?" I ask and he shakes his head dismissively.
"Are you hungry...friend?" he asks me.
"No," I answer as I touch my stomach lightly. The only thing I can feel are butterflies so for all I know, I can be starving. "Are you?"
"No, I just had to make sure you ate," he replies. When I look at him and smile, he turns and pulls out of his spot. "Like a good friend should, you know?"
"Are you seriously going to do this all night?" I ask him as the smile drops from my face. It's replaced with narrowed eyes and a frown.
"Do what?" he plays clueless.
"Friend this, friend that," I retort.
"You don't like it?" he asks and I shake my head. "How's 'Buddy?' 'Pal?' 'Amiga?'"
Instead of replying, I turn on the radio. A Spanish song starts playing and I look at Diego, who glances at me out of the corner of his eye in slight embarrassment. "You were listening to this?"
"Yeah," he replies. "You can change it though. Just turn the dial."
"Do you know this song?" I ask him.
"Yeah," he trails and I smile at him.
"Would it be weird for me to ask you to sing it?" I reply and he looks at me.
"I'm not a good singer," he explains.
"I didn't ask that," I say. "So can you?"
I turn the music up a bit more and he quietly joins in. I have no idea what he's saying but it sounds beautiful and it makes me even more attracted to him, if that's even possible. We sit like that for a while, with him either singing or humming along to the songs playing and me watching him adoringly.
"We're here," he says as the sound of gravel beneath the tires alerts me that we are no longer on the main road. I get out of the car before he can open the door for me and wait for him to come around to my side. I hear the trunk opening and he appears with a basket.
"A picnic?" I ask and he nods with a large grin on his face.
"Can you use your flashlight to guide us?" he asks as he nearly trips over a rock.
"You do realize it's nearly midnight, right?" I respond as I allow the blinding light to shine in front of us.
"Yeah, so?" he retorts. I look around and find that we're at a field. I squint and see soccer goals in the distance. I furrow my eyebrows and look to Diego, who is shifting the basket to his other hand. "Let's go."
I follow him, feeling the grass brush against my ankles. I shouldn't have worn my white vans but there's no going back now. His hand lightly brushes mine and I take initiative and grasp it. I intertwine our fingers and glance at him to find him grinning. He looks at me and chuckles. "Nice...buddy."
I go to tear my hand away but he tightens his grip and it's my turn to smirk. We walk until there's a clearing where the grass isn't overgrown and up to our mid-calf. I shine my light on the spot he points to and watch as he opens the basket. Diego pulls a blanket out and lays it onto the flattened grass. My eyebrows shoot up and he looks at me. "Again, I'm not trying to make a move on you."
"Last time you said that..." I trail quietly as I blush in embarrassment.
"I ended up on top of you with my tongue in your mouth?" he blurts, catching me off guard. If possible, my face reddens more. "I remember."
"Me too," I mumble, sitting down on the stereotypical checkered blanket. I place my phone so the flashlight is facing up and he does the same with his. We're surrounded by light and he drags the basket so that it's between us.
"I know you said you're not hungry but..." he trails as he pulls out a tray of assorted chocolates. He reaches in again and retrieves two soda bottles. Hurriedly, he places the basket back in the corner of the blanket and smiles at me.
"You're a hopeless romantic," I mutter as I fight off a grin.
"Who said this is an act of romance?" he retorts. "I'll take my things and go."
"No," I say as I place my hand on the chocolate box.
"You only care about the chocolate," he notices.
"No..." I trail and I reach out and touch his hand. "I care about you, too."
"Sure," he mumbles with a playful glare and a small smile. "You should lay down."
"What?" I say, a little surprised. I thought we'd flow into the whole making out thing, if that's what's happening.
"To look at the stars," he adds as he fights off a blush himself.
"Awe, you're blushing," I note.
"Seriously? You call out my blushing. You're bright red 99% of the time but I never say a thing," he responds.
"No, I'm not!" I hiss. "Only when I'm around you." I ignore his cocky response as I crane my neck to look at the sky. My eyes train themselves onto the stars appearing one by one. "They're beautiful," I mumble quietly and he laughs.
"Just like me," he whispers back. I scoff loudly as I turn my gaze on him. "You don't think so?"
I tilt my head to examine him as he stargazes. I know he's only joking but I don't want to give him a joking answer. "Yeah, I do," I confess and he turns to look at me.
"Huh?" he replies.
"You are kind of beautiful," I explain.
"Oh, really?" he says.
