Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

venticinco

"Just wait for Oscar to get back. I don't want you to walk home alone at night. It's not safe." Arcelia begged, grabbing Ruby's hand before he could walk out of her room.

"If I stay any longer, he'll kill me."

"Oscar can shove it up his ass. I want you safe and walking home alone at night in Freeridge is the complete opposite of safe." Arcelia explained. "Plus he's just picking Cesar up, he'll be back in like 10 minutes."

Ruby looked between the door and Arcelia's pleading eyes before sighing and walking back over to sit next to her as she layed down. "You're not making me ride with Oscar alone, right?"

Arcelia hummed and shook her head, opening her eyes to look at Ruby's slightly terrified face. "No. Plus, if I didn't go, he probably wouldn't even take you." She stated, sitting up and putting her chin on Ruby's shoulder. "If he was here right now, he would probably say—"

"Quit being a little bitch! That puto pulled a gun on you and your hyna!"

"Okay, so he wouldn't say that." Arcelia mumbled. Both her and Ruby walked out, watching Cesar angrily walk by and slam the door to his room.

"Slam one more door and see where your ass ends up!" Oscar shouted down the hallway, the vein on the side of his neck bulging as he yelled. Once he spotted Arcelia's head sticking out from her room, his face softened, but once he spotted Ruby standing beside her, his face hardened again. Something about his little sister wearing a satin pajama set with a boy coming out of her room with her had him feeling all types of ways. "Why is he still here?"

"He needs a ride home." Arcelia said quietly, not wanting to get on Oscar's bad side since he was already mad. "I didn't want him to get hurt."

"I can walk." Ruby suggested.

Arcelia's head snapped to him and she glared. "No you can't." The freshmen turned back to Oscar to see him run his hand down his face before he motioned them to come with his hand.  Ruby ran behind Arcelia and waited for her to put on her slides before they both went outside and got into the impala.  Choosing to sit in the back so Ruby could get out easier, Arcelia leaned her head in the middle while Ruby sat stiffly in the passenger seat and Oscar gripped the steering wheel. "Can you play music, por favor. You guys are making it awkward in here."

"Because I'm fucking tired." Oscar snapped at her.

Arcelia slowly leaned back with a shocked face because Oscar hasn't spoken to her like that since before their dad left. "Ok, grumpy."  The silence that followed only lasted a few minutes until Oscar moved his hand to the dial and turned up the music a few notches.  For the rest of the ride, no one talked, but Arcelia let her hand drape over Ruby's shoulder so she could hold his hand until they got to his house.

"Thanks for the ride, Oscar... Spooky... Mr. Spooky."  Ruby said.  He contemplated his next moved before he just rubbed the top of Arcelia's hand with his hand.  "Goodnight, amor."  He whispered. 

Once the door closed, Arcelia looked out the window and made Oscar wait until Ruby got inside his house.  "I told you he has to be gone by a certain time."  Oscar said, pulling away from the sidewalk while Arcelia climbed over to sit in the front seat.

"I know, but we were watching movies and didn't realize what time it was."  Arcelia explained to him.  "But we made like 3 different flavors of cookies, so you can have some." Arcelia smiled.

Oscar looked over at her and sent her a small smile. He still wasn't on board with the idea of Arcelia, who he basically raised, having a boyfriend, but over the months, he's seen how happy she's been everyday. "We can eat some and watch Disney movies when we get back."

"Disney movies? I already watched those movies with Ruby. Oh! Let's watch 'Texas Chainsaw'!"

× × ×

"Can you guys like not be all lovey-dovey right now?  I'm single enough as it is."  Jamal exclaimed, watching from across him as Arcelia sat on Ruby's lap and they whispered to each other while laughing.

"You need a girlfriend so you're not so uptight."

"No, what I need is this Rollerworld money!  Your brother has to kill Latrelle and our only option is to get him the hell out of Freeridge."  Jamal exclaimed.  "I just need to find it."  He mumbled.  "Damnit, I have to go.  Chivo has me working."

"Okay, so back to the quince.  Do we have outfits yet?"  Monse asked.

"Abuelita is making them.  We made our first mistake by ordering Olivia's dress off of Etsy."

"Are we going to look like Oompa Loompas?  Because I know she said purple dresses."  Arcelia chimed in, picturing the scenes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"Shh.  Abuelita make you look like one."  Ruby whispered quickly.  "You guys won't look like Oompa Loompas."

Arcelia nodded her head and looked over to Monse who was sitting on the other couch.  "Are you still talking to that lady that might be your mom?"

Monse nodded, with a happy, yet confused look on face.  "Not really talking, more like I added her on Facebook with this fake account.  I'm going to head home though.  I made a mess this morning before I left, so I have to clean it." 

Arcelia nodded and hugged Monse from the couch and watched her leave.  "And then there were two."  Arcelia sighed.  "Do you think they run away because we're together?"

"Probably.  No one likes being a third wheel." Ruby stated. "My mom went on a Costco run yesterday. You want to raid the cabinets?"

Arcelia smiled and put her hand on her heart. "You know me so well."

× × ×

Arcelia frantically ran around her room and the hallway bathroom, trying to get her shit together before she was late to school. "Oscar, have you seen my charm bracelet?" She shouted down the hallway. As she looked under the sink, he stopped dead in her tracks when she heard his response.

"I think I threw it away!"

Arcelia shot up and ran to the kitchen, almost falling over a few times. "What?" Before Oscar could say anything, Arcelia ran to the trash can, which was empty, before running outside. Apparently, the world hated her because when she got there, the trash truck was putting their bin down and driving to the next house. "What is wrong with you?! You knew Ruby gave that to me!"

Arcelia continued beating on Oscar, ignoring his yells for her to stop.  As she did it, Oscar heard her sniffling.  Arcelia was devastated and didn't know how she was going to tell Ruby that she lost the bracelet he probably spent all his savings on.  He may say it wasn't much, but Arcelia saw the receipt for the jewelry store and the bracelet wasn't cheap at all. 

"Aye, it was a joke!  It's right here!"  Oscar yelled out, grabbing a hold of Arcelia's hands and holding them away from his face.  "Here, damn.  It's just a fucking bracelet."  Oscar commented, pulling the bracelet out of his pocket and watching his little sister quickly put it on and look over all of the charms.

"It's not just a bracelet."  Arcelia mumbled.

Just a lil filler before all the quince shit