netflixseriesworld - Tumblr blog

netflixseriesworld · 9 days

Text

"Roads That Cross... with a Phone Call"

You can read the previous chapters here: (1),(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30)

I only needed a solar eclipse to update! Yay!

--------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Simón left two more marks on Ámbar’s chest.

It was during lunchtime, which was rare because, usually, after a night like that, they didn’t need to satiate any more urges so soon after. But the pause in activity had been felt by both of them, and now that they could do it again, they didn’t seem to want to wait at all.

“I can’t stop thinking about last night,” Ámbar breathed between kisses and hurried hands, yanking off his clothes with the same urgency as her tone of voice. “I can’t concentrate on anything.”

Simón groaned and held her against his body, and then he gave her what she wanted and fucked her into the mattress.

There was something so satisfying about reducing such a strong force of nature like Ámbar into a gasping, whining mess with just a few bucks of his hips. She always had a witty comeback at the ready, an ironic comment aimed at whoever talked to her, but when she was like this, with him, she felt so much that Simón could leave her speaking in tongues.

It filled him with pride. It incited him to give more.

After, when they were dressing back up to grab something to eat (Simón shouldn’t have unraveled her for as long as he did, now they’d have to eat fast if they didn’t want to go over their lunch hour, but he’d missed this) Ámbar saw the new hickeys on her breasts and laughed, saying she didn’t know he had this side of him.

Honestly, Simón didn’t know either. It took seeing Ámbar wearing nothing but his shirt for him to realize just how much he liked it, and he couldn’t deny the surge of primal satisfaction upon seeing the marks on Ámbar’s breasts and neck. It looked sexy. She looked his.

Luckily, Ámbar said she didn’t mind, as long as they were few and nowhere visible, and as long as he allowed her to mark him too. Simón had no issue with that. In fact, part of him wanted her to leave the most obvious love bite on his neck and then have her show her own ones too just so he could flaunt them in front of Benicio like— See? We’re very happy together, stop being a pest.

But that would be petty of him, and he would feel bad using Ámbar like that, as if she were an object he wanted to show off. He felt a little disgusting just for thinking about it, so Simón pushed the urge down, down, down, until he could barely feel it at all. Besides, his imagination-self was way more shameless than he actually was. If Simón really walked around with a hickey on his neck, he’d die of embarrassment.

There was nothing to prove anyway. Benicio could’ve been bluffing when he spoke about that spot on Ámbar’s neck—A lucky guess. But even if he wasn’t, it didn’t matter. Ámbar chose Simón. Perhaps they’d been seeing each other less than usual the past few days, but every morning without fail they had breakfast together, and when the time came for Simón to leave, instead of saying goodbye, they always said: ‘I love you.’

“Have a nice day, I love you.”

“See you later, I love you.”

“I’m running late, gotta go, love you.”

I love you, I love you, I love you. That was the one thing important.

Throughout the next few days, they saw each other a little more actually, which came as a pleasant surprise to Simón. A couple of official, Manager things required Ámbar’s presence in the Roller, starting with the arrival of the new hires Ámbar had been requesting from Vidia for a while. They were three part-timers who would be taking over the weekends from now on so that Pedro, Eric, and Simón himself, could rest: two girls who would be in charge of the cafeteria, Cata (or Cat for short) and Rae, and one guy who would be the rink assistant and in charge of the lockers, called Alex.

Ámbar introduced them all personally on their first day of training. She told the girls and Alex that Eric, Pedro, and Simón would be in charge of showing them the ropes around the Roller, while she also managed to, somehow, slip into conversation, twice, that both Simón and Pedro were in a committed relationship. Very much taken. Not single.

She said it all with a smile and it was very smooth, but Simón still had a hard time refraining from laughing. Personally, he didn’t think it was necessary to point that out considering they would only be training the girls for a couple of days and then they’d never see them again unless they visited the Roller in their free time, but Ámbar apparently still felt the need to draw that line in the sand.

To be honest, it made Simón feel pretty good. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one with a bit of a territorial streak in the relationship.

The second reason Ámbar started visiting the Roller more was to personally supervise the last few arrangements for the Day of the Dead party. There were some led light signs that needed to be installed on the walls, spotlights for the ceiling and stuff like that, so Ámbar had to be there to give directions to the handymen responsible for it. Some decorations had to be done by hand too, and while Ámbar could make some of them at home, oftentimes it was more practical to just do them at the Roller.

Simón was happy to see Ámbar more, no matter how briefly. When she first started working on the decorations, he offered to help, but she told him to just worry about his own work, that she got it covered. Simón still helped her bring a table to the rink, one wide enough for her to put all of the materials on top of it and work on her crafts comfortably, and also carried any bags she needed to move from one place to another— There was no way he’d let her do all of that herself when he had a good pair of arms.

On a good day, they walked back home after work together like they used to, Ámbar’s hand in his, her snuggling up to his side to fend off the cold.

“How do you think the new guys have been adapting to the Roller?” Ámbar asked him conversationally, turning to look at him. “I mean, I asked them, obviously, they said they were fine, but with me being the manager maybe they don’t feel as comfortable talking to me as they do with you.”

