SATIVA ✞ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

II. EIGHT

"How long were you planning on going without talking to me?" Oscar asked, walking up to Ximena. She grabbed a fork, poking at the fruit bowl Ruby had set up. She avoided making an eye contact with him even though she knew he was staring at her. She didn't want to look at him, knowing that she would fall under his looks. Even though she would be mad at him, it just made him seem sexier.

She put a slice of mango into her mouth, chewing obnoxiously, "Cuando terminaste con tu puta."

Oscar chuckled, tilting her head, "Oh, Gina? Nah, it's not like that."

"It's enough for you to know her name and to chat her up all night," Ximena grabbed another piece of fruit, rolling her eyes.

"Is that jealousy I'm hearing right now?"

"I don't know Oscar," Ximena became frustrated, raising her voice, "Maybe."

All he did was laugh, hard. He held his stomach, throwing his head back.

"What?" Ximena questioned, throwing the plastic fork down, "What's so funny?"

"You," he chuckled, "Gina's my cousin, fool."

Ximena suddenly became calmer than she was before, feeling more stupid now, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Whatever, Oscar," Ximena walked away. She opened the sliding door, walking into the kitchen. She slammed the door shut, groaning loudly, "Ugh!". Ximena placed her elbows on the counter, her head in her hands and she ran them through her hair. She looked over at a bunch of guys, who were sitting at the kitchen table. They each had a pile of cards in their hands, but their game came to a pause as they just stared at her.

She tilted her head, throwing her hands out, "Can I help you?" They all went back to playing their game, cursing in Spanish.

As Ximena stood there, a bottle of Jose Cuervo sat on the counter next to her, beginning to taunting her.

"Bébame, bébame," it called to her, almost in a voice that sounded weirdly similar to Abuelita. She sighed, grabbing it roughly, unscrewing the top. Ximena tilted her head back as she downed a quarter of the bottle, the liquid going down like water. She wasn't really a "drinker", she knew she wasn't really good at holding it either. But, tonight she deserved some fun.

Ximena stumbled out of the house, grabbing on to the door handle for support as she steadied herself. The world was quickly becoming a blur and disoriented as she continued trying to walk. The loud Spanish trap, sounded unclear and muffled. The taste in her mouth gave her the urge to throw up but like, she couldn't find the ability to so it just lingered there. Her ankles wobbled underneath her, like a baby deer, she tried to make her way over to the yard.

She approached a figure that she thought looked close enough to Ruby. She grabbed onto his shoulders, rough and hard, using the teenager as a stand.

She squinted at him, trying to focus in on his features, "Are you as fucked up as me right now?"

Ruby laughed hysterically, grabbing onto her forearms, balancing himself as well.

"You bet your ass I am!" He yelled, trying to hear himself over the music.

"Yo, yo," Ximena stuttered, trying to figure out what exactly she was trying to say, "screw guys, bro! They fucking suck. They make you fall in love then they make you cry, like what the hell?"

"Dude, I feel that! Man, fuck love in general!"

Ximena gasped, her eyes widened dramatically, "Yes!"

"You know," Ruby burped, "we should definitely hang out more."

"Oh my god," Ximena jumped up and down in over excitement, "we should, we have like so much in common, you know? We both got shot!"

"Yeah," Ruby raised his hands in the air, spilling some of his drink over, "But we survived!"

"You know what?" Ruby questioned, stumbling over himself a bit.

Ximena tilted her head, "What?"

"I'm gonna make a fucking speech! Fuck it!"

"Go!" Ximena pushed him towards the DJ station, grabbing the microphone off of the stand and slapping it into his hands. Ruby hollered, drukingly in the microphone, feedback sounding throughout the backyard.

"Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!" The crowd cheered him on.

"What up, everybody?!" Ruby yelled, throwing his arms out and leaning back. The crowd cheered again, pumping their fist into the air. "I wanna give a big shout-out to Spooky."

"Spooky! Spooky! Spooky!"

"Yo! I didn't even wanna come tonight but Spooky made me come!" The crowd began laughing and making disgusted noises as Ruby continued. "I bet Ximena's gonna be saying the same thing later on tonight but that's not my point. I feel great! Like a new man. Thank you, Spooky."

He pointed to the Santo, who uncomfortably smiled and waved back at him.

"Oh! I also wanna give a shout-out to my big brother, Mario. I love you! And thank you for making me an uncle in the next couple of months!"

The girl who Mario had his arm around gasped and pushed him off. She backed away, screaming at him, "You're gonna have a baby?"

Mario scratched the back of his head, awkwardly, "Yeah, I'm gonna be a dad."

The girl brought her arm all the way back, releasing her anger through Mario's cheek as she punched him. He fell back as she walked away.

"Anyways," Ruby sang, laughing, "uh, I've been in a really dark place." He looked over at Ximena, who was staring at him make his speech, smiling. He smiled back at her, caringly, "I know you have too. But tonight, yo, you guys, you've shown me the light. And I wanna give something back. DJ! Spin that shit!"

The DJ suddenly put on an instrumental everyone began to dance to. Strobe lights went off as the crowd began hyping up Ruby. He began bobbling his head as he began rapping.

"I'm like 4 foot 11. Nearly went to heaven. But God said it wasn't my time. Sent me back to spit this rhyme! Weight on my chest. Got me feeling depressed. Make me wanna choke. Like a Spooky cigarette. This is my modern day beat. Since my life went to pieces. The Prophet couldn't shoot straight. Now I'm rolling and griefing, hey! A killer roaming the streets. You better hope we never meet. So I can prime it like a mic I'm a dropper!"

"Aye!" The crowd cheered as the music cut off. Soon, they began even more riled up, but with anger.

"Yo, Prophets are bitches!"
"Prophets suck!"
"Yo, check it out! Let's go roll up on these punk-ass fools!"

"Yeah!" The crowd suddenly rushed out of the party, screaming and hollering and cursing he Prophets.

"What the fuck just happened?" Ximena questioned.

"I think the truce just ended."