Introducing Crystal to Victor had been easy. She was going to be in a play that Friday and Victor needed to do extracurricular activities for his resume so I volunteered him as 'stage-hands' to move chairs between scenes. It was a production of Mid-Summer Night's Dream and Crystal was one of the fairies. She looked like a little pixie and I watched the play with Jon and Steven, we even clapped when Victor crossed the stage to change chairs which startled him and made him drop two chairs. I watched as his entire neck lit up in red and I knew he was dying of embarrassment.
When the play ended, I went to congratulate Crystal and that's when I did it. I introduced Victor to Crystal. Her eyes lit up and Victor's entire demeanor changed, he always turned shy and reserved around girls he didn't know. Jon busted in and suggested we go watch Rome Must Die. Perfect. I turned to Crystal and asked her if wanted to join us.
"Oh, I'm not dressed right."
A ridiculous statement if you asked me; jeans, t-shirt, and flip flops were Florida uniform. Plus, she had that effortless cuteness that came from being petite and pretty.
"You look perfect," Victor said and I looked at him.
Crystal smiled and agreed and that was how we ended up in the movies. My plan was to leave Victor and Crystal alone and to sit with the other two but Victor turned to me suddenly.
"Sit with me and Crystal," he said.
"Why?" I hissed back, making sure no one heard us.
"So it's not awkward," he said.
"It'll be even more with me there!"
"C'mon, I don't know her, I don't know what to talk about!"
"Just talk about stuff!"
Then Crystal and Jon walked to us and we plastered twin smiles on our faces. Everything was OK, this was all perfectly fine. When Steven finally arrived with all of his snacks we made our way into the theater. Victor allowed Crystal to go first and slid in behind her, then turned to me. His eyes were wide and I let out a dramatic sigh, sitting next to him. A little girl sandwich with him in the middle. Jon and Steven broke formation and sat behind us. How awful. I was stuck as a chaperone to a guy I had kissed.
The movie started and I was suddenly quite aware of the warmth of his arm against my own, something I had never noticed before. How many times had we sat next to one another; thighs pressed against thighs? I stared straight ahead, shaking myself for being ridiculous. I looked down at the size of my thigh and then looked away. They were thicker than his and I was filled with embarrassment. Girls' thighs were not supposed to be bigger than guys and Victor was a beast in comparison to most guys. His muscles stretched at his joggers and my thighs stretched at my jeans only they were jelly and his were sculpted and well-formed.
When had I started thinking about his body like this? Yes, of course, he was muscled, he'd been muscled since I sat behind him in the seventh grade. He had been born muscled. Even his face had lovely muscles, you could see them when his face lit up with laughter. Wait, his face didn't light up. Well, yes it did, I admitted to myself. Suddenly I wanted to look at him but he was looking at Crystal whose thighs were delicately sized just like the rest of her. They were speaking and I sharply realized that I felt like a damn third wheel. Why had I agreed to sit with him? I craned my neck to look at Jon and Steve and they were happily engaged in the film. What the hell was I doing here? Stupid idea. I should flee.
Then Victor turned to me, his face close – so close I smelled the winter fresh scent of his gum – I wondered if my breath smelled. Probably did. He leaned in and I turned to give him my ear. His arm pressed harder against mine and I held still.
"I have to pee," he said.
I looked at him with a raised brow.
"So go," I whispered and shoved at him because he was so close.
"She'll know," his face was flushed.
I opened my mouth and stared at him. "She'll know that you pee like a real human?"
He pressed his lips together, his eyes glaring at me.
"You drank all the coke, where did you think it was going to go, genius?" I snarled and looked at the movie.
"I know, I'm just nervous," he hissed and I turned back to him with an incredulous look.
"Get up, go to the bathroom," I said calmly. His leg started shaking against mine and I let out an exaggerated breath. "Ok, fine."
I reached between my legs and pulled my purse, fishing for my wallet. Then shoved a $10 bill at him, making a show of it so Crystal could see.
"Can you get me raisinets, please?" I said with a plastered fake smile. Crystal was staring at us with a confused look and Victor looked relieved.
"Yeah," he snatched the bill from my hand and turned to Crystal. I heard him stupidly explain that his needy friend, who apparently refused to use her own legs, was begging for more candy to stuff in her thighs.
I kept my forced smile as he stumbled over me to run to the restroom. Crystal was staring at me and I nodded.
"Going good?" I asked and Crystal shrugged but gave me a small smile.
What a mess, I thought. What was wrong with him? He was like a disaster around girls he liked, completely unable to handle conversations and clowning himself for nothing. Well, I thought, at least you know he doesn't like you. At least we're over the kiss.
Good. This was good.
Victor was gone for a while and I wondered what else he was doing but that thought didn't last long when he came back, stepping over people and over me and finally pushing at me a yellow box of chocolate-covered raisins. He didn't even look at me but turned to Crystal and I heard the two of them giggling. I felt like such a fool. Why had I agreed to this? The movie could not end soon enough. I stared straight ahead, determined to ignore the two people next to me but soon Victor was once more leaning to me, his eyes expecting me to lend him my ear.
I sighed and leaned in.
"What did I miss?"
I turned to him incredulously. "What does it matter?"
He blinked at me. "Because I don't know what's going on."
"Look, this is looking really weird that you're whispering with me and not with Crystal," I looked away. He kept staring at me so I turned to look at him with a pointed look.
