"I have a boyfriend." I giggle, whispering up to my bedroom ceiling and holding up Lexi's comforter up to my body.

I hear by declare, on Galentine's Day, that I am a girlfriend to a really hot, hot, hot basketball player. Don't tell him I said that, he'll get all conceited and big headed.

I crinkle my nose, thinking about him teasing me about how he is my first and only boyfriend I'll ever have.

I hope so too.

I can't believe what I have wish and prayed for so long, since my quinceanera, for a guy to like me for me, who I am... a mad scientist loving nurse who loves candy and big glasses.

I can't count how many times I've asked and cried while asking Mamà what was wrong with me. But she always said what typical Mamà's say, the beauty is within and not without.

Easy for her, she's been beautiful since out of the womb.

No guys would look at me.

No guys would talk to me.

No guys would build enough courage to ask me out.

I didn't know if it was because I had virgin stamped in red on my forehead or if it was chocolate stains on my teeth, except Spencer. He pointed that out quickly during the chemistry lab.

Even when Sofia gave me a makeover, with no glasses and acne free, guys still didn't look my way.. Hugo was the exception but Sofia shut that operation down quickly. I didn't even have a date for senior prom like I wanted to. I had my dress picked out and I was for sure Thiago would ask me but he just wanted to ask me about a homework assignment he missed. So I helped him.

I thought for sure in freshman year of college and coming to America would be so different. For sure, a nice American boy would like a foregin girl. I mean who doesn't... well, clearly the ones at the University of Maryland don't, except one now.

I smile, thinking about Bigfoot and I sharing a gas station pizza that he raved about by his old high school. We made a little picnic in the middle of the basketball court that he used to play with his friends after school.

I thought for sure we were going to get caught because the sign post said, 'Do not come on the court after nine.' Jaylan head locked me, told me to live a little, and fed me pizza.

He is lucky he is so cute.

I sink my teeth in thinking how he ate his pizza so easily, not getting it on him, and of course I got tomato sauce somehow on one of my mangoes. He was really kind to get it off for me.

Mi novio.

But before Dreadnoughtus, I thought at least one guy would spot me at the library, looking pretty and smart to attract an Engineering or even a Cyber Security major but nope. I mean, sure Peter took me out but he still choose a blonde. All the guys here want blondes and brunettes, the type of girls I see a lot on Pinterest or VSCO rather.

Girls like Ava.

I shift my eyes, looking at a lifeless Lexi because, for some reason, she reads what I think and I don't want to get pinched for that.

Lack of interest heightened my depression, on top of not being home because my true love wasn't happening for me. I hated living for that moment until Lexi told me when the moment happens, it'll be the least expected, or it's just around the corner. But I waited and waited and waited for that moment. By junior year, I just gave up until Big Green Bean Giant became so persistent but smooth getting to know who I am.

He knows who Lizzie is, the Winnie the Pooh celebrator.

I crinkle my nose because Jaylan said Pooh and I have something in common, not wearing any pants. He didn't get any stickers for that. He is dangerously close to getting his so-called 'Best dang sleepover' revoked.

Honestly, that was the last thing I expected yesterday. I was so focused on the sadness he was feeling over the trip seeing his mom, I hadn't realized it was exactly a month after he'd first seen me.

I don't know how he hasn't seen me before. I've seen him, I think. Or more like, I have heard of him but Max made sure I hadn't directly met him before. Before I saw him at the restaurant, she turned my shoulders and called him, "Not that one."

The way Jaylan asked me last night was so magical, despite us almost getting knocked out by the pitching machine. He may not have had the long written essay in his pocket or even asked on Girlfriend Day, but I knew it came from his heart in that gigantic body of his.

I slip at a giggle and Maxine groans, pulling me towards her to be quiet.

I kissed him so much last night, all over his face in happiness. He wasn't complaining, laughing while I'm pecking at him like a chicken.

I love his laugh. He should laugh more, he deserves it.

I had to call my sister Isabela and tell her everything. She popped a confetti popper but suddenly had to go because Mamà started yelling about she just cleaned up the floor and she gave Isabela a count of three to get all of it off the floor.

Of course she did.

