Page 30 of 10 Things I Hate About Prom
He nods, mumbling a “you’re good” under his breath and heading back outside to catch up with the rest of the team before he earns himself another round of laps for tardiness. Along the way, Tessa steps out from the girls’ locker room, brushing right past Joaquin. Their arms graze.
“Sorry,” he says.
“Don’t be,” she says with a small—and quite possibly flirty—smile.
But before their conversation can go any further, one of her squad mates whisks her away. Joaquin’s shoulders slump, his body sagging as he walks out of the building while a rush of excitement runs down my spine.
It took a whole lot of sweat and panic, but my plan worked. Promposal attempt#3 was a flop, and the universe has delivered its message: Joaquin and Tessa are doomed from the start. I crack my knuckles and fight back a smile as I skip my way to detention.
Mission accomplished.
Chapter Ten
To think, there wasonce a time when I thought coming home smelling like fried plantains every other day would be a perk.
After sitting on the bus stuck in prom season’s daily “rush to the mall” traffic jam for over an hour on my way back from my closing shift, I’m so exhausted that I don’t even notice the living room lights are on.
It’s not until I’m wrapped in just a towel, making my way to the bathroom down the hall, that I realize someone else is in the house. Somewhere in the living room, I can hear light footsteps padding over the carpet. Breath hitching, I reach for the closest weapon I can find—a decorative vase holding a fake lotus flower—and slowly approach the intruder. I halt at the end of the hallway, holding the vase against my chest as I wait for any sign of where they might be, when someone suddenly comes around the corner.
“It’s about time you—”
Mami’s greeting is completely swallowed by the sound of my scream. For all my planning, I don’t actually do anything with the vase, just hold it against my body and shout bloody murder until I open my eyes and realize the intruder is just my mom.
“Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack.” Mami yanks the vase out of my hand.
“Sorry,” I mumble, resting a hand over my racing heart. No point in telling her I was quicker to believe someone had broken into our house than that she was home. “I thought you were working tonight?”
She groans after setting the vase aside on a nearby end table. “I had an awful migraine when I woke up, so I called in sick.” That explains the sweatpants and messy bun. Even when she’s wearing scrubs, Mami insists on mascara, lipstick, and hoops. “Come into the living room when you’re done showering. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
The feeling is mutual.
Hope blooms in my chest as I give her a nod and a smile before heading into the bathroom. It’s been over a month since we’ve had a night in together, but I don’t let myself jump to conclusions. Lest we forget, last time I thought we’d be hanging out she bailed on me. After my shower, I half expect to find the living room empty and yet another frozen meal or take-out container on the dining table with a note to not wait up. Maybe a lipstick kiss on the note if she’s feeling generous. Another night alone. Another night of silence.
But she’s still there, wrapped in a throw blanket on the couch with Nurse Oatmeal, who’s gotten ahold of poor Otisthe Otter. Before Mami can notice me, I pinch the inside of my elbow just to be safe. Sure enough, it’s not a dream.
“These two need to just call it quits already,” Mami says, gesturing to the couple on the TV once she’s clocked my presence. “They’re so toxic.”
Most of the couples on our latest guilty pleasure,Married to My Ex’s Ex,would be considered toxic, but there’s a special place in hell reserved for Mariana and David, who left their fiancé and fiancée, respectively, at the altar for each other.
“They do in the next episode,” I tell her as I sit down beside her, Nurse Oatmeal giving up on Otis and coming over to sit on my lap instead. “Sorry, spoilers.”
Mami gives me a tight-lipped smile. Was I supposed to wait for her to keep watching? Because if I did, we’d be weeks behind, and social media is spoiler central. No way I was getting spoiled.
We sit in silence as Mariana kicks David out of their apartment for texting an ex behind her back, on the edge of our seats as she sets fire to his clothes after throwing them out on the front lawn. Mami pulls me closer and runs her fingers through my damp hair, weaving it into a loose braid I can wear to bed for perfect natural curls in the morning. In between gasps, we pass a container of dumplings back and forth like popcorn.
“Work been okay?” Mami asks during the commercial break, reaching for a carton of lo mein. An incoming notification lights up her phone—a new message on one of her various dating apps. Several messages, based on the number of stacked notifications she has on her home screen. My heart clenches, ready for her to focus on them instead, but she locks her phone and turnsback to me. The tension quickly melts away. She still chose me. “Tony’s not driving you crazy?”
Tío Tony may have a foot in height and a hundred pounds of muscle on Mami, but I have no doubt she’d put her baby brother in his place if she needed to.
“It’s been good.” I can see her visibly relax at the reassurance. “And he only has one other waitress, so he can’t get rid of me that easy.” Without me, he’d have to wait tables himself.
Mami grins, pulling me in by the shoulder to press a kiss to my temple. “Think you’ll make enough for both of us to retire soon? These overnight shifts are killing me.”
I snort, leaning into her warmth and resting my head on her shoulder. The comforting smell of Chanel NO5 and Fabuloso makes my limbs heavy with an exhaustion I haven’t let myself feel in weeks. “No dice. I’ll be lucky if I can afford a used car this century.”
Mami clucks her tongue as she waves off my concerns. “We’ll find you something,” she insists, and for once, car ownership doesn’t feel like a pipe dream. If there’s one thing Mami’s proven after more than a decade as a single mother, it’s that she can get shit done, money or no money.
“Speaking of which…” Mami leaps off the couch with a knowing smile and rushes to her room. She returns with a large white shopping bag filled with red tissue paper, setting it down in front of me. “I got you a little something.”
