"¿Y dónde estabas?" (And where were you?) Ramón Jr.'s voice startled her in Spanish as she unlocked the code and entered the house,
he was sitting at the kitchen counter with a plate of freshly re-made carnitas that he cooked from the pan on top of the stove and which he put in the tacos.

"Can you please stop acting like my older brother, por favor?"

Rosita sighed walking over to him, taking the plate from between him before grabbing the salsa bowl, grabbing a clean spoon and sitting on the counter and putting some mild red hot salsa on her re-made carnita tacos. "I'm eighteen soon little bro."

Ramón Jr. frowned as his sister began eating his tacos, returning to the stove and placing more freshly home made flour tortillas on the comal and putting more carnitas on a pan, using olive oil and setting the dial to 350 degrees, produced a spoon and mixed them together.

"Nah Ro, you're my only sibling for now, I'm going to worry about you while you continue to hang around that ducha you call a boyfriend."

Rosita looked away from him, slowly placing the half eaten carnita taco onto the plate that was on the counter.

"I wasn't with Ángel... I went and spent time with Sammy before coming home to Dad's note, telling me to stay over at Reggie's,
since I was all alone and I felt bad about what happened to Maurice... I went over to his and ended up crashing there."

Ramón raised an eyebrow. "You were at Twist's again?"

Rosita rolled her eyes and slid off the counter top.

"I'm not still mad at him for leaving like you are, Cholo-Boy. I missed Maurice and I enjoy spending time with him, you would también if you got over it already."

And with that, Rosita left the master kitchen and headed upstairs to brush her teeth, use mouthwash and get ready for school in her master bedroom.

It didn't take a while for Rosita to pick out an outfit that hid her bruises but didn't look weird, even longer to pull the clothes on and off,
she heard Ramón call out to her a few times but ignored him until she was ready. She pulled her hair up into a bun and made her way
downstairs with a long-sleeved Sexy Red Ruffled Strappy Detail Casual Crop Top with Sexy Black High Waist Booty Shorts paired with
Sexy Black Side Knotted Pointy Toe Faux Suede High Heel Booties and applied a limited amount of makeup.

She ignored Ramón's many comments in Spanish and left the house with him following behind her all the way to school before they parted ways.

After her morning math class with Reggie, who complimented her on her outfit by telling her that she looked amazing as always,
and she returned the favor by telling her that she looked great too, seeing as she wore a long-sleeved pink shirt too, purple hair up in a classic ponytail and no makeup as always, she and Reggie had a free period by parting ways again, she took solitude in one of her favorite trees that she could sit in, it was a place she could hide from people she didn't want to see.

She had noticed the junior year boys out for sports in the soccer field and her eyes landed on him almost instantly and she couldn't help
the flutter in her heart. She had missed seeing him, but more than that, she was so much more attracted to him now.

"If you keep staring like that, people will catch on." Sam said casually leaning up against the tree.

Rosita looked down towards him from her perch in the tree, a frown forming across her face.

"I'm not staring... I'm watching a game."

She turned back to look towards the soccer field, her eyes finding Twister almost instantly, she rested her head against the bark of the tree and sighed. "No one sees me up here anyway... no one but you that is."

"Is that why you're up there? To hide the fact that you're staring at Twist."

"Cállate." Rosita growled. "I like it up here, him being there is just a coincidence."

"Can I come up?" Rosita nodded her head, scooting her bottom across the branch she sat upon to give Sammy room.
She watched as he scaled the tree with ease, she found herself thinking back to when they were younger and how long it used to take Sam to climb trees. Sam noticed her smirk and frowned as he sat beside her. "What's that face for?"

"Just remembering how bad you used to be at climbing trees." She smiled, nudging him with her shoulder gently.
"Back when we were just kids... life seemed so much easier back then."

"It had it's challenges too."

"That's true, although I think I'd rather face those challenges than the ones I'm going through now."

Sam turned to look towards her, she was staring down at her fingers that sat in her lap; her long-sleeved red cropped shirt reminding him of the bruises it hid. She looked sad, almost as if trying to force herself not to cry, he was getting all too used to seeing her like that, no matter how hard he tried.

"Rosita... I'm going to ask something I know is stupid but... are you okay?"

Her fingers twitched, however her face stayed the same as she looked back up towards the soccer field, her mind screaming at her to say no, to tell her how lost, confused and scared she felt.

