dreaming of you: on my block

n

"ruben!" 8 year old elena said, rushing towards the small boy. "i told my mom!" she finished, out of breath. "good! i told my mom too" he said, and they smiled at each other. elena grabbed ruby's hand, and marched with him to her house.

"mom, this is my boyfriend," elena said proudly, and her mom chuckled. "is this him?" she asked, and ruby nodded. "i promise to be very good, mrs. robles" he said shyly, and elena's mom sighed. to prove his pledge, ruby held up the ring he gave elena when they first met. "i made this out of a hanger i broke!" he said happily, and elena nodded. "isn't it pretty!" she said, and looked at it again.

elena was gonna say more when her sister yesenia walked through the door. "mario just broke up with me!" she said, sobbing as she walked to her room. the three in the kitchen looked at each other, until elena's mom decided to go look after yesenia.

elena and ruby were alone in the kitchen, and elena grabbed a kool aid for them. "i think i love you," elena said, and ruby giggled. "i think i love you, too" he said, and elena grabbed his hand.

they raised their kool aids, and elena made a statement. "i hope we never have to break up!" she said, and they both took a swig of the red juice. "i hope we stay together forever!" ruby finished, just as yesenia walked out.

"hi guys," she said, and the two children looked at the pre-teen with caution. "sorry my brother broke up with you," ruben said sheepishly. yesenia shrugged, and grabbed elena's kool aid. "it's whatever. that white girl he dumped me for doesn't have a top lip, so who cares?" yesenia said bitterly, and the two children looked at each other awkwardly.

"i'll make sure to tell him that," ruby said as elena giggled. ruby walked elena to her room, and then kissed her cheek. "i want you to meet my friends tomorrow," he told her as they sat on her bed.

"cool. i want to meet them too!" elena said happily, and ruben smiled at her. "tomorrow, okay?" he asked, and stood up. elena nodded, and stood up as well.

"tomorrow. i promise."

that was mere hours before elena's mom got the call that elena's grandmother had a stroke while she was home, alone. hours before elena was ripped away from freeridge, from ruby, and from everything she knew.

tomorrow never came for ruby and elena.

elena vaguely remembers their goodbye, but does remember how much she cried. she fiddled with her ring as her mom drove closer to freeridge, back to a place elena thought she'd never see again.

elena was deep in thought when she suddenly felt something hit the back of her head.

"i swear to god, joel if that was you i'm going to make you wish you were never born-" elena started, but stopped once she saw the look her mom was giving her. "what was that?" he asked smugly, and elena pressed her lips into a line and shook her head.

"for your information, that was actually alejandro. you happened to be on the receiving end of his food-flinging rampage. and hey! it was apricot, so that's good. right?" joel explained, and elena hummed. "if you say so," elena mumbled, and then realized they were about ten minutes away from freeridge.

"are you thinking about ruben?" yesenia asked teasingly, and elena groaned. "no!" the 15 year old said, slumping her head down. "then why are you playing with the ring he made you?" joel chimed in, and elena groaned again.

"maybe i am! and what of it!" elena said, snapping her head to face joel. "you know, elena had a dream about ruben. i read about it in her diary," joel said, and yesenia nodded. "and it wasn't her first, either" yesenia said sing-songingly, and elena gasped.

"you read my diary? creep!" elena said, and reached forward to put her little brother in a choke hold. "hey, you left it open!" he said, and elena sighed. "so, maybe recently i've had a few dreams about ruby. big deal," elena said, and sat back in her seat.

"how often?"

"uh, maybe like... 11 dreams?"

the car swerved, and yesenia checked on her mom. "eleven?" her mother asked, and elena nodded. "either he died, or you're never going to fall in love with someone else ever again," her mom said nonchalantly, and elena sighed.

"that doesn't help!" elena said, and constanza cleared her throat. "i found his instagram. he's fine," the young teen said, and elena sighed. "and i mean fine!" constanza finished, and yesenia shook her head.

"seriously. if i were a few years older," constanza said dreamily, and put her earbuds back in. "anyways," joel said, the group ignoring their boy-crazy little sister. "just wait. i'm sure he's waiting for you right where you left him." joel said, and elena sighed.

"what if he isn't?" elena said worryingly, and yesenia sighed. "if he isn't, then you move on. life is too short to worry about some pendejo who doesn't like you back," yesenia said, and avoided the hand her mom used to slap her. "and you move on. i'm sure he has some friends who are just as 'fine' as he is." yesenia said, and elena hummed.

"yeah, you look like a decent person when you put on eyeliner, eels" joel said, and elena groaned. "don't call me that! and jokes on you, i look fly as hell everyday," elena said, and joel rolled his eyes. "please. talk about looking fly when you can pull off a puffy jacket like this," joel said, and ran his hands down his body.

"ew! god!" elena and constanza said, and joel danced in his seat. "listen player, we all know that i got the biggest energy in this car. in this family!" yesenia said, and joel rolled his eyes. "not enough energy to stop mario from breaking up with you though, huh?"

"pelotudo de mierda! that was the same day we left, so it basically doesn't matter. how many girlfriends have you had, exactly?" yesenia said, and elena muffled a laugh as joel blushed. "i'm saving myself for the baddest one out there, you know?" he said coolly, and elena rolled her eyes.

"just for her to find out you have no experience?"

"que mierda dijiste? i'm 14 years old, i shouldn't have any experience!"

"enough! i'm tired of this bickering. we're here."

WOOP skskks my first fic i'm nervous D: 21 reads already that's kind of scary i don't wanna let any of you guys down-
anyways hehe ruby and elena r probably gonna meet next chap :P