Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

treinta y cinco

"Ruby, you're squishing me." Arcelia whined, trying to get Ruby to wake up so she could get up. Ruby groaned but didn't move. Instead, he gripped Arcelia's waist tighter and pulled her closer.

"Arce, you want-" Oscar stopped in the doorway, opening it wider and staring at Ruby and Arcelia in bed together. "Bitch, wake up!" Oscar yelled dragging Ruby off of his sister and throwing him onto the floor.

Ruby jumped up to his feet and looked up in fear to Oscar who stood between him and Arcelia. Arcelia was only wearing a bralette and her sweatpants were covered by the blanket, so it probably looked bad to Oscar.

"Oscar, stop it.  We didn't do anything."  Arcelia pleaded, pulling the cholo back before her small boyfriend was beat. 

"Nah, why you half naked with him on top of you?"  Oscar asked angrily, picking up the blanket and covering Arcelia's chest while still keeping eye contact with Ruby.  "Matter of fact, why's he sleeping in your bed?"

"O, cálmate.  Estábamos sólo durmiendo."  Arcelia told him, grabbing his face to stop looking at Ruby before he pissed himself.

However, Oscar wasn't letting up.  "Put your damn clothes on and get in the car."  Oscar told Ruby, throwing his pants and button up to him and walking out, leaving the couple to just stare at each other.

Ruby looked at Arcelia in fear, then started putting his clothes on.  "If I die, bury me with my purple tie."

"You're not going to die, gema."  Arcelia said, standing up with her arm against her.  Ruby put her shirt on, then helped her with her sling before kissing her cheek.  "I'll see you later."  Arcelia waved on the porch. 

Ruby sent her a terrified look that screamed "help me" while Oscar just glanced at her and started driving down the street.  Hopefully, I still have a boyfriend by tomorrow.

× × ×

When Oscar came back, Arcelia was surprised to see Ruby walking behind him and to the backyard.  Rather than going to the donation boxes, Arcelia called Jamal. 

"So yeah.  We can't come because Ruby is possibly being murdered and I might be grounded until Oscar dies.  Unless he passed my grounding in his will."

After feeling lonely, Arcelia got up and went to the backyard.  Oscar was at the grill and Ruby was right beside him. 

"You're cutting it wrong, Rubes."

"Learn how to cut a lime."  Oscar and Arcelia took Ruby at the same time.  "You cut like a serial killer."  Oscar grabbed the knife from Ruby and a lime while Arcelia stood beside then with her arm still in her sling.  Oscar demonstrated for Ruby, then let him do it on his own.

"It's all about north to south."  Arcelia commented.

Oscar nodded and watched Ruby cut.  "Good."  He commented, sucking a slice of the cut lime and and throwing it before picking up his beer.  "You're excused."

Ruby liked around, looking to Arcelia the backyard and back to Oscar.  "I'm excused?"

"Yup.  I listened, you listened.  You can go."  Oscar said.  "Or you can stay."  Oscar offered, pulling out another beer and putting it in Ruby's "station".  Ruby opting to stay and since Oscar was offering him food, Arcelia took some for herself.

Ruby's phone started buzzing, and he groaned.  "Damn.  Yo, get off me already."  He said, looking at his phone before putting it back into his pocket.  "It's my mom.  She was on me about going to church, on me about hanging out with my friends.  Now she's blowing me up, wondering where I am."

Arcelia and Oscar looked at each other, since a mother was like a foreign concept.  "Pressures of the privileged."

Ruby rose his eyebrows and looked up at the two.  "Privileged?"  He scoffed.  "I live in a house with bars on the windows."

"With 2 parents inside and a college waiting for you on the outside."  Arcelia commented, eating more of the food Oscar finished cooking.

"Exactly.  Don't whine to me about your mom."  Oscar said.  "No one took care of the 3 of us when our mom was out there."

Ruby looked down at the table, holding the beer bottle to his chest.  "I didn't mean to-"

"Be ungrateful?"  Oscar asked, dropping the knife he had and letting it bounce on the table.  "I get that your friend's dead and your girlfriend was shot, but why do you think no one came to finish the job, huh?  Cause of me!  And think about how fast that truce happened.  Me, again."

"I'm sorry.  I didn't know."

Oscar nodded and went back to curing the meat.  "There's a lot of things you don't know.  Like what it's like to walk into a job interview with a record.  You think Wal-Mart's gonna hire someone with 2 strikes?" 

Arcelia noticed Oscar's cutting getting more aggressive and stood beside him, rubbing his shoulder and trying to calm her down.  "Está bien, O."  Arcelia said softly, but Ruby's words overpowered hers since she was a lot softer.

Oscar threw down his knife, again, and turned to Ruby.  "I ain't joking!  This shit's real.  That's the kind of stuff that makes a man snap!" 

Oscar turned to Ruby as he yelled, but Arcelia restrained him as she rubbed his back to calm him down.  "Cálmate, O."

Oscar panted and looked down to Arcelia who was silently fearing for Ruby.  Oscar turned back to meat on the table and started chopping it again.  "Being mad at the world won't help you.  It'll only hurt you."

Ruby turned away from Oscar, but Arcelia looked up at him, beginning to realize all the feelings he's been bottling up.  While she was always ranting to him about her problems, she never thought that his problems ran deeper than Los Santos.

× × ×

Once Ruby left and Arcelia ate with Oscar, Arcelia had went to take a shower.  In there, Arcelia was thinking of what to say to Oscar and when she came out, she immediately went to Oscar's room. 

"Sup, baldy."  Arcelia greeted.  "Why are your titties out?"

"Shut the hell up."  Oscar said, smacking his lips and not moving as Arcelia walked to his bed.

Arcelia crawled in beside him and pulled the blanket over her while Oscar just watched her in confusion.  "You having nightmares again?  I'm not singing again."

Arcelia shook her head and got comfortable.  "I just wanted to talk.  You seemed upset about the whole Wal-mart thing earlier."  Arcelia said.  "I didn't know you were looking for jobs."

Oscar just glanced to Arcelia and nodded, setting his phone down before turning to her.  "What about it?"

Arcelia shrugged and pursed her lips.  "Are you okay?  Something about the stuff you were telling Ruby didn't seem like you.  You sounded...hurt."

"I'm good."  Oscar shrugged.  "I just wanted to try to get a job to prove to you and everyone else that I'm not a complete failure."

Arcelia furrowed her eyebrows.  "You're not a failure, O.  I look up to you."

"Don't."  Oscar said.  "Unless you plan on dropping out, joining the gang and going in and out of jail, don't.  I'm not a good influence, especially not for you."

"Your actions might not be influential, but you're still the strongest person I've ever met."  Arcelia told Oscar.  "Plus, you've taught me so much, and raising 2 kids on your own as a teenager seems like the hardest thing to do.  Yet you did it.  You're not a failure."

"Until I've actually accomplished something in my life, I will be."

Arcelia pouted and tilted her head as she looked up to Oscar when an idea came to her head.  "What if I help you get your GED?"