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Maria had no idea what she was going to find when she followed Michael’s hysterical directions.
It was all fine whenever he was playing the guitar and then he lost it. Something in him just snapped and he started freaking out, struggling to find his keys through his tears. Maria thought it was insane that he wanted to drive like that, but he insisted he had to go, so she offered to drive. Now, as they drove into the desert, she was regretting the offer.
She regretted it even more when he made her skid to a stop in a random place and jumped out while the car was still moving. She put the truck in park and ran after him, hoping to make sure he didn’t do anything too stupid.
A cave came into sight that he was barrelling towards and was able to catch up just as they stumbled inside. Maria froze as she saw a giant purple-blue glow with none other than Max Evans inside. What the hell?
“Papi?” The voice was unmistakable and Maria was again thrust into shock as she turned towards it. Rosa stood alive and breathing with a blanket in lieu of clothing. Before she could make a move, Michael ran to her. Rosa seemed to have no caution for modesty as she wrapped him in her arms, pulling him down to tuck his head under her chin. “You’re so old and scruffy, what the fuck.”
“How are you alive?” Maria whispered and Rosa just smiled, opening an arm for her. Maria easily molded into the hug, not even bothering that Michael was just a blubbering mess as he clutched onto her. She gave him an arm around him as well.
None of the made any sense but she was willing to accept it if it meant Rosa was here and hugging her.
-
“I can’t believe you.”
“Excuse me?”
Isobel shook her head as she watched Michael sip his coffee, going back and forth between giving her full attention and texting Rosa. It was so strange seeing him actually having a normal friendship with someone. They’d both insisted they were close in high school, but just no one noticed. Isobel feels like she would’ve noticed and that now they were just being more open about it rather than sneaking around.
“For a decade, you thought I killed your friend and you never said anything,” Isobel scoffed, shaking her head. She tried not to focus on how bad it hurt that he never mentioned it and was never allowed to grieve properly because of it.
Michael shrugged as if it didn’t matter. It mattered. “Look, there was nothing I could do. I knew you weren’t in your right mind and since she was dead, you and Max were all I had left. I needed to protect you, I couldn’t put my own feelings first.”
Her chest felt a sharp pang and she looked down at her own coffee. She hated that she never noticed. God, how had she never noticed?
-
“Rosa, seriously?”
Liz couldn’t help but be confused as Rosa watched Michael bend over the hood of the old car he’d found for her.
“What?” she laughed, “He got hot.”
“I can’t believe I never knew you two were even friends, much less close enough that you let a white boy call you 'Mami’,” Liz scoffed, shaking her head. Rosa shrugged and tilted her head as if it would give her a better view of his ass in his faded jeans.
“I keep good company,” she said and a smile broke out on her face, “Besides, it’s really funny when he says it.”
“Mami!” Michael called as if on cue, coming closer with sweat dripping down his bare chest. Liz couldn’t help but cringe as she heard Rosa sigh happily. “I forgot to tell you, I heard some old lady talkin’ about you.”
The two women raised their eyebrows in intrigue. “Do tell.”
“Apparently, the similarity between Elena Valenti and Rosa Ortecho has not gone unnoticed,” he grinned, leaning over her chair. Liz scrunched up her nose as they got close without a thought. She hated when they did that. She felt like she was intruding even though they insisted it was nothing more than friendship. “Heard that there’s a big theory that there’s some affair in the Valenti bloodline. No one even thinks it’s fishy.”
“Then it looks like Alex’s idea is working,” Rosa mused. Michael smiled wider at the name.
“Are we surprised?” he asked before dropping a kiss to her head which caused a smile. “Gonna go shower.”
“Are you sure it’s platonic? You know you can tell me,” Liz said seriously once he disappeared into the airstream. Rosa groaned, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, Liz, it’s nothing,” she insisted, “Michael is extremely into Alex and I have my eye on someone a little shorter and a little more woman. I think it’s bullshit that two people can’t be affectionate without it having to be something other than friendship.”
“I guess,” Liz said, though she still had her suspicions. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of the weird relationship between them. Still, Rosa shook her head.
