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hide-in-imagination · 2 months ago

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“Roads That Cross… with the Day of the Dead (Part 1)"

You can read the previous chapters here: (1),(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30), (31), (32), (33)

The sound of her alarm woke Ámbar up on the morning of the big day.

For one blissful moment, that was all she thought about: the big day, all the people that would come to the Roller, the Day of the Dead party.

Then the memories of the previous night came crashing back to her. Lying to Simón. Letting Sharon escape. Lying to Luna. Simón once more.

Sleep had helped tune down her emotions until she no longer felt on the cusp of a breakdown, but she didn’t think any sleep in the world would make her feel okay about how she handled things, about all her failures— as a person, as a girlfriend, as everything. She almost hadn’t let Simón touch her last night because of all the guilt she felt, all the anger toward herself for the decisions she kept making against her better judgment. But in the silence that his question invoked— ‘You don’t want to?’— she remembered that if she didn’t take these small moments of joy, then there wouldn’t be any. Wasn’t that what she had decided, many days ago, after that dreadful nightmare? To enjoy the now no matter what might happen in the future?

She’d already taken the approach of self-denial before in a way to silently punish herself, and it'd only made Simón worry, as if he’d done something wrong. She could almost see that same expression on his face when he asked last night, the flicker of rejection in his gaze, and Ámbar would be damned if she made him feel like that, as if he weren’t everything she ever wanted.

Her life could be falling apart, but she’d save him from the wreckage for as long as she could. Blissful ignorance, she repeated in her mind, like an enchantment that would make everything okay. What was done was done. No matter what regrets or concerns she might have about her actions last night, she couldn’t change them. What she could do was coax her boyfriend awake with little kisses, and greet his sleepy eyes with a smile. This day was about him after all, in all the ways that mattered. She could worry about her disasters later.

She left Simón to finish waking up and got out of the bed. Usually, she picked her clothes for the day after her shower and dressed in the room, but this morning, she gathered everything she was going to wear and took it into the bathroom with her. She had a surprise for Simón for later and she didn’t want to spoil it, so she dressed there after her shower, with the door locked even, just in case.

With a towel around her hair, she walked out of the bathroom and told Simón he was free to use it. He was fully awake now, and he looked up from his phone when she talked to him, but if it caught his attention to see her walking out already dressed, he didn’t say.

While he was showering, Ámbar put her dress for the party in a bag, along with some hair accessories and face paints she had bought for the occasion. She had considered just wearing her Day of the Dead makeup all day, but thought maybe it wouldn’t look very professional for the manager to do that, so she decided to paint her face later in the Roller before the actual party started.

She blow-dried her hair and then sat in front of her dressing table to do her regular makeup. She was in the middle of that when Simón walked out of the bathroom, so by the time she finished, he was already clothed. That was why she always used the bathroom first. It was just more practical since he took less time getting ready than she did. Ámbar put on some accessories and perfume while Simón blow-dried his hair. Then they were both ready.

At least, she thought so. “Aren’t you bringing anything for later?” She asked him, picking up her own bag and seeing him empty-handed.

“No, I have everything at the Roller.”

Right, he’d mentioned he’d left his costume there. “Okay, then let’s go,” she said, moving toward the door, but before she could take two steps, Simón’s voice stopped her.

“Wait.” She turned to look at him. “Before we head down, I wanted to give you something.”

Ámbar watched curiously as he walked over to the corner next to the dresser where his backpack laid. He kneeled down on the floor to open it and pulled out something, hiding it behind his back as he returned to her.

“I know this day is going to be a little chaotic with all the customers we’ll be receiving, so I thought I’d give you your present now before the craziness starts.” He drew his hand from behind himself and revealed a little rectangular black box. He smiled. “Happy monthaversary, my love.”

Ámbar was floored with affection. Her face scrunched up with tenderness as she looked up from the present to him. “Aww, I told you you didn’t have to,” she said, leaving her bag on the floor so she could take the present from his hand.

“And I told you I was going to anyway,” Simón replied with a smirk.

Ámbar looked down to unwrap the little white bow that held the box closed and then pulled up the lid to see what was inside.

Her lips formed a small ‘o’ as she took in the bracelet that laid on white plush velvet. The bracelet was silver, formed by many little silver stars linked together in succession, each with a round-shaped stone in the middle. The stones came in three different colors: one a reddish orange, one a dark yellow, and then one that looked black— or was it a dark brown? The three repeated in that order up to the end. In total, it had to be more than ten stars.

“It’s not diamonds but, I hope you like it.”

Ámbar took the bracelet out of the box to inspect it closer. Meanwhile, Simón kept talking.

“The stones are amber. And I think the stars go without saying but, just in case you need clarification, it’s because you’re a star.” He brought one hand to her waist and rubbed his thumb over a spot of her stomach. “And because of this little birthmark I’m so fond of.”

Ámbar had no words. She raised her eyes from the bracelet and looked at Simón, feeling so much love that her chest squeezed. She transferred everything to one hand so she could cup his face with the other and kiss him.

“Thank you, I love it, I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said smiling, and they shared one more kissed before Ámbar pulled away.

“Would you fasten it for me?” She asked, offering her wrist.

“Yeah, of course.”

Simón left the box on top of the bed and secured the bracelet around her wrist. Ámbar shook her hand a little, testing that, even if it moved, the bracelet wouldn’t slip out of her hand. Satisfied with the result of her little experiment, she smiled at Simón again.

“Thank you so much. I’ll never take it off.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Simón planted another peck on her lips and walked to the door. “Now let’s go grab breakfast. We’re going to need all the energy we can get for today.”

“Oof, don’t even remind me,” Ámbar said, and picked up her bag again.

Simón held the door open for her and they walked out of her room together. It was going to be a hectic day, yes, but it was going to be fun too, and as long as Simón was by her side, she knew she could take on anything.

********************

The Roller was filled with people, just as they had predicted.

Personally, Simón thought that rainy days were more chaotic— They ran out of tables and people would just stand everywhere, using up every bit of space. This influx of people was higher than normal, but manageable. And, for starters, the ‘normal’ number of clients in the Roller was chill enough that the Roller Band could rehearse songs in the middle of the day, so really, this was probably the equivalent of a normal work day for other more popular establishments.

Simón suspected the Roller would get more popular after this day, because he’d seen many people filming with their phones—And everything looked amazing.

It was so much fun. The excitement could be felt in the air. Families came and went, the kids pointed at the decorations and screamed ‘It’s just like in Coco!’ and Mexican music played through the speakers of the Roller.

It was like a little piece of home right in the heart of his second home. Simón had experienced many events in the Roller by now, all of them amazing, but this one, for obvious reasons, was rapidly becoming his favorite. It was a shame he was chained to his work, but the whole atmosphere and people’s happy faces from seeing a piece of his culture made it worth it. He’d be able to enjoy it more fully later anyway, once the real party started.

Luna showed up at the bar at one point while he was making a hamburger for table 7.

“Look what Jazmín made for me!” She said with an excited smile, turning her face one way and another to show off her makeup. She looked like a Catrina through and through, with teeth drawn over her lips and everything.

Simón let out a laugh. “That’s pretty, Luna, but wasn’t Jazmín’s station meant for little kids?” He teased her.

“Well, I haven’t turned 18 yet, so I’m still a kid,” Luna replied smoothly. She laughed. “Besides, I never could’ve done a makeup this pretty. Remember all those previous years I tried? I always ended up looking more like a raccoon, or a mime.”

Simón laughed at the memories and put the finished burger on a plate. “It wasn’t that bad. But it is true that Jazmín has a talent for this.” He turned around to get some fries from the air fryer. “All the kids I’ve seen have walked out very happy.”

“Won’t you ask her to do your makeup too?”

Simón turned back to place the fries next to the burger. “No, that’s okay, my mask’s enough.”

“Okay, well, I see you’re busy, so I’ll let you keep working. Hang in there,” Luna said and started to leave.

“Wait!” Simón stopped her. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Luna stood in front of him once more. “What is it?”

Are you really going to do this? A voice, probably his conscience, judged him. He and Ámbar had had a nice morning, he was having a nice day— did he really need to talk about this now?

But if everything was truly in order then, there was no harm in asking, right?

“What was that about last night? How did you end up with Ámbar?”

Luna looked at him with confusion. “Didn’t Ámbar tell you?”

Yeah, didn’t Ámbar tell you?

“A little,” he played dumb. “But what were you doing there?”

“Oh, I wanted to look for pictures of Lily and Bernie.” Luna turned a little shy. “This whole Day of the Death party got me thinking about them, and, well… you know. That’s why I went to Sharon’s room.”

“And that’s where Ámbar was?”

“Yeah. Apparently, she heard some weird noises and thought someone had come for the chest again, so she locked herself inside Sharon’s room. She seemed pretty rattled.”

Locked herself? She didn’t tell me that.

But it didn’t lack logic, did it? If anyone was actually after the chest, locking the door would be the most effective way to stop them from getting to it. Ámbar’s story still fit Luna’s.

See? Now stop asking questions. There’s no reason to keep digging into this—

“When you found her, did you see her talking on the phone by any chance?”

He couldn’t help it. He wasn’t proud of this, but he had an uneasy sensation inside, and maybe it was paranoia, but he needed to ask about it.

Luna frowned. “Her phone? No, I didn’t even see her with it. Although,” her brows scrunched up further, as if trying to remember, “maybe I heard her voice through the door… But maybe she was just talking to herself,” she dismissed it. “Or maybe I imagined it, I don’t know.”

The sensation didn’t abate completely, but Simón nodded his head. “Right.”

Luna looked at him with worry. “Why are you asking? I thought you two had made up.”

“Oh, yeah, we did, we’re good now,” he assured her. Technically, they were. “I was just, curious.”

Luna kept staring at him, this time in that certain way she did sometimes that made Simón feel a little exposed, because he knew she knew him from years ago, and on occasion, that became evident.

“Simón—” She put her hand on his forearm. “Enjoy this day, alright?” She said with pleading, earnest eyes. “Look at all this amazing stuff Ámbar put together just for us. For you,” she empathized, tightening her hold, grinning brightly, and for all his conflicted feelings, Simón couldn’t help but break a smile. “Have fun and don’t think silly things, okay?”

Her cheerful energy was certainly contagious, and she made such good points Simón found himself agreeing. “Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” he replied. He’d already asked his questions anyway. Maybe he should let it go.

Something caught his eye behind Luna, a few tables away, and he let out a little laugh. “Now go. Your admirer is waiting for you.”

Luna frowned. “Admirer?” She turned around, following his gaze, but of course, Matteo looked away immediately when she did. It was still pretty obvious he’d been staring though.

Luna turned toward Simón again, giving him a reproachful look, but her lips were curved into a smile anyway. “Oh, come on, don’t start. Actually, you know what? I’m leaving,” she said. And she really walked away, making it a point to go over to Nina’s table and not where Matteo was.

Simón laughed to himself and shook his head at those two’s shenanigans. When were they going to stop running in circles and get back together?

He added a glass of orange juice next to the burger and called Pedro over to deliver it to table 7. Pedro came by, handed him three more notes with orders written on them, and walked away with the tray. O-kay. Better get on with that, then.

He didn’t have much time to think about anything other than work after that. At some point in the afternoon, he switched places with Pedro, with him taking over the waiting tables part and Pedro working the register and making the food— Then the work continued. Eric had his hands full handling the lockers and rink, so he couldn’t help them out with the cafeteria, which was fine, again, it was manageable. But they would definitely be exhausted after today, all three of them. Thankfully, tomorrow was the weekend, so they’d be able to rest, thanks to the part-timers Ámbar had hired. God bless them.

Honestly, Simón only had to look around at all the happy faces and thriving business to see how much good Ámbar had done for this place. He remembered back when Gary appointed her as manager, how everyone feared it would be a reign of terror for the Roller, but it had turned up being the complete opposite— The Jam & Roller had gradually returned to its days of peace under Ámbar’s management, and things were getting even better, with the free weekends (something they always should’ve had, really), the security cameras in the lockers to avoid any further incidents, and who knew what other improvements Ámbar would implement in the future.

Luna was right— Simón had so many positive things to focus on that it was silly not to. At the very least, he could forget about his worries for a couple of hours. His problems would still be there tomorrow if he wanted to do something about them, but today, he would just do his job and enjoy himself as much as possible.

*****************

After many days of effort, the actual day of the Roller Jam was turning out to be quite peaceful for Ámbar, far from what she’d predicted.

Her experience working at the Roller, and the Flash Open in particular, had left her thinking she’d be running around from one place to the next constantly, but as it turned out, when you actually did all the work beforehand, the only thing left to do on the real day was to just… watching things unfold. Of course, she had to be on alert in case something went wrong, but so far, there hadn’t been any issues: People ate and talked at the cafeteria, kids got their makeup done with Jazmín and Yam, Jim took commemorative photos, Delfi filmed the activities and some people waving at the camera for social media…

One could breathe the joy in the air. As long as the lights and music systems worked as they should during the actual party later, everything would be perfect. Then Ámbar would be to relax— A foreign concept for her by this point, but one she was looking forward to.

There wasn’t much for her to do until then. She kept making rounds to make sure everything was going smoothly, and it was, which made her happy, but it also made her feel a little aimless, restless, because while everyone else was busy serving the customers, her whole role was just overseeing. She felt a little bad for Simón. She would’ve liked for him to just sit back and enjoy everything, like Luna was doing, instead of having to work full speed to wait all the tables.

She approached him at one point in the afternoon, while he was picking up the used plates, glasses, and silverware that a group of customers had just left behind and placing them carefully on a tray. Ámbar had seen him carrying that tray with only one hand many times today and she had no idea how he did it. If it were her, she’d probably drop everything, tray and all. Another talent of his she admired.

“I’m so sorry I have you working on our monthaversary.”

Simón glanced in her direction and offered her a smile while he continued filling the tray with the dirty dishes. “Hey, it’s okay, I would’ve been working anyway, event or no event.”

“I could’ve let us both take the day off under different circumstances,” she lamented.

Simón picked up the tray, now full, with both hands, and turned toward her with a smirk. “But then what could we have possibly done all day?”

His flirtatious comment brought Ámbar out of her low mood and drew a huffed laugh out of her lips. She returned his mischievous look, but before they could discuss further what an entire day off could’ve looked like for them, a couple of customers a few tables back raised their hands and started asking for the check, drawing both of their attentions.

Simón balanced the tray on one hand in order to show them a thumbs up, a sign that meant he’d seen them and would be there shortly.

He turned back to Ámbar. “Duty calls,” he said, sighing, but he reincorporated to show her one last smile. “Will you save me a dance later?”

Ámbar pursed her lips. “Mmm I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it,” she said, but the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth was pretty obvious.

Simón grabbed her hand to place a kiss on the back of it. He held it for a second after, enough to run his thumb over the bracelet of stars.

“See you later, boss,” he said, keeping their eyes locked.

Ámbar couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she watched him walk away. She ran her own fingers over the bracelet, feeling her heart full, and her lungs, and her stomach filled with butterflies. She decided to go to the rink and check everything was going well over there, just because she knew that if she stayed here in the cafeteria, she would stare at him forever.

The rest of the afternoon passed by in pretty much the same fashion. As the evening neared, she started seeing more people arriving in costumes for the party, and the Roller guys who hadn’t gotten there already in costume started taking turns in the dressing room, or the lockers, to get ready.

Little by little, the place filled with skeletons adorned with flowers— Life and death in all its splendor. Once Ámbar deemed it was the right time, she went into the dressing room herself to change and do her Catrina makeup.

The first layer of her dress hugged her body down to mid-thigh, covered in intricate designs of flowers and green leaves on a black lace backdrop, held up by thin straps on her shoulders, and accentuated her cleavage with a heart-shaped neckline. The top layer was all black, lacking any flowers or designs, but added volume to the assemble. It consisted of a black open piece that wrapped around her waist, flaring at her hips with ruffles that fell asymmetrically, leaving the front of her legs bare, but extending down to her ankles on her back. The light material would move effortlessly as she did once the party started, but Ámbar had made sure the length was just right and not a centimeter longer so that it wouldn’t accidentally catch on her rollerskates. It was perfect. She was very proud of her outfit.

She added a red flower piece to her head and curled the strands of her hair a little to liven it up. Then she started the process of painting her face into a skull, following a picture she’d found on the internet for reference.

Jazmín entered the dressing room while she was in that process. She had all the face paints and makeup utensils she’d used during the day in her hands, and went to store them for the next time they would be needed— Except for those that were from her own personal collection, of course. Those she left on a separate pile, and Ámbar imagined she would take them home with her at the end of the night.

What she did not imagine was that Jazmín would offer to help her with the finer details of her makeup.

“Not that you’re doing a bad job, but I have a brush that’s thinner and works better with the paint, and I also know a makeup trick to make sure it stays in place all night.”

Ámbar couldn’t help but think back on that time Jazmín did her makeup all wrong just to spite her and briefly wondered if she wanted to do the same now. But she hadn’t done anything this time to make her angry, and Jazmín seemed honest. Maybe she just really liked doing people’s makeup and she would’ve offered whoever she found here. Maybe it was an olive branch. Maybe Ámbar had a tendency of overanalyzing people’s intentions and should just accept kind gestures without thinking so much about it.

“Okay, thank you.” She smiled. “I would appreciate it.”

In just a few minutes, her face looked exactly like the reference picture—Even better, if she said so herself. She thanked Jazmín again, who replied that the best way she could thank her was to start the Roller Jam already because she couldn’t wait to start filming for Ja-Jazmín. True to her words, her tablet seemed to have teleported into her hands the second she stopped holding a brush.

They walked out of the dressing room together, with Jazmín going toward the rink after Ámbar assured her that she would be there shortly to kick off the event. Ámbar looked around the cafeteria, but she didn’t see either of the two people she needed: Simón and Luna. She saw Eric behind the bar, washing some dishes, and asked him about Simón.

“He finished waiting the last table with Pedro and both of them went to the lockers to change,” Eric told her. Clearly, he had gone there first, because he was already wearing a themed costume and someone had drawn skull features on his face. “I already told everyone that if they want anything to drink, they can ask me.”

The Roller couldn’t miss the business opportunity of a party where people were bound to get thirsty, so someone had to be in charge of serving the people who did, and the chosen person for the job was Eric. Of course, all drinks would be non-alcoholic— the Roller didn’t even have a liquor license— and the entrance with alcoholic drinks was actually strictly forbidden for the event. Ámbar suspected someone would try and sneak in some anyway, even though it was an egregiously bad idea when everyone would be on wheels, but if whatever idiot did that got injured, neither Ámbar nor Vidia would be held responsible—They made their policy very clear.

“I’m so sorry for having you interrupt your fun,” Ámbar apologized to Eric. He’d be paid extra hours, obviously, but still. “It’s just, since you won’t be in rollerskates anyway, I figured—”

“Nono, don’t worry, it’s okay,” Eric dismissed her concerns with a flick of his hand, just as the first time this had been decided. He wasn’t very steady on skates, so he’d said early on that he would rather wear regular shoes during the Roller Jam, and that made him the perfect candidate to be going from the rink to the cafeteria back and forth. “I would’ve offered anyway. Parties aren’t exactly my thing, so having a break every once in a while will be nice.”

“Thank you,” Ámbar said honestly. “The only thing I’m going to ask you is that you make sure that everyone pays for their stuff, okay? This is a business, not a charity— We can’t just give things away to our friends all the time.”

Eric nodded. “Got it.”

She had just left the bar to go in search of Simón when he rounded the corner of the hallway and appeared in front of her.

Both of them stood still, running their eyes over the other. Simón had changed his clothes, but not into the skeleton outfit he’d shown her days prior— He wore a white shirt over black fitted pants, which, upon further inspection, she noticed had sequin stripes on the side of the legs. But the most eye-catching part was the red jacket. It was a deep red, covered on the front, stand collar, and arms with white sequin flower designs that made her dress look simple in comparison. He wore it open over the white shirt, which left the big bronze-and-black bow tie around his neck front and center. Ámbar wasn’t an expert, but she suspected it was some kind of special Mexican bow tie because she had never seen one shaped like that before, with little strings hanging from the bottom.

Overall, he looked kind of like a mariachi without a hat. An extremely handsome one.

It was Simón who spoke first. “Wow, you are…” He seemed unable to find the right words. His eyes shone with admiration. “…the most beautiful Catrina I’ve ever seen.”

Ámbar smiled, very pleased by his reaction, and stepped closer to him with coquetry. “Thank you.” She ran her hands over his jacket and grabbed the open sides. “You look very handsome too. But this Catrina is missing her Catrín; where’s your skull costume?”

“I’ll put it on after the performance.”

