Unending Love

by Yesenia Vargas

  “Good thing I won’t be around then because the roads around here are gonna be a dangerous place to be,” Ariana said.

  It was meant to be a joke, but she couldn’t bring herself to even smile. Instead, she swallowed hard to keep the knot in her throat from forming.

  Not only was she going to give up her current relationship with Lucas for a long distance one, going to UGA meant missing out on Jimmy’s last two years of high school.

  ###

  Ariana stared at the screen in front of her. She had senioritis bad. She had a huge project due the next day for Language Arts, and she still wasn’t done. Not even halfway done. And she still had to work on her DECA project for this year’s competition. She wasn’t even halfway done with that either.

  She was supposed to have finished the Language Arts project at least by now, but kept putting it off. She thought for a minute. This was basically Mayra’s life. Procrastinating even at the very last minute. What had she gotten herself into?

  Each person was supposed to pick a book off the teacher’s list (definitely not Hunger Games) and create this huge presentation about it. She had finally finished reading the book yesterday. Why she had picked the longest book on that darned list, she didn’t know.

  Now it was time to do the presentation, which was basically the hardest part, the actual work, and she couldn’t bring herself to do more than opening PowerPoint.

  “Gahhh,” she said out loud, mostly to herself. Jimmy was taking a nap in his room, and her mom had let her off the hook from helping with dinner since she had this project. And her dad would be home soon.

  She stared out her window towards Mayra’s house.

  Mayra was actually closer to being finished than she was. If there existed the opposite of senioritis, she had it. She had picked a pretty short book, of course, but had read it pretty quickly. Had actually gotten into it. And was already halfway done with the presentation component. Ariana glanced at the time at the corner of her screen.

  7:17 p.m.

  She was probably already done by now.

  She sighed.

  She moved her finger on the trackpad and navigated to the Internet.

  A few minutes on Twitter, Instagram, and her email turned into twenty minutes.

  “Shoot,” she said. And she knew her mom would be done with dinner soon. She was hungry, but then she’d have less time after sitting down to eat.

  Just as she was about to exit out for good and get at least the first slide done, she saw an email from a scholarship she’d applied to. The big scholarship.

  Her mouth fell open as she read the subject line.

  Congratulations.

  “Holy shit,” she said as she clicked. Her heart was already beating about a thousand miles per hour as she tried to make sense of the words in front of her.

  She had won the scholarship.

  Just a few days ago, she’d heard from the HSF people who had organized her tour at UGA. She had been awarded a small scholarship from them. One thousand dollars, and she’d have to reapply each year to get it renewed. It had been exciting, but she knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough to get her through college.

  This was ten thousand dollars each year for four years.

  Her counselor had recommended her for it, and she’d spent a lot of time filling out the lengthy application, which had to include pictures, recommendations, essays, her family’s financials, and her goals.

  I guess they liked me, she thought. She smiled as she read over and over the next steps. She couldn’t wait to tell everyone.

  She took a screenshot and finally exited out. Then she just sat there for a few minutes.

  This was really happening. She was going to UGA.

  She got to work.

  chapter twenty-one

  Fifteen minutes later, Ariana still felt numb. But also hungry as she walked into the kitchen to wash her hands. Her dad walked in the front door and went into the kitchen. He gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and left to change, patting Ariana on the shoulder as he passed. She opened her mouth to talk but couldn’t.

  His clothes were dirty, and he looked tired. “I’m gonna go shower really quick. I’ll be back.”

  Her mother nodded. “Ariana, go wake up your brother. Tell him it’s time to eat,” her mom said.

  She nodded and left, trailing after her dad towards the other end of the house.

  She knocked on Jimmy’s door and walked in. Only his lamp was on, and he was all bundled up in his comforter. He was snoring a little bit. Ariana sat down on his bed and shook him some.

  “Mom said come and eat.”

  “Hm,” was all he managed.

  She spanked him and took off the sheets, a smile beginning to make its way onto her face. “Let’s go.”

  She got up and left, and Jimmy finally rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood up. He looked like a zombie as he put on a shirt and headed to the bathroom. Ariana shook her head and headed back to the kitchen.

  Ten minutes later, they were all seated with their food, except for their dad.

  Her mom had made sopes, one of her favorite meals. Really just about anything her mom whipped up was considered a favorite meal.

  She realized how much she’d miss her cooking next year as she looked down at her plate.

  “How was school? What’d you guys learn today?” her mom asked as they all dug in. Her dad finally showed up and took a seat in front of a huge plate of sopes.

  “Eh,” Jimmy said in between bites. “Same old, same old.”

  “Ariana?” her mom asked as she looked at her.

  Ariana looked at her but froze as she wondered just how to word what she was about to say.

  Now her dad was looking at her too.

  “Um, I actually just found out like thirty minutes ago that I’m getting a scholarship. You won’t have to worry about having to pay for my school anymore.” She slowly smiled as she waited for them to say something.

  They looked at each other. “Is this the scholarship you were talking about a few days ago?” her mom asked.

  “No, actually. This one is ten thousand dollars a year for four years.”

  Her dad put down the sope he had in his hand, and her mom took a swig of her drink.

