Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

FIFTEEN

Mateo smiled. "I have a broken arm... so be nice to me and don't hurt me?"

Jesse laughed. "Nice to meet you, Mateo. I've seen you at our Pops family gatherings, but I've never met you properly."

Tito scoffed. "Really, you don't remember playing handball with him?"

Jesse thought for a moment. "Oh, where you the muchaco with the long, curly hair who couldn't kick at all?"

Mateo glared and chuckled. "Maybe."

Jesse winked. "Welcome. Tito can introduce you to everyone else."

"Sure." Tito said, pointing to the table, "The dude beside Jesse's the infamous Gerardo Garcia, and the guero's Nick."

Nick glared back and shook his head. "I'm not a guero!"

"You can't even pronounce it properly, it's weh-ro, not goo-er-oh or whatever you said," Tito smirked. "He's Jesse's friend. Gerardo's mine."

Mateo waved and smiled at them. "They seem cool."

Tito nodded and looked over at the couple, who were tonguing each other. "On the sofa are Jaime, and Gloria. They're in love, as you can see."

Mateo laughed. "Definitely. They mightn't have a face left by the end of it."

Tito chuckled a bit. "So, that's everyone. Why don't you go and take a seat at la mesa and relax?"

Mateo walked over to the table and sat beside Ricky and Jesse. Jesse passed him an opened beer from the mini fridge on the countertop opposite him.

Mateo grabbed it with his other arm.

"So, what happened to you?" Jesse asked.

"I was in church and I got attacked."

"Which one?"

"The melon one."

Jesse raised his eyebrow and laughed. "¿Qué?"

"Our Lady of Guadeloupe or whatever you call it."

"You mean Guadalupe?"

Mateo nodded. "That place."

"What happened there?"

"I was minding my own business, and I got irritated and needed to do a pee, and then I almost exploded and I went, then I was in there for like ten minutes." Mateo sighed. "Then, that Luis cabron tried to kick the door down and fight me 'cause I was taking too long. So, he got inside and we started fighting and then he the next thing I heard a snap... and I'd broken my arm!"

"Woah, you fought Luis Luis?" Gerardo seemed surprised.

"Who's Luis Luis? I know a lot of Luises. I know Taco Luis, Luis from the bodega, Luis from soccer, Luis from the barrio, Luis the lowrider guy–"

"--Alright, I get it, Luis Saldaña. Chuck's Luis?"

Mateo nodded. "Him."

"Ay, that puto. We're gonna kill him." Gerardo hissed as he cracked his fingers.

Tito rolled his eyes. "No, we're not."

"Then I'll do it myself."

"No, you won't." Tito sighed. "We're not killing anyone, pendejo. We're not starting a war over a fight."

Gerardo shook his head. "If we don't stop it now, it'll never end."

"Nothing major has broken out, sit down," Tito said. "We need to be wise about this. We need to not provoke them. It's only a broken arm."