That made sense. “Okay. Are you ready?” She asked, returning to business mode. “Is Luna ready?”

“I’m here!”

Luna showed up running from the direction of the rink— Always a whirlwind of scatterbrained energy, this one. She looked very Mexican too, in a white and purple dress stamped with flowers, with stripes here and there in the country’s flag colors. Her big flowers headpiece put Ámbar’s to shame.

She pushed that thought aside. “Great.” She parted from Simón. “I’ll put on my skates, open the Roller Jam with a few words, and then the rink’s all yours,” she told them both.

And that was exactly what she did. The rink was empty when she approached it, as per her request, with all the people standing around it or sitting on the bleachers, waiting for the show to start. Ámbar skated over to the right side of the rink, where the control panel for the music and lights was installed, and grabbed the wireless mic the DJ and sound technician behind it had prepared for her. She stood in front of the crowd and welcomed them to the Roller, to this new special edition of their famous Roller Jams, and thanked everyone who helped make it come true. She told everyone to have fun, enjoy— Marvel at the magic of the Day of the Dead.

“And who better than these two to kick off this very special night?” Ámbar spread her arm toward the rink. “Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Luna and Simón!”

The lights went down and applause erupted from the audience, accompanied by cheers and whistles from the Roller guys supporting their friends. Different colored lights started moving around the place while two big spotlights illuminated the rink. Luna and Simón walked into the rink as if it were their own big stage, both of them holding their own mics, which they had received from the tech guy.

The music started playing. The sound of cheery, melodic trumpets filled the place, submerging everyone into the world of México.

Simón brought the mic to his lips and started singing.

Te vas amor

Si así lo quieres qué le voy a hacer

Tu vanidad no te deja entender

Que en la pobreza se sabe querer…

Opposite from him, with an equally bright smile on her face, Luna raised her own mic and started singing too.

Quiero llorar y me destroza que pienses así

Si más que ahora me quedé sin ti

Me duele lo que tú vas a sufrir…

The music took flight at the chorus, and from there on out, Simón and Luna absolutely marveled with their performance, dancing around the rink, either together or separately, and inspiring everyone to do the same. No one seemed to be able to stay still while they watched them— They either clapped or swayed in place, infected by their energy and joy.

Ámbar couldn’t be happier from seeing Simón so happy. It made all the work she’d put into this day worth it. It even made her want to do something like this every day just to see him smile like that.

The performance came to an end with Simón and Luna leaning back-to-back, harmonizing the last few verses of the song. The crowd burst into a wild round of applause, and Simón and Luna turned around to hug tightly. Once they parted, Simón brought his mic up to his mouth again.

“Okay, everyone, are you ready to party?!”

The crowd cheered in front of them.

“We can’t hear you!” Luna yelled.

The cheers came back louder.

Luna laughed. “Okay, then let’s get this party started!!”

Ámbar made the sign to the DJ and upbeat music started playing through the speakers. On cue, everyone started filling up the rink, skating and dancing, swarming up around Simón and Luna. Ámbar could see them hugging their friends and talking excitedly. Luna stayed with her girl group and started to dance while Simón grabbed both their mics in one hand and crossed the sea of people to join Ámbar.

She received him with a proud smile and a hug. “You were incredible, my love.” She never doubted their opening number would be a success. If there was one thing about this day she wasn’t worried about, it was that.

“Thank you.” He reached his hand over and returned the mics to the sound guy behind her, then he focused on her again. He looked like if he smiled any harder, he was going to hurt his face. “All of this is amazing— I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Well, you owe me a dance,” Ámbar reminded him, to which Simón pulled her by the hand and started dancing with her in time to the music.

He alternated between bringing her close to sway their bodies together or increasing the distance so he could move her around and make her spin, holding her hand over her head. Their balances were different since he was wearing shoes and she was in rollerskates, but it didn’t matter. Ámbar couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed out of pure joy like in this moment. She’d probably been with him too.

“I’m going to change into my costume,” Simón told her after a few minutes, close and loud in order to be heard over the music. “Wait here.”

Ámbar gave him a teasing look. “Did you really have to get another outfit for the performance? Luna sang with her costume already on.”

“And miss the chance to wear this jacket?” He joked, showing it off, and they both laughed. She had to hand it to him—It was a nice jacket. “Be right back.”

He leaned as if to kiss her but stopped himself short. “Ah.”

When he looked around at the people around them, Ámbar understood why he had stopped. She smiled. Bringing her hands up, she held his face between them and kissed him herself.

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” she told him when she drew back. “We’re all in costumes anyway. I don’t think anyone will notice.”

Simón smiled back at her. “Okay.” He gave her another kiss, lingering a little longer, and then pulled back, looking at her softly. “I’ll be right back with you.”

Ámbar watched him go and had half a mind to follow after him, but held herself together and refrained. If she was there while he changed, things would happen, and while that sounded very appealing, she couldn’t allow herself to let loose like that just yet. She still had to announce Matteo— without saying it was Matteo, she thought with an internal roll of her eyes. The things she subjected herself to, honestly. She hadn’t thought yet about what she was going to make him do in return for this surprise for Luna, but she would make sure to make it something big.

Figuring she might as well get that done and over with right away, she went over to the control panel to grab her microphone. They’d already made all the preparations— Matteo only requested a mic stand and a way to connect his guitar to the audio systems— so once she presented him as ‘a surprise performer that would be delighting them with a song in a few minutes’, it’d be up to him to take the stage when he was ready.

Ámbar stood with the mic in hand and made a sign for the DJ to lower the music and shine a spotlight on her. Everyone’s eyes focused on her once he did, and she put on her best public smile. One last duty and I’m free.

She was ready to let the stress go and start dancing the night away.

*****************

Simón hurried out of the rink, not wanting to be away from the fun for too long. He went to the dressing room, where he’d stored his Catrín costume previously, and when he passed by the bar, he noticed it was empty, meaning no one had required Eric’s services yet. Good. He deserved to have some fun after the long day they’d had.

He entered the dressing room and retrieved the hanger that held his costume. He took off his red jacket and white shirt and changed them for a black combo— a shirt and a suit jacket, which had white rib bones painted on it and arm bones on the sleeves. The necktie he put on next had the drawing of a backbone, and just like that, piece by piece, the skeleton came to life— With the leg bones on his black pants, the hand bones on his black globes, and lastly, the skull shape of his white mask. Once he was done changing, he took the time to hang his other outfit under the clothing cover he’d hidden them in during the last week. The corners of his lips turned up. He’d bet Ámbar didn’t think he could have surprises of his own. Judging by the look on her face earlier, she’d really appreciated the outfit— or at least, how it looked on him— but she was right: that Catrina was missing his Catrín, and it’d be a shame to have her missing him for much longer.

He looked at himself in one of the mirrors before leaving, adjusting his necktie so it wasn’t crooked and making sure everything looked alright. He smiled at his reflection. He loved wearing costumes like these. It was kind of the reason why he’d decided to wear a separate outfit for the performance— It wasn’t very often he had the opportunity to wear things reminiscent of México living in Buenos Aires. And today, he’d gotten to wear two. And he sang with Luna. And they did steps of traditional dances.

A happy sigh left his lips. If Ámbar’s plan was to soothe his nostalgia, it had worked, with flying colors. He was so excited he felt like he could dance the whole night without tiring. And, of course, there was no one he would rather dance with than his girlfriend, who had made all of this possible.

He walked out of the dressing room and went to the lockers to put on his rollerskates. Upon entering, he found Pedro behind the counter, crouched down and checking the shelves underneath it. He had one of his skates on while the other laid sideways on top of the counter.

“Hey,” Simón greeted him, frowning a little. “Everything alright? Do you need something?”

Pedro looked up at him briefly. “Hey.” His gaze went back to searching. “Yeah, one of my wheels is missing its axle nut. I have no idea if it was like that from before and I didn’t notice or if it rolled away now when I was skating, but thank god I realized it before I ended up killing myself.” It sounded like an exaggeration, but without the axle nut, the whole wheel could’ve rolled away, so it really was that serious.

“The problem is that I don’t have any replacements with me,” Pedro continued, “so I was checking if we had any here at the lockers, but apparently not.” He stood, bending the knee of the leg that was still wearing a skate so it was at the same height as the other. He looked at Simón. “Do you happen to have any spare ones by any chance?”

Simón smiled sadly at him. “No, sorry.” Pedro deflated in front of him. “But— Hey. Just take one from one of the rental skates,” he proposed. “As long as you remember to return it at the end of the party, no one should get hurt.”

Pedro’s face lighted up. “You’re right.” He turned around, taking a pair of skates from the shelves on the wall. “And just in case I forget, I’ll leave these hidden under the counter so you all know which ones you’re not supposed to touch.” He grabbed a T-tool and started working on the switch. “What about you? I thought you’d be dancing with Ámbar by now.”

“That’s the idea, I just gotta put on my rollerskates first.” He lifted one foot, gesturing towards his untied shoes. He hadn’t bothered to tie them since he’d be taking them off anyway.

“Well, if you need the T-tool, I’ll leave it right here under the counter,” Pedro said, finishing rolling the axle nut onto his own skate.

“Thank you.”

Simón walked over to his locker to pull out his rollerskates and brought them with him to a bench. He sat and checked that everything was alright with his wheels— he didn’t want a repeat of Pedro’s story— and then put them on. The whole time, the music and voices of everyone having fun reached his ears, filling him with eagerness to join them.

By the time he left the lockers, Pedro was already gone. He couldn’t even see him when he neared the crowd of people in the rink—It was too many dancing bodies and too many disguises and masks to find someone in particular.

Except for Ámbar. He would recognize her blonde hair anywhere, no matter how crowded or how dark the room.

It took him barely seconds to place the familiar golden waves. Simón rolled his skates in her direction—

And froze.

He couldn’t quite process what he was seeing. He was seeing it, but he couldn’t understand it. Because Ámbar was wrapped in the arms of someone else, some guy with a mask who held her possessively. And she was kissing him.

The world seemed to stop, along with his breathing, and his heart. Ámbar had her arms around the guy’s neck, and she moved her mouth with his with fluid easefulness, completely into it, into him.

Every party sound around him got replaced by a ringing in Simón’s ears. The only voice he could hear came from inside his own head— the memory of words from many days ago.

‘The moment she gets tired of you, the moment she gets bored of pretending to be someone that she’s not, she’s going to come to me.’

Ámbar parted from the other guy’s lips, and as if taken from a fragment of his worst nightmare, the guy took off his mask, and revealed Benicio’s face.

‘And I’m going to welcome her with open arms.’

He was smirking.

…

---------------------

I’ve been waiting for five years to make that callback to that dialogue.

If anyone wants to see a picture of Ámbar’s bracelet (you know, focusing on the positives) here it is:

#simbar #simbar fic #simbar fanfic #soy luna fanfiction #soy luna #My Writing #roads that cross #next chapter might be ready next month-- May at the latest!

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weirdthoughtsandideas · 6 months ago

Note

10 perhaps? 👀 i miss lunina sleepovers!! sounds cute :D

Takes place either S3 or post-show, or else it would be too risky for them to sneak out like this x)

10. Lunina sapphic sleepover

Nina had spent the night at Luna's more times in the past year than she had ever in her life. She just never had a lot of friends to have sleepovers with growing up.

Really, the only sleepover she remembered going to was when she was a girls scout in middle school. But it felt less like a sleepover and more like a sleepaway camp, as there were so many people sleeping in the same room. She never had a sleepover with just one other person until she befriended Luna.

But she loved it. Even if they didn't do anything special, it was just so fun to spend some more time with Luna. She also appreciated not being home, even though Mora's house definitely made her feel a lot more free than her mom's.

Tonight they sat in Luna's room, just talking.

"Did you ever have sleepovers in Cancún?" Nina asked.

"Yes!" Luna chuckled. She lied down on her bed, with her eyes glowing with nostalgia. "Me and Simón used to have ones when we were younger. My favorite time was when we decided to swim in the pool in the middle of the night."

"A pool?"

"Yes! The mansion in Cancún had a pool... we went swimming, and then saw someone turn a light on. We panicked and ran away from there."

Nina giggled. "Aww, I can picture it so vividly!"

Luna giggled too.

Nina smiled at her. "I love your laughter, Luna. It's so contagious."

"Thank you." Luna leaned down to Nina's mattress to hug her, but accidentally tripped and thus fell right on top of her.

They stared at each other for a brief moment, before awkwardly chuckling.

"Uh..." Nina said, "You can let go of me."

Luna was still embracing her, which she had not at all realized.

"Oh, sorry..."

As she let go, there was another silence.

"So... what should we do?" Luna asked. "I'm not tired."

"Me neither," Nina admitted. But then, she formed a mischievous smile. "What if... you and I sneak out..."

"But we don't have a pool!" Luna said.

"We could do other things, right?"

"I guess... like what?"

"What if we... just go out in the garden? And look at the stars?"

Luna lit up. "Yeah! That sounds so fun!"

They walked downstairs as quietly as they could. Luna was not sure why she was so nervous - she was allowed to be in the garden. It was her house now.

And yet, it just felt better knowing that no one knew what they were doing. Like a silly little secret only she and Nina knew.

They went outside, holding hands so that none of them would get lost in the dark.

Nina looked up in the sky. "Wow... you can really see the stars well."

Luna also looked up. "Woah... I've never noticed it..." She started beaming. "You know... wherever you are, you have the same sky. The same stars... aw, this reminds me of Mexico."

"Did you watch the stars a lot in Mexico?"

"Sometimes. It was always really soothing..."

Nina looked around. "The whole garden looks more... magical, in the darkness."

It was true. The way the garden lit up by the moonlight, and all that was heard was crickets and other insects... it was this aesthetic over it that just was so beautiful.

"You know what I wanna do?" Luna asked. "I wanna run."

"Run?"

Luna laughed and started sprinting away. Nina snickered a bit from surprise, but then decided to run after her.

"Can't catch me!" Luna exclaimed, putting her arms out like she was an airplane. "Wee!"

"Wait up!" Nina laughed.

It was like Luna got some sort of energy boost and she needed to run. Nina soon got out of breath, and had to rest by a tree, while Luna continued running around.

"I'll get you!" Luna said, and ran towards Nina. Nina closed her eyes, afraid Luna would tackle her.

But instead, Luna picked her up mid speed and carried her. Nina yelped, as Luna continued running.

However, Luna could only run for a few seconds, before she realized that Nina was a lot heavier to carry than what she was prepared for. So, Luna had stop and put her down.

"Everyone always carries me," Luna said, "So I wanted to try carrying someone else."

"Everyone's taller than you, so of course you're easier to carry!" Nina chuckled.

"Really? Can you carry me?"

Nina tried to lift her up. "Nah, you're too heavy."

Luna leaned onto Nina's shoulder. "Wooh... I really feel like I got to let out all my energy. This was a great idea."

"Yeah... but we might go change clothes. I don't know if we should sleep in clothes we've had in outside."

"Maybe... but I don't think my pajamas is dirty enough to change!"

Luna then had the great idea to jump onto the ground, rolling around on the grass.

"Luna!" Nina exclaimed.

"Come on! Join me!"

Nina hesitated for a moment, but then decided to join her. She carefully placed herself on the ground, crawling up to Luna.

Luna embraced her. "Now we really need to change sleepwear!"

"Luna, we need a bath... there's grass and dirt in your hair."

"Hm... should we take a middle of the night bath, then?"

Nina frowned. "Together...?"

"Yeah! There's a bathroom with a pretty big bathtub we got, several people can sit in it at once! And we could wash each other's hairs!"

"Ok..."

Nina wasn't sure why she felt oddly nervous of taking a bath with Luna. She had seen her change clothes plenty of times, both at P.E and in Luna's room.

And friends taking baths together was normal. Especially in some cultures. Nina noticed the bathtub resembled one of those japanese bathtubs that fits a group of people (except this one was a lot smaller). Which, considering how rich the Bensons were, she wouldn't get surprised they had a bathtub like that.

She watched Luna undress, and instinctively looked away. She took a deep breath. She would just take a bath with a friend, like they did in Japan, or like Nordic people hung out naked in saunas with their friends. Totally normal. Nudity is natural.

And frankly, both of them did need a bath after their garden adventures.

So why did Nina feel awkward out of nowhere?

She more or less looked down on the floor as she entered the bathtub. It was warm and really was calming.

Luna grabbed some shampoo. "Should we wash each other?"

"Sure..."

"Do you want to start with me?" Luna asked.

Nina nodded, and grabbed the shampoo bottle. Luna placed herself in front of her. Nina slowly applied it into her hair, gently massaging her scalp.

"Aah..." Luna mumbled. "You're good with your hands, Nina."

Nina blushed. "Thanks."

"My turn!" Luna exclaimed after Nina was done. "Turn around!"

Nina did so, and soon felt Luna's hands in her hair. The way she touched her... she felt this electric feeling running through her head down to her legs.

"You ok, Nina?" Luna asked.

"Y-Yeah... I just... I'm getting tired. The bath calmed me down a lot."

"Well, I know a quick way to wash the shampoo off!" Luna said.

"How?"

Luna giggled and then went completely underwater. The shampoo in her hair colored the whole bathtub.

Luna then got up again, giggling.

Nina looked at her, and felt her heart beating faster. There was something about Luna that just was so... pretty.

"What?" Luna asked, noticing she was staring.

"Uh... I just think, I don't know if they shampoo gets off just by being underwater. Maybe we should also rinse it to make sure it really gets off."

"Good idea!" Luna said and stood up, which Nina was not prepared for. "We need to wash our bodies with soap properly, too."

She took out the plug holding the water, and then turned on the shower that was attached to the bathtub. She then grabbed some soap. "Come on! Let's wash ourselves off properly!"

10 minutes later, they sat in bathrobes drying their hairs. Nina was not sure why she was feeling so awkward.

Every time she had looked at Luna today, she felt a flutter inside. Which was why she tried to avoid eye contact.

As the two walked out from the bathroom, they suddenly noticed a door opening in the corridor.

This very bathtub happened to be in the part of the mansion close to Ámbar's room. And Ámbar was for some reason not sleeping. She was standing in her pajamas, giving them a frown.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We..." Luna said, but didn't know where to begin.

"Did you two... take a bath together?" Ámbar asked.

"Yes," Nina said, looking down on the floor.

Ámbar raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged. "Interesting... spare me the details." She then closed the door again.

As they got back to Luna's room, Luna gave Nina some new sleepwear as she had only packed one pair with her.

As they both had changed, Luna laid down on her bed. "Oh gosh... there's something so cozy going to sleep after a bath... feel my sheets! Come on, lie next to me."

Nina laid down next to her.

"Newly washed skin against bed sheets is just... ahh..." Luna said.

"Yeah..." Nina said.

"Your hair smells so good," Luna commented, turning her head to Nina.

Nina turned her head to Luna. "Your hair, too. We both used the same shampoo."

"You know, Nina... you're really pretty. I've always thought so, but especially tonight..."

"Thank you..." Nina felt her heart beat even faster.

"Nina..."

"Eh..."

Nina tucked some hair behind Luna's ear, as she leaned in closer. She stared at Luna for a final time, raising an eyebrow, as if she communicated something telepathically.

Luna nodded in response.

In the next moment, the two girls kissed.

Nina let go quickly. She was red in the face, and laid down, staring up at the ceiling.

"I..."

Luna also blushed. She let out a snicker. "That was..."

"Yeah, I... don't know."

"Me neither, but I liked it."

"You did?"

"Mhm. You're a good kisser."

Nina smiled. "Can I kiss you again?"

"Yes."

They kissed again, and then giggled about it.

Luna embraced her. "I think you should sleep in my bed tonight. We'll share it."

"I was thinking the same thing."

As Monica woke up in the morning, she quickly peeked into Luna's room. The two girls were still fast asleep.

But they were still in each other's embrace, Luna holding onto Nina's upper body like she was hugging a pillow.

Monica smiled.

Later, as Luna and Nina ate breakfast, everyone could tell something had happened between them. Monica wanted to ask, but Luna didn't give much answer. She figured the girls would tell them when they were ready, or when they wanted to.

Luna and Nina still needed to process the night they had. One thing was clear, though: It was one of their most memorable sleepovers they'd have in a long while.

