#simbar fanfiction

[hide-in-imagination]

Paris & a Promise | Simbar Oneshot

The studio was pristine and cozy, with bright colors on the walls, white leather chairs, one in front of the other, and a big screen between them on the far wall so that the people in the audience, and of course, the host and guest occupying the two chairs, could see pictures and videos of the topic that was being discussed.

Behind the three cameras pointing at the studio (one on the guest, one on the host, and one holding a general view of everything), the floor manager, a woman in her thirties with a headset to hear and communicate the director’s orders, made a signal to the host, a charismatic man on his forties with black hair, wearing a suit and tie. In the guest chair in front of him, the blonde young woman, wearing a tasteful long-sleeve blouse and a mini skirt, listened to the countdown overhead until the ‘On Air’ sign lighted up anew, followed by a short rendition of the show’s theme song, and applause from the audience on their seats.

“Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! We are here live with Ámbar Smith,” the host resumed the show with a big smile, facing the camera and then focusing on his guest. “Ámbar, once again, thank you so much for coming to our show. I hope you’re having as good a time as we are, but if not, do not worry, your torment is almost over now.”

Ámbar laughed along with the audience.

“Noo, don’t say that, of course I’m having a good time, I’m always happy to be here.”

“I’m so glad to hear that. Now,” the host leaned forward, “I’m sorry for deviating from your achievements but, we simply can not let you leave without talking about—” he pointed at her with his hand, “that huge rock weighing on your finger right now.” The audience started screaming. “Poor thing, she can’t even move her hand— Look how she keeps it on the armrest! Unbelievable!”

The audience whooped and laughed while Ámbar giggled, her right hand coming up to try and hide her grin and blushing cheeks.

“Ámbar, my sincerest congratulations on your engagement,” the host said now in earnest as the audience quieted down.

“Thank you so much.” The audience cheered again, stealing another giddy smile from her.

“Now, I know everyone already knows this, but in case anyone’s been living under a rock these last few years, you’ve been dating the Roller Band’s guitarist and vocalist Simón Álvarez for quite a few years now.” A picture of the couple posing together at a red carpet appeared on the big screen of the studio.

“Six years, yeah,” Ámbar said with a smile.  

“Six whole years, and he finally proposed two weeks ago, as we can see in this picture you two posted on Instagram, showing off the ring.”

A screenshot of their Instagram post showed on the screen. The photo depicted their hands together, Ámbar’s hand over Simón’s turned-up palm, the thick diamond ring front and center, shining on her finger, while the background showed an orange and red sky, with the Eiffel Tower blurry but visible in the distance. 

The audience cheered and a warm smile curled Ámbar’s lips at the photo.

The host looked at her again. “Tell me, Ámbar, did you see it coming? Did you know he was going to do it or did it take you by surprise?”

Ámbar made a complicated face. “Um, I kind of saw it coming, but no, not really,” she broke off with a laugh.

The host looked at her with intrigue. “What do you mean? Like, you did and then you didn’t? What’s the story?”

“Well. We were in Europe because the Roller Band was touring there, and they had stops in different cities, and Simón was like ‘You should come with me, you could visit Paris’ blah blah blah, so I joined them. He knows that Paris is my favorite city in the world, I’ve always loved it— In fact, I spent some months there when I was in university, as part of an exchange program for six months, and I just have very good memories of the city in general. So anyway, that got me thinking, you know… We’re going to be in Paris…” She started hinting. “He invited me to join… We’ve been dating for 6 years… So, on that front, I did have my suspicions, but I just— The timing didn’t make sense to me,” she said. “That was the problem, that’s what threw me off.” 

“How so?”

“Because we were only staying in Paris for one day,” she emphasized. “The guys were scheduled to arrive in the morning at the hotel, then they had their soundcheck in the afternoon, and then their concert, and that same night we had to go to Italy because they had their concert there the next day. So I was like… Yeah, no. No way.” She laughed. “Like, it was a lot in less than 24 hours. How could he even find the time for it? It’s insane.”

“He totally got you then.”

“He did. It took me completely by surprise, it was so sweet.”  

“It was like in some sort of balcony, right?” The host checked. “I mean, I remember from the photos you two posted— Those ones.”

New photos appeared on the screen. It was two selfies of the two of them standing close together on a black iron balcony with a view of the sunset, the city of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower. They were taken by Simón, one of his arms around Ámbar while the other extended beyond the frame, holding the phone. In one of them, they were both grinning brightly at the camera, Ámbar showing off the ring, her eyes glistening with emotion. The second was very similar to the first, probably taken seconds apart from each other, except in that one Simón wasn’t looking at the camera but kissing Ámbar’s cheek with his eyes closed. Ámbar was still grinning and showing off the ring like in the first picture, but she had her eyes closed in that one too, basking in the love. 

“Yeah, that’s the balcony of the hotel room we were staying at,” Ámbar answered, pointing at the screen. “Simón specifically looked for one that had a view of the Eiffel Tower for us.”

“He had it all planned out,” the host said, impressed.

“Everything,” Ámbar confirmed. “From the very first second. Cause— Look. This is how it all went down.” She leaned forward in her seat, entering story-telling mode, and the host leaned forward as well, giving her all of his attention. “We arrived at around 11 am in Spain. The first thing we did was sleep because we were all dead on our feet, and then around two, Simón asked me if I wanted to go out to eat, and I was like ‘Yeah, sure’, so we went to this restaurant I recommended to him, I knew it from my many trips to Paris, and we just, you know, had our meal, talked, walked around the city for a little bit after— Very normal stuff. Then, Simón had to go to his soundcheck, so he left, and I just kept walking around ‘cause, you know, I was like ‘I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back, better make the best of it now.’”

“Of course.”

“And that was all I was planning to do for the rest of the day really, but then, like an hour or so later, I get a call from Simón like ‘Hey, I’m done with the soundcheck, I’m going back to the hotel now, let’s meet up there’, and I was like… Why didn’t he just stay in the arena?” She said, bemused. “His concert was like in two hours, it would’ve made more sense. But anyway. I got back to the hotel, and I asked him how the soundcheck went, and he was like ‘Well, very well, everything good’— Which was a complete and total lie, by the way,” she pointed out, looking at the audience.

“What do you mean ‘lie’?” The host asked with surprise.

“He never went to the soundcheck,” Ámbar said. “I only found out about it later. The guys went to the soundcheck by themselves, Simón never joined them.”

“Then what was he doing?”

“I’m getting there,” she said. “So, we met at the hotel, and Simón was like ‘Hey, so, I only have like an hour and a half before I need to leave but, what do say if we order room service and eat a little something before I leave?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds nice.’ So we sat at a little table there on the balcony, and we were just, you know, having like a regular dinner, when suddenly he says: ‘My love. I didn’t want to tell you before, but I have a surprise for you.’ And I was like.” Ámbar made a face of curiosity. “‘What?’ And the very instant— I have this so ingrained in my mind— the very instant the sun started setting, he got down on one knee.”

“Oh my god.” The audience cheered and clapped, joining the host’s excitement. “That’s crazy! So, he had it all timed down to the second.”

“He did! He totally did. I couldn’t believe it. And then he, you know, started saying all these beautifulthings, and once the shock wore off, I just started crying,” she laughed a little bit. “And just, you know, I said yes, obviously.”

The audience screamed. Ámbar laughed, radiantly happy, the camera capturing the emotion in her eyes. “Then we hugged and it was very sweet. I really couldn’t have imagined it a better way; it was perfect.”

“And then you two went to celebrate, right? We’ve got some pictures of you on a rooftop.”

“Yeah! That was the craziest part! We had just gotten engaged and Simón was like ‘I’ve got another surprise for you’ and he led me to the hotel’s rooftop, and the whole time I’m thinking, ‘What now?!’ Like, what else had this guy planned? Fireworks? I genuinely couldn’t put it past him by this point. And then we got to the rooftop, and my whole family was there.” The audience went aww. “With our closest friends too; it was like fifteen people up there. And I was like— ‘What are you all doing here?!’” The audience laughed. “‘When did you get here?!’ It was insane!”

“Simón got them all there without you knowing?” The host expressed with awe.  

“No one told me anything! I genuinely don’t know how they managed to keep it from me,” Ámbar said with disbelief. “And the rooftop was decorated with balloons, flowers, there was food— Well, you’ve got the photos there.” She pointed to the screen where the pictures from her Instagram were displaying. “So, like, it was amazing. It was truly amazing, and so beautiful. And our friends started hugging us and giving us their congratulations, and… What got to me the most was that, well, my mom couldn’t go,” she started explaining. “I don’t speak about her a lot publicly but, basically, she’s got a certain degree of blindness, so it’s complicated for her to move around on her own, she has to be accompanied— And honestly, good for her that she didn’t go, I would’ve felt terrible if she had made that huge trip just for me. But she did send me a video congratulating me. I watched it on a tablet. And I just… Well, if I had already cried, that was the moment I finished ruining my makeup.” The audience laughed with her. “But it was sweet. It was all very sweet and moving and just amazing. I had a very good time there with my friends and family until we had to leave.” 

“Sounds wonderful.” The host had a sweet smile on his face. “I bet it was a very treasured moment for you two, for your family, your friends—I have a question though,” he said, more serious now, “that I imagine all of us are wondering as well— What about the concert?”

Ámbar nodded like she knew exactly what he meant. “Yeah, you see, that’s the funniest part! Cause like— Just imagine: Simón organized this whole thing— When he was supposed to be at the soundcheck, by the way; he never did that, he was on the rooftop with everyone else getting everything ready— and in the end, he just like, stayed for half an hour and then he left.” The audience laughed. “Because he had his concert! You know?” She said over the noise. “So like. It was crazy. It was really crazy, he totally rushed to the arena. He must’ve put on his outfit and the microphone in record time, the poor thing. But he always tells me that it was worth it. So.” Ámbar shrugged with a little smile.

The audience went aww again.

A mischievous glint appeared in the host’s eyes. “Yeah, he looked very excited the night of the concert. There was even this video that went viral— You saw it, right?”

“I’ve seen many,” she deadpanned, nodding her head.

“Well, here we’ve got the one that made the most headlines on the internet; a little video posted by a fan.” A video of Simón taking the stage started playing on the studio’s big screen on mute. It was a vertical video, filmed from up close, maybe from the fifth row, or maybe using a lot of zoom. “This is the same night you were telling us about, when the Roller Band was playing at the arena.”

The volume went up and the screams of the crowd could be heard as Simón walked up to the front of the stage where a microphone stand was waiting. He had his guitar hanging from his shoulder, ready to play. For everyone watching at home, the video took the whole screen of the TV, replacing the image of the studio. 

“Paris, how are you doing tonight?!”

The crowd went wild in response to Simón.

Simón laughed a little and started talking again, so the crowd went quiet to be able to hear him. “You know, I’m the exact same way as you, guys, like, exactly. Because this next song,” he started leisurely playing the guitar as he talked, not a melody but just a simple, soft up and down of his hand on the strings, “is one I wrote about a very special someone to me, many years ago now. And since then, I’ve had the fortune, the pleasure, the utter privilege of having this gorgeous, amazing woman by my side. And this night is very special, Paris, because… This very, very night…” He started laughing and had to take a step back, unable to contain his joy. The crowd was screaming. Simón walked up to the microphone again and yelled out ecstatically.

“SHE SAID ‘YES’!!!!”

Simón began strumming the guitar as the rest of the band joined in, playing together the intro of ‘Tiempo de Amor.’

The studio came back on screen and the video continued rolling in a lower volume as Simón started singing the song, eventually going mute, and then pausing altogether. The audience in the studio was screaming excitedly.

“You do realize that because of this 15 thousand people knew about it before many of our relatives and acquaintances, right?” Ámbar told the host, making everyone laugh again.

“I can just picture them seeing this on Twitter or Tiktok and calling you up like ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED?’” The host acted out.

“It happened with more than one person,” Ámbar declared. The audience laughed.

“Alright but, putting all of that aside, the important thing is that you two had this magical moment and now you’re going to take this next step together,” the host moved the narrative along. “Tell me, have you set a date yet for the ceremony?”

“We don’t have an exact date yet, but the idea is to have a Spring wedding next year.”  

“Love that. So, that means you’ve got plenty of time to plan for the event then. I imagine you’ll need it. Are you planning for a big party?”  

“We’ll see,” Ámbar replied. “We’re still deciding whether we wanna do this biiig, over the top wedding or just a small ceremony with our closest friends and family. But, whatever we end up choosing, I think the most important thing is just, our promise to always be together. So,” a serene smile graced her lips, “the rest is just a complement to that and we’ll figure it out as we go.”

“That’s beautiful,” the host said. “Seriously, I’m so happy for you two, congratulations— Give it up for Ámbar Smith, ladies and gentlemen!”

The audience went wild.

“Thank you so much for being here with us today, Ámbar,” the host told her, starting to wrap up.

“Thank you for having me, it was lovely,” she replied with a smile.

The host turned to face the camera and the shot focused on him. “And to everyone watching us at home, you’ll want to stick around because our next guest is an artist who’s been trending all over social media, not only in Spain but in all parts of the world. We’ll be right back!”

…

..

.

. * ⋆ . · 　.╰──────༺♡༻──────╯. * * . 　 *

Okay so, originally, I had this idea in the context of my Actress!Ámbar x Musician!Simón AU. It was going to be, like, a second chapter where I mixed different interviews, some of Simón, some of Ámbar, as a way to tell how their relationship developed after the ending of chapter one. But then I thought—Why limit it to just that one context? I really loved the idea I came up with for this proposal, so I wanted it to fit as many different worlds as possible, especially canon for those who aren’t such big fans of AUs, so— Here it is! I really hope you liked it. It’s very different from everything I’ve written before in terms of format, but that’s precisely why it was so much fun to write. What would you even call this type of POV? Second Person or something? Sdfkjn. I don’t know, I don’t remember much of my high school lessons; it’s been too many years.

And speaking of years. It's been 6 years now since the show ended and this proposal took place 6 years into their relationship, so I think it would be sweet to imagine that Simón and Ámbar are engaged right now as we speak and that they’ll be getting married next year in 2025 <3

Our babies have grown up, and so have we.

See you all next time. – C

[countessofravenclaw]

Look at my new fic covers!!

I made some new covers for upcoming fics

Please guess what these are gonna be about

[lastshadeofme]

A Simbar fic featuring full Prince Charming Simón and wonderful mother Ámbar yay!

(Probably one of the best and longest work I’ve written so far)

[mylutteoheart]

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.

[clockwork-fayz]

The Most Perfect Proposal Chapter 3 (SIMBAR)

Chapter One        Chapter Two         Ao3

“Mis amigos. I need your help. Tomorrow I am taking Ambár to dinner and then for a walk around the park where I first kissed her. And I am going to ask her to marry me. Will you help me make it work?”

“ ¡Órale!” Luna shouted, “¡Si claro, we would love to help! Right Matteo? This is so exciting, I cannot believe that it is finally happening! Can you believe it Matteo? ”

Matteo tried to stifle his laugh and looked surprised. “I can’t!

Simón and Matteo had a lengthy argument about Simón telling Luna about the proposal. Matteo wanted to keep everything a secret from all of the girls, and to a certain extent Simón agreed, but Luna was his best friend. She would kill him if he didn’t tell her he was going to propose to Ambár. 

“You can’t say anything to her though, ok Luna?”

“I promise I won’t!” Luna squealed, “This is going to be so much fun!” 

The following afternoon, Matteo and Luna hauled all the supplies that Simón had provided for the proposal. 

“Dios mio, how many candles did Simón think he needed?” Matteo asked, breaking a sweat at carrying the heavy bag. 

“As many to light up this whole path!” Luna exclaimed, bouncing beside him carrying the paper lanterns. “This is going to be so romantic looking!” 

“This is going to be a fire hazard is what it’s going to be,” Matteo grumbled. 

Luna ignored the comment and ran to the bench under the tree where the proposal was to happen. 

“Simón really did scout out the perfect place! We just need to figure out how to get these into the tree.”

“Well we have exactly two hours,” Matteo said, looking at his watch. “Hope you can climb trees Luna.”

They found out quickly that they should have brought a ladder instead. Climbing the tree was simply not going to work. Instead, Luna climbed up onto Matteo's shoulders and she strung them the best she could. Then they wrapped the trunk with string lights. 

Afterwards they set out the candles, 36 of them to be exact. They lined them along the path, waiting to light them until the last moment so they didn’t run low. Luna then had a ball throwing rose petals along the path and around the bench. 

“Are you la niña de las flores?” Matteo laughed. 

“I never got to be one as a little girl,” Luna replied, matter of factly. 

“Maybe Simón and Ambár will let you be theirs,” Matteo joked. “You’d be amazing at it.” 

“I would kill it,” Luna agreed, “We have forty five minutes, let’s figure out the camera settings before we light the candles.”

They sat on the bench arguing over the camera settings, unaware that the sun was quickly setting, bringing the darkness around them. Luna suddenly sat up straight, grabbing Matteo’s arm to look at the time.

“Matteo! They will be here in 10 minutes! We have to light the candles!”

Each of them grabbed a lighter, taking a side of the path to light and racing to see who could get done the fastest. Luna won, Matteo claiming that cheated. 