"I'm fine."

"I'm trying my hardest here, Ro, to keep you as happy as I can... to not go to Ramon and tell him what that scumbag you call a boyfriend did to you. But I feel like I'm failing... on both accounts."

He saw her pull at her sleeve unconsciously at that and it made him angry that
he couldn't just go to Ramón. That he promised he wouldn't tell unless he saw other signs of him hurting her.

"I just want you happy... as happy as you get when you're around Twist."

"Really... I'm fine... and he won't touch me again..."

She knew that was a lie and deep down she knew Sam knew that it was a lie too.

"I gotta go do stuff before my next class. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Sam sighed, he knew he wasn't getting anything out of her, not today.

"Sure, Rosie, text me if you wanna talk."

Rosita gave a swift nod of her head, turning to scale down the tree without another word.
She wasn't sure where she was going but she just needed to be alone and try her hardest to just not think, thinking was bad for her at the moment.

She walked past the music room and came to a stop, staring into the empty room,
the huge black piano sitting in the middle of the stage as if begging her to play.

She lingered in the doorway for a moment before taking a step into the room, moving ever so slowly towards the piano.

She sat down on to the matching black stool in silence, her thoughts everywhere but nowhere, she felt lost and this seemed to be the only place that was quiet.
She missed drama and music, Ángel had told her she was no good at either and that she was wasting her time, her teachers were devastated when she quit but she had lost her confidence.

She felt frustrated with herself for letting him get inside of her head but she couldn't seem to help it.
She sighed, lifting her hands up to rest her fingers on the keys, missing the feel of it. She let her fingers do all the talking and the music she played was beautifully sad.

"Todavía increíble que veo. Apuesto a que eres, como, una superestrella en la música." (Still amazing I see. Bet you're, like, a superstar in music.)" Twister grinned from the door way, making his presense known to her.

Rosita jumped in a start, clutching her chest in a panic.

"Lo siento, Ro."

"Maurice, me asustaste (Maurice, you scared me)." Rosita breathed, relaxing a little with a deep breath.

"Y no ... lo dejo." (And no... I quit.) She cleared her throat uncomfortably, turning away from the piano.

"¿Qué? ¿Por qué?" (What? Why?)

Rosita rubbed the back of her neck, feeling too embarrassed to look at him and tell him that she had quit because she had listened to what Ángel had told her.

"Ángel dijo que sería una pérdida de tiempo ... Podría tener más períodos libres para ir a surfear o hacer un trabajo de modelado." (Angel said it'd be a waste of time... I could have more free periods to go surf or do a modelling job.)

She added that last bit in a lie, however she didn't want him to think she was completely pathetic.

"But if you enjoy it, is it wasting time?"

Twister walked over to her, taking a seat on a spare plastic chair in front of the grand piano.

"You should come back, I'm in music you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, picked up the guitar while overseas."

He seemed proud of this fact and Rosita gave a small smile at the look on his face.

"Mom homeschooled me for most of the time while we were gone and like, it was the only time I got away from her."

"Would you play me something?"

Rosita caught the blush that ran hot across his cheeks before he managed to hide it.

"Um. I can play you something I wrote..."
He looked around and spotted the guitar sitting in the storage room with all the other instruments, walking over to pick it up, running his fingers along the string.

"I have one condition though." He tried to hide the nervous sound in his voice, Rosita could tell.

"¿Que es eso?" (What's that?) She mused, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

He strummed the guitar, adjusting the tuners.

"Come back to music, I need a music partner for a final and everybody else is already partnered up. I actually came to find you to beg you to switch partners but since you don't have one..."

"Maurice... I..."

Rosita didn't know what to say, to say she was thrown off-guard was an understatement, would they even allow her to pick that subject back up?

"I don't think they'll let me... Not to mention I'm not very good... I'd be a horrible partner."

"Nah, you're probably the best in the school. Why you gotta put yourself down for, Chola girl?"

It was Rosita's turn to blush now, the crimson creeping onto her cheeks, her head tilting down to allow her hair to fall in her face to hide it. Twister couldn't help but smile,
finishing tuning the guitar.

"We got a deal?" Rosita nodded slowly, unable to verbalize the words and Twister was now full on grinning. He began playing the guitar and Rosita was hooked within seconds.