Simón smiled. People could say whatever they wanted about Ámbar, but she was actually thoughtful, and ever since she’d become manager of the Roller, she’d been doing a great job at it. He would already put her leaguesover La Generala.

“They’ve been doing great,” he replied. “Alex is amazing at rollerskating, which is very lucky because that was the only thing Eric couldn’t teach him.” The two laughed at that. “The rest, he’d been picking it up nicely. Same thing with the girls. They both had experience working at places like this before, so it’s been easy for them to get the hand of making the beverages and working the register…”

“Oh that’s right, didn’t they both work at a coffee shop before this?” It must have been on their resumes, or maybe Ámbar talked about it with them when they met, before she introduced them to everyone. “Not like the same coffee shop but, you know.”

“Yeah.” Rae and Cat had told him that too. “Actually, I think they bonded over that and they’re starting to become friends.”

“That’s good.” Ámbar smiled. She looked to the side. “As long as they don’t get too distracted and do their job, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Simón laughed. Yeah, the boss position fit her well. Maybe she wouldn’t work at the Roller forever, but he could totally see her leading, with good ideas and consideration. “You know, I actually worked at a coffee shop too,” he mentioned.

Her eyes focused on him with a curious glint. “Really?”

“Yeah, back when I was sixteen. Then I started at Foodger Wheels when I turned 17. Then when Luna turned 16, she joined me at Foodger Wheels, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”

Ámbar leaned her head back a little, looking at him with slightly wide eyes. “Wow, I didn’t know you worked at Foodger Wheels too,” she said with disbelief. “So, that means that day it could’ve been you delivering my food instead of Luna?”

“Oh.” It was Simón’s turn to be surprised. “I had never thought of that— You’re right.” He huffed out a laugh. “How crazy.” He looked to the city in front of him, imagining how that could’ve been. “Do you think anything would’ve turned out different if it had been me instead of Luna?” He asked Ámbar.

“Well, maybe it would’ve helped to get me into your good graces if you hadn’t first known me as the girl who threw your best friend into the pool,” she said.

Simón burst out a laugh. “Oh my god, I had forgotten about that.” It seemed like a lifetime ago.

His gaze centered on Ámbar and his heart melted at how far they’d come since then. He brought their joined hands over her head and wrapped his arm around her in a fluid movement they had done dozens of times.

“Maybe I would’ve fallen irrevocably in love with you at first sight and never even questioned my friendship with Luna,” he told her, smiling down at her.

Ámbar’s lips ticked in that way that meant she was holding back from smiling. “I mean, I am that pretty,” she agreed, making him laugh and place a kiss on her temple. Ámbar’s giggle finally broke free after that. “But I think just knowing I had a boyfriend you would’ve forgotten about me,” she said. “Too much of a mess. I can’t see you wanting to get in the middle of that.”

Right, back then Ámbar and Matteo had been dating for a while. They were the ‘it couple’ of the Roller. If Simón had fallen for Ámbar back then, he surely would’ve had a very bad time, kind of like Luna did when she was falling for Matteo.

It certainly wasn’t a position he would’ve liked to be in. But Ámbar was wrong in thinking he could’ve just forgotten about her so easily. Simón hadn’t been able to do that ever since last year, ever since he first started falling in love with her. He couldn’t imagine how he’d manage to do so.

“Honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for me back then,” Ámbar said, looking to the front. “I would have not treated you right.”

She tried to make it sound funny but he could catch the self-deprecating edge in her voice. Her gaze lowered to her feet. “Well.” Her voice turned shyer. “Even now I’m not sure if I’m doing so great.”

Gently, Simón brought them to a stop. “Hey.” He squeezed her softly against his side, and when she turned to face him, he smiled at her lovingly. “You make me very happy. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Ámbar looked between his eyes and then her mouth curled into a smile, just as loving. “I love you.”

Simón gave her a short kiss. “I love you too.”

That was the one thing that mattered.

*********************

Another day, another 300 decorations Ámbar had to do.

She left the house that morning with Simón, choosing to work in the Roller that day. She had a box of unfinished flower garlands in her room, but she had many masks and posters at the Roller that she had started to paint and she wanted to finish those first, before anything happened to them and the paint smeared and she had to do them all over again.

If anyone had told her a year ago that she’d be doing all this craftmanship, ever, Ámbar would have either laughed very loudly or asked what millionaire sum they were paying her because there was no way she would do that otherwise.

As it turned out, some people were worth more than any sum of money, and Ámbar would personally paint hundreds of skull decorations if it meant making Simón happy. In fact, it wasn’t so bad. The artistry was rather relaxing if she just focused on the task at hand and didn’t think about how many other little trinkets she had to finish before the big day.

Maybe she would have to ask for help after all. Especially considering these were all decorations for a tradition she had never celebrated, meaning she wasn’t even sure if she was doing them correctly.

In a moment of distraction, she accidentally bumped one of the paint bottles with her arm, tipping it over and causing its contents to start dripping over the table.

“Shit.”

Ámbar hurried to pick up the bottle and place it straight on the table again. She reached for her purse and pulled out the pack of tissues she always carried with her to wipe off the damage. Thankfully, she was quick enough that the paint didn’t spread too much, so the decorations were safe and she didn’t stain the rink either. The same thing couldn’t be said about her fingers though. She hadn’t really thought about that in her hurry to protect all her precious hours of work.

