When You Think About Love - Part One

10: Sweet Sixteen

  The next week and a half passed by in a total blur for Victor. There was another basketball game on the weekend, which meant a lot of extra hours put in at practice. Even though Victor couldn't really play because of his injury, Coach Harris kept him busy running laps around the court, studying new plays, and organizing equipment. One of the college students working at Brasstown had to cancel shifts because of a family emergency, so he'd picked up some extra hours there, trying to get through his ever increasing pile of homework at the counter in between customers. The chemistry project he'd been working on with Mia was keeping him busy too, since they had to turn in their first lab report soon, so he and Mia spent some time working on it together at her house after school on the days he didn't have to work at Brasstown.

Things with Mia were going really well. On Tuesday after the Homecoming dance, he'd gone to her house to work on the project, and they'd gotten a lot done. As it was getting late, Mia leaned in to kiss him and then they spent a while just making out on the sofa in her living room. It had been surprisingly nice, much better than the other times he'd tried making out with a girl at a party. There was something about Mia that just made her so much easier to be with.

She'd pulled back after awhile and with that shyness that she only displayed in moments like those, she'd ducked her head a little and asked him, "What are we doing, Victor? Are we together now?"

For some reason, Tom Davis' face had flashed through his mind just then, that angry, hateful expression right before he'd swung his fist. It made his heart pound with fear, as if it had been him who'd been struck and not Benji.

He shoved the memory away, focusing on Mia before him, on the way her brown eyes were catching the warm light of the lamp nearby. Their hands were intertwined in Mia's lap and he liked the feel of her slender fingers woven between his own. He'd liked kissing her, too, and talking with her, and dancing together.

"I'd like that," he said, whispering it, like he was afraid to be overheard. Was it wrong to want to hold onto Mia? Was it wrong to try and make this work? But what was the alternative? "I mean, if you want to."

Mia's smile was so wide and bright and beautiful. She kissed him again and said, "Yeah, I really do."

So Victor had a girlfriend now, for the first time in his life, and everyone was so excited and happy for him. They took turns eating with Mia's friends on some days and Victor's on others, but always together. Victor dreaded the days they ate at Mia's table, because it was still so hard to be around both Mia and Benji, and even harder now that his heart constricted painfully every time he saw the mottled bruise on Benji's face. But fortunately Benji had apparently made some other friends recently and didn't always eat with Mia's group like he used to. On the days he wasn't sitting there with them, Victor felt torn between relief and disappointment, his eyes always seeking out Benji in the crowd before he even realized what he was doing.

His parents had been thrilled to hear that he and Mia were officially dating now, and although he'd been reluctant to tell them about winning Homecoming King, they'd found out anyway from Felix when he'd come over for dinner. Their excitement about his relationship might have been even more overwhelming if it weren't for the fact that they were forced to tone it down around Pilar, who was still moody and angry all the time after her break up with Eric. Unfortunately they shared the news with the whole extended family, and Abuela Nati gave him a crushing hug at church that week, kissing him, and then suddenly smacking him on the arm and complaining that he still hadn't introduced her to Mia yet.

"You'll just have to let us meet her at your fiesta next weekend," she'd said firmly, and Victor was overcome with horror at the thought of Mia encountering all his many relatives all at once next Saturday. But there was clearly no fighting it, so he just nodded and smiled weakly.