“Okay, okay. Go plug in the tree Matteo and I am going to grab Simón's guitar from the car.” Luna sprinted off, leaving Matteo to wrangle the extension cords over to the electrical outlet. When Luna came back she gasped. 

Matteo was jogging back, stopping when he saw Luna frozen in amazement. 

Matteo whistled. “I think we missed our calling Luna. We should have been decorators.” 

Luna gave him a high five. “Seriously, we should be getting paid.” Luna went and rested the guitar on the bench and the look was complete. 

Matteo grabbed her hand. “Let’s go hide in the bushes.” 

……

While Luna and Matteo were decorating, Simón was nervously eating dinner with Ambár at a restaurant not so far away. Simón always thought that Ambár was beautiful, but tonight she was dressed to the nines. She was wearing a white dress with silver earrings and a necklace. He couldn’t help but think that the ring in his pocket would compliment the look. 

Ambár could tell that Simón was nervous about something. His hand shook when he took a sip of the wine. He nervously smiled at her when she asked what was wrong. 

“Nothing, my love. I am enjoying my time with my beautiful company.”

 The thought crossed Ambár’s mind that this could be the night, the night that he finally proposed to her after the last several years of dating. But she didn’t want to get her hopes up so she brushed the thought off. But they came back after dinner when Simón said “Let’s go for a walk.” 

“A walk? It’s dark outside,” Ambár laughed. But Simón took her hand and kissed it. 

“Trust me, mi amor. Let’s go for a walk.”

Ambár gave him a skeptical look but let him lead her into the night. After walking a ways, Ambár figured out where they were going.

“We are walking to the park where you first kissed me. Simón , what are you planning?”

He gave her a wink and said nothing. Her questions were soon answered when twinkling lights appeared ahead. 

The path ahead was illuminated with the candlelight. The warm glow trailed to the tree, lit up with strings of lights and lanterns. Ambár saw Simón’s guitar resting on the bench below the tree and she turned to him. 

“Simón, what is all of this?” Ambár asked. Her eyes were wide, sparkling as she looked at her boyfriend. Simón thought he could look into those eyes forever. He kissed her on the cheek, taking her hand and leading her down the path. She walked closely to him, constantly glancing over to see that he was watching her. 

“I wrote you a song,” Simón said when they were under the tree, letting go of her hand and picking up his guitar. Ambár sat on the bench, her gaze never leaving the man in front of her. He sat down beside her, and started to strum. 

“I hope you like it,” he said, before he started to croon to her. 

“Creo en tu amor, por mi

Sólo atrévete, y sigueme hasta el fin 

Y ya te encontré, tal dulce tú te ves

Nunca pensé que tueras tú lo que siempre esperé”

Tears started to come to Ambár’s eyes. She wiped one away with her shaking fingers as she let the sound of Simón’s voice engulf her. 

“Eramos niños buscando amor 

Sin saber sentirlo 

Pero Ahora No renunciaré

Besamé lento amor

Tengo tú corazón

El mio en tus nanos ya está”

Simón’s eyes started to tear up as he watched Ambár listening to him. He tried to put everything he felt into his voice. Every word of love he thought, every spark of joy that she gave him, every beat of his heart that she made happen. 

“Bailaré

En la oscuridad, Abrazandote 

Descalzos al bailar, Nuestra favorita ya sono 

Dices que te ves tañ mal 

Yo susurré y dÿe 

Eres tan bella

Y la más Perfecta amor” 

He put the guitar down and took Ambár’s hands, getting down on his knee in front of her. 

“Ambár. Years ago we met under less than ideal circumstances. I was living in the warehouse in your backyard, we were not on the best of terms. So much has happened since then. We have both changed as people for the better. You are so full of love Ambár, I see the way you care for our friends and for the rink and it fills me with so much joy and happiness. I cherish every minute that I spend with you and I want to spend every moment with you for the rest of our lives.”

Simón let go of her hands so that he could reach into his pocket and pull out the small black box. 

“Ambár Smith. ¿Te casarás conmigo?” 

Ambár nodded tearfully, grabbing Simón's face in her hands and kissing him. 

“Si, a million times yes Simón.” 

Simón's smile lit up the night as he took the ring out of the box and slipped it on Ambár’s finger. She gasped, looking at it for the first time. The teardrop shape diamond outlined by tiny diamonds sparkled. Pearls adorned the top of the diamond, giving it a crowned look. 

“It’s beautiful Simón,” Ambár said, leaning to kiss Simón again. 

“It came all the way from México just for you mi amor.” 

Simón sat on the bench next to his fiance, Ambár leaning on his shoulder admiring the ring.  

“I have to warn you, Luna and Matteo are somewhere in the bushes taking pictures.” 

Ambár gave a little laugh. “Perfect.” She looked up at Simón, He kissed her head. “Of course my love.” And he grabbed his guitar. 

[still-love-the-moon]

Guess who just upload her first Simbar fanfiction on wattpad? Yeah your favorite Nico-slayer.

Wrong Number

[dandelion-girl]

I hate you, I love you - Simbar

So one person asked for Simon’s POV and another asked for Ámbar’s so there is a bit of both, though I wanted this one to have some of Ámbar’s feeling, so her part is bigger. You will see.

Hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. It’s always nice to know what you are thinking. Even if it’s something you want to suggest, if its a critic, go for it.

Proofread but you see any mistakes, don’t hesitate telling me! Enjoy!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

Part 5

 Simón’s POV

When I pull into the driveway of the mansion, I realize Ámbar is asleep. She looks so peaceful, so calm, nothing like the boiling Ámbar who was screaming at me just 10 minutes ago. Sleeping Ámbar is different from any other Ámbar. There is no evil in her face, no plotting, no worrying about being the best or anything like that. She would look like an angel, if it weren’t for the consequences of the rain. Which makes me remember I can’t stay here looking at her. I need to wake her and take her inside. She needs a tea and a warm bath as soon as possible, or at least to get out of her wet clothes.

I take my hand to her face, caressing her cheek, trying to wake her smoothly. No response. I lean closer to her, stroking the wet locks from her face and whisper “Ámbar we are here…”

She smiles still asleep, then blinks and opens her eyes. So beautiful and blue. Her peaceful features turn into confused ones while she returns to a sitting position.

“Hey… We arrived the mansion. Let’s get you inside.” I whisper.

She shakes her head, probably clearing her thoughts and embraces herself with my coat, then taking her hand to the zipper.

“No, no… Keep it until we get inside, okay?” She nods, agreeing.

“Thank you…” She agrees, her voice weak and rusty. She looks outside and then turns quickly to me.

“Can you.. Uh… Forget it…”

“What is it, Ámbar?” I ask, placing my hand in her shoulder but quickly retracting it.

“I don’t want them to see me like this...” She admits looking down and sniffs.

I chuckle and her eyes come back to my face. “I knew it… Just let me…” She raises her eyebrows, attitude filling her whole self. She didn’t like my reaction and places her hand on the door knob. I grab her other hand.

“Ámbar, don’t take me wrong. I wasn’t laughing at you; I was just laughing because you are being silly! You don’t, I mean you can’t be perfect all the time! And those people won’t judge you for being caught up with the rain…”

She shrugs and nods. “You are right. I should probably get going. Thanks for bringing me.” She sadly smiles. I frown and raise my eyebrows as well. “Oh no, Ms. Ámbar not so fast! I am personally taking you inside and making sure you don’t do anything else stupid.”

She smirks and this time her smile reaches her eyes. She reaches for the door knob again. “No! Wait!” I exclaim making her freeze in her place.

I grab the umbrella from the back seat and jump outside, running to the passenger door.

I open it and a radiant smile brightens up her face.

She steps outside and gets under the umbrella with me. I pick up her bag and she silently thanks me.

I made sure not to park far from the door so in a matter of seconds we are there.

 Ámbar’s POV

 I pick the bag from Simón and unzip one of the pockets, taking the keys out. I open the door and Simón follows me inside. Luna who is sitting on the couch turns to us.

“Ámbar!? Simón!?” She exclaims and gets up, heading towards us.

“Oh My… You are soaking wet!” She states, covering her mouth with her hands in surprise. “What happened to you guys?”

“I found her when I was driving home and gave her a lift.” Simón replies, shrugging. He acts like it was no big deal, as if it was as simple as he states.

Monica and Miguel come out of the kitchen as well. “Luna who’s here? Oh… Ms Ámbar!? What happened?” Monica asks, mimicking her daughter’s reaction.

I sigh not having much patient for any of this and sit on the couch, resting my head in its arm.

I hear Simón talking to Luna’s parents, but I can’t really focus. My mind keeps replaying all that happened until us arriving here. He was nice to me. Well a strange kind of nice, he was obviously still angry at me and told some pretty hurtful things, but overall it seemed like he genuinely wanted to help me. Was it my impression? Was it pitty? Was it really care? What was it? And how did he find me? And when did he start driving?

So many questions and I had zero strength to find answers for them. I just wanted things to go back to when it was just the two of us and no problems… But being honest to myself, that only lasted a day… The day of our first date. The day of our first (and only) kiss.

I close my eyes and sigh. Before Simón found me, I had been walking for about 15 minutes. I was now used to taking myself around the city, simply by skating or walking there. I didn’t want or enjoy using of our driver, it made me lose some freedom I wasn’t willing to let go of. So, when it started raining I decided, I would figure myself out of the situation. But things got out of control and before I knew it, I was lost in the middle of the rain, not really knowing where to take shelter. Until Simon arrived.

I feel a blanket being thrown over me and open my eyes, by my side is Alfredo who is smiling down at me. “This is to keep you warm, child. A tea will be right out for you and I already asked Carolina to prepare you a bath!”

I blink and realize I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t notice when all of this was done. I sit, adjusting the blanket over my legs. Just then, Simón kneels in front of me with a fuming cup in his hands.

“Here, Ámbar. Monica made a tea for you. I told her to make a green tea with lemon. I know you like it. Please don’t change it…”

I take the cup from his hands and take a sip. It tastes like liquid paradise. I couldn’t care less about whatever flavour it was. It’s the best feeling in the world, compared to my wet clothes which are now more uncomfortable than ever.

Simón smiles slightly and gets up. “Drink it all! Then you take a bath and you will be like new in no time. Monica’s teas are miraculous! I already asked Luna to grab some clean clothes from your room, than she can leave them at the bathroom.”

I almost choke with his words and start coughing, shaking my head in the process. “No, no! Tell her not to get in my room!” I am finally able to say.

“But why? Do you want someone else to grab them for you?” Luna asks from the stairs and I cough again. “Do you want me to get the clothes for you?” Alfredo asks.

“It’s just my room is really messy. I don’t want you to see it like that. I will do it myself!” I announce, finishing the drink, then I get up, putting the cup down.

Alfredo stands up as well and places his hands in my shoulders. “Oh… my dear grand-child… Look at you! It’s never a good idea to play in the rain! I know it can be funny but Mother nature as its pranks!” He says winking at me. I half smile and nod agreeing. The words “grand-child” warming my heart.

I turn to Simón. “Well, thank you so much for bringing me here and assuring I was fine. I am sure it must have been a bit hard for you. Which I get. Now I am going upstairs. Please thank Monica for me. See you tomorrow.” I state in my “everything is awesome” usual fake tone, heading as fast as I could upstairs and silently thanking Luna on the way.

There are two reason why I left the room so quickly: one, I really didn’t want anyone in my bedroom. After everything that happened with Luna, only Carolina has seen it and I asked her to be quiet about whatever she saw. The others days when I left I would make sure to lock the room so no one could visit it, especially not Luna or Simón on their little trips. Two, I didn’t want to return Simón’s coat, so I knew distracting him with something or simple vanishing, would assure me a few more hours with it. I would probably have to return it tomorrow because that’s how frequently I know he comes here, which will hurt me much more than if I did now or in the car as I had first planned, but sometimes you have to endure the pain to prolong the happiness a little while longer…

I open the bathroom’s door which is right next to my room and find Carolina is still there.

“Ms. Ámbar. Your bath is set. Let me know if you need anything else.” She states, taking a quick look at me.

“Thanks, Carolina! I think I am fine for now!”

She leaves the bathroom closing the door behind her. I sigh and turn to the mirror, taking in the image of myself. It’s not as bad as I though it would me. My eyeliner is a bit blurred, making it look like I haven’t slept in days, which isn’t far from the thruth. My hair is curlier than usual, after being dried but the car’s heat. Simon’s blue coat is so big it reaches my knees and under it my dress is glued to my skin.

I take off the clothes and climb inside the bathtub.

I have always enjoyed long baths, but today I wasn’t up for it. I wanted to get over with this so I could climb inside my bed and wrap my blankets around me. So in a few minutes I am done. I put on my bathrobe and sit in from of the mirror, removing the rest of the makeup and combing my hair.

I sneeze twice in a row and realize Simon’s predictions were more than right. I was getting sick. Something I think only happened to me twice in my entire life. Once when I was a kid and got a flu after staying outside practicing to make sure my coreo was perfect for my first ever competition, but it was so cold your breath produced smoke; and one time when I got food poisoning because the new employee forgot to check the expiring date. However, I knew it was far from pleasant and it made you weak. I would have to deal with the consequences either way.

I open my bedroom’s door, taking Simón’s coat with me. It’s only 6 pm but I am feeling super tired and don’t really want to put on some “day clothes”. So I take out one of my nightgowns, dressing the coat on top of it.

I hop on bed and cuddle, taking in everything that this provides. Simón is right, my jacket is ridiculous, espeacilly when compared to this fufly, cozy coat of his. And what’s best? It smells like him. If I close my eyes and imagine strongly enough, it almost feels like he is the one hugging me. Like his strong, protective arms are around me, making me feel safe and cared about. I smile, replaying some memories in my head. When it reaches bad memories, I open my eyes. “No, Ámbar… Just stop…”

This might have been a one time thing, this friendliness of Simón. Tomorrow he might be back to his usual cold, and distant figure with me, but today, today I want to keep the worried and bossy Simón in my head. I wanted to remember the good memories. The kisses in the hand, the beautiful words, the compliments, the hugs, the kiss. All of which once made me change and feel like I was wanted. So I turn off the lighs and wrap his coat tighter around me. Today I want to fall asleep thinking that for once, I am not alone.

[fangirlelliethings]

A little something to start with...

Hello! Um so.. this is my first Simbar fic ever so please don’t judge me too hard 😅I tried okay?😁 I hope you’ll enjoy it, you can give me some feedback on what sucked and in what I could get better🤷🏻‍♀️ or just your opinion would be fine. I want to thank my twinnie Emma @deliverygirlx for giving me advices through out the writing process and for proofreading. I love you❤️ and then one big THANK YOU to the squad (you know who you are❤️) for encouraging me to write🙈 It means a lot.💕 I lava you, girls!!❤️❤️ Okay I’m done now, you can start reading

Ambar was sitting on her bed, staring at nothing and thinking about the Prom, which is coming closer and closer. It’s basically in a week and she still doesn’t have a date! I mean, she could ask any boy to go with her, it’s easy like that… except she doesn’t want to. Everytime she imagine dancing with a boy at her prom, she sees a cute little smile and soft brown eyes that are looking at her gently and.. cling . She jumps a little and blinks from her daydreaming. STOP! She can’t think like that! No. No, no, no, no! She takes her phone to look who’s writing her and then rolls her eyes at the message.. Jazmín: S.O.S.!! I need your advice immidiately! Roller in 20 minutes! It’s SUPER SUPER IMPORTANT!!

Twenty minutes later she arrives at the Roller. Before she enters, she suddenly becomes nervous and starts mumbling. “Please don’t be here. Please don’t be here… okay Ambar. Breathe in and breathe out. What is wrong with you??” She puts on her confident face and enters the Roller. The first thing she does is look around carefully and when she doesn’t see him, she feels relieved.. but disappointed at the same time. She spots her friends and goes to sit down with them. “So! What is it Jazmín?” she says instead of greeting them. “Guess. You have one try..” says Delfi and rolls her eyes. “I’m inviting Simon to prom and I need your advice how to do it in the most romantic way!!!” says Jazmín, almost jumping on her chair. “What?” she stares at her in surprise, feeling like someone just punch her in the stomach with all their strength. “What? Ambar! Concentrate please! This is super SUPER important okay? I need all of your ideas! So I was thinking: Simón coming to the Jam&Roller in the morning to work. Dark everywhere and then suddenly.. BAM! The lights are on and I will jump up from a huge box with a huge sign that will say: ‘PROM?’ BUT!! But!! There’s more okay?? Imagine Delfi filming that for Fab&Chic! LIVE! So the whole world can see Jamón finally get together!! Thousands of viewers, thousands of Jamón shippers! Ahhhh! PER-FECT. Genial right?” Jazmín clasps her hand excitedly. Ambar bursts into laughing. “That’s one of the worst and most ridiculous ideas that you’ve ever had Jazmín. Please! Do you really think he would like that??!” Jazmín frowns: “Really? And what would he liked then?” Ambar imagines the brown eyes again and she get lost in her thoughts, doesn’t even realize she’s speaking out loud. “Something modest… just go to him and simply ask..he doesn’t like big things that catches attention. He’s too shy for that..” She smiles unconciously and doesn’t see the puzzled look at Delfi’s and Jazmín’s faces. “Just ask him? Without… anything ?!That’s SUPER OUT! How would you know anyway? You don’t know him like I do.” She snaps out of her thoughts and swears in her head. Then put on a fake smile. “Then why did you wanted my advice, Jazmín? It seems like you already have the perfect plan how to invite him! So why are you bothering me with it!!?” She doesn’t realize she’s screaming until she looks around and sees everybody staring at her. She takes her things and march out from the Roller. Why is she so angry? What did Jazmín said that was so bad to start screaming? You don’t know him like I do … it keeps resonating in her head over and over again. “Of course I don’t know him like she does! I don’t even want to know him more! Why would I? This is ridiculous! He’s just a stupid Lunita’s pet! I don’t even care if he goes to the prom with Jazmín! I can go with the hottest guy in this town! Ambar Smith can do so much better !” As soon as she gets home, she gets herself a hot date but for some reason, she doesn’t feel better at all. She actually feels worse than before. She lays down on her bed and can’t control the one tear that falls down her cheek..