"Little lover. When you look at me now. Just like your mother does. Oh, I don't mind the time. Oh, I don't mind the time.
Little lover. Yeah, we'll all lose ourselves. To one another. But I'm holdin' on to you.
Then you'll discover. All my soul~. All these lights I've held to. They lost to you.

Oh~ Now that you know. What I couldn't show you. Take it away~
Oh~ Now that you see. What I've kept in hiding. Take it away. Take it away. Take it away
Little lover. Will you think of me now. Just like your mother did?
Oh~ Now that you know. What I couldn't show you. Take it away
Oh~ Now that you see. What I've kept in hiding. Take it away. Take it away. Take it away
I never realized. Rearrange in the back of your eyes. Press me down and hold my face. Hold me slow. What I hear is change. It'll be okay.
You take me away~
You take me away~
You take me away~

Rosita sat staring at him while he played for her, the song itself, so beautiful and his voice was amazing, his ability to hold his long notes with just the right kind of tone made her heart soar.

She found herself regretting asking him to play purely for the fact she now knew
without a doubt she was in love with this guy.

She wasn't just impressed with his voice or his guitar skills which were both amazing,
she was impressed with the song itself and that he wrote it.
Her heart fluttered and she felt like her breath was caught in her throat as he finished the song.

This guy had so much talent and he wanted her to be his music partner.

"Maurice... eso fue increíble... You wrote that?"

Twister nodded with a grin, placing the guitar down on the ground, resting on the chair.

"Yeah... sounds a bit lame-o but I wrote it for my future kids." He gave an uncomfortable laugh at that.

"Thought about a girl a lot and what it would be like... totally lame-o right?" Twister left out that part it was her that he thought about a lot while he was gone, what it would be like to be with her, having a family.

"No... not lame at all... She sounds like a lucky girl." Rosita gave a small smile, feeling her heart drop at the fact that he had someone
while away, even though she knew that they would never be anything other than friends.

"She doesn't know." Twister cleared his throat and stood up from the chair.

"I better go find Ramón. Catch you later, Chola-girl."

Rosita nodded and gave him a small smile, he returned the gesture and exited the room.

The moment he'd gone Rosita frowned, she was now even more in love with this guy and she knew he had someone else while he was gone. On top of all that,
she now had to go re-join music. Sighing she got to her feet and stretched out her body.

Her body still felt sore and tender,
her back giving off a sting as she stretched, forcing her to curse under her breath in Spanish.

She exited the room and lazily made her way for the office, mind going a million miles an hour.

She suddenly felt a sharp pull on her hair, forcing her head back and a second later she felt teeth on her neck. She jerked away, grasping at her throbbing neck.
She turned to see Ángel smirking at her and instantly frowned. "Ayyy. No hagas eso." (Ohhh. Don't do that.)

She sighed, giving her neck a soft rub, noticing that Trent was there, looking even more concerned than before.

The smirk never left Ángel's face as he leaned in close to her.

"Haré lo que quiera y lo aceptarás."
(I'll do whatever I want and you'll accept it.)

He stepped closer, much to Trent's dismay, she matched his step but backwards,
the smirk never leaving his face as he took another step forward, forcing her backwards until she hit the hallway wall.
He put his hands on either side of her head and pushed himself against her, she turned her head away from him but stayed silent.

"Remember that I own your worthless ass, chica."

Trent was about to retort by telling him that he doesn't own her, but Ángel ignored him.

"Ro?" She knew it to be Ramón's voice and was mentally sighing with relief.

Ángel pulled away and looked at Ramón with an unimpressed expression on his face, he turned back to Rosita and roughly grabbed hold of her chin to force her to look at him, pushing his lips against hers hard for a minute before breaking away.

"Y no hay nada que puedas hacer al respecto." (And there's nothing you can do about it.) And with that he left, with Trent turning to her, mouthed an apology and ran after him.

Rosita stared down at the floor, she knew Ramón was walking towards her and she didn't even know how to explain what that even was.

"¿Por qué no te deshaces de ese idiota?" (Why don't you dump that jerk?) Ramón growled, stopping in front of his sister.

"He's a total douchebag."

Rosita pulled her bottom lip with her teeth, it felt tender at his harsh kiss.

"No lo sé... (I... don't know.)"

