Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

once

"Instead of going with these losers, do you want to-"

"No! I mean, Arcelia, you always wanted to get free food, now's your chance." Ruby said. The shorter girl stared back at him emotionlessly. She already forgave Ruby because she was too weak to hold a grudge, but she still wanted an apology.

Arcelia looked to Sebastian who gave her a look before she shrugged and followed Ruby, Cesar and Olivia down the street. Ruby, for some reason, stayed back and walked in behind the group, glaring up at the back of Sebastian's head as he kept making his Arcelia laugh.

"Celi, can we talk?"

Arcelia and Sebastian stopped walking and turned around to Ruby who glared more at Sebastian since he never said his name. Sebastian looked down between the two before walking away when Arcelia sent him a look.

"Continue."

With furrowed brows at her cold shoulder, Ruby spoke up. "Look, I know it's been almost three months since I insulted you and your family and I wanted to apologize. I was totally out of line and just mad at Cesar and I ended up taking it out on you for no reason. If you don't forgive me or if you need time, I completely understand and respect your decision. I acted like an asshole that night." Ruby ranted. "You're not a Santos bitch, or a bitch at all. You're more like princess, a Santos princess. I know how much you love your family and I fully give you permission to slap me if you-"

Without hesitation, Arcelia pimp slapped Ruby's face and winced as she saw his face turn red. "Sorry, you said I could."

"I deserved that. If it makes you feel any better, I actually like Oscar. He raised you into a beautiful person and taught you basically everything you know, and I love everything about you. It was a real dick move to have you wait for an apology this long, but I started feeling like I was losing you. Then Sebastian moved here and I felt like you were replacing me."

Stopping him from walking, Arcelia wrapped her arms around Ruby. He was happy to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her neck. She still wears the perfume I bought her. "Just so you know, I forgave you a long time ago. I just wanted you to admit you were wrong."

"So you weren't replacing me with Sebastian?"

"Of course not. Don't get me wrong, I love Sebastian, but you're irreplaceable. Besides, he has a girlfriend back in Texas so my chances with him are 1 in 30 billion." Arcelia joked. "Now, cariño, we should probably catch up with them before we get lost with the rest of these kids."

With a quick grab of his hand, Arcelia pulled Ruby along and broke off into a run as the two went to catch up with the rest of their groups. Ruby ran behind her and took notice of how her hair bounced and compared it to her personality. She was still as bubbly and affectionate as he remembered.

"Guys, let the little kids go first." Ruby said, stopping Cesar, Sebastian and Olivia to let all the kids in costumes run pass them and into the driveway of the first house. Once all the kids got their candy, Cesar and Sebastian held up their pillow cases until the owner of the house stopped them.

"Hold on, still two more little ones." The white man said. While Ruby's face dropped, Arcelia smiled even bigger. "Here, you get an extra." He told her, dropping 2 full sized candy bars into Arcelia's pillow case. "So cute." He complimented her and Ruby.

The group walked away from the property and the three taller kids bursted out laughing. "I don't know why you guys are laughing. I'm the one that got extra candy." Arcelia smiled, a skip in her step as they walked down the street. "Don't you love how we don't hear any gunshots, Ruby?" Arcelia asked the freshman.