The Nineties (Completed)

March 1997

"Do you know what my favorite thing about March is?" Jolie grinned as she cuddled closer to Rafael on their bed.

"What?" He chuckled at how excited she was about whatever she was going to say, learning long ago that it was rarely what he expected.

"Spring break. It's a whole week without classes, test, or new assignments... AND I'm caught up so I can actually enjoy it."

"You love school."

"Not this semester..." Jolie grumbled.

"You know if you get a B it wouldn't be the end of the world." He knew she put more pressure on herself than was truly necessary, but he also knew that like him, she was a perfectionist.

"I've never made a B in my life and I don't intend to start now."

"I meant on an assignment... you don't have to work yourself to death to ensure every single thing you turn in receives an A, they do average everything at the end. You'd still have your A for the semester."

Jolie looked at him as though he was speaking another language, and one other than Spanish since it was getting where she could understand more of it when he spoke... something completely foreign to her. "I've never made a B."

"Never mind." Rafael chuckled as the phone rang.

Jolie hopped up to grab it, but it stopped ringing before she got there.

"Raf! It's for you!" Sarah yelled from the living room.

Jolie smiled and finished her path to the phone, pulling the cordless receiver off the charger and tossing it to Rafael.

"Thanks." He smiled while pulling it to his ear to answer. "Hello?"

Jolie returned to the bed and cuddle against him again, but when she heard the stress in his mothers voice, muffled as it was, she pulled back to look at him.

"Calm down mami... What happened?"

"Raf?" Jolie whispered, but he held his finger up to silence her while his mother spoke.

"Ok, ok... I'm not sure."

Jolie furrowed her brow, but patiently waited for him to explain.

"I do care mami," he sighed, "I have an exam at nine tomorrow but I can talk to my professors about missing the rest of the day. I'll come as soon as I can rearrange things."

Rafael ended the call and looked at Jolie whose eyes were wide as she now impatiently waited for him to tell her what was going on.

"My father's in the hospital in a diabetic coma." He stated rather flatly considering. Jolie looked concerned as she cupped her hand to his cheek. "I'm fine. He's done this to himself."

"But Raf..."

"No." Rafael huffed. "He knew the consequences and he refused to take care of himself, to eat correctly. Instead he makes my mother wait on him hand and foot, taking advantage of her after years of emotionally and physically tormenting her. I'll go home to New York for Spring Break. I'll sit with them at the hospital and help make arrangements... for her... not him. He can rot in that hospital bed as far as I'm concerned."

Jolie nodded and ran her hand through his hair. She didn't agree with what he said, but she honestly didn't think he did either. That he was still processing the news. His life had been very different than hers, and not just the money aspect, her parents rarely fought and if they did it usually sent them to opposite ends of the house only to come back an hour or so later to calmly talk things out. Her parents were very different from each other, but very much in love, and she had always feared their example had set the bar a bit too high for her... that that was why she hadn't seriously been interested in anyone before Rafael. His parents... well... she didn't understand his parents dynamic. Lucia seemed to be perfectly fine tolerating her husband, but it didn't seem to be much more that that... tolerating. How distress she sounded over the phone made Jolie believe she must have loved him, or still loved him... it just wasn't something she could understand, something she couldn't wrap her head around.