She wokes up to a notification for Fab&Chic live. She’s immidiately wide awake and clicks on it to watch it. It opens right in the moment when Simon walks to the Roller and the lights turn on. She can’t believe Jazmín actually did it… she watches his shocked expression and when he says ‘Yes’, her world becomes a blur. She can’t see anything through the tears in her eyes but she’s glad she doesn’t see the rest. She doesn’t even want to imagine what came after that 'yes’. She throws the tablet across the room angrily and starts screaming. “I don’t need neither of them!! I don’t need anyone !! I am Ambar Smith !!! Neither of these losers matters to me!”

She manages to avoid both of them for the rest of the week. She even manages to convince herself it means nothing to her anymore. When she arrives at the prom, everybody is looking at her and her hot date, Marcos, amazed. But she can’t enjoy the attention.. not tonight. She sees Delfi and Pedro, already dancing and she smiles at how happy they look together. She starts searching the crowd again carefully, and feels relieved when she doesn’t see them . She drags Marcos to the dance floor and start dancing with him. A few songs later she looks up and completely freezes. Coming through the entrance are Jazmín with Simón, Jazmín hanging on Simón, and both of them laughing at something. She can see his dimples and his wrinkles around his eyes which appears when he smiles. She wishes it wasn’t so loud in the room, so she could hear his cute laugh. Suddenly he looks at her too and their eyes meet. She feels like her heart missed a beat and she stops breathing. He smiles a little and wave at her. But before she raises her hand and wave back, he’s already looking at Jazmín again, who is dragging him to the dance floor right next to her and Marcos. She tries to push back the disappointment and pretend that nothing happened, but she can feel the lump in her throat. She tries to shake it off and concentrate on Marcos and dancing again, but she can’t stop looking at them, dancing just a few metres from her. Jazmín talking and laughing all the time, looking at him with heart eyes. You’d have to be blind not to see how much she likes him. She gets a wave of nauseous feeling at the thought and looks away. When she looks back, it isn’t Jazmín, who is facing her, but Simón. To her surprise it seems like he’s not paying attention to what Jazmín is saying, just barely smiling and nodding absently. She feels the need to smirk but then Simón leans closer to her and whispers something in her ear. Jazmín starts jumping excitedly and hugs him. When she gives him a kiss on the cheek, Ambar feels like her heart dropped down to the ground and the lump in the throat gets worse. She can feel tears burning in her eyes. “I need to get some fresh air, sorry.” she lets go of Marcos and starts running to the exit, trying to hold the tears at least a few seconds more, until she’s outside. She runs out of the building and finally lets the tears go. She feels like someone is ripping her heart out of her chest, so much pain, but at the same time she can’t help herself being angry. SO angry. With him, with Jazmín, but the most with herself . Angry for being so stupid to fall for a guy like him . For being so stubborn and not asking him first before Jazmín. For missing her chance. A sob escapes from her throat. She feels ridiculous, crying here on the street for a guy that she used to despise. She’s so lost in her thoughts that she doesn’t hear the door opening behind her. “Hey..” She jumps a little and when she recognize the voice, she freezes. She quickly wipes away her tears and tries to calm herself down. “Are you okay?” Still with her back turned to the voice, she crosses her arms and says nothing. “You know… you don’t look like you’re having much fun at your prom..” he tries again. “You don’t look like you’re having fun either!” she finally snaps back. “Well, it’s not my prom, so I’m not important in this. I wouldn’t even be here… If a friend hasn’t asked me to go with her..” “Right.” “Hey.. what’s wrong?” She can feel him coming closer and when he puts his hand on her arm, she winces and her skin starts tingling right at the place, where he touches her. He slowly turns her around so she faces him and she looks away, trying to pretend like she hadn’t had a breakdown just two minutes ago because of him. “Everything’s fine! I just needed some air.. there’s so many people inside..” She tries to avoid his eyes, while he tries to analyze her face. “Have you been crying?” Dang it! Why does he have to be so good at reading her emotions? “No! No I’m fine!” she tries to lie, although she knows he’ll see right through it. “Stop lying to me. Did the guy say something to you? Or did?” “Who?” “The guy.. your… date .” the way he says the word 'date’ surprise her so much that she finally looks into his eyes. She realizes too late that it was a mistake and she gets lost in them straight away. “Uh.. I mean.. No. No, it’s not him.. he didn’t do anything wrong..” “Then what is it?” his clueless face makes her angry again. “And why do you care so much?!!! Why don’t you go back in there and enjoy the rest of the night with Jazmín?!” She can see the shock in his eyes. “What? Is this what’s it all about? You are jealous ?” “I am NOT jealous okay!? You can do whatever you want! And go to prom with whoever you want! I don’t care okay!?” “Who are you trying to convince here exactly? Me or you?” he says quietly. She gasps but doesn’t say anything. “You know… if you wanted to go to prom with me.. you could have just asked.. I would say yes.” His smile is making her feel week, but she tries to resist. “And what makes you think I wanted to go with you?! Huh?” “I don’t know… maybe the looks that you were giving us all night and the fact that when Jazmín hugged me, you ran away?” She’s so shocked that she just opens her mouth, unable to say anything. He giggles. “Yeah.. I thought so..” She can feel her cheeks getting red. “That… that doesn’t mean anything!” “Are you sure? Because if it have meant at least something .. I could do this…” She doesn’t realize what is he trying to do until his lips are on hers and she feels like something inside her exploded. When he moves away after only a few seconds, she almost groans in frustration. He smirks. “What about now? Still means nothing to you?” She tries to remember how to breath properly and tries to calm down her heart that is beating way too fast. She bites her lip to stop her smile that starts appearing on her face and somehow manages to answer. “Nope. Still nothing…” “Hmm… well in that case, I feel like I have to try again..” He kisses her again, this time with more passion, taking her by the waist and bringing her closer to him. She answers his kiss with eagerness, while putting her hands around his neck, bringing him closer as well. If she’s ever imagined kissing him, the actual thing was a hundred times better. For a moment, she forget about everything else, perceiving only his lips on hers. When they break apart after a few more seconds, she feels like her knees will fail her at any moment now. He leans his forehead on hers and then pokes her nose with hers and smiles. “Still nothing?” he asks breathless. “I think this time it was maybe a little something…” she answers and looks at him, this time she can’t stop the smile that is appearing on her face. “Well.. I think that’s a good start..” he laughs and leans in to kiss her again.

[sedonalace]

You Are My Everything- Simbar

So I basically wrote this all in one sitting in my new dorm room the night before the first day of university classes because I wanted to write something before all the chaos starts and I have a large fear I won’t have time to write. So I’m sorry if its crappy af ok. All these Simbar scenes are killing me and this is inspired by a few fics I’ve been seeing around here and reading so yeah, enjoy!

Also. RIP Bianca ( @from-red-string ), who I apparently murdered for letting her read this beforehand. May you rest in peace surrounded by Simbar love. 

The first moment I looked into his eyes, everything felt like pure bliss. His gentle skin, his tiny fingers, and toes, his dark brown eyes identical to his fathers. He was everything I had hoped for and more. He was perfect. And I couldn't ask for anything more.

I first found out I was pregnant only a few months after I graduated from University. I was still on the hunt for jobs and Simon was on his second world tour, in Europe at the time. I had been late for a week and a half and thought it was time to take a test. Even with four different kinds, I was still so hesitant as to whether it was true or not. And Simon hadn't been around. When it was confirmed at my doctor's, I felt everything inside of my drop to the pit of my stomach. I was a mix of emotions. Excited, shocked, joy. But mostly I was scared. I know most people who find out that they're pregnant for the first time say they are scared too-for many different reasons- but I was terrified.  

Simon and I weren't even engaged yet. We had only been living together for two years. And he was a busy artist. It all seemed like too much. I cried and cried for days straight not knowing what to do with this information. I didn't feel prepared to tell Simon or Luna, not prepared to accept the reality, and mostly, I didn't feel prepared to become a mother.

Of course, the idea of having children sometime in my life had seemed amazing growing up, but the fact that it was real and happening totally gave me a different opinion on it. I didn't know what to do or think. After three weeks, I decided that it had to be taken care of. I ended up telling Luna first and asking her opinion. She told me to first call Simon with the news, and then schedule doctor's appointments.

She helped me plan the whole reveal to him. She would accompany me on a surprise visit to his last show of the tour in Lisbon. And there I would surprise him just an hour before the show started at the venue. When we were alone in his dressing room, I told him and he had the biggest smile on his face. It was the most comforting and reassuring reaction. I was so glad I had someone so supporting and excited for this new addition. He went on stage that night with 10x more energy and 10x more emotion. It was the greatest. It was then I knew that with him right next to me, we would be conquering parenthood together, never alone.

Our first son, Adrian Christian Alvarez was born May 17th, and he was our everything. I never saw myself having a son in my life, but when he was placed into my arms for the very first time, I fell in love.

The very first nights, although we had been warned constantly about, had been exhausting. Our angel had a sleep, cry, eat, poop, repeat schedule. I think I only slept about half an hour on most nights. But I am immensely grateful for Simon, who cleared his entire schedule indefinitely, to be there for every second, helping out with late nights and all. Without him, I would truly be a mess.

As Adrian grew in the first year of his life, everything became even more real than before. His features became clearer for one. He mostly looked like his father. The eyes, the hair, his face, everything. The most handsome son. But his personality was all me. Very quick-witted and quite the sass master. A perfect combination of both of us.

His hobbies, however, took him on his own path. He's very sporty, playing soccer and baseball are his passions. It melts my heart when I saw Simon teaching him how to play in the back yard. His tiny little body running around as fast as he can while adorable giggling. And Simon teaching him the proper footwork and how to swing a bat. I honestly have no clue how many pictures I have taken of it. it must be hundreds, but it's  a memory I never want to lose in this lifetime.

The second time I found out I was pregnant, Adrian was five years old and in school already, and Simon was recording his fourth album. I revealed it to him on our wedding anniversary as his present and he was filled with pure joy. Adrian was bouncing up and down and running around the house, excited to finally have a sibling. He was even more excited when he found out at the gender reveal party that he was going to have a brother. Although the both of us had really hoped for a girl, we were still overjoyed to have another blessing in our life.

Our second son, Dylan Ivan was born on October 20th, and the three of us adored him with all of our hearts. He looked exactly like me, this little boy. Bright blue eyes, blond hair, porcelain skin, my little angel. It was easier this time around when we took him home. Being a mom the second time around, I've got everything down to a T (I like to think so anyway).

Adrian was a very big helper. He adored his little brother so much. Whenever he asked to hold him, I would take millions of photos each time like the mom I am. Always such a pure sight to see my two angels together.

Dylan took interest in music. Simon was so excited to be teaching him different instruments and taking him to the studio. He even let him sing in the booth one time, and not to be biased, he sounds really good, even for such a little kid. Although he and Adrian would play around sometimes, he poured his heart and soul into music. He's so talented and we could not be more proud of him.

Adrian and Dylan often played with our friend's children since we saw them so much. They all grow up together, just like we did. Adrian even developed a crush on Luna and Matteo's daughter when they were little. We know because we saw them sneak into a corner one time while they were playing hide and go seek and Adrian quickly kissed her and ran away. Luna and Matteo grew a little bit concerned and stern about it, but he was little, as kids. They didn't know what they were doing. I think it's still a funny memory to look back on.

My family is my everything. I love both of my sons and husband more than you could imagine. They make every day an adventure. Although it gets crazy sometimes, I can't picture life without them in my life. We may not be perfect, but they're the best family I could ever dream of.

We had never talked about having a third child, even reaching for a girl that we wanted so badly. But it was happening. I was about to have a third child. This pregnancy it all seemed like a blur, feeling like everything was sped up. Adrian was 12 and Dylan 7. It seemed almost impossible but I was still happy as ever.

The day of the gender reveal party I was so anxious. No matter if it was a boy or girl, we would still be happy. But we really, really, REALLY wanted a girl more than anything. It drove me crazy all day knowing Luna and Matteo were the only ones to know what the sex was. It was so tempting to just snatch the envelope I had given the right back and read it myself, but I resisted the urge and forced myself to wait.

When it was time, Luna and Matteo pushed the four of us to the center of the room to reveal together. They brought out a big white bag that had something inside that would pop out either blue or pink. Before giving Dylan and Adrian permission to open it, Simon squeezed my hand really tight for reassurance calming down a bit. I took a deep breath and relaxed. I signaled for the boys to open it and kept a tight grip on Simon's hand.

When they pulled out pink teddy bear, I screamed and jumped up and down like crazy. I gave all my boys a giant group hug and burst into tears. I was over the moon that my family was complete. So content with life. I can never say enough how grateful I am. How truly blessed.

On April 2nd, our littlest miracle, Vanessa Kathleen was born. I held her in my arms, with all three of my boys around me, staring down at her in pure awe. Tears began to well in my eyes at the sight of her. She was a mixture of the both of us. Her father's eyes, my blonde hair. She was beautiful.

Everything made me so emotional. To think of how my life was just twenty years ago seemed like I was stuck forever in an unhealthy being. Simon has been there with me through it all. Every little step of the way. I am so in love with him. Every single role he rocks at. A musician, a coach, a husband, a father. He's perfect for me. And the family we grew together, became my entire world.

From nothing to everything, I whispered gently into my daughter's ears in her first moments, the same as I did with my two older children. "You are my everything."

[sapphire374]

Soy Sol Masterlist (Chapter Collection)

Soy Sol (Soy Luna fanfic) Chapters’ links list:

- Chapter 1: Heart on the Line

- Chapter 2: Gossip that Spreads like Wildfire

- Chapter 3: Chaos Ensues

- Chapter 4: Rumors and Mishaps

- Chapter 5: Lighting Up in a Rainy Town

- Chapter 6: Surprise! Surprise!

- Chapter 7: The Last Time

- Chapter 8: Long Story Short it was a Tough Day

- Chapter 9: A Flicker of Light

- Chapter 10: Hopeful Curiosity

- Chapter 11: The Cut that Burrows Deep

- Chapter 12: I'll Be There Every Step

- Chapter 13: Slipped Away

- Chapter 14: Weeks Away

- Chapter 15: Close to Fingertips

- Chapter 16: Invisible String

- Chapter 17: Epilogue

[hes-a-bit-of-a-prat]

This house is too empty.

I decided to write some Soy Luna fan fiction. I am a sucker for canon, so this will be their life after the show. I am excited to write it, but I will probably not proofread it; so please be mindful of mistakes. OK, thanks, here goes...

Luna was depressed. Her massive house was just too empty without the boys staying in it. Matteo, Pedro and Simon had moved out shortly after the fire. She missed her Chico Fresa and her best friend. They still came over occasionally, well, Matteo more than occasionally, but she missed him with every moment they were apart. Àmbar still lived there, of course. She had changed a lot and didn't like to talk about her goth phase, the phase everyone called "The Dark Ages."

Àmbar came home to Luna looking pensive on the sofa in the living room. She came up and gave her a hug, which made Luna jump.

"Oh, Àmbar. I didn't see you walk in."

"Well, obviously not or you would of said hi."

Luna giggled, "How was training?"

"It went well, thank you. It's definitely got harder since we went up to senior level."

"Oh, tell me about it!" Luna said, "How's Simon?"

Àmbar blushed, "He's doing fine."

The two of them started laughing at Àmbar's red face, these giggles turned to hoots of hysteria. When Miguel and Monica heard screaming, they dashed to the room, only to find the two girls laughing their heads off after a stressful week at the Roller.

Part two coming soon!!!

[hide-in-imagination]

"Roads That Cross... with a Phone Call"

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)

I only needed a solar eclipse to update! Yay!

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

The next day, Simón left two more marks on Ámbar’s chest.

It was during lunchtime, which was rare because, usually, after a night like that, they didn’t need to satiate any more urges so soon after. But the pause in activity had been felt by both of them, and now that they could do it again, they didn’t seem to want to wait at all.

“I can’t stop thinking about last night,” Ámbar breathed between kisses and hurried hands, yanking off his clothes with the same urgency as her tone of voice. “I can’t concentrate on anything.”

Simón groaned and held her against his body, and then he gave her what she wanted and fucked her into the mattress.

There was something so satisfying about reducing such a strong force of nature like Ámbar into a gasping, whining mess with just a few bucks of his hips. She always had a witty comeback at the ready, an ironic comment aimed at whoever talked to her, but when she was like this, with him, she felt so much that Simón could leave her speaking in tongues.

It filled him with pride. It incited him to give more.

