Santana walked in the store with India cowering behind him shyly, not wasting any time as he walked to the back.
"It's closed but someone mi-"
"Ion care." He cut her off and continued walking despite the lights being on in the back. It didn't matter who was here, she said she needed her paycheck so she was gonna tighten up and get it.
"Hello?" Gary weakly asked from the back, coming around the corner to see who was there.
"Hey." He answered back, looking through the drawers for the keys to the cash register.
"Who are y-"
"Don't worry bout that." Santana said with a mug, finding the key on a hook beneath the counter.
He opened it and calmly grabbed everything in it, counting out $600 before turning to look at Gary. The first thing he noticed was how short the man was.
"What are you doing? India? Leave before I call the poli-"
"You wildin, what you got back here though?" He grabbed India and pulled her close to him not wanting Gary to try anything.
India's face grew hot but she ignored it and clung tighter to his side, feeling safe but also scared with how nonchalant he was about it all. His face remained the same with the unamused blank expression.
His name was Santana, he'd just turned 19, and he smelled like cinnamon.
That's what she knew so far.
"I'm not joking around with you, I will call the police! She stabbed me earlier and I had to get stitches! Did she tell you that?" Gary continued with his empty threats but they both knew he wasn't going to call the police.
He'd recognized the boy as soon as his eyes landed on him, that was something he didn't want to get himself involved with.
"I don't care." Santana said honestly, continuing the casually flip through his stuff until he found something.
"Look, whatever you want.. you can have it. Just leave and I will work with you I promise I-"
"I know I can. Where's her check?"
"Here, here! Just go!" He urged pulling it out of his desk drawer and sliding it in his hand.
"Thank you. Dee the security cameras work in here?" India looked up at him and shook her head before the same frown came on his face.
"I mean no. There are no security cameras on this whole street." She said softly, pushing her hair behind her ear.
When she thought they were about to leave she turned around to walk out but heard a single ring noise. When she attempted to turn around he grabbed her arm and walked out calmly, keeping her body facing the door.
He hated weirdos.
"What was that?"
"I pinched him." Santana said quietly making himself laugh at little.
India looked up quickly to see if he was cheesing and saw the teeniest grin, making her lips turn upwards too. After 11 years of seeing him around she finally saw a smile on his face and she didn't know what it was that had him so amused.
"Here." He handed her the money and her check when they got in the car then went in his console.
"Thanks. This should hold the fort down until I find another job." She smiled in relief, tucking it in her bag and getting out her phone to call her mom.
It was dead.
"Can I use your phone to call my ma?"
"Don't care." Santana tossed it in her lap and she would've rolled her eyes at his attitude but her day had flipped on such a positive note nothing could ruin her mood.
India called and it immediately went to voicemail so she called again hearing it answer immediately this time.
"Ma?"
"Camila?"
"Ma sto- nevermind. I'm on my way home so unlock the d-"
"No need for me to do that, Janie called and said you quit." She said snappily making India's heart drop.
"Ma it's fine I have enough to manage until I get another job."
"No mija I ask you one thing and you can't do that so stay with that Del girl until you get in your right mind!" Her mom hung up giving her no time to respond.
"Del is with Ray in Harlem." He said lowly noticing the tears brewing in her eyes.
India sucked in a breath and threw her head against the seat, tucking her bottom lip in between her teeth so she wouldn't let out the crying climbing up her throat.
"Thank you for your help today." She said shakily, going to open to door.
"It's 11 pm, unless you wanna get flipped and trafficked you'd stay in the car and stop acting off emotion." Santana suggested, pulling out a lighter as he spoke.
When she didn't say anything and just stared out of the window blankly he felt the smallest slither of sympathy and did the only thing he knew how to do when people were sad, pass the blunt.
"I'm not a smoker." She shook her head and he tapped her again.
"You don't have to be a smoker to smoke. Here." He shrugged and handed it to her seeing her actually take it this time.
"Thanks I guess." India pulled from it and held it in for a few seconds, forgetting how to breathe before exhaling, hoping the heavy sad feeling weighing her down would disappear.