  “Are you freakin’ serious?” Jimmy asked, his mouth half full of food. “Forty thousand dollars?”

  “Jimmy, swallow,” she said, trying not to laugh.

  He resumed chewing and finally swallowed. He also drank some water.

  “And you’re sure this isn’t a scam?” her father asked.

  “Yep. My counselor helped me apply. They chose one person out of the state for it, and I won.”

  “Congratulations.” Her mom got up, walked around the table, and hugged her. “We’re so proud.”

  Her dad did the same and walked into the kitchen. He walked back out with some tequila and a two small glasses.

  “This calls for some real celebration.” He poured some tequila into each glass and handed the other glass to her mom. For a second there, Ariana thought maybe one of those was for her.

  “When you’re twenty-one, you can have one too,” her dad said as he threw his shot back.

  Her mom was much slower but drank the whole thing. Ariana noticed her take a napkin and wipe at her eyes several times.

  “Don’t worry, Ariana,” Jimmy said as he walked over and put his arm around her. “We’ll have ours later when they’re asleep.” He ignored their mom’s face as he headed back to his seat, and they all resumed eating their dinner.

  “I have to admit I was worried before now about our finances. We just recently started doing a little saving since the raise I got a few months back. Before that, it just hadn’t been really possible.” Her mom looked at her.“You know we would have done whatever necessary to get you to college, but this sure takes a load off.” She paused but looked like she wanted to keep talking.

  Instead, her dad continued. “You should be proud of yourself. This means you’ve earned you
r way there. Do you know how rare that is?” He looked at her mom. “We never would have been able to do that. This country has so many opportunities, so you can be whatever you can be.” He paused again, staring right at Ariana’s eyes. She made herself not look away. “We’re so blessed to have kids who know that and take advantage of that. You’re smart, Jimmy might be on his way to a scholarship for his basketball. You both work hard. ”

  She looked at Jimmy who smiled. She smiled back and took a deep breath, making sure to remember how this moment felt. She never wanted to forget it.

  ###

  “Must be a bummer, huh? The whole Lucas slash UGA thing?” Mayra asked.

  Ariana nodded.

  “But you’re still going to UGA, right?” They were in Mayra’s room. Ever since she had started driving herself around, they hadn’t seen each other as much. So today, they had decided to hang out all day.

  Jimmy had finally gone to take the test for his driver’s permit with her dad this morning. It had been a couple of hours ago, and they still weren’t back.

  “Yep, I’m going.”

  “Well don’t sound so excited there.”

  “I am. It’s just really gonna suck.” She had her arms wrapped around one of Mayra’s pillows so it was covering her abdomen. There was a movie on TV, but they had both lost interest twenty minutes ago. Mayra was scrolling through something on her phone.

  “No, it’s not,” Mayra said as she looked up. “And you better not be all mopey over there either. Meet new people, doesn’t have to be guys, make new friends, join clubs, get involved, go out and have fun. I saw this thing on Twitter the other day. These next four years are gonna be the best of our lives. Don’t waste them.”

  Ariana blinked and thought about that. She had a point. She remembered how excited she had been to leave for college and become a new person with a newfound freedom. Where had that gone? The longer she thought about it, the more she felt those feelings come back.

  And like she kept saying, if she and Lucas were meant to be, their relationship would survive.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she said slowly.

  “I know I am,” Mayra laughed. “Just kidding. Your life is gonna be so cool because you’ll be far away enough that nobody will know you so you can be whoever you want to be. But still close enough you can come and visit whenever. I, on the other hand, will be living at home because the college here doesn’t have dorms, and I can’t afford an apartment. Like half the people graduating are going there, so it’s probably gonna be like high school all over again.” Mayra rolled her eyes, put her phone down, and began flipping through the channels on her TV again.

  Mayra has a point, she thought. This was going to be a fresh start for her.

  Just as she envisioned joining clubs, going to meetings, and maybe even going to a party with new friends, someone barged through the door.

  She turned towards it.

  Jimmy. With a driver’s permit in his hands. He was out of breath.

  Mayra laughed. “Did you just run all the way here?”

  “Yeah,” he said breathing heavily. “Maybe I should have driven, huh?”

  He was wearing his basketball hoodie with his name and number on the back and the school mascot on the front.

  “Anyway, guess what I got?” He jumped and landed on the bed next to them. “I passed with flying colors, a.k.a. a seventy.”

  “Oh, God,” she and Mayra said at the same time. His arm was around Mayra, and he kissed her on the cheek.

  “Who wants to go get a milkshake or something?” he said.

  “No, thank you.” Ariana got off of the bed and went over to the desk chair.

  “Maybe later,” Mayra said. “Besides, don’t you have to have an adult with you?”

  “In theory,” Jimmy replied.

  Ariana stared at him.

  “So what are we watching?” Jimmy said, ignoring her look. He couldn’t keep still. He kept moving his arms and legs around and then moving around on the bed. “Did I mention I had a huge coffee this morning to wake up? I think it’s still having an effect on me.”

  ###

  “Man, I can’t believe basketball season is over. This sucks. And we didn’t even win,” Jimmy said as he dribbled the ball around their driveway. He faked left then right even though no one was in front of him or blocking his way. Then he shot.