"You're too good for his worthless ass, Rosita, I keep telling you this."

"But you're my hermano, you think I'm too good for everybody fool."

Was her weak reply, she couldn't even answer herself why she was still with Ángel.

She was scared of what he would do to her if she tried to leave.

"Only I actually fear for your safety when you're with that particular douchebag."
Ramón folded his arms across his chest and moved his head into her eyesight.

"¿Te golpeó?" (Does he hit you?)

Rosita swallowed hard and tried her best to avoid his eyesight without being too obvious about it, he was pretty good at telling when she was lying.

"No."

He studied her for a moment and it made her nervous, she didn't want to lie to him however there was no way she was going to tell him he hit her on a regular basis.

"If I find out he is, Rosita, I will kill him."

"Maurice was looking for you."

She needed to change the subject as quickly as possible,  she wasn't sure how long she could keep a brave face.

"Yeah I was looking for him, ¿a donde fue?"

She pointed down the hallway in the direction she was heading before Ángel and Trent had appeared.

"Hace unos diez minutos. (About ten minutes ago.)"

"Swear we just keep missing each other." Ramón sighed.

"¿Por qué estaba aquí?" (Why was he here?)

"He wanted a partner for music, asked me to re-join."

"Huh... ¿dijiste que sí?" (Did you say yes?)

Rosita nodded and Ramón smiled, while Otto walked with him to find Twister.

"Bueno. Anyway, I'd better go catch up to him."

And with that, he and Otto both went to go look for Twister together.

The rest of the day passed by slowly, she had the rest of her day's classes by herself and didn't even run into Sam.
They had been more than happy to let Rosita back into music and drama and allowed her to slip right back into her classes with her grades she had already accumulated at the beginning of the year.

The school day had finally come to an end and Rosita was relieved,
although she was considered popular, she felt lonely.
Besides Sammy, Ramón, Otto, Reggie and Trent she didn't really speak to many people; it pissed Ángel off.

She was grateful to be out of school and with Ramón, Otto, Sammy and Reggie at the beach, Ramón had also invited Twister and she just felt better being around him. Sam sat next to her and they watched Ramón, Otto, Reggie and Twister all surf the waves.

"Ramón asked me something today." Rosita spoke up after a long period of silence.

Sam looked up from the book he had sitting on his lap and towards her. "What's that?"

"He asked me if Ángel hits me." She didn't look at him, instead staring out at the three boys and Reggie surfing.

"Did you say yes?"

Rosita turned to look at him with that question with a frown. "Why would I?"

"Because he does." Sam replied bluntly.

"He doesn't..."

"Don't even start, Rosita, I know very well that when you came to my house that it wasn't the first time he's hit you.
And I meant it when I said if he touches you again, I will go straight to Ramon."

He turned back to his book, letting her know he wasn't going to argue at that point.

Rosita frowned, putting in her ear buds that was connected to her phone,
knowing Sam was studying and really not going to argue with her. Her mind was confused enough, battling itself over not only her feelings for Twister but Ángel too.

She hated him, yet she couldn't leave him.
She wanted nothing more than to go surfing but her back was still black from yesterday and she wasn't going to let Ramón know,
even if the water looked so inviting.

She found herself staring as the waves washed up onto the sand listening to 'All Time Low' by
Walk Off The Earth and wondering why the hell she agreed to go out with Ángel in the first place.

She remembered receiving the e-mail from Twister saying that he wasn't coming back for another year and then, next thing she knew she was Ángel's girlfriend and then she was stuck, he put her in a place that made her feel small and insignificant.

His abuse started off verbally in Spanish but quickly escalated and he made her feel like it was her fault and he made sure to make her
feel like she couldn't go to Ramón, Otto, Reggie or Sam.

She got to her feet and walked to the edge of the sand where the sand met the ocean, she felt the cool water touch her toes.

https://youtu.be/lJiWQhEsn5U

'I, I've been trying to fix my pride

But that shit's broken, that shit's broken

Lie, lie, l-lie, I try to hide

But now you know it

That I'm at an all-time

Low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low

Low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low

Low, low, low, low

Low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low

Low, low

Lie, l-lie, I try to hide

But now you know it

That I'm at an all-time

Looooooooow~

Looooooooow~

Lie, l-lie, I try to hide

But now you know it

That I'm at an all-time~ low~"

Rosita stared down at the water, surprising herself that she had just sung, she had forgotten where she was while listening to her music.

