Bitter Sweet

4. Telenovelas

A/N: The man on the pic is Fernando Colunga, for a while, he was in EVERY SINGLE TELENOVELA in Mexico! I'm not kidding, he has been in Telenovelas since maybe the 80s and you still see him in some. Like, he was cute and all but man, I got tired of seeing him!

Stephanie woke up in a dark room. She sat up looking around her wondering if it was still dawn. She took her phone from under her pillow and gasped as she saw that it was five in the afternoon. She brought her hand up to her mouth, she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She slept twenty hours and no one bothered to wake her. She climbed down the ladder and felt dizzy the second she touched the floor. She felt like she could use another twenty hours. She pulled on her old gigantic sweater and ran her fingers through her hair, she was too lazy to find a brush.

She stepped out from her room and could hear the loud TV from the living room playing some theme song in Spanish.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" her mother greeted her as she sat on the couch with a Bible on her lap.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Stephanie retorted.

"I tried so we could read the Bible together, but you looked like you could use the sleep."

Stephanie nodded and sat on the couch beside her. "What are you watching?"

"La Luz En Tu Mirada, it's very interesting."

Stephanie nodded and saw on the screen a very handsome guy crying as a very pretty girl laid on a hospital bed unconscious.

"She got hit by a car," her mother explained. "You don't see who was driving it but I'm pretty sure it was her stepmother."

Stephanie nodded. "Interesting."

Once the show went to commercials, she turned to Stephanie. "Tomorrow, we will read the book of Psalms together, no excuses."

"The whole book?"

"Yes."

"But it's like a hundred and fifty chapters."

"I know, you need to feed your soul with the word of God after you went astray," she replied firmly.

Stephanie knew she spoke about her living with her boyfriend for three years. She never forgot to bring up her sinful life.

"Where's dad?" Stephanie asked dropping the subject.

"Out."

Stephanie nodded. That's useful, she thought. She heard the front door open and she stood rapidly. She wanted to see what state her father was in. She walked firmly but froze as she saw who it was.

"Hey," the man from across the street greeted her. He had a screwdriver in his hand and he was messing with the doorknob. "You must be the cook."

Stephanie felt woozy. She saw the man clearly, and it made her nervous. He was taller and bigger than he looked from across the street. He was at least six feet tall when Stephanie barely measured 5'3". Her eyes drifted to his arms, they looked strong, like they could do a lot of damage. She looked down at the floor, her face going hot. "Yes," she replied as she realized he had said something.

"I heard you were back. I'm Julio, I live across the street."

Stephanie stared at his deep brown eyes, for a second she forgot what she was going to say. She shook her head forcing herself to focus. "Stephanie." She looked down at the tiled floor embarrassed, almost as if she had forgotten how to speak to the opposite sex. Especially when they were that good looking. "Excuse me," she murmured and hurried to her mother, who was still very entertained by the telenovela.

"What's wrong?" her mother asked worriedly as she saw Stephanie's red face.

"Why is there a guy messing with the door?" she asked without preamble.

"It's Julio, from across the street."

"I know who he is, why is he here?" she whispered not wanting Julio to overhear.

"He's fixing the door. He's good with his hands. I call him every time something breaks, now that your father is getting older."

Older, or drunker? Stephanie thought. "How well do you know him, mom?" she replied rapidly.

She laughed. "I know him well enough to let him inside my house. He's a good boy and very helpful."

"Alright," Stephanie started. "But keep in mind Ashley loves boys and you know how she gets when it comes to handsome ones."

Her mother waved her hand dismissing her comment. "Ashley's fine. So, you think he's handsome?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. He probably attended the same church as her mother's and now she wanted to set her up with him.

"Mother, Ashley falls in love with every guy she sees and ends up very hurt."

"I know, I know. Trust me, that already happened. She's fine now."

Stephanie let out an exasperated sigh. Why was her mother being so cool about it? Julio was the most handsome man she had seen in months, wasn't she worried he would play with Ashley's feelings? That he could break any promise he ever made and get away with it because he was so handsome? That he could even hurt her but Ashley would let him because he knew how to use his charms?

"Finished Mrs. Rios. Anything else that needs fixing?" Julio appeared from behind her and Stephanie didn't dare to move.

"No, I think we're fine, Julio. Let me get my purse," her mother replied as she sat the Bible down and hurried towards the hall.

Julio watched her, she could feel his gaze like she did before. "You don't remember me, do you?"

Stephanie didn't turn. "Should I?"

"We went to high school together. Well, I graduated a couple years before you."

"Then why would I remember you?" she asked as she gained the courage to turn to look at him. She wasn't liking how he made her feel. How he made her heart beat faster and how she couldn't breathe, it was a bad sign, she knew it. That was how it had started with Alex.

He gave her a mischievous smile, she hated it. "How come you're back?"

Stephanie blinked at his question. Normal people asked how was Phoenix or for how long she was going to stay for. "I had nowhere else to go," she found herself confessing. She felt very warm, she started sweating. How pathetic did she sound? And she hated that she was even caring what impression she was making. "I gotta go," she said quietly and hurried to her room locking the door behind her. She went back to her bed and wrapped herself in her covers like a worm in its cocoon. She only wished she could wake up like a whole different person.