  Swish. No surprise there.

  “Second place in the state isn’t bad, though.” Ryan ran to get the ball. “What are we going to do with all our free time now?” he asked as he took a shot. Another swish.

  Mayra and Ariana were sitting on some lawn chairs enjoying the sun. They had played a short game of two on two, but she and Mayra needed a break.

  “Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Mayra asked Ryan.

  “No,” Ryan said. He swung his head a little so his hair got out of his face. He was always doing that.

  “So you guys want to play another round? We can switch teams if you want,” Jimmy said.

  “Nah,” Mayra said. “Later.”

  “You said that like twenty minutes ago,” Jimmy said, walking over to her.

  “So?”

  Ariana sighed and wished Lucas was there. But he was at work. He almost never got Saturday off.

  Jimmy sat next to Mayra in another chair, but it was like there was nothing between those two. He kissed her on the cheek and had his hand on her back.

  Mayra closed her eyes and smiled. Ryan kept shooting.

  Even if she missed Lucas, she liked seeing Jimmy and Mayra together. It was like they couldn’t get enough of each other, like they were making up for lost time or something.

  “Your mom still doesn’t know you two are going out?” she asked Mayra.

  Mayra opened her eyes. “Nope.”

  Ariana smiled and shook her head. Her parents didn’t really know either. None of them had said anything, but Ariana knew they would figure out sooner or later. They always did.

  “Then have our parents be all uptight and paranoid and not let us go out together anymore?” Mayra asked.

  Jimmy didn’t say anything. He got up and began dribbling again.

  Ariana wondered how he felt going behind their parents’ back. Not that it was the same thing as her and Carlos last year. That had been different. This was Mayra, who her parents knew well and trusted. She was a good person. Carlos had been different.

  She got up and grabbed the ball when it bounced off the back board. She shot but missed.

  “I just think you guys should say something.” They stared at her. “I mean I’m not going to. That’s your business, your call.” She grabbed the ball again and kept dribbling. She shot again. This time it went in. “Sooner or later, though, they’re going to find out, and it might not be pretty. You know how Mom and Dad can get.” She looked at Jimmy, who was sitting now.

  “We’ll tell them,” he said. “At the right time.”

  Ariana sighed but didn’t say anything. What was holding them back?

  ###

  “Hey, you,” Lucas said. It was after school. It was also Lucas’s day off, and they had all lied to their parents to be together.

  Ariana put her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. They were lying on his bed.

  “So you told your parents what?” he asked.

  “That I had to make up a test after school.” She didn’t want to leave the warmth of his body so her voice was kind of muffled.

  “Do you really have a test to make up?”

  “Not at all.”

  Lucas laughed. “Where’s Jimmy? Wait. Let me guess. With Mayra?”

  “Yep.”

  “At her house?”

  “Yep.” She tried not to think about what they were up to. Meanwhile, Lucas’s mom and sisters were out visiting a relative or something. They wouldn’t be back for a while.

  “Do you think your parents are gonna find out?” She looked up at him and scooted up to look at him better.

  “Nope. Th
ey’re at work.” She glanced at her phone. “My mom might be on her way home, but I’ll get there a little after her and just pick up Jimmy on the way.”

  “Does that mean you have to leave soon?” he asked. His voice was a hoarse whisper.

  She saw Lucas shift his gaze from her eyes to her mouth. Her upper body was kind of on top of him, and her thigh was against his. Then she saw him glance farther down than her face and raise his eyes back up to her eyes.

  She had an idea of what he had been looking at, and it made her mind go a little crazy. She realized she was staring down at him, and now her mouth was slightly open. She closed her eyes as Lucas’s face came up to meet her.

  First, his lips pushed against hers softly, but she could feel his hands trembling as they held her waist. Ariana pulled back a centimeter and opened her eyes to look at Lucas. He did the same.

  She had never seen him look like that. In the next second, she decided to close her eyes again and move her face until his mouth was on hers again. This time, she pulled on each of his lips. He responded, and then she could hear his heavy breathing. And she realized was breathing heavily too. Her hands were around his neck and in his hair.

  When she thought she couldn’t feel any more good, she felt his tongue brush hers, and her mouth let out a high-pitched groan before she could attempt to control herself. Then Lucas’s hand moved from her waist to her butt and stopped on her upper thigh.

  There it was again. His tongue on hers. She liked this. She moved her tongue into his mouth, and this time, it was Lucas who groaned.

  He pulled on her thigh until she was completely on top of him. One hand grazed her butt, and the other creeped under her shirt. Not too fast. This was new territory for them, and she knew he would stop the instant she wanted.

  She didn’t want to stop, though. This felt right. It felt good.

  If there was a guy she wanted to do this with, it was Lucas.

  She opened her eyes as his mouth moved to her neck. The sound of their breathing was turning her on more. She looked down at Lucas’s slightly curly hair before closing her eyes again.

  Lucas’s hand had reached the clasp of her bra, but he only gripped it. Didn’t unclasp it.

  She moved until they were facing each other again. She wanted to feel his mouth again, as good as the kisses on her neck felt.