the years just roll on by

3 yrs later

Lina


         “I think he wants to break up…”


         “How many times a week do you guys break up?” Lina shot her an evil look, which was lost on Mili who was busy painting her toenails; she then wiggled it smiling in satisfaction.


         “Am serious Mili, this time it’s so serious!”


         “So was last time, and the one before, and the one before that one, should I go on…?”


         “Mili you’re just no help!” She cried out


         “Ya think? Hello, I’m 13 okay, I don’t date…”


         “That’s cause you’re a weirdo” Mili just looked at her and turned away, she was not worth answering, “Maybe I should get you a boyfriend, cause people are starting to wonder…” she constantly teased Mili, but nothing bothered her, not since they were young.  Mili’s composure just made her want to trigger a response from her, not get her mad, no way, because Mili was scary when she was mad…“But back to me, what do you I think I should do, oh! Can you talk to him for me?”


         “What da’ hell do I look like, I ain’t no fucking liaison, just get out of my room, why are you always in my room?” She wouldn’t admit it, but she liked Mili’s company, truth be told, Mili was probably one of the only girls that really liked her, although sometimes she wasn’t sure, but Mili was her sister, so of course she’d like her.  But her so called friends were constantly jealous of her, when they had boyfriends they stayed away from her, though she’d never gotten with any of their boyfriends, was it her fault that she was pretty?  She wished she could be like Mili, because if Mili was in her place, she wouldn’t care…


         “I’ll leave if you go talk to José for me”


         “Or I could kick your ass”


         “Come on Mili, he listens to you, for some reason” sometimes she did worry, that perhaps a part of José liked Mili, the part of him that wouldn’t admit it, not even to himself…








Mili


         If asked why she did, she really couldn’t say, after Lina and José had gotten together, she constantly bugged him.  Jose became like a brother, but he didn’t feel like one, but their relationship was more brother/sister-friend. 


         “Yo Mili!” Michael called, they had been neighbors for far too long, he wanted to be more than friends, well they already where, but he wanted people to actually know.  She hated that idea, she was a private person, she didn’t like people in her business, though most thought she was showy, in truth, her privacy was very important to her.


         “What? Am busy” she tapped her feet as he neared, she wished he would leave her alone, yea she liked him, but she didn’t enjoy his company as much as…


         “Come on” he put his arm around her waist, she knew he wanted to make out, he always wanted to make out, he did the weirdest things when they did, his tongues licking her lips was as gross as it got, he thought he was great, she hated it.  So there she stood with his tongue practically down her throat, could her 13 years of living ever have prepared her for this? It was traumatic, why was she with him? Because ‘he’ wouldn’t look at her like that.  She pushed him away


         “What’s wrong?” he gave her that hurt puppy dog look, she’d liked it at first, now it just annoyed her, he was her friend, but she really couldn’t keep this up, next time she’ll probably throw up, especially with the amount breath freshener he used, she could choke on that alone.


         “I have to go somewhere” she avoided his gaze


         “To José’s?” she could hear the anger in his voice, he hated how close she was to José, she could still remember how she used to follow him around.


         “Yeah” she wasn’t going to explain herself, she had her limits


         “Why you always going over there?”


         “Because I want to…so I’ll see you around” she hoped not, but it was impossible, they went to the same school, same grade, they even had classes together! And to top it off, he lived less than a block away.


She knocked on the door, José’s mom, Mrs. Garcia opened it, she grinned at the beautiful women whom José looked so much like.


         “Hi Mrs. Garcia! José here?” she still refused to pronounce his name the way he wanted, she was the only one who called him Joe-Zey.


         “Mili, haven’t seen you for a while”


         “Yeah I been sort’a busy”


         “Probably running around, when you going to stop your tomboy ways? You’re getting older you know, and turning into quite a pretty girl”


         “Come on, not you too!” But she was smiling when she said it, she knew she wasn’t pretty, but Mrs. Garcia had always told her that she was pretty, it was nice to hear.


         “Okay, okay, he’s upstairs, and tell him tomorrow is laundry day”


         “Oh Mrs. Garcia, you know if ‘I’ tell him he’s going to make me help him”


         “I know, and it’d get done much better too, now go” Mili whined, but smiled inside, they treated her like she was part of the family, she had pretty much made it sort of hard in the three years they had known her not to, she’d infiltrated every nook and corner of their house.  When she got the José’s room she didn’t knock, she just flung open the door, he was sleeping, that was a first, usually he was on the phone with some girl.  She never said anything to Lina about it, but then again Lina also had her own swarming amount of guys around.


