INDICA ♔ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

EIGHT

Ximena sighed, checking her phone for the tenth time this whole day.

She hadn't received any text messages from Oscar, she hadn't spoken to him since she had left for school this morning.

She had grown worried.

Oscar never spoke about his father, ever. If he did speak about his parents at all, it was mostly his mother.

What a good person she was, how loving she was, how beautiful.

But his dad?

Ximena had never heard a word.

She couldn't tell how he was feeling right now, which killed her.

Before she left, all he told her was that he'd be in contact, but when?

As soon as the final bell rung, the girl practically sprinted to the parking lot.

Jamal was staying after school for his photography club, so he wouldn't need a ride back to the house.

Ximena got in her car, speeding towards Oscar's, calling him a dozen times on the way.

As she parked close to the sidewalk, she could see him in the yard.

He had his head buried deep into the hood of his car, loud rap music blasting through the speakers.

The girl practically let out a sigh of relief as she began walking towards him.

"Hey," she breathed, sliding off her bag as she let it hit the ground.

"Hi, amor," he barely even looked at her, continuing to focus on the car.

"I've been calling you, texting you," she leaned against the front, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I've been busy."

She hated when Oscar would do this, shut down.

As she opened her mouth to say something, a presence behind her startled the girl.

"Hey," Ray greeted.

Oscar looked up, rolling his eyes as he went back to his work.

"Hi," Ximena said softly.

"Yeah?" Oscar grabbed one of the steel plates to his left, flipping it over.

Ray shrugged, pointing to the interior, "Just looking, those the same rims? You painted her!"

"Yup," his son replied, not paying his father much mind.

Ray sighed, holding out his hand to the teenage girl. "We didn't get properly introduced before," he cleared his throat, "I'm Ray."

Ximena kept her arms crossed as she gave the man a worried look.

She could feel the anger radiating off of Oscar's skin, the girl was scared this would piss him off even more.

"Ximena Martinez." Ximena took the man's hand, giving it a shake as they dropped.

"Beautiful name, beautiful girl. You look a lot like my wife, you know." As Ximena's eyebrow twitched, Ray chuckled.

"Makes sense, he's always been a momma's boy," Ray joked, gesturing to Oscar, "hey, you remember when you were little? I would let you sit on my lap when I drove and you would steer? You were really good too-"

Oscar slammed down the hood, brushing Ximena off to the side as he stepped up to Ray.

"Let's get something straight! You can come come back here and pretend to be a father, but I know what's up. Cesar? He's been through a lot of shit lately, so I'll let him live under this delusion for now."

Oscar turned his back on the man, quickly packing up his tools.

"Does Cesar hate me, as much as you do?"

"We don't even talk about you."

•

Ximena groaned, letting out a deep breath as Oscar's nails dug into her skin.

The sun began to set as the two reached their climax, an orange glow coming in between Oscar's curtains.

Ximena looked down at him, her thumb trailing over his features.

She took a couple of moments to appreciate the atmosphere, her body covered in sweat and smoke.

"What?" He asked, catching his breath.

The girl shook her head, "Nothing, that was just- different."

Oscar chuckled, groaning as he adjusted himself underneath her. "Good different or bad different?"

"I don't know," Ximena sung, her smile radiate, "it was just different. Aggressive."

"I just got a lot of shit going on right now."

"I know," the girl nodded, her hands slowly sliding down his chest, "but you also know you can talk to me, right? You can't keep walking around with all of this anger."

Oscar began to laugh, "Wasn't I the one telling you that these past couple of months? Sucks doesn't it?"

"That was different, Oscar."

"Yeah," Oscar looked down at her torso, his fingers dancing over her faded and grey surgical scar, "I guess it was."

Ximena's hands met Oscar's, giving them to his lips as she gave them a kiss. As they continued to stare at each other, the girl's phone began to obnoxiously ring.

She groaned, leaning over to find her clothes.

She brought the device to her ear, "Yo."

"You forgetting we have a shift today?" Jamal questioned on the other line.

"Fuck, fuck! Oh my god-" Ximena frantically began to get dressed, her schedule for today completely slipping her mind.

"Relax, I'll be home in about ten minutes. We were at Chivo's."

"Why the hell were you at Chivo's?" Ximena grabbed her underwear from Oscar's hands as he helped her.

"That is something I will have to explain on the drive, see you soon!"