#i love writing sapphic sleepovers so much. like it’s a common theme i have in my fics in general #sara's dcla tumblr fics #soy luna #lunina

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calyxthenerd · 1 year ago

Note

If you have to pick one fic (that is specifically an Au) to be canon in the respective show, what would it be and why (you need to pinpoint at least 10 things for why). Answer both Soy Luna and Violetta (you can do BIA too, but I don't know if there is enough fics)

I have to go with MOT, and here are the reasons why

I love the transfer of conscience as a timetravel trope

Their futures in that fic are awesome

I think it’s really sweet that they were all traveling together

The drama of them all having to find each other in Cancun, and then getting in contact with Gastina back in BA

The fact that they got to remake their lives, without erasing the things that happened to them in canon

The gasfina part is really funny

Gastón and Nina struggling not to show their Oxford scholar level knowledge is funny too

Luna dreading having to go through high school again

Everyone looking to Ámbar for plans and her stepping up

The fact that they had the one mission of laying low and they failed

Gastón just up and kidnapping his girlfriend so they could go to Paris

The replacement rings

#honestly I could go on and on about that fic #i love it so much #soy luna #thanks for the ask!

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countessofravenclaw · 5 months ago

Text

Oye, es Navidad, y es Navidad, y es Navidad otra vez

[🇫🇮] Kaikki vaan joukkohon leikkiä lyömään ja puuroa syömään kun joulu on! Kas, nythän on joulu, ja nythän on joulu, ja nythän on joulu taas - Nisse Polkka; Henning Koie & Jorma Ikävalko

[🇬🇧] Let's all get together to play, hit and eat porridge when it's Christmas Hey, it's Christmas, and it's Christmas, and it's Christmas again

Listen the song here... (You should, it is very good)

“And now, before we release you all, we invite the 8th graders to receive their leaving certificates.”

Nina squeezed Gastón’s hand as they sat in the audience at the La Hoja de Roble comprehensive education institution.

“Olinda Bezenty, Aurelius Flavius, Cassius Longinus, Gaius Octavius,” Headmaster started reading off the list. “Laura Perida, Quintus Pictor, Lucius Seneca, Publius Severus, Marcus Tullius, Sarita Urea…”

The eight graders lined up on the stage. Laura was easy to spot, in her glittering red dress. Hoja had actually quite a strict dress code, and the only time the students were allowed to be out of their uniforms was on their last day.

Laura flashed a very charming smile as she accepted her certificate.

“And after all that, we wish our students a very happy summer and Christmas and wish farewell to the eighth graders. We will miss you and good luck as you start your journey into upper secondary!”

“Well, the ceremony hasn’t changed one bit from last year.” Gastón remarked as they were waiting in the lobby, since Laura still had to pick up her things from her homeroom and—even if she wouldn’t admit it—she wanted to say bye to her teacher.

“Or from when Oscar finished here.” Nina noted, as she wrapped her arm around his, “Well, this was the last time…”

“Kind of makes you sad, if you think about it.” He nodded, pulling her closer, “Laura’s starting highschool, that’s scary.”

“Tell me about it.” Nina shook her head, “Where did the time go?”

“I guess we are getting old.” Gastón laughed, his voice getting sultrier, moving his hand to his wife’s waist, pulling her closer. “Just can’t let it stop us. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“You’re daring.” She laughed leaning closer…

“Uhm, can you not like…do this here?” They turned around and saw Laura standing next to them, arms crossed.

“You being the one complaining is new.” Gastón responded.

“I don’t care what you do, I’m not Aurora.” Laura shook her head, “I just wanna get out of here.”

“What’s the rush?” Nina asked.

“You think I want to stay here any longer than necessary?” Laura continued.

“Fair enough.” Gastón laughed, “Come on, show us the degree at least first.”

“It’s not a degree.” Laura shook her head—obviously at this point in time no school used paper report cards, everything was digital, but La Hoja de Roble carried a tradition of handing out out acrylic boards, that read the student’s names, grade point average, and the date when they had completed their comprehensive education—before handing her school-leaving certificate to her parents. “The GPA is 9,6; by the way, on the dot.”

“That’s amazing.” Nina hugged her. “Congratulations sweetie.”

“You are amazing.” Gastón hugged her as well.

“Are you gonna put that thing on the shelf too?” Laura gestured to the board Gastón was holding now.

“Why wouldn’t we? It’s gonna fit right in with Oscar’s and Aurora’s.”

“Okay, but can we go now?” Laura rolled her eyes, “I need to see if Ivory got out already.”

“Ambar texted us, saying that the ceremony at Ruste´ks is taking a little longer. There are more students there.”

“Simon and Ambar should have let Ivory go here.” Laura grumbled, “I can’t believe that we have not been allowed to be in the same school.”

“Sweetie, you know that they wanted her to go to the school closest to their house.” Gastón explained as they got into the car. “You’ll get to go to the school together now, as you go to Blake… Which reminds me that we need to book the fitting for your uniform.”

“I don’t wanna wear plaid.” Laura grumbled.

“Necessary evil,” Nina shook her head, “It’s kind of required. We survived, so can you.”

“Can we not talk about school any longer?” Laura whined, “I’m done now… I still need to do all my Christmas shopping. I haven’t even started yet and…”

“You have time. Don’t worry.” Gastón laughed, “Let's talk about that during dinner when Oscar and Aurora are back home as well. You all need to do those angel tree donations as well.”

The Angel Tree Donations was something Gastón had been doing with his parents since forever, buying gifts for families that couldn’t afford them themselves. It was something that had always been really important to Isla and Marco and Gastón had wanted to instill the same mindset to his own children.

***

“Now, take your tablets out.” Marvin Engelsó, the literature teacher and the teacher in charge of the freshman class at Blake said while writing on the digital board at the front of the classroom. “We are gonna do a fun Christmas activity, just something special for the last day.”

“Seriously?” Aurora rolled her eyes at Stella who was sitting beside her, “So we are allowed to acknowledge the holidays now?”

“I guess Mr. Engelsó woke up and wanted to be the fun teacher today.” Stella laughed. “Let’s see what he thinks is fun?”

“I want you to write a list of what you wish for Christmas…”

“Or this is actually going to be fun—” Stella’s eyes widened.

“…and then detail under it why and how that wish would make your life better. What will bring into the…”

“Are we in philosophy class?” Aurora sighed, “Of course there is a catch. Who thinks about their Christmas gifts deeply.”

“Get to work.” Mr. Engelsó piped up. “You aren’t free yet, so this is still time for education.”

“Of course.” Aurora chuckled as she opened her tablet and picked up her pen. She sighed…as she was so notoriously bad at asking anything. Mom and Dad were somehow super good at reading her mind on that font, and so were grandma and grandpa too, and her godparents…

She always got what she wanted. Books, notebooks—yes, because she still wrote in those, hair care, cosmetics, golden jewelry, puzzles… Everything she liked.

Mom and Dad were also pretty into giving experiences as gifts…

Aurora glanced at Stella, who was already totally engulfed in her own work, writing things down in a hurry. Obviously, Stella had a thousand ideas, as always.

Aurora carefully inched closer to what Stella was writing.

New roller skates… Of course, Stella was like her mother. Romance books, again, not surprising—

At the bottom…the last line caught Aurora’s attention. It wasn’t just a simple bullet point, but… Embellished with hearts? Stella didn’t do hearts. Stars were her go to motif.

Aurora leaned closer to read what was written next to the hearts—

💗💗 I wish that the one who holds my heart would notice me 💗💗

“What?” Aurora stared at Stella.

“What are you snooping?” Stella whipped her head around with an alarming speed and hurried to cover the tablet.

“Something you clearly haven’t told me,” Aurora stared at her best friend. “Since when have you had a crush on someone?”

“Since…” Stella’s eyes started growing desperate. “I don’t know when…you can’t determine timing for these things.”

“Why haven’t you told me?”

“Because…” Stella shook her head again. “I don’t know. Give me some grace here, please… And please don’t tell anyone—especially Mom and Dad.”

“Uh…” Aurora couldn't get a word out of her mouth.

“Dad would start fuming and Mom would jump onto the walls and start planning the wedding.” Stella continued.

“But who is it?” Aurora insisted, while looking around at class. “Don’t tell me it is anyone here.”

“No, no, not in our class,” Stella looked Aurora into the eyes. “…I can’t tell you.”

***

“Hey. Did you see that the last grades have finally been uploaded to the portal?” Oscar glanced at his best friend Ethan as they were walking toward their lockers.

“No. They usually take forever with them.” He took his phone out and opened the school portal that all of their course evaluations were always updated.

“It’s not like you will have something surprising there.” Ethan snorted. “Mr. Straight acer.”

“I got few B:s this semester.” Oscar shrugged.

“Let me guess, philosophy and social studies.” Ethan laughed again. “Well, I don’t think those will hinder your medical school applications. I got a B in chemistry, and C in philosophy.”

“You just need to really understand that substitution and addition are not the same thing.”

“Well, I passed. That’s the victory here.” Etha shrugged. “B is not bad.”

“It is not.” Oscar nodded as he pressed the touchscreen on the locker, and it popped open. “I don’t really get why we need to have actual classes on the last day. There is no use for this info.”

“We all know Blake would rather crumble down in ruins than let a good moment for education go to waste and let us have fun. We just need to hang in here for another two hours.”

“Yep, then we can forget this whole thing until March.” Oscar nodded—

“I’ve been here for one and half months…” Suddenly the sound of lively Andino Spanish came from behind Oscar. The voice moved until it stopped next to him. “…they finally got me a locker.”

Oscar turned around to look as Eliza had stopped next to the locker next to him—no one had been using that one since he had started at Blake three years ago—and was tapping the control screen.

“Oh, hey boys.” She flashed a bright smile toward Oscar and Ethan—Let's be real, it was mostly toward Oscar—as she opened the door. “Helps me a lot to get this on the last day, but I guess I can leave some stuff here for over the summer.”

“Yeah, it’s really great to have a locker.” Ethan leaned over his locker on the opposite wall, “Ain't it great that she’s right next to you, right Oscar?”

Oscar shot a murderous look toward Ethan.

“It is great. I’m so happy it did work out this way.” Eliza smiled at Oscar again. “I mean, it makes everything easier too, for next year.”

“Oh yeah… Next year…” Oscar tried to snap back into the moment, from the thoughts of the fact that he would need—or get—brush shoulders with Eliza every single time they went to the lockers. The hallway always got so crammed too, so there usually wasn’t much room for personal space—

“Or are you planning on jilting me for a lab partner?” Eliza’s laugh snapped him back again. Get a grip Perida, please. “Because… Don’t you dare!”

“No no, of course not.” He shook his head. “Why would I? You’re the best partner I’ve had.”

“Good.” Eliza glanced at him again, before starting to go through her bag. How did she manage to make it look so radiant? “I actually have some books here that I could leave—Ugh.” She made an attempt to reach up for the upper shelf in the locker but was failing miserably. “Why am I so short?”

“If only we knew somebody who’s really tall.” Ethan remarked again. “Right Oscar?”

“Here let me help you.” Oscar grabbed the book and put it on the shelf. “You can’t get those down either now, though.”

“It’s fine.” Eliza shook his head, “I’m just leaving them here for the summer. You can help me again, in the fall.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Oscar nodded and pushed his own locker shut, slamming the door maybe a little too hard.

“We should probably head toward Mrs. Poncaer’s class.” Eliza also shut hers.

“She always comes up with the most useless things to do on the last day.” Ethan remarked. “Oral exercises or something.”

“I actually need those.” Eliza shook her head as they walked down the hallways. “Mrs. Poncaer doesn’t like me due to the accent.”

“Try having a Cordoban accent.” Oscar laughed, “Dad told me horror stories about how he was treated in English classes. Now he has a flawless British accent and a degree in that language. It's doable.”

“Good to know.” Eliza laughed back, “I guess I have hope then. And since you are good, you can help me…right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Oscar nodded while he swallowed involuntarily. He quickly turned toward Ethan. “When are you leaving, by the way.”

“Day after tomorrow.” Ethan answered.

“You’re leaving?” Eliza asked.

“Oh yeah,” Ethan nodded, “We always spent most of the Holiday season there at home, in Virginia. To see family and such… It’s not summer, it's really cold, but it’s nice to experience the proper weather…” His face curled into a small smile, “But since I’m leaving Oscar alone for most of the summer, I can trust on you right to make sure he won’t get too bored.” He patted Oscar on the shoulder, while glancing between him and Eliza

They reached a small hall area with a couch and an armchair, which Ethan quickly claimed.

“What do you usually do for Christmas?” Eliza sat next to Oscar on the couch.

“We?” He asked, “Well, the usual. We always get a proper real tree, from this farm just outside of Buenos Aires, and decorate it together.”

“Do not ask about those ornaments.” Ethan noted, “In that house, everything has a story, even Christmas decorations.”

“Super funny.” Oscar rolled his eyes. “But yeah, I mean, Mom is an author. Mom and Dad have gotten ornaments made out of photos they have taken and stuff. They also get a lot from charity foundations too. Like we have a lot of ornaments from the Rosa Ribbon foundation, because my great-grandparents died of cancer when my grandpa was in his early 20s. Then we always make those angel tree donations. Dad insists that we all do at least three every year.”

“That’s super amazing, that you do that.” Eliza tilted her head, “Helping others.”

“Yeah,” Oscar nodded, “It was something my grandparents started, as soon as they could, because they believe that if you can help, you should, to the people who cannot help themselves. They once were in that position themselves, so it’s kind of integrated into them on a really deep level.”

“Your grandparents were poor?”

“Yeah, they were.” Oscar nodded, “When they were kids, at Cordoba. They got scholarships to attend uni, where they met. They moved here when Dad was four and with a lot of work, they became who they are today. I guess they’ve never wanted to forget where they come from, I mean. Where we come from. Dad wants to continue the same thing I guess.”

“That is a really beautiful sentiment.” Eliza nodded. “Gives hope to the rest of us.”

“What do you do?”

“I guess I'm still figuring it out,” She lowered her head, “Now that we are here—and Mom and Dad are gone…”

Eliza Topacio had lived at Salta, her parents had owned a sugarcane plantation there…well until they had died, nine months ago. The 17-year-old girl had come to live with her aunt and uncle in Buenos Aires after they had sold the plantation, that’s why she had transferred into Blake one and a half months ago.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking…” Oscar started.

“It’s okay.” Eliza placed her hand on his arm, which made him stiffen slightly. “I'd like to remember them somehow… We always used to go to church, but Auntie Ida and Uncle Rico aren’t really church goers…”

“We always attend the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar.” Oscar mentions, trying to sound casual.

“You go to church?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of a tradition.” Oscar ran his hand through his hair. He truly wished Ethan would wipe that smirk off his face, while looking at him and Eliza. “We do like mornings with my godparents’ family, they’re like Mom and Dad’s best friends since high school, and then we go to my grandparents for the evening—”

His phone rang suddenly with an incoming message. “Sorry about that. It was just my parents, from our family group chat. Sent a picture of my sister at her leaving ceremony. She’s gonna come here next year, so I can’t ever get rid of them.”

“I thought your younger sister was already here.” Eliza asked.

“Aurora is, but Laura is my younger younger sister.” Oscar turned his phone around to show her the picture.

“Oh, right, you had two.”

“Yep.” Oscar nodded, “Laura has been the one flooding my phone with pictures of accessories she wants to get for Kelvin. She’s a dog, not a doll you can dress up.”

“You don’t like that?” Eliza grinned.

“Collar is enough “clothes” dog will ever need.” Oscar shook his head. “But in Laura’s opinion, she needs to look fancy for the party. She doesn’t need some glitter and sequin cardigan, she’s gonna overheat, and she’s already cute enough. We don’t need glitter. Don’t even get me started on the time when she wanted to dress Kelvin as all Taylor Swift Eras.”

“She is cute.” Eliza looked at a picture of Kelvin Oscar was showing her on his phone. “I love dogs… I always wanted them on the farm, but Mom and Dad said it would be too much. Can I meet her someday?”

“Yeah, sure.” Oscar nodded.

***

“Okay, go ahead,” Gastón said as the family walked into the Galerias Pacifico. “Have fun. Get all the presents you need. And remember, that I can see everything you buy on those credit cards, so don’t think you can slip something in there that you shouldn't. Meet us for dinner at six.”

“Bye!”

“You say that to them every year, and they have never once misused those credit cards.” Nina laughed after the kids had departed, while wrapping her arm around Gastón’s.

“It means it is working.” He shrugged, “I never misused that credit card Mom and Dad insisted I have for emergencies.”

“The one you tried to return about a hundred times before they actually accepted it?” Nina laughed.

“I couldn’t really be over 35 and still have a credit card from my parents," he laughed back.

“Okay, so which ones are we choosing here?” Nina said while looking up the tree. The Angel Trees still worked the same way as forever ago. Wishes of children were hung on the tree.

“The oldest ones,” Gastón said. “They always get overlooked.”

“So 14 and up?” Nina nodded, “Do we start with five?”

“That sounds good.” He nodded back.

“You know, I will never stop admiring you for this.” Nina ran her hand on his arm after they had picked out the first round of tags.

“We’ve been doing this for years.”

“Yes, that doesn’t make it any less remarkable.” Nina shook her head.

“I could have been them.” Gastón noted while looking at the tags, “If life had gone differently. Mom and Dad were them, my cousins would have been if they didn’t send a check back to Cordoba every December. I’m the one privileged enough not to know how it is like to struggle. Mom and Dad are right, I can’t forget that.”

“And you haven’t.” Nina nodded. “I grew up pretty comfortable, but my main worries during Christmas was what Mom and Dad were going to fight over this time. I never gave any thought to anyone else, who have it worse.”

***

“What is going on here?” Simon was bombarded with a cloud of glitter as he came out of his music room. He had to blink at least two times before his field of vision cleared up.

“Well, welcome back to the land of the living.” Ambar smiled at him as she crouched down to pull a tray of cookies out of the oven. “How’s the song?”

“Almost finished.” Simon nodded, while still wiping part of glitter out of his face, “Who brought a party cannon in here?”

“Oh, girls are just wrapping presents.” Ambar pointed toward the dining table. Simon looked over and saw it brawling all over with pink wrapping paper, silver ribbons, golden stars and other gemstones, and everything covered in glitter.

“Hold this please.” He saw his older daughter Ivory cut a ribbon, and then hand it to her best friend…

Was Laura here? Well, that explained the amount of glitter, because only those two together could create a pink glittering hurricane that Barbie herself would be jealous of.

“Okay, now, after we tape it down, we fold it over, so it looks like a star.” Laura read something from her tablet, before they tied the ribbon in a way that looked like they were tackling a monster.

“They said they wanted to try some new wrapping methods.” Ambar mentioned, before handing Simon a bowl, “Help me with this?”

“Yeah, sure.” Simon nodded and took the bowl his wife was offering him, “What is this?”

“Just some Yule pudding. I found the recipe online.” Ambar explained while piling the cookies on the straight pile. “Come on Darling, where is your holiday spirit?”

“I have plenty of cheerfulness.” Simon chuckled. “Just I don’t need it in my face in the form of rough glitter.”

“Necessary evil,” Ambar grinned, “You know how the girls are. Laura has gotten Ivory to try all sorts of artistic pursuits. She wouldn’t even be singing in the choir without her.”

“Oky, now we just need to add the rhinestones.” Ivory said while holding a glue gun. She started tapping small drops on the wrapped present, while Laura pressed small diamonds on the row following the glue gun.

“Hey Dad!” Ivory looked up after they had finished their rhinestoning pursuits. “Did you finish that Christmas song yet?”

“I did.” Simon grabbed a glass of orange juice and went to sit at the table, opposite of the girl’s mess. “Wasn’t that hard after Nina sent the lyrics. I sent the demo to Pedro. We’re gonna record on Friday and release it on the Eve.”

“Huh, fast process.” Laura remarked, while she focused on painting a twirl on silver on the side of the white package.

“Sometimes it is.” Simon nodded as he put his glass down.

“Wow, DAD! What are you doing?!!” Ivory shrieked.

“What?” Simon stared at her.

“No liquids at the table.” Ivory shook her head, so her blond curls swayed from left to right. “You’re way too close to the danger zone. Come on now. Back it up.”

“Okay, okay,” Simon made a gesture of surrender and moved to the end of the table. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disrupt your art project.”

“Uuf, I forgot a few things in my room.” Ivory rolled her eyes, before getting up from the table. “I’ll be right back.”

Laura nodded as Ivory left. She then flipped a tab open on the tablet on a page she had doodled something on there

“What is that?” Simon leaned closer, because it somewhat looked like guitars.

“Oh, just something I’ve designed.” Laura turned the tablet toward him. “I mean I’ve bejeweled the guitar I have, and have gotten so many other ideas, but Mom and Dad say that they won’t buy me any more guitars, which is a bummer—” Her phone dinged. “—and now they are telling me to be at home by six.”

“That's in like forever,” Ivory came back behind them. “Tell them we still need to wrap these and that you need to help me pick the jewelry for my choir recital tomorrow.”

“I can drive you back if that’s the issue.” Simon explained. “Those guitars look really cool, by the way. I wish mine looked like that.”