The tissues helped with most of it but she couldn’t get all of the paint off her skin. Ámbar didn’t want to risk staining the decorations with her fingers, so she left the rink and walked toward the dressing room. A make-up remover wipe would definitely do the trick.

It didn’t occur to her to knock because she didn’t expect anyone to be there when she pulled the door open.

She certainly wasn’t expecting to find Delfi and Pedro making out when she did.

The couple sprung apart instantly when they heard her come in and whirled around to find Ámbar at the door. They stood there frozen, their backs to the mirrors and their wide eyes fixed on her as growing embarrassment flooded their features.

Ámbar maintained a poker face, staring back in complete silence.

Her eyes centered on Pedro.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he blabbered hastily.

She arched a brow.

“I mean, it is, but it’s not— I’m— I only took a short break, all the tables already have their food, I’m waiting— Please don’t fire me.”

Pedro, as it seemed, gave up on trying to salvage the situation and just begged.

Ámbar kept her voice and gaze even. “Pedro.”

“Yes.”

“Get back to work.”

The boy nodded energetically. “Yes. Of course, Ámbar. Right away.”

With his head down, Pedro sped out of the room as if his life depended on it. The door closed behind his back and Ámbar and Delfi were left alone. Their eyes found each other, and they kept each other’s gaze for a long second.

Ámbar couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

Delfi still looked embarrassed but she started laughing too, catching it from Ámbar, and just like that, all the previous tension totally vanished.

“Oh my god, you should’ve seen your faces—I should’ve taken a picture!” Ámbar rejoiced. It had been priceless. “I see you two totally made up from your fight,” she said to Delfi, giving her a teasing smirk. “As a person, I love it, but as the manager of this place, I need to make sure that kissing is the only thing you two have done in here.”

Delfi blushed furiously. “Of course! Are you insane? I would never do more right here in public!”

Ámbar laughed at her flustered state and raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay, it was just a question.” She let her hands drop. Her smile turned more genuine. “Good for you though. You both seem happy.”

Delfi smiled with that distinctive softness pertaining to being in love. “We are. Very much.” Then, either for the sake of being polite or maybe to draw attention elsewhere, she brought the topic around to Ámbar. “How about you? How are things going with Simón?”

Well, we don’t secretly make out at the Roller, but we do much worse at the mansion when no one’s around. Or should I say better?

“Mmm, you know how couples sometimes watch TV shows together?” Ámbar said instead of that— Too much information. Delfi nodded. “Well, my boyfriend is making me watch all Marvel movies in chronological order,” she shared flatly. There truly was a lot of time for leisure when one got their period— Who would’ve thought?

“Hey, at least those are entertaining,” Delfi said. “My cinema teachers at my university make us watch 3-hour-long, black-and-white films in which nothing happens— And they swoon like it’s the best thing ever!” She complained with disbelief.

Ámbar grimaced. “That sounds awful.”

“It is. How I wish I could be staring at Chris Evans’ back instead.”

“Oh yeah, nice view,” Ámbar had to agree. “He’s not my favorite though— Too goody-goody.”

“Says the girl that’s dating Simón.”

Ámbar gave her a dry look.

“Is it Thor then?” Delfi asked curiously. “Chris Hemsworth is hot too. Or Antman. He’s dorky; maybe it reminds you of Simón.”

“Why does it have to be like Simón?” Ámbar protested, and kept talking before Delfi could make another joke at her expense. “For your information, my favorite’s Iron Man. He gets so much shit for being— What? Proud? He’s the smartest man alive and a multimillionaire— He has reasons to be proud. If I were him, I wouldn’t even help those idiots; fend for yourselves.”

“It’s cute the mentor-like relationship he has with Spiderman though,” Delfi said, and immediately started breaking down. “Oh my god, when I watched Infinity War, you have no idea how much I—”

“Ssshh! Don’t tell me, we haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Ámbar stopped her, raising her hands.

Delfi’s brows ticked up. A teasing smile formed on her lips. “Ah, so you do like them.”

Ámbar shrugged and focused her attention on pulling some nonexistent lint out from her sweater. “I like that Simón likes them.”

When she looked up, Delfi’s smile had grown into a shit-eating grin.

Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Ámbar straightened her back and hid it behind a scoff.

“Why am I still talking to you?” She moved toward the mirrors. “I came here to do something much more important, and I have plenty more important things to do. If you’ll excuse me.”

Ámbar sat in front of one of the mirrors and rummaged through the drawers until she found a package of makeup remover wipes.

As she pulled one out, she caught Delfi’s reflection on her peripheral vision, staring at her. “You know, you really are different now,” she commented.

Ámbar glanced at her through the mirror before refocusing on wiping her hands. “Is that bad?”

“No,” Delfi said light-heartedly. “I like this Ámbar better. Less bossy and easier to tease.”

Ámbar sent her a look, but the small curl to her lips betrayed she wasn’t entirely mad at this playful dynamic. It felt nice to just have some unserious conversation with someone once in a while— other than her boyfriend, obviously.

She had just finished cleaning her fingers when Delfi spoke once more.

