Another Lifetime

Chapter Fifteen:

Cesar's POV:
"So, why haven't you dropped out yet?" Monse asks. "Why haven't you?" I laugh. "Easy, I am way to smart to get stuck in Freeridge. I know how the people who aren't from here think... we already have a million things against us and I'm not adding high school drop out to the list." She explains. "Wait, so you're really gonna try and get out?" I ask. "No, you gotta answer my question first." She shakes her head and lays down on my lap. "Fine." I run my hand over her hair. "I'm not gonna get out, I'm never gonna go to college, so after high school it's all over. I'll just be a Santo and that's it." I tell her the truth. "How about this, if I get out I will drag you out with me." She says and I laugh. "No, seriously!" Monse sits up. "We can live on the run, go to one of those random states no one cares about." She tells me. "Seriously? I'm not giving up California for fucking Wyoming or some shit." I laugh. "Not Wyoming, everyone knows it's not a real place." Monse tries to look serious. "Right, how could I forget?" I say, sarcastically. I touch her cheek with my thumb and she kisses me. "Fine, if I get to be with you, I'll move to Wyoming or even one of the real states." I agree and she rolls her eyes. "I missed the beach." Monse takes a deep breath. "Yeah, me too." I nod. "I kinda wish it wasn't about to rain." She looks up at the grey sky. "It's cool, we can come again whenever we don't wanna be around-" I get cut off when her phone goes off. "It's Latrelle, I gotta answer." She gets up. I only hear half of the conversation but Monse looks pissed. "I'm at school I can't just leave!" She yells. "Listen to me. I'll go home right after school but I can't leave... I understand but not all of us can just drop out!" She hangs up. "Ugh!" She yells and presses the palm of her hand on her forehead. "He swears he doesn't want me involved or anything but the second he can't do something he runs to me!" She rolls her eyes. "What does he need?" I ask her. "You know I can't tell you." She sighs and I nod. "Yeah. I'll get you back to school." I start to get up and she stops me. "Not yet." Monse shakes her head gets on my lap. "Monse, we don't have to-" She stops me. "I know what I'm doing." She tells me but I still pause for a second. I kiss her and Monse smiles. I put one hand on her hip and one behind her neck. "We gotta do this more often." She laughs. "Yeah, too bad we got a whole Romeo and Juliet thing going on." I say and she rolls her eyes. "No... we don't right now. It's just us, who's gonna stop us from doing what we want?" She asks and I kiss her again. I wrap my arm around her back and pull her close. I start to pull off her shirt and she stops me. "I have to tell you something." She stays on my lap. "If I say anything you ugh... you can't tell the Santos." Monse looks upset but I can't promise that I won't say anything. If it's serious enough, they have to know. "I promise." It's not a complete lie. "Seriously Cesar, if anyone finds out what I'm about to tell you I will die." She says it like it's guaranteed. "Ok." I nod. "The Prophets are low on pretty much everything right now. Most of them can't buy guns... at least not legally and our old supplier kinda died. Latrelle needs me to buy a couple things from this new guy. If I do this it means I'm in way deeper than I am right now." She explains while she messes with my chain. "He's making you go alone?" I ask and she nods. "Monse, any random guy selling guns outta his car isn't someone anyone should be alone with." I tell her something she probably already knows. "How do you know it's a guy?" She tries to joke. "It's always an old man with a beer belly and a long white beard." I remind her. "We'll see." She really thinks this is funny. "Monse, the more shit you so for the Prophets the less we can even be around each other." I remind her. "Actually forget that 'cause we can figure it out, I don't want you to get killed." I say and she rolls her eyes. "I'm not like Odessa. Cesar, I grew up around this kinda shit." She says and I nod. "You're right, I'm sorry. If you need help-" Monse stops me before I even finish my sentence. "I'll call Latrelle. You didn't really win over any of the Prophets so they would be cool with this." Monse says. "Yeah, the Santos aren't your biggest fans either. They won't kill you or anything 'cause you saved me but no one besides Spooky's cool with you coming by the house." I admit and she nods. "Thank God for back doors and windows." Monse doesn't sound surprised. "I didn't really expect them to just take me in with open arms." She shrugs. "They just need to get to know you." I kiss her cheek. "No." She shakes her head and kisses me back. "We got lucky but most Santos and Prophets aren't this into each other." She laughs and kisses me. "You really gotta shut off that damn phone." I say when it goes off again. "That's my alarm, we gotta go." She gets off my lap and picks our trash. "Come on, the sooner we go the sooner I get this taken care of." Monse tells me. "Yeah and the sooner we can get back to this." I stand up and pull her in. I lean my forehead on hers but I don't kiss her. "Funny." She says when I pull back. "Gotta give you a reason to come back." I shrug and walk towards the car.