***

“Thanks for carrying the bags to the door,” Laura said to Simon as they walked to her house’s door, Simon trying to keep his balance under the bags of elaborately wrapped presents.

“Oh, no.” Laura suddenly stopped in her tracks. “I forgot my keys.”

“Well, is someone home?” Simon asked.

“They should be.” Laura shrugged and rang the doorbell.

“Hey. Did you forget your keys?” Gastón opened the door.

“Apparently.” Laura shrugged and skipped in.

“And you brought luggage I see,” Gastón looked at Simon, who was carrying the bags. “Come on in.”

“Thank you.” Simon sighed as he finally let the bags onto the floor. “I don’t know how they make these so heavy.”

“Glitter is weightier than you would believe,” Gastón laughed. “Laura, you can move these to your room yourself.”

“I gotta say our house will be the most festive one on the block, because we will never get rid of all that glitter.” Simon shook his head after Laura started moving upstairs.

“Thanks for taking the mess at your place.” Gastón grinned at Simon.

“No need to thank me.” He shook his head. “By the way, does Laura need a ride to the choir concert tomorrow?”

“We bribed Oscar to drive her.” Gastón responded. “In the end he loves his sisters, no matter how much he likes to complain that we use him as a personal chauffeur.”

“Well, I live with three women.” Simon chuckled, “I am the personal chauffeur, so I can relate. Oh, I thought I’d ask because I saw that Laura has designed guitars.”

“Oh yeah, she does that.” Gastón nodded. “She decorates her guitar more than actually plays it. She’d paint and bejewel a collection of guitars if we’d let her.”

“That’s what I mean. Would she like making me one?” Simon asked.

“Uhm, no. Absolutely not.” Gastón’s expression froze. “Look, it’s really good that you asked me, because it is not that she wouldn’t want to do that or that we wouldn’t want her to do that, but it’s not that simple. Unless you are willing to have a guitar on stage made by an anonymous artist.”

“Anonymous?”

“I am not having her name out there in any circumstances.” Gastón shook his head. “Our name is not common. The moment they hear Perida, it’s linked to me and Nina and my parents. I got to have a normal life because the press didn’t know I existed until I was 23. I am not having my children out there either; they get to decide it themselves when they are 18.”

“Okay I get that.” Simon nodded. Gastón and Nina had kept intensely private, even though both of their careers and Gastón’s family legacy was keeping them in the public eye.

“She’s immensely talented.” Gastón continued, “Nina would love to have her illustrate her book someday, but right now her safety is more important. Sorry.”

***

“Sit.” Oscar placed his backpack down on the ground and looked at Kelvin, who sat on the ground, her blonde tail wagging. “Good girl.”

He checked his watch and then ran his hand over her silky head, before unclipping her leash. “Okay, you know the rules, don’t you dare to run away from me.”

Kelvin tilted her head and gave him a look that appeared to say: “I am not an idiot”.

“Don’t glare at me.” Oscar laughed, “Come on. Give me a high five.”

Kelvin’s eyes glimmered as she threw her right paw up to meet Oscar’s hand.

“Wow.” Oscar turned around to see Eliza behind him.

“Hey, you made it.”

“Of course.” She nodded, “Kind of what you do when you’re new to town, so you have nothing else to do than come to meet your only friend’s dog.”

“I’m glad you came.” Oscar nodded, “No matter how you put it. Kelvin, are you not gonna say hi?”

Kelvin padded over to Eliza and sat in front of her and offered her left paw.

“Well, look who is the proper lady I see.” Eliza laughed and took the paw that was offered and shook it. “You are so pretty.”

“Don’t flatter her too much, it’ll go to her head. She is the most spoiled dog in the whole world as it is.”

“Well, someone this adorable better be.” Eliza crouched down and scratched Kelvin behind her ears.

“Okay, Kelvin, get the ball.” Oscar commanded. Kelvin hopped over to his backpack, pulled on the ribbon in the zipper and got out a ball that she now held toward Oscar. “Good girl.”

Oscar took the ball and threw it across the park.

“Wow, nice curve.” Eliza remarked as Kelvin bolted after the ball. “If the whole med school thing doesn’t mellow out, you got promise as a baseballer.”

“In the words of both my sisters, I don’t do ball sports.” Oscar shook his head.

“What kind of sports do you like then?”

“Climbing,” Oscar shrugged, “Everything that gives my mom a heart attack. The ball’s just for Kelvin.”

“She seems extremely smart.” Eliza noted. “Have you trained her yourself?”

“More or less.” Oscar nodded, “We got her when I was 13, and Mom and Dad wanted me to take care of her as much as possible, especially after…”

“After?”

“She’s not our first dog.” Oscar shook his head, “Her grandfather actually, was a dog Mom and Dad got on their first anniversary. His name was Newton. I don’t really remember everything anymore, but they told me that we were very close, ever since I was born. He had to be put down when I was 7 or something like that.”

“I’m sorry.” Eliza ran her hand on his arm. Oscar tried to ignore the way his skin tingled after.

“It’s fine. That’s life, right.” He nodded as he threw the ball for Kelvin again. “You’ve figured out what you’re gonna do for the holidays yet?”

“Well, I guess we are just gonna be following what my aunt and uncle have always done.” Eliza shrugged. “My cousins want to go the Chrismast market.”

“That's really pretty there.” Oscar noted.

“Oh… And I did get this invite, for 23rd.” Eliza looked at her phone, “From Mandy Ezénois to this eve’s eve party…but I don’t know.”

“She is in our class,” Oscar noted, “She has been doing those for years with the girls.”

“I know she is in our class.” Eliza nodded, “But…”

“You’re not gonna go?”

“I don’t know any of them.” Eliza shook her head, “I mean we’ve talked sometimes and they’ve seemed kind of nice, but only people I actually know are Ethan and especially you. I don’t want to be the pity invite just because I’m the new orphan farm girl from nowhere.”

“Salta’s not nowhere.” Oscar shook his head. “You have a farm. That’s pretty cool.”

“I used to have a farm.” Eliza corrected, “Now it’s my school and college fund and the plantation has new owners. I’m not mad about that, I wouldn’t have time to run it once I’m in med school anyway.”

“You should take the leap and go to the party.” Oscar noted. “According to Mom and Dad, I used to be so shy, until we started going on Disney Cruises and I started loving the kids’ clubs and made so many friends there. Sometimes you just have to try.”

“I’ll think about it.” Eliza smiled at him. “I honestly can’t imagine you as shy. You’ve always been so confident at what you do, and so admirable. How could someone not like you? It’s impossible.”

“Uh. Anyone would be so lucky to be your friend. You really should just let everyone see the person I know…” Oscar realized that they were standing pretty close, and as the sun was starting to go down, the remaining light reflected from her eyes.

At that moment Kelvin crashed into his feet, wagging her tail and holding the ball upwards again.

***

“Where is Oscar?” Nina asked as she pulled an ornament out of a box.

“Still out with Kelvin I think.” Gastón said while walking out of the kitchen, “Don’t worry. He has probably just decided to take a longer route. Let's give him 20 minutes and then call him.”

“Typical,” Aurora rolled her eyes as she was hanging an ornament on the tree, “Oscar starts ditching the time-honored family tradition.”

“Pass me the pink ball,” Laura said from the other side of the tree? “Oh, Mom, Dad, did you already sign all the stuff for that camp?”

“You are signed in there now,” Nina responded, “We still have over a week before you go, so there’s time.”

“Nina,” Gastón suddenly gestured to her, when the girls were engulfed in tree decoration. “You need to see this.”

“What?” She got up from the couch and walked to the foyer, where Gastón was looking out of the front window.

“I think I found out the reason why he is taking so long.” He pointed toward the outside. “Would you look at that.”

Nina looked through the window and saw it. Oscar was standing in front of the gate, Kelvin’s leash in hand, but that wasn't what they were actually looking for. He was smiling and there was that certain glint in his eyes as he was talking very animatedly to a girl with deep red hair.

“I am willing to bet my Ph.D. that that is that girl he has been talking about…Eliza, right?” Gastón continued.

“It has to be.” Nina nodded.

“If I am being honest, I never fully understood my mom’s comments about the light in my eyes that I got from Dad.” Gastón looked outside again, “Until I am seeing it myself in front of my eyes.”

“Your mother does have an eye for these things.” Nina chuckled, while glancing outside again. “I’ve never seen him look like that before…”

“Well, we should have seen this coming,” Gaston laughed, “Given how much he has talked about her, his laboratory partner… Well, we’ll be having a daughter-in-law candidate probably during the next fall.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, men in my family have a problem,” Gastón shook his head, “We are completely idiots when it comes to women we like. Getting out of that idiocy takes time.”

“How were you an idiot?” Nina looked at Gastón amused.

“You probably remember all the idiotic stuff I did chasing you around,” He looked at her back, “and then I was an idiot some more, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten, it is not just me either, it’s generational. Dad held out on Mom for five months, and even then, it took his father to die for him to act on anything.”

“And if I recall we all ended up married,” Nina added, while grabbing Gastón’s arm. “Five months or not, you parents have been blissfully happy for almost 50 years now. We are also very happy. Better to follow your family cycle than mine, since that doesn’t know the word happiness.”

“I guess we just have to let Oscar run its course and hope he will get there on his own.” Gastón shook his head. “He’s almost 18 after all.”

***

“Today was fun.” Oscar said to Eliza, as he leaned on the gate of his house.

“It was.” Eliza nodded, looking up, “Also, nice house.”

“Dad built it when Aurora was a baby.” Oscar shook his head, “I know it looks fancy, but…”

“It is fancy,” Eliza laughed, “But there is nothing wrong with that. I wouldn’t expect anything less for you, Perida.”

“Name comes with territory I guess.” Oscar shook his head.

“I am still glad to know you.” Eliza continued, before opening her bag. “Uh… I have something for you.” She pulled out a wrapped box. “Ehm, merry christmas.”

“Wow, thanks. You didn’t need to…”

“I have always had a way with presents.” Eliza laughed, “I guess, I just keep adding people on my list, so it won’t seem so empty now—and I always get gifs for my friends…but right now I don’t have anyone else—”

“Well, I am honored.” Oscar nodded before opening his own bag. “And I actually got something for you too, just didn’t know how to bring it up…didn’t know if you’d find it awkward.”

He handed her a small box, tied with a sapphire blue ribbon.

“It would have never been awkward.” Eliza laughed. “Thank you.”

They just stood in silence for a moment.

“Oh, it’s getting late.” Oscar checked his watch suddenly. “We were supposed to do the tree today. Mom and Dad are probably fuming at me right now… Uh, are you able to get home alright?”

“Yeah, it’s not that far.” Eliza tapped him on the arm—a gesture that ended up being a tad bit clumsy. “Good night.”

“Good night. Merry Christmas.”

“Where have you been?” Oscar was greeted by Aurora’s voice as soon as he got through the door.

“On a walk with Kelvin.” He just shrugged and dropped his backpack down. He looked at his parents who were sitting on the couch. “You weren’t worried, right. I’m sorry, I should have texted or something.”

“It’s okay.” Nina nodded.

“We do hope that this won’t mean that you will start skipping on the tree.” Gastón remarked.

“Oh, nooo.” Oscar shook his head. “I didn’t mean to. Just lost track of time.”

“Good. You can help the girls finish up.”

“Yeah.” Oscar nodded and moved to the living room. “Is Newton’s paw somewhere?”

“On the coffee table.” Laura pointed. “We all know that you’d kill us if we put it on the tree, because it’s yours.”

“Well, good for you to remember.” Oscar laughed slightly, before picking up the ornament from the table. It was a plaster cast of Newton's paw that his parents had gotten made on his last Christmas. Apparently, he had gotten quite upset as younger a few times when it had almost gotten lost.

“Kelvin.” He called the dog, and she padded over to him and boobed her nose against the ornament, like he had taught her, before hanging the ornament on the tree.

“You can handle the higher branches.” Aurora dropped a box of stars in his hand. “I don’t wanna get the step stool out, and you’re the only one of us who actually is tall as a tower.”

Later that night, Oscar dropped his bag on his bed. The time was nearing midnight soon and Kelvin was already curled up at the foot of the bed. He opened the bag and pulled the gift Eliza had given him out.

He looked at it for a moment. It was the 21st of December. Christmas was in four days. Surely, he could open it… And he really didn’t want to open it in front of everyone else in the hassle of Christmas morning anyway. Luna, Matteo, Stella and Milo were coming over and it would be usual festive chaos that it always was.

He made a split-second decision and pulled the ribbon off the package.

There were two items there. The first one was an ornament.

As Oscar raised it to his eye level, he realized that it was a glass pipette. Inside of it, it looked like there were crystals of some sort.

Luckily a card was hanging on it. Oscar detached it from the ornament and read it.

You said that your family likes to collect ornaments with meanings. I tried my best.

Oncotrix-1 (C₂₅₀H₃₇₅N₉₅O₁₄₀P₅₀, but you know that) was the first non-harmful cure for cancer developed in 2030. Nowadays it has become ineffective, but it still was the first important steppingstone in the treatments we have today.

There is one Oncotrix-1 molecule stored in each one of those crystals.

I remember what you told me about your great grandparents and how their fates influenced your grandparents’ path, which is super admirable.

“Wow.” Oscar mouthed as he looked at the ornament. She had not been kidding. She really did have a way with gifts. How did she even remember all those details that he had told her in a passing conversation…

She was good.

Too good, as he found himself taking a few deep breaths. He still wasn’t quite prepared for the sensation that started overtaking him.

He looked at the other item, to distract himself for a moment. It was a deep scarlet red collar that looked like it was velvet or something similar. It was decorated with a small row of pearls.

There was another note hanging on it.

Okay, hear me out here. I know you said you don’t like to dress her up, but…

Come on now, every girl deserves something to feel pretty in during the holidays. Also, this is a collar, not an accessory and you said those were fine. Hopefully Kelvin likes it.

Oscar chuckled. Leave it to Eliza to find a loophole from what he had said. “Kelvin, come here.”

The dog jumped in front of him on the bed wagging her tail and was actually looking at the collar quite curiously.

“Let’s see how this looks.” Oscar put the collar around her neck. It fit perfectly. Kelvin’s eye’s sparkled and she wagged her tail some more and slurped his face with her tongue.

“Okay, I see that you like it.” He laughed as he pushed her furry snoot away. “Calm down now girl.” He traced the collar with his finger. “I like it too.”

He reached for his phone. It dinged as soon as it was in his hand.

He froze for a moment as he realized that it was from Eliza.

Eliza: The complexity and endlessness of the celtic knots honor the idea of legacy — that a person’s life and contributions are woven into the lives of those they leave behind, like an eternal tapestry of memory. I see what you did there ;). It is beautiful. I never took you as a guy who has the chops for jewelry shopping, but always nice to be surprised.

Oscar stared at the message for a moment, while he felt the heat rise in his face. He had gotten Eliza a bracelet woven from celtic knots. The endless loops of Celtic knots symbolized the idea of eternity and the continuation of love and memories, even after someone had passed. It suggested that the love shared with the deceased endures, binding the living and the departed together in an unbroken connection.

He had felt like that was something that would be good for Eliza. So, she could keep the life she had lost always close.

He had taken a bit of a risk, by going to buy jewelry on his own. No way he would have asked either Aurora or Laura for advice. Mom was out too, and Dad…Dad was probably the best at buying jewelry in their house—over half of Mom’s jewelry collection was courtesy of him—but Oscar didn’t want anyone to know. It would raise all sorts of questions and…

…he had already been afraid that the gift was little too forward or overstepping or something.

He looked at the text again. It hadn't been the case. She liked it. She loved it−

His phone dinged again.

Eliza: And yes, I did open it up.

Oscar smiled and started typing.

Oscar: I never said you couldn’t. I'm glad you liked it. Eliza: Where have you learned to buy jewelry? Oscar: That’s classified Eliza: How classified?

***

“That’s the last one.” Gastón said as he hung up the last stocking on the railing on the stairs.

“I wonder how long they are going to allow us to keep doing this?” Nina smiled at him from the couch.

“Well, Oscar hasn't expressed anything that he won’t want a stocking after he turns 18, which he isn’t yet.” Gastón remarked as he sat next to her. “I doubt the girls will either, anytime soon.”

“I guess you’re right.” Nina leaned her head on his shoulder. “You know, with all the chaos, quiet like this is really beautiful.”

“I know.” He pulled her closer, kissing her head. “Kind of reminds me of all the times we spent at the Villa, even if we didn’t often do Christmas there.”

“Those sound magical,” Nina smiled, “I am always so happy to always hear about that. You truly had a happy childhood. We can’t all say that. Well, we don’t want to even get to the Christmases I had growing up,” She laughed slightly, “I don’t want to think about those…even at the time I thought I could never have a happy Christmas, so thank you.”

“I told you that you will never have to go back to that.” Gastón ran his hand over his arm. “I’ve kept my word for 23 years and counting.” He leaned closer to her. “I also hid mistletoe somewhere around here.

“Where?” She looked at him questiongly.

“Not going to tell you.” Gastón grinned, “So better keep on your toes.”

***

“Merry Christmas!!!” Luna exclaimed as soon as Gastón opened the door. “We brough so many presents.”

“Good to hear.” Gastón nodded, and looked over to the driveway, “Matteo, need help?”

“No, I am fine!!!” Matteo yelled from the car, where he was getting a huge bag out of the trunk.

“Sure.” Gastón nodded, before turning around. “Oscar… Go help him.”

“Sure thing Dad.” Oscar nodded and walked outside.

“How’s our goddaughter?” Gastón hugged Stella, whose blonde dyed curls were tied on two pigtails, tied with glittering ribbons.

“I’m hungry.” Stella jumped.

“Good thing we have a lot of food.” Gastón laughed.

“Hey.” Nina appeared at the door. “Come on in.”

“It is so pretty here.” Luna hugged her. “I mean, we decorated too, and Matteo called our house a glittering mess.”

“There is nothing wrong with that.” Nina laughed.

“Hey!!!” Stella stepped into the living room where Aurora and Laura were sitting on the couch.

“Hi!” Aurora got up and Stella tackled her into a hug. “You’ve been avoiding me.” She whispered into her ear.

“No I have not.” Stella whispered back.

“Yes you have.” Aurora continued. “I can’t believe you won’t tell me who you have a crush on—”

“Aurora, have you seen this before?” Laura suddenly interrupted.

“What? She turned around.

“Look at Kelvin’s collar.” Laura pointed out. “That’s new?”

“There is no way Oscar got her a new collar,” Aurora looked at it closer, tracing her fingers on the beading on the collar, “Especially one that looks like this.”

“Or maybe he just has a good taste in collars,” Stella suggested, which was kind of uncharacterized for her.

At that moment, Matteo, Oscar and Milo came in with the gift bags. “Thanks lads.” Matteo sighed and the bags went down.

“And I thought you said you could handle them by yourself.” Luna laughed at him.

“Never mind that.” Matteo shook his head.

“Oscar,” Aurora piped up, pointing at Kelvin’s collar. “What is this?”

“You always get mad at us when we get her accessories,” Laura continued, “but now she has a new collar. Where did you get it?”

“I didn’t get it.” Oscar shook his head. “It was a gift from a friend.”

“There is no way Ethan got that.” Laura shook her head.

“Because it wasn’t Ethan.” Oscar sighed. “She—”

“She? So that lab partner of yours, Eliza?” Aurora asked.

“Yeah, her.” Oscar nodded, “And Kelvin gets to wear it, because she has actual taste.”

“Yeah, sure…” Aurora remarked sarcastically.

“Hey kids!” Gastón interrupted, whatever the conversation was becoming. “Food’s done in 10 minutes, so help Matteo get the packages out of the bags.”

“Yeah, sure.” Oscar nodded while grabbing a bag. “Stella, catch.”

“Huh?” Again, something that was not very in character for Stella, she froze in surprise and wasn’t able to catch the bag in time.

“Sorry. You okay?” Oscar laughed as the bag hit Stella and the contents spilled on the floor.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” Stella laughed nervously. “Now we need to pick these up.”

Aurora had grabbed the last present from the bag she had been emptying into a neat line when she looked around after hearing a giggle. She furrowed her brow… It had come from Stella’s direction but… Stella did not giggle like that.

Aurora looked at her best friend again. She was gathering packages off the ground and at the same time brushing a non-existent lock of hair behind her ear. She had that same kind of puppy face that Kelvin used to beg for treats. And worst of all, Stella was looking at—

“Would you excuse us for a second?” Aurora went to grab Stella’s arm and started pulling her down a hallway.

“What are you doing?” Stella asked after Aurora had pulled her into the library.

“The better question is what are you doing?” Aurora stared at her. “Please please tell me that I am wrong—even though I am never wrong—and you don’t have a crush on Oscar.”

