𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐒, Alex Alvarez

three - pretty boy

•~3rd person P.O.V~•
TRANSLATIONS: SPANISH TO ENGLISH (done by google translate so the translations are probably shit😭)
"Papito!" - (Alex's nickname)
________________________________

"Hey Pen, I was wondering-" Alex saw the small flinch that raked through Maria's body. She didn't seem to notice it, but she did at the same time. Like she knew it would happen but she didn't expect it at the same time. Like it was a normal thing to happen. "Alex has a girl over, that's different for you." Maria could've sworn that the man's voice was familiar, she would've sworn on her mother that she knew the man, but she stayed silent.

"That's Maria, Alex's project partner." Penelope introduced her, but Maria was busy writing down supplies they'd need.

"What're you doing?" Alex asked, he hadn't written a single thing. In fact, his notebook was still stuffed in his backpack that was thrown into his room somewhere.

"Project ideas." She replied, her eyes not leaving the paper.

"Maria?" The man asked, but he didn't seem to be talking to her, instead, he must've been talking to Penelope.

"Maria Perez, the most popular girl in my grade, and probably every grade." Maria shook her head, her cheeks dusting with blush again. Alex smiled again, seeing the blush on her cheeks. She'd never really blushed at anything he'd said, or if she did then she hid it well.

"Maria Perez?!" Her eyes finally drew up from the paper, her jaw dropping as she saw Schneider standing in the Alvarez home.

She hadn't seen Schneider since she was nine, at her mom's funeral. Schneider was her godfather, Schneider's father and Maria's grandfather were best friends. Which happened to be code for business friends. Maria's dad and Schneider were nowhere near best friends, but Maria's mother liked him.

She liked him a lot. She was the one who wanted to make Schneider Maria's godfather, just in case. Schneider was ecstatic, he loved Maria. When Maria was little, she considered Schneider her best friend and secretly viewed him as a goofy dad. A dad with an awful drug and alcohol problem, so much so that Maria made him promise to stay clean after he got out of rehab again. That was a long while ago.

"Schneider?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows, Maria quickly shot up and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You've gotten big." He smiled as she pulled away. Maria swallowed down the lump in her throat. After her mom died, there was no need to see Schneider anymore. At least not in her dad's eyes.

"That's not something you should say to a teenage girl." She chuckled, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"How do you know Schneider?" Penelope asked, looking between the two. Penelope knew of Schneider's rich upbringing, and his current rich situation, but she never thought Alex's rich friend would have any correlation to him.

"Schneider's my godfather." Maria smiled proudly. To her, Schneider was the best person in the world. Someone who you had the privilege to meet and befriend. You had to be extremely privileged to be his goddaughter too.

"What crazy person decided that?" Penelope laughed, just as Maria sat back down next to Alex. She felt her fingertips grow cold, her mom had decided. The mom that she loved dearly, that loved her dearly, that she watched die right in front of her eyes.

"Maria's mom, she really liked me." Schneider smiled, plopping down on the couch. Liked. Past tense words again, Alex thought, that couldn't have been good. He didn't understand why he noticed so many things that had something to do with Maria, he did but he liked to pretend he didn't.

"I'm guessing you didn't randomly barge into their house." Schneider shrugged, Maria could tell he had kept their promise. He was clean. Maria was glad. "How do your parents know Schneider?" Penelope asked Maria, now this was a story Alex wanted to hear.

"My grandfather was business friends with Schneider's father, so my father and Schneider were around each other a lot." She answered but left out the part where her dad said he never liked Schneider. He said he was unfocused, and that he was too worried about having fun to go far in his work.

Maria didn't care. She liked Schneider and that was all that matter. Maybe he could help her. Help her in some way, any way. She wiped the thoughts from her brain, he couldn't help her. Not even if he tried.

"Maria, would you like to stay for dinner?" Lydia asked, Alex was quick to look at her and to pray that she'd say yes. No one had seen him so interested in a girl before, at least a girl who seemed to have no interest in him. They could all tell he was head over heels in love with her, everyone except for Maria.

"Well, I've gotta be home at ten o'clock so I can stay if it's before then." Alex thought that ten was an odd curfew, even for a fifteen-year-old, but then he remembered what Maria said. That her dad didn't like her hanging out with guys, so she was trying to get home before he did.

~

"So your mom has you keep the door open so she can see what's happening in here even though we're not dating or anything?" Alex nodded, watching Maria walk around his room and softly touch things.

"Yeah, she must think you like me," Alex smirked, but he knew it was the other way around. His mom had asked a million questions about Maria, he was quick to answer them all, and she was sure that he wouldn't have remembered so much about her if he didn't like her romantically.

"Hm," She hummed, tracing the picture frame that captured Alex and his dad with her index finger, "I wonder what gave her that idea." She said, almost to herself but also to Alex. "Your family's cool." She blurted, still staring at the picture of Alex and his dad. Such love filled his father's eyes, and they looked especially happy.

"Cool?" He laughed, cool wasn't a word he would use to describe his family. Maybe Abuelita, not anyone else. "I wouldn't say they're cool." He admitted as Maria sat down on his bed next to him.

"They love you," She shrugged, "that's cool enough." Alex was about to respond when Maria started to gather her things. It must've been ten, which made Alex frown. He wanted Maria to stay longer, to learn even more about her, and about her family that she spoke so vaguely about.

"Is it ten already?" He heard a small giggle emit from Maria's lips, making him feel overwhelmingly embarrassed.

"Yeah." Alex trailed behind her as she walked to his front door. He was like a lost puppy dog following the nicest-looking stranger. Maria made him feel weak in the knees. She made him feel less confident than he did when he talked to other girls, although he was great at pretending. Abuelita did always say he was a great actor.

Maria was his kryptonite, and he didn't entirely hate it. He wasn't afraid to admit it either. Maria seemed to be the only person who thought it was a joke when he confessed his undying love for her. He wasn't sure if it had anything to do with her, maybe she didn't like anyone could like her the way Alex did. If that was the reason then he was utterly confused why she thought that way.

Or maybe it had something to do with him. Maybe he said things too smugly, maybe he made it sound like a joke, or maybe Maria thought he was one of those popular guys that asked girls out for a joke. He didn't know, but he was desperate to know. He'd never felt so deeply for a girl ever before, and it sort of scared him.

"Maybe you could come by tomorrow, and we can actually start on the project instead of you flirting with my sister." Maria giggled, shaking her head slightly. Her smile made Alex gulp and lean against the door as if he'd fall if he didn't.

"I'll think about it," She leaned closer to him, "pretty boy." She smiled, turning on her heel and leaving. Meanwhile, Alex was left speechless. What was he supposed to say back? It was the first time a girl had ever made him blush, usually, he was always dishing out the blush! Not the other way around!

"Papito!" He blinked, realizing he was still standing in the doorway and staring off into space. "Papito, c'mere we gotta talk." He immediately knew what his mom wanted to talk about. Maria, that was what. He didn't mind, he could talk about Maria for hours if he could.
________________________________
A/n: sorry for the lack of chapters, I'm currently on vacation and my mom wants us to be doing something 24/7 😭(not complaining, I very much appreciate this vacay!) but I hope you enjoyed it! (btw I translated Alex's nickname and it means daddy?? not sure how he got that nickname lmao😭)
Word Count:1,532