Jimmy was back again. He turned the knob and kicked the door open. He had a tray in his hands. It had yesterday’s leftovers on it: her mom’s rice and chiles rellenos. The stuffed bell peppers looked delicious all of a sudden, even though she was supposed to be moping over her change in relationship status. Jimmy had even heated up some tortillas for her and gotten a glass of orange juice. He knew not to bring her apple juice, which she hardly ever drank.
“For you, mademoiselle,” he said, using the worst French accent she had ever heard.
She smiled and thanked him, realizing what a sweet core Jimmy had even if he tried to hide it with his preferences for violent movies and his displays of gross bodily functions.
He placed the tray on her desk. She went over and sat on her chair.
“Hmm,” she said, smelling it. She thought heartbroken people weren’t supposed to be feel hungry in their moments of loss and regret, but that didn’t seem to apply to her. She was starving.
Jimmy turned on her television and commenced flipping through the channels until he found her favorite show on MTV. He hated MTV, so he must have really loved her. They watched spoiled teenage girls throw extravagant parties and ride away in their ridiculously expensive, birthday-present automobiles as she stuffed her mouth and sipped on juice. When she was done, she went over to the bed and lay down next to Jimmy.
“When can I kill him?” he asked.
“Jimmy!”
“Just kidding. My elite squad of assassins is on its way to his house as we speak.”
Ariana giggled. Jimmy had such an active imagination.
“Really, though. What happened?” he asked her.
She sighed. “Teenage love happened,” she said.
“I told you he wasn’t worth it.”
“I know. I guess we’re broken up now. He got mad at me at the club last night. Said I’m so uptight. Guess he expected me to be okay with him drinking by the gallon.” She hid her face in her pillow, trying to forget.
“What a jerk. You can totally do better than him, sis.”
He stared at the television.
“What are you going to do if he calls you and wants to get back together?”
Ariana was quiet. It hurt that Carlos wasn’t the guy she thought he was.
“I’ll break up with him. In case he didn’t get the clue last night.”
Jimmy hugged her, and she tried to hold back the tears and swallow the lump in her throat. She tried not to think of all the times she had let him touch her, kiss her. She thought it had meant something.
Probably not, if he hadn’t even called or made sure she had gotten home okay. Then again, maybe he hadn’t gotten home okay either, especially if he had driven back home. She didn’t know whether to make sure he was okay or pretend he didn’t exist.
***
Ariana looked at her phone again. No texts. No missed calls. The entire weekend had passed, and Carlos didn’t so much as text. She tried not to think about what that meant.
Jimmy had been right all along.
Back at school on Monday, she tried to get through her day as quickly as possible so she could get back home and lie in bed. She didn’t feel like doing anything. But her classes dragged on forever, and her teachers seemed to have conspired to call on her constantly. Even Mayra couldn’t cheer her up.
“I saw him this morning in the gym. I had to take something to Coach Chandler. To be honest, he seemed like he was completely okay. Like, more than okay. Like, he was laughing and having a great time and telling his buddies what a great weekend he had.”
Ariana just shook her head and looked down at her tray. She had eaten her apple. Now she began picking at her turkey and gravy.
“He is such a bastard,” Mayra said, a little too loudly.
Unfortunately, the assistant principal was passing by their table. She didn’t let anything slide.
“Ms. Lopez, that kind of language is not permitted here. Please accompany me to my office.”
Mayra’s mouth once again fell open. She opened her mouth to argue, but the assistant principal just pointed to the doors.
She rolled her eyes, took her tray, and followed the assistant principal out of the lunchroom.
Great, Ariana thought. Now she had no one to distract her.
She sat there for a few minutes, wondering what Carlos was doing. If he was ever going to say anything to her.
Then, suddenly, he was right next to her.
“Hey, Cinderella,” he said sweetly. He touched her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
She slid away from him.
“What are you doing here? You’re not in second lunch.” She was about to grab her tray and leave, but he latched on to her elbow. She didn’t even want to be near him.
“Just hear me out, okay?”
“Why should I?” She stared him down.
“I made a mistake. I never should have treated you like that.”
“Why should I believe you?” she asked. “I hear you’re having a great time now that you’re single again.”
“You think we’re over? It’s just a dumb fight. It happens to couples all the time. Don’t believe for a second that I want this to be over.” He grabbed her hand, and she tried to pull hers away. He held on firmly.
“I love you,” he said, looking into her eyes. She almost gasped, but she decided she wouldn’t let him have that. She still remembered the look on his face at the club, clearly uncaring. Now he had made things even worse by uttering something so special during such a horrible time.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Let me prove it to you, babe. I promise. What happened Saturday won’t happen again. Those other girls don’t mean anything to me. They’re whatever. I shouldn’t have drank so much.”
She stayed quiet and stared at her food.