After, when they were dressing back up to grab something to eat (Simón shouldn’t have unraveled her for as long as he did, now they’d have to eat fast if they didn’t want to go over their lunch hour, but he’d missed this) Ámbar saw the new hickeys on her breasts and laughed, saying she didn’t know he had this side of him.

Honestly, Simón didn’t know either. It took seeing Ámbar wearing nothing but his shirt for him to realize just how much he liked it, and he couldn’t deny the surge of primal satisfaction upon seeing the marks on Ámbar’s breasts and neck. It looked sexy. She looked his.

Luckily, Ámbar said she didn’t mind, as long as they were few and nowhere visible, and as long as he allowed her to mark him too. Simón had no issue with that. In fact, part of him wanted her to leave the most obvious love bite on his neck and then have her show her own ones too just so he could flaunt them in front of Benicio like— See? We’re very happy together, stop being a pest.

But that would be petty of him, and he would feel bad using Ámbar like that, as if she were an object he wanted to show off. He felt a little disgusting just for thinking about it, so Simón pushed the urge down, down, down, until he could barely feel it at all. Besides, his imagination-self was way more shameless than he actually was. If Simón really walked around with a hickey on his neck, he’d die of embarrassment.

There was nothing to prove anyway. Benicio could’ve been bluffing when he spoke about that spot on Ámbar’s neck—A lucky guess. But even if he wasn’t, it didn’t matter. Ámbar chose Simón. Perhaps they’d been seeing each other less than usual the past few days, but every morning without fail they had breakfast together, and when the time came for Simón to leave, instead of saying goodbye, they always said: ‘I love you.’

“Have a nice day, I love you.”

“See you later, I love you.”

“I’m running late, gotta go, love you.”

I love you, I love you, I love you. That was the one thing important.

Throughout the next few days, they saw each other a little more actually, which came as a pleasant surprise to Simón. A couple of official, Manager things required Ámbar’s presence in the Roller, starting with the arrival of the new hires Ámbar had been requesting from Vidia for a while. They were three part-timers who would be taking over the weekends from now on so that Pedro, Eric, and Simón himself, could rest: two girls who would be in charge of the cafeteria, Cata (or Cat for short) and Rae, and one guy who would be the rink assistant and in charge of the lockers, called Alex.   

Ámbar introduced them all personally on their first day of training. She told the girls and Alex that Eric, Pedro, and Simón would be in charge of showing them the ropes around the Roller, while she also managed to, somehow, slip into conversation, twice, that both Simón and Pedro were in a committed relationship. Very much taken. Not single.

She said it all with a smile and it was very smooth, but Simón still had a hard time refraining from laughing. Personally, he didn’t think it was necessary to point that out considering they would only be training the girls for a couple of days and then they’d never see them again unless they visited the Roller in their free time, but Ámbar apparently still felt the need to draw that line in the sand.

To be honest, it made Simón feel pretty good. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one with a bit of a territorial streak in the relationship.

The second reason Ámbar started visiting the Roller more was to personally supervise the last few arrangements for the Day of the Dead party. There were some led light signs that needed to be installed on the walls, spotlights for the ceiling and stuff like that, so Ámbar had to be there to give directions to the handymen responsible for it. Some decorations had to be done by hand too, and while Ámbar could make some of them at home, oftentimes it was more practical to just do them at the Roller.

Simón was happy to see Ámbar more, no matter how briefly. When she first started working on the decorations, he offered to help, but she told him to just worry about his own work, that she got it covered. Simón still helped her bring a table to the rink, one wide enough for her to put all of the materials on top of it and work on her crafts comfortably, and also carried any bags she needed to move from one place to another— There was no way he’d let her do all of that herself when he had a good pair of arms.

On a good day, they walked back home after work together like they used to, Ámbar’s hand in his, her snuggling up to his side to fend off the cold.

“How do you think the new guys have been adapting to the Roller?” Ámbar asked him conversationally, turning to look at him. “I mean, I asked them, obviously, they said they were fine, but with me being the manager maybe they don’t feel as comfortable talking to me as they do with you.”

Simón smiled. People could say whatever they wanted about Ámbar, but she was actually thoughtful, and ever since she’d become manager of the Roller, she’d been doing a great job at it. He would already put her leaguesover La Generala.

“They’ve been doing great,” he replied. “Alex is amazing at rollerskating, which is very lucky because that was the only thing Eric couldn’t teach him.” The two laughed at that. “The rest, he’d been picking it up nicely. Same thing with the girls. They both had experience working at places like this before, so it’s been easy for them to get the hand of making the beverages and working the register…”

“Oh that’s right, didn’t they both work at a coffee shop before this?” It must have been on their resumes, or maybe Ámbar talked about it with them when they met, before she introduced them to everyone. “Not like the same coffee shop but, you know.”

“Yeah.” Rae and Cat had told him that too. “Actually, I think they bonded over that and they’re starting to become friends.”

“That’s good.” Ámbar smiled. She looked to the side. “As long as they don’t get too distracted and do their job, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Simón laughed. Yeah, the boss position fit her well. Maybe she wouldn’t work at the Roller forever, but he could totally see her leading, with good ideas and consideration. “You know, I actually worked at a coffee shop too,” he mentioned.

Her eyes focused on him with a curious glint. “Really?”

“Yeah, back when I was sixteen. Then I started at Foodger Wheels when I turned 17. Then when Luna turned 16, she joined me at Foodger Wheels, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”

Ámbar leaned her head back a little, looking at him with slightly wide eyes. “Wow, I didn’t know you worked at Foodger Wheels too,” she said with disbelief. “So, that means that day it could’ve been you delivering my food instead of Luna?”

“Oh.” It was Simón’s turn to be surprised. “I had never thought of that— You’re right.” He huffed out a laugh. “How crazy.” He looked to the city in front of him, imagining how that could’ve been. “Do you think anything would’ve turned out different if it had been me instead of Luna?” He asked Ámbar.

“Well, maybe it would’ve helped to get me into your good graces if you hadn’t first known me as the girl who threw your best friend into the pool,” she said.

Simón burst out a laugh. “Oh my god, I had forgotten about that.” It seemed like a lifetime ago.

His gaze centered on Ámbar and his heart melted at how far they’d come since then. He brought their joined hands over her head and wrapped his arm around her in a fluid movement they had done dozens of times.

“Maybe I would’ve fallen irrevocably in love with you at first sight and never even questioned my friendship with Luna,” he told her, smiling down at her.  

Ámbar’s lips ticked in that way that meant she was holding back from smiling. “I mean, I am that pretty,” she agreed, making him laugh and place a kiss on her temple. Ámbar’s giggle finally broke free after that. “But I think just knowing I had a boyfriend you would’ve forgotten about me,” she said. “Too much of a mess. I can’t see you wanting to get in the middle of that.”

Right, back then Ámbar and Matteo had been dating for a while. They were the ‘it couple’ of the Roller. If Simón had fallen for Ámbar back then, he surely would’ve had a very bad time, kind of like Luna did when she was falling for Matteo.

It certainly wasn’t a position he would’ve liked to be in. But Ámbar was wrong in thinking he could’ve just forgotten about her so easily. Simón hadn’t been able to do that ever since last year, ever since he first started falling in love with her. He couldn’t imagine how he’d manage to do so.  

“Honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for me back then,” Ámbar said, looking to the front. “I would have not treated you right.”

She tried to make it sound funny but he could catch the self-deprecating edge in her voice. Her gaze lowered to her feet. “Well.” Her voice turned shyer. “Even now I’m not sure if I’m doing so great.”

Gently, Simón brought them to a stop. “Hey.” He squeezed her softly against his side, and when she turned to face him, he smiled at her lovingly. “You make me very happy. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Ámbar looked between his eyes and then her mouth curled into a smile, just as loving. “I love you.”

Simón gave her a short kiss. “I love you too.”

That was the one thing that mattered.

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

Another day, another 300 decorations Ámbar had to do.

She left the house that morning with Simón, choosing to work in the Roller that day. She had a box of unfinished flower garlands in her room, but she had many masks and posters at the Roller that she had started to paint and she wanted to finish those first, before anything happened to them and the paint smeared and she had to do them all over again.

If anyone had told her a year ago that she’d be doing all this craftmanship, ever, Ámbar would have either laughed very loudly or asked what millionaire sum they were paying her because there was no way she would do that otherwise.

As it turned out, some people were worth more than any sum of money, and Ámbar would personally paint hundreds of skull decorations if it meant making Simón happy. In fact, it wasn’t so bad. The artistry was rather relaxing if she just focused on the task at hand and didn’t think about how many other little trinkets she had to finish before the big day.

Maybe she would have to ask for help after all. Especially considering these were all decorations for a tradition she had never celebrated, meaning she wasn’t even sure if she was doing them correctly.

In a moment of distraction, she accidentally bumped one of the paint bottles with her arm, tipping it over and causing its contents to start dripping over the table.

“Shit.”

Ámbar hurried to pick up the bottle and place it straight on the table again. She reached for her purse and pulled out the pack of tissues she always carried with her to wipe off the damage. Thankfully, she was quick enough that the paint didn’t spread too much, so the decorations were safe and she didn’t stain the rink either. The same thing couldn’t be said about her fingers though. She hadn’t really thought about that in her hurry to protect all her precious hours of work.

The tissues helped with most of it but she couldn’t get all of the paint off her skin. Ámbar didn’t want to risk staining the decorations with her fingers, so she left the rink and walked toward the dressing room. A make-up remover wipe would definitely do the trick.

It didn’t occur to her to knock because she didn’t expect anyone to be there when she pulled the door open.

She certainly wasn’t expecting to find Delfi and Pedro making out when she did.  

The couple sprung apart instantly when they heard her come in and whirled around to find Ámbar at the door. They stood there frozen, their backs to the mirrors and their wide eyes fixed on her as growing embarrassment flooded their features.

Ámbar maintained a poker face, staring back in complete silence.

Her eyes centered on Pedro.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he blabbered hastily.

She arched a brow.

“I mean, it is, but it’s not— I’m— I only took a short break, all the tables already have their food, I’m waiting— Please don’t fire me.”

Pedro, as it seemed, gave up on trying to salvage the situation and just begged.

Ámbar kept her voice and gaze even. “Pedro.”

“Yes.”

“Get back to work.”

The boy nodded energetically. “Yes. Of course, Ámbar. Right away.”

With his head down, Pedro sped out of the room as if his life depended on it. The door closed behind his back and Ámbar and Delfi were left alone. Their eyes found each other, and they kept each other’s gaze for a long second.

Ámbar couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.  

Delfi still looked embarrassed but she started laughing too, catching it from Ámbar, and just like that, all the previous tension totally vanished.

“Oh my god, you should’ve seen your faces—I should’ve taken a picture!” Ámbar rejoiced. It had been priceless. “I see you two totally made up from your fight,” she said to Delfi, giving her a teasing smirk. “As a person, I love it, but as the manager of this place, I need to make sure that kissing is the only thing you two have done in here.”  

Delfi blushed furiously. “Of course! Are you insane? I would never do more right here in public!”

Ámbar laughed at her flustered state and raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay, it was just a question.” She let her hands drop. Her smile turned more genuine. “Good for you though. You both seem happy.”

Delfi smiled with that distinctive softness pertaining to being in love. “We are. Very much.” Then, either for the sake of being polite or maybe to draw attention elsewhere, she brought the topic around to Ámbar. “How about you? How are things going with Simón?”

Well, we don’t secretly make out at the Roller, but we do much worse at the mansion when no one’s around. Or should I say better?

“Mmm, you know how couples sometimes watch TV shows together?” Ámbar said instead of that— Too much information. Delfi nodded. “Well, my boyfriend is making me watch all Marvel movies in chronological order,” she shared flatly. There truly was a lot of time for leisure when one got their period— Who would’ve thought?

“Hey, at least those are entertaining,” Delfi said. “My cinema teachers at my university make us watch 3-hour-long, black-and-white films in which nothing happens— And they swoon like it’s the best thing ever!” She complained with disbelief. 

Ámbar grimaced. “That sounds awful.”

“It is. How I wish I could be staring at Chris Evans’ back instead.”

“Oh yeah, nice view,” Ámbar had to agree. “He’s not my favorite though— Too goody-goody.”

“Says the girl that’s dating Simón.”

Ámbar gave her a dry look. 

“Is it Thor then?” Delfi asked curiously. “Chris Hemsworth is hot too. Or Antman. He’s dorky; maybe it reminds you of Simón.”

“Why does it have to be like Simón?” Ámbar protested, and kept talking before Delfi could make another joke at her expense. “For your information, my favorite’s Iron Man. He gets so much shit for being— What? Proud? He’s the smartest man alive and a multimillionaire— He has reasons to be proud. If I were him, I wouldn’t even help those idiots; fend for yourselves.”

“It’s cute the mentor-like relationship he has with Spiderman though,” Delfi said, and immediately started breaking down. “Oh my god, when I watched Infinity War, you have no idea how much I—”

“Ssshh! Don’t tell me, we haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Ámbar stopped her, raising her hands.

Delfi’s brows ticked up. A teasing smile formed on her lips. “Ah, so you do like them.”

Ámbar shrugged and focused her attention on pulling some nonexistent lint out from her sweater. “I like that Simón likes them.”

When she looked up, Delfi’s smile had grown into a shit-eating grin.

Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Ámbar straightened her back and hid it behind a scoff.

“Why am I still talking to you?” She moved toward the mirrors. “I came here to do something much more important, and I have plenty more important things to do. If you’ll excuse me.”

Ámbar sat in front of one of the mirrors and rummaged through the drawers until she found a package of makeup remover wipes.

As she pulled one out, she caught Delfi’s reflection on her peripheral vision, staring at her. “You know, you really are different now,” she commented.  

Ámbar glanced at her through the mirror before refocusing on wiping her hands. “Is that bad?”

“No,” Delfi said light-heartedly. “I like this Ámbar better. Less bossy and easier to tease.”

Ámbar sent her a look, but the small curl to her lips betrayed she wasn’t entirely mad at this playful dynamic. It felt nice to just have some unserious conversation with someone once in a while— other than her boyfriend, obviously.

She had just finished cleaning her fingers when Delfi spoke once more.  

“Jazmín told me you apologized to her the other day.”

Ámbar tried not to show her disappointment at losing the levity of the conversation so quickly. Peaceful moments never lasted very long for her. It seemed like something always had to remind her of her old transgressions (or her current ones, which she refused to think about.)

She dropped the used wipe into the trashcan next to her and replied with tranquility. “It was the right thing to do.”

She could’ve left it at that, but given the opportunity, Ámbar turned around in the chair to look at Delfi directly. “But I’m not expecting you two to go back to being my minions or anything, don’t worry,” she clarified. “I’m just slowly, little by little, tying up loose ends.” It was all she could do.

She couldn’t go back in time and change the things she did. All she could do was apologize, and be better in the future. Before, her concept of ‘better’ only meant succeeding in all aspects of her life, no matter the cost. Now, she understood all the damage she had inflicted, onto others and herself, for thinking that way.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t like to be your minion again,” Delfi said, with clear disdain forthat idea. No one would want to be in that position, Ámbar thought with some guilt.

A playful expression showed up on Delfi’s face. “But maaaybe I could be your friend.”

Ámbar had to do a double-take. She stared at Delfi, trying to discern if she was only making a joke, but she looked sincere. Something warm and bright fluttered weakly in Ámbar’s chest— Hope.

“Really?”

Delfi showed her a small smile. “I think you’ve really changed. And, if we ignore all the awful things, we did have some very good moments throughout all those years of friendship. Plus,” she added with that playful lilt again, “I’ve noticed that the only people you talk to lately are either Simón, Ramiro, or the rest of the guys that live at your house— I think you’re in desperate need of a girl view.”

The fluttering was no longer a tentative thing but the mighty upward flight of a bird through the sky. A smile grew on Ámbar’s lips and she rose from her chair, hesitating only for a moment before going for a hug, and to her utter relief, Delfi hugged her back, just like in the old days, but better.

“Thank you,” Ámbar told her over her shoulder, eyes closed to capture this moment, this proof that not all her bridges were burned.

She could hear Delfi’s smile in her voice as she answered. “You’re welcome, girl.” 

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

The raucous of many voices talking and laughing all at the same time permeated the locker room as the Roller Team tied up their rollerskates for another training session.

There weren’t enough benches in the place, so everyone took turns to put their skates on. Simón had been the first one to enter the lockers, so he gave his spot over to Jim and was then the first to slide out.

He was excited about rollerskating, of course, but the truth was that his main motivation to arrive before everyone else was the dazzling blonde standing on one corner of the rink, surrounded by an assortment of flowers and skull decorations in different colors, almost as vibrant as her, but not quite.

Ámbar heard him roll near, so she spun on her feet, and a smile blossomed on her lips when she saw it was him. Simón felt his heart do a happy dance and thought of how lucky he was to have her, not for the first time. Having the person you love love you back had to be the most magical thing anyone could ever experience. Having said person also throw a party for you just to gift you a little piece of home had to be a bonus not many received, and one Simón was incredibly grateful for.

Sure, their relationship wasn’t perfect— not by a long shot. There were a lot of things that worried him. Things he wished that could be better. But in the quiet moments, Simón was simply in awe of just how in love he was with this girl.