“Jazmín told me you apologized to her the other day.”

Ámbar tried not to show her disappointment at losing the levity of the conversation so quickly. Peaceful moments never lasted very long for her. It seemed like something always had to remind her of her old transgressions (or her current ones, which she refused to think about.)

She dropped the used wipe into the trashcan next to her and replied with tranquility. “It was the right thing to do.”

She could’ve left it at that, but given the opportunity, Ámbar turned around in the chair to look at Delfi directly. “But I’m not expecting you two to go back to being my minions or anything, don’t worry,” she clarified. “I’m just slowly, little by little, tying up loose ends.” It was all she could do.

She couldn’t go back in time and change the things she did. All she could do was apologize, and be better in the future. Before, her concept of ‘better’ only meant succeeding in all aspects of her life, no matter the cost. Now, she understood all the damage she had inflicted, onto others and herself, for thinking that way.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t like to be your minion again,” Delfi said, with clear disdain forthat idea. No one would want to be in that position, Ámbar thought with some guilt.

A playful expression showed up on Delfi’s face. “But maaaybe I could be your friend.”

Ámbar had to do a double-take. She stared at Delfi, trying to discern if she was only making a joke, but she looked sincere. Something warm and bright fluttered weakly in Ámbar’s chest— Hope.

“Really?”

Delfi showed her a small smile. “I think you’ve really changed. And, if we ignore all the awful things, we did have some very good moments throughout all those years of friendship. Plus,” she added with that playful lilt again, “I’ve noticed that the only people you talk to lately are either Simón, Ramiro, or the rest of the guys that live at your house— I think you’re in desperate need of a girl view.”

The fluttering was no longer a tentative thing but the mighty upward flight of a bird through the sky. A smile grew on Ámbar’s lips and she rose from her chair, hesitating only for a moment before going for a hug, and to her utter relief, Delfi hugged her back, just like in the old days, but better.

“Thank you,” Ámbar told her over her shoulder, eyes closed to capture this moment, this proof that not all her bridges were burned.

She could hear Delfi’s smile in her voice as she answered. “You’re welcome, girl.”

****************

The raucous of many voices talking and laughing all at the same time permeated the locker room as the Roller Team tied up their rollerskates for another training session.

There weren’t enough benches in the place, so everyone took turns to put their skates on. Simón had been the first one to enter the lockers, so he gave his spot over to Jim and was then the first to slide out.

He was excited about rollerskating, of course, but the truth was that his main motivation to arrive before everyone else was the dazzling blonde standing on one corner of the rink, surrounded by an assortment of flowers and skull decorations in different colors, almost as vibrant as her, but not quite.

Ámbar heard him roll near, so she spun on her feet, and a smile blossomed on her lips when she saw it was him. Simón felt his heart do a happy dance and thought of how lucky he was to have her, not for the first time. Having the person you love love you back had to be the most magical thing anyone could ever experience. Having said person also throw a party for you just to gift you a little piece of home had to be a bonus not many received, and one Simón was incredibly grateful for.

Sure, their relationship wasn’t perfect— not by a long shot. There were a lot of things that worried him. Things he wished that could be better. But in the quiet moments, Simón was simply in awe of just how in love he was with this girl.

“You’re kidding,” Ámbar said with a happy sparkle in her eyes. “I was just about to call you, how did you know?”

If he hadn’t been already, that would’ve made Simón smile. “I don’t know, I guess we’re connected.” At least I’d like to think we are.

He pointed down to his skates. “Also, it’s time for our training session.”

Ámbar’s eyes widened. “Oh, is it that time already?” She checked her phone and, upon confirming this, pocketed it quickly. “Sorry, time flew by. Before I go, real quick— I changed my mind.” She looked at him with a slightly chagrined expression. “Could you help me with all of this? I’m sure you know a hell lot more than I do and—” The rest of the guys started filling the rink right that second. Ámbar looked behind Simón and called out to them. “Please stay clear of this corner!” She gestured to her table. “I’m working on all this stuff and I wouldn’t want them to tear or anything.”

His friends made different sounds of agreement. Simón turned to face Ámbar again. “Sure, I’ll help you with the decorations, no problem.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m just kinda lost with all these skeletons and things.”

“Well, you don’t have to fret anymore because the bestMexican boyfriend in the world has at least a million ideas for you,” Simón declared playfully.

Ámbar’s brows ticked up with interest. “Really? A million ideas? Well, I sure have to find him now and get him to help me. You know where I can find him?”

Simón placed one hand on the table behind her and leaned in closer, answering her little smirk with one of his own. “Well…”

Juliana clapped her hands loudly from the middle of the rink. “Alright, alright! Time for practice!”

“Yeah, let each other breathe for a moment, you guys!” Matteo yelled at them.

Simón pulled away from Ámbar and looked at the other boy. “Envy is bad for you, Matteo!”

The rest of his friends started to tease Matteo. Simón turned back to his girlfriend with a smile. “See you at the mansion?”

Ámbar nodded. Simón gave her one quick peck before skating away to join his team with the initial warmups. He watched from afar as Ámbar walked away from the rink.

