I came down the stairs to grab a water bottle from the fridge when I ran into Maurice, a shirtless Maurice. Why does he always have to be shirtless?

"Lo siento." I said in Spanish. I blushed, looking down and walking to the fridge.

"That's okay, I wasn't watching where I was going either." He replied.
The microwave beeped and he pulled out a bag of popcorn. He opened it up and soon enough,
all you could smell was the buttery goodness of the popcorn.

"Ay Wey!" He yelled, the steam burning his hand. "Ay Dios Mio!" I said in Spanish,
while shaking my head in disbelief.

"Cuidado, mi amor. why do you always have to do that?"

He dropped the bag on the counter, popcorn spilling everywhere.
I couldn't help but laugh at him as he sucked on his thumb, trying to ease the pain.

"No es gracioso!" He protested in Spanish.

"Sorry Maurice, it is a little." I replied, trying not to laugh some more. I went over and helped him clean up. Our fingers were lightly brushing as we both went for the same kernel.

I looked up at him and suddenly, we were in one of those corny movies where time stops,
you look each other in the eye and you just know you're going to kiss.

Our lips were only inches apart and were so close to touching when Ramón José interrupts us.

"Twist, man what is taking so long fool?" Ramón asked coming into the kitchen with Otto.
We both jerked our heads away and rushed to finish cleaning up the mess.

MAN! I NEVER GET ANY PRIVACY WITH MAURICE! I mumbled, angry that my stupid brother and Otto ruined the moment for us.

"Sorry bros, it was hot and I dropped it." Twister explained.

"Typical Twister." Ramón laughed, while Otto shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey Rosita, you want to watch the movie with us?" He asked me.
I was still blushing crimson from my almost kiss from Maurice.

"What are you doing to my sister, esé? EH! Oralé!" Ramón asked, sounding like his nickname.

"No thanks, I told Regina and Sammy we'd work on her Zine tonight. Well, they asked me to.
And because Regina wants to do an article on me about my life as a chola." I lied,
suddenly very interested in the wrapper around my water, an excuse not to look up.

"Cool, how about I take this," Ramón said taking the bowl of popcorn from Twister,
which was a bad idea. "HEY! WE WERE GOING TO EAT THAT, FOOL!" I yelled.

"Eh, Eh, CABRON!"

I started cursing at my brother in Spanish and Otto noticed my Jiménez temper flare up.

"Hey, hey. calm down Rosie." He said, trying to ease my temper.

"What the hell is your problem, man? You better watch what you say around Rosie.
She's in M.M.A. and she could easily kick your ass." Otto said, defending me.

Ramón snorted.

"So. She's just a weak little girl who shouldn't be in a sport like that.
Maybe she should be in safer sports, like Cheerleading." he sneered.

As soon as he said that, he knew that set my temper off.

"Oh, really? Well, if I'm so weak, then how come I've won more tournaments than you, huh?
Tell me that?" I fired back, while I clenched and unclenched my knuckles.

"Oooh. Rosita's going to beat me up, oooh I'm so scared." he said, laughing.

Then as soon as I heard that, I slugged my brother in the face, knocking him unconscious.

Reggie ran over to my brother and tried to wake him up, but nothing worked.

"Great. He's knocked out, cold." she said. I rolled my eyes. Then after Ramón was knocked out,
he finally woke up and regained consciousness. Then he returned to the kitchen.

"I'll be over in a sec, I'm just gonna grab a soda." Twister replied grabbing a drink, while looking nervously at me.

"¡Muévete, guey! (Hurry up, dude!)" Ramón ordered in Spanish, walking off to the living room again with a nervous-looking Otto trailing behind.

"Hey Rosita," Twister said as I calmed down for now and as soon as Ramón and Otto were gone and getting my attention.

https://youtu.be/F0WTtZYchwU

People talk, but people don't know
You can't make plans, just live as I go
People talk, they don't understand
Love and pain go hand in hand
Oh, say what they want, I'm still thinking it's worth it
Oh, little bit drunk, tell my heart you won't hurt itI love your lies in the dark
Love tearing up a broken heart
Over, over, and again
I love you, now take me home
Love every way you turn me on
Over, over, and againOver, over, and again
Over (ah) and again
Over, over, and again
Over (ah) and again
Over, over, and again
Over (ah) and again
Over, over, and again
Over (aah) and againI can't fake I'm in it for you
Good people do bad things too
Say you changed, don't know if I would (nah)
Wanna be yours for real if I couldI love your lies in the dark
Love tearing...

"Yeah?" I asked, my heart racing. Then the song, Lies In The Dark by Tove Lo began to play in the background. He leaned over and kissed me gently, brushing his lips against mine.

When he realized I wasn't repulsed and telling him no, he grabbed my arms and pulled me close,
giving me his all as he moved his lips against mine and hoisted me up on the counter, while still lip-locked.

That is until we were rudely interrupted.

"Twister, man, how long does it take to get a drink? Or did you drop that too?"
Ramón hollered from the living room and interrupting us once more. I lunged myself at Ramón and was about to punch him again, until Otto rushed over and was trying to hold me back.

"LET ME GO, OTTO!" I yelled, flailing my arms and attempting to punch him too. but he had a pretty strong grip on me. Otto did as he was told and backed off.

We were all in the kitchen and I was about to blow up again. "I should go." He sighed, giving me a smile and a kiss to calm me down as he went to join Ramón and Otto, as they were back in the living room.

"Wow." I sighed, sinking against the fridge.