erik menendez // if you love me..don't let go

chapter six

The next week after the pool hangout felt so secretive yet thrilling in some way. Me and Erik kept on exchanging glances during school and he would do that bite down on his lip as if to hide his smile. It was adorable.

"Hellooo?" I got snapped out of my daze when Annabelle started shooing her hands in front of my face. 

"Oh, sorry." I blandly said. "What were you saying?" I completely forgot the topic of our conversation.

"Scarlett, please for the love of God, pay attention." She huffed. "Your mind has been somewhere far away for the past week."

That's for sure. "Okay, I'm sorry Anna." I apologized. "Halloween. Continue!"

"Okay, so for our matching costumes.." She continued.

I nodded my head along with her words that I wasn't exactly listening to. I saw a group of boys enter the cafe we were sitting at, Erik being one of them. I mindlessly sipped on my warm cup of coffee as Erik met my eyes, and I completely burned up. And not just my cheeks, the coffee was actually burning hot. I coughed and sputtered, choking on the hot liquid that I forced down my throat. In the silence of the cafe, everyone could hear me struggling to breath, and all faces turned to me.

"Hey, you okay?" I faintly heard Annabelle say, but I wasn't focused on that. I was focused on the figure that was walking over to me.

"Hey." Erik whispered once he reached me.

"Hi." I muttered through coughs, still looking down. I could not let him see my watering eyes. Gosh, did he have to come over? Way to make it more awkward. Why do I always have to choke near him?

"Here." He handed me a glass of water, and I realized it had the stores logo on it. Did he ask a barista for a glass of water? For me? Or was it already his?

Without saying thank you, I practically snatched the glass from his hands and wasted no time chugging it. It was icy cold and soothed my burning tongue. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Annabelle and Erik share a confused glance. Annabelle looked terrified, yet Erik seemed to be enjoying this.

"You done?" Annabelle asked, very concerned.

Taking the final sip of my water, I set it down with a loud thud. "Yup." I then grabbed my purse and coffee. "Thank you, Erik." I whispered underneath my breath, finally meeting his eyes.

He looked as if he was holding in his laugh. Gosh. "Mhm." He said, quite teasingly. How interesting. Erik teasing me?

"Come on Anna, we're leaving." I felt so embarrassed and just had to go. I created a whole scene in the entire cafe, and Erik was here! Why did that make me feel ten times more embarrassed? 

"Wait, but Halloween!" Anna whined.

"We'll continue outside. I have homework." That was a lie.

"Bye Scarlett." I heard Erik softly say once we were at the door. I turned around and gave him a sweet smile, and then left.

***

"Geez, what was that about?" Annabelle asked once we got back to my house.

"What do you mean?" I asked, acting absolutely baffled as to why she would ask this.

"Scar, are you serious?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "The coughing, the leaving, the very intimate exchanges with Erik." She said, as if it was obvious.

"First of all, there were no very intimate exchanges with Erik." I put quotation marks in the air. "Second of all, I was just embarrassed and ready to go."

Anna just rolled her eyes in response. Yeah, she was not buying it. But I was. There literally was no "intimate exchanges" with Erik, as she called it. I barely even knew the guy. We just hung out once or something. Am I not allowed to be embarrassed? It's definitely something she would do.

"Okay anyways, you should leave now. Remember you have to pick up Ivonne and Bailey from dance!" I reminded her about her two twin sisters, trying to avoid an awkward conversation.

"Oh right, thank you. Love you, see you soon!" She blew me a kiss as she walked down my pathway leading out to the road. Finally.

"Love you!" I yelled back. Even though Annabelle could sometimes be a pain in my ass, she was still my best friend and I would always love her.

Once I got inside my house, I immediately dropped my backpack and ran up to my room without taking my shoes off. In my room, I turned off the lights and lit a candle. I then threw on a hoodie to warm my body that turned cold from the open window. The one that looked out at the house behind me. I propped myself so that I had my elbows resting on the window sill and my chin resting on my hands. 

For the next few hours, I watched. I mean, I was just looking out the window. It wasn't my fault that there was a handsome man standing in my way playing tennis. Some might call it stalking, but I call it people watching. Or person watching. Whatever the singular word was for it.

Watching him so cleanly strike every ball that came towards him with the racket was so satisfying to watch. I don't even know why I started or kept watching him. In some sort of way, it was calming. Until it wasn't. After about an hour, Jose crept out of the house. I noticed him watching Erik from the sidelines of the court, but I don't think Erik noticed him. Watching closely at his body language, I could tell that Jose was critiquing Erik. And I don't think in the best way. He seemed to get so mad or disappointed if Erik was even close to missing a shot. He was flailing his arms up and down. Once Erik noticed him, I immediately saw how he tensed up. The next few shots, he definitely started to slack, and that's coming from someone who knows nothing about tennis. So him slacking would definitely be the equivalent to me trying my hardest after one tennis lesson. After a bad miss, he slammed his racket into the ground, something I noticed him do the first time I "stalked" him. Jose then walked over to him so determinedly. It made me shiver. Erik flinched once Jose started to yell at him. I couldn't hear him, but in my head I could imagine his very frightening voice and the threats or insults he must be saying. And to make it even worse, after his yelling spree, he slapped Erik across the cheek. Yes, slapped him. I let out an audible gasp. Erik didn't even look affected as his father walked back into the house, shaking his head as we went. I bet he was muttering more curses. When Jose finally closed the back door behind him, Erik turned around to my direction. I held my breath. It then looked like he completely broke down. He fell to his knees and cupped his face in his hands. I could see his shoulders bobbing up and down. He was crying.

There was this motherly instinct I had to just run over and hold him. Let him ruin my shirt with all of his tears as I rocked him back and forth. I would rub his back gently and whisper comforting words to him. I would protect him from whatever hell Jose was putting him through. And I wouldn't allow it to happen again, no matter how many more threats he would give me.