Simón wished she didn’t have to. He missed having Ámbar as his skating partner, the days when she was on the team and they were all friends. He knew that a lot had happened, and Ámbar had only stopped being a Red Shark some time ago, so it wasn’t as easy as just inviting her back, but he wished he could. He didn’t know how everyone would react if he did though. He’d like to believe they wouldn’t be completely opposed to it, but that wasn’t the same as liking the idea, and Simón would hate himself if he put Ámbar through an uncomfortable situation like that. He didn’t want there to be a them with her just existingon the sidelines. (Although he understood that it was her who first created that divide.)

In summary, he just had to be patient, as with all things Ámbar-related.

That was fine by him. After all, he was convinced that she was worth it.

----------------

Hours later, after everyone had already had dinner and the oldest went to sleep, Simón found himself with the guys in the storage room. They’d been showing Matteo some new songs they had created for the Roller Band, and he even helped them finish some of them, coming up with some brilliant ideas that made Simón and Pedro’s eyes sparkle and their hands play the instruments more enthusiastically.

(Simón refrained, once again, from just asking him if he wanted to be part of the band. While he would love that, Matteo had his solo career dreams, and that was totally okay— Simón wouldn’t want him to accept just out of a sense of comradery for them, or pity, and then regret it later.)

Now, after all of that, it had gotten late (and Simón had some arms to return to), so Pedro had risen from his seat behind the drums, and Matteo and Simón were putting their guitars away, disconnecting cables, and all that stuff.

It was just the usual until Matteo made a joke about how “If you wanted to, you guys could be a Christian Rock duo and call yourselves ‘The Apostles’, what with those names you’ve got” and Simón rolled his eyes.

He was about to point out how ‘Matteo’ was also an apostle’s name when Pedro jolted suddenly and grabbed Matteo’s shoulder.

“There! Did you see that? I told you!” Pedro exclaimed, amused, and pointing at Simón for some reason.

Matteo let out a laugh, joining Pedro’s amusement. “Oh my god, you were right!”

Simón looked at them a little self-consciously. “What? What is it?”

Pedro looked at him with a teasing smile. “Ámbar’s rubbing off on you, man. You roll your eyes just like her now.”

Simón wrinkled his brows, bemused.

“Doesn’t everyone roll their eyes sometimes?”

“Not like that they don’t,” Matteo countered. He pointed at him. “That is a registered trademark of Ámbar Smith.”

Even though they were making fun of him, the notion made Simón feel all warm inside.

A little laugh escaped his lips. “Well, maybe. I mean, we spend a lot of time together.”

“We know,” Pedro said dryly.

“Yeah, you smell like flowers now, dude,” Matteo said, “I think everyone knows.”

“Actually, I’m surprised Luna’s dad hasn’t told you anything yet,” Pedro said.

“I think he’s pretending not to notice for the sake of his mental health,” Matteo theorized.

Simón frowned a little. He knew he was bound to smell a little like Ámbar when they started sharing bathroom products, but he didn’t think it was that noticeable— He still used his own deodorant and wore cologne some days. He tried bringing his arm up to his nose to see if he could catch a whiff of ‘flowers’, as his friends said, on his skin, but of course, it being his own body, he couldn’t really smell anything because his nose was used to it.

“Maybe I should start using my own products,” Simón thought out loud. He liked knowing he smelled a little like Ámbar (it felt like they were married, which was silly and insane, of course, therefore that thought only lived in the most profound level of his subconscious) but maybe parading around that they shared the same shower when he was supposed to have his own room wasn’t the best idea.

“I mean, considering whatever Ámbar uses is probably more expensive than what you earn in a whole week, yeah, maybe,” Matteo said.

Oh. He… hadn’t thought about that.

“Anyway, we were talking about your new music career,” Matteo continued. “Should I help you two replace all mentions of ‘girls’ in your songs with ‘Jesus’?”

Simón and Pedro laughed out loud.

“Absolutely not.”

*************************

Ámbar was about to change into her pajamas and get into bed when she realized she couldn’t find her Scotch tape anywhere.

It wasn’t like it was a terrible thing. She could easily buy another one. But she liked to be organized, so she decided to go downstairs and check the living room in case she’d dropped it when she was working on the decorations earlier. If it wasn’t there, then she’d consider it lost and buy another one, because she was sure she still had it at the Roller.

Ámbar walked through the hallways and down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible in case someone was already sleeping. The lights were off in the living room, but there was enough light coming from the garden lighting outside that it wasn’t hard to see. It wasn’t enough to find a tiny clear tape on the carpet though, so Ámbar turned on a table lamp, and when that wasn’t enough, pulled out her phone and used its flashlight as well.

Finally, she found the little roll of tape underneath the sofa. She must have kicked it under there by mistake earlier. She put it in her pants pocket, and she had just turned off the flashlight on her phone when the device started ringing, startling her a little.

It was the loud sound against the otherwise silent house, the lightning panic of ‘shoot, I’m going to wake up someone’ that reflectively crossed her mind. She would’ve gotten over it as quickly as it happened if it had been any other number calling her on the phone. But as she read the caller’s ID, Ámbar’s nervousness didn’t settle down— It was heightened.

