By Wednesday of that week I was sweating bullets, I'd be lucky to finish school with a 3.0 GPA. My Biological Science class was even worse than Composition, I'd never been too good at science but the amount of terminology I was being required to learn by Dr. Akim was ridiculous. He was unrelenting in his expectations and I sat petrified of not capturing something vital he said in class. By the time class was over I had scribbled seven pages of notes, my index finger had a blister where I had violently gripped the pen, and I still did not understand what exactly circadian rhythm was. In short, I felt like hiding in the bathroom much like I had wanted to hide in the wet cardboard box when I was twelve. Just hide until this was all over.
But college did not stop for me, my fashion bag I had purchased at the mall was replaced with a giant messenger bag stuffed to be brim with books, notes, and notebooks. How was this all happening if I only had 4 classes? As I made my way to the Atrium, where everyone seemed to meet up between time schedules, I spotted Victor standing with non-other than Jon Ramirez, Tay's older brother. He had graduated a year ahead of us. Jon was thin but well formed, a lovely tanned color with hazel eyes, and a jokester personality. I remember a bunch of girls in high school thinking he was super cute but I didn't really see it, he was a little too silly for me.
My intention was to walk by unnoticed but that did not work when I heard Steven Miller call out to me. Steven had dated Mercy for a fast three months our sophomore year and it was the nicest breakup I ever saw anyone have. He was black with the most dazzling smile on a man, dimpled, and charming. So charming. He was not into any sports but he was a true social butterfly and was incredibly sweet. It would be very rude of me to ignore him when he'd been nothing but nice even when I wasn't considered to be worth anyone's time. Steven was apparently friends with Victor and Jon and I stopped on my tracks to greet them all.
"Hi!" I said.
Steven gave me a long friendly hug. "Becky-girl! You look taller!"
"Heels." I pointed to my wedges. I was a small mushroom person and heels were a necessity.
"Ahh." He nodded. "How you doing, how are the Patty Girls?"
"Good," I said. I glanced at Victor and Jon who were watching us. "Yara is in Tampa and Mercy and Rosalind are in Georgia."
"They left you all alone?" His tone was nothing but nice and truly curious.
I shrugged because I didn't want to think how lonely I had been since they had all left.
"You should hang with us," Steven said.
The instinctual need to say No almost overtook me until Jon stepped forward and extended his hand. The flirtatious smile on his face was not lost on me, all Ramirez's had the same look.
"Jonathan Ramirez," he said. "A pleasure, pleasure to meet you. You can call me Jon."
I raised a brow at him. "Hi Jon. I know you; I've been to your house. A few times."
"To my bed?" The innocence of such a face.
"No, it was occupied." I smiled sardonically at him.
Jon let out a laugh and I saw Victor look down but he was smiling and shaking his head.
"Don't mess with Becky-girl, she's going to be a lawyer one day," Victor said and pushed slightly at Jon with his shoulder as he came to stand with us.
"Becky-girl." Jon smiled at me.
"Or Becka, just Becka would be even better," I said. Carefully I shook his hand.
"Yeah, I remember you. You're friends with Yahaira Martinez, right?"
"Yup, that's my best friend."
"So, when is she in town?" Jon leaned back against the wall, licking his lips.
Lord. I felt annoyance erupt in my belly, they weren't interested in me, they wanted to know about Yara and Mercy, I was just a little messenger.
"You don't know me, Jon, so let me explain." I smiled at him. "I'm not here to give you tid-bits on Yara or any of my girls."
Jon raised his brows.
"You either want to talk to me or you don't." I looked him over then I turned to walk away. "Bye Steven!"
"What about me?" Victor called out but laughed when I gave him the bird over my shoulder which sent a bunch of 'oooohhh' and 'ahhhhs' in their little group.
×××
For whatever reason my little intro to Jon had gained me entrance to the boys club which was a brand new place for me to be. I had always been surrounded by girls and being greeted by half a dozen cute guys as I entered the Atrium was a novelty. It wasn't the sort of 'hello mami' greeting but an honest one-of-the-guys greeting. It started next week, I was running late only to realize I had gotten the time of my class wrong so I sat in one of the couches of the Atrium alone and started going over my notes for Biological Science. I was alone for a good thirty minutes before Jon plopped next to me, legs splayed out and taking up as much room as possible.
"Becka." His sunglasses were still on and he held a cup of coffee. "I can't fucking believe I have a morning class."
I stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Hi. Why are you talking to me?"
Jon looked around in a most dramatic manner, even putting his hand to his forehead and pretending to look in the distance.
"Were you busy with someone else?"
