CHAPTER NINE

 

Vince

 

A week before school ended, Vince sat in the back of his Chemistry class. Forrest Gump was on the television in the front of the classroom. Not one person was paying attention, and the teacher couldn’t have cared less. She was busy packing up what was left in the cabinets. This was such a joke. If it weren’t because he could almost taste Rose’s kisses and knew that would be a daily thing for him in just a week when he went back to La Jolla for the summer, he wouldn’t even have shown up this last week.

The last time Vince had seen Rose was just a few weeks ago. Incredibly the La Jolla Morenos had actually waited a few months after Sal and Grace’s baby was born to celebrate having him home. Rose had already mentioned babysitting for them. They’d get a lot of alone time when Sal and Grace needed her to watch the baby while they went out. Vince wasn’t about to blow this.

He could do this. It was boring as shit, and he’d much rather be at the beach like he knew most of the other seniors would be, spending this week there instead of showing up to class, but Rose was totally worth it.

They’d even started talking about doing it. Rose actually said she wanted to but not until the summer when she wouldn’t have to wait weeks to see him again. The anticipation made his pants tighten in an instant every time he thought about it. Things had gotten pretty heavy between them lately. Knowing he’d been her first kiss and being mindful that everything else they’d done was a first for her, too, he’d always been extremely gentle. He was actually a little nervous about it. Since he’d started seeing Rose last year, he hadn’t done it either of course. He wondered if he’d be rusty.

He’d had plenty of opportunities, and Rose probably would’ve never found out, but if there was one thing he’d learned in life, karma was fucking bitch. Not only was he simply not interested in being with anyone else, he’d never do that to Rose. He always knew he wouldn’t, but especially after the day he’d felt like ripping that guy’s face off. After hearing the way that guy spoke to and looked at Rose, Vince wasn’t about to give her reason to do anything he knew might set him off because judging by the way he’d felt that day alone, Vince knew he was now at her mercy. She wouldn’t have to try hard at all to get back at him. Anything he’d witness with her and someone else would set him off, and there’d be no holding him back. And once the dust settled, he’d be in deep, deep shit.

Glad school was over Vince pulled his phone out of his pocket to check his texts as he walked through campus on his way to the parking lot. Someone or something nicked the backpack on his shoulder, and he turned to see it was a guy on a bike that had just flown by him through the crowd. He was showing off, and it was too crowded for that shit. Vince kept walking but kept his eye on the idiot as he nearly hit a few more people.

Vince knew the guy from having a few classes with him throughout the years, but he’d never hung out with his type: the punk type, with black fingernails and piercings on their faces. Vince remembered the guy from back when he actually looked normal. He’d gotten worse and worse every year.

As Vince scrolled through his texts, he kept looking up at the guy who’d already made it to the other side and was on his way back. He was still swerving at the last second to miss hitting people. Vince was about to look down when he saw the guy skid and swerve out of the way just before hitting Anita, but he got her arm with his handlebar. Vince saw her flinch as she held her arm in reaction. The guy didn’t even stop to see if she was okay. He just kept going.

Vince’s eyes went from Anita, who was still rubbing her arm, to the guy who was heading his way again. Vince almost didn’t do it, but when the guy sped up, missing another group of kids by only inches, it pissed him off. As the guy flew by him, Vince kicked his tire. “Slow the fuck down, asshole.”

To his surprise the guy stopped and jumped off his bike. “You have a problem?”

Vince slid his phone in his pocket and walked toward the guy. “Yeah, I do. You hit someone back there. Did you even notice?”

Ignoring his question, the guy got in Vince’s face. “Don’t you ever touch my bike, you hear me?”

Vince had to laugh. “Oh, you must be high. Get the fuck out of my face.” Vince shoved him back, hoping the idiot would have enough sense to stop now and not keep going on with this.

A crowd was already gathering, and there was some chuckling. “Randy, you’re gonna get your ass kicked,” one guy said.

“Yeah, I’d jump on my little bike and get the hell out of here if I were you.” Another one laughed.