“You’re kidding,” Ámbar said with a happy sparkle in her eyes. “I was just about to call you, how did you know?”

If he hadn’t been already, that would’ve made Simón smile. “I don’t know, I guess we’re connected.” At least I’d like to think we are.

He pointed down to his skates. “Also, it’s time for our training session.”

Ámbar’s eyes widened. “Oh, is it that time already?” She checked her phone and, upon confirming this, pocketed it quickly. “Sorry, time flew by. Before I go, real quick— I changed my mind.” She looked at him with a slightly chagrined expression. “Could you help me with all of this? I’m sure you know a hell lot more than I do and—” The rest of the guys started filling the rink right that second. Ámbar looked behind Simón and called out to them. “Please stay clear of this corner!” She gestured to her table. “I’m working on all this stuff and I wouldn’t want them to tear or anything.”

His friends made different sounds of agreement. Simón turned to face Ámbar again. “Sure, I’ll help you with the decorations, no problem.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m just kinda lost with all these skeletons and things.”

“Well, you don’t have to fret anymore because the bestMexican boyfriend in the world has at least a million ideas for you,” Simón declared playfully.

Ámbar’s brows ticked up with interest. “Really? A million ideas? Well, I sure have to find him now and get him to help me. You know where I can find him?”

Simón placed one hand on the table behind her and leaned in closer, answering her little smirk with one of his own. “Well…”

Juliana clapped her hands loudly from the middle of the rink. “Alright, alright! Time for practice!”

“Yeah, let each other breathe for a moment, you guys!” Matteo yelled at them. 

Simón pulled away from Ámbar and looked at the other boy. “Envy is bad for you, Matteo!”

The rest of his friends started to tease Matteo. Simón turned back to his girlfriend with a smile. “See you at the mansion?”

Ámbar nodded. Simón gave her one quick peck before skating away to join his team with the initial warmups. He watched from afar as Ámbar walked away from the rink.

Simón wished she didn’t have to. He missed having Ámbar as his skating partner, the days when she was on the team and they were all friends. He knew that a lot had happened, and Ámbar had only stopped being a Red Shark some time ago, so it wasn’t as easy as just inviting her back, but he wished he could. He didn’t know how everyone would react if he did though. He’d like to believe they wouldn’t be completely opposed to it, but that wasn’t the same as liking the idea, and Simón would hate himself if he put Ámbar through an uncomfortable situation like that. He didn’t want there to be a them with her just existingon the sidelines. (Although he understood that it was her who first created that divide.)

In summary, he just had to be patient, as with all things Ámbar-related.

That was fine by him. After all, he was convinced that she was worth it.

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

Hours later, after everyone had already had dinner and the oldest went to sleep, Simón found himself with the guys in the storage room. They’d been showing Matteo some new songs they had created for the Roller Band, and he even helped them finish some of them, coming up with some brilliant ideas that made Simón and Pedro’s eyes sparkle and their hands play the instruments more enthusiastically.

(Simón refrained, once again, from just asking him if he wanted to be part of the band. While he would love that, Matteo had his solo career dreams, and that was totally okay— Simón wouldn’t want him to accept just out of a sense of comradery for them, or pity, and then regret it later.)

Now, after all of that, it had gotten late (and Simón had some arms to return to), so Pedro had risen from his seat behind the drums, and Matteo and Simón were putting their guitars away, disconnecting cables, and all that stuff.

It was just the usual until Matteo made a joke about how “If you wanted to, you guys could be a Christian Rock duo and call yourselves ‘The Apostles’, what with those names you’ve got” and Simón rolled his eyes.

He was about to point out how ‘Matteo’ was also an apostle’s name when Pedro jolted suddenly and grabbed Matteo’s shoulder.

“There! Did you see that? I told you!” Pedro exclaimed, amused, and pointing at Simón for some reason.

Matteo let out a laugh, joining Pedro’s amusement. “Oh my god, you were right!”

Simón looked at them a little self-consciously. “What? What is it?”

Pedro looked at him with a teasing smile. “Ámbar’s rubbing off on you, man. You roll your eyes just like her now.”   

Simón wrinkled his brows, bemused.

“Doesn’t everyone roll their eyes sometimes?”  

“Not like that they don’t,” Matteo countered. He pointed at him. “That is a registered trademark of Ámbar Smith.” 

Even though they were making fun of him, the notion made Simón feel all warm inside.

A little laugh escaped his lips. “Well, maybe. I mean, we spend a lot of time together.”

“We know,” Pedro said dryly.

“Yeah, you smell like flowers now, dude,” Matteo said, “I think everyone knows.”

“Actually, I’m surprised Luna’s dad hasn’t told you anything yet,” Pedro said.

“I think he’s pretending not to notice for the sake of his mental health,” Matteo theorized.

Simón frowned a little. He knew he was bound to smell a little like Ámbar when they started sharing bathroom products, but he didn’t think it was that noticeable— He still used his own deodorant and wore cologne some days. He tried bringing his arm up to his nose to see if he could catch a whiff of ‘flowers’, as his friends said, on his skin, but of course, it being his own body, he couldn’t really smell anything because his nose was used to it.

“Maybe I should start using my own products,” Simón thought out loud. He liked knowing he smelled a little like Ámbar (it felt like they were married, which was silly and insane, of course, therefore that thought only lived in the most profound level of his subconscious) but maybe parading around that they shared the same shower when he was supposed to have his own room wasn’t the best idea.

“I mean, considering whatever Ámbar uses is probably more expensive than what you earn in a whole week, yeah, maybe,” Matteo said.

Oh. He… hadn’t thought about that. 

“Anyway, we were talking about your new music career,” Matteo continued. “Should I help you two replace all mentions of ‘girls’ in your songs with ‘Jesus’?”

Simón and Pedro laughed out loud.

“Absolutely not.”

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

Ámbar was about to change into her pajamas and get into bed when she realized she couldn’t find her Scotch tape anywhere.

It wasn’t like it was a terrible thing. She could easily buy another one. But she liked to be organized, so she decided to go downstairs and check the living room in case she’d dropped it when she was working on the decorations earlier. If it wasn’t there, then she’d consider it lost and buy another one, because she was sure she still had it at the Roller.

Ámbar walked through the hallways and down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible in case someone was already sleeping. The lights were off in the living room, but there was enough light coming from the garden lighting outside that it wasn’t hard to see. It wasn’t enough to find a tiny clear tape on the carpet though, so Ámbar turned on a table lamp, and when that wasn’t enough, pulled out her phone and used its flashlight as well.

Finally, she found the little roll of tape underneath the sofa. She must have kicked it under there by mistake earlier. She put it in her pants pocket, and she had just turned off the flashlight on her phone when the device started ringing, startling her a little.

It was the loud sound against the otherwise silent house, the lightning panic of ‘shoot, I’m going to wake up someone’ that reflectively crossed her mind. She would’ve gotten over it as quickly as it happened if it had been any other number calling her on the phone. But as she read the caller’s ID, Ámbar’s nervousness didn’t settle down— It was heightened.  

‘Vanessa’

Maybe it was the suddenness of it— That she took her by surprise. Maybe it was her brain urging her to quiet the noise as soon as possible. Maybe it was the mix of curiosity and worry at having her godmother call her at this hour. Maybe, under different circumstances, Ámbar would’ve thought about it twice before answering the call.

But the fact of the matter was, she did.  

“Hello?”

“Ámbar.” Sharon’s voice came through with its usual mix of impassiveness and undercurrent firmness. “I hope you’ve gotten over your little tantrum because I need your help. It’s important.”

The ball of anxiety grew in Ámbar’s chest, along with confusion. “My help? With what?”

“I need to get inside the mansion,” Sharon said without preamble. “I can take care of the guards at the entrance, but I need you to make sure that no one crosses my path while I go in and out of my room. I’ll go at night, when it’s less likely someone will see me.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Get inside the mansion— Are you insane?” Her voice almost rose for a moment and Ámbar had to remind herself to keep speaking quietly. If anyone heard her, it would be incredibly bad— But what her godmother was saying was even worse. “Wasn’t it enough with last time?” She demanded with outrage. “I thought you had understood that it’s not a good idea— You’re going to get caught.”

“Not if I have a good lookout, which is why I need you. You’re the only one I can trust, Ámbar.”

Ámbar shook her head. That was always Sharon’s technique— Try and pull at Ámbar’s heartstrings when she needed something from her. But Ámbar had done this dance too many times. She knew how it ended.

“No,” she replied, firmly. “I am not going to help you. Why are you even asking me? Ask Rey or Maggie—they are your little toy soldiers, don’t pull me into your crazy ideas.” I have too much to lose.  

The mild softness in Sharon’s voice vanished as fast as it had appeared. “Rey got me the key for the chest four days ago, but since then, he’s been reluctant to cooperate with me and I can’t enter the house without help from the inside, it’s too risky,” she explained with evident frustration. “It must be Maggie’s influence, no doubt. That woman only causes trouble.”

Good job, Maggie, Ámbar thought with some relief.  

“Or maybe Rey doesn’t want to help you because he knows as well as I do that this is a bad idea,” she emphasized. “What even is in that chest that you want it so much?” 

“That’s none of your business,” Sharon retorted immediately. “Just help me get inside to retrieve what’s mine and I promise that I won’t step on that house again. Not until I have gotten rid of those pests who took it from me in the first place, of course,” she added.

Ámbar closed her eyes. How could she not see? No one took anything from her— She was the one who alienated herself from her family for trying to hide the truth. Was accepting the reality that Luna was the heir to the Benson fortune so impossible for her that she was willing to destroy everything in order to avoid it? Destroy herself?

“You need to stop this, godmother.” Ámbar tried to infuse strength into her words but her emotions filtered in, making it sound like begging. “What you’re doing is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it’s dangerous— I’m worried that something might happen to you. Please stop this before it’s too late.”

“If it really worried you that much, you would help me,” Sharon said. “The sooner I get what I want, the sooner all of this will be over— You know that, Ámbar.”

“The Valente don’t deserve this,” Ámbar said. “They’re good people. And if you don’t want to think about them, think about Grandpa— He is your father. He almost had a heart attack the last time something happened, imagine if something terrible happened to him— Would you really be able to live with that?”

“My father made his own decisions, including siding with those newcomers who took everything from us, so whatever happens to him will be exclusively his responsibility.”

Ámbar shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.” Was she really that far gone? Did she not care about anything?

Am I wasting my time? Ámbar thought with sudden, terrifying despair. Is there no way to fix this?

“I’m very serious,” Sharon declared. “So think very carefully if you want to keep siding with that family.”

Ámbar swallowed a groan of frustration. “You don’t understand, it’s not about sides. I just want—”

The sound of footsteps coming from behind her made Ámbar’s heart jump to her throat.

Rapidly, she hung up and turned around, trying to not seem too suspicious.

The fist in her chest tightened when she saw it was Simón who had come in through the kitchen door— out of all possible people— and, judging by the curious look he was casting her way, he had definitely caught her talking on the phone.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“I thought you’d be in bed,” he said. “Why did you hang up so fast? Who was it?”

Ámbar tried to think through the buzz of panic in her head. “Yeah, um, I forgot something down here so I came to find it,” she said. Her mouth felt dry. “I did, so, it’s all good.”

Simón made a noise of understanding but the wrinkle between his brows remained. “And the call?”

“No one,” Ámbar responded instinctively. Fuck, she was so stupid— of course it couldn’t be no one! “I mean, no one as in nothing important, don’t mind it,” she tried to dismiss it.

Simón let out a laugh. “If you really told me you were talking to no one, I would be worried that you’ve been stuck inside this house so long it has started to affect you and you hear voices now,” he joked. 

Ámbar forced a weak laugh out of her in response. “Yeah, no, it was… Emilia,” she came up with. “She was just calling to annoy me, so I cut her off. But it was nothing, really.”

The amusement left Simón’s expression and he became serious. “Do you want me to talk to her?” He offered. “I’ll talk to her,” he decided before she could speak. “It’s not fair that she’s harassing you after they kicked you off the team. What does she think she’s doing?”

Ámbar’s eyes widened slightly. “Nonono, leave it, really, I can handle her,” she assured him, trying to seem as unbothered as possible while fear gripped her senses. “It’s not like it bothers me anyway, it’s her time she’s wasting, not mine.”

“You sure?”  

Ámbar nodded immediately, eager to put the topic to rest. Simón, too good to just let it go, walked toward her with a slightly saddened expression and held her hands in his. “We shouldn’t have even invited her to sing with us at the Roller Jam,” he said with some bite. “I know why you suggested it, but if she’s still bothering you even after you tried to do something nice for her, then she’s not worth it.”

He was so aggrieved for her sake and it only made Ámbar feel worse. He only wanted her to be treated fairly, kindly— He wanted to defend her from what could bring her harm. And in the meantime, what was she doing? Sinking in a sea of lies and drowning others with her in order to maintain them.

I’m the harm and he doesn’t know it.

“I just thought it was fair. And who knows? Maybe she just needs time,” she attempted to defend Emilia in order to salvage her conscience. “But whatever— I don’t have time to think about Emilia or anything of the sort, it really doesn’t matter,” she said fast and dismissively. She squeezed his hands and smiled. “Let’s just go upstairs, okay?”

Ámbar turned off the lamp and they went up to her room hand in hand. The darkness gave her an excuse to not look him in the face.  

The warmth of Simón’s hand felt suffocating against her own, as if it burned her skin— holy water on the worst sinner. Ámbar felt disgusting. She didn’t deserve this hand.

But she was not going to let it go. She held it tighter. She held him tighter.  

She was not letting Simón go.

Ever.

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

The next morning, Ámbar woke up before him, as she usually did, but Simón convinced her to stay in bed and sleep some more. They’d had a long night last night (Ámbar had been inspired, running her hands and mouth all over his body, and he had no desire to say no) but more than that, she’d been visibly tired lately with all the preparations for the Roller Jam, and she deserved the rest.

“It won’t kill you to sleep in one day; take the morning off.”

His stubborn girl was still propping herself up and rubbing at her eyes, trying to wake up even though she was clearly exhausted. “I can’t do that, I’m supposed to be working.”

“I won’t tell Vidia if you won’t.”

Ámbar gave him a disapproving look and pouted, and she looked absolutely adorable with her disheveled hair and sleepy eyes.

Simón kissed her pout. “Seriously, just sleep two more hours, it’ll be okay.”

Ámbar closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow. “Mmm, but I like having breakfast with you,” she murmured.

Simón smiled and tucked some hair away from her face. “Me too. So, sleep so that we can do that tomorrow.”

Ámbar hummed again and snuggled under the covers. There might have been an ‘okay’ there somewhere but it was too muffled and sleepy to tell.

Simón leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of her head before getting up. “I love you.”

“Luv u,” Ámbar mumbled, and by the time Simón walked out of the room, she was out like a light.

The rest of Simón’s morning went on as normal, with him walking to the Roller with Pedro, starting his workday, and supervising the new part-timers while they learned the ropes in the cafeteria.

The first few days of this last activity had felt like double work for Simón and Pedro because they had to train the new girls in addition to keeping up with all their usual duties, so it was a lot. Alex, the new rink assistant, had been easier: He already had rollerskating experience, so all they had to do was show him how the rental system in the lockers worked and teach him about safety precautions in the rink and what to do in case of any accidents— stuff like that. Eric, being the full-time rink assistant, took over most of his training, so Simón and Pedro only had to worry about the cafeteria.

‘Only’ was an understatement, of course— It was the hardest part. But by now, Cata and Rae had gotten a pretty good hang of things— Simón hadn’t lied when he said to Ámbar that they learned things quickly— so he felt way more at ease. Actually, he hadn’t felt this relaxed while working since the days when Nico was still with them. Four people worked better than two, after all. He would miss the girls once they started working on their own on the weekends, and he was sure Pedro shared the sentiment, but in exchange for that, they’d finally get to have their weekends free like the rest of the world, so really, they couldn’t complain.

He brought two hamburgers over to table 4 and then there was a small lull in activity as all the customers enjoyed their food and joyful conversation. Simón took the opportunity to go to the lockers and see how Eric and Alex were doing. Just as a friendly visit, mostly, but if he was being honest, he did have another agenda.  

He’d been thinking for the past few days how great it’d be if Alex happened to play an instrument and wanted to join the Roller Band. Simón didn’t want to get his hopes up, but they could finally be a band again! Alex seemed like a very nice guy from the interactions Simón’d had with him until now, and Eric felt comfortable around him, which said a lot because he was usually nervous around new people, so really, what was there to lose in asking?

Unfortunately, when the three of them got talking and Simón subtly brought the topic up, he came to find out that, while Alex loved music, he had absolutely no ability for it.

Simón hid the disappointment he felt. Of course finding a new member wasn’t going to be that easy. Looking at it objectively, it would have been an unbelievable stroke of luck if Alex turned out to be the solution to all their problems. Not because Simón got to the Roller and was a perfect fit for the band meant that everyone who arrived would be as well.

Maybe Eric could join if he weren’t so shy, Simón thought.He’d been great at Nico’s farewell party. But Simón wasn’t going to force him out of his shell just for his own gain.

The idea of the Christian Rock duo was starting to sound appealing.

They were still talking when someone else walked into the room. There was a minimal pause, almost imperceptible, as the three of them glanced to the side to check if it was someone in need of assistance, but it was just Emilia, who walked toward her locker without even looking at them.

