Unbreakable Love

by Yesenia Vargas

  So far, Ariana had only been allowed to use the car for school purposes, though. Jimmy’s conditioning sessions for basketball tryouts had started and ended, and now he was staying after school every day this week for the actual tryouts.

  They had fallen into a routine, one that they liked. They would pick up Mayra every morning and let her ride with them. Their mom and dad had finally said it was okay after Mayra got permission from her mom. It meant they could wake up twenty minutes later since they didn’t have to ride the bus anymore.

  In the afternoon, Mayra hung out after school with Ariana during Jimmy’s practices. Or Carlos would keep her company, and they’d hang out in the student parking lot, her car parked next to his, after everyone had left.

  Today, she’d driven up to the student parking lot to meet Carlos. She was surprised to see a small crowd gathered around his car, and she parked a few spots down from him.

  She closed her car door behind her and walked over to where Carlos was standing.

  “Hey, babe,” he said, extending his hand. She took it and stood beside him. She only knew a few of his friends. They were a year older than she was.

  “Hey,” she said to everyone. She didn’t make eye contact.

  Only a few of them responded.

  There were three girls and four guys, not including Carlos. Two of the girls just stared at her like she was a piece of meat, looking her up and down. The other one, who had a guy’s arm around her shoulder, seemed okay. She returned a smile.

  “So the party on Saturday night at Henry’s place,” a guy with a blue shirt said. He had brown curly hair. “Who’s going?”

  Everybody chimed in that they were.

  “What about you guys, Carlos?” one of the girls asked.

  Everyone stared at them. “Yeah, we’re going.”

  He hugged her tighter. She nodded.

  “It’s gonna be awesome. My cousin has a van, and we’re picking everyone up,” a guy said. His hands flew this way and that as he talked.

  “Um, I think we’ll pass,” Carlos said as he gave him a wink.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing out on, bro,” he replied.

  “Oh my gosh,” a girl interrupted. “Did you guys see what Mr. Higgins was wearing?”

  “Uh, no,” one guy said.

  “He’s worn the same shirt for like three days now.”

  “Ew,” another girl replied as everyone laughed.

  “No way,” another guy said.

  “Don’t believe me?” She got her phone out and began swiping at the screen. “I got the pictures to prove it. So gross.”

  Everyone gathered around her and laughed and pointed. Carlos and Ariana looked at each other with a smile.

  “I don’t want to know,” she said.

  “Me neither.”

  Thankfully, soon after that, everyone left. Carlos and Ariana were the only ones in the parking lot again. Just like she liked it.

  “What was all that about?” she asked as Carlos’s friends’ cars left the school.

  “What do you mean?” Carlos asked. He opened the passenger side of his car and sat down. She got in too and leaned on him with her back to him.

  “I don’t even know what party they’re talking about, and you said we’re going. You know how my parents are,” she said. Her arms were over his. They had been doing pretty good since their first couple of… She didn’t know what to call them. They weren’t fights, because he was the only one who had been upset. At her. But it hadn’t happened anymore, and she was glad.

  “I was gonna tell you about it today when you got here. Henry’s throwing a party at his place since his parents are going to be out of town,” he said. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

  She just looked at him. “Like with Mayra last time?”

  “This party’s going to be really late, so maybe I can just pick you up at Mayra’s after your parents go to bed.”

  She thought about it. She hated not being able to go places with him. In public. Hold hands. Kiss. Not worry about being caught.

  “Come on. We haven’t gone out in a while. This is fun, hanging out after school, but we can’t do just this forever.”

  She turned around to face him.

  “We’ll have a good time. Tell Mayra to come along.”

  “Okay,” she said after a moment.

  He kissed her forehead.

  ***

  Saturday couldn’t have come fast enough. She’d given Jimmy a heads up about her plans, but it was almost midnight, and her parents were in bed. She was just about ready, and Carlos had texted her that he would be at Mayra’s in just a few minutes.

  The bad news was that Mayra wasn’t going to be able to go. She had already promised an aunt of hers that she could babysit so she could go out, so she was spending the night at her aunt’s place.

  She opened her window, putting the screen behind her shelf, and stepped out. She walked to Mayra’s house, and Carlos pulled into her driveway just as she got there. She got in and closed the door.

  They kissed each other hello. A few minutes later, they were still saying hello.

  “We should go. Mayra’s mom will be here soon.”

  “How about we head back to my place instead?” he whispered as he kissed her neck.

  “Aren’t your parents home?”

  “Yeah, but they won’t mind.”

  “No way.” She thought about how awkward that would be. “You signed us up for this party, so let’s go.”

  He groaned and drove to the party.

  ***

  There were already half a dozen cars when they got there, and they could hear the music from the sidewalk.

  Inside, she saw all kinds of people. There was some dancing going on and some people sitting around on the couches, talking and watching. Just about everyone had a drink in their hand.

