Page 5 of Espíritu

Julian peeled back the foil lid and nearly swooned. “Blessings be upon her!” Inside was a mountain of flautas, tamales stacked like bricks, rice, and enough beans to drown in. Steam curled into the room, holy as incense.

His friends swarmed the tiny table, elbowing for space, grabbing mismatched plates. Flaca made sure everyone had equal amounts of food, including a helping for Rio, who usually waited until the rest of them ate. Most of the time, there was barely anything left for him. Julian hadn’t even noticed until Flaca pointed it out.

They squeezed around the table, shoulders bumping, forks clattering. Dinner was noisy and messy and perfect, the kind of chaos that made Julian feel at peace.

“What all are we doing for Christmas?” Flaca asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “We’re going to Carlos’s annual Christmas party, obviously.”

Every year since Julian’s dad had died, Carlos invited them over to his place for a big Christmas party. It was always huge, filled with heaps of homemade food, lively music, and silly party games. Over the years, the gathering had grown from just Julian and Rio attending to including Omar, Flaca, Rocky, and Luca. Missing it would feel like letting down family.

Rocky perked up immediately. “Ooh, tamales and champurrado? Count me in.”

Omar shrugged. “Might hit up midnight mass. Gotta get on God’s good side before the year ends.”

Julian smirked. “Since when are you religious, oh pee-ous one?”

“It’s pious, chucklefuck,” Omar corrected, hurling a bean at him. “And since I decided I don’t wanna spend eternity stuck with you.”

Julian caught the joke, but his mind was already drifting. He was imagining Yadriel at the party, paper lanterns glowing across his face, smiling like he belonged there—with Julian. The thought made his chest ache in the best way.

He poked at his rice, daydreaming. Yadriel’s face kept surfacing—his grin when he’d handed Julian a new skateboard for his birthday. It was a simple CCS—cheap grip tape, plain wheels, nothing flashy. But to Julian, it was the best gift he’d ever gotten. Yads must have scoured discount codes online for weeks to afford it.

Julian needed something just as awesome to give Yadriel for Christmas. Not because he felt like he owed Yadriel one, but because he wanted to make him happy. To show that Yadriel was worth the effort.

Problem was, his wallet was emptier than his plate.

“Earth to Julian!” Flaca snapped her fingers in front of his face.

His attention splintered again—a dozen tabs open in his head, each one a pop-up mini game. “Oh, uh—yeah. Just thinking about all the homemade cookies I’m gonna eat.”

Rocky narrowed her eyes. “Uh-huh. Sure you weren’t thinking about a certain cemetery boyfriend?”

Julian grinned despite himself. “Shut up!”

“Honestly, he was so scary when he first tried to introduce himself to us,” Luca said, laughing like it seemed silly now.

“Seriously terrifying!” Flaca agreed.

Omar nodded. “He showed up wearing all black, didn’t say a full sentence, and the air literally got colder around him.”

Rocky pointed her spoon at Julian. “He was being super sketchy. Dude came with two pitbulls and a whole-ass knife.”

Julian sputtered. “It’s for protection!”

“Yeah, well, we didn’t know that!” Flaca shot back. “We thought you were hanging out with a murderer!”

“Seriously,” Omar said. “He walked in like, ‘I’m a newer friend of Julian’s,’ and we were like, ‘Oh cool, this is how we die.’”

Julian dropped his face into his hands. “Oh my God, he’s like one of the nicest guys in the world!”

“Obviously,” Rocky said. “But we didn’t know that! We thought he was a serial killer!”

“Who turned out to be very sweet!” Julian protested.

“Yeah, after we realized he wasn’t gonna stab us,” Omar added.

Flaca shrugged. “It was a fifty-fifty shot.”

The table erupted in laughter.