FULL CIRCLE

O3.

🎶 Now playing: Nothings into Somethings by Drake.

The next morning Antonio found himself lacing up his running shoes for a jog. In all honesty, he was hoping to run into the girl he saw the other day. There was something he just couldn't shake off about her. Ms Maya would open the store for today and he'd get in a little later on. Following his usual trail for the first 10 minutes eventually led him to the trail right outside the store. After searching around, he sat on the bench nearby, hoping she'd appear again.

With his hopes extremely high, he jogged alongside some girl, hoping to get her name. "Beautiful morning today huh?"

"What?" She took her left pod out of her ear. Antonio's optimism quickly faded as he saw a face that wasn't the one he'd been thinking about all along. "Yo, my bad. I thought you were someone else..."

She quickly brushed him off and carried on with her jog. Still feeling like not all hope was lost, he jogged back home to freshen up. Justine stood up from his doorstep as a small smile crept up on his face. "J, hey. What are you doing here so early?" He gently pulled her up, sensing her sadness. "I... I'm just having a bad morning, that's all. Can we go in?"

Antonio opened the front door and led her inside, only for him to be slammed back onto the door by her rough kisses. "Baby, wait. I need to take a shower. I have to get to work-"

Ignoring him completely, she tried pulling his shirt off but he pulled back. "Don't you just want to talk about it?" He pressed his lips together as Justine gathered herself. "Yeah, sure. I'm sorry."

Antonio awkwardly walked up the stairs to head to his bathroom as she followed behind. After his hygiene routine, they ended up chilling on the bed with small talk present to some extent. Even with Justine in his arms, his mind wandered, from Ms Maya's warnings about her being a distraction, his unsupportive father, the new girl, and just being in a constant state of discontent. Looking up at the time, he quickly sat back up to put his shoes on, somewhat accepting that he'd be late for work.

Justine had fallen into a light slumber, making Antonio argue with himself whether he should wake her up or leave her to sleep. He chose the latter...

In half an hour's time, he stormed into the store, catching Ms Maya's deadly stares. "What did I tell you about that girl? You were with her, weren't you?"

Antonio chuckled lightly at her reaction. He then went ahead and fetched a box in the storeroom and immediately got to packing the new vinyl discs on the shelf by the window.

"Anto-Anto!" Mauro walked in after the soft bell rang at the door. Antonio smiled at the kid who spent most of his afternoons after school in the store, always trying to get a new game for his PlayStation at a discount. He always made a mental note to bring Mauro along whenever he needed to negotiate with his suppliers. "What's up, Mauro? You behaving at school?"

"Of course baby," he quirkily responded, even making Ms Maya laugh from a distance. He was always the light of any environment he occupied, just a happy Spanish kid, very opinionated and smart with a bright future ahead of him. "You know I'm an A-Student, and you know what an A-Student deserves?"

"Boy, if you say a new game..." Ms Maya sassed, making Mauro shrug in surrender.

"Do you have money for a new game? I literally bought you a new game last week, buddy." Antonio reasoned with him, knowing he'd be in for some lip service. "That was a bet, fair and square. Come on, Anto-Anto." He teased with his thick accent.

Antonio's gaze was quickly directed to the window as he saw her by the park. She'd been sitting on a little blanket, making notes and reading. "Hey, Mauro, come here," he dragged him by his backpack. "You said you want a new game right? Do me a solid real quick..."

As part of Antonio's perfectly curated plan, Mauro grabbed the soccer ball and ran to the park to play around before intentionally kicking it into the girl's bag and water bottle. "Man, what the..." she smacked her lips as she picked her spilling bottle up, pulling a face at Mauro. "Do you mind? I'm trying to play soccer here..." he mocked her in attempt to start an argument.

"Excuse me? You found me here, what do you mean?" She sassed while trying to contain herself from arguing with a kid. Technically, they weren't that far apart in terms of age so it was a valid argument. They went in on each other while Antonio popped some spearmint gum into his mouth before jogging over to them. "Mauro, I've been looking all over for you, why are you outside playing in your school uniform?"

"I just wanted to play some soccer. My mom said I can play once I'm done with my homework," he faked another argument with Antonio while the girl prepared to leave. "Wait- I'll talk to you later, go back inside. Hey," Antonio stopped her from packing her stuff. "Sorry about that, you know how kids are. My cousin can be a pain sometimes." Antonio caught himself smiling each time she made eye contact or tried to leave. He thought she had this refreshing beauty to her.

"That doesn't look like your cousin," she stared him down as if she could sense his nervousness. She kept her face squint from the sun, indirectly intimidating him. "I know blended families are a thing but you're just lying, in broad daylight." She commented as Antonio chuckled softly, tilting his head back.

Just as Antonio was about to ask for her name, a soccer ball came flying and hit her in the chest. Mauro, again. This time he gritted his teeth and pulled a face, implying that he'd hit her by accident. "Mauro, come on man!" Antonio expressed as he helped her get up.

"Okay, you know what? You and your cousin can just leave me alone." She rolled her eyes as she packed her stuff for real this time. "Get off my blanket, move!"