CHAPTER TEN
Nina rode with Oscar going to and from work, wherever that was. They had their small talks inside the car and she could only hope that they were somewhat getting close.
It still really baffled her how Oscar was known as Spooky. Everyone seemed scared of him. But not her.
She admits that she wanted to get to know him more but for some reason she could sense some emotions taking over. She found him attractive but she could definitely feel a crush on him developing and she didn't want that.
For the past few days her routine would entail going to work in the bodega and going out for tutorial sessions around Freeridge and Brentwood. Either way, Oscar made the time to drive her around.
No matter how much Nina said she didn't need it, mostly because she felt like she was bothering him by doing this, Oscar would always insist. It would be at the risk of bringing up those nights Nina just wanted to forget.
Not only would he bring her to where she needed to be but he would purposely go buy something from the bodega. Whether it be a pack of gum, a bottle of water, a bag of chips, or whatever he could find. Which Nina never understood.
Right now, she was going through one of the quizlets she gave to one of her students. She went through the answers and ticked off all the right ones and left the wrong ones unmarked.
"Either that kid be stupid or you aren't doin' your teaching job well."
Nina looked up to see Oscar, like that surprised her. "He's one of the new ones. He has a hard time with functions and he's been suffering through summer school quite enough," she answered putting down the quizlet.
"So what can I get you this time, Spooky? A new razor blade? Coffee? A pair of twisors?" She asked looking through the things in the store all the way from the counter.
"Why would I need twisors?" He cocked his eyebrow. One thing was for sure, he didn't like it when she called him Spooky. He preferred when she called him by his real name.
"Your eyebrows could use some work," Nina teased with a smirk as Oscar scowled at her. "So what do you need?"
"A new pack of cigarettes," he answered already pulling out his wallet. Nina turns to get his usual packet. I swear to God he smokes like its oxygen.
"$6.12," Nina says placing them on the counter. Oscar hands her the bills and she punches in the code into the cash register. "Will there be anything else?"
"How much do you charge by the hour?"
"¿Qué?" She shoots him a confused look.
"Your tutorial sessions. How much are you paid for the hour?"
Nina furrows her eyebrows. "Thirty bucks. Why do you ask?" She hands him his change as he easily shoves them into his pocket.
"That much?" Oscar raised his eyebrow.
"I bumped up the price a year ago," Nina explained. "This is my main hustle, my time and brain aren't cheap. It seems to be worth it anyway. Why'd you ask?"
"I'd like to buy your time. One hour," Oscar nodded.
Nina still couldn't catch on. "Do you know someone who needs help? Or are you the one that needs help?"
"Lunch. With you," he replied bluntly taking Nina aback... again. What is he up to?
"I don't get off for my lunch until one," she shrugged closing the cash register.
"You might wanna take a look at the time then, princesa," he leaned in while Nina shot him a puzzled look.
She turns around to look at the clock. Low and behold it was already one in the afternoon. "Jesus, how long was that quizlet?" She muttered under her breath.
"¿Qué se necesita para convencerte?" He asked as Nina turned to look at him again. A lunch with him wouldn't hurt, right?
"¡Tío!" Nina called Berto who was stocking up the freezer. "¡Estoy tomando mi almuerzo ahora!"
"¡Bueno!"
Oscar fought back the smile, which was something he couldn't help knowing he was going to be with Nina again. He might have grown attached. But its not like he was going to admit that.
He took the both of them to a diner close by the bodega called Fernando's. Which was coincidentally where Nina would always hang out during her breaks. It was close by and it had good food. Needless to say it became a favorite of hers.
After ordering their food, Oscar was busy on his phone texting about business stuff and Nina just found herself staring.
"I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" Nina asked shyly.
"Nah homie. We good," Oscar answered putting away his phone.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked still puzzled with all the small things he's been doing around her.
"What do you mean?"
"The rides, coming to the store and buying random stuff. And what kind of level of lonely does a guy need to pay for someone to spend time with?" Nina pressed while Oscar did was shrug.
Nina furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you being so good to me?"
Oscar shrugged once more. "Why can't I just be good to you?"
She didn't exactly know what it was. Maybe it was how he said it so casually and so bluntly. Or how he looked directly into her eyes. But she felt a warm sensation in her chest and the pit of her stomach something similar to butterflies.
