Last Kiss Goodbye • Teenage Juice Ortiz

42 - Standing Up

Edited

THE PAST

As they made their way closer to their neighborhood, Juan stopped the bike and turned towards June. A swarm of butterflies travelled through his stomach when he saw her radiant face. He put that smile there. She was so happy because of him – it was almost hard to believe. Only this morning he had been trying to convince himself that he had to find a way to get her out of his head, and now, less than 24 hours later, she was his girlfriend. She was his - his alone.

Her questioning look dragged him back to the reason that he had stopped and he quickly pulled himself together. "Do you want me to take you home or do you wanna have a drink or somethin' at my place?" A little nervous his hand drifted to the fingers she had laced on his stomach. "I uh, I thought... maybe we could tell my brother. That we uh, that we are together now. And my mom – she might be home as well, I mean if you want to that is."

Maybe then he might have finally done something good in his mother's eyes; although she could be a real bitch to his friends, he couldn't imagine that she would dislike June.

June seemed to hesitate, although she nodded eventually. "Okay, that sounds good." She showed him a nervous smile and he squeezed her hands before heading in the direction of his home.

After parking the bike in the front yard he grabbed her hand and walked to the door. Doubt plagued him as they entered, the smell of pot wafting from further in the house. A little ashamed his eyes flashed to see if June had noticed. When laughter arose in the living room, he felt her tense. A bit clumsily he laid an arm around her waist after hanging up her coat, and he pressed a small kiss to her lips hoping that it would help to calm her down.

It sounded like Emilio was still over, leading him to believe that his mother had chosen to spend the night at her boyfriend's again. If she had been home, she would have sent him away a long time ago.

"We'll just have one drink, 'kay?" he whispered as he realized that there was a

June looked him briefly in the eye and nodded. He squeezed her side as they stepped into the living room. The moment he was able to take in the room, he wanted to turn around. Out of reflex he pushed June back into the hallway as he saw what the two were watching, but they had already been spotted.

"Hey! There's our love birds!" Emilio yelled – so loud that the neighbors could probably hear him as well. "C'mon join us!" Chuckling, his friend spread his arms in an inviting gesture. "June! You can tell us what kinda stuff you're into! We got lots you can pick from!"

His heart sank as he saw her shocked face. Right now he wanted nothing more than to take her home, but he knew it would only make it harder to bring her back here another day.

"They're just high."

Skittishly, she looked at him. "You do that too? D-drugs? And – and..."

"I'll smoke pot every now and then, that's all. Same goes for Emilio." He wasn't sure about his brother, but he was pretty sure that if he took pills it was only at parties. "And um... usually we just watch an action movie or something... not porn."

There was no doubt in his mind that she had never watched porn in her life and nervously he stroked a strand of her hair behind her ear. What if this disgusted her? Every guy of their age did it – but perhaps not as openly as they were; in the living room.

"You wanna leave?"

With a sigh she bent her head. "No," she said to his surprise. "Never mind. I guess I'll have to get used to this. They mean a lot to you."