“Please just give me another chance, and you’ll see that I’m telling you the truth. Please?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Ariana, please, just think about it.” He squeezed both of her hands. His face was so serious. “I pretended not to care, but it’s just a show. I really do care about you and want to be with you.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Let me prove it to you.” He took off his necklace, the one made of gold--the angel’s wing. She had never seen him take it off. He put it around her neck and secured the clasp.
“I love you,” he said. She could barely hear it.
Ariana tried to tell if he was telling her the truth, but she couldn’t figure it out. She just saw him staring at his necklace, which was now around her neck.
“You don’t have to say it back. Just think about it, okay? I’ll text you later. I gotta go, or I’ll be in trouble.”
Before she knew it, he had given her a quick kiss on the lips and was walking out of the cafeteria doors.
She hadn’t even tried to stop him. The kiss had felt good. She looked down at the necklace.
She held it in her hands, feeling every part of it. She sighed.
***
Ariana wrapped her fingers around the necklace Carlos had given her as she walked to her next class. She pressed her fingers down on the golden chain. She tucked it into her shirt and closed her locker.
Maybe she had been wrong about Carlos. Maybe he really was sorry. Maybe he would change. He deserved a chance. Everyone did.
She walked to class and sat down at her desk in the third row. Mayra came in after her with a pink slip tucked in the front cover of her binder.
“Detention?” she asked as she sat down.
The bell rang, and a couple of more kids ran in at the last second. The teacher shut the door and began walking towards the front of the room to her desk.
Mayra nodded.
“Two days! That lady is such a bitch.” Mayra said.
The teacher turned her head towards her.
“Better keep your voice down unless you want some more detention,” Ariana said with a smile.
“Why are you in a good mood all of a sudden?” Mayra looked at her up and down.
Ariana couldn’t answer because the teacher began talking.
A few minutes later, they were handed worksheets and allowed to work in groups. Perfect for sharing what had happened earlier. Mayra eyed the chain around Ariana’s neck, and she pulled it out.
“He gave that to you?” Mayra pulled the necklace towards her. Her mouth hung open.
“He must really like you.”
“Why?”
“Hasn’t he told you who gave him that necklace?”
“No.” She looked down at it and held it in her hand.
“You remember that girl last year who died in a car accident? Valerie?”
“Yeah.” What did she have to do with Carlos? She remembered there had been a vigil for her at school. She hadn’t known her, though.
“She was his girlfriend. And she gave that to him, like a month before she died. This girl in second period told me.”
“Oh my gosh.” She dropped the necklace and took it off. Shivers ran up her arms and down her back.
“If anything, I think it means he really likes you. Although it is kind of creepy that he would let you wear that.”
She kind of agreed. But she thought about what this necklace probably meant to him. “You think I should give him another chance?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s up to you. Better decide soon, though. Either say yes and keep the necklace or break it off for sure and give it back. It must mean a lot to him.” Mayra kept staring at the necklace.
Ariana thought for a minute. She had told Jimmy that she no longer wanted to be with Carlos. She tried to remember how she had felt. Seeing Carlos drunk with those girls had hurt her, but things like that happened, didn’t they? No one was perfect.
She thought about what she was going to say to Jimmy and Carlos and then got to work on her math problems.
***
That afternoon, she got home and had something to eat. Jimmy came out of his room and walked over to her, eating some cereal.
She had been absentmindedly playing with the necklace again and tried to stuff it back in her shirt, but it was too late.
“What’s that?” Jimmy asked, sitting down next to her.
“A necklace.”
She saw Jimmy grit his teeth. He had probably guessed.
“Carlos gave it to me.” She thought she might as well speak her mind now. He would find out eventually anyway. “I think I’m going to give him another chance.”
Jimmy shook his head and got up. His chair scraped the kitchen floor loudly. He was heading back to his room.
“He promised he would change.”
“Don’t they always say that?” He slammed the door shut.
She snapped. She felt anger boil inside her, and she stormed over to Jimmy’s room. She opened the door so hard it hit the wall.
“What is your problem with him?” She was standing in the doorway, and her upper body was bent slightly towards Jimmy. She was gripping the necklace again.
“Don’t you see what he’s doing to you?” Jimmy said, getting up from his bed.
She waited. What was he talking about?
“He’s blinded you. Completely blinded you. You’re going back to him after he treats you like crap.”
He walked towards her until his face was inches away from hers, and she had to look up to see him. She could see a vein popping out of his forehead.
“If you don’t leave him now, you might never have the courage to leave him. Think about that. Think about what it would be like to spend the rest of your life with Carlos Herrera. Always fighting. Him giving you the cold shoulder, not talking to you for days. Then apologizing, you forgiving him, and him doing it all over again.”
No words came to her. She settled for pursing her lips.
“Is that what you want?” he continued.
“It wouldn’t be like that,” she said quietly. She wasn’t looking at Jimmy anymore. She was looking at anything else.
