Rosa

Twenty-Five

Veinte y cinco

Rosa looked out the window as they drove. There wasn't really anything exciting to see other than greenery. Looking out the window to her right instead of looking forward at the windshield was better for her because at least she wouldn't see him from the corner of her eye.

Because of how quiet it was, she completely forgot she was in the same car as him. That didn't last very long as she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, making her look and see his finger in between the material of the off the shoulder sleeve and her skin. She was going to shrug his hand off, but then she realized that might cause pulling on the sleeve, so she removed his hand instead. That earned a small chuckle from him.

"You like it?" He asked her.

Instead of answering his question, she said, "Where are we going?"

He was going to answer, but he thought about how to word it. When he didn't know how, he just closed his mouth and left it at that: no answer.

Not much was said after that. It was pretty quiet between them; the only noises heard were coming from outside and that was it. Every now and then they would pass by a car, but that was rare. Although it was quiet, it wasn't that peaceful.

"Maybe I should have known you before I kidnapped you," he randomly said. He glanced at her. "According to you."

Totally not a random thing to say, she thought to herself. Note the sarcasm. She looked at him with a slightly confused look on her face. "What?"

"You told me that earlier. ¿Te acuerdas? (You remember?)"

"Oh," she nodded as she remembered, "yeah."

"Just so you know, I don't like to use the word: kidnap. Oh, and I also don't like to use the word: abduct."

"Yeah?" She snorted. "You may not like those words but they seem to be what you have done, therefore you must somewhat like them."

He sighed. "That's not the point of this conversation."

"Then why did you bring the conversation to that lane instead of turning to the other lane you wanted it to go to?"

He was quiet as he processed what she just said. He tilted his head a little, smiling as he looked at her before he looked back at the road.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" She asked as his smile was suddenly bothering her.

He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about his next words carefully. "You know, we actually met before. Believe it or not."

She raised a brow as she looked at him. "I'm having a hard time believing it." Even though she felt like this was a trick, she couldn't help but grow curious. "But how?"

"I was with some guys. We were at la plaza at the same time as you and your sister. I remember this exactly."

She was quiet as she started to think. When it hit her, in her head she said: So do I. She already knew where this was going. How she didn't realize it earlier was such a surprise and she felt stupid for it. She didn't say anything though; she just looked at him to continue.

He took the signal and went on, "You were at la paleteria. I remember you got one strawberry and one mango."

Mango con chile y limón (Mango with chili and lime), she thought to herself.

"You were leaving while the guys and I were entering-"

"And one of your fucking guys smacked me in the fucking face with the fucking door and made my fucking nose start to fucking bleed."

Oh, well would you look at that! Hmm, five f-bombs in one sentence. Ooh, does that break a record? It seems like it broke a record. Let's go with it broke a record.

Pinche Rosa, he thought to himself as he was quite amused by the number of f-bombs she managed to say in one sentence. He couldn't help but chuckle. "¿No sabes hablar sin maldecir? (Can't you speak without cursing?)

"Don't tell me how to talk," she told him with an attitude. "You guys pissed me off that day. You're lucky it wasn't severe like a broken nose or some shit like that."

He chuckled. "I came to you later on to apologize for him. You basically told me to go fuck off-"

"No, I did not. That is an absolute lie and you know it."

He laughed. "So you do remember?"

She snorted. "Obviously...and sadly." She shrugged as she looked out the window. "I would take that as proof though."

"Proof of what?" He asked as he glanced at her.

She smirked. "That I didn't pay enough attention to you so that's why I didn't recognize you when you took me and I didn't piece everything together until now."

It wasn't until she said it that she realized something: Wait, is that why Gloria asked if they knew each other? It was a good thing she was looking out the window because she had a thoughtful look on her face. If he asked her what she was thinking about, she wouldn't know what to come up with on the spot.

"I'm...gonna pretend that I didn't hear that."

"Why?" She asked as she looked at him. "Not used to hearing that from a female?"

He shrugged. "Maybe...but I don't think that's any of your concern."

"Believe me, I wouldn't care anyway," she told him casually. She didn't want to hear anything about him and any past girls. The main reason was that she didn't care. Another reason is she doesn't care and, oh, she also wouldn't care.

We'll see about that, he thought to himself. He glanced at her for a moment before he returned his attention to the road once again.

The rest of the car ride was silent as no one said anything. That wasn't really a problem though because they weren't that far from their destination: a ranch.

edited