"If this is some way of yours to get me into bed with you... I'm not like that. I know you have a rep, Spooky," Nina sighed.
Which was true. The moment she moved into Freeridge not only was she aware about the Santos and their leader's rep in the neighborhood but she new about Oscar's rep with women. Thank God for protection. They were drunk during those nights but she remembered that they still acted safe.
"We've already been in bed together, princesa," Oscar reminds her making her internally groan. "Just call me Oscar, por favor" he added in annoyance.
"Honestly man, you have to find something else to tease me with cos it's starting to get old," Nina scoffed.
"Why don't you like talking about it anyway?" Oscar raised his eyebrow at her.
"Because," she began talking loudly all of a sudden. She cleared her throat and continued, "I'm not like that. I'm not the type to randomly hook up with people so I would rather just forget about it."
A waitress came in to bring in their drinks. Nina went right to playing with the straw of her soda.
"Aw, pobrecito Nina," Oscar cooed sitting back in his seat. "You must be the type of person that has to be in love to have sex. Is that it?" he taunted her causing her to glare at him.
"What's so wrong with that?"
"Nothing," he cocked an eyebrow. "You better not fall in love with me then."
"Hey!" she called him out. "I just told you I'm not like that. I'm not just some puta you can pay to have sex with or spend time with for that matter. If you think I'm that easy to come by with whatever the hell you're doing then you got another thing coming, pendejo."
Oscar's facial expression changed into something more culpable. He watched as Nina started packing up her things in preparation to leave.
"Hey," he said grabbing her hand before she could stand up. "I'm sorry. I was joking, I didn't mean to disrespect you like that. The reason why I'm doing this is because I wanna thank you for everything you did for Cesar."
Where the hell did that come from? Oscar felt bad for what he said. Usually it was some pride thing that would just allow Nina to just walk away. But for once he actually felt bad teasing her about those things. He purposely annoyed her for the likes of it but now he felt like he struck a cord.
Nina was a good person who did a lot for his family. The last thing Oscar wanted was to disrespect her and make her upset.
"I don't need those kinds of favors. You've said your thanks and I've said mine. I think we're good," she replied still very eager to leave. She felt guilty for those rides as it is.
"Nina espere," Oscar pleaded squeezing her hand. "Solo déjame hacer esto."
"¿Por qué?"
"No sé. Yo solo quiero," he said straight without second guessing.
Before Nina could do anything else, the waitress came back with their food. "Should I get these for take out or will you guys still have these here?"
Nina looked back and forth between Oscar and the waitress before sighing. She was really hungry and her break time was running out. If she left now to look for another place to eat her time would only be pressed. It was just a lunch.
"We'll have them here," Nina answered sitting back down.
Oscar hadn't noticed he was still holding her hand until she sat back down. He easily let go as the waitress set their food down on the table.
"Enjoy!" the waitress said before leaving the two of them.
Nina felt her stomach grumble at the sight of the food before her. The fried chicken she ordered was steaming hot, she had been craving good chicken like this all day. Oscar watched as she grabbed the pancake syrup from the side of the table and stared intently as she poured the thick syrup all over her chicken.
"¿Qué?" Nina shocked while Oscar looked at her insulted.
"The fuck are you doing?"
"I'm putting syrup on my chicken. Bitch, what does it look like I'm doing?"
"Ruining really good chicken!"
"I'm not doin' shit except for making it better!"
"That's fucked up."
Nina rolled her eyes at his comment and started cutting through the meat before dipping it in a pool of syrup. She pierces the meat with her fork and holds it up to Oscar's face.
"Cesar told me you liked cooking. Expand your palate then homie," she shrugged inching the fork closer to his face.
Oscar grabs the fork away from her and takes a bite of it. Nina smiled seeing how his disgusted face changed into something more pleasant.
"Aight, I take back what I said," he tells her making Nina smile in victory.
The two went back to eating and Nina couldn't help but find it weird that one minute they were arguing now they seemed okay with each other. Were we even friends? Nina wondered. They hung out quite enough for them to have some sort of relationship.
She continued to enjoy her chicken in syrup and Oscar continued eating his carne asada taco before he suddenly decided to speak again. "Mira, the reason why I wanted to do this is because I wanted to show you how grateful I am for you taking care of Cesar while I was in prison. The rides everyday are just something I wanna do."