Isabela told me Mamà has been cleaning even more, removing, and selling more of Papà and her things. I can't believe she got rid of her wedding dress.... I wanted to use the veil someday, like the pictures you see on Pinterest about the close mom and daughter relationships.

I sigh softly and move away from Maxine's death grip.

Jaylan wasn't the only one who had a hard day but he still managed to turn it around.

He even went as far as posting our relationship online on his Instagram. I told him no but he said, 'don't be silly,' because he wants everyone to know. I like the photo. It's me with the big helmet on, covering my face per my request because I don't want anyone knowing who I am. Especially with the photo going around and Jaylan has a lot of followers.

A lot of people are saying a lot of nice things, like his friends from childhood, the basketball team, even Maxine with an emoji eye roll. Marcus is our biggest supporter, saying he set us up and then got in a small argument with Maxine online.

Of course Ava had a reaction. She liked the picture from her fake Instagram account. One of her friends commented something like, 'He just threw away a four-year relationship for that?' Jaylan deleted the comment and blocked all her friends and Ava's finsta.

A girl named Gabrielle liked it too, writing, 'Congratulations, you deserve it' but he restricted her profile too. I asked who she was but he said just his ex-girlfriend from high school and left it at that. I was curious so I did peek at her profile. It was private but she is a very pretty girl, with a lot going for her, and is engaged to an NFL wide receiver who plays for the Baltimore Ravens. I definitely would like to know more about Jaylan's past relationships but I guess he will tell me when he feels the time is right, like anything he shares with me.

His family is so sweet though. His Aunt Lisa posted, 'Finally, someone to give him a knuckle sandwich.' His Uncle Steve posted a basketball hoop. I asked Jaylan what that meant and he said I made the perfect shot.

I smile and look around in my dark room.

"Soy una novia. (I have a boyfriend)" I giggle again, holding up Conor and Olivia to my mangoes.

"Lizzie, five more minutes," Lexi grumbles into the pink fuzzy heart pillow her head is resting on. I giggle, hugging onto Lexi but leap back because she's topless.

"LEXI!" I wail, wagging my hands.

"Girl, you wanted to sleep in here," she mumbled without opening her eyes. "I told you it's healthy to sleep topless Nurse Lizzie."

I grumble and Maxine groans with her wild ginger hair sprawled out, reaching her hand to shush me.

I will say out of all the beds in this household, Lexi's bed is the comfiest because she has the sleep number mattress she made her dad get for missing her birthday... He does that a lot, sadly. She has the right blankets, pillows, and super-soft sheets that feel so heavenly.

Thanks to Stephen I haven't been able to sleep in here recently.

"Lizzie," she groans quietly as I sit up. "It's like eight in the morning,"

"Exactly, I slept in!" I say, hopping out of bed but Maxine grabs me back, making me squeal.

"You don't have class Mondays and our classes don't start 'till three, so chill." She pets my head to calm me back to sleep but I am too excited for sitting still.

"It's Galentine's day! It's Galentine's day!" I say, shouting and they both groan at my overwhelming joy.

Jumping on the bed as it dips, I crawl out, again eagerly go back to my phone because I was banned from it when I came home last night with Jaylan. threw him out the house Fresh Prince of Bel Air style, well, she tried. Lexi was so happy for me that I told her Jaylan asked me and she kept telling me, "I told you so!"

After she locked out Jaylan, Maxine handed me his STI papers. I was surprised about her giving them to me but warmth spreads throughout my body he followed through with Maxine's wishes. As I expected, he's clean because he is an athlete and he has to stay healthy. Maxine said it was officially gal pal time, no penises allowed.

After I walk down to my room with Conor and Olivia, I belly flop on my bed and crawl up to my bed to see my phone to see a message from my boyfriend

"mi novio." I giggle at Conor, who furrows his button eyes at me because I don't kiss him anymore.

He has been so jealous lately but I assure him everything will be ok and I'll kiss him for practice.

"Stop it, Conor," I say sternly and look at my phone, sinking my teeth in my lower lip and looking at the message mi novio sent this morning.

Mi novio 🥰😘🧮 : Good morning beautiful small fry. Not going to send a long good morning message like you see on Pinterest but I wish I could have you wake up in my arms so I can kiss that sweet rotten face of yours.

