9. Chapter Nine
Jason
I felt my heart constrict as Maya climbed into the backseat of her car. Her boyfriend said goodbye to Kara and their friends before he got behind the steering wheel. Another girl, one of her friends, climbed into the passenger side, and then they were gone.
I stood motionless with Nico, as Marcos slowly walked toward us. The three of us stood watching Maya’s car until it was out of sight. “We fucked up,” Nico mumbled.
“Yep,” I said.
“How did we not notice she was sick this morning?” Nico asked, as Marcos reached them.
“We were all in our own heads.” Marcos sighed, running a hand over his buzzed hair.
I shook my head. “We shouldn’t have had the sluts come today.”
Marcos jerked his head to the side to meet my gaze. “You think we had something to do with her being sick?”
“Not what I’m saying.” I shook my head again and sighed.
“Stone’s right,” Nico groaned. “We were too focused on being petty because she’s dating someone else, and didn’t see that she was barely holding things together today.”
“We should be the ones taking care of her,” I said.
“She shouldn’t be driving two hours just for a bed,” Nico tacked on.
Marcos sighed, rubbing at his brow. He nodded slowly, realization sinking in. “So what do we do?”
“We text her later, apologizing about the skanks,” I suggested. I ran hand through my messy blond hair, messing it up further. “And pray she forgives us.”
“We’ll make her forgive us,” Nico said.
Marcos shook his head. “She’s not some skank we can just throw money at. Maya has integrity. She’s a badass, she won’t take our shit.”
“Which makes our fuck up even worse. We shouldn’t have invited the skanks today,” I shot Marcos a glare.
“I know, OK, I know! I was hurting, and she wouldn’t fucking touch us!” Marco exclaimed .
Kara and her friends walked over at that moment, Kara pausing to glare her brother. “What the fuck?” she asked him.
Marcos whirled around and flinched when he saw his sister. Kara had been strong all day, only shedding tears while at the gravesite service. She’d held Maya’s hand while Marcos clung to the slut at his side. Now I could see how that had affected her as well.
“You invited those fucking skanks to my mother’s funeral ON PURPOSE! To HURT my best fucking friend? You stupid motherfuckers!” Kara spat, glaring at the three of us. “I can’t fucking believe you would intentionally hurt MY BEST FRIEND!”
Nico and I winced, hanging our heads in shame as Kara scolded us.
“Kara—” Marcos started.
“Don’t,” Kara snapped. “I’m so fucking disappointed in the three of you. After I encouraged her to be with you, after I practically pushed her into your arms! ” Kara was shaking with rage.
“Kara,” Marcos tried again.
“Don’t you fucking say a god damned thing, brother !” Growing even more enraged than possible, she was practically growling the words she spat the three of us. “I’m going tell her exactly what you did, then I’m going to warn her to stay the fuck away from the three of you.”
I flinched again.
“Kara, please,” Nico tried. “We weren’t trying to be malicious—”
“Bull fucking shit!” Kara snapped again, turning on Nico and me this time.
“Of course you fucking were! Why else would you purposely invite those hideous fucking skanks to my mother’s funeral?
” She was growing more inconsolable by the moment.
“Too fucking butt-hurt over the fact that Maya met someone else? Had to act like petty ass little bitches?!” She turned back to Marcos, tears pouring down her face. “I fucking NEEDED you today!”
Guilt settled hard into my stomach. Nico shifted uncomfortably next to me. Neither one of us had thought of Kara in all of this. Every damn word she’d flung at us had been the truth. Marcos hung his head, shame rolling off him.
A blond with glasses chose that moment to walk out of the restaurant, looking warily around at us. “Kara, come on.” The blond waved Kara toward the door.
Kara’s face crumbled, as a sob tore out of her. She rushed to her friend, not bothering to look back at the three men.
Anxiety rolled over me as the reality of the situation fell on me. Marcos had to wipe his eyes and quickly turn and look away.
How the hell were we going to fix this?
Later that night, shame and guilt continued to eat away at me and my buddies, my brothers in all but blood.
We had fucked up good and bad, not only with Maya, but with Kara as well.
We hadn’t even thought of how their actions would affect their sister, or how it would look to invite skanks to a funeral.
Marcos was laying on the floor at my feet, as I sat on the couch. Nico sat off to the side, leaning back in the recliner. The three of us had headed back to our cramped apartment, not wanting to upset Kara further at Lita’s.
A ping of text coming through had Marcos reaching into his pocket for his cellphone. I looked over my buddy’s shoulder and read the message from Kara.
Kara :
I’m going back to the dorms tonight with my friends. I packed up my stuff. Let me know what you want to do about the apartment.
Marcos :
Lil Manita, I’m so sorry. I’ll take care of the apartment until the end of the lease. Don’t worry about it. We can talk more about it this summer.
Kara :
I’m probably going to stay at the dorms for Christmas.