“I—” Stella stuttered and unmistakably started blushing. “This is why I couldn’t tell you.”

“Why? How?” Aurora almost pleaded, “Scratch that. I don’t want to know. You can’t like him.”

“Why not?”

“Million reasons.” Aurora shook her head, “You are my best friend, he is my brother, your parents are his godparents, our parents are your godparents…” Aurora pointed toward a picture at the end of one of the book cases, which had been taken a few days after Luna and Matteo had brought Stella back from the hospital. In the picture, Oscar, who was almost three, almost one year old Aurora, and Stella as a newborn were lying on the carpet in a circle. “We have known you since you were born, he has known you since then… That is like Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker -weird, and they didn’t know!!!”

“It could not be weird.” Stella tried to suggest. “What if…”

“There are no what ifs…” Aurora looked at Stella concerned, “It’s impossible. This not the Christmas present I thought I’d be getting…”

{}

Well, Merry Chrismas!!!! So, I feel like I pretty much nailed the Chrismas fic last eyar, so I had super hard time thinking what I could do for this year. This year's theme has kind of been the SL next gen year for me, so here's the Christmas of 2046 for you. It ended up being more of a slice of life kind of story, just during the holidays. So there was no real plot, but just some holiday scheningans and some set up for future stories. I mean I can say that this alsmot work as a prologue for a story that I have not even started yet, but the story focusing on Oscar, because he is going to get his own story. Aurora has gotten her time travel escapades, Laura is going thorugh he wons stuff right now, so we are not sweeping their older brother under the rug. I love Oscar Perida as a character, and he is gonna get his spolight–and you can probably guess what's that story will be about. Happy holidays everyone!!! And I absolutely have taken it as my mission to educat you all on Finnish Chrismas song every holid days season, because we have bangers.

#soy luna #soy luna fanfiction #gastina #simbar #lutteo #Holidays #christmas fic #christmas

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iridescentis · 1 year ago

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random question for the people who have dabbled in some future soy luna aspects, who do we think gets engaged first?

purely because im thinking of writing a lil fic that takes place during the first engagement party and i cannot decide whose party it is

#i know this question has definitely been answered before but i forgot sorry 😭#my gut instinct is to go with pelfi #but i thought i would ask The People just in case #the fic actually has nothing to do with the engaged couple in question #but rather two “friends” returning from a certain someones world tour 👀#but basically my options are pelfi simbar or gastina unless anyone else has another idea #hey maybe it could be jazmin's #idk who she's marrying but that could be funny #and yes this is one of the ships that does not have enough fics so i have to do it myself #in fact i just checked and there is just one #changes must be made folks #soy luna

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putonmyfavoriteshow · 2 years ago

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Thinking about Jazmín again from last night's rewatch because of just how much she wants to care for people in her life but they just don't let her because they don't take her seriously. And when Emilia is introduced, she acts so intimidating and independent but whenever she's a little bit vulnerable, you can tell she just wants to be taken care of for once.

Jazmilia is the ship ever I'm gonna cry.

#jazmilia #soy luna #i mean this is perfect timing for this brainrot since ch3 of my jazmilia fic is next on my writing to do list :)#but yeah.gif

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gaybarbiegirl · 2 years ago

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Love wins <3

(And happy Gastiro day everybody)

#ITS THE DAY #THE DAY WEVE BEEN WAITING FOR #i can't believe the gastiro lore is finally getting released into the world #i'm so happy #anyway please appreciate the drawings and go check out @marciego's absolute banger of a fic #one of the best fics i ever read in my life fr #we truly gave everything we had for the boys #soy luna #gastiro

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marciego · 2 years ago

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love wins, happy gastiro day <3

#HAPPY GASTIRO DAY!!!!#so fucking excited for today #please please please check out gaybarbiegirl's art for the fic it's fucking phenomenal #gastiro nation won so hard today #this was such a blast to write i had the time of my life being over dramatic for no reason #we gave everything we had for today we've been suffering together to get it done in time for weeks #AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT #soy luna #gastiro

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psychicbluebirdmiracle · 1 year ago

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I kept thinking Ámbar in Soy Luna reminded me of Chloe Bourgeois and now here we are her boyfriend flirting with other girls and she's treated like the bad guy Chloe and Ámbar should be friends and they can both bond over being the mean bratty girls who deserve better

#i would and might totally write a fic on this #chloe bourgeois #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #soy luna #ámbar smith #disney channel

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purple-fireflies · 2 years ago

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gastina au based on tis the damn season (by taylor swift) where both nina and gastón went their separate ways (nina went to college in the US), nina is this world renowned author but known to be tight lipped about her private life, gastón is a photographer that travels the world, and they both come back to argentina for lutteo’s wedding during christmas time and things start happening 👀👀

#soy luna #lutteo #gastina #one of my fifty fic ideas that i’d write if not for the sats

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mylutteoheart · 2 years ago

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Playing Cupid (chapter 10)

New chapter out now! There are only 2-3 left before the end of this fic. The edited version will be out tomorrow on ao3. Also keep your eyes open for a little simbar in this chapter. Luna and Matteo have been building their lives together slowly. Fresh out of college, they’re planning their future. But by planning this, they have an underlying plan no one knows of. Bringing their best friends together after 4 years of not being happy without the other. How well will their plan of playing Cupid work?

Prologue | chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | find my other fics here

"So nothing happened?" Luna insisted as she and Nina were walking to the bridal shop for the last dress fitting before the wedding.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Nina answered as she looked down at her feet to hide her blush.

Suddenly, out of excitement, Luna took Nina's arm and pulled it to make her stop. She asked excitedly: "What? What happened? Tell me!"

"You remember the day we went scouting for locations?", Nina said carefully.

"Right, the location you found was even better than the one we initially had," she said, already imagining her and Matteo standing there on front of all their friends.

"When we started talking about you two loving the location, I started imagining the romance that comes with marriage on that venue and there was this moment, where it was just the two of us and we were this close to kissing," Nina gestured with her thumb and pointer finger close to one another to indicate the distance there was between them.

Luna jumped up and down at the news and said: "That's great! That must mean he feels the same way about you."

"I don't want to get too excited. It was just the spur of the moment. It meant nothing," she tried to deny, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Don't say that, you have to keep hoping," she rested her hand on her best friend's arm in support.

"Let's just get going," Nina said, not wanting to think about it.

Luna understood and together, they started walking again to go to the bridal shop.

***

"I'm talling you, she likes you," Matteo said to Gastón, also on their way to the bridal shop.

Every bridesmaid and groomsman had to come to the fitting today. The suits were also tailored in the bridal shop.

"I just think she got swept up in the heat of the moment. There was a romantic side to it all," Gastón said airily, not wanting to show how much that moment meant to him.

"And I always thought me and Luna were bad at communication," Matteo shook his head in disbelief.

"What are you on about?" he took a look at Matteo to see him roll his eyes.

"We all see they way you look at each other and it's still the same look you had when you were both so in love in senior year at Blake," Matteo explained, "It hasn't changed in six years."

"Really? I haven't noticed," Gastón frowned, trying to picture what his best friend is saying.

"Of course you haven't. You know, this all reminds me of the time I was so dumb to see how Luna truly felt about me when that guy Michel appeared," he said with a fond smile, he did frown when he said the name Michel. He would never like that guy.

"Oh, I remember you complaining a lot about that guy. I would have loved to be there to witness your idiocy and to talk some sense into you," Gastón chuckled at the many phone calls with Matteo during that time. He really was hopeless when it came to Luna.

"Well, now it's my job to do that," Matteo became serious and continued, "What you need is one clear conversation with Nina and everything will be cleared up."

"You make it sound so simple," he sighed, not believing a word.

"That's because it is," he just answered, "And I'll make sure I'll prove you right. I'll just have to convince Luna, Ámbar and Simón to leave you two alone in a way where you can't do anything but talk."

Matteo held his chin in thought, already trying to come up with dozens of ways to make this happen.

Gastón's eyes widened and said: "You're going to do this now?"

"The sooner the better, weddings are all about happiness and romance so I'd love to see you and Nina being happy and together at our wedding," he said.

"You really want us to be together?" Gastón said in surprise.

"Of course, I want you to be happy and you've never been as happy as you were with Nina. I know that wouldn't have changed a bit," Matteo said as if it was the world's most known fact.

"Thank you for being such a good friend," Gastón smiled and gave him a quick hug, "Now, let's get this fitting over with."

***

"I see you've already started on the champagne," Matteo said with a smile as he entered the bridal shop with his best friend.

"You were just taking too long," Ámbar said with a smirk.

"Is Luna here yet?" Simón asked as he appeared and stood next to his fiancée.

"She was coming with Nina, she's probably running a little late," Matteo answered, "While we wait for the other girls to appear, we can already try the suits for me and the groomsmen."

"Oh, Simón in a suit, I can't wait to see that," Ámbar said as she sat down on the sofa in front of the fitting rooms with her glass in her hands.

"I'm sure you would look radiating in your bridesmaid's dress as well," he flirted and pecked her on the cheek. Getting into the fitting room.

The other guys followed but not before he sent a text to Luna that they needed to talk as soon as she came in.

"Hey, sorry we're late. We ran into some issues on the way," Luna apologized as soon as she came in the shop.

"It's fine, we already got started," Matteo greeted her as he walked out of the fitting room and taking Luna in his arms as he gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Don't you look handsome," Luna said as she looked him up and down.

"I always look handsome," he answered her with a fond smile.

"Let's look at the other before your ego grows too big," Ámbar interrupted their sweet moment.

"Here we are," Simón said as he appeared in front of the four people in the room.

"I'm definitely not disappointed to have come here," Ámbar said as she looked at the guy she loves so much.

"I'm sure I can't compare with you by my side at the wedding," Simón said while he gave her a big smile.

"Alright guys, let the girls put on their dresses and wait with the flirting when you have a room on your own," Matteo said as he put a hand on Simón's shoulder, showing them he's just teasing.

"Let's go Nina, the bride will put on her dress after Matteo left," Ámbar said and took Nina by the arm to lead her to the fitting room.

"Hold on, Ámbar, I'd like to ask you something first," Matteo stopped her before she was gone, Nina already disappeared.

"What's going on?" she frowned, having no clue why she was pulled apart.

"Yeah, your text sounded urgent," Luna interrupted.

"It's time we do some more matchmaking with the two lovebirds that aren't together but really want to be," Matteo said with an excited smile.

Simón turned to Gastón to confirm who they were talking about, Gastón just rolled his eyes and shook his head in exasperation.

"Is that why you two have been so secretive lately? Because you were playing matchmakers?" Ámbar raised an eyebrow.

"Sadly, yes," Gastón sighed.

"Come on, you agreed," Matteo said with a frown.

"I did and I think I'm starting to regret it," he answered.

"You don't," Matteo said without blinking.

Gastón answered: "You're right."

"Okay, what's the plan?" Luna interrupted, wanting to get back on track.

"We need to get them to talk alone without interruptions," Mattteo started to explain.

"Easy, just lock them in the fitting room, it locks from the outside," Ámbar simply said.

The four others look at her with a frown.

"What? I might not pull that stuff anymore but that doesn't mean I don't notice things," she said in a flat tone.

"You're brilliant, bonita," Simón said and gave her a kiss on her crown.

"Okay, now we just got to figure out how we get Gastón in that fitting room," Luna said, thinking out loud.

"That's easy. He just walks in," Matteo said.

They all start to think for a moment and couldn't find a better alternative. They ended up nodding and agreeing with his plan. It was the best they could do.

"Alright, let's get this crazy plan started," Gastón sighed and gave in. Getting ready to finally have the conversation he and Nina had to have.

#soy luna #lutteo #gastina #my soy luna fic #simbar #sl fanfiction #gaston perida #nina simonetti #luna valente #matteo balsano #ambar smith #simon alvarez

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hide-in-imagination · 3 months ago

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Best Friends to Lovers | Simbar Oneshot

Years ago, I wrote the oneshot ‘Misery Loves Company’ and said that story could go down two different paths from where it leaves off: Best Friends to Lovers or Fake Dating. I asked you guys which trope you’d prefer to see first, and the winner was: Best Friends to Lovers. Now, after all this time, it’s finally here! The Route 1 that was promised. I hope you like it.

You don’t necessarily need to have read Misery Loves Company to read this one, but I do recommend it, since it might give some context to how they became friends.

Route 2, Fake Dating, will come out eventually. Hopefully this year, but I make no promises.

Happy Valentine's Day ♡

He first realized it one afternoon as they were watching a movie together.

After years of friendship, it was very common for Simón and Ámbar to hang out at each other’s places and watch some TV shows, or movies, or even play some games if Simón brought over his console. The best part was always their conversations though— They never failed to make each other laugh, which was why it was the perfect way for them to relax every now and then.

That afternoon, Ámbar had invited him over to her house after she got out of her university classes. They went into her room and got a little distracted chatting and watching YouTube videos before they actually got to the movie they had planned to watch. The first few times they’d done this, they had sat in chairs in front of Ámbar’s TV, but as they got more comfortable with each other, they started laying down on the bed together because it was more comfortable.

Too comfortable, it seemed, because Ámbar fell asleep around the middle of the movie. Simón had been focused on the story, so he only noticed when her head came to rest on his shoulder and he looked over to her to find her completely out to the world.

Simón smiled to himself and held back the urge to laugh in order not to wake her. Watching this movie had been her idea.

She must have stayed up late studying again, he thought. Poor thing. She really worked hard.

Simón reached over to move some hairs away from her mouth and gently tucked them behind her ear. He laid a kiss on the top of her head and caressed her arm with the back of his knuckles, just a little up and down.

Then he froze entirely.

Wait.

The smile vanished from his face.

What am I doing?

As quickly as he dared, he pulled his arm back to his side and brought his gaze back to the front, his heart now pounding inside his chest.

That was nothing, he rationalized. Just an impulse, not a big deal. Just a little kiss on the head, like a goodnight kiss, totally innocent.

He looked back down at Ámbar. He could feel the sways of her breathing against his side. That wasn’t something he had ever thought about before. And they had been this close before. Arguably, they’d been even closer, every time they hugged or rollerskated together, for example.

Then why was this different?

Simón shook himself internally. It wasn’t different— He was just overthinking things. They were best friends, of course he held affection towards her, what was so strange about wanting to show a little bit of it? He did it all the time with his friends. It was normal.

Ámbar made a little noise in her sleep and her face nuzzled closer to his neck.

A spark went down Simón’s spine, raising goosebumps.

Shit.

His body locked up and his heart started beating at a thousand miles per hour. Should he wake her? No, it would be even more awkward if she woke up to them in this position. Wait, there was nothing wrong with this position, the position wasn’t compromising at all, it was just him that—

… just him that was having thoughts he shouldn’t have.

Simón set his focus back on the movie and willed his heart to calm down. He forced himself to ignore Ámbar’s breathing on his skin, the warmth of her body against his side, how her hair smelt like shampoo, and a hundred other little things he shouldn’t even have been noticing.

He was not sad later when she woke up and pulled away. There was no reason to be.

----------------------

If anyone had told Simón four years ago, just arrived from México, that he would become best friends with the girl that pushed Luna into the pool, constantly plotted against her, and was just arrogant in general, Simón would’ve been… confused, to say the least. Like, really?? Her?

As it turned out, Ámbar was so much more than he originally thought. It took some time for him to get to know the real her, the one she usually kept hidden in order to appear tougher than she was, but when he did, Simón realized she was actually a very nice person. All the bad stuff that had put him off before wasn’t really because she enjoyed hurting people— She was just scared of being left behind if she ever stopped being admired. Once she understood that she didn’t need to be #1 at everything for people to love her, Ámbar stopped being so hard on everyone, and herself too. Simón was very happy to have been a part of that because he couldn’t imagine, all these years later, not having her in his life now.

He didn’t know exactly how they became best friends but he was glad that it happened. Ámbar was funny, determined, smart, very loyal and protective of those she cared about, and Simón enjoyed her company a lot. They talked every day (if not in person, through text) and they had lived so many experiences together by now that he had lost count— Like all the skating competitions they participated in together with everyone; the first time she got drunk and Simón had to take her home after she threw up on a plant pot; the time she flew all the way from London, where she’d been vacationing with her godmother, to Cancún to be present at his birthday and gave him a brand new electric guitar that Simón couldn’t bring himself to play for days because of how expensive it was; or the time her biological mother appeared out of nowhere and Ámbar cried with him for the first time, truly being vulnerable, and Simón realized just how fragile she was, and also how incredibly strong she was too, for having endured everything she had lived uptil now and coming out of it as such an amazing girl.

Ámbar was very precious to him. A precious friend. And just as with all of his friends, Simón wished they could be friends forever.

-----------------------

He’d always known she was pretty. Like, on a rational level. Grass is green, the sky is blue, Ámbar is pretty. It was just a natural fact that Simón didn’t think much about.

But then it changed. He couldn’t pinpoint what did it exactly. It was many things, accumulated throughout the years as he got to know her: her likes and dislikes, her flaws and virtues. The little things she did that she didn’t even notice she did until he pointed them out. Their inside jokes. The way she knew his likes and dislikes and flaws and virtues and mannerisms. And a giant etcetera that made him feel so warm inside whenever she said something as simple as “I saw this and immediately thought of you.”

These details and shared moments, understanding and trust, piled up in his heart, taking over it, going over its bounds and overflowing it, and then, Ámbar wasn’t just ‘pretty’ anymore. The concept grew meaning, grew complexity, got linked to all of the emotions Simón already felt towards Ámbar and then added new ones too.

She is beautiful.

Everything about her, from her ironic humor to the way she changed her drink order three times, had a way of making Simón quite honestly stupid. If he managed to appear normal after he realized his feelings, it was simply because of something akin to muscle memory— They’d been talking and hanging out and throwing jokes at each other for years now, so some responses came naturally without him needing to think about it, which was very lucky because, lately, whenever her eyes fell on him, Simón couldn’t think at all.

And when she smiled. When Ámbar smiled at him or laughed because of him, he’d get this feeling in his stomach, or his chest, especially if it was that loud laugh that made her wrinkle her nose in a way she claimed she didn’t like, but he absolutely adored. He felt like running from happiness or downright crying— It was insane.

She was beautiful. That, too, had become fact. The only difference was that he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

-------------------------

Why did he always do this?

In the moments of quiet reflection, Simón wanted to yank his hair out.

He already had to get over his feelings for one best friend who didn’t love him back, and now he had feelings for his new one? What was wrong with him? Why did he have to be so stupid? Did he enjoy suffering?

Because beyond all the wonderful feelings that being in love could offer, it could also be an everyday torture. All love typically wanted was to be loved back, to be able to express itself and have the gestures be welcomed and returned, but Simón couldn’t express it, not in words nor actions, because none of those would be welcomed or returned, because Ámbar was his friend, and she didn’t see him like that.

Whywould she love him back? She was Ámbar Smith— beautiful, popular, talented, the queen of everything.

Of course, Simón knew her well enough by now to know that she wasn’t the perfect, unreachable persona she tried to appear as. He knew she had issues and fears and insecurities just like any other person, but far from deteriorating her image, it just made her even more special and amazing and breathtaking.

Someone like that could never love him as more than a friend. It was a very pretty dream, but he had to be realistic.

His only reprieve was that he hadn’t been forced to see her with a boyfriend yet. It made sense, taking into account everything that had been going on in Ámbar’s life the last few years. First the whole Matteo thing, then her biological mother making an appearance out of nowhere, then Luna turning out to be Sol Benson and becoming the owner of her house and getting half the inheritance Ámbar was supposed to receive (and only because she kindly ceded half of it to Ámbar), then Sharon leaving to live in Cancún from then on because she’d rather do that than having to accept Luna and her parents as family, and as if those weren’t enough changes, finishing high school and starting university, with all the workload that entailed. It was no wonder Ámbar hadn’t have much room to worry about romance.

But now the storm had passed and her life had settled, and while Simón was very happy for her, proud of how she’d managed to push forward and thrive, he was scared too. Scared because now any day could be the day. The day she walked into the Roller like she always did and told him about some new guy she had met in one of her classes, with a spark of interest in her eyes and a soft quality to her voice, and Simón would have to smile back at her and tease her, pretending he wasn’t dying inside.

It would be incredibly selfish of him to wish that day never came, so he tried not to.

He just wished he would be over her enough by that point he’d be able to survive it.

------------------------------

It’s fine.

She didn’t feel anything if their hands accidentally brushed like Simón did. Why would she? They were just friends.

It’s fine.

Her day didn’t get better and brighter just because he said hello to her. They saw each other every day after all. It wasn’t anything special.

It’s fine.

She didn’t both yearn for their training sessions in the rink and dreaded them, relieved for having the chance to be near him and desperate not to show anything that could give it away.