Sam was staring up at her from his book, he had forgotten how amazing her voice was as it had been the longest time since she had sung for them.

Her voice was angelic and it traveled across the water, he realized this when he looked out at Twister, Ramón, Otto and Reggie who all sat on their surfboards staring in towards land.

"I... I have to go... I'll see you tomorrow, Sammy."

She stumbled over herself in attempts to leave as quickly as possible but regained her footing before running off.

"Rosie, wait!"

By the time Sam had shut his book and got to his feet, she had already disappeared from the beach.
He cursed at her damn athletic childhood, even now that he was fit he still couldn't keep up with her.

"Vato, her voice is like, ten times better than the last time I heard it!"

Twister exclaimed, following Ramón's lead as he paddled to shore. Otto and Reggie were doing the same thing.

"Yeah, I haven't heard it in a while either, ese."

Ramón agreed, jumping off his surf board once close enough to land,
scooping up his board under his arm.

"Yo, Sam, what's up with Ro?"

Sam sighed, fighting back the urge to tell him exactly what it was that was bothering her.

"I'm not sure."

"I'mma go check on her, you four should come around this afternoon and have dinner, Ro and I get a little lonely when Dad is out of the country all the time. Give us half an hour, yeah?"

Ramón didn't really wait for a reply, knowing they'd all come regardless.

Ramón made his way back towards the house with a frown plastered on his face the whole way.

He was getting seriously concerned about Rosita's behavior and even more so about her douche of a boyfriend, he really, really hated that guy. He heard the music blasting before he saw the house and let out a sigh, dumping his surf board on the front lawn,
making his way inside by unlocking the code.

He knew exactly where she had gone, where she always went when the music blasted.

He grabbed two of his shirts as he climbed the stairs and began wrapping it around his head,
making sure he couldn't see anything before storming into the master bathroom before hearing her scream.

"Ramón José!" Rosita hissed, about ready to throw something at her brother until she saw the shirts tied around his head.

"¿Qué estás haciendo?" (What are you doing?) He picked up on her amused tone in Spanish and knew she wasn't going to kill him just yet.

"What is up with you lately? I'm getting pretty concerned, almost enough to call Mom and Dad." He folded his arms.

"As lame-o as it is, Ro, you are one of my best friends and I can tell you're far from happy."

Rosita felt the hot water run over her as she stared at her brother, head completely wrapped in clothes and she couldn't help but smile at him; she was lucky to have such a caring little brother.

But she couldn't tell him what was bothering her, she couldn't say her boyfriend
hit her, she couldn't say she was in love with Twister, she couldn't say she felt lost and scared... but she couldn't help feeling this way.

"...I'm sad, Cholo-boy."

Ramón knew it already but found that he was glad she was finally admitting it out loud.

"I'm here for you, Ro. So is Sammy, Twist, Otto and Reggie. So get out of the shower and get ready for dinner, they're all coming over."

And with that he turned around to leave, banging into the open door, cursing to himself in Spanish before exiting the room.

Rosita smiled softly, he truly cared about her. She turned and turned off the shower, grabbing her towels to dry herself and her hair,
he was coming over for dinner and any chance she got to see him she was going to take full advantage,
he made her feel so many emotions, made her feel alive.

She was dressed in one of Ramón's old baggy muscle shirts that was long enough to cover the bruises and some shorts, nearly hidden by the overly baggy shirt.

She made her way downstairs from her room, running the brush through her locks.

"¿Que hay para cenar?" (What's for dinner?) She asked as she entered the master kitchen.

"Sammy, Twist, Otto y Reggie están trayendo alrededor de la pizza." (Sammy, Twist, Otto and Reggie are bringing around pizza.)
Ramón replied in Spanish, taking the glasses out from the cupboard.

"Oye... Ya que es tu cumpleaños el jueves, ¿qué dices si saltamos la escuela y hacemos algo? Como sabes, mamá y papá no volverán hasta que tu fiesta, que está todavía a una semana de distancia."
(Hey... since it's your birthday on Thursday, what do you say we skip school and do something? Since you know, Mom and Dad won't be back till your party which is still just over a week away.)

Rosita took the glasses from him so he could grab the plates.

"¿A dónde quieres ir?" (Where did you want to go?)

