Last Kiss Goodbye • Teenage Juice Ortiz

39 - A New Beginning

Edited

THE PAST

The atmosphere at home hadn't improved over the past weeks. While his brother and mother hadn't gotten into another fight, the words she had spoken still lingered in the air. Everyone was walking on eggshells and he knew the bomb could ignite at any moment.

School break wasn't helping things either, it condemned him to the house even more now that he couldn't escape to his classes. During the hours that his mother was home, he had taken to avoiding her by locking himself up in his room to play some video games or he would slip out to see Emilio. Even though his mother had insisted on taking a job as a dishwasher at one of the nearby restaurants, it proved to be a good way to get away, even if it was boring as hell and gross.

"You ever hear from that redhead again by the way? That stripper?" Emilio's voice dragged him out of his thoughts. Juan turned away from the computer screen to watch his friend, who was sprawled across his bed, flipping through a magazine.

Frowning, as he looked at the naked woman on the cover. "You seriously brought that here to read?"

"Yeah dude. My mom freaked on me last week. Noah found one of these and the lil' shit thought she was being funny and cut out some pictures, stuck them to the fridge." He chuckled at the memory. "Mom found them right before some of their friends showed up. She was furious, turned my whole room upside down and threw 'em all away."

Juan grinned and thought about Emilio's six year old sister. "You probably have scarred that girl by now."

"Not my fault. I've been askin' for a lock on my door for ages and I've told her a thousand times to stay away from my stuff." Nevertheless, there was a wide grin on his face. With a tilted head he looked back to the dirty magazine, then he turned it towards Juan. "Left or right?"

Juan looked briefly at the naked girls. "Right... I guess."

Emilio smirked. "Seems like you're finally improving in your tastes."

"You won't find my taste in a magazine like that."

"Guess you're right. Can't imagine June bein' in one. Unless they do some kind of chastity edition." He started to laugh. "Oh I can already picture it. Her in –"

"We agreed not to talk about her anymore, remember?" The mentioning of her name had already caused a jolt of pain to course through his stomach.

Emilio rolled his eyes. "You didn't answer my other question either – did you get to do it again with that chick?"

"No."

That however didn't mean that he hadn't seen her again; no less than three times had she had surprised him as she left Mateo's room. Contrary to all the other chicks he had slept with, he hadn't kicked her out before the sun came up and he hadn't even been bothered that she hung around in the morning for a cup of coffee before she left.

Juan wasn't happy about it at all. Every time he saw her, he remembered that night. How he had moaned June's name as Lorraine had blew him, and how she had gotten him to slobber all over her like some well trained puppy. The memory of it still left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Maybe she's gonna be your surprise. Get to practice your skills," his friend grinned.

Juan knew that Mateo's surprise was the reason that Emilio was still at his house; he surely hoped for a stripper or access to some exclusive party. Earlier today his friend had asked him if he wanted to go to the pool hall that night but he had turned him down; a few days ago Mateo had told him to keep this evening free and when he had told Emilio, his friend had practically invited himself for the surprise.