It’s fine.

Her heart didn’t flourish and die every time they said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek.

That was fine. Eventually, this feeling inside Simón would fade away and they would continue being friends like they’d been until now. She’d keep teasing him and rolling her eyes at him with a smile. They would talk deep stuff or little inconsequential nothings. He’d hold her bags during one of her shopping sprees and he would joke to her about how, at one point, he’d wished he could be the one to hold her hand.

It would be funny, and unimportant, and they’d never talk about it again.

He just had to bear it for now. Push down the quickening of his heart, ignore the catch in his breath when she laughed, block out the silly thoughts and scenarios that popped into his mind that would never come true.

It’s fine.

He just had to keep repeating that.

It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine...

As long as I can be by her side, it’s fine.

*****************

Ámbar wasn’t sure when it started.

It’d been so slow, so natural, that she didn’t think much of it for a long time. It was just fleeting moments, blink-and-you-missed-it reactions that she pushed aside, categorizing them as ‘one-time things.’

It was saying goodbye to Simón with a kiss on the cheek like they always did— like it was simply costumery between friends, family, or even just acquaintances— and getting a new thought. A curiosity. A sudden idea.

What if I turned my head just a little and our lips touched?

It wasn’t a big deal. Ámbar had never thought about kissing him before, or at least had never really considered it, and it wasn’t like the idea crossed her mind again the next time they said goodbye. Or the next. Or the one after that.

So, it was a fluke. Ámbar wrote it off as such. Just as that one time she stared at his back and his neck for a second too long to be normal and a little too hard to be friendly. There was nothing wrong with appreciating beauty every once in a while, was there? Or that one time during rollerskating where he grabbed her thigh and Ámbar’s heart crashed against her sternum. He just took her by surprise. Or that one time they’d pressed their palms together to compare their hand size for who-knows-what-reason, she couldn’t even remember, and she’d felt the impulse to slide her fingers between his.

It was all circumstantial. Little flickers of something different in a sea of familiarity and trust, of easy companionship and tons of affection, because of course she loved Simón— he was her friend. Her best friend even. So getting little instances in which her thoughts drifted a little further was probably normal. The desire for closeness came hand in hand with caring, and Ámbar cared for him a lot.

By the time she realized it, they weren’t ‘one-time’ things.

----------------------------

Ámbar could pinpoint the exact moment she realized she had a problem.

They were sitting on the Roller’s stage one day and something prompted Ámbar to ask him to teach her how to play guitar.

The real surprise, she guessed, was that she hadn’t done it until then. Ámbar had watched Simón playing countless times by this point, whether on this very stage, or other stages, or at his loft when she went to hang out, and it seemed fun, more dynamic and less strict than the piano lessons Sharon had subjected her to when she was eight. Maybe it was that experience that had stopped her from asking before.

Simón, obviously, was more than happy to teach her how to play. As with anything related to music, he faced it with enthusiasm and a sparkle in his eyes. He handed her his precious lightning bolts guitar without the minimum held-back and told her they’d start by learning some chords.

“Excuse me,” he said as he went to sit behind her and placed his left hand on top of hers to adjust her fingers on the strings.

Ámbar’s heart did a weird thing inside her chest. Simón was explaining something about which position was which chord, moving her fingers accordingly, but if it was an A, or an E, or a G, Ámbar had no idea, because she was suddenly overcome with the feeling of him.

Throughout the years, Ámbar was certain she’d been this close to Simón plenty of times, especially when they rollerskated together. But this, for some reason, produced a reaction in her that was completely different.

He was behind her, and something about it, about hearing his voice that close to her ear and feeling surrounded by his body, sent an electric current down her own. His hands were big, she noticed— bigger than hers, but so soft as they moved her fingers and applied just a little pressure to place them in the right strings. All of him was bigger than her, and assured, and warm, and so intrinsically male that Ámbar lost the ability to think.

“Okay, now strum it down.”

Simón moved away to watch her play. Ámbar managed to follow his direction, maybe because a downward stroke was easy enough for her brain to do without any cognitive function, or maybe because getting some space between her and his smell helped clear her head a little.

The problem was that she immediately missed it. He smelled very good— probably something woody, earthy, or musky, or whatever big perfume corporations considered masculine. And it was masculine, distinctively so, but she didn’t know why she was so hung up on this information when it was something she already knew. Guys sometimes sprayed deodorant in the locker room, or she’d go to the loft with Delfi and Jazmín and the whole place would smell like men lived there. Hell, she had probably smelt Simón’s perfume or deodorant or whatever a hundred times over by now, and she was aware that he smelt like a guy. But now, for some strange reason, she thought that smell was very, very good, and she wanted to drown her face in his neck.

“Ámbar?”

She snapped out of her thoughts, looking up to find Simón watching her with amusement.

“That’s a very pretty A, but maybe you should practice other chords as well,” he said with a chuckle.

So she’d been just strumming the guitar throughout her mental spiral, great.

Ámbar shook all those thoughts out of her mind and focused on Simón’s guitar lessons. Or she tried to. She couldn’t stop being conscious of every movement he made, and every movement she made, and it was so weird because she was used to feeling completely at ease with Simón, not to feeling butterflies in her stomach every time he laughed.

In the end, she was kind of saved by the bell when Simón left her to go back to work.

Ámbar couldn’t calm her heart down completely for the rest of the day.

------------------

Pheromones. She blamed it on pheromones. Some instinctive chemical reaction at some primitive part of her brain that activated due to his proximity, and that smell, which corporations surely created specifically to produce that reaction in weak girls like her. It didn’t mean she liked him— she just liked guys in general. Maybe it’d been too long since she hooked up with someone and her brain was latching this lack onto her best friend.

Best friend. That was what Simón was, her friend, and she had never thought of him differently, even during their first months of friendship when all of their friends teased them to exhaustion.

Granted, she had never had a male friend before. She used to hang out a lot with Gastón back when she was dating Matteo, but Gastón was Matteo’s friend, and Ámbar never saw him as her friend. She was always surrounded by girls, so maybe this was normal? Maybe it was normal to have short moments now and then when she felt attraction towards her best guy friend. Hell, maybe she just was in those days of her menstrual cycle where she was hornier than usual.

But days passed, weeks passed, months passed even, and his smile was still the best thing she’d ever seen.

His laugh was an effervescent energy that filled her inside until it hurt. His touch a tingling luxury she savored each and every time because she knew it’d be short and innocent, and gone too soon.

She wanted him to linger.

She wanted more.

---------------------

Ámbar hated wanting more when she used to be happy. She’d spent such a big part of her life craving something more, craving to not feel alone even when she was surrounded by people, and now that she finally had it, now that she was finally content, her stupid heart showed its greedy side again.

Why did this have to happen? Why did she have to catch feelings for Simón? Things were good. For once in her life, everything was good, and then she had to ruin it.

Was this how Simón had felt when he was in love with Luna?

The thought brought an instant bitter pang to her chest. Right, Simón had been very in love with her until Luna rejected him. So, if Ámbar happened to date him now, wouldn’t that mean she’d be picking up Luna’s leftovers?

Some intense self-loathing hit her the instant she had that thought. How could have something like that even cross her mind? Simón was not anyone’s leftovers— He was amazing. He was sweet and enthusiastic about life, and so talented and yet so humble, like he couldn’t believe anyone would really find him impressing. He was the best person she knew. So good, in fact, that it was exasperating sometimes, but not for the reasons he sometimes thought he was annoying. It was because she wished he cared about himself more.

He was supportive and kind, passionate and gentle, funny and silly.

He was the best friend she’d ever had.

Probably the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Ámbar stared at the ceiling of her bedroom until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and ached from lack of sleep, but she couldn’t stop thinking. Normally, she would go after what she wanted—And she wanted him, she was sure of that now. But she wasn’t willing to risk losing the one person who had made her feel enough.

But who says you have to lose him? Luna rejected him and they’re still best friends— The same thing could happen to you.

Yes, but Simón and Luna had been friends since they were kids. He literally moved countries for her— She and Luna weren’t on the same level.

You know him— He would never just push you away.

But if he didn’t feel the same, then he’d have to. Hell, Ámbar would need the space to mend her broken heart. And how long would that take? What if it took a long time for her to get over it? What if things never went back to how they used to be and every interaction between them was haunted by an undercurrent of awkwardness until eventually they just drifted apart completely?

Or, he could like you back.

Ámbar covered her face with her hands. That would be awesome, but honestly, how would she even know? Simón was attentive and touchy with all his friends, that was just who he was, and they’d been best friends for years, so that level of closeness was totally normal for them. If Ámbar misinterpreted any of his signals and then found out he was just being friendly, she would die of embarrassment.

She just…

She just didn’t want to lose him.

It wasn’t worth it, the risk. If there was the possibility that things could change for the worse, then Ámbar would rather things stayed just as they were. She loved having Simón as her best friend. Her heart might want more, but she could quiet it— She had experience at that.

Being friends would have to be enough.

It had to be.

--------------------------

As it turned out, repressing her feelings was harder than she’d originally thought.

Love had a way of demanding to be felt, of wanting desperately to be expressed, and sometimes, Ámbar couldn’t help it.

She made their goodbye hugs run a second longer. She ran her fingers through his hair, quickly and violently, messing it up to make the gesture pass as teasing and not as an urge she couldn’t contain. She asked him to hold her hands because the weather was cold and they were freezing, and Simón was so sweet that he rubbed them between his own and used his breath to warm them.

That was the thing about Simón— He made it so easy to love him.

With his kind gestures, with his bright smile, with his words of encouragement and hope, with his goofy jokes that were so him she wanted to save them in a little jar and hold them close to her heart.

It would probably glow in the dark, just like him.

It would probably keep her warm, just like him.

When they were leaving the venue after a skating competition and the wind picked up and he lent her his hoodie, Ámbar burrowed herself in it as much as she could, covertly pressing her nose to the fabric because it smelt like him.

And just like that, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she knew it was wrong to take advantage when he didn’t know how she felt, Ámbar couldn’t stop selfishly taking some little moments for herself.

She asked him to practice songs together whenever she could, just so she could see him in his element, totally immersed in something that he loved.

She made him carry her bags in the mall, promising to buy him food later to make up for it, and let herself imagine, just for a few hours, while they walked around and talked, that he was her boyfriend.

She found comfort in the knowledge that everyone who looked at them probably thought they were together. Ámbar had always found comfort in appearances. And it was so pretty to think, that inside the heads of all these people, in their own personal realities, what she wished for the most was true.

I’m sorry, she said to Simón in her head while he talked and laughed about something. I know I’m selfish. I promise I’ll get over it someday. For now, just let me love you.

She had no idea how she’d manage to get over someone so lovely, but she had to try, right?

Unless, someday, he came to feel the same.

God, I wish that day would come.

******************

“I think she likes you back.”

Simón looked up from the section of the cafeteria he’d been sweeping and brought his gaze to Pedro. Just one more year of this and hopefully our album will blow up and we’ll be able to focus on music.

“What?”

Pedro was leaning on the handle of his own broom. “Ámbar. I think she likes you back.”

Gripping the broomstick to hide his nervousness, Simón wrinkled his brows and let out a chuckle. “What are you talking about, Pedro? ‘Like’? ‘Back’? For her to like me ‘back’ I’d have to like her in the first place.”

“Which you do.”

Simón tried to snort but it came out as more of a wheeze. “No, I don’t. She’s my friend. We get along great because she’s my friend— I’ve told you guys like a thousand times that we’re just friends. What’s up with you? I thought you had finally realized after about a year of teasing us and nothing happening that I didn’t have feelings for Ámbar in that way.”

“Okay, sure, back then you didn’t,” Pedro conceded. “But now you totally do.”

Simón laughed. Then, as Pedro kept holding his stare seriously, unfazed, his laughter deflated.

His shoulders dropped and he looked to the side. “Is it that obvious?”

“A little, yeah.”

Simón groaned, dropping himself on a chair and leaning on the table. “Great. I’m screwed. She’s going to notice and I’m going to have ruined two friendships for falling in love. There’s got to be a special brand of stupid to define me. I was born wrong. That’s the only explanation. You can’t tell me that catching feelings for all my best friends doesn’t indicate that I have some kind of issue— I mean, it’s ridiculous!” He dropped his head in his hands. “I’m a disaster.”

Pedro placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little. “Hey, Simón, calm down, it’s alright. Didn’t you hear the first thing I said? I’m pretty sure Ámbar likes you too.”

Simón scoffed. “Yeah, right. That’s impossible, Pedro.”

“Impossible? Why?”

Simón gave him an obvious look. “Have you seen Ámbar?”

Pedro returned his obvious look right back at him. “Yeah, I see her every day.”

“Then how can you think that?” He said incredulous.

Pedro frowned. “I don’t get it, what’s the big deal? That she’s pretty? That she’s rich?”

“Both!” Simón retorted. “And I— I’m not saying she would write me off because I don’t have money, she’s not like that, but we do come from very different socioeconomical situations,” he said realistically, “and I feel like if it were going to happen, it would’ve already happened, you know? Like, it’s been years. We’ve been friends for years. By this point, I’m probably so deep in the friendzone that it wouldn’t even cross her mind to get me out of there.”

Pedro threw his hands up. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Because I’ve seen the way she looks at you lately and it’s the exact same way you look at her.”

A flare of hope gripped Simón’s heart, immediately followed by a surge of fear, because hope was dangerous. Hope could get his heart broken.

Probably seeing the conflict in his face, Pedro grabbed a chair and sat down next to him to be at the same eye-level. “Look. I’m not telling you to run to her tomorrow with a bouquet of flowers to tell her how you feel. But don’t let a bunch of pre-conceived ideas poison your mind. The Simón I know it’s a very brave guy, who dares to dream and go after what he wants. If you like Ámbar, go for it,” he encouraged him. “The worst thing that could happen is not her turning you down— It’s having to live your days wondering what could’ve happened if you had tried it. Are you sure Ámbar is not worth that risk?”

Simón looked down, spinning a ring around his finger.

“It’s precisely because she’s worth so much to me that I don’t want to make her uncomfortable,” he said, dejected. “I don’t want to take a friend away from her when that’s all that she wants.” If he had to swallow up his feelings so that she could be happy, he was willing to do so.

Pedro leaned forward, seeking his gaze. “You can’t know what she wants until you ask her,” he said. Simón looked at him. Pedro’s eyes were earnest. “And seriously, start paying attention to how she acts around you. If there’s really nothing there, I have to go to the ophthalmologist.”

Simón let out a little laugh and shook his head. He smiled at his friend. “Thank you, Pedro.”

“Don’t even mention it, brother. That’s what friends are for.” He patted Simón on the back and then both of them got up to continue working. “Don’t go falling in love with me though, please. Delfi would kill you.”

Simón threw the garbage bag at him.

--------------------------

“Okay, so, I’ll buy the tickets and then I’ll send them to you,” Ámbar said, pointing at her phone.

“Okay, but if you’re paying for the tickets, then I’m paying for the popcorn,” Simón declared.

“Sounds great,” she agreed. “Should we meet right at the theater or…?”

“I could go to your house, if you want, and we could walk from there,” he offered.

Ámbar smiled (beautifully). “Awesome. See you tomorrow then. I’ll text you when I’m ready.”

“Okay.” He’d say he was smiling too, but when didn’t he? Around her.

They shared a kiss on the cheek in farewell. “Bye,” Ámbar said, and walked over to the exit, putting her phone back in her purse as she left the Roller.

“Bye.”

Simón might have spun around to watch her leave and followed her with his eyes until she was fully gone. He couldn’t help it. He reigned in the urge to sigh and turned back toward the cafeteria, but before he could get back to work, he felt eyes on him, coming from his right.

Luna was staring at him from where she was sitting at a table. The look on her face instantly got him uneasy.

“What?”

Luna raised her hands as if claiming innocence and looked away, but that particular smile was still on her lips. “Nothing.”

Simón gave her a look. “Come on, what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You told me years ago that if I talked to you about this topic again, you were going to get mad, so I’m not going to say anything.” She grabbed the glass of juice she had in front of her. “But I’m just gonna say that Nina says, and Jim says, and Yam says, and I agree, that you like Ámbar.”

Simón gawked at her as she pointedly drank from her straw.

Luna left her glass back on the table, gave him a shrug, and laid back on her chair as she went through apps on her phone.

I can not believe this.

Pedro had told him he was obvious but—

It crossed his mind to deny it, but was there any use to that by this point?

He sighed in defeat.

“So everyone knows?”

Luna all but threw her phone and slammed one palm on the table.

“HA! I KNEW IT!”

Simón frantically tried to make her keep her voice down as Luna stood and continued her outburst with a chorus of: “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I know you, you can’t trick your best friend, I knew you had feelings for her!”

“Yeah, okay, you caught me, but Ámbar can’t know, okay?” He pleaded. “Please don’t tell her.”

“Of course I won’t tell her,” Luna said immediately. “But aren’t you going to tell her?”

“No.” At her look, he stressed his words. “No, Luna. I don’t think she feels the same way about me and I don’t want to ruin the friendship that we have.”

“Okay… but what if she does feel the same?”

Simón sighed. “That’d be great, Luna, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Why not?”

Because she dated Matteo and broke up with him, and you chose between us and picked Matteo, so following that logic, I’m bellow Matteo.

He shrugged instead of saying it.

Luna stared at him for a moment longer and then straightened. “Okay, you know what? You and I are going to make a plan,” she declared, smiling confidently.

Simón frowned. “A plan? For what?”

“To tell Ámbar how you feel.”

He deflated with exhaustion. “Luna, I just told you—”

“Yes, but you were the one who always supported me when I was scared.” She held his hands in her own. “You were the one who told me to go after my dreams and never give up, and I want to do the same for you. Maybe Ámbar doesn’t feel the same, maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t even know. But I’m sure that, whatever happens, you two will be able to stay friends. You’re not going to lose her.” She looked into his eyes, squeezing his hands and quietly reassuring him his biggest fear wouldn’t come true.

Luna let go of his hands and gave him a quick shake on the shoulders. “So, I want you with your chin held high and with confidence in yourself because I know you can do this,” she cheered him on. “Porque eres tan valiente…” She sang to him, making him chuckle. “Todo lo que quieras lo podrás alcanzar.”

Simón wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Does that mean you agree to plan something with me?” She said with a grin, looking up at him.

Simón mulled it over. He still had a lot of fears, but between Pedro’s words and now Luna’s, he was starting to falter in his decision to not say anything to Ámbar. Maybe his friends were right. Maybe… maybe he could really take the risk.

And, considering that apparently everyone knew already except for Ámbar, he could only assume it was just a matter of time before she figured it out too— Or worse, that someone told her.

If it was between being found out or telling her himself, he knew which option he would pick every time.

“Okay—” Luna cheered. “Only if you promise not to come up with one of your crazy ideas,” he said.

“Promised!” Luna extended her hand toward him.

Simón laughed and shook her hand. What was he getting himself into?

------------------

It was one of her crazy ideas and he was even crazier for going along with it.

****************

Simón had been spending a lot of time with Luna lately.

Ámbar wished she didn’t notice these things or that they didn’t make her heart go heavy. Those two were best friends, she knew that, they’d been close since she met them, and Luna was dating Matteo, so it really was stupid of her to get worried over it. But she’d seen them in secluded corners a few times, or watched as Luna grabbed his arm and pulled him away to talk to him alone, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was happening.

The worst part was that Simón had been taking a bit of distance from her the last few days. Maybe it wasn’t intentional. Maybe it just was that Luna was consuming all of his time, but as much as she tried to rationalize it, that still hurt a little. It was like being reminded she was not first on his list. That Luna would always be more important to him than she was.

And with that came a dangerous thought. One that stopped her cold in her tracks and turned her stomach.

Simón wasn’t still in love with Luna, was he?

Her first instinct was to laugh at the idea. It had been a long time since that whole fiasco— years— and Simón had told her once that he was happy for Luna and Matteo now, that he was totally over it. But maybe that was just what he told himself. Maybe Simón convinced himself he was no longer in love with Luna in order not to suffer so much anymore, convinced others of the same so they wouldn’t pity him, but deep down, maybe he would always be in love with Luna. Maybe she was the love of his life and whoever came after would live forever under Luna’s shadow.

Ámbar was being dramatic. And fatalistic. None of these thoughts had any base on reality except for how often she’d caught those two whispering to each other lately, very close so that no one could hear them, and how Simón had this… glint in his eyes whenever he was talking to Luna. How his face softened and he looked almost dreamy, like he hoped for something very good to happen.

Could it be that he was waiting? Even now? Always?