"That's up to you."

He replied placing the plates down on the table and making sure that they had six plates and six glasses, making sure that they had twelve altogether.

"Wherever you want. We can invite whoever you want... even if it is that douche."

"No quiero invitarlo." (I don't want to invite him.)

She replied all too quickly, dropping all the glasses at once as they hit the ground,
smashing on impact.

She felt a panic come over her remembering what happened the last time she broke something,
she knew he wasn't around but that didn't stop her fear.

She moved quickly to pick up the mess she had just made,
stepping on one of the pieces of glass in the process, losing her balance at the sudden pain,
falling over and doing a wonderful job of cutting open her palm.

"Shit. Lo siento. Lo siento mucho. No quise decir (I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to-)"

"Rosita! ¡Detener!" (Rosita! Stop!) Ramón grabbed the tea towel off the counter and carefully stepped over the pieces of glass to her side, bending down to wrap her hand in the tea towel to stop the blood, blood that was now all over the floor from both her foot and hand wound.

"Fue un accidente, Ro, cálmese." (It was an accident, Ro, calm down.)

The front double doors opened with Twister, Sam, Otto and Reggie entering carrying the boxes of pizza and soft drinks, eyes landing on the sight in front of them. Rosita and Ramón looked up at them, glass all over the floor and a fair amount of blood painting the floor.

"What happened?" Sam was the first to ask, placing the pizza boxes on the lounge before making his way over to them, Twister, Otto and Reggie following suit.

"I was stupid and dropped all the glasses." Rosita looked down at the mess with a frown.

"Estoy muy- (I'm really-)"

"Si te disculpas otra vez, me voy a enojar." (If you apologize again, I'm going to get angry.) Ramón sighed.

"Twist can you take her to the lounge, Sam, Otto, Reggie can you grab the broom, dust pan and vacuum?"

Twister nodded and walked up to her, in one swift movement he lifted her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style to the lounge.
She didn't even have time to protest in Spanish as he held her against him, walking over to the lounge. His smell overpowered her and made her feel dizzy, she knew she was blushing something shocking but she couldn't help it.

From over his shoulder, she could see Sam smirking at her with the vacuum cleaner in his arms, Otto smiling from where he was sweeping and Reggie cooing at the sight in front of her while she crouched down to help Otto scoop up the glass.

Twister placed her down on to the lounge, she took note of how careful he was with her, gentle.

He took her wounded hand in his and took the tea towel off to inspect the wound. "Ramón, you got any bandages?"

"Sí, I'll grab the first-aid kit."

"Estoy bien... de verdad... no hay necesidad de molestar. (I'm fine... really... no need to fuss...)" She cleared her throat to cover the weakness that came with her voice, she felt like melting at his touch.

Twister looked from her hand up into her eyes, a lopsided smile coming onto his face.

"Siempre debes estar muy nervioso, Ro. (You should always be fussed over, Ro.)"

She felt her heart flutter and her stomach somersault, she knew that he could see the blush that tinted her cheeks. Ramón walked back into the room carrying the first-aid kit which was a medium-sized suitcase, Rosita turned her face away to hide her blush while her brother passed the bandage to Twister.
It didn't take long for Twister to bandage both her hand and her foot, by the time he was done Ramón, Sam, Otto and Reggie had cleaned up all the pieces of glass.

"Let's eat!" Ramón proclaimed, opening the pizza boxes and digging in.

The six spent the night eating pizza, talking, playing games and genuinely just enjoying each other's company.
It was the most fun Rosita had in four years and it was then that Sam understood just how unhappy Rosita had been lately.

When it was getting late, Ramón had pulled out the blow up beds, deciding for them that the four should stay over. Ramón had retired to his room upstairs around midnight while Reggie went with him and Sam and Otto had both fallen asleep not long after, which left Rosita awake sitting up with Twister while the two just talked.

"Your time overseas sounded like such an adventure! The amount of places you got to visit, you would have learned so much."

"It had its moments." Twister grinned.

"But there's nothing quite like home, four years is a long time to not sleep in your own bed...
to not be in your own town... to not be with you... guys." He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck,
hoping that she wouldn't pick up on the fact the 'guys' was just a quick add-on.

Rosita gave a small smile, looking down at her legs while she sat cross-legged facing Twister, hair covering her face.

