Tangled Webs -Oscar Diaz-

Chapter 3

Sofia hadn't stopped thinking about Oscar since her encounter with him the previous night, and it was driving her absolutely insane. She was starting to rethink her decision about getting in the car with him last night and thinking that walking the streets of Freeridge was the better choice. It only took one conversation, and he was back on her mind. She felt like a high school girl daydreaming about her crush, and it wasn't right. Oscar was terrible for her, and she needed to remind herself of that. 

The sound of her phone vibrating caused her to jump and tear her away from her thoughts, but she ignored it. When Sofia studied her phone was her biggest distraction because anytime she stopped to check, it would be another hour before she started again. It was really an issue that she would probably never learn to fix, and she learned to accept that. It only meant that she couldn't look at her phone when she studied even when Ruby spammed her it with cute dog videos. Sofia swore he only did that when she studied, or so it seemed that way. "Sofia," her mother screamed from the other room, "come help with dinner."

Sofia let out an annoyed sigh, "coming, Ma." There was no arguing with her mother. If she asked you to do something, you did it. Sofia picked up her textbook from her lap and closed it, knowing that her studying was done for the afternoon. There was no way she would be able to get back into the swing of things now. Pushing herself off the bed, she headed out of her room and out the door, and into the living room where her mother had all the dishes laid out on the table.

"Thank you, Mija," her mother placed a kiss on her cheek as she passed by her. Sofia watched as her mother grabbed her purse and car keys. "I'm running to get the twins from a friend's house. I'll be back in an hour."

"Okay, I'll be here," Sofia smiled watching as her mother went to open the door, but before she could, Ruby walked with an annoyed look on his face. She noticed that Olivia wasn't with him. "Hey, Ruben, where's Oliva?"

"With Cesar and Monse getting a tour of the neighborhood," Ruby sighed, walking to the couch and throwing his bag on the chair beside him. Sofia noticed the bitter way Cesar's name came out of his mouth but decided to ignore it, "and it's Ruby now."

"Oh, already," Sofia chuckled, spreading the bread out on the pan, "that was fast."

"I'm undeserving of the name Ruben," Ruby muttered under his breath, but she still heard it, and it caught Sofia's attention. Her hand's stopped moving and pulled away from the soft dough. Without much care, she grabbed a napkin and wiped away the leftover yeast. She dropped the napkin and walked over to her brother.

"Hey," her voice was gentle as she sat across from him. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." Sofia could tell that it wasn't. He was in a clear state of distress. Ruby never tried to hide his annoyance from others. Sofia assumed he liked the attention.

"Ruby, what's going on," she questioned, making sure he was okay. "What's wrong, hermanito?"

Ruby pushed up from the couch, his eyes wide open and almost glazed over. "What's wrong," he nearly shouted his voice breaking, "what's wrong? Everything's wrong, Ana! I tried to help get Cesar out of the gang by talking to Oscar, but I just got him prompted. Promoted! Olivia wants to spend all her time with Cesar and never with me. She thinks he's so great when he's not. What does he have that I don't? He wears axe body spray!" Sofia's mouth was half open at her brother's revelation. She had no idea that Cesar was in the Santos or that Ruby had a crush on Olivia. What surprised her the most was that he went to talk to Oscar on his own.

"Ceaser's in the gang. He was jumped in," Sofia shouted back causing Ruby to realize what he said and sit back down, "and you talked to Oscar?"

"Yes," it sounded more like a question than a statement, "but you didn't hear it from me."