The Kick Back

Enough Said

I couldn't believe what Maria was telling me. Even after everything that we had talked about, Stephanie had still felt the need to start something with her over me. I wanted to believe that there was a deeper reasoning than what Maria was telling me, but something in me couldn't trust anything having to do with Stephanie. She might have provoked the situation, she might have not. Either way, I felt like the fight didn't need to happen. They had both been immature and both of them were gonna know it.

"You didn't have to speak to her when you saw her. I don't get why you women feel like you gotta prove a point and play one badder than the other." I yelled. Maria continued to wipe her mouth with a tissue. "Now look at you, all bruised up and for no reason." I said, staring at her like she was the dumbest girl I knew. "Callate idiota! You don't know shit about what happened so don't try to check me about anything." She snapped. I shook my head. "Whatever you say. I still don't think it should have gone that far." I told her. She sucked her teeth and threw her tissue in the trash can next to her bed.

"Just because you still like that bitch doesn't mean you can check me about what happened between me and her. I'm confused because you're checking me about her, but you're here with me." she said. She was right. I still liked Stephanie but i felt like she had been doing better without me. I didn't wanna drag her down or hold her back. Maria was there and she was convenient. I didn't wanna be with her but being around her was comforting. I wasn't right for what I was doing, playing both sides of the fence, but it was working for me at the moment.

"You're right. I probably shouldn't be here." I said, getting up from the chair and heading for the door. So far, me and Maria hadn't been too physical. The most she had done was kiss me and that was where I had planned on drawing the line. But like most women in my life, she was about to catch me at a vulnerable moment, and what happened next I should have predicted. "Wait..." she said, getting up from her bed. She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, staring into my eyes. "I'm sorry. Can you just stay with me tonight?" she asked, placing a soft kiss on my lips afterwards. I would be lying if I said the thought of having sex with Maria hadn't crossed my mind. I hadn't had sex since the last time with Stephanie and I was definitely in need. And Maria knew what we were, just friends. She was a lot like me, if it wasn't established then there was nothing to be expected. So I knew if we did take it there, there would be no additional pressure. We would just be two friends, having sex. I nodded and pulled her body into mine, and then I kissed her. It was nothing like kissing Stephanie but it felt good to kiss someone, especially someone as beautiful as Maria. "I can stay." I told her. Maria made sure her door was locked and for the next three hours...let's just say we had a lot of fun.

_______________________________________________

The next day, I woke up content and relaxed. My mind wasn't plagued with the usual bullshit and I was ready to officially start my weekend. I took a shower, got dressed and headed out of the door. Before I could get to the sidewalk, my father called out to me. I turned around to see him working on some old car that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere overnight with Mateo. I turned and walked towards them. "Hey. What's this?" I asked, wondering what this junky car was doing in our driveway. "Well, I'm fixing up this car for your mother so she can have another way around other than the city bus. She wants to work so it'll be good for her to have reliable transportation." he told me. I wasn't interested but I played it off like I was. "That's good. I'm about to take off so I'll see you guys later." I told them. I started walking off, headed towards Alonzo's place to hang with him and the other guys but before I could hit the corner, Mateo walked up behind me.

"We need to talk." he told me. I ignored him, put my headphones on and turned on my walkman. I kept walking because I already knew what he wanted to talk about. Every conversation people wanted to have with me around that time was always about Stephanie and I was sick and tired of talking about her. I already thought about her more than I should have and even my thoughts were getting on my nerves. I thought Mateo would take a hint and walk away but it didn't happen that way. "Hey..." he snatched my headphones off and before I could think about anything, I reacted. I pushed him as hard as I could to let him know that it wasn't okay to touch me. "Don't fuckin put your hands on me! O seas estupido!" I yelled. He had gotten my attention alright, but that's what he wanted. I waited for him to make another move so that I could knock his ass out. But surprisingly, he didn't touch me again. "Sobrino...I know you're pretty touchy these days but you don't need to be so aggressive. I'm just trying to have a conversation with you about what's been going on." he told me. I calmed down a little. I respected the fact that he didn't snap on me after what I had just done. He kept his cool and talked to me like a man.

"What do we need to discuss? Stephanie? If so, I'm not interested." I told him as I started walking again. He continued to follow me though. "That's exactly what we need to discuss! Things are changing around here and I think you guys had a lot to do with it." he told me. I wasn't interested in that either, whatever was going on in the community didn't have anything to do with me. I had purposely detached myself and in my mind, there was no going back. All I was thinking about was finishing school so that I could end up as far away from these people as possible. "That's all well and good...Tio...but I'm not tryin to be involved in that stuff. I'm tryin to move on with my life and I've got bigger and better things to do. Stephanie doesn't need me. Look at all the changes she made without me, she even looks like she's doin better. I don't wanna get in the way of that." I told him. He nodded in agreement. "All of that is understandable. But I love Stephanie like a daughter and she's hurting right now. She might not act like but she's hurting and I know it. I don't wanna see her hurting anymore. Whatever you have to do to fix things, I want you to do that. And yes she's gotten a lot of life together but there's still so much more that she can accomplish and it'd be great if you were there to support her and help her." he advised. I hadn't heard anyone out that tried to talk to me about Stephanie before Mateo, but for some reason he had my attention and I was actually considered what he was saying.

"I'll talk to her. That's all I can do. I told her before, I don't know if I can deal with all of that that she had going on." I admitted. He put his hand on my shoulder, letting me know that he sympathized with me. "You've gotta let that go. I know you love her because look at the way you act when someone comes at you about her. You're tryin to forget her, but she's unforgettable. I know all about that." Mateo told me, hoping to get a positive reaction out of me. "I'll talk to her." I told him again, hoping that he would leave well enough alone. "Bastante dicho." he said, turning and walking away from me. I did need to talk to Stephanie and clear the air about a few things, and it had to happen sooner rather than later...