"You know it's okay to live for yourself right?" Santana pulled off of the street and let a cloud of smoke escape from his mouth.
"What do you mean? I do."
"You go to school, work, then Dels. You don't go no where, you don't do shit fun, and you don't even speak for yourself. It don't get boring?"
"I don't see you doing anything fun either. Fix your problem first." She felt her high kick in and yawned, slouching into the seat.
"I do have fun. Making money is fun, being high is more fun than being sober, fucking is fun. I have a lot of fun." He grabbed his water bottle and drank out of it as he pulled into a McDonalds drive through.
"I have fun too then, sounds almost the same." She squinted her eyes and shrunk in her seat.
"You a whole virgin, sOuNdS aLmOsT tHe SaMe."
"Who said that?" India raised an eyebrow and looked at him sideways.
"You can't even handle a conversation with anyone of the opposite sex besides Ray."
"You don't have to talk to have sex." She shrugged feeling more relaxed than she did earlier. If she was sober she wouldn't be having this conversation.
"I know that if nobody else does. But you're definitely a virgin, the purity ring on your finger isn't helping your case." He held up her ring finger with the small silver band shining.
"Hello sir what can I ge-"
"50 chicken nuggets, sweet and sour, Buffalo, barbecue, and 2 bottles of water." Santana interrupted.
"You're rude." India rolled her eyes and he shrugged.
"Like girl it's almost one in the morning who the fuck got time to be yip yappin in the drive through." He said before pulling up to the other window.
She rolled her eyes and looked over a him as his head hung over the window sluggishly.
"What's your real name?"
"Mindingmybusiness Jones."
-
"Then you put your other hand up.. and boom. A star appears." She laughed loudly as her hair crowded the chair beneath her while she looked at stars on his balcony.
"You're a dumbass." He muttered, trying to pull her back inside.
"Stop, look." She pushed him away and pointed down at all of the cars driving by quickly. From where she sat she could see the city in all of its glory.. but when she zoomed in there was nothing pretty about it.
"Get out your feelins Dee you gon be straight." Santana was trying not to laugh at her but she was drunk and high as hell per request and couldn't handle it at all.
"I hate this place. There's nothing for me here.." she turned to look at him, randomly crying to a person she'd barely established a friendship with.
Santana listened but stepped closer when she stood up and walked to the edge, leaning over it.
"I wish I could be like you." She said quietly, going numb as memories of her day flashed through her head.
It wasn't this day in particular. India had days like this before but she never did anything in response. She'd never retaliated and when she did she was pushed back down leaving her in an even worse position.
"You always look so unphased. Do you feel a certain way about anything?"
"No, stopped that forever ago. You just gotta tighten up." He picked her up and walked inside as she drunkenly mumbled against his back.
"I don't know you that well but I wanna be like you really badly. Do I have to go to jail too?" She asked seriously, picking her head up.
"Dee stop saying dumb shit, you're fine the way you are." He dropped her on the bed in his guest room, turning away when the large shirt on her lifted for a split second.
"You called me Dee.. does that mean we're friends now?" India pulled him down when he began walking away wanting to finish the conversation.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm not a good person, you wanna be friends with good people like you." Santana muttered turning off the lamp on the nightstand before getting up.
"I'm tired of being a good person." She shook her head and scooted further under the covers, recognizing the subtle cinnamon smell on the sheets from when she stood under him earlier.
India meant everything she said. Being stepped on was annoying and frustrating but she was so used to it that she didn't realize how terrible it really was.
After watching him and how he interacted with others she grew jealous of how put together he was, never falling victim to mean words or anything at all really. Ray playfully insulted him all day but you couldn't tell if he was mad, uncaring, or amused by it.
She wanted to feel that untouchable instead of constantly swallowing her pride after being shamed and embarrassed.
After a few moments of staring at the door she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, getting chills before melting into the bed.