‘Vanessa’

Maybe it was the suddenness of it— That she took her by surprise. Maybe it was her brain urging her to quiet the noise as soon as possible. Maybe it was the mix of curiosity and worry at having her godmother call her at this hour. Maybe, under different circumstances, Ámbar would’ve thought about it twice before answering the call.

But the fact of the matter was, she did.

“Hello?”

“Ámbar.” Sharon’s voice came through with its usual mix of impassiveness and undercurrent firmness. “I hope you’ve gotten over your little tantrum because I need your help. It’s important.”

The ball of anxiety grew in Ámbar’s chest, along with confusion. “My help? With what?”

“I need to get inside the mansion,” Sharon said without preamble. “I can take care of the guards at the entrance, but I need you to make sure that no one crosses my path while I go in and out of my room. I’ll go at night, when it’s less likely someone will see me.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Get inside the mansion— Are you insane?” Her voice almost rose for a moment and Ámbar had to remind herself to keep speaking quietly. If anyone heard her, it would be incredibly bad— But what her godmother was saying was even worse. “Wasn’t it enough with last time?” She demanded with outrage. “I thought you had understood that it’s not a good idea— You’re going to get caught.”

“Not if I have a good lookout, which is why I need you. You’re the only one I can trust, Ámbar.”

Ámbar shook her head. That was always Sharon’s technique— Try and pull at Ámbar’s heartstrings when she needed something from her. But Ámbar had done this dance too many times. She knew how it ended.

“No,” she replied, firmly. “I am not going to help you. Why are you even asking me? Ask Rey or Maggie—they are your little toy soldiers, don’t pull me into your crazy ideas.” I have too much to lose.

The mild softness in Sharon’s voice vanished as fast as it had appeared. “Rey got me the key for the chest four days ago, but since then, he’s been reluctant to cooperate with me and I can’t enter the house without help from the inside, it’s too risky,” she explained with evident frustration. “It must be Maggie’s influence, no doubt. That woman only causes trouble.”

Good job, Maggie, Ámbar thought with some relief.

“Or maybe Rey doesn’t want to help you because he knows as well as I do that this is a bad idea,” she emphasized. “What even is in that chest that you want it so much?”

“That’s none of your business,” Sharon retorted immediately. “Just help me get inside to retrieve what’s mine and I promise that I won’t step on that house again. Not until I have gotten rid of those pests who took it from me in the first place, of course,” she added.

Ámbar closed her eyes. How could she not see? No one took anything from her— She was the one who alienated herself from her family for trying to hide the truth. Was accepting the reality that Luna was the heir to the Benson fortune so impossible for her that she was willing to destroy everything in order to avoid it? Destroy herself?

“You need to stop this, godmother.” Ámbar tried to infuse strength into her words but her emotions filtered in, making it sound like begging. “What you’re doing is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it’s dangerous— I’m worried that something might happen to you. Please stop this before it’s too late.”

“If it really worried you that much, you would help me,” Sharon said. “The sooner I get what I want, the sooner all of this will be over— You know that, Ámbar.”

“The Valente don’t deserve this,” Ámbar said. “They’re good people. And if you don’t want to think about them, think about Grandpa— He is your father. He almost had a heart attack the last time something happened, imagine if something terrible happened to him— Would you really be able to live with that?”

“My father made his own decisions, including siding with those newcomers who took everything from us, so whatever happens to him will be exclusively his responsibility.”

Ámbar shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.” Was she really that far gone? Did she not care about anything?

Am I wasting my time? Ámbar thought with sudden, terrifying despair. Is there no way to fix this?

“I’m very serious,” Sharon declared. “So think very carefully if you want to keep siding with that family.”

Ámbar swallowed a groan of frustration. “You don’t understand, it’s not about sides. I just want—”

The sound of footsteps coming from behind her made Ámbar’s heart jump to her throat.

Rapidly, she hung up and turned around, trying to not seem too suspicious.

The fist in her chest tightened when she saw it was Simón who had come in through the kitchen door— out of all possible people— and, judging by the curious look he was casting her way, he had definitely caught her talking on the phone.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“I thought you’d be in bed,” he said. “Why did you hang up so fast? Who was it?”

Ámbar tried to think through the buzz of panic in her head. “Yeah, um, I forgot something down here so I came to find it,” she said. Her mouth felt dry. “I did, so, it’s all good.”

Simón made a noise of understanding but the wrinkle between his brows remained. “And the call?”

“No one,” Ámbar responded instinctively. Fuck, she was so stupid— of course it couldn’t be no one! “I mean, no one as in nothing important, don’t mind it,” she tried to dismiss it.

Simón let out a laugh. “If you really told me you were talking to no one, I would be worried that you’ve been stuck inside this house so long it has started to affect you and you hear voices now,” he joked.

Ámbar forced a weak laugh out of her in response. “Yeah, no, it was… Emilia,” she came up with. “She was just calling to annoy me, so I cut her off. But it was nothing, really.”

The amusement left Simón’s expression and he became serious. “Do you want me to talk to her?” He offered. “I’ll talk to her,” he decided before she could speak. “It’s not fair that she’s harassing you after they kicked you off the team. What does she think she’s doing?”