She sneaked up and jumped on his bed, making him jump up, he wasn’t a deep sleeper, so he woke right up.  She could tell he wanted to go to sleep though.


“Mili what do you want?” he groggily asked, she tried not to look at his wavy jet black hair falling over his face, his thick arched brows were furrowed, his dark eyes tried to adjust to the light.  She knew his every movement, it was the same every time he woke up, him rubbing his straight, aristocratic nose, then his large hands would move to cover his mouth as a yawn exited his full wide lips, he had such a well sculpted face, with high cheekbones and that slight 5-o’clock shadow.  In truth, right then and there, he could have been a model on the cover of a magazine, she could understand why Lina had been instantly infatuated with him.


“What? You just gon stare at my face, I know it’s beautiful but…”


“Shut up, you’re so conceited! But to get to the point…”


“I didn’t think this was a friendly visit, I’m disappointed” he grinned with mirth


“So, are you planning on dumping Lina?”


“Damn Mili, why don’t you ever mind your business?” he rubbed his eyes one more time


“Cause ya’ll never let me!” insulted she crossed her arm, he pushed the hair from his face, and again it was hard to drag her eyes away from his well toned bare chest, the corded muscles of his biceps; she loved how he had an athletic body.  That’s how she wanted her boyfriend to look, wide shoulders, washboard abs, though slimly built, Jose was 6’3 and not even done growing …She looked at his face as a chagrinned smile took over hers he frowned.


“Do I need to worry about you raping me?”


“Shut up, I’m a growing girl you know, it’s just natural that if a guy is partially naked and sitting next to me that I’m going to check him out, so are you answering my question or what?”


“More like ogle him” he murmured though she heard, “I’ll talk to her”


“I know, but I still want to know”


“Am not really sure, you know, with her being in high school and me in college”


“But you still live next door…”


“Yeah, I’m thinking second semester I might transfer to another school, so I’ll be staying on campus and stuff” they got quiet


“Oh…” she couldn’t imagine him not being here, “You already with…”


“Noh, come on man”


“You know, I don’t get you guys, you always kiss other girls, but you guys still go out and you don’t call that cheating?”


“We’re usually in between brake ups” he flushed


“If I was with someone, and they did that, I wouldn’t be able to stand it, if you love someone, you want them all to yourself, right?” she stared curiously at him


“Um yea” he coughed looking away from the intensity in her eyes


“Hey Joe-zey, how do you kiss someone?” she looked at him, he looked taken back, and she could see a blush creeping up his face once more.


“Why you asking that? Hey, you not messing with nobody are you? You only 13 you know!” he looked practically outraged


“Oh shut up, you’re the last person that should be telling me that, so any who, every time Michael kisses me, he does this weird thing with his tongue” she shivered not being able to hold in her disgust, he laughed


“That’s called French kissing twerp” he ruffled her hair, she ducked, narrowed her eyes at him.


“Am not stupid, I know a lot more than you give me credit for” she smiled smugly


“If you’re having sex I will kick your ass”


“I just said I’m not stupid didn’t I?” she huffed looking insulted


“Aight then what?”


“Well, he licks my lips! It’s really gross, and the breath mint, so much! I don’t think I can get used to kissing, maybe I really should turn into a lesbian” José laughed even more 


“Sounds like he practicing”


“I don’t wanna be nobody’s practice thing, I kinda wanna break it off”


“So you and Micheal huh?”


“He ain’t my boyfriend or nothing” she mumbled looking down


“Then what you doing kissing him?” she just shrugged, he signed, “You shouldn’t just go around kissing anybody, it should be someone you like, someone that makes your heart race” he felt stupid saying that to a 13 years old, though Mili was a lot smarter and much more mature than most kids, he still felt weird giving romantic advice to her.


“You mean like you” she stared at him, he got quiet, a shocked look on his face, she smiled, “What? Ain’t nobody said I can’t like you” she simply shrugged


“Umm” he looked at a loss for words, she took that opportunity to do the one thing she had always wanted, and with him about to go off, it’d be a long time before she saw him, she wasn’t the type to wonder, she was an action girl.  She closed in, held his face in her hand and before he knew what she was doing, she dropped a kiss on his lips…