“He’s not worth it, Vince,” Anita said as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Don’t waste your time on this loser.”

“Shut up, bitch,” Randy yelled at Anita.

“Watch your mouth, Randy,” Vince warned.

The heckling from the crowd and the sniggering was getting to Randy. Vince could see it in his eyes. They obviously knew what the outcome of this would be if Randy didn’t back down. Randy’s nostrils flared now, and he glared at Vince. The taunting of the crowd still telling him he was going to get his ass kicked was really riling him up. The thought of missing out on seeing Rose next week was the only thing keeping Vince from ending this now. One or two swings at Randy were all it would take.

Vince recognized one of Randy’s friends as he cautiously made his way to the front of the crowd. But unlike Randy, he didn’t look ready to fight. Randy’s chest puffed a little in reaction to seeing his friend. Vince rolled his eyes. One slug at the three piercings on his friend’s brow would have him bleeding all over the place.

Lorenzo and Alfonso were suddenly at Vince’s side. “I got this, guys.”

Both of them laughed. “Yeah, you do. We’re just here to watch.”

“Oh you got this?” Randy pulled out a blade waving it in front of him, and suddenly the heckling crowd was gasping and dispersed just as fast as it had gathered.

“Run away, Vince!” Anita yelled as she rushed away from Randy who was still waving the blade in front him.

Was she kidding? This wasn’t the first blade he’d ever faced, but it was the first with his brother present. He slid his backpack down his arm until he had a good grip on the strap and swung it at Randy’s hand. The blade flew out of his hand, and the second it took Vince to glance at the blade hitting the ground Randy took advantage, landing what almost felt like a soft blow to Vince’s jaw. It was soft compared to the ones Vince pummeled on Randy next: first, one that instantly had his overly pierced lips bleeding then another that knocked Randy off his feet onto the ground.

Scrambling fast, Randy reached for the blade, but Vince picked up the bike and threw it at him. That tossed the blade out of Randy’s hand again, and Lorenzo reached for it. In the next instant a school security guard had Lorenzo’s arm twisted behind him. “Drop the knife, boy.”

Enraged, Vince charged at him. “Get your fucking hands off my brother. That’s not his knife!”

Before he could take another step, there was an arm wrapped tightly around Vince’s neck. Between another security guard and the dean, he was brought down to the pavement where they held his arms behind him, and one of them dug their knee into his back. “Ga damn it, Moreno!” the dean growled. “You were almost out of here.”

The dean’s words echoed his own sentiments, and he knew, once again, his mother would blame him if Lorenzo got in trouble. But the most frustrating of all and what made him angrier than anything else was he knew he’d just blown seeing Rose next week and possibly the whole summer, depending on how much trouble he was in.

 

~*~

 

Rose

 

“You’re being completely unreasonable, Sal.” The tears streamed down Rose’s cheeks now.

“Rose, lower your voice,” Grace warned. “It wasn’t Sal’s decision. Vincent’s parents were the ones who made it. Sal is just supporting it.”

“But why? It wasn’t his fault!”

Sal shook his head. “He needs to start thinking things through and not just reacting, Rose. He’s gonna be an adult next month. He was this close to making it to the end of the year without getting suspended.”

Rose brought her hands to her face, holding in a sob. “But he hasn’t been in any trouble in so long.”

“And that’s why he’s still coming, Rose.” Grace reminded her as if that was supposed to be any consolation.

They were delaying his coming to La Jolla a whole month as punishment for getting suspended. Since they started seeing each other, they hadn’t gone an entire month without seeing each other even when they were in school. He’d made sure to come down at least twice a month if not more. “Don’t you see you’re punishing me, too?

If there’d been any doubt about how Rose really felt for Vincent, there wasn’t any now, and she didn’t care. She’d been looking forward to this so much. This summer was going to be better than the last. And not just because they’d decided to take their relationship to the next level, but because this summer they’d be working side by side at Sal and Grace’s restaurant. They’d be inseparable, and now here Sal was telling her their time together would be cut a month short because that’s how long his parents decided to punish him for.