India slept as long as she could forgetting she wasn't at home with her mom. It was so quiet and cozy. She stretched and stood up as her legs fumbled because she slept that good.
"Santana?" She yawned and looked around seeing her underclothes from the night before washed and dried on the dresser. Was that embarrassing? A little but not really.
"Del called and said your moms is lookin for you, Imma drop you home."
"She is?" She sat up and looked around the door for him.
"Get in the shower, it's a tooth brush on the sink Ian ever use it." He walked by but didn't walk in and continued to his room.
India peaked her head out of the door to say thank you but he was gone.
-
"I meant what I said last night." She announced as he drove.
"I know."
"I'm sorry for bothering you by the way, I didn't know all of that would happen." India said apologetically, looking down at her hands in embarrassment. Her mom had never put her out before.
He ignored her and continued driving, throwing a fry in his mouth.
India said she admired how nonchalant he was but it was also annoying. It's like he didn't care about anything anyone had to say and just did what he wanted anyways. Sometimes she wondered if he was as confident and careless as he appeared to be then the thought melted away because he definitely was.
His phone began to ring and he sighed, not feeling like answering.
"Who is it?"
"Unsaved."
"Answer it."
India picked up the phone and held it out for him but he looked at her sideways and shoved it back in her hand.
"H-hello?" She asked shakily, confused as to why she had to answer.
"Who is this?" A female voice came from the other end and her eyes widened as she tapped him and pointed to the phone.
"Ion know who that is shit tell her you my sister or something." He shrugged.
"Uhm Dee?"
India hated phone calls, the fact that she was answering someone else's made her anxiety even worse.
"Where the fuck is Santana? Are you his lil side bitch or something? I've never met or spoke to one on my own I just keep hearing about them. Put my man on the phone." Tracy snapped from the other side, waiting to hear his voice impatiently.
Santana squinted his eyes at the phone and grabbed it out of her hand, breathing tiredly into the mic.
"Hello?"
"Why you keep trying me?!"
"How?"
"You keep fucking around on me then treating that shit casually but if I did the same you'd be hurt."
"Why would I be hurt? You not by bitch, never been my bitch, and you won't be my bitch because you're clearly delusional and ion got time for that shit." He sucked his teeth and ran his hand down his face.
If anybody stressed him out it was Tracy. They'd messed around for years but he never hinted on to wanting a relationship besides those few times he said some sweet stuff during a drunk fuck and lord knows that shit don't count.
"Do you even care about me?"
Did he even care about her?
"Thought I made that shit clear when I said I didn't love you. I'm not changing my mind but clearly you've lost yours. Get off my shit bro." Then he hung up.
India watched in surprise at how honest he was. She was used to hearing Ray lie and talk about how nobody was there for him when whatever girl he was entertaining found out about him sneaking with other girls.
Or the famous I been fighting demons bro.
"That was mean." She mumbled looking out of the window.
"It was honest. Tracy not even my type. She talk and scream too much, don't ever shut the fuck up."
"She probably just likes you a lot."
"Then we fuck and she roll on her side like bitch go home you poor or something? Wet booty ass."
India looked over to see if he was joking but he wasn't and she laughed harder than she meant to. His phone rang again and he answered it quickly ready to chomp her off.
"That's why I'm pregnant bitch!"
"When you getting an abortion?" Santana asked politely.
"I'm not aborting shit."
"You gon have a sad lonely ass pregnancy.." He squinted his eyes in annoyance when he heard sniffling on the other end.
"Santana you don't treat me right.." she said shakily as a tear fell.
"So why you want a baby by me? Bitch you not pregnant, loud ass sniffling I don't give a fuck about them tears." Santana hung up and blocked her, absolutely positively over whatever they could've had going on.
Tracy was crazy as hell to pull the pregnant card knowing he didn't want kids or her so threatening him with either of those things were pointless.
They didn't have unprotected sex ever and she was on birth control because she was scared of getting pregnant by him knowing he didn't want kids, especially not with her. She wouldn't actually set herself up for that kind of failure.