I crinkle my nose with a smile. I don't have time to respond before he begins to facetime me. My heart races because my hair is in a frenzy and he's for sure going to pick on me for my glasses. I swipe accept and he begins to connect the butterflies, yawning from their party in my stomach last night. They were up 'till three am.

His face appears and my cheeks warm up entirely when he licks his lips at me, flashing a smile. With bright sun and a red brick building outside behind him, he looks like he is on campus right now. He is wearing a black Adidas hoodie and his earrings are shining so brightly. His beard looks freshly cut, making me wonder how prickly it will feel to kiss him now.

I sink my teeth in my lower lip as he releases a sly smirk at me for staring at him a second too long.

"Well, look who it is," he teases

"Sorry, Max banned me on the phone and talk lower because I'm not supposed to be talking to you," I whisper.

"What? What did you say!?" he says loudly, his voice echoing in my room.

I press my index finger into my lips. "SHHHHHHH!"

He laughs, flashing his white pearly teeth and tossing around some pink bubble gum. "How did you sleep babe?"

There he goes again.

He flashes me a smile, probably observing my flush face from me blushing. "You good Lizzie?" He taunts.

I furrow my brows and he lets out the most sexiest laugh.

"Comfortable, Lexi is the best cuddler," I confess and Jaylan gasps. I giggle, pushing some wild strands of hair out of my face.

"Why are you lyin, Pinocchio?" He playfully slants his eyes.

"Because before you it was Lexi and always will be," I answer honestly.

He huffs. "I'm using my coupon tomorrow."

I giggle, covering my face because he was teasing me last night about him buying a new bed and wants me to pick out a comforter as a present for Valentine's Day. I'm actually glad because I don't think I want to sleep in the same bed that Maxine says a million girls on campus have slept there.

"But it's for once a week," I remind him and he presses his lips at me.

"Oh, alright," he snides.

"What class are you going to so early?"

"I have film and then I'm going to PT or you will beat me up, thennn I have African American Authors from the Colonial Era to Nineteen hundred, who takes classes at eight am?"

"Nursing students," I grumble and he chuckles, flashing that smile I like seeing.

"Oh, you nursing students," he mocks.

I grumble and he makes my same face. "Alright, sweetness, Imma lose you in a sec. I'll call you when I'm done."

"You can't, it's Galentine's Day." I point my finger up and show him all the red and pink streamers I hung across my wooden oak dresser . "No boys today."

And it will stay that way because Galentine's Day is supposed to celebrate love for your friends and show appreciation. In the Joclaro household the tradition began whenLexi cut ties with Derek the first time in Sophomore year. Maxine was ecstatic and took us on an unplanned road trip to a nice winery in upstate New York. We went all big for Galentine's Day, with fancy dress up outfits, presents, and just appreciation for one another. It made Lexi feel like we were in her corner during her messy break up with Derek three days before Valentine's Day. Maxine made it known that no boys for twenty four hours on this day but I don't think Big Dinosaur will like that.

He arches his brow at me. "ANYWAYSS, I'm going to call you when I'm done."

I palm my forehead. Boyfriends.

Haha, boyfriend.

Mi Novio.

"Byeeeee," I say, hanging up.

Looking over my shoulder, Lexi and Maxine are standing in my doorway, arching their brows at me.

"She's got it bad." Lexi chuckles at me and walks in my room as Maxine rolls her eyes.

"Not as bad as Maxine," I tease.

"Hey, I thought we discussed that we were not talking about that after I confessed." Max shakes her head.

"With Lexi, that's impossible." I grin big and Lexi presses her lips at me, swatting at my conga drum. She lands a smart smack that stings.

"¡Uy, eso duele! (OUCH that hurts!)" I rub it softly and Lexi snickers, going to my closet.

"That's nothing compared to when Jaylan does it!" She peeks out, wiggling her brows at me, and I gasp.

"He would never!" I defend him, holding onto Olivia closing her ears about her Papi. His eyes got so big and dark when I had her say goodbye, guess he likes being called that.

"Lizzie, with an ass like yours, yes he will." Maxine says, looking at her pink coffin nails and back at me.

"Not true," I insist, then pause.