Eric and Alex continued talking, but Simón didn’t. He stayed staring at Emilia, feeling a spark of anger flare inside of him as he remembered last night.

He simply couldn’t understand it. Ámbar was breaking her back organizing an event that everyone could enjoy, that she invited Emilia to participate in as an olive branch, and Emilia repaid that good faith by calling Ámbar just to mess with her? How could anyone be so ungrateful?

Simón couldn’t even be sure this was the first time something like this had happened. Ámbar had a tendency of wanting to deal with everything herself— The prime example of that being that she told Simón not to worry about it, that she could handle Emilia— So who knew how long this had been going on.

Emilia put her skates away and walked out of the lockers as quietly as she had come. Simón tightened his fists. Yes, Ámbar could deal with Emilia— Simón had no doubt that she could handle almost anything if she put her mind to it. But it wasn’t fair that this was happening, and Ámbar didn’t have todeal with everything alone— She had him now. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow something like this to keep happening without doing anything about it.

Simón said a quick bye to the guys and walked out right after her.

In the hallway, he threw a quick look around in search for Benicio, because wherever Emilia was, Benicio was always close by. Simón found him still at the rink, rollerskating by himself. Good. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with both at the same time.

Emilia was already crossing the front door by the time he brought his gaze back to her. Simón hurried after her, walked out of the Roller too, and stood in her path, causing her to stop.

“I need to speak with you.”

Emilia blinked, both in surprise and confusion. “With me? What, is there another event you want me to sing at?” She joked. “I’m very sorry but you’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow—I gotta get to work.”  

She tried to pass by him but Simón blocked her way.

“No, it’s not about that. And you know what? If we had known this is what your response would be, we never would’ve invited you,” he spat her way. “I mean, Ámbar wanted to invite you as a kind gesture, she was trying to put an ending to all the fighting so you could be a part of something nice for once, and this is how you repay her? Calling her up just to annoy her? It isn’t enough for you to be so unfriendly to everyone in their presence, you had to bother her during her free time too?”

Emilia wrinkled her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night, when you called Ámbar on her cellphone to harass her,” Simón stated in no uncertain terms.

Emilia’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “I haven’t called your little girlfriend since she sucked face with you. She became a loser by association.”

“Don’t lie, Emilia. Ámbar told me.”

“I’m not lying,” Emilia protested. “Here, you wanna see?” She pulled out her phone and offered it to him. “Check my phone’s call history. You won’t find Ámbar’s name anywhere.”

Simón hesitated for a moment. Something inside him rose in alarm, not allowing him to move. He took the phone and tried to quiet it. Emilia was just pretending to be offended, that was all.   

She unlocked the phone right in front of his eyes, which again unnerved him due to the confidence of the gesture, but he carried on. He just had to prove she was lying. He tapped out of Instagram, the last app she’d been using, apparently, and went to the home page to find the Phone app. He went to the call history and started scrolling down. 

He checked the names, the dates on the list, checked again.

Nothing. Ámbar’s name was nowhere to be found.

It must have shown on his face, the way his stomach started coiling into knots, because he heard Emilia’s annoyed vindication. “See? I told you. I don’t even remember when was the last time I called Ámbar. It should show up there somewhere. Has it been a month maybe?”

She was just thinking out loud, unpreoccupied now that she’d been proven right. Meanwhile, Simón was struggling to keep his nervous system under control.

It can’t be.

It can’t be.  

“You could’ve deleted it,” he told her, looking up from the treacherous list on that stupid device.

Emilia, arms crossed in front of her chest, seemed unamused by the accusation. “Yeah, because I see the future and I knew you were going to want to see it,” she said ironically. She rolled her eyes. “Please, Simón, don’t fool yourself. Ámbar lied to you. And, I mean, why are you even surprised? It’s Ámbar. Lying is what she does best.”  

No.

It can’t be.

“Look,” Emilia deflated, uncrossing her arms and looking at him with something akin to pity, “from one Mexican to another, I think you should stay away from her. You’re too goody-goody, and Ámbar… well, there’s a reason why we used to be friends.”

A slight tremor was taking over Simón’s limbs. He couldn’t even look at Emilia. He couldn’t look at anyone.

“Now if you excuse me,” she took her phone from his hands, “I’m gonna go.” Emilia took a couple steps before stopping. “And tell your girlfriend that if she wants to do right by me or whatever then she shouldn’t go around sullying my name with false accusations.” She walked away. “See ya, Simón.” 

Even after she was long gone, Simón remained unmoving. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his ears.

Ámbar lied to me.

Ámbar lied to me.

He tried to slow down his breathing, swallow the pulse in his throat, but the pain in his chest didn’t go away.   

This couldn’t be. There had to be some explanation. There had to be.

Calm down. He could hardly hear his thoughts through the blaring of his heartbeat. It’s just a phone call. It’s not a big deal. This isn’t like last year. It isn’t—

But if it’s not a big deal, then why did she—?

Simón breathed in and out, hard.

All around him, his world started crumbling down.

…

..

.

[countessofravenclaw]

To grow up…Love…let go: act one

Growing up is hard when you're trying to find your own path. You live, you learn, you fall in love, and when you find the one, your heart will never break... ...or at least thats what Laura Perida thinks right before she's about to start high school. She's ready to find her own fairytale romance, just like her parents, but maybe she doesn't realize that life is not always that simple, especially given what we know about her parent's actual romance.

“You got everything?” 

“Big bag, small bag, backpack, skating bag,” Laura read off her list, “Yep, I got everything.”

“You look exactly like your mother when reading that checklist,” Gastón smiled at his 14-year-old younger daughter, as he closed the trunk of the car. 

“That’s great,” Laura rolled her eyes lightly while pulling the backpack on her back and looked at Ivory. “Ready?”

“Yep,” Ivory nodded. 

Laura was going to be attending a two-week skating camp with her best friend Ivory Alvarez. What could be a better way to celebrate the start of summer than two weeks of fun and skating away from parental supervision. 

“The sign ups were in that building,” Gastón looked around, “You want me to come in with you?”

“Dad, we’re high schoolers,” Laura made a horrified face, “We don’t need a chaperone.” 

“I’m not a chaperone. I’m your father.” Gastón looked amused, “And you are starting high school in two months, so I don’t think you can call yourself that quite yet.”

“You can be the Queen of Sweden,” Laura rolled her eyes again. “No one else is gonna have an escort.” 

“Okay, little miss independent, I get that it’s super embarrassing,” Gastón brushed a lock of hair behind Laura’s ear, that had fallen off the confines of the headband, before kissing her on her cheek. “Have fun sweetie. You too Ivory.”

“Yeah, thanks for the ride Gastón.” 

“Bye Dad!”

“Call Mom and I at least once!” Gastón yelled as the girls grabbed their stuff and headed inside the building. 

***

“Hey! I’m back!” Gastón pushed the door shut in his house after he had walked in. He saw his wife sitting on the couch in the living room, reading something off a tablet. She jumped when hearing his voice, in that adorable manner she always did. “Did I scare you?” 

“No, but how are you already back? You just left,” Nina put the tablet down. 

“We left before 12, it is almost 2 pm.” Gastón pointed out as he sat on the couch next to her. 

“It is?” Nina glanced down at her watch. 

“Must have been something interesting if you lost track of time.” Gastón pointed toward the tablet. 

“It was,” Nina nodded and turned the tablet back on, “While I was researching Agatha Christie, I found this indie short story that was extremely intriguing. I got stuck reading that and not doing research that I was supposed to be doing for my story. I still don’t know who actually killed Renese in the current work. My editor is about to go crazy, like you know.”

“Well, how that’s solved is by not rushing.” Gastón squeezed her hand. “You are the publishing company’s star. They’re basically wrapped around your finger, as they should, so what you say goes.”

“They’re also the same people who didn’t want me to change my name…” Nina shook her head, “Anyways, enough about that. Did the girls get off at the camp alright?”

“Definitely,” Gastón nodded grinning, “Can it be considered a parenting win when your kid can’t wait to run away from you?”

“Maybe…” Nina laughed. 

“I wasn’t even allowed to set foot out of the parking lot, because they can do it themselves.” Gastón shook his head, “Teenagers, am I right? But they’re gonna be more than okay. We’ll be lucky if we hear from Laura once during these two weeks.” 

“I wouldn’t have ever been brave enough for that at her age. Go to a camp all alone.” Nina shook her head.

“Well, she’s not alone. Ivory’s with her.”

“Still…” Nina continued and leaned toward her husband, “I'm glad they all got your confidence.”

“There must have been some reason why you keep me around,” Gastón leaned forward as well, placing his hand on her waist. 

“You know there are multiple reasons for that.” 

“Like this one?” He kissed her. “So, one is done, how are we getting rid of the other two, so we can be alone.”

“Didn’t we already have a plan for that?” Nina laughed, running a hand on his chest. She was about to kiss him again when his phone started ringing. 

“Did you already drop the girls off?” Ambar’s face showed up on the video call.

“Yep, long time ago,” Gastón answered. Nina leaned her head on his shoulder.

“How did it go?” Ambar asked. “Did you go in with them?” 

“Well,” Gastón shrugged, “and no, I didn’t. I wasn’t allowed to, you know, for the street cred. We all know they will be fine anyway.” 

“So, you didn’t see what sort of accommodations they got?” Ambar kept asking. 

“Darling, what are you doing?” Simon’s head showed up behind Ambar. “Oh hey! Did the girls get off alright?”

“They did,” Gastón nodded, “As I was just about to say to Ambar, I didn’t go in, but the place looked fine. Pretty standard sports academy. Not any sort of luxe hotel, but I think they’ll survive.” 

“Why were you even asking about that?” Simon looked at Ambar. “You weren’t expecting some sort of luxury, for a sports camp, right? You were the one who wanted the girls to go to the nearest public school so we can agree that they don’t need luxury.”

“I wasn’t expecting any luxury,” Ambar glared at Simon playfully, “but surely I am not alone when I don’t want them to sleep in a moldy cabin in the woods.”

“Yeah, there were no woods at all.” 

“I just still keep wondering how the camp fee was so cheap?” Ambar shook her head, “We didn’t have time to vet it when girls found it online.”

“Well, you don’t need to worry about it,” Nina started speaking, “I wouldn’t call it vetting, but we did look it up. It’s run by a church sanctioned nonprofit.” 

“Oh.”

“Apparently lots of the kids attending those camps are being provided aid by the non-profit, because they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. They get it half free at least.” Gastón explained, “I have been meaning to look into the organization, see if they accept anonymous donations.”

“It’ll probably be a little different environment,” Nina nodded, “but would be good for the girls, before they start at Blake. Not that they care about those things, but a change of scenery is always for the good.”

“I definitely agree with that,” Simon agreed, “I grew up sleeping in a bunk bed, so you need to experience that at least once in your life. Camps are always so fun.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Ambar shook her head, “It is very good that they went, even if two weeks is a little long… I’m just glad that Ivory has something to do. We’re so busy and summer has just started.”

“Sorry, can't relate with that,” Gastón grinned, “Corporations are on summer vacation and so is UCA, so I’m free, outside of a few thesis supervisions, but those are not a bother.”

Gastón was such a popular professor in UCA, that almost all of the students who had had his classes wanted him to supervise their thesis. He had had to put a hard limit on three students per year a long time ago. 

“Actually, on Monday we are taking off to Santa Cruz. Gonna go take some pictures at the Los Glaciares national park.” Gastón looked at Nina, “Now that Laura’s off at camp, we are giving Oscar and Aurora a chance to prove that the house won’t burn down if they’re left by themselves for five days.”

“Vacation? Ah, I would love that,” Simon groaned, “Not us. Pedro and I are going back to the studio to do some recording. We won’t be free before the end of January.”

“And I have at least two court dates in need of my appearances,” Ambar shook her head, “Maybe three, if that one case gets drawn out. We need to figure out something for Esme to do, since I can’t take her to the courthouse.”

“She used to love to come to the studio, but now she complains how boring it is there,” Simon grimaced.

“That’s how teenagers are.”

“She just turned 13, my little gemstone can’t be a teenager yet,” Simon’s face turned horrified. 

“We’ve all been there,” Gastón laughed, “There will always be the time when you little girl decides that she doesn’t want to be a child anymore.”

“We probably didn’t tell you that right before school got out, Laura got in her head that she wanted to dye her hair platinum white,” Nina explained, “We shot that down very quickly. Said that she can have some lighter highlights if she wants, but not that drastic of a full hair change.”

“When she’s 18, she can have full responsibility for those sorts of decisions,” Gastón continued, “but…about Esme. Doesn’t she like chemistry?” 

“Yeah, she does,” Ambar nodded, “Always gets mad at us, when we don’t allow her to mix kitchen soap with all sorts of things.”

“How did I not tell you about this?” Gastón questioned out loud, “There are these summer science workshops held in UCA this summer, for middle schoolers. Few of my star students are TA:ing that. You’d think Esme might like that?”

“She would probably love it,” Ambar exclaimed. “It’s held at UCA? With what sort of timetable?”

“9 to 4 I think.” Gastón responded, “It starts next week.” 

“Is there still time to sign up?”

“Check the website. I’m not involved with it myself, if I wasn’t a part timer, I probably would be.” Gastón thought. 

“We'll try. That would be perfect.”

“Tell me if you can’t get her in.” Gastón nodded, “I do know the professor running the program personally, so I can get her in.” 

“Thank you.” Simon made a few gestures with his hands, “Who knew that your kids growing up would be such a hassle?”

“Tell me about it,” Ambar chuckled, “We need to figure out when the Blake Freshmen parents’ conference even is.” 

“At the end of February,” Nina responded, “it’s always the same day, and has the same contents.”

“We probably wouldn’t even need to attend it anymore, we know it by heart,” Gastón rolled his eyes, “Third times the charms and thankfully the last.”

“Well, this is our first,” Ambar remarked. “Ivory is seriously starting upperseconday school.”

“We’re getting old.”

“We really are. We’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, bye.”

“Why would we burn the house down?” Aurora walked down the stairs. 

“I don’t know, Firecracker” Gastón shook his head, “I also really don’t want to know, so we better not find that out. You’re not allowed to taint your great grandfather's legacy, and I don’t want to be hearing from Lieutenant Otero. William would never let it go.” 

“There is no reason why Uncle William should need to come here on a call,” Aurora rolled her eyes. “I’ll make sure that Oscar doesn’t burn anything.” 

***

“Come on!!” Laura urged Ivory as they walked into the lobby of the sports academy. At the lobby there was a desk, above which read: Sports Academy, freestyle and artistic skating training camp. Registration.

“Hello,” The 20 something woman greeted them from the desk. “Here for the camp registration?” 

“Yep,” Laura nodded.

“Names and IDs?”

“Laura Perida.” Laura handed her passport to the woman, and she scanned it. 

“Ivory Alvarez.” Ivory did the same. 

“Okay,” the woman nodded and clicked something on her tablet. “Do you already have the app?”

“Yes, we do,” Laura nodded. She and Ivory had poured over all the information possible.

“Good,” The woman nodded again, “It’s now activated for the both of you. You’ll find everything there. The daily schedules, room assignments etc. The first event is happening in one and half hours in the main sport hall. The tour of all the places will be happening later today. Any questions?”

“Nope,” Laura shook her head and she and Ivory dragged their stuff through the lobby towards a staircase. 

“Okay, we’re in room B25,” Ivory read from her phone. “There’s a map here… Upstairs, and then left.”

“It feels like we’re in some sort of Uni dorms or something.” Laura remarked as they walked up the stairs and flung her arm around Ivory’s shoulder. “Just think. This is the start of our new life.”

“New life?” Ivory looked at her confused. 

“Yeah, new life.” Aurora repeated. “We’re teenagers, almost adults. We’re gonna get to be in the same class and the best thing is that we’re gonna be part of a professional skating team! All that’s missing are hot boyfriends.”

“You got over that crush on your cooking class partner real fast,” Ivory noted to Laura. 

“Michael?” Laura stared at Ivory. “Nooo, I never had a crush on him. It doesn’t matter anyway… Now I’m looking for love. My fairytale is ready to find me.” 

“Lets first find the door,” Ivory laughed. 

“I mean just imagine, if we both find guys, we could go on all of these cute double dates and be bestie couples. Just like Mom and Dad and Luna and Matteo.” 

“We can hope,” Ivory pointed toward a door at the end of the hallway. “There. That’s the door.”

Laura and Ivory pushed the door open to a moderately sized room that had two bunk beds, two wardrobes, a few cabinets and shelves and a desk. There also was an “en suite” bathroom. 

On the lower bed of the other bunk bed, sat a black-haired girl, who looked like she was of Asian descent. 

“Hi!” Laura greeted her and the girl pulled her headphones off. 

“Oh, hi!” The girl greeted them. “You’re gonna be my roommates?”

“Yep,” Laura nodded, and Ivory gave a small wave. “I’m Laura. This is Ivory.”

Ivory wasn’t shy in any means, but she was a tad bit soft spoken and took her time to warm up to new people. Laura on the other hand was an absolutely social butterfly, so much so that she had given her parents quite a lot of trouble with her having no strange danger whatsoever as a toddler. 

“Great to meet you!” The girl got off the bed, “I’m Amida. I’m glad to see that I wasn't the only one who came here so early, Mom called me crazy, but it’s just my thing at this camp.”

