┏━━━━✶ ࣪˖࿐ *━━━━┓

CROSS TATTOOES

"HEY— I'M HERE TO GET A QUOTE ON SOME REPAIRS. IS RONNY AROUND?"

After what happened with Nineteenth Street outside of her father's restaurant, the rear end of his truck had been dinged. The damages weren't bad, but a weird flashing light kept appearing on the dash each time the man tried to start the vehicle.

He tried ignoring it, but that's when the beeping began, and it was seriously annoying the man; hence why he sent his eldest to go and fix it while he held down the fort at the Joint.

Well, he hadn't sent her, exactly. She more or less offered to take it into the shop, because in light of wanting just a semblance of normalcy this summer, she wanted an excuse to see Ronny. And alas, she now had one after she remembered his little comment about the new job he was working.

The auto shop over on Westgate, which was more formally known as Devonte's Auto, had been around since she was a little kid. It was in a part of the neighbourhood that used to be run by the Prophets, and various owners had come and gone over a multitude of times.

The man at the front door looked to the clipboard on the desk and nodded, merely turning his body by a fraction before shouting out. "Ay, Ronny! You got some company!"

His confused face was the first thing she saw in the large doorway that led to the actual shop itself. He surveyed the area before his eyes landed on her figure.

"Turner!" Ronny's smile was infectious as he approached her, wiping his hands on his jeans before coming to embrace the girl. She found herself hugging him right back without a second thought, before they eventually pulled away. "What can I do for ya?"

Her thumb gestured to the door she'd just come in through. "My Dad's truck has some damages, and this light on the dash keeps popping up," she explained. "He just wanted me to get a quote for how much it'd be to fix it." 

His hands went into his pockets, nodding. "Show me."

She led him out to the front of the shop where she had parked, his footsteps echoing just behind her as he followed. The pair came to a stop at the rear end, and Ronny took one look before grimacing. "Looks like someone took a bat to the truck," he said.

"Yeah, something like that." His grimaced dissolved into a small chuckle. "You been busy?" she asked politely, surveying the side of his concentrated face as he was hunched down, looking at the damages more closely.

"Not much," he responded, standing up straight to look at her. "If Imma be honest, I was gonna text you the other day."

Surprise flickered onto her face. "Oh?"

"I might've forgotten, but I still wanted to," he smiled, before his tone took a bit of a grim turn as he rounded the vehicle. "Still would've, but I've been getting some visitors at the shop."

Ella's head tilted as she followed him back into the shop, all the way back to the front desk where the other man no longer was. "What kind of visitors?"

"Dudes with tattoos on their necks," he answered, before he saw the more pointed look on her face that demanded a real answer. "Y'know, crosses 'n shit."

She took a deep, almost instinctual, stressed breath, because she knew just who he was referring to. "They giving you trouble?" she asked worriedly.

"Not any more than I can handle," he replied cooly, bumping his elbow against her arm. "Now, the bumper's hangin' on by a thread 'cause of the dents, the panels look like they're fucked, and I'd need to check out the suspension if you're seeing something on the dash."

Ella nodded along as he rattled off the list of deformities to the truck. "Seems like a lot."

He hummed in acknowledgement, but shrugged like it wasn't as bad as he made it sound. "Even if the suspension's wonky, I could do it all now for seventy-five, if you wanna stick around?" he offered, arms crossing over his chest. He glanced to the watch before adding, "it'll take a bit of time though."

Now, Ella didn't know a whole lot about cars. In fact, when her car broke down on the freeway in high school, the first person she called was Spooky. He'd always know more about that sort of thing, but even she knew the damages couldn't be only worth seventy five dollars.

He must've seen the apprehension on her face. "Relax, Turner," he laughed. "Let's call it a friends 'n family discount."

"Ronny—"

"Ella," he mimicked, and it earned him a flat look. "You helped me a shit ton in school... let me return the favour just this once, yeah?"

Ella was finding it hard to say no to him.

"Fine... I guess I'll stick around," she conceded, fishing out the keys to give to him.

He took them before clapping his hands together. Ronny's head nodded in the direction of the inner part of the auto shop.

"I'll bring the truck in."