Ámbar’s eyes widened slightly. “Nonono, leave it, really, I can handle her,” she assured him, trying to seem as unbothered as possible while fear gripped her senses. “It’s not like it bothers me anyway, it’s her time she’s wasting, not mine.”

“You sure?”

Ámbar nodded immediately, eager to put the topic to rest. Simón, too good to just let it go, walked toward her with a slightly saddened expression and held her hands in his. “We shouldn’t have even invited her to sing with us at the Roller Jam,” he said with some bite. “I know why you suggested it, but if she’s still bothering you even after you tried to do something nice for her, then she’s not worth it.”

He was so aggrieved for her sake and it only made Ámbar feel worse. He only wanted her to be treated fairly, kindly— He wanted to defend her from what could bring her harm. And in the meantime, what was she doing? Sinking in a sea of lies and drowning others with her in order to maintain them.

I’m the harm and he doesn’t know it.

“I just thought it was fair. And who knows? Maybe she just needs time,” she attempted to defend Emilia in order to salvage her conscience. “But whatever— I don’t have time to think about Emilia or anything of the sort, it really doesn’t matter,” she said fast and dismissively. She squeezed his hands and smiled. “Let’s just go upstairs, okay?”

Ámbar turned off the lamp and they went up to her room hand in hand. The darkness gave her an excuse to not look him in the face.

The warmth of Simón’s hand felt suffocating against her own, as if it burned her skin— holy water on the worst sinner. Ámbar felt disgusting. She didn’t deserve this hand.

But she was not going to let it go. She held it tighter. She held him tighter.

She was not letting Simón go.

Ever.

******************

The next morning, Ámbar woke up before him, as she usually did, but Simón convinced her to stay in bed and sleep some more. They’d had a long night last night (Ámbar had been inspired, running her hands and mouth all over his body, and he had no desire to say no) but more than that, she’d been visibly tired lately with all the preparations for the Roller Jam, and she deserved the rest.

“It won’t kill you to sleep in one day; take the morning off.”

His stubborn girl was still sitting up and rubbing at her eyes, trying to wake up even though she was clearly exhausted. “I can’t do that, I’m supposed to be working.”

“I won’t tell Vidia if you won’t.”

Ámbar gave him a disapproving look and pouted, and she looked absolutely adorable with her disheveled hair and sleepy eyes.

Simón kissed her pout. “Seriously, just sleep two more hours, it’ll be okay.”

Ámbar closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow. “Mmm, but I like having breakfast with you,” she murmured.

Simón smiled and tucked some hair away from her face. “Me too. So, sleep so that we can do that tomorrow.”

Ámbar hummed again and snuggled under the covers. There might have been an ‘okay’ there somewhere but it was too muffled and sleepy to tell.

Simón leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of her head before getting up. “I love you.”

“Luv u,” Ámbar mumbled, and by the time Simón walked out of the room, she was out like a light.

The rest of Simón’s morning went on as normal, with him walking to the Roller with Pedro, starting his workday, and supervising the new part-timers while they learned the ropes in the cafeteria.

The first few days of this last activity had felt like double work for Simón and Pedro because they had to train the new girls in addition to keeping up with all their usual duties, so it was a lot. Alex, the new rink assistant, had been easier: He already had rollerskating experience, so all they had to do was show him how the rental system in the lockers worked and teach him about safety precautions in the rink and what to do in case of any accidents— stuff like that. Eric, being the full-time rink assistant, took over most of his training, so Simón and Pedro only had to worry about the cafeteria.

‘Only’ was an understatement, of course— It was the hardest part. But by now, Cata and Rae had gotten a pretty good hang of things— Simón hadn’t lied when he said to Ámbar that they learned things quickly— so he felt way more at ease. Actually, he hadn’t felt this relaxed while working since the days when Nico was still with them. Four people worked better than two, after all. He would miss the girls once they started working on their own on the weekends, and he was sure Pedro shared the sentiment, but in exchange for that, they’d finally get to have their weekends free like the rest of the world, so really, they couldn’t complain.

He brought two hamburgers over to table 4 and then there was a small lull in activity as all the customers enjoyed their food and joyful conversation. Simón took the opportunity to go to the lockers and see how Eric and Alex were doing. Just as a friendly visit, mostly, but if he was being honest, he did have another agenda.

He’d been thinking for the past few days how great it’d be if Alex happened to play an instrument and wanted to join the Roller Band. Simón didn’t want to get his hopes up, but they could finally be a band again! Alex seemed like a very nice guy from the interactions Simón’d had with him until now, and Eric felt comfortable around him, which said a lot because he was usually nervous around new people, so really, what was there to lose in asking?

Unfortunately, when the three of them got talking and Simón subtly brought the topic up, he came to find out that, while Alex loved music, he had absolutely no ability for it.

Simón hid the disappointment he felt. Of course finding a new member wasn’t going to be that easy. Looking at it objectively, it would have been an unbelievable stroke of luck if Alex turned out to be the solution to all their problems. Not because Simón got to the Roller and was a perfect fit for the band meant that everyone who arrived would be as well.

Maybe Eric could join if he weren’t so shy, Simón thought.He’d been great at Nico’s farewell party. But Simón wasn’t going to force him out of his shell just for his own gain.

The idea of the Christian Rock duo was starting to sound appealing.