If only Luna and Matteo had a stable, strong, thriving relationship then all of this would be a non-issue. But noooo, they just had to break up and get back together every four months or so due to the stupidest reasons. Ámbar couldn’t blame any third party for seeing a chance there.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to disperse the thoughts and bring back her focus onto the photocopies on her desk, the ones she had to memorize for her next exam and yet she’d been staring at unseeingly for what felt like hours. She was derailing. This was no good. She should just ask Simón directly what was up with him and Luna and stop thinking about this. They had the trust for it. She could just ask.

But she was too scared of what she could hear in response.

Ámbar turned off the lamp on her desk and gave up for the night. She could study tomorrow.

------------------------

The Open Musics were Ámbar’s almost favorite part of the Jam & Roller, only topped by the skating competitions. (And she held every lunch-time rehearsal of the Roller Band in a special place in her heart, but no one had to know that.)

This Open Music was filled with lights, and dances, and excitement just like any other. It didn’t have a specific theme, so everyone could sign up and sing whatever they wanted. Matteo started it off with a solo, because of course he did, and then, one by one, all of their friends took the stage: Jim and Yam did a duet, Jazmín sang a new song (just as crazy as the last one, but also just as catchy), Pedro and Delfi sang ‘Decirte lo que siento’ together and it was very cute, and then Gastón and Nina also sang together, absolutely rooting everyone’s teeth with their sweetness.

It was starting to seem like the theme of the Open Music was love. They were in Spring, the season of love, so she guessed it made sense. It made her feel a little sad though, because she’d asked Simón if he’d maybe like to perform something together with her, and he’d say he preferred to perform alone.

At least he wasn’t performing with Luna, Ámbar consoled herself. And anyway, when had she ever declined the opportunity to steal the spotlight with an amazing solo?

It was exactly what she did. After Ramiro finished his performance, she took the stage and sang with the presence of a star, showing everyone how it was done. She might had mellowed out during the last few years, but she knew when she was good at something, and she was never going to stop liking showing off.

Simón’s eyes followed her attentively the whole time. It gave Ámbar’s usual performance rush a little extra boost. At least in stage, like this, it was easy to believe he could be attracted to her.

There was no time for them to talk since the next performance came immediately after, but she noticed him clapping and cheering very energetically as she got off the stage, and she sent him a smile.

Once she was back on her seat, Luna took the stage. She said a few words, dedicating the song to ‘someone very special’, who everyone knew was Matteo since she was looking directly at him, and then she started singing a quiet little ballad, her lips curled into a soft smile as she looked at the crowd, but more often than not, at her boyfriend.

Ámbar couldn’t help but steal glances at Simón. She wanted to see how he was taking all of this.

He looked restless, his hand running through his hair and his jaw a little tight.

He only lasted about thirty seconds of the performance before he walked away, locking himself inside the dressing room.

Ámbar felt a pang in her chest. She pushed it away, holding on to reason once more. His performance was next, so of course he had to prepare, it had nothing to do with Luna and Matteo making eyes at each other— It couldn’t have.

Luna finished her song with applause and returned to her seat at one of the front tables. Ámbar was also sitting at the front, just on the other side of the stage, further from the bar, so she saw immediately when Simón walked out of the dressing room and onto the stage, with his blue guitar on his hands, hanging from his shoulder. As he started playing it, a soft background music joined him, and he stood in front of the stand microphone.

The melody sounded familiar, but Ámbar couldn’t quite place it until he started singing.

Soy tu mejor amigo

Tu pañuelo de lágrimas

De amores perdidos…

Ámbar’s stomach twisted horribly.

Oh no.

She knew this song— Who didn’t? ‘Yo quisiera’ was a classic back in the day, so she didn’t need to hear the rest to know exactly what it said, what it talked about.

Being in love with your best friend, wishing you were the one they loved.

Nonono, it’s just a song, she told herself. Surely, it’s just a cover because he likes the song, there’s no way.

But the moment Simón started singing, his eyes swept through the crowd, briefly stopping on Ámbar before they moved on to Luna. He kept staring at Luna as he sang, and Luna smiled at him with sparkling eyes, even seemed to nod, like she knew it was about her and she thought it was sweet.

Ámbar’s heart plummeted to the ground. Simón’s eyes found her own and she looked down quickly, staring at the table. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to see this anymore. She wished a hole would open up under her feet and drag her down, down, down where her heart now laid.

Nothing came to save her from this. So she just kept her eyes down, and waited for it to be over.

********************

Wow, I can’t believe I’m doing it.

The guitar was a familiar weight in his hands, the spotlights of the Roller and the cafeteria gave him a homely feeling after the many years he’d been here, but still the nerves were wreaking havoc inside him, popping up a cocktail of fear, excitement, worry, and hope.

When the Open Music was announced, Luna told him it was the perfect opportunity. He could let the music speak for him and make a romantic gesture for Ámbar all at the same time. It sounded wonderful when she said it. That, added to the little hope Pedro managed to plant in him and Ámbar’s affinity for big romantic gestures— something he’d learned after watching some movies with her— ended up convincing him to do it. But now that he was at the moment of truth, he was doubting everything.

It was him who chose this song. It said almost exactly what he felt, so it was perfect. But that was precisely why it was so nerve-wrecking too— The message was obvious.

The first few verses flowed out of his lips and his eyes found Ámbar in the crowd. He couldn’t read the expression on her face, but she wasn’t smiling. He couldn’t help but take that as a bad sign.

Maybe this is a bad idea, I should’ve talked to her privately, what if I’m making a mistake, maybe I shouldn’t tell her anything after all.

It wasn’t too late yet to pretend this was just a song. He could pass it off as a cover that had no especial meaning to him and act like none of this ever happened.

He looked at Luna from the stage. He couldn’t voice his apprehension, but Luna seemed to read it clear as day on his eyes, or maybe the uncertainty was obvious on his posture. Luna looked back at him with confidence. She smiled, and nodded.

‘You’ve got this, don’t doubt yourself.’

It was almost like she’d said it out loud. The message washed over Simón and he relaxed a bit, gaining confidence, determination. He smiled back at Luna to express his thanks. He could do this.

De tu próximo encuentro

Sabes que te cuido…

He took a breath before starting the chorus and looked at Ámbar again. He had prepared for this, planned for this, so now it was time to dedicate this song to her and let the chips fall where they may. He had to look into her eyes and let her know he meant every word. That she meant everything to him. That he was dying to step out of the friendship label and be a bit more in her life.

But almost as soon as their eyes meet, Ámbar looked down.

And he never achieved to catch her gaze again.

Simón kept singing to her, looking at the crowd every now and then to save face, but no matter how much feeling he put in his voice and how fixedly he stared at her sometimes, Ámbar kept her gaze averted.

Slowly, Simón felt his heart sink. There was no other way to interpret her reaction—She wasn’t happy. She was avoiding looking at him because she realized his intentions and she didn’t feel the same. She was probably very uncomfortable and just begging for it to be over.

Simón finished the song on autopilot. He hardly even heard the cheers of everyone once he was done, wasn’t sure if he even smiled in thanks before he left the stage. If he did, he couldn’t imagine it was convincing.

He returned to the dressing room to leave his guitar. Now that the Open was wrapping up, he’d have to get back to work soon. From there, he heard the Roller’s manager thanking everyone for coming and for their performances and inviting them to be part of the next event as well. Her cheerful voice came in complete contrast to the churning dread inside Simón.

What did you do when maybe you had just ruined a good friendship forever and the fault was completely yours?

Simón took a couple of breaths and let them out slowly before walking out of the dressing room. Nothing was set in stone yet. It wasn’t ruined yet. Not yet, not yet.

Once he was back in the cafeteria, the image of everyone, costumers and friends alike, talking effusively about the performances greeted his eyes. He immediately searched for Ámbar with his gaze and found her still at her table. She didn’t seem to have moved at all since earlier, except for pulling out her phone to stare at it. She hadn’t even gone over to the other table at the back where Jazmín, Delfi, and Pedro sat together.

Maybe that was a good sign. If she hadn’t run to her friends to talk about what just happened in distressed whispers, nor had she left the Roller entirely, maybe she wasn’t that upset. Maybe she didn’t have such a negative reaction to his confession after all. Maybe she was just surprised by it? It’d be completely understandable.

But she was still not looking at him, even though he was staring so hard she could probably feel it.

Simón gave himself an internal push. He would never know what was really going through her mind if he didn’t talk to her. He’d already gotten to this point— He had to ask. He had to know.

He was terrified to ask. He’d already left his heart bare on the stage and gotten nothing from her. His body was shaking.

But he’d been brave until now. He could be so for just a little longer.

He walked up to her table.

“Ámbar?”

He could’ve sworn he saw her flinch a little before she put her phone down and looked at him. Her face was a mask of impassiveness, one he hadn’t seen in a while, not with him.

“Can we talk?” He asked, pointing behind them toward the dressing room since it was the only place where they could have some privacy.

Ámbar didn’t answer with words, but she got up from her seat and followed him over to the dressing room, so that was something.

She walked in first, tucking her phone inside the pocket of her jeans, and Simón closed the door behind them. When he turned back around, she had her arms crossed in front of her chest, and she still seemed to be trying not to look at him directly.

“What do you want to talk about?” She asked. That forced indifference was in her tone of voice. Was he imagining the hint of hostility behind it?

“I, well…” He rubbed his forearm with one hand. “You heard the song. I would like to know what you think. What you… feel.”

He didn’t think he had ever sounded so small in his life.

Ámbar took a couple of seconds to answer.

When she finally looked at him with hard stare, he wished she hadn’t done so at all.

“Honestly? I feel sorry for you.” She uncrossed her arms and turned to face him fully. “Sorry for saying it so bluntly, but I just can’t believe you sang that song after all that’s happened. I can’t understand it.”

Simón’s heart broke into a million pieces.

He felt like in a parallel universe. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t believe that out of everything Ámbar, his friend, his best friend, could’ve said, it was that.

It took all of him to even formulate words. “I know I should’ve told you sooner, and maybe doing it so publicly wasn’t the best choice, but… After so many years of friendship, I thought you’d at least…”

“What? At least what?” She challenged sharply. “I’m sorry, Simón, but being your friend doesn’t mean I’ll just go along with whatever you come up with.”

“I know that,” he retorted, gaining strength now out of pure indignation. “I know you don’t owe me anything, but you didn’t have to be so hard on me.”

Not even in his worst-case scenarios he had imagined she would speak to him like this. That she would trample all over his feelings like that.

Ámbar softened in front of him after those few words. She shed the armor of anger she wore, and in its place, there was only sadness.

“Look, Simón…” She lifted one hand as if to touch his arm but thought better of it and put it down. “You have all the right to feel whichever way you want to. But just as you can’t help but feel like that, I can’t help how I feel either. I’ve tried, I swear I’ve tried, but I can’t change these feelings and, after today… I can’t go on like this with you. It hurts too much. I can’t take it.”

Simón almost wished she had carried on fighting with him, because seeing her in such anguish and knowing it was him who had caused it, hurt almost more than the heartbreak itself.

He looked down. “I’m sorry.” If only he hadn’t fallen in love with her…

“No, I’m sorry. I…” Ámbar had a hand on her chest, and she started rubbing with it, like trying to sooth a pain underneath. Her eyes got shiny with tears. “I swear I want you to be happy, I just…” Her throat trembled in her next inhalation. “I can’t.”

She practically ran out of the dressing room, leaving him alone.

Simón stood there with his head in disarray. His shaking had stopped. Now he just felt like his body weighted a thousand kilograms, and even breathing took out an exorbitant amount of energy.

The back of his eyes burned, but for some reason, the tears didn’t fall.

So, he just stood there, breathing.

Regretting.

Regretting so many things…

He knew he should’ve said nothing at all.

---------------------------

When he finally gathered the will to leave the dressing room, he wasn’t surprised to find Ámbar was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably be lucky if he saw her the next day at the Roller. Most probably, she’d avoid the place for some time.

Simón would do it too if he could.

He was walking towards the lockers, seeking what little solitude he could find, when Luna came running over to him. “Simón!”

She stood in front of him in the hallway with such bubbly excitement that he knew immediately she hadn’t seen Ámbar fleeing the Roller in her haste to get away from him.

“How did it go? What did she say?” She asked him with a bright grin.

Simón shook his head, looking down. He didn’t even have the energy to say the words. He didn’t want to see Luna’s face fall.

He could hear it anyway, in her voice. Could practically feel how she deflated in front of him. “God, Simón, I’m so sorry… I really thought she felt the same way.”

Simón could’ve huffed out a laugh if he had any remaining capacity to feel amusement. Clearly, she and Pedro were incredibly wrong.

“But you’ll still be friends, right?” Luna said, latching onto the positives as she usually did.

Except there were none in this situation, and that reminder cut like a knife.

Simón swallowed through the lump in his throat. “She said she couldn’t.”

“What?”

He raised his head a little but still didn’t look directly at Luna. He focused on the wall instead. “She said we couldn’t stay friends, that it hurt too much. Apparently, knowing what I feel about her causes her actual pain.”

He could see out of the corner of his eye how Luna desperately tried to find something to make this better, and in the face of her panic, he realized he was mostly numb. All he felt was a ball of sadness like right between his lungs that hurt him every time he breathed, and a huge emptiness. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe the true severity of it all would hit him later.

He hoped not. He couldn’t imagine feeling worse than he already did.

“Maybe she just needs time to process this,” Luna said. “I mean, when I—” She cut her words short, remembering that the experience she was about to retell was related to him. “Anyone who received a confession they didn’t see coming would be shaken up,” she amended. “Confused. Who knows? Maybe after she thinks about it more calmly, she could realize—”

“No,” he said grimly. “She said she’s tried to feel the same way and she can’t. So, it wasn’t even a surprise for her; she knew. She knew, and she tried, but she can’t see me as more than a friend.”

That was probably the worst part, that he was so obvious the knowledge had been weighting on Ámbar for who knew who long now, and since she was her friend and she loved him –not like that— she tried to reciprocate his feelings, but she literally couldn’t, it was that impossible for her.

He didn’t know if the pain of that showed on his face or if Luna simply couldn’t help herself anymore, but she lunged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry, Simón…” She expressed with all her heart, running a hand up and down his back. “Count on me for whatever you need, okay? I know it hurts now, but someday it’ll pass. Someday you’ll find a girl that’s perfect for you, that will love you just the way you are and make you very happy, I’m sure of it.”

Simón hugged her back in silence, wanting to believe what she said, but finding himself completely unable to.

Maybe music could be his only love. It was the only one he could trust to last forever.

******************

Ámbar was no stranger to pain. The subcutaneous, perpetually latent kind, like the loneliness that had followed her throughout her whole life. The sharp, unignorable kind, like when she hurt herself rollerskating or when everything between Matteo and Luna happened. The clawing, deep-rooted kind, like when she met her birth mother for the first time. The resigned, almost desolated kind, like when Luna was discovered to be Sol Benson, and her godmother moved to Cancún, unable to face that reality, and Ámbar was forced to just accept the changes and move on.

The aftermath of Simón’s confession felt like a mix of all four and a completely different kind entirely, one she didn’t wish on anyone.

She couldn’t even talk to him. His presence, which used to be a source of comfort to her, was now a kick in the chest she didn’t know what to do with except run from it. It hurt more precisely because of how different things used to be. It hurt because she craved the old days and she couldn’t have them. It hurt because she loved so much, and at least before she could sooth that longing with hopeful dreaming, but now, all she had was the reality that he didn’t feel the same way about her. Never would.

So yeah, she couldn’t talk to him, could barely stand to see him without breaking into tears. If he said hi to her, she said it back, but that was it. If their rollerskating training sessions— which thankfully involved team choreographies right now and not duos— required them to exchange some words, she could do that. But other than that, Ámbar couldn’t handle it.

The days passed and Simón stopped trying to say hi to her when she got to the Roller, and she felt terrible, but what could she do about it? She needed time to recover. Of course she didn’t want to lose him forever, of course she wanted him to be a part of her life in the future, but right now, she simply could not be near him.

To add insult to injury, everyone at the Roller kept staring at her as if she had done something wrong. No one came right up and said it, but it was obvious everyone had taken Simón’s side, even if they probably didn’t even know what had happened that made them stop talking to each other. Simón wasn’t the type of person to disclose a private conversation to the world— Especially when said conversation included admitting he had feelings for his very-much-taken friend— so they had to have taken his side simply because he was more well-liked than her.

Considering her past, she couldn’t blame them.

The only ones on her side were her friends, Delfi and Jazmín, because she told them what happened. She couldn’t be as honorable as Simón and keep it all to herself— Not when she was so heartbroken she needed her friends more than ever.

She did ask them not to meddle though, stressing multiple times that it had to stay between them, especially when Delfi suggested talking to Pedro. She needed support and that was why she told them, but she couldn’t have Simón finding out she told someone else his secret or he might really hate her.

If he didn’t already.

After all, he’d lost a friend simply because she got ideas he never even offered. And honestly, Ámbar could admit she’d been too hard on him when he opened up about Luna, when he was probably needing his friend’s support the most.

But couldanyone blame her? Could anyone really conjure up a smile when the person you loved said they loved someone else?

Maybe. But faced with that situation, Ámbar wasn’t strong enough.

She was barely strong enough to get out of bed every day now. Asking more of her was simply useless.

******************

After some time, Simón no longer regretted confessing his feelings to Ámbar. He still felt awful about everything, but at least he knew. At least he could start mending his heart now that he’d gotten it broken once and for all. Sure, maybe even if he didn’t say anything, he would’ve eventually met someone else and gotten over Ámbar, but who knew how long that would’ve taken.

He had saved himself years of pining. So, no, he didn’t regret that.

That didn’t mean he didn’t miss his friend. Even before the object of his unwanted affections, Ámbar was his friend, and he felt the loss of that bond every day, like a splinter in his hand he couldn’t pull out.

He knew eventually things would get better. Ámbar needed time, he needed time, but eventually— eventually maybe they could be a part of each other’s lives again. Not like before— Never like before. That was lost forever. But he missed just talking to her, and that, he felt, was something small enough it had to be achievable.

Ámbar didn’t seem open to that right now, and while it hurt, even angered him a bit when he thought of her reaction to his feelings and how years of friendship seemed to matter nothing to her, he reminded himself that it was fair, that he understood. She had her own emotions to deal with and he had to respect her process.

His brain kept reminding him it had only been a week, but it was the worst week of his life. Not even after Luna he had felt this bad, probably because he still had their friendship to cling to, but in this case, he had nothing. He only had sweet memories of past days that he tried not to remember because they hurt now; a view of Ámbar in the Roller talking with her friends that he tried to ignore because he wished he were them and she was so pretty his heart squeezed up; a seemingly endless pool of sadness he worked hard to distract himself from; and so much love with no direction and no outlet that it choked him every day.

He didn’t know how much of this he could take.

And it’d only been one week.

Simón wanted to curl up in his bed and never come back out.

*******************

Ámbar knew she had a lot of karma to pay for, but this was just ridiculous.

Somebody had to explain to her why, why, right when she and Simón were taking distance, some girl from the United States had to show up at the Roller out of freaking nowhere and immediately, immediately set her sights on Simón.

It had to be a joke. Someone who hated her had to be messing with her on purpose because, otherwise, she couldn’t understand it. What were the odds that out of all the countries in the world, and all the establishments in Buenos Aires, and out of all the possible timings, this girl, Emma, stupid-looking pretty Emma, chose to come here right now and make eyes at Simón?

Not that she could fault her taste, of course— But why him?

Ámbar was just starting to process the idea that someday she might have to see him with someone else— He couldn’t stay pining after Luna forever, right? At some point, he had to move on with someone— She wasn’t ready to face that eventuality now. The pieces of her broken heart were so fresh she still cut her hand every time she tried to pick them up. Honestly, what had she done to deserve this?

Because the worst part was— Simón wasn’t discouraging her at all.

From the moment Emma had stepped foot in the Roller, Simón had been all smiles around her, seemingly offering to personally show her around, and sure, maybe they could justify it with the fact that Simón knew enough English to help her out with her broken Spanish, but he wasn’t the only one in the Roller who knew a little English. No, Ámbar was sure he let Emma hang around him because he enjoyed the company. The attention. The pretty looks.

It didn’t seem to matter that he was in love with someone else— Emma was attractive enough to capture his attention.

And, consequentially, that meant—

Ámbar simply wasn’t attractive enough to capture his attention.

The realization cut deep inside of her, tearing out the mere two stitches she’d manage to put on the wound and leaving it bleeding anew.

God damn it, Ámbar hated him. Before Simón, she was confident that any guy was lucky if she gave him the time of day. She knew her worth. She knew she was pretty. But now, thanks to him, she couldn’t help but wonder if the reason why he couldn’t see her as more than a friend was because she was lacking in the assets department.