“Dips on the top bunk!!” Ivory yelled as she and Laura had finished dragging their bags inside. 

“Hey!” Laura protested slightly before settling on the lower bed. She looked at Amida again. “So, you’ve been to this camp before?”

“Yep,” Amida nodded, “I usually came here with my cousins, but now they’re too old, so I came alone. You two have not been here before, because I would remember you.”

“Yeah, we have not.” Ivory responded as she was climbing up to the upper bunk, “We found this online, but we’ve been skating like we have been like five.”

“That’s cool,” Amida nodded, “To me it's more of a hobby and I do tik toks with tricks. I know there are teams that compete. Do you do that?”

“Yeah, we do,” Laura exclaimed, “We have done pretty much all of the junior competitions when we were little, and now… You’re talking to the newest members of the official Team of Jam & Roller.”

“Oh, I have heard of them.” Amidas eyes widened, “That team is quite iconic, and has brought up a lot of successful skaters. Marisa Mint used to be their trainer once upon a time. You’re really part of that team?”

Since Ivory was sitting on the top bunk and Laura on the lower one, they couldn’t make eye contact, but they didn’t need to do that. They had previously agreed, and also been told by their parents, that it wasn’t maybe the best idea to start bragging about the fact that they knew Juliana or other skating world stars like Luna and Ramiro personally. 

“Well, we aren’t in it quite yet,” Ivory remarked, “The auditions were two weeks ago, and we haven’t yet heard back. We were part of the Junior Rollers and did intermediate training before we were eligible for the main team.” 

“But we’re gonna get in,” Laura continued, “It’s basically in our blood. My Dad was in the team and so were both of Ivory’s parents. So Amida, tell us, what sort of things are we gonna do here?” 

“Their program is really good, especially for a church sanctioned camp,” Amida explained, “The trainers are really good. Last year we did all sorts of things. Theory, boring… strength training, basic technique, acrobatics and partnering.” 

“We're doing partnering?!” Laura exclaimed excitedly, “Yes!! Finally. We never did that in Junior Rollers, because apparently, we were too young. I’m so looking forward to learning all of those tricks in the actual team. If we’re doing that here, then we’re not gonna be completely unprepared.”

“Do they usually have enough guys in this camp to do that?” Ivory questioned. 

“Yep,” Amida nodded, “We usually have had pretty even split. “I’m more of a spin person myself. Lifts aren’t always my thing.”

“They definitely are mine,” Laura noted, “I love all that stuff, and not just in skating. We went to see Sleeping Beauty by Colon Theatre Ballet once. It is so romantic… How do people not just fall in love while dancing like that?”

“I mean… Some do. Some did.” Ivory remarked.

“What do you mean?” Amida asked. 

“My parents,” Ivory responded, “And my godparents, they were all in the team in the late 2010s, ancient times, and were each other's partners.”

“It was all so romantic,” Laura leaned her head in her hands. “I wish we could have seen it all. Sad that Mom and Dad never skated together… I mean Mom didn’t really ever skate, except for that one event, but Dad was at college at that time. Maybe they would have fallen in love faster if they had… Although, no one can convince me that they didn’t like each other in high school.”

“What are you talking about?” Amida asked again. 

“Well, my Mom and Dad started dating when they attended University of Oxford together,” Laura explained, “but like, they had been friends years before that. Went to high school togther and everything, and Dad was in the team, and so was Mom’s best friend so they all hung out at Roller. Mom and Dad’s besties are also married and are like my big brother’s godparents. I swear they definitely already liked each other then, probably weren’t able to fully express it before they got to be alone in England.” 

Suddenly all of their phones dinged. The app was sending them a notification. 

“We need to get to the auditorium,” Amida got up from the bed, “First, there is this briefing of sort of official stuff, like safety, super boring… but then we’ll go onto our first rink session so take your gear with you.” 

“Good thing we have a guide,” Laura laughed as they left through the door. 

*

“That was the fire debriefing,” The camp director switched slides on a slideshow. 

“Thank god,” Laura whispered to Ivory, “Literally, I knew almost all of that just by common sense.” 

“Or you just happen to be a descendant of a firefighting family,” Ivory whispered back. 

“Okay, and the last order of business,” The director continued, “the skating partners. You’ll be assigned a partner, who will be your partner during the whole camp.”

“Yes.” Laura and Ivory whispered. 

“Alvarez and Rodeira, Delia and Wereze…” The director read of the list, “...Mendera and Butyyli, Orei and Rixe, Perida and Diaze…”

* 

“Now, if we got this down,” The skating instructor continued, “now find your assigned partners for the first time. Review the three counts of choreo, so you’ll be able to do it together. The guys are supposed to mirror the girls.”

The group scattered when everyone tried to find their partners. 

Laura scanned the group. They had done a name round, but she didn’t remember anymore. Immaculate memory of details was Aurora’s thing. 

Which of the guys looked like a Diaze?

“Perida?” a guy wheeled in front of her. He had blonde curly hair and clear blue eyes. 

“Yes,” Laura nodded, “Diaze?” 

“That’s me,” The guy nodded, and seemingly looked Laura up and down. “You’re really short.”

“I am still growing,” Laura rolled her eyes, “My brother is really tall, so just you wait. I’m Laura.” 

“Alex.” The guy nodded. “Sooo…the choreo? It looked like you really got a handle on it.”

“You’ve been watching me?” Laura looked at him. “Well, how are you handling the choreo, since I have not been watching you.”

“I think I got it,” Alex stretched his arm, “flipping it though…”

“Well, you better keep up.” Laura brushed some hair off her face. “cinco seis SIETE OCHO.”

They started marking up the choreo, and to Laura’s surprise Alex hadn’t been excarating about his handle on it. He really did know it, and flipping didn’t seem to cause any trouble for him. So, he truly had skill… 

“Ah!” Laura tripped on her spin as she put the break of the skate on the ground too early and lost her balance. Then her arm was grabbed so she didn’t slam face first into the rink. 

“Careful.” Alex pulled her back up. “I don’t want to be benched because my partner gets herself out of commission.” 

“Yeah, thanks.” Laura nodded as she got her footing back. 

“By the way, really cool skates.” Alex pointed to Laura’s feet. 

For some reason the comment made Laura feel really shy all of a sudden. She was extremely proud of her skates, which had started out as a plain holographic silver pair with turquoise laces and wheels. The swirly patterns in the side she had painted there herself, just like she had attached the rhinestones to the laces. 

“Thanks, I’ve made them myself,” Laura twirled her ponytail around. 

“Don’t tell me those are real diamonds.”

“Nope, they’re really fake,” Laura laughed, “Dad doesn’t let me wear real gemstones, so he definitely wouldn’t allow me to put them on skates.” 

“He’s that stingy?” Alex joked.

“Dad’s like the opposite of stingy,” Laura shook her head, “but real diamonds and gems are reserved for Mom only. My sister and I will probably get something when we get married.”

“Oh well…” Alex seemed to smirk, “I guess we’ll have that to look forward to then. Go again?”

“What?” Laura’s thoughts for some reason completely blanked out. 

“Should we mark the choreo one more time?” Alex asked her. “If you can keep your breaks under control.”

“Sure,” Laura nodded, “but it is scientifically proven, that failures actually just increase the determination…”

“Where have you read that?” Alex laughed at her. “Have you swallowed a dictionary?” 

“Some research paper Dad showed me.” Laura shrugged, “He’s a uni professor and came across it somewhere from the archives. But I’ve done research about that myself too.” 

“Okay,” Alex nodded and ran his hand through his hair. “Soo, the choreo?”

“Yep, yeah,” Laura blinked for a moment, “Let’s do it.”

***

“How’s Laura doing at that camp?” Luna asked as she took a sip of her drink. Gastón, Nina, Luna and Matteo were having their bi-weekly “kid free” brunch that they had had every other Sunday for almost ever since Gastón and Nina had returned from England—Okay, it had been canceled once when Luna had literally been in labor. “I am so jealous. I wish we would have had skating camps when we were kids.” 

“Well…as far as we're aware.” Gastón responded. 

“Since when are you not fully aware?” Matteo raised an eyebrow.

“We haven’t had a full-on conversation since she left,” Nina clarified. 

“I think Simon and Ambar are requiring Ivory to text them every night,” Luna noted. 

“We don’t need to do that,” Gastón responded, “There have been plenty of selfies, emojis, videos of Laura doing some tricks, so we know she’s alive and apparently having the time of her life. That is great. We're planning on calling her soon, as the half point of the camp has passed. I think we are allowed to check in.”

“How are they so big already?” Matteo shook his head, “Stella keeps going on and on about the Roller Team. They can avenge the Roda Fest for us.”

“I don’t get why they are making them wait this long for the audition results,” Luna complained. “I almost want to ask Abigail−”

“I told you that you can’t try to influence the coach,” Matteo looked at Luna, “This isn’t the time for nepotism and Stella wouldn’t want you to do that.” 

“But I want to know!” 

“We all do,” Nina smiled, “But they need to achieve it with their own merit. We need to allow them to−” 

“Exactly,” Gastón nodded, “One of the reasons why none of our kids will never want to attend the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. It’s probably better for me too.”

“Speaking of Universities, has Oscar come to any decisions?” Matteo asked. 

“He actually has,” Nina looked at Gastón and smiled. 

“Are we gonna be surprised?” Matteo questioned, “Is that why it’s a secret?”

“It’s not a secret,” Gastón shook his head, “He hasn’t changed his mind. Medical school it is and Oxford. We can blame April for that…and ourselves.” 

“Of course.” 

“Obviously, it is an extremely ambitious undertaking,” Nina continued, “You don’t just get in there, but we’re letting him go for it.”

“We all know he’s gonna get in if he tries,” Luna piped up.

“We have all the faith in him. We’ll see what happens.” Gastón wrapped his arm around Nina, “Backups are a little up in the air, but he has time. The applications aren’t even open yet.” 

“But it’s a really good thing that he feels so strongly about what he wants to do,” Nina squeezed his hand, “Although, he still has his whole Senior year left. Anything can happen before he graduates—” 

“Well, as far as we know right now history shall be repeated,” Matteo joked, “If you’re lucky, you end up with another doctor as a daughter-in-law.” 

“Maybe it is the best that history stays in the books,” Gastón made a few faces, “Don’t want Oscar making my mistakes…” He looked at Nina again, “He might not get as lucky as I did. Plus, it is not really possible, because he doesn’t have a girlfriend.” 

“As far as we are aware…” Nina added, and she and Gastón shared a somewhat meaningful look. 

“How do none of our kids have anything going on?” Luna questioned. 

“What are they supposed to have going on?” Matteo looked at her amused. “Let's be relieved that they’re not living the chaos we did.” 

“We are in no rush to plan any weddings,” Nina agreed, “Some things may start happening while they’re in high school, but we can’t know what will happen in the future. Not everyone is going to find their true love at 16.”

“Aww,” Luna looked disappointed, “Maybe I should ask Delfi what’s going on with Victoria. Unless you know something,” She looked at Gastón. 

The oldest of the off-springs of the team, Delfi and Pedro’s daughter, 19-year-old Victoria, had started studying at UCA—the school Gastón taught at—last fall. 

“I don’t know, and how would I even?” He shook his head, while taking a sip of his drink. “I don’t teach her, and the campus is huge. I don’t see her very often. If I started paying attention to student's love life, I'd have worse headache that I have alredy. I keep forgetting to drink, which is not very smart in this heat.” 

“Uuuu, can we go get dessert!!” Luna suddenly exclaimed, clearly having forgotten the topic she had brought up in the first place, “I'll go get the pie.”

“I’ll come with you.” Nina said and the girls got up from the table. 

“I am pretty sure that if Victoria had a boyfriend, we would have already heard it from Pedro,” Matteo remarked to Gastón. “Remember the last existential crisis he had when she was dating last?”

“It was funny,” Gastón laughed, “But would he have one like that again honestly? I mean, it is a little different when your 19-year-old daughter has a boyfriend, to when she was 15.”

“Is it?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Gastón shook his head, “My 15-year-old daughter doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

“Nor does mine,” Matteo agreed, “Thankfully. Luna though, she’s kind of convinced that Stella is crushing on someone… But I am honestly not that sure.”

“Maybe you’re the one who needs to be careful.” Gastón teased Matteo. 

***

“We’re preparing this choreo that the coach says we’re gonna film and put it on the website at the end.” Laura was sitting on the grass behind the camp building and holding her tablet up so her parents could see her face. 

“That sounds great,” Dad responded, “We get to see it too then. How’s everything else? You've been eating and sleeping?” 

“Yes,” Laura rolled her eyes, “The curfew is at 10, so in two hours. The food in the cafeteria is as mild as it was at Hoja, but I’m not starving if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Well, gourmet wouldn’t make any sense,” Mom smiled, “I’m sure it’s actually good enough.” 

“Everything has carrots in it,” Laura whined, “Can we get food from La Dorita de Palermo when I get back?”

“We can think about it. We miss you.”

“Come on…” Laura rolled eyes again, but this time more affectionately, “I miss you too. Don’t tell thet to Aurora and Oscar!” 

“We won’t,” Dad laughed, “Simon is picking you and Ivory up on Friday. We’ll see you then. Love you.”

“Me too. Bye!” Laura said as the call disconnected. She opened her tablet’s tool pack and opened the sketching software. Behind the building was a hill where a particular maple tree grew, behind it came a most beautiful sunset. Laura had been looking at those multiple times in the evenings, and today she had finally found the time to come spend some time watching it and immortalize it in a drawing.

“So, she’s a master researcher and a star skater, but also an accomplished artist?” A voice startled Laura so she momentarily dropped her pen. 

“Did I scare you?” Alex sat next to her on the grass.

“No,” Laura shook her head, while searching for her pen from the grass. 

“Good. Here you go,” Alex handed the pen to her, and Laura smiled. At the start of the camp, she had thought that Alex would definitely get too annoying at some point… Now she didn’t even know why she had ever thought that. He was the sweetest person alive, and so cute. 

“Thanks,” She nodded, “I wasn’t even scared, I just…was zoning.”

“Zoning?” Alex looked at her unconvinced, a blonde cur falling on his forehead, framing the blue eyes.

“Yeah, it’s this term that Dad uses about Mom, when she’s so focused on her work that she totally dissociates from reality.” 

“What on earth does she do?”

“She’s an author,” Laura explained, “Regarded as one of the best female non-english authors of her generation, or something like that.” 

“Okay, that’s cool. So, artistry runs in the family,” Alex nodded.

“Something like it,” Laura brushed some hair behind her ear, “Mom and Dad have both been really into photography, but no one like draws like I do.”

“Doesn’t hurt to stand out,” Alex looked at the sunset before looking back at the grass, “The years I have been coming here, I have always been trying to find the four leafed clover, no luck yet.”

“That is gonna take a while,” Laura nudged him playfully, “those don’t exist.” 

“You may never know,” Alex shook his head and picked up a flower of the clover and put it behind Laura’s ear. She felt her breath get taken suddenly as they looked each other in the eyes. “Your eyes are really beautiful. How do they have that golden shine?”

“Oh, that’s genetic actually.” Laura laughed shyly. The golden iridescence in the irises was a trait carried by the Vazques lineage of Dad’s family. So, him, Grandma, her sisters and all of Dad’s cousins, they all had it—Laura had been the first one with green eyes to inherit it, which had revealed that it had nothing to do with the eye color itself. 

Mom always said how it was one of the first things that had made her fall in love with Dad… Grandpa had once said something similar about Grandma.

Now Alex was noting it about her… Laura had been about 70% sure that he felt the same way about her as she did about him. They had an incredible connection on the rink. What else could it possibly be? He had to like her too.

***

“Come on, where are you?” Ivory paused her playlist and pulled her headphones off as she looked at the time. It was already 9:40 pm!!!

Was Laura still outside? 

“You didn’t see Laura in the hallway?” She asked Amida.

“No,” She shook her head, “Relax, she’ll be here soon.”

“She said that she wanted to draw the tree with the sunset,” Ivory shook her head, “She has lost track of time. She’ll get in trouble if she doesn’t come back soon.”

“Getting in trouble isn’t the end of the world.”

“You don’t get it.” Ivory looked out of the window, “Perida kids don’t get in trouble. Laura wouldn’t even risk it. Something must have happened.” 

So, Ivory decided to go against her own judgment. Her parents wouldn’t be happy either if she was found outside after curfew and got in trouble for it. All that aside, Laura was her best friend and they’d be in this together. 

She had 15 minutes. Ivory sneaked out of the building through the side door and started heading toward the hill where Laura had said she would be. 

And there she was, but she wasn’t alone. 

“Membere is like next to where we live.” Alex’s blonde curls were easy to recognize even from afar. “I don’t want to attend a school Mom teaches at, but I don’t have a choice.”

“Dad has pretty much forbidden us to attend the uni he teaches at,” Laura laughed, “but for high school, we don’t get a choice either. It has always been Blake. My brother and sister are like top students there already.” 

“Are you a straight acer too?”

“Maybe,” Laura tilted her head. Ivory could see the look in her eyes, and she knew that look. How had she not seen that sooner? “I have pretty good scholar genes from the University of Oxford. Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all. I like smart girls.” Alex responded and a blush flushed into Laura's face. 

