I wake up to the soft sound of Joba opening my bedroom door. He has a glass of water and some pills in his hands. He sees me looking at him and he smiles.
"Hey Carmen, sorry if this is like weird or whatever but i dropped you off last night and you were pretty drunk so i wanted to make sure you were okay this morning."
I look at him confused, only one question in my head. "Wait how did you even get in?"
"Oh Danny let me in then went back to sleep. He got pretty drunk last night too."
I nod and the room becomes silent. A nice silent.
"Well im going to let you take these and get dressed. I made you some breakfast so its out here when you're ready. Ill be at the table." He smiles and quickly rushes out the door. I drag myself out of bed and over to my bathroom. I look in the mirror and sigh. My hair is all messy and tangled, my makeup is all smeared, and my eyes are red. How could Joba even look at me when i look like this. I jump in the shower and wash off all my mistakes from last night.
About 30 minutes later i finish up and step into my room. The cold air chilling my skin and forcing me to wrap my towel tighter around my body. I look through the closet and grab a pair of black leggings and a USC tee shirt. I actually do go to USC and probably shouldn't be doing anything with Joba considering finals are coming up but thats a consequence i will live with.
I walk into the kitchen with my hair all wet and very minimal makeup.
"Sorry you have to see me like this i dont really look good right now." I say laughing, taking a seat.
He laughs and serves me a plate.
"But hey seriously, thank you."
"For what?"
"For taking care of me and like caring about me and my well being. Its just very nice of you. Thank you."
"Hey no problem, thats what im here for. Whenever you need me , Ill be there." He smiles, that cute smile that he has.
As we eat, I glance over at him and notice how cute he looks when eating. That may sound weird but he is just overall a really cute and adorable person.
We finish up rather quick and sit there, not really sure what to do now.
"So, would you like to do something with me today?"
"I mean sure, what did you have in mind?"
"I can't tell you, its a surprise. Come on!"
He grabs my hand and leads me into his car. He starts driving while loudly singing along to his music. Its crazy, the longer i look at him and the more time i spend with him the more i like him.
"So Joba, what's your real name?"
He hesitates before answering. "Russel."
I smile. "Thats such a cute name."
"Eh i don't know."
"Im going to call you Russel."
"Okay whatever makes you happy." He looks at me and smiles before focusing back on the road.
We finally arrive in front of what looks like a run down building. I get out of the car cautiously, looking over at Russel.
"Dont worry, I didn't kidnap you and i don't plan to kill you. Its just an old arcade." He extends his hand out to me and i grab it following him into the arcade.
When we enter, I am met with dozens of neon lights and the soft sound of classic 80s songs in the background.
"Wow this is actually really cool, im a sucker for the 80s."
He laughs and leads me to some of his favorite machines. We spend hours playing random games and laughing. It feels so good to spend time with someone without the worry of work or school. I feel like a normal young person for once. I never have moments like this, where i feel free and truly happy.
We finish playing every game in the arcade and we move on to eating dinner.
"So, where to?"
"I don't know, surprise me."
Eventually, he pulls up to a bar that is busy with people. He looks at me and smiles before getting out of the car. I follow suit, worried that he would want to drink. He grabs my hand and we walk inside finding two seats in the bar area. Although i have never been a bar person for many reasons, i kinda like it. We look at the menu until a waitress comes to take our order.
"Can i start you guys off with something to drink?"
"Ill take a beer, Carmen do you want anything?"
"Ill just take a water thank you."
I waitress nods and asks for Russels ID. He hands it to her and looks at me weirdly.
"Are you sure you dont want to drink."
I look at the waitress waiting to take my drink order. "No, im okay with the water thank you." I smile and she walks away.
"Wow, i expected you to at least get a beer." He says laughing.
"Well, i know you dont know this so here it goes. Im not 21 yet. Im still 20."
At first, he looks surprised but soon that look of surprise turned into understanding.
"I guess i dont know much about you huh?"
I shake my head as he grabs my hand and begins to trace over my tiny tattoo of Saturn and 3 little stars on my wrist.
"Tattoos?"
"Yeah i have a few." I say while laughing. "In high school i always thought that tattoos just weren't for me. But when i graduated Danny convinced me to get matching tattoos with him. From then on ive just been getting tiny tattoos."
"So, what was the tattoo of?"
"Well, ill show you eventually but on the ride side of my ribs is a tiny sun. He has a moon."
He looks at me thoughtfully as the waitress brings the food and drinks over.
"Lets play 21 questions."
"Okay can i go first?" He nods and i proceed to ask my question. "Why Joba?"
"It's unique. No one is called Joba so why not?"
I nod and motion for him to ask me now.
"Well this is kind of going to be boring but what are you studying at school. Like your major, minor, all that."
"Okay so I want to be a forensic psychologist. I always have been. So my major is in psychology and my minor is in criminology. Pretty interesting stuff honestly."
He smiles and we go back and forth asking questions throughout our whole meal. After we finish eating Joba hands me the keys and i drive back to my apartment. We enter with no sign of Danny anywhere.
"I wonder where he went. He usually lets me know when he is leaving. Oh well, let me get you some blankets."
"Wait why?"
"Because you're crazy if you think i'm letting you drive home after you drank tonight. Its okay its just one night, Ill be back."
Part of me wanted him to be safe and not drive home and the other part of me wanted him to stay over because i really enjoy being with him. I hate to say it but i think im starting to have a crush on Joba.
