Roads That Cross...

... With Interruptions (Part 2)

I dedicate this chapter to all my new Discord friends ♡

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The Roller lights turned on as the natural light began to fade away.

Closing time was nearing and the cafeteria was looking emptier. Only some customers remained, lost in animated conversation with their friends, sipping half-finished drinks in between anecdotes. The rink always closed before the cafeteria, so Eric would show up soon to help to serve the last customers.

Ámbar stretched in her seat. The Roller's banquettes were comfortable but sitting in the same position all day took its toll anyway. She grabbed her phone and began to check Instagram to rest her mind for a while. She only had one more document to revise for the day so she was in no hurry.

"Hey."

Ámbar looked up from the memes and the rollerskating videos to meet Simón's gaze. "Hi, my love."

He stood in front of her table. "Just wanted to remind you that I'm gonna go with the guys to rehearse for Matteo's video. Eric is gonna stay to close up. We are gonna go directly from here so, I probably won't see you until we come back for dinner or somewhere around that time."

She smiled tenderly. He was so attentive. "Okay, sure, have fun."

"Thanks."

He stayed there for a moment, kinda just nodding to himself.

"Oh, and, um..." Simón grabbed a chair from the next table and sat in front of her. Ámbar furrowed her brows a little bit, curious at his behavior. "I saw you earlier, by chance, walking out of the dressing room with Benicio," he told her conversationally. "What..." He shrugged. "What did he want?"

'Who were you talking to?'

She quickly pushed that thought away. That had been just a coincidence; Benicio didn't know anything.

"What did he want..." She thought out loud. "To be honest, not even I know. To bother me, I guess. As always." She rolled her eyes. "He just can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that I chose you and I'm happy," she complained and scoffed at her own statement. "Not like it was even a difficult choice to make."

Simón's posture seemed to soften. His gaze filled with warmth and a little smile curved his lips. "I see."

After a second, he dropped the dreamy look and straightened in his seat. "I'll talk to him tomorrow," he decided, a serious determination falling over his face. "Tell him to leave you alone."

'You never told me who you were talking to on the phone.'

"No, don't bother," she told him with a dismissive hand gesture. "I can handle him. It's more boring than troublesome, really."

He looked at her, uncertain. "You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," she eased him. It wasn't a lie; Benicio was more bark than bite. He had nothing over her, nothing concrete. As long as she kept him at a distance and didn't fall into his games, everything would be alright.

Simón must have seen that she meant it because he conceded. "Okay. But if he keeps messing with you, tell me right away, okay? Whoever messes with you, messes with me; I won't let him do whatever he wants."

Her heart swelled with fondness. "Thank you."

He shrugged one shoulder. "It's nothing."

It was not nothing though. He probably didn't realize it, but not everyone was willing to treat another person's problems as if they were their own, and much less offered to do so. A voice inside of her screamed that she needed no one to defend her, that she could deal with everything by herself. Maybe that voice would never go away; part of her didn't want it to. But she was working on quietening it down, because it was nice having someone like him, it was nice knowing she could not take care of everything alone. She didn't want to lose that.