"Do you want to know something funny?" I start and he nods his head excitedly. "Remember when you were moving in and I walked upstairs with my dad? You were standing there with with Diablo and he tried to attack me but you restrained him."
"He wasn't trying to attack you, but yes," he answers with a laugh.
"I was secretly excited that a good looking boy was going to be across the hall from me. I didn't expect you to actually talk to me, never mind befriend me," I explain. "Like, I saw you and was like 'wow he's so...wow.'"
"That's funny," he starts, "because I saw you and recognized you from school. I've always thought you were pretty-"
"Stop lying," I say with a laugh.
"What?" he gasps as his eyes widen. "I've always found you to be attractive, even when we were younger and you barely had teeth."
I roll my eyes and wave my hand. "Get back to your story."
"No, I'm serious," he diverges. "I always have. I'm not lying. You were my first crush, now that I think about it. But I wasn't a creep who let my feelings manifest in the dark."
"Okay," I whisper. I really hope he's telling the truth because if he is, it's going to make me very happy. His eyes lock with mine and he takes a second to assess my features. I grin and nod at him, waiting for him to finish.
"Okay, so back to the story..." he continues. "I knew our dads were close and figured you'd heard a lot about me- a lot of the bad things I'd done. I didn't think you'd want to be friends with someone like me, especially not after I saw you basically live in your room with all of your homework. And at first when my dad told me I had to live with you guys, I was angry because I wanted to stay at home but then I got there and you came in. I figured that maybe if you got to know me, you'd give me a chance at friendship or acquaintanceship or anything, really."
"Oh..." I say almost inaudibly. I didn't know he thought this much.
"I thought I blew my chances when you caught me sneaking in that night. I thought you were going to tell your dad...but you didn't. And I guess I was smitten," he explains with a grin as he stares at the stars. He locks eyes with me as he finishes and I feel myself blushing.
"I hate you," I mumble.
"I know you don't but I'm not going to pressure you about it," he says jokingly.
"What do you think our dads will do if they find out?" I say.
"About how we're out here at one in the morning or about how you like me?" he prompts.
"How you like me," I correct.
"So you're saying you don't like me?" he questions and I stare at him. "You're just using me?"
"No," I answer.
"So you do like me?" he asks.
"Yes," I reply after a few seconds.
"I knew already. I just wanted to hear you say it." He grins widely before exhaling. "They'd definitely blame me and I'd let them. Your dad would be disappointed in you, though. I don't think I'm that bad but they'd think I corrupted you."
"You're not bad...or at least that bad," I say with a smile.
"Do you think I'm a bad influence?" he asks as his eyes flit between both of mine.
"I think you're an influence on me, not particularly a bad one though," I start. "Like you taught me how to think for myself. I guess I'm an influence on you, too. I taught you how to take school more seriously."
"Yeah, it balances itself out," he replies.
"Yeah, balance," I reiterate, "the perfect balance."
As he rolls his eyes, he opens the chocolates tray and holds it out for me. I take one...two...three pieces and hold them in my hands. "These are my favorite kinds," I confess. "At least I think they are. I can't really read the box in the dark but they look like them."
He shoves a piece into his mouth and shrugs. "Chocolate is chocolate to me."
We sit like that for a while, stuffing our face with chocolate. I eventually move closer to him so our knees are less than a foot apart. We remain silent, shoveling chocolate into our mouths in the dimly lit morning. He's the first to break the silence about ten minutes later when we finish the chocolates and are staring up at the sky admiringly. "I know we're supposed to be just friends and all but I really want to kiss you right now," he confesses and I turn to find him staring at me. "Can I?"
"Yes," I say a bit too eagerly as I shove the chocolates from between us. I scoot forward as I sit on my calves, waiting for him to make a move. He leans forward and presses his lips to mine in a quick way, one that I'm not used to. In actuality, I'm not used to any kinds of kisses but the only kiss we shared was a long, particularly open mouthed one. He returns back to his place and looks at me, surprised at the confused look on my face. Before he can profusely apologize or something, I open my mouth. "What was that?"
"A kiss?" he replies, unsure of what I was asking.
"That was not a kiss," I retort. "That was a peck."
"Was that not what you wanted?" he asks.
"I thought you meant a kiss like before," I admit. "Unless you don't want that."
"I do," he says eagerly. "I just didn't want to do that if that wasn't what you wanted."
"So you do want to kiss like that again?" I ask.
"Yeah," he replies. I move forward and hesitate before propping myself onto his lap. His hands are on my hips and he looks at me in surprise.
