Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

quince

14 years ago

"Mijo, you ready to meet your new brother and sister?" Ramón Diaz asked his 6 year old. The little boy eagerly nodded his head up at his dad and held onto his hand as he followed him down the hospital hallway.

For 9 months, Oscar has been accusing his mom of eating babies, but he was happy to go and meet his new siblings. The Santos had come over to watch Oscar while Ramón went to the delivery room. Now, they were waiting to meet the new members of the Diaz family.

Ramón quitletly opened the wooden door and let Oscar run to the bed where his mother was laying with two newborn babies. She was still clean, no sign of drugs in her system, yet.

"'ama, why is this one fat?"

The married couple laughed while Oscar looked at the two in confusion. "Esta es tu hermana, Arcelia. She's still a baby, she might lose all her chubbiness later." His mother explained to him.

Oscar looked to the baby wrapped in a blue blanket and ran his finger over his eyebrows. "Can I hold one?"

"Ven aquí, papito." Oscar's 6 year old body climbed the bed and he sat beside his mom. Ramón got him settled and set his new baby sister in his arms. Arcelia started squirming, then smiled a toothless smile as she coo'd.

"She likes you." Ramón told his son. Oscar stared down at the baby and slowly lifted his finger to let her hand hold it. "Now, tienes que protegerla. Hay muchas cosas malas en el mundo."

"I promise, papi. I'll protect her forever."

× × ×

"You piece of shit!"

"I didn't even eat your food!" Oscar yelled to his sister. Arcelia groaned loudly with a scream at the end before marching back to her room to finish getting ready. "I'll make you more, Arce!"

The next morning approached faster than she preferred. Arcelia was still not over how Monse exposed her love life like that and how, yet again, Ruby paid no attention to Arcelia's love for him. Taking it as a sign, Arcelia made the decision to give up on chasing after Ruby.

She's spent 4 years in love with the boy and after all of her failed attempts to get him to love her back, she finally took the hint that he didn't want her. Though it hurt, she knew it was the right thing to do. Unless she wanted to be like Monse and Cesar, she assumed that not dealing with boys this year would be the more reasonable choice.

11 hours of sleep later, Arcelia still felt tired because of the events that played out yesterday. She had no idea why Monse threw her under the bus like that and had to expose not only her, but also Ruby.

Because he felt bad, Oscar took Arcelia for ice cream before he took her home, purposely making Cesar stay in the car while she ordered from Baskin Robins.

Choosing to get dropped off by Oscar again, Arcelia got into the front seat of the cherry impala that she adored, forcing Cesar to sit in the back. It wasn't necessarily an awkward car ride, but Arcelia still felt some type of way now that Oscar knew what she did in the summer.

It was Friday and she was thankful. Arcelia didn't really want to see anyone from her friend group today, except for Sebastian, and it was her mission until lunch came around.

The table was extremely awkward as everyone sat in silence. Jamal, Olivia and Sebastian still haven't shown up yet. Arcelia sat across from Monse, glaring at her while stabbing the leaves of lettuce that she wasn't going to eat. Ruby looked around the table and his twirled his fork around his fruit cup. He kicked Arcelia a few times to try and get her attention, but she only ended up scooting away, closer to Cesar's bench.

She wasn't even hungry, for once, so she had no idea why she was even at the table and not napping in the library. Arcelia heard Olivia's voice behind her and rolled her eyes. First, she stole her man, and now she wanted to steal her brother?

"Interesting." Monse commented, watching as Olivia sat beside Cesar. Olivia sighed and walked around to sit next to Monse.

"Are you chilly?" Olivia look to Ruby and shook her head. "Just thought you might be under all that shade."

"So petty." Arcelia mumbled, putting a cube of peach into her mouth.

"You're one to talk."

"I'm not that told everyone my best friend's business in front of her brother. Learn how to control your mouth." Arcelia snapped back, glaring at Monse who still wasn't backing down. "You know what, I'm leaving."

Arcelia stood up, allowing Olivia to take her seat as she walked to find a new table to sit at. "Hey, where's the fire?"

"Inside me." Arcelia told Sebastian who stopped her and looked over to the original table to see everyone walking away one by one. "If Monse didn't open her big mouth, Ruby and I would've been completely fine."

"I know, she doesn't know when to stop opening her mouth." Sebastian shrugged, following Arcelia to the bleachers. "So, I'm guessing he still hasn't talked to you about it?"

Arcelia shook her head, already knowing what and who he was talking about. "I give up, Seba. I've tried for years to get him to love me the way I love him, but I guess it wasn't meant to be."

The two sat in silence as they ate their lunch in peace, finally away from the drama. As much as they lived their friends, the tension was too much and could've all been avoided if someone's mouth knew when to open.

× × ×

"O, why couldn't I just stay home? I don't even like football." Arcelia whined in the backseat, leaning forward so she wasn't squished between the two Santos in the back with her.

"Ya te dije, cielita. No one else is gonna be at the house and the block's too hot to leave you alone." Oscar told her, causing her to groan some more before falling back into the seat, wincing when she felt shoulders against her back.

"Okay, no soy tan pequeña, scoot over."

For the next few minutes of the car ride, Arcelia was texting Sebastian to see if he was coming or if she would have to suffer her friend drama alone. Oscar parked the car, basically getting VIP treatment as always.

Everyone got out of the clean, cherry red impala and started walking to the entrance of the stadium. From beside Oscar, Arcelia walked and spotted Sebastian with Monse and Olivia. "I'm going to buy snacks." She told Oscar, grabbing Sebastian's wrist and pulling him to the concession stand. Because of the big height difference, she didn't have much of an affect on him, but he still walked after her.

"Are we actually buying food?"

"Hell yeah. Oscar gave me $20 so I'm buying some nachos and a bag of Takis." Arcelia listed as the two waited in the line. "Oh, do you want anything?"

Sebastian shook his head as he bent down to look at the menu. "I'm good, I brought my own money."

Arcelia shrugged and waited until she got up front to order her food. With the leftover money, she got the Santos some food. "I'll take this to Oscar and meet you and the crew."

She left Sebastian in line and maneuvered her way around the bleachers to find the three cholos. Once she found them, she carefully ran up the steps and hunched over panting. She handed them all some food and Gatorades before walking back down to find her friends who were in the middle.

"Since when does Jamal play football again?" Arcelia asked her twin, throwing a cheesy jalepeño in her mouth.

"He doesn't. He's only there because Ruby talked to the coach since Jamal accidentally told his parents he was playing." Sebastian, who was on the other side of her, replied. "This is going to be so awkward."

"Tell me about it."