Realizing that her pleading wasn’t going to get her anywhere, she gave up trying. “This sucks so bad,” she said through her tears as she spun around and stormed out of the kitchen.

“Rosie, honey,” Grace called out.

“Let her go,” she heard Sal’s hushed voice say.

Once in her room, she plopped on her bed and continued to cry. She didn’t want to be mad at Vincent, but she was. It really wasn’t his fault. Right now she was mad at the whole world. Days ago when he told her about the fight, she was sympathetic, until he mentioned Anita. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard of Anita. Rose trusted Vincent, and he’d told her she was just his neighbor, but the fact that he’d taken a chance and kicked the guy’s bike because of Anita irritated her. She couldn’t help it.

Vincent defending or being set off because of another girl had cost them an entire month apart. Rose was trying so hard not to be petty, but the more she thought about it the angrier it made her.

They’d waited for days until his parents finally told him how long they’d be grounding him for. The moment she got the text, she’d stormed straight into the kitchen to plead with Sal whose opinion weighed heavy with Vincent’s dad. She’d hoped somehow she could convince Sal to talk Vince’s dad into seeing that this was completely unfair, but he’d refused to go against Vincent’s parent’s decision.

Now that she knew it was hopeless—that it would be at least a month until she saw him again, she was fuming. She sat up on her bed and grabbed her phone off her nightstand. She had a couple of unread texts from Vincent. She read the first one:

 

Please don’t be mad at me. I’m going down tomorrow to get my own cell phone plan, so we can talk without me having to worry about using my mom’s minutes. I’ll call you every day. I promise.

 

Since she hadn’t responded to him right away, he texted her again ten minutes later.

 

So you’re not gonna respond to me now? You’ll kill me, Rosie. You really want that on your conscience?

 

Normally something like that would make her smile, but she could barely manage not to frown now. She almost didn’t send it, but she reread the sentence and decided it wasn’t an unreasonable request given the circumstances, so she hit send.

 

Tell me about Anita.

 

His response was immediate:

 

??? What about her?

 

She took a deep breath still not certain she wanted to take this there, but it was bothering her so much she had to.

 

Why did it upset you so much that he bumped her that you were willing to chance getting in trouble?

 

She waited and flinched, startled when her phone rang. Surprised to see it was him calling, she almost regretted asking because the only times he ever called had been when it was real important. But this was important. So taking another deep breath she answered.

“Hello?”

“Rosie, please, please don’t get anything in your head about Anita. It could’ve been anyone he hit. I was already pissed because he’d bumped me first, and he was driving around like an asshole. I fucked up, okay? I shouldn’t have kicked his bike, but it had nothing to do with the fact that it was her. I swear.”

Just hearing his voice made her want to cry again, and she brought her hand over her face. “A whole month, Vincent?”

“I know, baby. It sucks and I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. After this month we’ll never be apart again, not for long anyway. When this whole thing blows over, I’ll talk to my dad and Sal about my going to college out there and working for Sal part time. I’ll pay my uncle to let me stay with them. I’ll work it out. I promise.”

This was the first she was hearing of this. When she’d asked him before about his plans post-graduation, he was always undecided. He said he was thinking of college, but he wasn’t sure yet. The thought of him moving out here for good was a bit consoling.

“You really think your parents will be okay with that?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Suddenly feeling a lot better, she remembered he might get in trouble about using his mom’s minutes. She didn’t want to add even one more day to his sentence, so she told him to text her instead.

They texted for a while longer before Vincent said he had to go wash his dad’s car, but he promised again about getting his own cell phone line.

Rose lay there in bed chastising herself for that ugly feeling in her stomach. She needed to let go of the fact that this had all happened because it ticked Vincent off that the idiot on the bike had bumped Anita. He sounded wholeheartedly remorseful about having reacted the way he had. She’d seen him react before, knew it was in him to just snap without thinking, but to chance something like this when they’d been so close? It was all they’d talked about lately.

Enough. He made a mistake, and he was just anguished about this as she was. She wouldn’t hold it against him forever. As a matter of fact he was already forgiven.