"Is this okay?" I ask, unsure if me straddling his lap like this is going a bit too far.
"No, this is fine," he responds as he stares up at me. I lean down and press my lips to his urgently. It was only yesterday that we kissed like this but it feels like forever ago. For some reason, I can't get enough. I continue to kiss him, letting him take the lead when he starts shifting beneath me.
We break apart for a second, both of us breathing heavily. "Is it okay if we lay down now?" he inquires and I nod, just wanting more of his mouth on mine.
"But no hickeys," I tell him.
He grins as he hovers above me. "I don't mind them," he admits and I grin in response, reaching up and pulling him back to my mouth.
Not too long later we're interrupted by my phone ringing. I immediately sit up and pat around on the ground for it. Somehow, it flipped over and the flashlight is no longer shining up into the sky like we had it before. Diego uses his flashlight to help me search. When I grab it, I look at the screen to see five messages and a missed call from Nate. I immediately unlock my phone and look at the messages.
Where are you?
Orion?
Ri?
Where are you??
If you don't answer me now, I'm going to tell dad.
I fumble with my phone as I hurriedly call him back. Breathlessly, I assure him that I'm okay. "Hey, Nate. I'm fine. What happened?" I respond.
"Where the hell are you?" he asks. "I went into your room to ask if you wanted to buy us pizza but you weren't there, so I went into the guest room and you weren't there either."
"I'm on a walk," I lie fluidly. I look to Diego who is sitting cross-legged with a concerned look on his face.
"At two in the morning?" Nate retorts in disbelief.
"Yeah, I'm on my way home now," I say as I motion to Diego. He gets up and begins gathering the contents of our picnic.
"Who are you with?" he asks. "Are you with Diego?"
"What? No," I reply.
"You're lying to me, right?" my brother asks.
"No, I'm on my way home now. Don't wake up dad," I plead.
"I won't..." he trails and there's some shuffling on his end of the phone, "if you buy us pizza." A few seconds later, he makes another demand. "And wings."
"Okay, whatever," I reply.
"Order it now though so it gets here sooner," my brother insists, "from the 24 hour place near the mall."
"Okay, Nate," I retort as Diego and I fight our way through the grass towards the car. I hang up and look at Diego, who is using his phone to guide us.
"Everything okay?" Diego asks.
"Yeah, he just wanted me to buy them pizza but I wasn't home; so he was going to snitch to my dad," I mumble in exasperation.
"Typical brothers," he mumbles.
"You wouldn't know. You're an only child," I retort.
"True that," he grins. "I wish I had siblings, though. A sister would be amazing," he confesses.
"Older or younger?" I ask.
"If she was younger, I'd have to protect her from boys. If she was older, I'd-," he starts but I cut him off.
"Still have to protect her from boys," we both finish. He looks at me and laughs.
"Yeah, well, I don't know. Maybe older; she'd be a lot of help with girls," he responds with a laugh. "Because I'm completely lost."
"You have Sage," I tell him. I was going to say, 'you have me' but that'd be sibling-zoning him. That hurts, I would know.
"Her experiences with girls are different; she's a girl so she deals with girls who like girls," Diego responds and I stop for a second with wide eyes.
"Sage likes girls?" I ask in shock.
"She likes guys, too," he says casually before looking at me. "Oh shit, did she not tell you?"
"No..." I trail.
"Don't tell her I told you," he replies. "She's not really out yet. Kind of, but not everyone knows. The guys know but her family doesn't. She's still figuring things out and doesn't want to tell her parents unless she has a label to give them; you know...old people and their confusion with sexuality."
"This is great," I laugh as I watch him open the trunk.
"What?" he asks as he looks at me to see the awkward look on my face. "You're not homophobic, right?"
"No, no, no," I say as I shake my head. "It's just...my parents think I'm dating Sage."
He opens and closes his mouth a few times before going with a laugh. I laugh, too. He opens the car door for me, waits for me to climb in, and poses a question. "Are you?" he asks.
"Am I what?" I reply.
"Dating Sage," he clarifies and I roll my eyes at him.
"Hurry up and take me home," I tell him and he grins at me.
"I wish I could take you home," he says and my mouth gapes a bit as he closes the door in a fit of laughter.
I order the pizza and wings on the drive back to my house, rolling my eyes at the texted order I receive from Nate. They added more to the list they originally gave me but I don't complain; the information they have about me could get me in heaps of trouble. I'll comply; besides I'm hungry, too.
"You can drop me off at the corner," I tell Diego.
"No," he replies with a snort.