She turned around and left the room.
That evening, Ariana got another text from Carlos. She read his message, smiling with every sentence.
I’m sorry about this weekend. I know I messed up. I’ve realized how much you mean to me, and I don’t want to lose you. I miss you and hope we can talk about it.
This was the real Carlos, the one she knew and fell in love with. She typed her message back. She stopped and carefully thought about what she was going to say. She didn’t want to sound too desperate. Jimmy had had a point. Carlos had to respect her and value her.
I told you I would think about it. I shouldn’t even do that after what you did. You didn’t even bother to see if I got home okay. But I guess I’ll give you a second chance. Don’t count on there being another one.
She didn’t hit send yet. She read it over and decided it was too harsh. She erased it and typed again.
I told you I’d think about it, and here’s my answer. Yes, I care about you. And I’ll give you another chance. But please don’t do that ever again. I might not be able to give you another chance after this. I want to talk about the necklace.
Now she hit send. She turned on the TV in her room and browsed for something to watch. Then her phone buzzed again.
Thank you. I promise you won’t regret it. I miss you so much. I can’t live without you. Let’s go out this weekend if you can. Let me show a much better time than Saturday. Let’s forget it ever happened. What time should I pick you up?
She responded, the issue about the necklace forgotten for now.
Let me think of something, and I’ll get back to you.
She waited a few minutes for his response.
Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. I miss you.
***
Ariana fingered Carlos’ necklace as she rested her head on his chest. They were in the student parking lot again while she waited for Jimmy to get out of practice. They had plenty of time, so they had decided to curl up in the backseat of his car. She was sitting in his lap sideways.
“So how was your day?” he asked.
“Good,” she replied.
“Got any homework?”
“Yep. You?”
“I probably do.” She couldn’t help but smile.
Her hand was underneath his shirt. She touched the necklace again, feeling the design of the angel wings. She could see how important it was to him but hadn’t been able to bring herself to ask him why. Carlos shifted and coughed.
“Where’d you get this necklace?” she said.
“Why?” Carlos kept staring at the ceiling.
“Just wondering.”
He sighed. “It was a gift.”
She waited, wondering if he would go on. He did.
“From a girl I used to…go out with.” He looked out the window. “She died last year. You probably heard about it.”
Ariana’s mouth was slightly open, and she searched for words. She looked at Carlos. “Valerie?” she asked, even though she was sure she already knew the answer.
He nodded. “Car accident. She had been drinking.”
“I remember. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know, but—”
“I don’t like to talk about it.” He tried to sit up, and Ariana got out of his lap and sat beside him.
“Do you still think about her a lot?” She studied his face. She saw him clench his jaw and blink several times.
Then he stared out the other window. “Yeah. Sometimes.”
She thought about that. “How long were you with her?”
Silence.
“I promise I’m not jealous or anything. I just want to know. I can’t imagine—”
“Almost two years.”
“Wow.” They’d been together less than six months. Part of her wondered if Carlos would ever love her like he had loved Valerie.
He rested his head back again and looked at the ceiling. “I wasn�
��t with her in the car or anything, but I saw her right after it happened. She never had a chance.”
He sighed, and they sat in silence for a while. “It was my fault.”
She didn’t know what to say. “But you weren’t in the car with her, Carlos.”
“We’d had a fight and broken up, and she’d decided to drink to try and forget. Then she drove off when she saw me talking to another girl.”
She saw tears in his eyes.
“She thought I was cheating on her or something and drove off before anyone could stop her.”
She barely heard his words. She stared at the floor, and they didn’t say anything for a few minutes. She rested her head on his chest again, and he hugged her tighter than he ever had.
***
“Two years?” Mayra asked the next day. “Wow. That’s really sad. What else did he say?”
They were at lunch. Ariana had told her what Carlos had said about the necklace he always wore.
“Nothing much. I barely got him to say that much.” She picked at her food while Mayra took a bite of her sandwich and chewed.
“Sounds like he’s not over her yet. I mean, it wasn’t too long ago. Like a year ago, I think.”
Ariana thought about that. “Do you think I should give the necklace back?”
Mayra shrugged. “I don’t know. Either way, do you think that will resolve what he’s feeling? Maybe what he needs is space.”
Space?
“Or maybe he needs someone now more than ever,” she said, looking down at the necklace.
Mayra sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe he hasn’t moved on yet.”
***
A few days later, Ariana was in Carlos’s car at school. Jimmy was still at basketball practice. Carlos was busy kissing her on the neck. She finally grabbed his face and brought it up to hers. They looked at each other for a split second before her lips landed on his.
A few minutes later, they finally took a break. She watched Carlos stare out the window. She thought about how to approach what they had talked about the other day. They had just been making small talk and doing a lot of kissing. She was glad he seemed to be himself for now.
Unbreakable Love Page 17