I flushed and looked away.
"Are you always this prickly?" He asked.
I pressed my lips together and closed my book. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me."
"That was rude of me." He mimicked and sipped his coffee. "Fuck yeah, it was rude. I was trying to be nice."
I looked at him perplexed. "Ok..."
I assumed he had fallen into the conclusion that somehow, through a biological process not understood by anyone other than Jon, we were friends.
"How are you this morning, Jon?"
He smiled, pushing his sunglasses up to his brown hair. "I am doing great, Becky-girl. Where'd you get that nickname, by the way?"
"We had this guy named Carlitos, he used to give everyone nicknames, this was back in middle school, and one day a substitute teacher didn't understand how to say my name. Carlitos loudly explained to everyone in the class that Becka was a girl, he said 'Becky-girl' and it caught. Everyone has used it since." I shrugged. "Doesn't bother me."
Jon nodded contemplatively but I wondered if he'd even heard half the story. He took a sip of his coffee and looked back at me with surprise.
"I remember you! You look a bit different but you're that girl that was with Alvin, right?"
I looked down. "Yeah."
"He dumped you?" Jon asked without tact.
"No!" I gaped at him. "He moved, remember? We weren't actually serious or anything."
"Ahh." Jon still looked me over. "Didn't peg you for his type actually."
"And what was his type?"
"Let me interrupt this conversation before you end up with coffee all over you." Victor sat on the coach next to us. He looked freshly showered, his hair still wet and combed back and he smelled incredible, filling the entire area with his cologne.
"Jesus, man, ease up with that cologne!"
Jon had been successfully distracted and I almost felt grateful to Victor for the interruption. Victor suddenly looked like I had never seen him before, self-conscious and it piqued my interest. He smelled himself and then turned to me.
"Is it too much?"
"You're asking me?"
He nodded. "Well, you're a girl."
I sighed and deeply missed my friends. "I could smell you in the dark."
"Shit," he murmured and stood up.
"Where are you doing?" Jon asked.
"To change my shirt!" Victor jogged out. "Becka, watch my shit, please!"
I did not know when or how he had fallen into the misconception that I was on any sort of friendly terms with him, especially not friendly enough to watch his shit. Or for him to trust me enough not to squeeze toothpaste all over his bag.
"Hey Gendra!" Jon had popped up from his seat and ran after a girl who walked in front of us and I was left alone with Victor's bag.
Unbelievable. I tried to simply go back to my reading but Victor had left his phone on top of his bag so I sighed loudly and dramatically as I grabbed his things from the other couch and placed them next to me. I noticed his bag was neat and clean, like everything about him. He was militant with cleanliness unlike my own bag which had about five gum wrappers and twelve receipts stuffed in the bottom.
His phone lit up and the screen said "Helene". I was extremely tempted to pick it up, but I didn't. I ignored it but I was surprised they were still in communication. I sat for a few more minutes when Victor strode back in wearing a black skin-tight tee. As he walked, I noticed girls right out stare at him and I had to control my urge to roll my eyes into my head. No wonder he was so full of himself.
"Hey, thanks," he said.
He picked up his bag and phone then looked down to it and back at me. I looked as innocent as I could.
"You're welcome." I stood and gathered my things.
"What do you have now?" He stuffed the phone in his pocket and ignored it.
"Western Humanities," I said and hefted my bag to my shoulder.
He nodded distracted and I could tell he was just making conversation; he was looking for others that were not me to hang with until his class. Also, I'm sure it didn't help his extracurricular activities that he would be seen with me, I was after all not Yara or Helene material and there were a lot of girls checking him out.
I decided to make a bold decision for him. To establish new parameters to our 'relationship', especially since he had done me that twisted favor in Prom. We were no longer enemies, but we were standing at an awkward in-between of enemies and friends.
"Four o'clock." I came closer to him and he looked at me surprised. "She hasn't stopped staring at you, you should smile at her, she's very pretty."
He casually glanced at the direction and then back at me. I smiled at him and he raised a brow.
"Are you willingly being my wing-woman?"
I shrugged. "Does it matter? It's not like you have a girlfriend, do you?"
His jaw clenched and I noticed he was actually very good looking; adulthood had done wonders for this face especially as I compared it to the boy I knew in the seventh grade. His ears had been massive then, completely disproportionate to his head. Now he was smooth and sharp and his eyes were a smooth brown underneath thick black brows.
"I'm not sure what I have, to be honest," he said rather somberly.
I shook my head and smiled. "You better figure it out, miscommunications can happen." Then I turned and walked away from him leaving him to figure out his issues.
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
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