Goals • ruby martinez (discontinued)

eighteen

when everyone finally settled down and valeria was done with the hugging, she quickly made her way outside. she looked to see ruby and cesar sobbing into each others arms.

cesar lifted his head from the crook of ruby's neck and made eye contact with his sister. her steps to the two were careful and slow as if she was afraid of stepping on broken glass.

valeria took the step to wrap her arms around them both, the three of them stood in the middle of the road sobbing into each others arms.

"i'm so sorry." cesar chanted over and over again like a mantra. valeria sobbed into her brother's chest and shook her head. "it's not your fault."

"it is." cesar cried out, "it was my problem and i should have dealt with it."

valeria pulled away and cupped his face in her hands, making sure he was looking into her eyes. "stop, okay. we don't blame you, you weren't meant for this life cesar and we all understand that."

"we got nothing but love for you." the trio pulled apart and walked to the memorial on the sidewalk. jamal and monse joined them staring down at olivia's quince picture. they all took turns saying something about olivia, sharing a laugh at  the multiple times she mispronounced her spanish.

"that girl was many things, definitely not a linguist."

valeria laughed wrapping her arms around herself, "yeah, she once called horchata-"

"horacha. and it wasn't just once." monse finished. valeria leaned her head on ruby's arm everyone else following along, wrapping their arms around eachother.

"guys, i've been hiding something," jamal spoke up pulling away from the group hug.

"me too." cesar said with a nod of his head, "i've got nowhere to go."

"but you said that oscar was-"

"-no, i lied. i'm... dead to him." valeria interlocked her hand with his. "but never to me. we'll figure it out. i promise."

monse rubbed cesar's back and the two shared a kiss. "oh, right. this happened. we've been hiding this too."

"are we supposed to pretend to be surprised?"

"we don't care. we kissed you first." jamal said, high-fiving ruby. "actually i did."

everyone's heads snapped to valeria in shock of what she just said where as monse looked around, avoiding making eye contact with everyone else. "in the 4th grade so hah i win."

jamal closed his mouth back up, "younger me would have done anything to see that." ruby elbowed jamal in the stomach making him double over in pain.

•••

jamal had his back turned to his group of friends as he opened up his closet door, before turning back around to face them. "you know what? i don't know why i'm being so quick on the draw. i think an apology is in order."

"an apology for what?"

"for what? for all of my mistreatment. i'm tired of being an afterthought. for once, i'd like to be a "before-thought." or just a thought."

"i always think about you," valeria defended herself.

"of coarse you do beautiful. everything i'm saying is only directed to these peasants here." valeria flipped her hair over her shoulder with a smug smile. "periodt."

jamal adjusted his suit jacket before continuing, "now that has been clarified, not one of you has ever said you're sorry for the shit you've said to me."

when jamal was satisfied with their apology he lifted up his head and nodded, "good, now we can proceed. so, now ladies and gentlemen without further ado, i present you with..." jamal turned around to look into his laundry hamper taking off the clothes on the top and searching for his duffel bag, that wasn't there.

"the money is gone!" jamal screamed. "it was here. it was just here. why is it not here?"

"here we go again."

monse groaned. "another roller world delusion."

"no, no, no. i can prove it. look." he squeezed himself in between monse and cesar who groaned in response. "we'll find the perp."

jamal pulled up his phone showing them footage of his bed covered in money. "wow i've never seen so much." valeria was amazed at what she saw it almost didn't feel real.

"okay, okay, we got something. my parents, who are completely disrespecting my privacy—"

"and about to do it on your bed." valeria quickly got off the bed at that sentence. everybody else debating if they were gonna do it or not, getting their answer as the video continued they all screamed and jumped off the bed in disgust.

"i need to flush out my eyeballs."