#zuripons ｢COMPLETED｣

｢nine｣- characters

c h a r a c t e r s
c h a p t e r
｢nine｣

Juanpa Zurita

Rudy Mancuso

Maia Mitchell

Hannah Stockings

Anwar Jibawi

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Juanpa wished Lele was here to see him fall on a small mess of cocktail. Now, that would have somehow been the best time if she did but unfortunately, it was not. He made a fool of himself in front his friends and some family members he did not knew existed.

Juanpa sat at a table, next to his good friend, Rudy, who tightly but gently hugged his new-found girlfriend, Maia. It was the first time Juanpa met her and they did not talk much to each other. They hardly said a word, besides their name and where they came from. Juanpa found it unexpected that Rudy fell in love with an Australian girl. He never saw that coming.

The loud music of Pop songs and some Italian music echoed through the house. Even a bit of Caribbean music was heard but Juanpa stayed up whole night on that couch, staring up to the ceiling, listening to Rudy and Maia make 'kissy' noises next to each other.

Then, Juanpa felt someone shrug his shoulders. He looked up to some brown eyes, noticing that it was his friend, Anwar with Hannah next to him.

"Hey, mi amigos." Juanpa said, quickly standing and hugging them with a bright smile. "It's been a while, man. How's thing?"

"Man, everything's good! Thanks for the invitation!" Juanpa looked back at Hannah.

"Hey, girl. You good?'

"Yeah. Just waiting for Anwar to offer me a drink," she lightly said. She did sound a bit annoyed though.

Anwar looked back at her and frowned, then turned to see Rudy and Maia making out on the couch.

"Rudy!" He yelled. Rudy quickly spun around and immediately rose with a grin as he saw Anwar.

"Oi! Mi puta!" He laughed, leaning in to give a hug and from there, Juanpa walked away.

He shifted through the thick crowd. Some people bounced into him and even a little of Soda fell on his plain, gray sweatshirt.

He walked into the kitchen, meeting up with his mother who was taking a shot of Tequila with his father.

"Give me some," he ordered, grabbing the glass out his father's hand who did not finish the drink. He gulped it down in an instance and his parents watched in shock. Juan's leaned against the counter as he felt the burning sensation rushing down his throath and hit his stomache.

"What's bothering you?" His mother asked, rubbing his back. At first, he did not respond but within a few seconds of silence, he did.

"I met this girl back in Hawaii,"

"And you liked her?"

"Yes."

"So why you didn't say something?"

"Cause I didn't know how you would act, ma." Juan's rose his head and looked at his parents.

"Juanpa, you know I'll be calm and cool bout it but on the other hand, your father can be bit of-" she paused, looking up to the pale old man who happened to be her husband, standing right beside her and she leaned into Juanpa's ear and whispered, "he can be bit of an ass sometimes,"

Juanpa laughed and his father rolled his eyes, walking away into the party.

"So you're saying you're okay with it?"

"Yes?" She nodded. "Is she Latina?!"

"She's Venezuelan!"

"Juanpa, you're getting a big boy, now!" She pinched his cheeks and walked away. Juanpa ribbed his cheeks as his eyes followed her out.