Then & Now [OMB || Cesar Diaz]

now - 2

Fuck peeing, she needed a drink.

She reaches the kitchen and grabs a red cup before filling it with "jungle juice", which was a fancy way of saying: Alcohol and Hawaiian Punch. She drinks as much as she can before heading into the fridge for a couple Jell-O shots.

"Hey, you're back! I️ was getting worried-" Danna started to say but Layla grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a private corner.

"I️ saw Cesar," she tells her, making Danna's eyes widen. "Yeah, I️ know!"

"Holy shit...well are you okay?" Danna asked. "You wanna leave?" She asked.

Layla shook her head. "No...no, I️ don't want him ruining my night," she tells her. "I'm gonna just ignore him, like I️ have been doing the past year," she gives Danna a fake smile. Behind her, she saw Cesar drink a beer with a couple of his Santos homies as he looked back at her unashamedly. She rolls her eyes and look back at Danna before taking a sip of her drink.

Soon, a handsome Latino guy approaches them both. He has "19th" tattooed on his neck, like most of the gang members in 19th Street. "You two just gonna stand here and look pretty all night or are you gonna dance?" He flirted, eyeing Layla especially. "I'm Alejandro," he introduces.

Layla smiles at him, knowing Cesar was watching very closely. "I'm Layla," she says, reaching up to touch his gold chain. Danna watched nervously as she noticed Cesar's jaw twitch when she did that. Layla was playing with fire, but she was sure her drunk friend knew exactly while she was doing, intoxicated or not.

"You wanna dance?" She asks Alejandro.

"Lead the way," he says. She takes his hands and he excitedly follows behind her, unashamedly eyeing her backside while he was at it.

"Hey boss, ain't that your girl?" Cesar heard Nacho ask from behind him.

"She's not my girl," Cesar quickly dismissed as he looks away and takes a swig of his beer. He doesn't even know why he cares about her so much. He could have any hyna at the party and here he was, watching Layla dance with some 19th Street pendejo. But then again, no other girl but Layla could catch his attention. "I️ don't care who she's with," he scoffs.

But that didn't matter anyways. Whether Layla and him were together or not, Cesar's claimed Layla since they were fifteen years old. And his claim to her has only gotten stronger ever since he took over as the head of the Santos. Nobody would be bold enough to even look in her direction unless they wanted Cesar to knock their head off and bust a cap in their ass at the same time.

Nacho crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at Cesar. "So you don't care that your girl is very drunk, dancing with some fool she just met and...oh look, he dragging off the dance floor and taking her outside," Nacho narrates, making Cesar quickly whip his head around to see a giggling Layla cozy up to the dude she was just dancing with as he wraps his arm around her waist, giving her butt a squeeze.

Oh. Hell. No.

"Still not your girl?" Nacho mocks as Cesar quickly stands up and follows them out the door.

Layla was a friendly drunk. He knew that. But it seems like friendly drunk has evolved into flirty drunk the older they got. This wasn't the first time she's drunkenly hooked up at a party, but most of those times were with him. Now she's sneaking off with some guy that wasn't him and he couldn't help but worry. Not only that, but the second people find out Layla with some dude that wasn't him, they would be all over her like bees on honey. And that's exactly what she was to the guys in their area.

Honey. Sweet, but untouchable honey.