"Why not?" I ask and he looks at me.
"Because I want to watch to make sure you get in safe," he replies and I repress the urge to smile as he turns onto my street. I furrow my eyebrows as I see my two younger brothers sitting on the porch. They eye the SUV curiously as it slows to a stop in front of my house. "Looks like you're caught."
They approach the car as I open the door and Diego rolls down the window like an idiot. I could've gotten out the car and let him speed off and they wouldn't have known a thing. "Hey," Nate says smugly as he looks from me to Diego. "Do you want to come inside for pizza?"
Diego looks to me for an answer but I just stare at him. He smiles before looking at my brothers and nodding. "Sure," he replies. My brothers cheer quietly before walking back to the sidewalk. I close the door as Diego parks the car. "Are you okay with me staying? I can go."
"No, it's fine," I reply. "But if my mom or dad wake up and asks why you're here-," I start and he looks at me.
"I taught you how to lie; I know what I'm doing," he says with a sassy tone to his voice. We get out of the car and he joins me on the sidewalk.
"Okay, you've got it covered," I reply with a roll of my eyes.
We step into the house and sit on the couch, where my siblings are already seated. My brothers eye us suspiciously, noting the foot gap I purposefully put between us. "So what'd you guys do?" Benji nosily asks.
"We minded our business," I reply. "You should try it."
"Did you guys go to some wild party?" Benji asks.
"No," I retort.
"So you guys were alone?" he continues to pry.
"No," I reply.
"Are you guys dating?" he proceeds.
"No," I tell him.
"Do you guys-?" he starts again but I cut him off.
"Mind your business, Benji, seriously," I snap so he glares at me.
"You know, the more you evade my questions, the more suspicious it makes me," he informs me.
"The more questions you ask, the more pizza I'm eating," I respond and he scowls before turning and glaring at the television. Diego looks at me with a smirk as if entertained by the little argument. I turn my voice to a whisper. "He's so nosy."
My phone starts ringing and Nate hops up excitedly, reaching his hand out for the money. I answer and tell the driver that we'll be out in a second before hurrying up the stairs to my room. I retrieve my wallet and dig around while haphazardly rushing back to the living room. When I reach the bottom, Nate's already coming inside with the pizza and a large grin on his face. I furrow my eyebrows and slow my pace. "Did you just take it from him?" I ask Nate. Please tell me he didn't just rob the pizza guy.
"Diego paid," he says with a slice of pizza shoved in his mouth. I look for Diego but he's nowhere near the food. "Kitchen."
I turn and head towards the kitchen to find him looking through the cabinets for paper plates. I grab them from the cabinet behind him and he watches me in defeat. "I was almost at that drawer."
"Here," I say as I hand him the paper plates with the two twenties on top. He gleefully accepts the plates but hands the twenties back to me. "I won't be needing those," he responds.
"I was supposed to pay for the food," I tell him. "It was my bribe."
"You wouldn't have had to bribe them had I not dragged you out of the house," he explains.
"You didn't drag me out of the house. I was more than willing, remember?" I respond and he shrugs.
"Yeah, but it was my idea," he responds.
"Just take my money," I tell him.
"No, it's okay. I don't want it," he insists.
"You know what this means..." I trail and he looks at me with raised eyebrows.
"What?" he asks excitedly.
"I'm going to have to buy you food," I respond.
"That sounds like a plan," he tells me with a smirk.
"That sounds like a date," someone says from behind him and I jump. Benji appears with two slices of pizza in his hands.
"Dude, seriously, mind your business," I tell him as I give him a plate from the pile in Diego's hand. He places the pizza slices on them.
"I wouldn't have to be in here if you guys weren't monopolizing the plates," he mutters as he takes his food and exits the kitchen. Diego looks at me as he's leaving and I roll my eyes again.
"So is it a date?" he asks in a whisper with a smirk on his lips and I giggle as I push past him.
We all sit in the living room and eat. Not too far into our meal does the sound of footsteps sound from the stairs. We all crane our necks to see my dad enter the living room. He furrows his eyebrows when he sees Diego. "What are you doing here?" he asks curiously as he takes a slice of pizza from the box.
"My house was boring," Diego confesses. "I hope you don't mind. I wanted to hang out with people."
"No it's no problem at all," he says. "You should sleep here. I don't want you driving home this late."
"Sure," Diego confirms.
"Goodnight guys," my dad mumbles only to return a few seconds later for another slice of pizza.
When he disappears back upstairs, Diego leans towards me with a smirk. "See? I told you I got it covered."