  “I’ll go get us some drinks.” Carlos disappeared into another room. She leaned back against the wall. Carlos came back and handed her a drink.

  “What is it?” She looked at it. It appeared to be orange juice.

  “It’s a screwdriver. OJ with a little vodka. You’ll like it. You can hardly taste the alcohol.” He took a big gulp of his own drink.

  She took a drink. It wasn’t that bad. She was hungry too, but it was clear there wasn’t much to eat.

  She listened to some girls next to her as they talked to each other. She snorted as one of them recounted how she dumped her boyfriend.

  “Here,” Carlos said as he handed her another drink. “Thirsty, are we?”

  She replied by bending her head back to take a long drink.

  “Come on. Let’s go sit down.” He grabbed her around the shoulders and tried to maneuver her.

  “I can walk, you know,” she said as she rolled her eyes. They took a seat.

  Carlos talked to his friend, Miguel, who glanced at Ariana but kept talking to Carlos.

  She laughed. Carlos was so funny. She rested her head on his shoulder.

  The next thing she knew, she was waking up in Carlos’ car with a bit of a headache. She didn’t recognize where they were. But the sky was quickly turning light. She was in the back of his car, and he was in the front seat, asleep.

  She shook him awake. “Carlos.”

  He looked up at her, groggy. “Hm.”

  “It’s almost freakin’ morning! Get me home,” she said.

  He shot up and looked around. “Shit!”

  He turned on the car, and Ariana hopped into the front seat. “Where are we?”

  “We’re still at Henry’s, just a few blocks down.” He blew through a stop sign. Ariana put on her seat belt.

  “What happened last night? I don’t remember much.”

  He looked at her for a couple of seconds before focusing on the road again. “I think you had a little too much to drink.”

  “Oh my gosh. Did I do something stupid?”

  He smiled. “I got you out of there before you did.”

  S
he thought for a moment. “Did we…?”

  “Have sex?” He glanced at her. “No. We did what we usually did. You wanted to, though. Then you fell asleep on me.” He laughed.

  “Oh gosh.” She didn’t remember a thing. She stared out the window. The sky was getting really light out now. It was looking more and more like morning. Her parents might be getting up soon, and she wasn’t even in her bed.

  “Then I fell asleep, I guess,” he went on. “What time do your folks usually wake up?”

  She checked her phone. It was past seven in the morning.

  “Soon.”

  A few minutes later, they were at Mayra’s house. Her mom’s car was there. Hopefully, Mayra’s mom was deep asleep right now. Carlos didn’t even pull into the driveway. He gave her a quick kiss. She got out and gently closed the door.

  “Text me later, okay?” he said.

  She nodded and began walking towards her house. She prayed her parents weren’t awake, and she prayed that, if they were, they didn’t happen to look out the kitchen window. If they did, she’d be dead. No way they’d believe she was just hanging out at Mayra’s this early. Not at this time. Not in these clothes, either, with smeared makeup.

  She went up to her window and climbed in. Someone was sitting on her bed, but her eyes took a second to adjust to the still-dark room.

  It was Jimmy.

  She put the window screen back in place and closed the last inch of the window. She turned and look at him. Then she went to lie down in her bed, exhausted. She closed her eyes.

  “Where the hell were you?”

  “Out.”

  “Mom and Dad woke up like five minutes ago.”

  “Did they notice I wasn’t here?”

  She pulled the covers over herself.

  “No. Lucky for you. Mom told me to come get you so you can help her. She wants to do some deep cleaning early because she’s going to work later.”

  “She never works Saturdays.”

  “She’s covering for someone, apparently.”

  She groaned. She just wanted to sleep.

  There was a passing knock on her door. “Ariana, get up! I’m only waiting five more minutes.”

  “Well, see ya.” Jimmy got up to leave. In the past couple of weeks, he’d gone through a big growth spurt. If he had been as tall as Ariana before, he was now three or four inches taller. And buffer. All that basketball conditioning had really toned him up.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Calm down. I have to go help Dad clean outside.”

  He left, closing the door behind him. That had been a close call.

  ***

  A few days later, Ariana was in the student parking lot again, alone this time. She sent Carlos a text, asking him where he was.

  Her phone buzzed a few minutes later.

  Came to the park with some buddies to play ball.

  She sighed and replied. I thought we were hanging out today.

  She stared out the window until he replied again.

  Oh. Sorry. Just wanted to play some ball today. Forgot to tell you.

  Ariana frowned. Mayra had already gone home on the bus. She checked the time and decided to do her homework and listen to music in her car.

  Jimmy would be out a bit early today anyways. Today was the day he’d find out if he made the team. They were going to scrimmage and shoot a bunch of free throws and some other stuff. It was their last chance to show the coach everything they had.

  She worked on several assignments and nodded her head to music and sang out loud every now and then. A while later, she checked her watch. He’d be out in about five more minutes. She was a bit anxious to find out if he’d made the team herself. She knew how much this meant to him, making varsity.