I mean, sure, he playfully hits it but he wouldn't do it to punish me like Christian Grey... Or wait. Is that what he means about my good or bad behavior... Uh oh.

I look down at my legs as realization comes to me. Uh oh.

Maxine's laugh echoes through my room and she hops on my bed, making it dip and me bounce up. "He wouldn't dare, I would kick his ass," she assures me. "Remember, tiny dick fish food."

"Maxine!" I scold her and she rolls her eyes, crossing her legs.

"Okay, so what's first?" Lexi asks. "Mimosas, which I say yes, or pancakes and gifts?"

"I say gifts and mimosas and pancakes," I offer because I really want to see their gift reactions.

"I get to choose, so mimosas, pancakes, and gifts," Max finishes.

Lexi and I whine but she's right. She won the minute to win it a game I found on Pinterest. You have to scoop a spoon with your mouth and move candy hearts. SHE got twenty, I'm pretty sure she was cheating.

"Well, let's get ready," Lexi says excitedly and I smile big.

"Wait 'till you see the headbands I made." I beam, getting up and going to my closet.

It took me three hours to hot glue but I think they turned out just right hopefully. I don't even reach the closet when we hear someone loudly banging on the front door. Pattering sounds, almost like rain, sound like they are hitting our porch door and windows.

It's not supposed to rain on Galentine's Day? I check like twice. Oh man, I really wanted to do the hula hoop contest again because I was sure I could beat Lexi this time. I've been practicing in my room while they were partying instead of studying about insulin and diabetes. I got a eighty nine on that test.

Loud Music begins to rattle the windows of my room and we look at each other.

"What the hell is that?" Maxine walks over to my blinds and peek out. She clenches her fist and grumbles immediately storms out the room.

"Uh oh." Lexi gives me a worried look. "It's probably the law students complaining again. Marcus was here last night, trying to early peek at his Valentine's Day present."

"He didn't!" I gasp quietly because her gift took a lot of set up effort. The box itself is almost as big as me.

Lexi laughs, shaking her head. "He didn't see it but they were a bit loud by the door when they -"

I hold up one hand, stopping her because all I need to know is Marcus' giant handprints probably need to be cleaned off the sliding door and windows.

Lexi and I walk out, peeking as Maxine reaches the door. She opens it and gets hit with colorful foil packages thrown in her face. She gasps and rushes out the house, not even thinking twice not having a pants on. Lexi and I rush to the door but then we pass the patio door, we see more foil packages on the balcony ground.

Are those empty condoms?

Lexi and I look at each other and back at the patio. I whimper quietly and bend down to pick them up. Each condom wrapper has slut, whore, skank, puta, and more words that just make my skin sting and the butterflies fight the buzzing bees.

"YOU SLUT, Jersey chasers don't win!" A familiar blonde yells, holding up her phone and standing up in the sunroof of a silver Mercedes. She throws papers all over the ground, each one with the blurry photo of Jaylan and I in the library. They flutter everywhere, littering our development and a few people nearby pick some up.

"Look there, the campus slut," Ava says again with a loud megaphone, her shrill voice echoing through our quiet community early in the morning. Laughter follows after, haughty giggles from her friends.

"Is she fucking serious?" Lexi growls.

My eyes squeeze tightly closed and I wish I can't see what she is doing. I never want to see that photo again.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Lexi shouts from deep within, balling her fist.

My eyes open at her words and I stop her, but she kicks some of the condoms on to the ground in the bushes.

I hold my elbows and look down at this abrupt mess. At my side, Alexis grunts and I grab her arm but it's too late. She throws a foil back at Ava, smacking her right in her forehead and making me snicker because it sounds like it hit hard. Maxine manages to get close but they drive quickly away in their silver expensive car.

"BITCH, DON'T LET ME SEE YOU COME AROUND HERE AGAIN! I KNOW WHERE YOU ALL PRACTICE AND FUCKING LIVE!" Maxine yells, shaking her fist.

Maxine grumbles, stomping her bare feet and picking up as many papers as she can. At the attention, she looks over at our upstairs neighbor Calvin, a computer engineer. He is really nice honestly, he always would help me carry in my million nursing books in my hands.