"We all missed you a lot... it was hard to only be able to talk to you v.i.a e-mail...
there were lots of things we wanted to share with you... but I guess you had times where you had limited internet... sometimes it was months before replies..."

"Sí... lo siento por eso. Dude the amount of times I got so angry at mom because I couldn't answer your e-mails. I thought you guys would end up hating me and forgetting me."

Rosita fiddled with strands of her hair, staring at a spot on the lounge just in front of him, heart racing.

"...Could never forget you."

Twister stared at her, she sat on the lounge playing with her hair, avoiding looking up at him and he found her so cute.

"Likewise."

Rosita looked up at him with a clear shock on her face, even if her hair hid most of it.

"Um, I'm pretty forgettable actually."

"¿Por qué te pones tanto? (Why you put yourself down so much?)" Twister frowned,
leaning forward and gently using his fingers to push her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"You are far from forgettable."

Rosita felt her breath catch in her throat as her eyes locked with his, his hand lingering over her ear after pushing her hair back, all she wanted to do right now was kiss him, she was losing whatever restrain she had left.

"...Guess I'm just good at it?"

"Surely that boyfriend of yours tells you how wonderful you are."

She tried to hide it but he still saw her flinch, she turned away from him and grabbed her water off the coffee table.

"Do you want to watch a movie?"

He knew she was changing the subject, he also picked up on the fact 'Ángel' was a total ass;
however he was going to respect her enough to let it go, for now.

"Sure Ro."

It didn't take them long to decide on a movie, the two realized they had pretty similar tastes in movies.
They sat beside each other to share the king-sized plush blanket that Ramón had brought from Rosita's room for her as the night had brought a bit of a chill to the air. It didn't take Rosita long to fall asleep, she just felt so safe around this guy, her head resting on his shoulder.

Twister couldn't help the smile on his face just by having her around him, he had missed her, more than he ever realized.
It wasn't long before he too, was drifting off to sleep.

Sam awoke early like he normally did, his body clock naturally waking him up at six in the morning.

He sat up while rubbing his eyes,
stretching out after sleeping on a blow up bed. Looking to the left where the other bed was he expected to see Twister asleep,
however the bed was empty. Sam raised an eyebrow in confusion, getting to his feet until he caught sight of the lounge.

Twister was asleep on the lounge arms wrapped around Rosita who was asleep beside him, head resting on his chest.
Sam took out his phone and snapped a quick photo, if the two ever ended up together, he was going to use this photo.

He walked over and gently nudged Rosita's shoulder.

"Err, Ro?" Sam whispered giving her shoulder another nudge.

"Ro." Rosita moaned, snuggling more into Twister and Sam couldn't help
but find this amusing, he was glad she was so happy as well as Ramón, Otto and Reggie; though they needed to get rid of Ángel.

"Ro!"

Rosita's eyes flew open, frown plastered on herself, taking a moment to herself to remember where she was. She looked up to see Sam,
not noticing she was wrapped up with Twist.

"Sam? What time is it?"

"Probably time to get outta Twister's arms before Ramon comes down stairs and finally realizes you're in love with each other."

"He's not in love with me, fool."

Sam rolled his eyes, of course that was the first thing she'd say. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head before she
looked down to see Twister sleeping pretty much under her, arms wrapped around her back.

Her cheeks went the deepest red and she carefully pulled herself out of his grasp; Twist being the heavy sleeper he was, barely even moved.

Sam smiled at this fact and turned to look at Rosita, his smile dropping instantly when he saw her at the end of the lounge in tears. "...Ro...?"

"...what am I doing, Sammy?" The tears flowed down her cheeks. "I'm being stupid."

Sam sighed walking over to her and pulling her into a large hug, picking her up as he did so to take her out of the room, she didn't need Twist to wake up and hear what she was saying.

Rosita wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face into his neck, crying while he carried her.

"We can't help how we feel, Rosita, or who we have those feelings for. It doesn't work that way.
I don't see why it's such a big deal to love him anyway?"

"He's...Ramón José's best friend..."

"So?"

"It'd be awkward."

"I doubt that."

"He'd never approve."

"Ro, come on, he doesn't approve of that dick you're dating now and you're still dating him."

Rosita's grip on him tightened and she hid her face even more into his neck.

"I can't leave him...he'll kill me."