"I," he licked his lips. "I don't know what to say to her."
I furrowed my brow. "Just be yourself."
"She's hard to talk to," he looked annoyed.
"You talk just fine to me." I pointed at my chest. "Ask her what you missed."
He stared at me, and finally, because I could not take the brown of his eyes which I could see even in the dark, I turned to look at the screen. He was silent and then finally turned straight ahead. I waited, waited for him to speak to Crystal, but he didn't. He was quiet and despite the explosions of the film, the silence sounded deafening. My legs and arm were still pressed against him and I wondered why he couldn't lean on Crystal and try to throw an arm around her. His heat was not allowing me to focus and I had to hold myself back from shoving him off and stalking out of the movie.
When the film ended, I shot up from my seat, stumbling over people and throwing a 'gotta piss' over my shoulder. See, I wasn't embarrassed, I pissed like a regular human. As I washed my hands Crystal came in and again I tried hard to smile at her. I didn't even know why; Crystal was my friend after all. I was the one who suggested Crystal join us. Maybe I had gotten used to being the only girl in our group, it made me feel slightly special.
"Hey," Crystal said, siding up to me.
"Hey, sorry I had to go to the bathroom so bad," I said and then Crystal nodded, leaning on the counter.
"I wanted to ask you," she said softly, her falling over her face. She was so pretty, delicate and petite with a curvy body that the guys loved and I was a lumbering giant next to her. "Have you and Victor ever, you know, dated or something?"
I sputtered out a laugh. "No! God!"
That kiss though. No, forget the kiss. The kiss didn't happen.
Crystal gave me a slow smile. "I mean, I'm sorry, I just thought -"
"I've known Victor since we were like twelve." I dried my hands. "Never."
"Oh, ok," Crystal smiled and ducked a shy look. "I don't know why I thought of that but I wondered."
"Yeah, no," I emphasized. "No."
Crystal nodded then I turned to the toilet stalls. "Ok, I'll be right out."
I nodded and turned to leave. What the hell was that? I knew it, I knew his whispering during the movie would send the wrong signals. What a turd, he was messing up his own game. He was hopeless, absolutely hopeless. I wished that he would just ask Crystal out and then I wouldn't be dragged to their 'get to know each other' hangs. But in a way it was good, he'd had someone, someone nice, someone we didn't mind handing out with. We could all still be friends.
×××
"Becka Luisa Montana Torres!"
Oh shit, what had I done? There was only one way in hell my full name would be used and that was if I had messed the hell up. I leaned over the stair rail to look downstairs and sure enough my mother was there, hand on hip and staring up at me with her glasses perched on her nose.
"Si, mami?"
"You didn't tell me Yahaira was coming," she said and then there was Yara's head popping up next to my mother. We let out twin squeals of excitement making Mami shake her head and walk away. Yara thundered up the stairs and I met her halfway, we grappled each other, hugging, and squealing.
"You jerk, why didn't you call me?" I demanded, smiling at Yara. I pulled her up, rushing up to lock ourselves in my room like we had done countless times.
"No hay puertas cerradas en esta casa!" Mami shouted from downstairs.
"Mom, I'm grown! I can close the door if I want!" I shouted back and closed the door, I'd deal with her later.
"She hasn't changed," Yara laughed.
"She's suffocating me, I swear!" I jumped on my bed and Yara followed suit, we clutched at pillows and got ready for a catch-up session.
I was utterly relieved to see her, I had spoken to no one about my kiss with Victor or my little plan to normalize things by introducing Crystal. The next part in my attempt to normalize things between me and Victor had been to ask if I could join him at the gym. He needed to see me as sweaty and as disgusting as possible. The first few days after our kiss had been strange but now, two weeks later, we had fallen into our routine of teasing and friendship. I had also changed classes so I didn't have to sit in a room with Jackson.
"You look so great," Yara looked me over.
"I've been joining Victor at the gym, I hate it."
"Victor?" Yara asked confused. "Manning, you're going to the gym with Victor Manning?"
I nodded, letting out a laugh of incredulity. "I know, life is a mess."
"Yeah," Yara nodded, tucking a hair behind her ear and I noticed that Yara's roots were a good three inches thick which was strange given that Yara's sister was a hairstylist. "Who would've thought that you and Victor would become friends."
"I know, it's so bizarre."
I was going to tell her about the kiss but then she looked me over and reached out to grab my hair. It was long, six inches longer than it had ever been in High School.
"You look really pretty, Becka."
I thought she looked sad, downcast; her skin was not as bright as it used to be and that magnetism which had made boys go wild had somehow been sapped out of her. I thought that given that Yara was dating that older Cuban guy she would be having the time of her life but seeing her now I didn't think that was the case.
"Hey, you don't look OK," I sat up, staring at her and Yara crawled on the bed, her back pressed to the wall.
"I have to tell you something," Yara did not look at me, she just pulled the pillow closer to her chest. "I just came from my parent's house."
I nodded. Was she moving back? Had Tampa been a bust?
Yara took a deep shaking breath. "I'm pregnant."
Recommended 90s Playlist (will grow with each chapter)
1. Gettin' Jiggy With It - Will Smith
2. Kiss The Rain - Billie Myers
3. Come Baby Come - K7
4. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
5. Bitch - Meredith Brooks
6. Something to Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
7. WannaBe - Spice Girls
8. Miami - Will Smith
9. Ghetto Supastar - Pras
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