"What are you looking at Calvin? Beat it," she says, pointing away from her. She comes back inside, shields the papers by holding them against her chest, and tosses them into our recycling bin. Before we ask, she slams the apartment's door and marches up the stairs loudly.

Lexi and I continue to pick up the rest of the condoms, one hateful word at a time. Tears start to form in my eyes as I gulp the bumblebees down who are trying to come back up and sting my throat.

"Lizzie," Lexi reaches over to me but I move my shoulder back, still picking the condoms up.

I wish Ava would leave me alone. I thought I didn't have to deal with this problem anymore after leaving home. I'm not sure what's worse, Sofia, telling the whole school that I pretend Conor is Wilmer Valderrama, videotaping it, and showing the whole class or Ava dragging me to the ground.

It's not that I can't speak up for myself, I just choose to turn the other cheek several times. I will choose to continue to treat people with kindness even when they try to trample over me. I'll be triumphant at the end but right now this feels personal.

I gulp as the bees sting my throat when I can't fit anymore in my hand. Today, Galentine's Day, is about friendship and happily appreciating the girls in my life.

The front door slams, making me blink and leaping up. Red-faced and panting, Maxine is fuming, rushing back to her room.

Lexi clings on to my arm as more tears come down my face. "Lizzie."

I drop all the condoms and rush back into my room, slamming the door and locking it. My heart is pounding so hard and tears blind my eyes as I flop on my bed. My back begins to violently shake and I curl myself up tight.

I've never felt so small in my life. I feel like I've shrunk down to a tiny dust particle and am just waiting to be swept up.

"Lizzie?" Maxine knocks softly on my door.

I sniffle, not wanting to get up, and tuck my chin into my chest. My glasses slip as I do, so I push them up and the knock happens again.

"Go away," I muffle in my damp pillow.

"Lizzie, come on open up." Max knocks again.

"No," I rasp out.

"Lizzie?" Lexi says.

"I'm sorry!" I cry out.

"Lizzie, open up hun." Maxine sighs deeply.

I softly whimper and slowly get up, grabbing Conor as tears stream down my cheeks. I drag my feet across the floor and open the door to see Max and Lexi with their mouths turned down.

"I'm sorry," I mumble and hug Conor to my chest.

"No Lizzie, this isn't your fault and honestly... It's not Jaylan's either," Maxine admits.

"Why does she keep doing it?" I softly say, squeezing my eyes closed and spilling out more tears.

Lexi pulls me into a hug and rests her chin on my head. "Because jealousy is an ugly thing, Lizzie. She's jealous that she can't be you."

Silence fills around us as I continue to softly cry into them. Lexi rubs my back and Maxine places her hand on my back too. They gently guide me back to my bed, where we sink down together.

"I just want to go back to what things were," I admit and wipe my eyes.

No matter how much I like Jaylan, I don't want to get bullied like this.

"Lizzie, remember what I said yesterday? About how we have your back, right?" Lexi hums, rubbing my back.

"Always, and you HAVE to tell us when things get out of hand," Maxine adds.

"But, what happens if you go away?" I shyly say, hugging my knees up.

They both look at each other and look back at me. "Jessica can stay here, but we will come to that bridge when it's time," Lexi assures me. "We won't leave you alone."

I'm sure Jessica wouldn't mind because her roommate likes reptiles, which aren't really allowed on campus, no pets actually. She tells me she's worried she will wake up with a snake wrapped around her one morning.

"She is nothing, never will be anything and I'm done with her. She will not exist," Maxine warns with a smile.

"Agreed, she's really getting on my nerves." Lexi sucks her teeth and looks down at me with soft eyes.

"I'm sorry." I close my eyes and slump my shoulders.

I don't want them to feel like they need to protect me, I want there to be nothing that I need to be protected from.

"Don't be, Pookie." Lexi squishes my cheek against her face. I giggle because I love when she calls me that and not Stephen. He needs a better nickname, one of his own because I claim Pookie.

"Come. Let's go get dressed for Galentine's Day." She pats my conga drum. "No boys today, remember?"

I sniffle and let out a soft smile, nodding because she is right. I can't let the gringa (white girl) win.

