dreaming of you: on my block

lvn

ruby and jamal made their way to elena's around 11:30, per monse's request. apparently elena needed extra reinforcement for the arrival of her forever friends, and that's exactly what the two boys were set to do.

"i think it's just so weird that her and cesar are right across the street from each other," jamal commented as they rounded the street, and ruby hummed. "i guess. i doubt they're having sleepover's or anything like that," ruby dismissed, and jamal scoffed.

"who knows? cesar's in a gang now, and girls love a bad boy-"

"oh my god," ruby exasperated, and started speed walking away from jamal to reach elena's house quicker. monse was in her front yard already, and greeted the short boy first.

"hey, so i was thinking.. how funny would it be if we asked spooky to pop by after we casually mention to elena's white friends that she lives near a gang?"

"you have issues."

the group laughed, and then turned to see elena standing in the doorway. "hi. everything's fine. i'm fine and so is the house, in case you all were wondering," she rambled, and monse walked towards her first. "yeah, see? everything's fine. did you put the water bottles in the fridge?" monse asked, knowing elena needed something small to focus on.

as elena replied, jamal and ruby turned to each other again. "... do you feel like she's nervous for a bigger reason?" ruby asked quietly, and jamal nodded in rapid succession. "like a tanner reason?" ruby whispered, and jamal stopped nodding. "no, i was thinking maybe something like, these are her white friends, so she was probably used to them seeing only one side of her, which was probably not the real her, so now that those friends are meeting us, she doesn't know what the outcome will be."

"....damn, jamal."

ten minutes later, the five were all sat in elena's living room. her mom was at work, yesenia was out along with her youngest brother, and joel promised to keep constanza distracted for a few hours by taking her to a skate park. elena's knee bounced, monse holding her hand in support.

cesar and jamal were having a heated discussion on whether or not tap water is good when elena's phone finally rung. the group just looked at it until ruby screamed for someone to answer it. elena's voice cracked as she did, and then told the group they were ten minutes away.

"did they bring food? you know white people love that in n out," jamal asked, eliciting monse to smack his arm. "no, fool. they're the guests, even though they're loaded they still don't... have an obligation to bring us food. if anything, we should have in n out for them. oh my god, we should have in n out, right?" monse panicked, and elena laughed.

"we can chill, they're fine."

the four all looked at elena, who was calm for the first time today. "really? you're saying chill to monse?" jamal asked, voice high. elena nodded, grinning at her friends. "i think she's past being anxious. her mind is just gone at this point..." ruby whispered, elena narrowing her eyes at him and laughing after.

"listen. i was nervous, but now i'm not. even though it's never that easy... i know these people. they're my friends, and they always will be." elena said, and bit at one of her nails.

"aren't those press on's?"

"yeah, and?"

".. so how are you biting those nails then?"

the group laughed together until elena's doorbell rang. cesar stood up, puffing his chest out as he walked towards it. he grinned at his friends before swinging the door open.

"i'm telling you, you guys didn't have to bring us food!!"

"are you kidding! this is the least we could do!"

aurora and tanner had in fact brought in n out, much to jamal's pleasure, and the group ate on the floor around the coffee table. "i can't believe your parents didn't come with you," elena said, and aurora laughed loudly. "if they had we wouldn't be able to do all of the stuff we want to do, if you know what i mean," aurora and elena giggled at each other, much to the confusion of the room full of people around them. "um, i didn't realize you guys were the type... but that's really cool and we totally accept you!! not that you need our permission or anything but in case you were wondering or worried about it," ruby rambled, but elena and aurora burst out laughing.

"not like that. it could be, but in our case we just mean staying up all night and damaging our eyesight. tanner knows, right?" elena turned to the older boy, who grimaced. "yeah, you don't want to be here if they start talking about the conjuring. these two have some lungs on them, just to warn you." tanner mumbled the last part, making the whole group laugh lightly. "okay, well you guys didn't come all the way out here just to eat! i totally have plans if you want to do them, or if you want a chill day we can do that too. i just love having all of my friends together, really." elena said, smiling at everyone.

ruby likes to tell himself that she smiled at him longer, and looked to tanner. the first thing ruby noticed is how tall he is. yeah, he's older, richer, and probably knows her better, but ruby isn't losing faith. cesar saw the analytical look on ruby's face and nudged him with his knee. ruby shook his head and started listening to the conversation again.

"right! i totally think padme was way too strong of a character to have died from a broken heart. palpatine definitely did something to her before she left with obi wan." jamal said, and for the first time really felt like he could trust elena. all of his suspicions flew out the window once he realized she knew just as much about movies as he did. it was a beautiful moment.

oh my god. this book got 10k more reads when i came back earlier this morning. if anyone is still here you deserve compensation and i love you so so so infinitely much. this past year has kicked my butt with trying to graduate (which i did!) and working and the whole virus thing ... but i saw everyone's comments. got every notification. this book is a labor of love and would not be this far if not for the support you all have so patiently showed me. i'm trying to get better i promise. my name is emma and i'm your author (: