Unending Love

by Yesenia Vargas

  “So you guys had a good time, huh?” Jimmy said.

  “Yeah. We did. We’re just friends, but I don’t know. Could be something more eventually.”

  “Do you like him?” he asked as she pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

  “I don’t know. He’s a nice guy, but for now I’m okay just like this.”

  He nodded.

  “What about you and Mayra?”

  “Just friends too. For now. Maybe we’ll take the next step later on.”

  “That’s good. If I’ve learned anything in high school, it’s that relationships need time. You can’t rush them.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “What do you know about relationships? I thought you’d never had a girlfriend?”

  “Not really. Not real girlfriends. I’ve kissed girls and stuff—”

  “And stuff?” She stared at him, trying not to laugh as she parked the car behind her dad’s truck.

  “But I’ve never had a real girlfriend. I’ve just always liked Mayra. And look how long it’s taken for us to realize we might be right for each other. I’m sure not about to mess that up because I want to get laid or something.”

  They got out of the car.

  “Ew,” she said.

  Jimmy put his arm around her shoulder, and they went inside.

  ###

  The next day was Saturday, and Jimmy, Ariana, and her parents were outside, just talking and relaxing.

  “Have you heard back from those colleges?” her mom asked.

  “Not yet. It’s gonna be a couple months.” She settled back and enjoyed the cool breeze.

  They had just eaten dinner, some rice and pork chops. They had come outside to walk to help get their food down, but had ended up just sitting around instead.

  “Basketball season starts soon, mom. Conditioning starts in like two weeks.” Jimmy looked at their parents. He was laying down in the grass. “Are you guys coming to my games this year like you did last year?”

  “We’ll see,” their dad said.

  Ariana was sure they’d come to at least a few games.

  “Conditioning starts in a couple of weeks and then tryouts,” Jimmy repeated. “I should definitely make varsity again, though.”

  “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch,” her mom said. She was watering the garden.

  “I’m not. That’s the way it works. Coach keeps pretty much everyone from last year and replaces the seniors with some freshman and sophomores.” Jimmy flipped over on his stomach and looked at them.

  “Are you gonna be taking me again, Ariana?” He looked at her, and she looked at their parents.

  Last year, she had taken Jimmy to conditioning, tryouts, and basketball practices. Then the whole fiasco with Carlos had occurred, and her mom had ended up taking Jimmy. Carlos was out of jail now, but he had supposedly moved, so hopefully her parents would let her keep taking him. They were allowed to go out other places.

  “We’ll think about it,” her dad said. “We’ll tell you next week.”

  Jimmy stared at him and then looked at Ariana.

  “We’re allowed to go to other places. Why can’t I take him to basketball?”

  “Just listen to your father,” her mom said.

  “Why?” Jimmy asked. He was sitting up now.

  “Because we know that Carlos is already out of jail. So we’re not sure if we want you two out by yourselves for a while,” her dad said. He was smoking a cigarette. He tossed it to the ground and crushed it with his foot.

  “Who told you that?” Jimmy asked, sitting up. Ariana just looked at the ground. She supposed it was a matter of time before her parents found out.

  “A friend of mine is friends with his parents. He got out on good behavior,” her dad said.

  Jimmy and Ariana stared at each other. It was obvious Jimmy didn’t know what she did.

  “He can’t come near us. We’ll call the cops and they’ll arrest him again. Why would he want to come near us?” he asked.

  “We don’t know what that young man is thinking. He might want to get back at Ariana or you,” her mom said.

  “Well, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. He’s not coming near Ariana,” Jimmy said, his eyebrows furrowing. She could practically hear him say “or Mayra” in his head as he got up and brushed himself off.

  “Last time, he almost killed you with just the help of his friends and his fists,” their mom said. “This time, he might have a gun or who knows what.”

  “We don’t even know if he’s going to do anything. I heard he moved to another town,” Ariana said, looking up at her parents. She ignored Jimmy’s obviously surprised look.

  “We’re not taking that chance,” said her dad before going inside.

  Ariana sighed and followed him inside. Just when she thought her life was back to normal.

  chapter seven

  The next day, Ariana was at the grocery store with her mom and Jimmy. She had wandered off with Jimmy into the electronics section, and then she had wandered into the books and magazine section by herself. Her dad had been busy at a friend’s house, so she and Jimmy had had to come to the store with their mom. She had insisted it was because they should get out of the house, but really, Ariana was sure she was still feeling uneasy about the whole Carlos thing.

  She sighed. She could have been working on scholarship applications. Or taking a nap. She picked up a book with pretty girl on the cover. She flipped it over and began reading the back.

  “Boo,” someone whispered in her ear. She jumped and turned around. She knew it wasn’t Jimmy. It had been a different but familiar voice.

  Lucas.

  “What are you doing here?” Her heart was still racing, but she found herself smiling back at him. For a split second, she’d thought Carlos had somehow found her.

  “Um, I have to buy groceries too, you know.”

  “Sorry. I meant hi.” She put the book back on the shelf.