✶ ࣪˖*

After spending majority of the day with Ronny, who was surprisingly good company to keep even as he worked on the car simultaneously, she found herself in the Diaz driveway.

Ronny's little comment on how he'd been getting visitors played over and over in her head, on a violent loop. How the hell did he have the time to pay the Moore man a visit while doing all this shit for Cuchillos and her father? Oh, she was pissed.

She didn't need to search for him, because the man she was searching for was perched on the front steps of his house in sweatpants and a black singlet. His eyes met hers as she crossed the lawn instantly, though he didn't rise from his seat.

Ella levelled a glare his way, standing a few feet in front of him. "Heard you and your disciples have been visiting Ronny."

Spooky ashed his cigarette on the beam he was seated beside, blowing the residual smoke in his mouth into the air. "No idea what you're talkin' about." he responded.

"Oh really?" she scoffed. "So, there's other dudes running around with crosses on their necks? Do you honestly think I'm stupid?

He rolled his eyes. "I told you; Prophets ain't good company to keep," he responded flatly, lowering the bottle in his hands to set it on the ground next to him. "You never listen to me, so I paid him a visit. Moore ain't good for you."

Her fists curled at her sides. "Who are you to judge him?" she snarled in response. "You and your boys need to lay off him. He's my friend, so now I'm getting involved."

"Oh, he's your little friend now?" Spooky inquired with raised eyebrows, a smirk toying at his lips. Like he thought it was funny.

Her lip curled back. "I swear to God if you don't, I'll—"

He was up in an instant, and it took two strides to reach her. "You'll what?" he asked, the humour gone from his face entirely.

Ella swallowed. "You have no right to tell me who I can be friends with," she relented on. "You have no right because you don't know jack shit about friendship, period."

Spooky's huffed out a sound that was indecipherable to her. "I don't know anything?" he parroted back. "Yeah, right."

She looked at him incredulously before she found herself shaking her head. "I can't deal with you right now," she grumbled as she turned to leave, knowing the conversation she had came there to have was going absolutely nowhere.

"Would you have left for college if shit never went down that day?"

Ella stopped in her tracks, turning to him with her heckles already raised. "What?"

"That day on the beach," he emphasized. "If I hadn't yelled at you, would you have left Freeridge?"

His question, for some reason, made her brain short circuit. She begged it to give her an answer, one that was cohesive with how she presently thought, but came up empty.

All that was there was the truth. "I wasn't gonna leave you here."

"See, that's the problem right there," he continued, walking right back up to her again. "You based all your shit around me when you shouldn't have."

Her eyes narrowed. "Sorry for being so considerate, Spooky, but that's what friends do," she grit out, annoyance filling her body the more he stared at her. "It doesn't matter anyway, because you got what you wanted that day."

Although he'd been standing before her, Spooky was suddenly up in her face. "You really think I wanted you to leave?" he spat out, his own anger bubbling to the surface. "I didn't, but you had to!"

She pushed against his chest. "I didn't have to do anything!" she barked in retort. "I would've stuck around and—"

"Stuck around to do what? Waste your own goddamn potential?" he yelled, his hand going to rub at his temple. "Mierda, Ella. You're smart— think about it!"

"Think about what, Spooky?" she shouted back, unsure of why he was rehashing all of this now. She wanted to move on from their fight, from him, and he wasn't letting her. "About how you're still a dick? How you made me cry? Because the floor is fucking yours!"

He was in front of her again, this time with his hands wrapping around her biceps as he stared down at her. "Did you think I'd let you throw it all away because of me? Huh?" he asked heatedly, and her shoulders lowered at his insinuation. "So yeah, I know a little more about friendship than you think, querida."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she dared to ask, and she found her voice coming out in a whisper this time around. It was like she was glancing up at him in newfound horror when he remained silent, only for her to bang her fists against his chest. "Don't be a dick right now, what are you—"

He let go of her.

"I pissed you off, yeah, but shit went down a little differently from my end."

✶ ࣪˖࿐ *

[ wyn's note ]

part 1 of 2 in a double update!! meaning: we are getting some revelations from spooky next chap on what rlly went down that day on the beach!

when you see this, the next chap should be up!