I Don't Need Anything Else

79: Broken Record

1 year later

Valentino

Victor picks me up at the curb of the police academy.

"Could you take any longer? I'm cooking under the sun," I complain as I get in his foreign car.

"For how long am I going to be your chauffeur?" he asks, as I get in his foreign car.

"As long as you want a bodyguard."

He huffs as he merges into traffic. "When do you finish with police school?"

"How many times do I gotta tell you?" I say. "One more year!"

Victor sighs and I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes. "I can't wait for Elena to be your chauffeur."

Immediately, I lean forward. "Why? Did she tell you she's coming back?"

Victor laughs. "Whoa, calm down."

Disappointed, I seep back into the seat. "Just a question."

It's not that I haven't talked to her. Actually, all I do is talk to her. I'm on the phone for hours, talking to her. Throughout the day, we message each other. So I know she's doing way better. But the topic of her coming back doesn't really come up and I don't want to push it on her either.
She'll come back when she's ready. I'll be here when she does.

Victor drops me off at home. "Don't forget, I'm having a meeting at the company at 7. I'll need my bodyguard."

He's only reminded me a million times. "Yes, I know. I'll be there."

I'm still Victor's bodyguard, just not all the time. When I wanted to go to school, Victor decided he would only go out or interact the times I'm out of school.

He's actually been doing amazing with the company. After paying huge fines for all the embezzlement and frauds Arturo had done, he kinda started the company from scratch again, doing things right this time.

Walking up to my door, I see Stephanie and Rico holding hands on her swing. Rico says something and Stephanie bursts out into a huge laughter. After Carlos returned all the money he stole from Rico, he turned himself in. Rico had it tough, his grandma died not too soon after. We were all there for him but Stephanie didn't leave his side once.

I can feel I interrupted something the second I walked in.

Yoselin sits on the couch, red cheeks, and Luis is in the kitchen reading the newspaper.

"You can read upside down?" I ask him. Luis clears his throat, flipping the newspaper over. I stare at him until he breaks.

"My mom's calling me."

"You should go," I say.

He nods so much, his head might fall off. "B-Bye, Yoselin."

She waves at him, not even looking at him, staring at the wall.

"What was that about?" I ask her, a laugh bubbling in my throat. She screams, almost breaking the glass, and runs to her room.

"What're you doing blushing over a boy when you're supposed to be watching your sisters?" I yell after her.

All my other monsters come out, one by one from their rooms.

"She's crazy!" Maribel says.

Luna nods. "Absolutely nuts!"

While these two comment on Yoselin's sanity, Griselda has crawled her way to the living room, unnoticed, and steals the remote.

She's over Dora now and has found her new obsession in some other cartoon.

Leaving them to argue, I make my way to my room and faceplant on my bed, the same thought I've had for a year playing like a broken record.

God, I miss her.

The way her forehead crinkled when she was in a bad mood, the way she said my name like it was a dialect only she could speak.

I miss her dimple that came out every time I made her laugh and her loudness. She is so freaking loud, and I miss it. I miss all of it. I miss all of her.

Sometimes that is the only way I fall asleep; thinking of her and how she'd smile.

So when I take my nap, it's no surprise that I dream of her.