Why did Emma had to be so curvy? Boobs, ass, hips— She had it all. Ámbar could see the appeal and it hurt so much. Especially because she was blonde and blue-eyed, just like her, but apparently, she was superior in every way, at least in Simón’s eyes.

Each day that she had to watch them interacting was worse, quickly turning her hurt into burning rage at his audacity. He knew how she felt about him. Yet, he wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was talking with another girl, he didn’t show the most minimum respect for the broken heart he knew she was mending. They used to be friends. Even if he didn’t love her like she did, how could he be so cruel?

Plus— He was supposed to be in love with Luna! The whole reason why he couldn’t see Ámbar differently, didn’t even try to give her a chance, was that he was so in love with Luna he simply couldn’t consider anyone else— That was what Ámbar understood. And yet— And yet!!!

This was complete and utter bullshit! If he was just going to give a chance to the first girl who happened to like him, he could’ve given a chance to her! No, he wasn’t obligated to like her just because she was his friend, and no, people couldn’t force themselves to feel a certain way— But he could’ve tried. At the very least, he could be mindful of not flaunting in front of her how he was flirting with someone else. Did he want to hurt her? Was that it? Was her reaction to him pining after Luna really that bad that he now wanted revenge? Did he resent her for needing space from him after he quite literally crushed all her hopes? Was he that much of a dick?

A storm of pain and hatred churned inside her, making her want to rip his head off.

If this was who Simón really was, she was happy he turned her down. She truly dodged a bullet.

Let him be happy with Emma— The two deserved each other. They were both stupid and hellbent on ruining her life.

And to Ámbar’s ever growing, begrudging frustration, they were succeeding.

*****************

It had been three days since Emma first showed up at the Roller when Jim told him she was interested in him.

Simón, quite honestly, was very surprised by this. In a way that, Nico told him later, was very sad.

But could anyone blame him? He’d been rejected by the two girls he’d ever loved, both he’d known and been close to for years, and now they wanted him to believe that this girl, who was very pretty by the way, who didn’t even know him for longer than three days, wanted to go on a double date with him?

It seemed like some twisted joke from the universe. But then again, maybe the fact that she didn’t know him that much was exactly why she liked him. Clearly, he had something un-dateable that she just hadn’t discovered yet.

Be it as it was, now he had a dilemma. Should he go? It hadn’t been very long since the Ámbar fiasco, he was under no delusions that he’d be able to get over her any time soon, no matter how disastrously that had ended. But then again, maybe that was exactly why he should go. He’d never heal from it and move on if he just wallowed in his misery. Maybe getting to know someone new, that actually saw him in that way, was exactly what he needed, if anything to show himself that he could, in fact, be what someone wanted.

But would that be fair to Emma? To give it a shot for those reasons? And what if the date went well and she wanted another, just the two of them? Should he go to that one too knowing he was still harboring feelings for someone else?

He took a glance at Ámbar on the other side of the cafeteria, only to find she was already staring at him. His heart skipped a beat, but it fell to his stomach when she directed what could only be described as an angry glare at him before looking away.

She hadn’t talked to him all these days, but while her avoidance had been cold in the way emptiness is, this right now was plain aggressive.

Simón didn’t understand it. Why was she mad at him? He had done nothing but respect her wishes and give her space—What did she want from him?

Frustration led to anger which led to wanting to prove something. So, he walked over to Jim and told her yes.

He’d go to this date and as many others as he had to— He was done suffering for someone who day after day only further proved to not be worth it.

----------------------

Ever since Luna was discovered to be Sol Benson, she’d opened the mansion’s doors for all of her friends, and the Roller Band especially had a free-pass to use the storage room to play so they could avoid neighbors complaining about the noise at Nico’s loft.

The storage room had become something of a sanctuary for Simón the last couple of days. He didn’t even use it to play most of the time— Just to be alone, to process all of the emotions inside of him in privacy, something he didn’t have sharing a living space with his friends.

There was a part of him that wanted to pour all that he was feeling into a song, or a whole album, just to get it out of his chest, but he couldn’t. Music had always been his outlet, but since he learned Ámbar couldn’t love him, he’d lost the ability to write a single verse, to put more than two chords together.

Lately, he’d been trying to force himself to. If Ámbar wanted him completely gone from her life for committing the gravesin of loving her, then he wasn’t going to let her take music away from him too. That was his. That’d been his before he even met her. He couldn’t allow himself to lose himself over someone that just… just didn’t want him.

The man at the front gates of the mansion let him in, used by this point to see him since it was the third day in a row he came after work to play music. He crossed the gardens, going directly to the back, and pulled open the door to the dark room.

Except it wasn’t completely dark because someone else had already turned on the lamps there.

Simón froze, pinned by Ámbar’s eyes, which fell on him immediately.

Just like that, his sanctuary was no more.

“What are you doing here?”

Her tone of voice was sharp, and Simón couldn’t help but shrink into himself. It didn’t matter that she was sitting while he was standing— Her sole presence was enough to inhibit him.

“I’m sorry. Luna lets us play here, I was going to—” He looked way. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll let you be.”

He spun toward the door but Ámbar’s voice stopped him.

“No, wait.”

He turned back around to find she had stood up from the couch.

“You can use the room. I’ll leave.”

Simón pushed down the pang of disappointment he felt. Of course she didn’t want to stay with him. Why did that even cross his mind?

“Thank you,” he said in a quiet voice, and walked over to the side of the room where all the music equipment was already installed, clearing the exit for her. He could’ve asked what she was doing there— After all, since when did Ámbar just hang around in the storage room?— but he chose not to. One, because they weren’t on speaking terms. And two, because this was her house, and so she had more right to be here than he did. It did worry him though that this might turn into a recurring thing. Would he have to avoid the storage room too now for the possibility that she might be there?

He tried to move naturally, ignoring the fact that he could still feel her behind him— She still hadn’t felt, for some reason. He grabbed the cable for the amplifier and connected one end to his electric guitar before kneeling on the floor to connect the other end.

Her voice startled him so much that for a second he thought he had electrocuted himself.

“I heard you went on a date with Emma,” Ámbar said casually. “How did it go? Well?”

Simón felt so many things in that moment he couldn’t define one. He had to hold back the urge to turn and look at her with a disbelieving frown. Why was she asking him that? Honestly, what good could it do to either of them?

He finished setting the amp and stood, keeping his back to her. He replied in a calm voice. Succinct. “Yeah, it went well.”

He wasn’t going to admit he thought about her the whole time. He wasn’t pathetic. Or, at least, he wasn’t going to let her think so.

“Hm.” While he searched for his guitar strap to hang it off his shoulder, he noted her lips were slightly pursed out of the corner of his eye, a face he easily recognized after years of knowing her—Irritation. “Good thing, you and Emma. You look cute together.” Her words and mocking tone grated on Simón’s nerves. “Too bad though that she can’t speak the language too well. But whatever, right? I mean, you clearly don’t like her for her thoughts since you’ve known her a total of, what? Five days?”

Now Simón turned around, annoyed. “What the hell are you talking about?” What was her problem, seriously.

“I just think it’s funny how you claim to be in love with someone one day and two weeks later you go out with someone else,” she continued with her irony, not at all deterred by his gaze. “I thought you were a little more consequential than that, but apparently not.”

“That someone rejected me, so what if I’m trying to move on?”

He couldn’t believe she was even rubbing this on his face right now.

And yet she reacted with even more outrage than him.

“Now you want to move on?!” She said, looking at him in disbelief. “Now? With that girl you just met?!”

“What the hell is wrong with that?!”

“WHAT IS WRO-?!” Ámbar shut her mouth, took a deep breath, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She pinned him with a serious look. “What does she have that I don’t?”

Simón did a double-take. “Excuse me?”

“What does she have that I don’t, I’m asking you seriously.”

“I—” He almost had the urge to laugh, even though it wasn’t funny at all. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“No, answer me.”

Simón had to look away from her for a moment, wondering if he was in some kind of simulation or dream. This couldn’t be happening. “You know, I knew you had an ego, but this is just off the charts, this is unbelievable.”

“It is not about ego.”

“Of course it’s about ego,” he retorted. “You tell me we can’t be friends anymore, you don’t talk to me for two weeks, but I happen to get along with another girl and you suddenly get outraged. Because, of course, no one can take your place so fast, right? No, Simón has to be sad and miserable for at least a lot longer.”

She scoffed. “You don’t want her as your friend, and if you’ve been miserable lately, it is no one’s fault but yours.”

Ouch.

Simón’s breath left his lungs. She might as well had slapped him.

The fire of his outrage diminished almost entirely, crushed by the weight of his grief. “I didn’t ask to feel this way.”

He understood that it was all his fault, but he couldn’t— He tried to— It was so unfair to berate him for something he couldn’t control.

“No, but you refuse to even think about something new,” Ámbar berated him anyway, uncrossing her arms, frustration coming out of her in waves. “I mean- how many years has it been by now? Three? More? How many do you need to realize that Luna will never want to be with you? She chose Matteo, get over it!”

Simón blinked.

He had looked away because he couldn’t stand looking and hearing the horrible things she was saying, but upon hearing that last part, he had to bring his gaze back to her.

“What?” His brows knit together. “What are you talking about? I already got over Luna.”

“With Emma? Simón, for god’s sake, you just met her!”

“No!” His whole face was scrunched up now. “Not with Emma, way before Emma.”

“You told me you couldn’t get over her two weeks ago, Simón, how can that be a long time?”

WHAT?

“When have I ever told you that?!”

“Back in the dressing room, after you told the whole world dedicating that song to her!” Ámbar yelled right back.

“I didn’t dedicate that song to her, I dedicated it to—!”

The words stuck in his mouth as a sudden contraction of his chest threatened to wind him. A dawning realization started to settle in his interior.

“… you.” His voice came out quieter. No, no, no, it can’t be. “I dedicated it to you.”

Ámbar’s eyes flickered with a thousand things, the same realization falling over her features.

“No, you didn’t,” she said slowly. “You were looking at her the whole time— We talked about it.”

“No, I—” He looked at her intently, trying to understand how she got that idea when they did talk about it. “I asked you how you felt about me, and you told me that you tried but you couldn’t see me as more than a friend.”

Now it was Ámbar who was looking at him like she couldn’t understand his thought process. That, and with growing fear in her eyes. “No,” she said slowly once more. “I said I tried to be just your friend, but I can’t.”

Simón couldn’t do anything but just stare at her.

“You—”

So she—

But he—

But she—

He looked away. He felt faint.

“I think I need to sit down.”

Simón practically wobbled over to the couch and just sat there, eyes unseeing, processing his whole life.

Ámbar followed his example and sat next to him, doing the exact same.

She couldn’t understand how this had happened. How could they have both managed to misunderstand each other to this extent? How did they hold an entire conversation while talking about two completely different things? The memories from that day weren’t so clear now after the passage of time, but looking back, it was so obvious. If Simón were doing some declaration to Luna, why would he ask Ámbar what she felt? He should’ve asked Luna first, and then he could’ve maybe gone to Ámbar to tell her how that turned out, seeking emotional support, but not backwards. He should have mentioned Luna. Did he mention Luna? Did he ever say her name? Ámbar couldn’t remember exactly, but with what she had just learned, it was evident that he hadn’t. She just assumed he was talking about her because the stupid song talked about being the ‘best friend.’

And Simón was Ámbar’s best friend. But she had never cried with him about ‘lost loves’— at least not since that first day outside of the venue after Luna and Matteo kissed, and even then, she wasn’t really crying. Luna was the one frequently breaking up with her boyfriend, and Simón was the one who had to console her every time.

But, right, Ámbar had cried to him about other things— Maybe she shouldn’t have taken it so literally. She guessed it was just easier for her to believe he was talking about Luna instead of her because, deep down, she never thought anyone could ever be above her in Simón’s heart.

So, apparently, she had over-glorified Luna’s place in his life and undervalued her own.

Logically, she could understand this. Or at least, her brain was trying very hard to absorb that information, but the emotional shock wasn’t helping. Overall, she just felt very confused. She didn’t even know how to start to navigate this.

She decided that the most obvious was as good a place as any.

“So. You’re not hung up on Luna.”

Simón let out a heavy sigh. “No. And honestly— You should know that.” He turned to her with irritation. “I mean— Haven’t we talked about it before? How it didn’t bother me anymore to see her with Matteo? That I was happy for them?”

“Yeah but, you two had been very close lately, whispering to yourselves, and you were looking at her when you sang,” she said a little shyly, but not lacking in logic. There had been signs, she wasn’t just imagining it all. “I thought maybe all the rest had been you in denial.”

Simón slumped and ran a hand over his face. “I was nervous,” he explained. “I didn’t know how you were going to react, and Luna helped me plan it all, so when the moment came, I looked at her for encouragement. I did look at you, a lot, but by then, you weren’t looking at me.”

Oh. So all the whispering and secret meetings were just to discuss— Oh…

Simón leaned forward, resting his face on his hands. “Oh god…”

“I’m such an idiot,” they both said at the same time.

They whipped their heads toward each other.

“No, this is my fault,” he started saying.

“No, I’m the one who got confused; if I hadn’t thought the song was for Luna…”

“I should’ve just talked to you; the song was unnecessary.”

“No, it was a nice gesture, I would’ve liked it, really.”

Silence descended over them again, and they both looked in another direction, unable to bear it with eye contact. God, this was such a mess...

It was Simón who broke the silence this time.

“So…” He started. “So, what now?”

Ámbar looked down. “I don’t know…” She played with a loose thread on the bottom of her blouse. “I mean… You have Emma and…”

Simón spun toward her rapidly. “Nonono, I… I’m not with Emma,” he assured her. “Yes, there was a date, but… it wasn’t very successful. I couldn’t stop thinking about someone else.”

Their eyes locked, in a way that they never had before in all their years of friendship. Simón’s gaze said so much without having to voice anything. It was a lot so suddenly—

“God, this is so weird,” Ámbar blurted out, completely fracturing the moment. She looked away with a wince. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, I just— I feel like I’m still recalibrating my brain. I have to delete two-weeks-worth of thoughts and…” She brought her hands to her face. “God. I’ve spent all this time trying to heal something when I didn’t have to.” She felt so stupid.

Simón spoke after a moment. “I’m sorry.” Ámbar turned to find him with his gaze down, his face sad and serious. “I truly screwed things up.”

“It was both of us,” she said, placing one hand on his forearm, trying to comfort him.

“No, it was me.” Simón stood up, parting from her touch. He didn’t show his back to her, but he kept his gaze down, his face slightly turned away. “I caused unnecessary pain to both of us. I’m truly sorry.”

He seemed too contrite to even look at her. “Simón…”

“I ruined this, didn’t I?” He flicked his eyes in her direction, and it wasn’t just sadness in his gaze, it was frustration too, anger at himself. “It should’ve been a happy moment,” he looked down again, “and now it’s just weird.”

A happy moment.

It should’ve been a happy moment.

Ámbar’s heart started to race as her mind finally clicked. She went through the memories of the past year. All the longing, all the hoping, all the supposedly unwanted feelings.

They weren’t unwanted. Simón liked her. Simón liked her. It was mutual.

Ámbar got up from the couch and went to him. Simón kept his gaze down, but he looked up when she grabbed one of his hands and held it between both of her own. She caressed it.

“Does it bother you if I hold your hand?”

Simón frowned at her question and her underlying tone of urgency. “No..?” Should it bother him?

Ámbar slid one palm into his own and intertwined their fingers. “And this? Does it bother you if I do this?”

She squeezed his hand and Simón instinctively squeezed back, enjoying the feeling of her fingers between his own. “No, why would it bother me?” He rather liked it. He was confused.

Ámbar, unfortunately, pulled her hand away from his, but before he could even think of grabbing it back, she brought her hands to his chest and ran them up and down, then over his shoulders, and a little down his arms. “And if I told you that I think you’re extremely gorgeous, that I can’t believe how handsome you are, and that it’s been very hard for me not to throw myself at you, does it still not bother you?”

Simón’s brows flew up and a disbelieving laugh burst from his lips. “What?” His heart was racing. It was elation. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really?”

“Does it look like I’m joking?” She said with that same edge of urgency, looking into his eyes now. “Does it bother you or not?”

“Of course not,” Simón laughed again. He couldn’t stop smiling, actually. “It’s extremely flattering.”

Ámbar pulled her hands off his body and brought them to his hair. “I love your hair,” she said, digging her fingers through the brown waves, her voice sounding a little desperate now. She slid her hands lower, her eyes fluttering around different parts of him like she couldn’t stay only on one. “I love your mouth, I love your smile, I love your eyes, your lashes, your neck,” she held it. “I love how funny you are, howgood you are, the talent you have, how pretty you sing, I love how you support me through everything, how you laugh at my jokes, how you get angry at all the injustices of the world, I love how you drool in your sleep, how big you are, how sweet you are— I love absolutely everything about you, even the things I don’t like. Please tell me it doesn’t bother you.”

It took all of Simón’s self-control not to crash his mouth against hers right there and then. He finally understood what she was doing—Saying everything she couldn’t say before, doing everything she couldn’t do before. He could recognize the desperation now because he’d felt it too. Every word out of her mouth reminded him of a thought he’d had about her throughout the past year.

He held her face between his hands. “Ámbar, you could stab me in the heart and I would let you. Nothing you do could ever bother me.” He stroked her cheeks. “I adore you. I love every part of you, from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, from how competitive you are to how soft you can be— If I made a list, I’d never finish.”

Ámbar all but whimpered, closing her eyes and pressing their foreheads together, nuzzling her nose against his.

“I should’ve told you sooner,” Simón lamented. “But I was so scared I would ruin everything and drive you away.”

“I was scared too.” Ámbar drew back and looked at him. “I rathered be your friend than losing you, but I can’t stand a single more second being just your friend.”

“Good,” Simón smiled, “because I have a very strong urge to kiss you that it’s not very friendly.”

Ámbar laughed and Simón reached out to trace the curve of it with his thumb. “Aren’t you worried it might not be as good as we imagined it? After so long?”

Simón’s eyes focused on her mouth. “No.” He kept running his thumb over her lip, pressing slightly against it. “I think it’ll be even better,” he said.

And he pulled his hand away so he could replace it with his mouth.

They kissed with the eager passion of countless days of longing, gaining momentum with each press of their lips. They reached for each other like magnets, pressing their bodies together, holding each other tight. Simón almost lifted Ámbar off the ground from the intensity of it. Ámbar tilted her head in all directions, seeking every single centimeter of his mouth.

It was not enough. It was more than enough. It was maddening. It was relieving.

Simón drowned his fingers in her hair and Ámbar ran her hands all over his back. They’d always wanted to do this.

They drew back with a gasp. Their heads were slightly spinning. They breathed heavily in the space between their mouths, catching their breaths.

Their lips found each other again. Softly. Briefly. In a couple of short, sweet kisses. They’d always wanted to do that too.

Eventually, they pulled away enough to look at each other. A mix of awe and affection warmed them from the inside out. The same thought occurred to them both.

Is it too soon to say I love him/her?

But neither of them wanted to keep themselves from saying something ever again, and being wrapped up in each other’s arms gave them courage. So they opened their mouths at the same time.

“I love you.”

Their eyes widened at the synchronicity.

Then they laughed, and they kissed again between smiles, which was another sweet first.

It was much, much better than they’d imagined. It had been worth every second of waiting to be able to be like this.

Silently, in their hearts, they vowed not to part anymore.

-----------------

The next day, when Ámbar arrived at the Roller after classes like she always did, there was a change.

She still looked as beautiful as always, Simón thought, but the look in her eyes when they fell on him was different. There was a soft smile on her lips as she walked directly to him, one he knew was reflected on his own.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she said back as she reached him, bringing one hand up to cup his face and greet him with a kiss.

More than one gasp was heard around the cafeteria, followed by shocked silence.

No one knew about them except Nico and Pedro, because they lived with Simón and he could not keep the smile off his face when he got back to the loft the previous night. Everyone else was finding out now. Even Simón was a little surprised by the gesture because they hadn’t really discussed how they were going to tell everybody. But, well, he guessed this was one way to do it.

Simón held Ámbar’s hand and smiled at her, happy to bask in this one moment of peace before all the questions started.

Neither expected the first comment to not be a question at all. Nor that the first person to speak would be Juliana. And even less so how utterly exasperated she sounded.

“Finally!”

Ámbar and Simón turned to her with wide eyes.

Then they looked back at each other, and all Simón could offer was a half-shrug and a surprised huff of laughter.

Finally, indeed.

…

#simbar #simbar fic #simbar fanfic #soy luna #soy luna fanfiction #My Writing #short writings #although 'short' is kind of a loose term here because it's 16k words😂#hope you like it!

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