"You don't gotta explain, Oscar. I appreciate it and I'm sorry, I just couldn't help question this," Nina answered sincerely. "But again, thank you. I appreciate it."
In truth, the reason why Oscar wanted to give her those rides was because he couldn't stop thinking about her. Technically speaking, the hung out twice regardless of the rides he gave her. Those two nights together gave him an impression that he wanted to get to know her more. She peaked his interest, no doubt about it. There was that and the fact that Oscar found her really pretty.
Oscar wanted to ask something but maybe it was too inappropriate given what just happened a few minutes ago. "¿Hay algo mal?" Nina asked as Oscar stiffened. He was staring at her again.
"Nada está mal," he shook his head. Nina looked at him weirdly before going back to her food. "That ex we both talked about the first night we.. hung out.. is he still-"
"Still an ex," she answered with a ghostly smile on her face. It's been awhile since anybody had asked about Tony. She hadn't heard from him in so long. But she learned not to care about it anymore.
"And no one has claimed you for the past four years?" Oscar raised his eyebrows.
"When you say it like that, it just sounds insulting," Nina snorted mostly because she was laughing at herself. "But no, the homies said you'd probably get mad if any of them claimed me so they sort of stayed clear," she explained resting her elbows on the table.
There she was again looking directly into his eyes. It slightly amazed him how she was able to do so. She seemed so invested into all their conversation even though he knew she was getting annoyed of him. Either way, Oscar liked how she could look him in the eye.
"And no one has dated you in the past four years?" he pressed even more.
"Okay now that sounded more insulting," Nina joked but she didn't exactly care about it. "Look, homie, if you're trying to say something just say it," she said before taking a sip of her soda.
Your words, not mine. "Was I your first?"
Nina choked on her drink. The fizz of the soda made a stinging sensation in her throat. As she ended up coughing Oscar looked at her concerned trying to fight back the laugh as he did so. He knew she'd be taken off guard but this looked funnier than he expected.
"Y-you okay?" Oscar leaned in a little. He was trying so hard to fight back the laugh that he pursed his lips together as he started chuckling. "Shit I'm sorry I never should have asked that," he laughed anyway.
"You're a fucking asshole," Nina laughed along with him. It relieved Oscar to know she took it lightly than he anticipated. "Oh my God- why would you- what the fuck?" she laughed and cough at the same time before she drank her water.
Oscar couldn't stop laughing. "Am I getting an answer or what?"
"You're fucking unbelievable Diaz," Nina commented putting the glass down. It had been awhile since he got called by his last name so lightly.
"For real! I'm curious!" Oscar laughed it off. Nina wasn't offended by it and for some reason she really did find it funny especially with how his questions lead up to that one.
She looked at him again and shook her head no. "Why do you wanna know anyway? Shit, you remembered more than expected huh? Fuck, I was shit wasn't I? And we did hooked up twice?"
"Nina, chill you weren't shit at it," Oscar huffed. He had to admit he had flashbacks of the other night. It felt good, that buzz from the alcohol and joints and the way their bodies melded together that night.
"Then why do you wanna know?"
Oscar shrugged with a small smile on his face. "No reason."
Nina rilled her eyes at him. "You are a creep."
Every time she was around him, Oscar noticed how shy she could get. She'd make random comments and laugh at certain statements. Then she'd blush, tuck her hair behind her ear and act all demure and shy. There'd be times where she'd avoid his gaze but each time they talked she looked directly into his eyes.
With the way she acted, he never really expected that they'd end up kissing and sleeping together. Let alone letting it happen twice. And Oscar believed her when she said that hooking up like that wasn't her thing. So it just surprised him to say the least.
As promised, Oscar brought her back to the bodega before her hour was up. Both of them had to admit, they enjoyed spending that hour together.
"Aight. Pay up, puto," Nina smiled sweetly handing out her hand to get her cash.
Oscar looked at her confused, "I thought you just said that you didn't like to get paid for your time?"
"I know what I said but my time ain't cheap," she titled her head. "You said you needed help with company and I did just that. So where's my $30?"
"But I just paid for lunch," he answered but Nina still kept her hand out. He huffed before pulling out his wallet and handing Nina $30. "You're unbelievable, Nina."
Nina smirked at him. "Says the gang leader who could've just asked me out to make things simpler."
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Their dynamic just be straight up weird and random but they have their moments. Tell me what you guys think :))
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