  “You gonna get that?” He nodded at the book.

  “Eh. Probably not.” She looked back at him. He looked nice, as usual, with fitted jeans and a semi-tight shirt. She was in a t-shirt and sweats with a ponytail. Curse destiny making them bump into each other now. “So you’re grocery shopping?”

  “My mom is. I’m looking for my little sisters because we’re about to go get in line to pay.”

  “Well, I think you’re in the wrong section. If I were a kid, I’d probably be in the toy section.”

  They began walking down the aisle.

  Lucas laughed. “I was just on my way there, actually, when I saw you.”

  The store was packed, and they moved out of the way of shopping carts pushed along by parents and grandparents.

  “Didn’t work today?” She glanced at him.

  “I go in a bit later,” he replied.

  She nodded.

  “I had fun the other night. We should do it again.” He stammered a bit. “Mayra and your brother can come too.” They looked at each other. “What I meant was that, you know…”

  “I’d love to go.” She blinked, not believing Lucas was pretty much asking her out at the grocery store while she was in sweats.

  “Really?” His smile returned.

  “Yeah. I had a great time. And I can’t stop thinking about those tacos,” she replied.

  He smiled.

  “One rule, though,” Ariana said. They were at the toy section now.

  “What is it?” His eyes were glued on hers.

  She tried to contain her smile. She could just hear Lucas’s thoughts of panic from the look on his face.

  “I pay for my stuff this time.” She nudged him and finally smiled.

  “Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be able to follow that rule,” he said, looking ahead.

  “Well, if you want to go out with me again,” she loved the way that sounded but stammered herself, “then you’ll have to follow it.”

  “I’ll think about it,” he said.

  They
kept walking and looking down the aisles for Lucas’s siblings. When they got to the end, they saw two girls playing with some bicycles.

  “That’s them. Amy, Jessica! Let’s go.” He motioned to them, but they just ran away. Lucas sighed and turned to her. “I have to go.”

  “See you later.” She was about to walk away when Lucas pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back and smiled as they pulled back.

  “Bye,” he said.

  “Bye.” And she saw Lucas run off after some giggling voices around the corner.

  Someone picked her up from behind, and she screamed.

  “Jimmy!” He put her down.

  “So that’s Lucas, huh?” He put his arm around her, and they began walking back towards the grocery section of the store.

  “Yes. Stalker.”

  “I just happened to be walking by…” he said, shrugging but smiling.

  Lucas walked by a few aisles down, holding his sisters’ hands in his. He turned and looked at Ariana one more time, smiling.

  She smiled back, thinking he must be such a great big brother.

  “He’s cute,” Jimmy said, and Ariana just stared.

  “I mean, if I were a girl, I guess I’d think he was cute.”

  Ariana just laughed. “Okay…”

  They walked back to the grocery section of the store.

  “He seems like a nice guy. When do I get to meet him?” Jimmy went on.

  “Um, how about never? We’re just friends,” Ariana said.

  “For now. I can tell he likes you, though.”

  “You didn’t even talk to him.” She laughed.

  “I can tell with these things. He likes you. You like him.” Jimmy’s voice sounded like a xylophone.

  Ariana just pursed her lips.

  “I get a good vibe from him. And I’ve heard good things too. You have my permission to fall in love with this guy.”

  Of course Jimmy had been investigating along with Mayra.

  “Thanks? Although like I said, we’re just friends.”

  She thought about that. Were they just friends? Lucas had just asked her out again. And she was starting to get a certain vibe from him, like…

  But then she remembered what her parents had said about not going out for a while. So much for going out with Lucas again.

  ###

  The next week at school, Lucas, Ariana, and Mayra were headed to lunch from Spanish class when Mayra saw some people she knew and left to go talk to them.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked off.

  Lucas and Ariana kept walking towards the cafeteria. Ariana stopped for her usual drink from the machines and got Lucas one too.

  “You don’t need to buy me drinks,” he said as he took it from her outstretched hand.

  “Just until I pay you back, which I think I just about have now.”

  Lucas smiled but shook his head.

  They got in line, got their food, and headed to their table. Mayra joined them soon after.

  Lucas kept staring at her throughout lunch, and she couldn’t figure out why. They talked along with everyone else, and sometimes just the two of them, but he kept fidgeting and tapping his foot.

  “You okay?” she asked as he tapped the end of his fork on his lunch tray.

  “Yeah.” He looked at her again and took a deep breath before putting down his fork.

  Then the bell rang, and they exited the lunchroom.

  At the end of the day, she was walking to her car and enjoying the light breeze. It wasn’t hot anymore, but just a tiny bit chilly.

  Her phone buzzed, and she took it out of her bag.

  It was Mayra.

  Hey. Staying after to work on social studies group project. Due tom. Ugh. Riding home with Kayla later.

  Jimmy wouldn’t be riding home with her today either. He was staying for a basketball meeting, and she’d be back for him later, after much convincing of their parents last night. They had finally agreed to let Ariana keep taking Jimmy like last year, but she couldn’t wait for him at school like she had last year. She had to come home in between and check in and out.

