Antes | Oscar Diaz

october, november, december.

"Hey," Claudia says, pleasantly surprised when Oscar shows up at her doorstep on a Friday. She doesn't have classes on Thursdays, works at the library at school now, too, in addition to her nannying gig and the receptionist shit she can do with her eyes closed. She hasn't seen Oscar since he helped her move in over a week ago; he and Araceli argued the whole time they struggled to get her mattress onto the second floor. Claudia strictly supervised.

Once Araceli had left, of course, they broke it in the only way they knew how, and Claudia hoped her neighbors hadn't immediately started hating her.

The heat is finally starting to break, Halloween still a few weeks away. Before she left, Cesar had seriously explained to her his Power Ranger plans. She's been looking for costumes for him ever since. She comes close to kiss Oscar, up on her tip-toes, and can tell immediately that he's distracted. Notices Cesar afterwards, still lingering on the stairs for some reason, not even grossed out like he usually is.

"What's up," she says, looking between the two of them, and reaching out to Cesar so he knows he can get some love, too. Her arms are still around his shoulders when Oscar speaks.

"Can you do me a favor?" he says, and her eyebrows screw up.

"Yeah," she says, even if she really should ask first. He's tense in a way she rarely sees him—Oscar's good at what he does. At running the show, despite the stakes. He doesn't get nervous, not usually.

"Dope," Oscar says, and she squints at him. Cesar's little backpack is in his hand, full-looking, like there's a pillow stuffed into it. "I gotta. A thing, for a few hours. Adrian's coming with."

"Oh," Claudia says, "pues." She swallows. She's only really taken care of Cesar for the night at the Diaz house. Isn't sure how it makes her feel, to have Oscar ready to drop him off at her place, the assumption that she'd say yes no matter what already there. She wants to ask what's happening but can't get the sentence right on her tongue. She says, instead, "Cesar, baby, come inside. Let me show you my room."

She gives Oscar what she hopes is a significant look, and he steps in after her, closing the front door behind him while she gets Cesar settled in. She offers him her laptop, iTunes movie library pulled up for him, and then finds Oscar waiting in the living room. Part of her wants to be a little annoyed at the sudden babysitting request, but mostly she's worried.

"You okay?" she says, and tries to come close to him. Runs her hand up his arm to his shoulder, curls her fingers around his when he catches it in his grip.

"Yeah," he says, "I'll be back tonight, Claudis. Don't worry."

"You want my key?" she says. Yoli's out, and their other roommate, Dulce, went home to see her parents for the weekend.

Oscar looks at her for a long moment. He seems exhausted. Finally, he says, again, "Yeah," even if he takes a moment to let go of her.

"I haven't seen you in a minute," she says, carefully, after she grabs her purse, digging through it and pulling her key off the chain.

Oscar says, "I know," cupping her face with one hand and kissing her, briefly, before slipping the key into his back pocket. "I won't be gone too long."

"Okay," she says, putting her hand over his, still watching him, "tené cuidado, mi amor."

"I always do," he lies. When he leaves, she watches him climb into his car from the window, chewing on her thumbnail all the while.

He gets back sometime during the night. Her bed is a full—two people can fit decently enough on it, but Cesar is a wild sleeper. It seems she's only just gotten to sleep, on her side at the very edge of the bed, when the sound of her door opening wakes up.