Amor Prohibido | r. martinez

veintitres

"I thought the quince was cancelled? I already made plans!"

"Celi, I think your plans to binge watch Netflix can wait a week. Olivia wants this quince to be special because it's what her parents would have wanted. Now, teach Cesar how to dance because right now, he's a mess." Ruby pointed over to Arcelia's twin who was stumbling over Olivia's feet.

Arcelia, not even bothering to see the disappointment that was her twin, stomped her feet and threw her head back as she groaned. "You said today we would go on a date, Ruby."

"We can push it back until after the quince. We have less than a week to plan because we went on a break for a day."

"And I get that, but we made reservations and Oscar already said he'd take us."

Ruby rolled his eyes and threw his arms up. "It's just Cheesecake Factory, we can cancel it. I don't see the why you're so angry."

"Because at this point I feel like I'm the only one putting effort into this relationship!" Arcelia exclaimed. "I get that Olivia's your friend and you want her to have a good birthday, but I'm your girlfriend and this entire week, you've barely talked to me."

"Why are you being so selfish? It's a quince, something you've been looking forward to since you were little. You know how important this day is for a girl."

Areclia threw her head back with an exaggerated groan and ran her hands through her hair. "Your whole family is trying to help you, but you won't let them. Take time off and fucking pay attention a su novia. We got back together because you said you were over Olivia and that you loved me, but I still think that you hvae feelings for her."

"What? No, I love you."

"You can love more than one person, amor."

Ruby looked at her then ran into his bedroom. Arcelia stood completely confused and waited for a few minutes to see if he was going to come back. Before she could step away from the house and run home to wallow in her own self pity, Ruby came back out and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I pushed back rehersal so we can go on our date and I moved up our reservation so we wouldn't be dancing at midnight." Ruby explained. "I called Oscar, so he's on his way and I got you this because it's almost our 1 month anniversary and I didn't feel like hiding this anymore since the twins kept trying to use it in their arts and crafts."

Arcelia watched him sit pull out a box with a bow on top in confusion and grabbed it as he handed it over. "You didn't have to get me a present yet."

"I know, but you deserve it. You put up with my craziness and you've given me more than enough love, so this is to show my appreciation."

Ruby smiled down at her and Arcelia looked down at the carefully wrapped box before starting to open it. She took the bow off the top and set it on her head since she didn't want to just drop it on the floor, and started to rip open the wrapping paper from the sides.

Ruby smiled more when Arcelia pulled out the Pandora box and looked at him with her jaw dropped.

"Ruby, how much was this?"

Ruby shook his head. "No importa, open it."

Arcelia looked down at the box and opened it to see a silver charm bracelet inside. She pulled it out and pouted as she looked at the attached charms. "Ruby..."

"Do you like it? It took me a while to figure out what charms to put on it, but mira." Ruby grabbed the bracelet from her and unsecured it to put it on her wrist. "There's a cross because your family's in the Santos, a tear drop because you always say Oscar's your favorite. A palm tree because you always say you want to go to an island, the Eiffel Tower because your dream is to go to Paris. An elephant because you're strong, kind, caring, and very sweet. A rose because you're delicate like a flower and Youtube taught me how to make this one, it's a taco to represent you being Latina." Arcelia laughed through tears and smiled up at her boyfriend.

"Thank you, amor." Arcelia smiled. She looked down at the bracelet once more, then wrapped her arms around Ruby's middle. "I'm sorry I'm overly sensitive and keep thinking you're in love with Olivia."

"Don't apologize, it's my fault for not realizing that I've been neglecting you in the midst of all of this party planning." Ruby commented. "I promise to remember to spend more time with you."

Arcelia nodded and smiled against his chest. "Did I ruin my mascara?"

Ruby nodded, then ran his thumb under her eyes to clean up the makeup she spent so much time on. "Hurry the fuck up before I leave!" Oscar yelled from the car.

"I trust that he'll leave us here, so we should go now." Ruby rushed out. He tugged Arcelia with him. Oscar watched Ruby climb in the backseat and pull the seat back so Arcelia could sit up front.

"How long is this gonna take? I have shit to do." Oscar glared at Ruby through the rearview mirror and made the freshman almost shit his pants.

Ruby gulped and said, "An hour an a half? We can go faster if you want."

Arcelia shook her head, not wanting her date to go to waste because Oscar wanted to do more runs. "Look at my new bracelet."

× × ×

"Ruby, this is my cheesecake." Arcelia whined. The couple had already moved on from their meal and were now eating dessert, but Ruby took the liberty in stealing bites from Arcelia's plate, against her protests. "Stop eating my Dulce de Leche, pendejo."

"But I like yours." Ruby pouted. Arcelia glared at him and cut him a piece to put on his plate before taking a chunk of the cheesecake he ordered. "We're such goals." He smiled, looking down at the pictures he asked their waitress to take.

"Right?" Areclia swallowed her cheesecake and kissed his cheek before putting her head on his shoulder. And to think, I thought Olivia was competition.

I never realized, until now, how lonely I feel when im writing these stories :( ima end up graduating without a boo, watch

Happy day after Christmas :)