Sober me would have made up a lie. I sigh. Here we go. I take a moment to figure out how I explain the feelings of the fourteen-year-old version of me. That kid was a nervouswreck, and even though this topic made me anxious, I was not that nervous kid anymore.
“Yes. I was planning on asking you out, but I got nervous. Berto found me in the bathroom, and after his whole confidence speech, which was horrible by the way, I went out, and you were already dancing with Juan Carlos.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asks.
“Nope. It’s my turn to ask a question.”
“Actually, you already asked a question. ‘Who told you that’ is a question. My turn. Why didn’t you say anything?” Isa smirks.
It’s thetraviesasmile she often gives, her eyes matching the mischievousness. The smile that made my lungs feel like they were going to collapse.
“Because he was the ‘it’ guy, Isa. You were the kindest girl in school, and everyone wanted the new guy with the deep voice and mustache. He wanted you and I couldn’t compete with that.”
We stare at each other for a moment after my confession.
I don’t get to ask my question when Greñas walks in.
“Greñas!” Isa screeches and leaps toward my brother.
“Hey Isa!”
He nods to the car, and Isa and I slide into the back. The ride to her house is quiet as Greñas plays his oldies on the stereo. The liquor and my ill-timed confession leave us both quiet and staring out the window. I watch as she sways to the beat of the music.
“Isabella,” I finally say, and she turns to look at me.
“Yes, Manuel?”
“It’s my turn, for the question, no?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“If I had asked you out then, what would you have said?”
She looks at me for a moment, her silence as loud as the distance between us in the back seat.
“I don’t think I would have said anything,” she says.
I can’t help the way my heart clenches at the disappointment. What do I even say to that? My delayed response is cut short when she undoes her seatbelt.
“I would have done this instead,” she says, closing the distance between us and grabbing my face.
The whole world slows down. The only thing I can make sense of is the way her eyes are intently gazing into mine. When her lips lower to mine, there are no words to explain the euphoria. I’ve waited for this moment longer than I can remember. It’s there and gone in an instant.
The car stops, and she turns, exiting the car and running inside. Adrenaline courses through me, and I’m stuck questioning if it really happened. I lick my lips to find the taste of her lip gloss and watermelon. Then, Greñas brings me back to reality.
“Dude. Did she just kiss you?”
9
ISABEL
Calling all Santos and Walter Mercado
Isabel
What are you doing?
Junior