“It’s not really a guess situation, Liz. That’s how it was when he was 16 and had never had anyone touch him that wasn’t violent. He deserves someone who doesn’t have ulterior motives and I don’t,” Rosa insisted, “Besides, I don’t have to defend my friendship.” Liz nodded despite remaining skeptical.
“Okay, you’re right.”
-
“Get out!”
“I am too fucking old to be thrown out of a girl’s bed by her dad, Valenti! Fuck off!”
Kyle was fuming as he watched Rosa laugh and Guerin hold a pillow over his head. All he was doing was trying to do his brotherly duties and wake her up so she wouldn’t be late for work, but he instead found her in bed with Guerin which was absolutely not okay. Rosa had no pants on and Guerin had no shirt or pants on and he did not approve.
“She is too young for you! She is 19! Get out!” Kyle yelled again, snatching the pillow away from him. Guerin made a face, rolling over.
“He literally stays over all the time, Kyle, calm down,” Rosa laughed. That did not calm him down.
“She is nineteen, Guerin!”
“We’re not fucking, holy shit.”
“You’re half-naked in her bed!”
“It’s 102 degrees outside!”
“I don’t care! Doesn’t give you the right to be in bed with a teenage girl!”
“I didn’t do anything! And if I did, multiple people, including my boyfriend, would probably skin me alive so leave me alone!” Guerin shouted, crossing his arms over his head. “And, by the way, no one said anything when she was 18 and I was barely 16 and sleeping half-naked in her bed, so I feel like there’s some double standards here!” Rosa pouted in adoration, reaching out to rub his back.
“You alright, Papi? Bad wake up call?” she cooed. Guerin simply whined in response. Kyle was about to lose it. “Also I’m technically 30, so…” Rosa said, giving him a wild smile. Kyle huffed and turned to storm out.
He was going to tell Alex about this.
-
“They’re friends, Kyle.”
“I’m annoyed by how calm you are.”
Alex chuckled, closing his laptop and sliding it into his backpack. He and Michael were going very slow and working their way to being solid friends before they did anything too crazy. They had had a long in-depth talk about how they wanted to go about things after Rosa and Maria had pressured Michael into making them actually talk. After that, it was super easy for Alex to stop feeling like either of them were a threat. Not that he liked that he felt that way in the first place, but he will admit that he did.
“They’re both consenting adults on top of it. Even without her literally dying, she’s almost 20 and she’s been through a lot. I think they’re good for each other,” Alex decided. At first, their relationship was a little uncomfortable, but Alex was probably the first one to realize that they related on a level Michael was lacking. It was good for him.
“I don’t like it, she’s my sister and he’s… Guerin,” Kyle said, looking disgusted. Alex smiled, shaking his head.
“He’s not that bad.”
“I don’t trust your judgment when it comes to him,” Kyle said. Alex shook his head, but let him continue to ramble. “He called you his boyfriend by the way.”
“Yeah?” Alex asked, a small smile pulling at his lips. They hadn’t really given anything a title, but they had agreed not to see anyone else while they tried to work with each other. The fact that he was considering a boyfriend made him feel a bit better.
“See, this is why I don’t trust your judgment!”
When Alex got home that night, he found both Michael and Rosa on his couch which had become pretty common these days. Alex had missed Rosa a lot, she was the first person to make him feel like he could be himself and say fuck it to whatever other people thought. He found it funny that while she was being that person for him, she was also that person for Michael. They could’ve so very easily been together earlier if Rosa’s two worlds had collided for a moment.
“I heard Kyle tried to throw you out this morning,” Alex chuckled, easily falling onto the couch between them.
“Which is why we’re on your couch and not his,” Michael noted. Alex smiled, shaking his head as Rosa tucked herself into his side.
“You’re just in time, though, ‘cause Papi made popcorn and it’s spooky movie season,” Rosa stated. Alex relaxed deeper into the couch with a nod, hearing his front door lock itself with the assistance of Michael’s brain. When Alex looked to him, his eyes went from Alex’s shoulder and back to his eyes. Alex threw his arm around the back of the couch and Michael took it as a go-ahead.
Alex ended up smashed in between the two of them, feeling each of them jump when lame scares would come on the screen. It was oddly comforting and he decided that this could become his normal and he didn’t think he’d mind.
Actually, he believed he loved it.