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Shit, she noticed. “I can explain,” I say, trying to collect my thoughts to figure out a way to tell my sister I’m suddenly obsessed with her best friend.
“You better,” she spits. “Just because we want to go to a dance, doesn’t give you the right to go all Hulk on us. We have a right to date too, Jace.”
Even though she’s pissed as hell, I’m relieved that she doesn’t suspect anything. “Jaz, I just want you two to be safe.” And never, ever date.
Her face softens. “I know, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions. You’ve dated a lot of girls, and have I said anything other than you’re disgusting?” she smirks.
“I know.” I smile and nudge her with my elbow. “It’s going to take me some time, so bear with me.”
“I guess I still love you.” She winks. “So, what do you want for dinner?”
“Tacos?”
“Of course.”
“You know how I feel about tacos, Jaz.” I rub my stomach.
“I know, I know. Last food on earth. I remember.”
“Mmhmm. Love of my life.” Rubbing my stomach, I tuck my sister under my arm and head home to start dinner.
~~~~~
After dinner, I tell Jasmine I’ll finish up the dishes so she can do the rest of her homework. When I finish and pass her door on the way to mine, I can hear her giggling over the phone. The tone of her voice lets me know it’s Marisol. Not that I’m spying on my sister, but I’m curious what Marisol talks with her about, so I lean against the wall outside her door.
“Mare! I can’t believe you set us up.” The first words I hear are the last one’s I want coming out of my sister’s mouth. “What do you think Jace and Alex will do when they find out?” I’d give anything to hear Marisol’s response. “The guys on Jace’s team always end up canceling. I don’t know if I can handle that kind of rejection right now.” Her words pierce my heart, making me realize that even though I’m only trying to protect her from douches like me and Alex, I’ve also been embarrassing her. “Are you excited about touring campus this weekend?” Her last question perks my interest.
I continue to listen long enough to know that interpreting a one-sided conversation is ridiculously hard and almost impossible. After cutting my losses and making my way to my room, I relax on my bed and call Alex to set some new standards.
“Sí?” He grunts.
“Hey, bro. You hear anything about dating plans the girls have?”
“What plans?” Alex’s voice drops low, wondering what assholes we’ll have to deal with next. It’s not that we don’t want them to date… okay, we don’t want them to date, but it’s the type of guys that are coming at them. Most want to prove a point and put Alex and me in our place by bragging about their lay with our sisters. There’re quite a few people who are jealous of our reign over the school and they’ll do anything to knock us down a peg. We’ll never let that happen. At least not at their expense. We could sit down and have a decent conversation with the girls and they’d likely understand, but pissing them off is much more fun.
“They have dates.” This is where we normally set up a plan to get rid of them. “But before you get all ‘What’s the plan’ on me, I think we should let them go.”
“Are you fucking loco, amigo? Since when do we allow those assholes near the girls?” Alex is the one who first overheard Shane talking in the locker room about banging Jasmine as a challenge he and another teammate concocted. Luckily, he was able to catch me in the gym before they left, giving us the chance to remind them who was in charge.
“Since I overheard Jaz on the phone with Mare.” My words silence him.
After a pause, he asks, “what did she say?”
“It was hard to understand since I only heard one side of the conversation, but Jaz insinuated that another bout of rejection may be too much for her to handle. The last thing I want is to add additional pressure, so let’s loosen the reins. Oh, and they know we scare their dates off.” An evil chuckle escapes, enjoying their annoyance; we drive them crazy. If only they knew the real reason behind our protection.
Alex huffs his agreement. “It’s cool, as long as we keep our eyes on them. Who are they going out with?”
“I didn’t get the names, but I will.”
“Good.”
“What are you doing the rest of the day?” His absence is increasing weekly.
“Nada. Probably hanging with Carlos. You want to roll with us?”
Carlos is rarely in class, and when he graces the school with his presence, he’s covered in bruises. He’s a recruiter for one of the biker gangs in the area, but I hope Alex is smart enough to stay away from that scene.
“Nah, man. I’m going to get caught up with my homework. Put it off one too many times this week. Now it’s piling up.”