━━━━━━━✿━━━━━━

Side to Side by Ariana Grande softly plays in the background because it's Maxine's choice of playlist today. It fades as our giggles fill the room, as we are ten mimosas in exchanging our gifts like Christmas. Our living room is decorated in light baby pink and white, from the XO balloons that float behind the sofa to the pink fluffy pillows that I just want to hug and pet because they're so soft.

"This is fantastic!" My eyes marvel at the biggest glass jar I've ever seen, filled with pink starburst that has all these encouraging words on them.

"Everytime you look, it says something that's true about you. Like this one." Max picks one out of my jar, making me furrow my eyebrows.

"You are beautifully and wonderfully made." she reads off, balls up the wrapper, and tosses it playfully in my face as she pops one her mouth. That's the sweetest thing she has ever done.

My eyes roam over all the candies, just the strawberry because it is the best Starburst flavor. "Who helped you with this?"

"Give thanks to Jordy and Marcus. Their poor hands were so tired." Maxine slyly grins and sips more on her mimosa. "That's why the handwriting is so messy, sorry. I wouldn't give them a break until they finished."

"Oh Max, labor trafficking is not a good look." Lexi giggles, placing the champagne glass to her lips.

"They need to put their useless hands to good work, since they can't dribble for nothing," Maxine scolds and we giggle together as I reach for my next present. "But don't feel too bad, Jordy ate the other three colors and Marcus... well, you know what his present is."

"Thanks Maxine," I say, taking another Starburst and looking at it saying, 'the biggest booty and biggest heart.' I giggle at the order she picked and pop one in my mouth.

She also gave me a hundred dollar gift card to Starbucks with a cute nurse tumbler to go with it and some navy blue scrubs. They're really tight on my conga drum but she says navy blue is my color and it's supposed to fit that way. I am not sure how that helps my patients with cardiac problems but I do like the color.

"That's from meeee!" Lexi smiles big, leaning on her elbows as her heart headband wires bend a bit, making the glitter hearts flop.

I smile, pulling the glittered XOXO wrapping paper she got from Target yesterday and my smile gets wider while unwrapping it. My mouth gapes open at the nursing student start kit I've been raving about that I saw on Pinterest. This nurse made flash cards themed by 90s songs to memorize pharmacology and just stuff for the NCLEX, but I don't want to think about that right now. Let's pretend I didn't say that.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I bounce, as I also look at a white shirt that says, 'Hot Nurse Summer.'

"You're welcome." She smiles like a mom who is watching their kid get what they want.

"Okay, time for mine," I say, pulling out the stuff I got them.

I slide Maxine's box to her and she purses her lips, trying to not act excited. She opens it up and gasps, poking her lip out at me. She pulls out a brand new diffuser because hers broke at night. This one has neon lights and everything.

"There's essential oils too." I smile, pointing and her smile gets bigger because I may or may not have gone with Jessica to this weird new agey place to make your own essential oils.

I even went a step farther printing out stickers of Maxine and I. So each scent reminds me of the time we spent together and I've dealt with her shenanigans. Like my favorite one of us in freshman year, pulling an all-nighter for our English final, only to find out we just needed to say what we liked about the class.

Talk about needing lavender to calm us down from not killing our professor.

"This is too cute, Lizzie. Thank you!" she coos, crawling over to me and hugging me with her itchy, fuzzy, red heart sweater.

"Okay Lexi," I push the box to her and she smiles big, rubbing her hands together.

She opens it and her eyes sparkle. "Lizzieeeee!"

She holds up a bottle of wine with a photo of us on the label. It's her favorite wine actually, with wine glasses saying, 'Jesus touched my water.' She's been raving about not being able to get stuff from her favorite Etsy store for a while.

"I can't believe this is our last Galentine's Day together," Maxine brings up a sore subject.

"Max..." I sigh and Lexi looks down.

"What? Sorry, it is." She swirls her mimosa.

"I hate the reality." Lexi flops back against the sofa with a sigh.

"Me too," I softly say, looking down.

"But just think, we will be rich bitches, living it up with our fancy jobs," Max tries to lighten the mood but sadness still fills the air.

"Well, I'd better confess now then." Lexi pours some champagne in her glass, all the way to the top. Yeah, she's not going to class.

"I love confessions." Max' bounces but stops at Lexi's lopsided grin.