They were still talking when someone else walked into the room. There was a minimal pause, almost imperceptible, as the three of them glanced to the side to check if it was someone in need of assistance, but it was just Emilia, who walked toward her locker without even looking at them.

Eric and Alex continued talking, but Simón didn’t. He stayed staring at Emilia, feeling a spark of anger flare inside of him as he remembered last night.

He simply couldn’t understand it. Ámbar was breaking her back organizing an event that everyone could enjoy, that she invited Emilia to participate in as an olive branch, and Emilia repaid that good faith by calling Ámbar just to mess with her? How could anyone be so ungrateful?

Simón couldn’t even be sure this was the first time something like this had happened. Ámbar had a tendency of wanting to deal with everything herself— The prime example of that being that she told Simón not to worry about it, that she could handle Emilia— So who knew how long this had been going on.

Emilia put her skates away and walked out of the lockers as quietly as she had come. Simón tightened his fists. Yes, Ámbar could deal with Emilia— Simón had no doubt that she could handle almost anything if she put her mind to it. But it wasn’t fair that this was happening, and Ámbar didn’t have todeal with everything alone— She had him now. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow something like this to keep happening without doing anything about it.

Simón said a quick bye to the guys and walked out right after her.

In the hallway, he threw a quick look around in search for Benicio, because wherever Emilia was, Benicio was always close by. Simón found him still at the rink, rollerskating by himself. Good. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with both at the same time.

Emilia was already crossing the front door by the time he brought his gaze back to her. Simón hurried after her, walked out of the Roller too, and stood in her path, causing her to stop.

“I need to speak with you.”

Emilia blinked, both in surprise and confusion. “With me? What, is there another event you want me to sing at?” She joked. “I’m very sorry but you’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow—I gotta get to work.”

She tried to pass by him but Simón blocked her way.

“No, it’s not about that. And you know what? If we had known this is what your response would be, we never would’ve invited you,” he spat her way. “I mean, Ámbar wanted to invite you as a kind gesture, she was trying to put an ending to all the fighting so you could be a part of something nice for once, and this is how you repay her? Calling her up just to annoy her? It isn’t enough for you to be so unfriendly to everyone in their presence, you had to bother her during her free time too?”

Emilia wrinkled her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night, when you called Ámbar on her cellphone to harass her,” Simón stated in no uncertain terms.

Emilia’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “I haven’t called your little girlfriend since she sucked face with you. She became a loser by association.”

“Don’t lie, Emilia. Ámbar told me.”

“I’m not lying,” Emilia protested. “Here, you wanna see?” She pulled out her phone and offered it to him. “Check my phone’s call history. You won’t find Ámbar’s name anywhere.”

Simón hesitated for a moment. Something inside him rose in alarm, not allowing him to move. He took the phone and tried to quiet it. Emilia was just pretending to be offended, that was all.

She unlocked the phone right in front of his eyes, which again unnerved him due to the confidence of the gesture, but he carried on. He just had to prove she was lying. He tapped out of Instagram, the last app she’d been using, apparently, and went to the home page to find the Phone app. He went to the call history and started scrolling down.

He checked the names, the dates on the list, checked again.

Nothing. Ámbar’s name was nowhere to be found.

It must have shown on his face, the way his stomach started coiling into knots, because he heard Emilia’s annoyed vindication. “See? I told you. I don’t even remember when was the last time I called Ámbar. It should show up there somewhere. Has it been a month maybe?”

She was just thinking out loud, unpreoccupied now that she’d been proven right. Meanwhile, Simón was struggling to keep his nervous system under control.

It can’t be.

“You could’ve deleted it,” he told her, looking up from the treacherous list on that stupid device.

Emilia, arms crossed in front of her chest, seemed unamused by the accusation. “Yeah, because I see the future and I knew you were going to want to see it,” she said ironically. She rolled her eyes. “Please, Simón, don’t fool yourself. Ámbar lied to you. And, I mean, why are you even surprised? It’s Ámbar. Lying is what she does best.”

No.

It can’t be.

“Look,” Emilia deflated, uncrossing her arms and looking at him with something akin to pity, “from one Mexican to another, I think you should stay away from her. You’re too goody-goody, and Ámbar… well, there’s a reason why we used to be friends.”

A slight tremor was taking over Simón’s limbs. He couldn’t even look at Emilia. He couldn’t look at anyone.

“Now if you excuse me,” she took her phone from his hands, “I’m gonna go.” Emilia took a couple steps before stopping. “And tell your girlfriend that if she wants to do right by me or whatever then she shouldn’t go around sullying my name with false accusations.” She walked away. “See ya, Simón.”

Even after she was long gone, Simón remained unmoving. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his ears.

Ámbar lied to me.

He tried to slow down his breathing, swallow the pulse in his throat, but the pain in his chest didn’t go away.

This couldn’t be. There had to be some explanation. There had to be.

Calm down. He could hardly hear his thoughts through the blaring of his heartbeat. It’s just a phone call. It’s not a big deal. This isn’t like last year. It isn’t—

But if it’s not a big deal, then why did she—?

Simón breathed in and out, hard.

All around him, his world started crumbling down.

…

10 notes · View notes