OH BABY! (Mario Martinez - On My Block)

Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

i'm your venus, i'm your fire, and your desire
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MARIA FELT LIKE MARIO was being weird. Over the past weekend, she noticed often enough that Mario wasn't being himself. Just the week before, she couldn't go five minutes without him being a helicopter boyfriend—but now she found him drifting off and disassociating.

She understood the pressure he must have been under. Between balancing school, a social life, and now playing a (almost) dad. It must've been overwhelming.

It was overwhelming for her too.

After her younger brother flew back home to now stay with their grandparents, Maria often found herself feeling alone—too. Granted, she had Amber. And although originally she was a bitch, Maria couldn't imagine having anyone else in her life. Though the type of loneliness Maria was feeling couldn't be solved by Amber.

She felt bloated, her feet and back ached, her boobs hurt and Maria swore that if she wasn't in bed with Mario within the next hour she might burst.

Metaphorically of course. She was no where near her due date.

Hesitantly she knocked on Mario's dorm door. The whole hall was oddly quiet, usually guys were filtering up and down or the other rooms were blasting loud trap music. After a moment of reviving no response from Mario, she knocked again.

Was he suddenly getting cold feet about the whole situation?

Maria knew she couldn't do it without him. She had Amber who lived out of state, and her younger brother. Hell—her parents refilled her bank account but still haven't made an attempt to talk to her. Neither has her grandparents.

She was going to be alone without him.

She bit her lip, feeling tears prick the corner of her eyes. Curse her insane pregnancy hormones. Just a few months ago, she would have never cried over a boy—but now she couldn't imagine not being with Mario (even if they were just friends).

Thankfully she heard the click of the lock on the other side of door and then it swung open. Mario looked exhausted—he had rosy pink cheeks and his hair was messy. It had grown quite long, some bits hanging over his forehead and eyes—something she would've usually nitpicked at.

But the sad look in his eyes made her bite her tongue.

MARIO FIRST GOT THE NEWS three days ago. He still wasn't sure how to cope with it, but crying alone in his room seemed like a good idea. He sighed kneading the palms of his hands roughly into his eyes. Mario couldn't stop imagining it.

His own brother getting gunned down at a fucking Quince.

Freeridge was a scary place, but Ruby was a good kid. He was too good and kind for something like this to even accidentally happen to him. Who would go after a kid?

Classes were extra hard this week. Mario wondered if it was because he was stressed and worried about Ruby and Maria—or if it was from slacking off. He hated to admit it, but being with Maria and taking her to her appointments really took a lot of time away from school. Mario swore he didn't mind it, but he had a scholarship and a grade quota to keep otherwise he'd lose his scholarship. Locking himself away for a day or two to work on missing assignments and to just cope seemed like a brilliant idea.