  Oh well, she thought. They’d lighten up again sooner or later when they realized Carlos was out of their lives for good.

  Ariana switched to thinking about her presentation next week for her Business Principles II class. The DECA members of the class were already preparing for the spring state competition. She wondering if she should do business speech again when Lucas fell in step beside her.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey. Don’t you have work today?” She looked at him as they walked.

  “Nope. Not today. I’m off.”

  She nodded. “What are you doing today?”

  “Nothing. Just homework and relaxing at home.”

  They arrived at her car.

  She had taken her time walking to her car from her last class across campus, so most of the parking lot was almost empty by now. Even the buses had left.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “Same.”

  There was an awkward silence, and Lucas shoved his hands in his pockets and then took them out again.

  She gave him a small smile, sensing he was nervous.

  “Hey, I want to…ask you something.” His eyes shifted from the ground right to her eyes.

  Her mouth fell open a bit. She screamed inside, wondering if he was about to ask her what she thought he was. She held her books closer to her chest.

  “Here.” He took her books and put them on her car. Then he held both of her hands and looked right into her eyes.

  “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I really like you. I think about you all the time, and you’re just…awesome.”

  He looked down and then back at her. He used his thumbs to massage her hands.

  “Will you be my girlfriend?” Lucas said.

  For a few seconds—or maybe minutes, Ariana couldn’t tell—nothing was said. She simply absorbed Lucas’s words, focusing on them, on him, on the feel of her hands in his. Saving the moment in her memory.

  She looked at him. She hadn’t stopped looking at him. She nodded.

  “Yes.” She made herself stop nodding like a bobble head. “I want to be your girlfriend.”

  She couldn’t believe she had just said that. But Lucas had. He smiled the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. Before she knew it, she was in his arms, being lifted up, and pressed into his chest. She found herself hugging him back with her arms around his neck.

  He put her back down. Their foreheads were touching. She readied herself for a kiss, but it didn’t come.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to ask you that.”

  She smiled. “Really?”

  “Couldn’t you tell how crazy I was, am, over you?” Her hands were in his again. They were oblivious to the cars and people around them.

  “I thought I was just imagining things,” she said.

  Lucas laughed and took her face in his hands. No kiss, though. She couldn’t help but close her eyes for a couple seconds. She looked back at him.

  “I have to tell you something,” she said.

  ###

  Ariana was home. She put her stuff in her room and came back to the kitchen. Her mom was in there. She had just gotten home and was defrosting some meat for dinner.

  “How was school?”

  “Good.” She tried not to smile too much from what had just happened in the school parking lot, but it was hard. “Mom, I have to tell you something.”

  Her mom stopped unwrapping the meat package and looked at her.

  Ariana didn’t know how to begin. She took a deep breath.

  “Oh, God. You’re not pregnant, are you?” Her mom’s eyes looked like they were about to pop.

  “What? No!”

  “Oh. Okay. Then what is it?” her mom asked, now more relaxed.

  “This guy I know…” Her mom pursed her lips. “He’s in one of my classes. And he’s a rea
lly good, nice guy. He asked me to be his girlfriend.” Ariana was fidgeting with her hair. She looked at her mom, who was looking down at the meat package.

  “I don’t want to do what I did last time. I want you guys to know what’s going on. I’m going to be eighteen in less than two months. You can’t tell me that by then I’m still not allowed to have a boyfriend. Or when I’m at college.” She waited. “Mom?”

  “Your dad will be here soon. We can talk to him about it when he gets home.”

  She nodded and went back to her room. She had to handle this like an adult.

  She had a text from Lucas.

  I miss you already. How did the talk with your parents go?

  She replied.

  Dad’s not home yet so no answer yet. But I’m almost 18. What are they going to say?

  Good luck, he replied.

  Twenty minutes later, her dad was home. She knew better than to talk to him before he had something to eat, so she waited a bit longer in her room, trying to focus on a paper that was due in a couple of days.

  Finally, she walked into the living room, where her dad had just sat down from having a sandwich.

  She sat down next to him, and her mom joined them in the living room.

  “I told your dad what you wanted to talk about.”

  She turned to her dad, who was just staring straight ahead and grinding his teeth together.

  “What do you think? Is it okay if I have a boyfriend? I’m almost eighteen, Dad.”

  He exhaled loudly. There were several seconds of silence, but Ariana willed herself to wait for her dad to say something first.

  “There will be rules,” he said finally. But she didn’t hear the rest of what he said because she was hugging him.

  Her mom continued while her dad grunted. “You can’t go out with him by yourself. That would lead to all kinds of things. For example, sex, which can lead to pregnancy. And if you want to go to that college as much as you say you do, you don’t need to be risking anything.”

  “I know. I’m not going to do anything dumb. He really is a great guy.” She tried not to scream or jump in excitement.

  “You can go out with him only if Jimmy goes too,” her dad said.

  She nodded. She could live with that. Or work her way around it.

  “And we want to meet him,” her mom said.

  That caught her off guard.