India came to the conclusion that he was a lot nicer when he wasn't talking.
"My bad, she retarded. Remedial ass bitch."
"It's fine." She muttered as the car came to a stop.
Santana didn't say anything as she gathered her stuff but stopped her before she got out, grabbing her phone out of her hand.
"Password."
"2829."
She didn't mean to just give it out but he asked so she answered. After realizing she listened just because he told her too she got annoyed with herself and hoped he misheard her.
India felt her phone return to the palm of her hand and got out of the car, not turning back around to look at him. If she did she probably would've said bye then followed up with something dumb so she just walked inside her apartment building, feeling his eyes on her.
When she got to her apartment the door was unlocked and Belcalis was sitting on the couch waiting for her.
"Where'd you spend the night?" She asked angrily, standing up to look at her.
"A friend. I'm gonna go shower." India tried walking past her but she was stopped and held by the back of her shirt.
"You were with a man don't lie to me, this shirt isn't even your size."
"Okay." She didn't really have much to say in response because her mom told her not to come home so it didn't matter who she was with, she followed directions.
Even though she was with a man she wouldn't explain herself, she was damn near grown and had been taking care of the both of them since her 14th birthday.
"Did he give you any money? Where's the money from your check?" She asked hastily, reaching for her daughters bag.
"Someone stole it when you left me on the street to be raped, drugged up, kidnapped, and or murdered." India lied.
She was gonna put the money somewhere safe and save up to move out. If she really wanted things to be different for herself she couldn't rely on other people to come save her all of the time.
"Did you have sex with him? Smells like it." Belcalis judged, leaning forward and smelling the cinnamon she recognized from when she'd shower at a mans house after giving herself away.
India ignored her and walked to her room to put her stuff away, first stopping to lift up the plank in her her closet where she'd be hiding the money.
"Camila I asked you a question."
"I don't think that's any of your business." She said bluntly.
"Wha-"
Before her mom could continue she closed the door and locked it, throwing herself on her bed and kicking her pants off.
The first thing did was a unlock her phone and check to see what he'd done. She noticed that none of her screens had been cleared and a new one was open.
Jade
A small smile came to India's face when she realized it was Santana. His real name was Jade? It was a cute name and that was the problem. It didn't match his stank ass attitude.
It was unisex but you didn't meet a lot of boys with unisex names in her neighborhood. They were all Kentavious, Tayvion, Jaylen, Justin.. but not Jade.
She saw an incoming FaceTime call from Del and answered, seeing her friends face twist up immediately.
"Fuck you cheesing in the camera for?" Del asked in confusion, used to getting cussed out for randomly FaceTiming her friend.
"Nothing."
"Maybe you smiling because you just spent the night at a fine ass mature ass nigga house that didn't try to fuck you and let you wear his clothes." Del said quickly, propping her phone up on her dresser and craning her neck at her friend.
India made a confused face like she didn't know what she was talking about until she got tired of the small stare down they were having, fully aware that she wouldn't win.
"How you know?"
"Ray FaceTimed Santana to make sure you got home safe and I was next to him. He said you was straight and was trying not to say much but your dumbass peaked your head in the camera talking about some stars he hung up fast as shit." Del laughed as her friends face heated up in embarrassment.
She knew what she was talking about and that was the worst part. It would've been better had she gotten black out drunk because she could barely look him in the eye.
It's not like India was sloppily drunk and out of her character, she just said more than she'd say if she was sober and it made her feel weird. She was so used to keeping her thoughts to herself.
"It wasn't like that. I'm glad he let me spend the night though, this lady is so weird. I've always tolerated her but when I turn 18 I'm leaving." India asserted while playing with the hem of the shirt.
"You always say that, you need to actually do it. You sound serious but I want you to stick with your gut so don't act like you never said it I'm a few weeks because I'm gonna bring it back up. You deserve better Dee."
She just nodded in response and began spacing out, wondering how she was going to make this work.
Trying something new with this book. They're not gonna fall in love by chapter 9 and be fucking by 13 💀