  He’d said he didn’t know for sure he would make it. There was a lot of talent.

  She finished the last problem on her science homework, and then she packed up her stuff. People had not been kidding when they said junior year would be the hardest. The homework load was intense.

  She threw her backpack in the backseat and hopped into the driver’s seat. She made her way to the gym.

  She parked in front of it and kept the car on. She saw some guys leaving the gym already.

  She saw Jimmy come out of the gym and towards her. She tried to tell by the expression on his face if he was upset or happy or nervous. She couldn’t tell.

  He opened the door, threw his gym bag and book bag in the back seat along with hers, and closed the door as she drove off.

  “So?”

  He sighed.

  “Jimmy, say it.” She drove out of the school parking lot, about to turn right towards their house.

  “I don’t know yet,” he replied. “The coach is going to post the list on his website tonight.”

  “Oh wow,” she said as she looked both ways at the school entrance. “Are you nervous? Do you think you made it?”

  “Maybe? I don’t know. There are a lot of people who are really good, and I’m only a freshman.”

  Ariana sighed herself as they left the school and headed home.

  ***

  Late that night, Jimmy got onto the computer and went straight to the coach’s website. Ariana was on the couch and jumped up to go see.

  “This thing is so slow,” Jimmy said as the page loaded. “Here it is.”

  He clicked on the link for the list and they waited again. Jimmy jiggled his foot and scanned the list immediately after it popped up. Ariana did too, recognizing a few of the names, but only looking for Jimmy’s.

  Then she saw it.

  Jimmy looked at her, mouth slightly open.

  “You made it,” said Ariana, a smile forming on each of their faces.

  Jimmy jumped up. “Woooo!”

  Ariana laughed. Their mom came into the living room with a basket of laundry. “Que pasa?”

  “I made the varsity basketball team!” Jimmy ran over and hugged her, making her drop the laundry. Then he picked up Ariana and threw her on the couch. Ariana screamed.

  “Careful with your sister,” their mom said with a smile on her face.

  Their dad came into the living room as well.

  “Guess what?” Jimmy said as he placed his father over his shoulder.

  “Jimmy!” their mom screamed.

  Jimmy put him back down. “I made the team. Varsity! I’m the only freshman.” Jimmy stared at their dad, waiting for a response.

  “That’s good.” He patted him on the shoulder and sat down on the couch.

  “Are you guys coming to all my games?”

  “Yeah,” Ariana said, nodding.

  “We’ll certainly try,” their mom said as she picked up the laundry again. “Remember, sometimes we have to work late.”

  Jimmy took a seat next to Ariana, the smile still on his face as he looked up at the ceiling.

  “So what happens now?” she asked.

  “We’re off for Thanksgiving break next week, but after that, I’ll have three-hour practices Monday through Thursday and games on Friday. You’ll come to my games, right?” he asked again, searching his sister’s face.

  “Course I will.”

  ***

  Ariana leaned her body against Carlos. They were in the park where he had taught her to drive. They were both in the back seat. It was the week of Thanksgiving break, which meant her parents were at work all day and she got to see Carlos more.

  “Can you believe Jimmy made varsity?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t completely believe it either, but apparently he’s really good.”

  “Hm.”

  “I guess all the practicing he did at home paid off.” She looked at him. “Maybe we can go to his games together. It’d be the perfect time to hang out. They’re on Friday nights.”

  “Or we can go somewhere else.” He stroked her hair.

  “That too,” she said.

  “I really want to go see a movie or something.” He began
kissing her.

  “His first game is next week,” she said as their faces pulled apart.

  “Sounds like a date,” he said, looking at her.

  She smiled.

  ***

  The next Friday night, Ariana and Jimmy were headed to his first game. He was already in his uniform, and he had his gym bag with him.

  “You nervous?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “But this is supposed to be an easy team. We’ve beat them eight years in a row. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

  “That’s good. Do you think the coach is going to start you?”

  “I doubt it. He’ll put in the juniors and seniors first. See how the game goes. But I might get some good court time,” he said. “Especially if they’re as bad as everyone says they are.”

  She pulled up to the gym. “Here we are.”

  Jimmy began to get out.

  “I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours. Just text me.”

  “Pick me up? I thought you were gonna stay and watch?” He put his bag over his shoulder.

  She hesitated. She should have told him sooner that she was going with Carlos to the movies. But she hadn’t.

  “You said so yourself you probably won’t get much playing time.” It came out way whinier than she intended.

  “I know, but it’s my first game. Can’t you and your boyfriend just hang out here? I thought he liked basketball.”

  She hated making Jimmy mad right before his game, but she had already told Carlos they’d go to the movies.

  “I’ll see if we can stay here instead.”

  He rolled his eyes. She didn’t believe her either.

  “Whatever.” He slammed the car door shut and walked off.

  She promised herself she’d watch his next game for sure, no matter what Carlos said.

  ***

  Two hours later, or closer to three, she was back at the gym.