"I accepted the Emirates flight attendant school offer." Lexi sinks her teeth in.

Maxine and my eyes grow as Lexi smirks but releases it while taking a sip.

"You did!" I exclaim, widening my eyes.

"I did, I emailed them last Friday night." She sighs dreamily, with soft eyes. Her eyes are shining and her whole face looks relaxed.

"Free flights? Count me in." Maxine playfully hits Lexi.

Lexi sinks down, her smile fading. "I'm worried about Stephen."

I nod, agreeing but I know this is really what she wants. I get up off the floor and sit in between the Amazons. Squeezing in, I lay their heads on my shoulders.

"Have you told him?" I ask.

"No not yet. Everything's going so perfectly." She sighs romantically, squeezing me.

"But you should at least tell him, plus this is your dream Lex," Maxine reminds her.

"I know, I know, just I... Well... I want both," she admits softly.

"There is nothing wrong with that," I advocate.

"But you still have to tell him Lex," Maxine reminds her, being realistic.

"Just when the time is right," Lexi sighs, her head slightly bumping my shoulder.

"Timing is everything." My heart warms, thinking about last night with Jaylan.

It still doesn't feel real to me.

Mi Novio.

I smile, thinking how I need to teach him how to say 'mi novia es tan bonita (my girlfriend is so pretty).'

"I guess I know what you're saying here, because, well..." Maxine mumbles on my other shoulder. "A job opened up in Boston."

We turn to look at her and she swallows hard. "The third grade job?"

"Yeah," she softly says but the look in her eyes suggests she's not entirely happy about going back there.

"Are you ready for that?" Lexi asks gently, reaching across me and rubbing Max's arm.

"I'm trying to be and we'll.. you know, I've been talking to her..." Max trails off and my heart sinks, knowing she just wants to be there so she doesn't miss another moment.

"I have to be," she rasps.

Silence fills again as Lexi takes another sip of her drink.

"Lizzie, have you been thinking of your next steps?" Maxine quietly asks.

"Well, I'm still waiting to hear back from immigration for my green card, and I was still planning to work in South Carolina, so I can be near Mateo," I offer the same response I had last time.

And that's my plan. I'm sticking to it.

"That's so far away from us." Lexi pokes her lips out.

"You really want to be a southerner?" Maxine grumbles.

"I mean, she would fit right in," Lexi snickers and sets her glass down.

"Hmm, she does have the southern charm," Max talks over my head.

"I'm sitting right here, you know." I furrow my brows.

Lexi rests her head back on my shoulder. "What do you think Jaylan's going to say?"

"He'll be happy for me," I reply truthfully because I believe he would feel that way.

"There is no way in hell Parker is going to play for the Charlotte Hornets, on top of his woman being hundreds of miles away." Maxine smirks.

I blush and the two smirk big. "I don't want to think about it," I shyly say looking down.

"Got to, cupcake." Lexi kisses my forehead and I sigh.

"I don't even know what I'm doing," I admit, closing my eyes.

It's true, Jaylan is.. Well, he's had more girlfriends to start with. I don't really want to think about the rest of what Maxine says about him and I really don't want to think about life after graduation.

We huddle in our little cuddle session on the sofa. The moment is short-lived, as we slowly pull ourselves apart from each other and I reach down to check my phone. I crinkle my nose, seeing the familiar annoying name and swipe to check the message.

BigFatLuis☣️: Just a reminder you are on the schedule tomorrow, thanks for picking up the shift! ❤️❤️❤️

Fire fumes in my eyes and my chest begins to rise and fall in uneven pitches. His message blurs from my view as my hand trembles and heat flushes over my face.

Luis you did it now you, you... fat lard!

"Lizzie?" Lexi pokes my cheek.

"Are you okay?" Max frowns.

"NO!" I clench my phone tightly in my hand, waving it at them. "I'M NOT OKAY! I HAVE TO WORK WITH STUPID, FATASS, LUIS ON VALENTINE'S DAY!! A la verga! (ah shit)"

Maxine and Lexi gasp as the words slip out my mouth. I clap my free hand over it, knowing Mama is about to teleport herself right here and shove soap in my mouth.

Ahh, forget it.

¡Qué chingados! (What the fuck)

Edited and spiced up by still_just_me