“I stopped by the bakery, and I was eating a donut and—”
“The bakery closes at nine o’clock.”
I clear my throat. “You didn’t let me finish. I stayed outside the bakery eating the donut.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
I put my hands on my hips. “That’s what happened, Mom. You know me, what else could I be doing?”
Letting a boy kiss my neck in the cemetery.
My mom narrows her eyes. “You better not be lying to me, Raquel.”
“I would never dare, my sweet mother.” I give her a hug and kiss the side of her face.
“Your dinner is in the microwave.”
“You are the best.”
“And go upstairs and give that dog of yours some love, he’s done nothing but crawl around the house depressed.”
“Aww! He misses me!”
“Or he’s hungry.”
Both are very possible.
After devouring my food, I go up to my room, and Rocky comes running out to greet me. He almost knocks me down. He’s getting bigger every day.
“Hello, beautiful, cutie, fluffy doggy.” I rub his head gently. “Who’s the cutest doggy in the world?” Rocky licks my hand. “That’s right, you are.”
My phone chirps in my jacket pocket and, closing my bedroom door with my foot, I check the message. It’s from Joshua, my other best friend. I haven’t seen him in days because I’ve been spending so much time with Dani.
Joshua BFF: Are you awake?
Me: Yes, what’s up?
A second later, my phone lights up with a call from him.
“Hi, Rochi,” he says as soon as I answer. He has always affectionately called me Rochi.
“Hi, Yoshi.” And I, of course, call him after the dinosaur from Mario Kart. He reminds me of Joshua, and he’s cute. They’re not the most mature nicknames in the world, but in my defense, we picked them when we were children.
“First of all, the crazy girl is not with you, right?”
“No, Dani must be at home.”
“Finally. You’ve completely abandoned me for her. I’m already forgetting your face.”
“It’s been four days, Yoshi.”
“That’s a long time. Anyway, how about tomorrow we binge-watch The Walking Dead?”
“Only if you swear to me that you haven’t seen the new episodes without me.”
“You have my word.”
I walk around my room distractedly. “It’s a deal then.”
“Your place or mine?”
I look at the calendar on the wall. “Mine. Mom has a double shift tomorrow, and my TV is bigger.”
“All right. See you tomorrow, Rochi.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I smile at the phone as I hang up and remember the times when I thought I had a crush on Joshua. He’s the only guy I’ve interacted with and shared so much with. But I would never dare put our friendship at risk when I wasn’t sure how I felt. Joshua is nothing like Ares. He’s shy and cute in his own way. He wears glasses and a hat that he never wants to take off.
Unconsciously, I walk over to the window. Will Ares be out there on the patio stealing my Wi-Fi? My heart skips a beat just imagining him sitting there with his laptop and that stupid, arrogant smile that looks so good on him. But when I open my curtains, all I see is the empty chair with a few drops of water on it from the rain this past evening.
I look at Ares’s house and at his window. The light is on, but I don’t see him. I sigh in disappointment. I’m about to give up when he appears in my field of vision and grabs the hem of his shirt to take it off over his head. I blush instantly at the sight of his naked torso.
That flat, defined abdomen . . .
Those strong arms . . .
Those tattoos . . .
That V in his lower abdomen . . .
It’s hot in here suddenly.
I drop my gaze, cheeks coloring, but I can’t help but take one last look at him. To my surprise, Ares is standing in front of the window, looking directly at me.
Shit!
I drop to the ground and crawl away from the window. Rocky tilts his head to the side in confusion.
“Don’t judge me,” I tell him seriously.
My phone rings again, scaring me. I pray to God it’s not Ares making fun of what just happened. I open the message nervously.
Ares <3: Do you like what you see?
Me: Nah, I was just looking at the moon.
Ares <3: There is no moon. It’s cloudy.
Me: I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have neighbors stealing my Wi-Fi.
Ares <3: Your signal doesn’t reach here.
Me: Just making sure.
A long time goes by and I don’t think he’ll say anymore, so I take a shower and put on my pajamas. I come out of the bathroom, drying my hair with my towel, and I see a new message on my phone.
Ares <3: Why don’t you come over here and make sure in person?
The message is from five minutes ago and takes me by surprise. He wants me to come to his house? At this hour? Is he . . . Is he inviting me to . . .
The towel falls out of my hands.
No.
I’m a virgin, but I’m not stupid, I know how to read between the lines.
I get another message that makes me jump.
Ares <3: It’s fun to scare you. Good night, Stalker Witch.
Was it a joke?
I don’t think so. Ares Hidalgo just invited me to his room to do who knows what in a subtle way, but he still did it. And what confuses me the most is the fact that I hesitated instead of running over there. Apparently, I’m all talk and no action, as Dani would say.
Silly, silly, Raquel.
SIX
The Advice
“He can’t die!” I scream at the TV screen. “This is what I hate about The Walking Dead! That fear that one of my favorite characters could die at any moment.”
Yoshi eats Doritos next to me. “The episode is about to end, and we won’t know who dies.”
I snatch the bag of Doritos out of his hands. “Shut up. If that happens, I swear I’ll never watch this show again.”
Yoshi rolls his eyes and adjusts his glasses. “You’ve been saying that since the first season.”