Marcos crumbled, a sob breaking out of him as he read Kara’s words. I sighed as Marcos rolled onto his side, and tried to stop the tears. He slowly stood up and headed for his room, not saying a word to either of them.
“What happened?” Nico asked .
“Kara said she’s going to stay at the dorms for Christmas break.”
Nico’s face fell as pain etched into his features. “Dude, we fucked up.”
“Tell me about it.” I shook my head, fucking disgusted with myself.
“We should have fucking talked Marcos out of the stupid plan,” Nico said.
Shaking my head, I sighed. “We tried. He wouldn’t listen.”
“Well now it’s all fucking shot to shit!” Nico exploded, jumping to his feet. He stalked the living room, pacing as he ran his fingers through his shaggy, shoulder length hair.
Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I pulled my own phone and sent Kara a message.
Jason :
I’m sorry about the skanks at your mother’s funeral. Everything you said today was right, but you know that already. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend and brother to you today. I’ll work on that, lil sis.
Kara :
Do better.
I had to smile wryly at her reply.
Jason :
Yes, ma’am.
Jason :
Any chance I can convince you to come home for Christmas?
I had to wait a while for her reply, pacing the living room as Nico pulled out his own phone and began typing.
Kara :
Sorry. It was something I was already planning. Christmas just isn’t the same without Mom. I can’t try and put on a happy face this year. I just want to be alone.
Jason :
I get that, Kare Bear, I really do. But we’d feel better if you at least came home. You can stay at our place.
I threw the offer out, knowing our small apartment was cramped enough as it was. Three small ten by ten bedrooms with a twenty-by-twenty kitchen, living, and dining room. It would be tight, but Kara was family.
Kara :
I’d probably catch a disease from your couch, no thanks.
Jason :
Come on, we aren’t that bad.
Kara :
Skanks at my mother’s funeral?
Jason :
Ok we are that bad.
I sighed and rubbed a hand over my messy hair. I was trying here.
“She still pissed?” Nico asked.
“Yeah. But she’s talking to me.” I shrugged.
Jason :
I am really sorry though.
Kara :
I know.
Unsure of what else to say after all that, I tossed my phone to the couch and pulled at my hair. I had to think of a way to make shit up to both Maya and Kara.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked, as Nico was fully concentrating on typing on the small keyboard of his cellphone.
“Maya,” he murmured.
I moved around the back of the recliner and read over Nico’s shoulder as he typed out a paragraph to Maya.
Nico :
Hey, just wanted to check in… make sure you’re ok?
Nico :
Maya, I’m so sorry for what happened today at the funeral. We never should have invited those girls. It was a family affair and we should have left it at that. I’m so sorry for alienating you today and not realizing you were sick. We should have taken care of you.
Nico :
I’m sorry if I hurt you. It was never my intention.
Maya :
Yes, it was.
I sucked in a breath. I hadn’t expected her to respond at all. I looked at my own text messages to see if Nico had texted her in the group chat or not, only to be disappointed that he hadn’t. Not that it really mattered, we all had to apologize to her, because we had all fucked up.
No time like the present , I thought and opened a new chat for Maya.
Jason :
I’m so sorry, darlin’. I know we fucked up with the skanks. It was stupid and petty. We were jealous that you started seeing someone else and wouldn’t mess around with us this last week. It hurt and we lashed out. That’s on us. I deeply regret that our petty actions hurt you today.
I paced the room, breathing hard. It wasn’t like me to apologize to a woman. I never cared enough before to feel the need to. My chest was tight as I thought of all the ways I had hurt Maya today—how hurting her had fucking hurt myself in return. I’d never felt like that before.
“Anything?” I asked Nico.
“No,” he muttered, clenching his phone.
A moment later we both looked at our phones as they beeped with an incoming text: the group chat.
Maya :
The fact that you guys pulled some high school fucking bullshit and invited skanks to your mother’s fucking funeral, all because I wouldn’t fool around with you this week, tells me more about your character than I ever needed to know.
Please stop texting me. Whatever we had is over.
It shouldn’t have gone further than a one-night stand.
I don’t believe in cheating. It’s a hard no for me, and a huge red flag that you three have zero issue with it.
I’m no longer interested in pursuing anything further with the three of you.
If you see me with Kara, please leave me the fuck alone.
I sucked in a breath and stumbled to the couch as my knees buckled beneath me.
“What the fuck did you guys say to her?” Marcos’s voice a gravelly growl as he stalked into the living room .
“We tried to apologize,” I muttered.
Marcos barreled into me, his fist swinging and catching me in the mouth before I could even react. I leaned back into the couch as Marcos snatched up my phone. He read the texts I had sent Maya before she responded to the group chat and shook his head in disgust, but his anger deflated slightly.
Nico handed Marcos his own phone and waited while Marcos also read Nico’s messages to Maya.
Marcos sighed and tossed Nico his phone back before he collapsed onto the couch next to me.
Despair and anguish settled around us. There was nothing more we could do, but respect her wishes.