“You’re literally calling me “smart girl”? What am I? Annabeth Chase?” Laura laughed again. 

“If you were, that would be a compliment—”

Ivory felt bad at interrupting, but the time was ticking. She started climbing the hill and cleared her throat. Laura and Alex turned around. 

“Ivory?” Laura looked extremely startled and a tad bit annoyed. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to look for you. We have like under ten minutes before curfew.”

“What, no, that can’t be right…?” Laura looked at her phone, “Oh noh.”

“I didn’t realize either.” Alex got up from the ground and helped Laura up. 

“Yep, and WE really need to get going,” Ivory grabbed Laura by the arm, “See you at the rink tomorrow.”

Ivory dragged Laura inside the building. “What were you doing? It's one thing getting caught outside after curfew, but with a boy, it’s another. What will your parents say?”

“I know, I know…” Laura was shaking her head smiling, “I just lost track of time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ivory asked, “You and Alex?”

“Well…” Laura blushed again, “I mean, there isn’t Alex and I—Yet. But, like, he’s so adorable and he complimented my eyes and thinks I am smart… How can I not like him? He must like me too.”

“I can’t believe it… No wonder you’re the coaches' fave pair,” Ivory squeezed Laura’s hand and girls jumped in a circle squealing, “What are you gonna do?”

“What do you mean?” Laura looked confused. 

“We’re leaving on Friday.” Ivory pointed out. “You might never see him again if…”

“That won’t happen,” Laura shook her head again horrified, “He lives at Recoleta. It is not that far. We definitely can—”

“Ladies, what are you doing in the hallway?” One of the camp directors suddenly walked behind them. “It is 10:05 PM. You two should be in bed.”

“Oh, we were just…” Ivory started staggering.

“Just doing some stretches, Laura jumped in and got into an absurd yoga pose. Ivory followed suit. “Our room didn’t have the room for all the moves.”

“Okay…” The director looked at them suspiciously, “I am glad you are taking the sport seriously, but now I need you two in your room. Next time, you’ll get a warning.”

“Yes, Maam,” Laura did a salute and grabbed Ivory’s hand. 

“That was close,” the girls giggled as they ran down the hallway. 

“Maybe, but what wouldn’t you do for love?” Laura laughed as they pulled their room’s door open. 

***

Bag, other bag, backpack… Laura was going through her check-list. The camp had ended 30 minutes ago, and now it was time to go home…

“How do girls have so many bags?” Speaking off, Alex caught up with her in the hallway.

“How else would I be able to bring all the important stuff?” Laura dropped her stuff on the floor in the lobby. 

“Well, I guess this is it…” Alex started a little awkwardly. He had grabbed Laura’s hand as she had set her last bag down. 

“It doesn’t have to be,” Laura protested, “We can see each other. I need to show you Roller. I’ll be a member of the official team soon, but I can’t forget about my fave partner.”

“I thought I was the only partner you have had?” 

“And the best.” Laura tilted her head. 

“Don’t forget me, when you’re dancing in the world championships.” Alex remarked. 

“How could I ever forget you…?” Laura said and at that moment she decided what she was gonna do, to resolve this. She learned forward and kissed him on the lips. “Now you can’t forget me either.”

“Laura!” Alex wasn't able to say anything, as Ivory ran into the lobby. “Dad’s at the parking lot. We need to go.”

“Oh okay,” Laura nodded and looked at Alex. She squeezed his hand tightly, before hugging him. “Call me.”

He nodded. 

“Soo…?” Ivory asked Laura as they were walking toward the parking lot. “You didn’t? … Or did you?”

“Let’s talk about it in the car.” Laura made a few different faces. 

*

“It has been a pleasure to act as your personal taxi service,” Simon remarked as he stopped the car in front of Gastón and Nina’s house’s gate. 

“Thanks,” Laura laughed as she took her seatbelt off. 

“Remember to tell me all the updates about…” Ivory whispered to her, “...you know who.”

“Who knows who?” Simon looked at his daughter, “You two aren’t scheming something devious, are you?”

“Just about the team admission results,” Laura explained away, before looking at Ivory, “Of course. But about the team, seriously, if you get the email first, you call me.”

“And you call me if you get it first, or hear that Stella has gotten it, since she’s gonna call Aurora.” 

“Yep.” Laura nodded and grabbed her bags. “Thanks for the ride, Simon!!” 

“Bye!” 

“Byeee!” Laura watched the car pull away before she inserted her finger on the gate's fingerprint scanner—the gate was practically a 2040s version of the gate at dad’s childhood home. Although, Grandpa and Grandma had updated that as well over the years—and walked into the yard. 

“I’m back!!!” Laura opened the front door and dropped her bags onto the entrance hall’s floor. 

“Hey!” Mom and Dad both walked to her in a flash. They had been sitting at the dining table with Oscar and Aurora. 

“It’s so great that you’re back,” Nina said after she and Gastón finished hugging their youngest daughter. “Are you hungry? We were just eating.”

“No, actually.” Laura shook her head, “We picked up take out with Simon on the road.” 

“Of course,” Gastón smiled slightly, “Then you came in just in time for dessert.” 

“Sure,” Laura nodded and followed her parents to the table and took her seat next to Aurora, “Hey.”

“Hey! You did survive alone in the forest for all this time?” Oscar asked. 

“There was no forest,” Laura rolled her eyes, “Although, there was this super pretty mabel tree. I tried to draw it…but didn’t have enough time.” 

“So, tell us everything you did,” Laura watched her parents sit down on the other side of the table as she dug into a piece of Pionono. The one thing camp didn’t have was desserts. 

“I already gave you an itemized list when you called.”

“That was days ago now,” Gastón protested. “Tell us about the rest of it. Plus, Oscar and Aurora have not heard anything yet.” 

“Well, most of the last days we just honed the final choreo and our partnering routines.” Laura explained. 

“Wait, you finally got to dance with a boy?” Aurora looked at her, “Was it the most romantic experience of your life?”

“Yes…” Laura started saying, before stopping herself, “I mean, yeah it was fine. It was good to get experience.”

“So, it wasn’t this magical fairytale that you have always dreamed about?”

“Leave your sister alone, Firecracker,” Gastón interrupted Aurora, “There is nothing romantic about skating. Luna and Matteo are an extremely rare exception. I skated with both Delfi and Jim, the connection has nothing to do with real feelings.”

“Way to destroy all the innocent childhood dreams Dad,” Oscar joked. 

Laura just rolled her eyes. Her phone suddenly dinged, and she picked it up from the table with lightning speed. It had been Alex! He sent her a short text saying that he was not back home. 

“Laura, put the phone away. We’re at the table.” Nina reminded her as she was typing up a response. 

“Oh, sorry.” Laura quickly clicked “send” and hid the phone under the table. “I was just…checking my emails. You know, if Roller has sent anything. There hadn’t been any letters that had come here while I was away?” 

“Who sends letter post anymore?” Oscar was rolling his eyes. 

“Nobody,” Gastón shook his head and looked at Laura. “Nothing has come. Be patient.”

“The admission process can take time when there are so many good candidates,” Nina continued, “You’ll get to know. The season isn’t starting in months.” 

“But I have to get in.” Laura continued, “It is my birthright.”

“Uhm, I don’t really know about that,” Gastón shook his head, “Our rendition of the team disbanded at the end of 2018 and the systems have gotten so much better over the years. You’ll make it there on your own merit.”

“Our legacy will have nothing to do with it.” Nina nodded. “Especially mine. I barely even was in the team.”

"But like, if I get into the team, I'll get acess to the open hours and everything," Laura continued, "I'll have so much more time to train."

The "Open Hours" was a relatively new implemention at Roller. The mebers of the official team were able to access the rink during limited hours, through a side door with a key card, in the morning and evening outside of the standard business hours of Roller.

"Rememvber what we talked about," Gastón interjected, "You can't go there alone, if there is no supervision."

"I won't," Laura rolled her eyes, "We'll go with Ivory once we're in the team—"

Aurora’s phone started ringing. “It’s Stella.” 

She got up from the table and answered the phone. 

“IT CAME!! I’M IIIIIN!!!” The call definitely had not been on the speaker, but everyone in the Perida household could hear it. 

“Wait,” Laura stared toward Aurora. Stella’s yelling could only mean one thing. She had made it to the team. “The results actually came?”

“Didn’t you just check them?” Oscar asked as Laura clamored for her phone. Of course, she had never actually been checking her email…but now if the results were in… 

There in fact was a new message.

“I’m in!!! I’m in the team!!” Laura jumped up from the table.

*

“So, now that we’re not in Mom and Dad’s interrogation—” Laura had been lying on her bed in a daze until a voice abruptly shook her back into reality. Aurora was leaning on the bathroom’s door frame—two girls had a conjoined bathroom, with doors to both of their rooms. It was an everlasting mystery why Dad had built the house like that, with a bathroom between two bedrooms. He didn’t even have two daughters at the time when he had designed the house, which had ended up being a big part of his Ph.D. “—what’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” Laura got up and stared at her older sister. 

“Don’t try and think you can fool me,” Aurora rolled her eyes. “Come on now. You got to skate with a boy for two weeks and you barely gushed about it. You, who has dreamed about your fairytale, dance in the clouds, romance since forever. Was your partner that horrible?”

“No, he…he was amazing…” Laura sighed. She couldn’t keep everything about Alex in.

“Oh…” Aurora had seen her face. “Don’t tell me…” 

"His name is Alex. We were in such a sync the whole camp, almost like we could read each other's minds. And he’s so cute, those blue eyes… How could I not like him?”

“Does he know that?” Aurora looked at Laura skeptically, “You’ll never see each other again.”

“Not true.” Laura shook her head, “He doesn’t live far, and we’ve been texting. He wants to see me too, because he likes me too. Aurora, look, I know you don’t believe in love, but I know that this is real.”

“I have never said that I don’t believe in love.” Aurora sighed, “I mean how can I not, when we’re forced to live with Mom and Dad and all that sweetness. I’m also just a realist. Speaking off, when are you gonna tell them?”

“Tell what?”

“I wonder what?” Aurora rolled her eyes again. “How long are you planning on hiding this wonder-boy Alex? Mom and Dad aren’t blind. I’m not going to start lying for you…” 

“Please please don’t tell them,” Laura looked Aurora in the eyes, “I promise I will, as soon as it’s official.”

“When will that be?” Aurora asked, “We’re leaving for the beach in Mar Del Plata next week, and we’ll be there for two weeks.”

“Oh noh!” Laura’s face turned horrified. “I completely forgot… We’ll be gone for two weeks!!”

“So better do whatever you’re gonna do soon.” Aurora stated and walked back into her own room.

Laura blobbed back onto her bed. TWO WEEKS!!! She couldn’t… She couldn’t possibly leave Alex for that long without knowing…

She grabbed her phone and started texting.

*

“Hey!!” Laura started running toward Roller as she saw him. She jumped onto Alex’s neck as soon as she reached him. “You found the place.”

“You gave very specific instructions.” Alex responded, “Few busses came straight here.”

“You came by bus?” Laura asked him. 

“You didn’t?”

“I walked. Our house is close by.” Laura explained, “I don’t usually use busses.”

“How are you planning on getting to that school of yours then?” Alex raised an eyebrow at her. 

“My brother drives, he’s gonna be a senior so I have a free chauffeur.” Laura joked while quickly stroking her hair, “Enough about school, it’s summer. I’ve missed you.”

“It has been two days.” Alex pointed out. 

“Yeah, but still,” Laura rolled her eyes and pulled the strap of her skate bag better on her shoulder. “Come on, let's go in. I’ll give you an official tour, as I now officially represent the place.”

“Congratulations on that by the way.”

They walked in and almost ran into two people at the entrance. 

“No running on the rink. Laura?” Sandra Jordana, a woman in her mid-20s and the trainer of both Junior Rollers and the Roller’s intermediate training group said. She was with another woman, this time in early 30s. 

Laura knew at once who that was. Abigail Noelia, the official coach and director of the Team of Jam and Roller. She was a former South American Roller Skating Solo Champion—Fellow winner of the crystal skate, just like Juliana and Luna. She had retired a few years prior, and Luna had actually contacted her to train the Roller Team. 

“Oh, sorry Sandra.” Laura lowered her head. 

“Well, great to see you.” Sandra smiled, “Abigail, this is one of your new recruits and one of my star pupils, Laura Perida. She’s one of the descendants of Juliana’s team from 2017—2018.”

“We met at the auditions,” Abigail nodded and looked at Laura, “You truly have a gift for artistic movement. I’ll see you at training.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Laura nodded excitedly, “Oh, this is my boyfriend Alex, I’m showing him the place.” 

“You girls will do great things,” Sandra agreed. “I will miss you.”

“Sooo…?” Alex asked as they were tying their skates at the locker room. 

“What?” Laura asked, confused. 

“I’m your boyfriend?” 

“I mean yeah,” She nodded, “I like you, and… You like me right?”

“I thought that was pretty obvious already.” Alex shook his head laughing, “but I was supposed to ask you. You can’t steal all my moments.”

“This is not a competition. Now that’s settled,” Laura smiled while she double knotted her laces, “Oh, we could go to mine after we’re done here. Like I said, it’s really close.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Alex looked at her verily. 

“Yeah,” Laura nodded, “I mean if we are together, then why shouldn’t you come to my house?”

*

“Uh, I was joking about those diamonds,” Alex looked up as Laura opened the gate to her house, “I knew that those in your skates were fake, but what sort of a palace do you live in?”

“It’s not a palace,” Laura laughed, “You’ve never been to an actual palace, have you?”

“No, not really.”

“Buckingham Palace is super beautiful,” Laura continued as they walked on the yard, “I did tell you that Mom and Dad both studied in England, so we’ve been there a bunch.” 

“I’ve only ever been to Sevilla,” Alex responded, “kind of because I was born there, before Mom and Dad decided to move to Madrid. You really have been all over the world.”

“Mom and Dad wanted us all to learn while experiencing,” Laura shrugged while opening the front door.

“Laura?” Nina had been on her laptop in the living room. She raised her head as she heard the door.

“Hi Mom!” Laura greeted and pulled Alex inside. 

“You never come back from the rink this fast,” Nina got up from the couch and closed the computer. She noticed Alex quickly. “Who is this?”

“Oh, this is Alex,” Laura said quickly, “He was that partner at camp I told you about. He and I…”

“Well, that is great.” Nina interrupted and looked at Laura a little confused, “Nice to meet you. Laura, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“What is it?” Laura followed her mother to the hallway that led to the library and Mom and Dad’s bedroom. 

“Was the rink closed today or…?” Gastón walked out of the bedroom at that moment and his eyes caught the unfamiliar boy in their living room. “Who is that?”

“I was just getting to that,” Laura watched her mother give her father a meaningful look, before looking at her again, “Laura, you know the rules. You can absolutely bring people over and it is great that you’re making new friends, but you need to tell us first. If we don’t know or have met them, you’re supposed to inform us before you bring anyone here.”

“But Alex isn’t my friend,” Laura protested, “He’s my boyfriend. That’s different—”

“Boyfriend?!” The question came unanimously from both of her parents' mouths.

“Dad! You ready?” At that moment Oscar walked down the stairs to the living room and saw Alex. “Who are you? Actually… I don’t want to know, nor do I care. Dad, come on, we’ll be late!”

“Wait a moment!” Gaston yelled back at him and looked at Nina, “I promised him. I have to go. You got this?”

“I think so.” Nina squeezed her husband's hand, and he kissed her on her cheek before looking at Laura.

“We’ll be talking about this later, young lady.” He placed his hand on Laura’s shoulder before walking away.

{}

Welcome to my second SL next gen story!!! After Aurora's little ime travel escapade, we're getting into some more classier next gen content within the actual canonically timeline. What is fun about that is that we can now actually see the Roller Crew as the grown ups and the actual parents. Like here, we'll see how Gastina's gonna deal with this fun situation, especially after...if you have intrepreted the tittle correctely...with what's to come

[lastshadeofme]

I’m on my break at work, and I was able to post this little thing I wrote this morning before work hehe

Just my little Simbar heart talking here

[clockwork-fayz]

The Most Perfect Proposal

Alternate Title: A Very Disney Telenovela Proposal

Or the fanfiction that came to me in an actual dream I had and I had to write it. 

Matteo, Simon, and Gastón all get the idea in their heads that they need to propose to their significant others. A chance encounter at a jewelry store leads our three boys helping each other out to orchestrate the perfect proposal. Can they pull of three proposals? Not without totally unrealistic issues arising of course!

READ ON AO3

Or Keep Reading Here

Matteo stared at the rings in the case, his eyebrows furrowed. Before this moment he had thought that it would be easy to pick out a ring for Luna. He knew everything about her down to her favorite font to use on posters. He figured that he would be able to walk into a ring shop and one would just scream Luna to him. But this was the fifth shop he had been in, and nothing seemed to fit.

Matteo had been thinking about proposing for quite a long time before he decided to make it a reality.

In fact he could remember the day that he realized he was going to marry her.  It had been a year after they had started dating (the second time around).  Luna was sitting with Matteo in first class on their way to Spain to start off Matteo’s first international tour.

Months before, in the planning stage of his tour, Matteo had gotten the brilliant idea of having skating be a part of the concert and having Luna be one of the dancers. It was perfect for Luna; not only did she get to go on tour with her boyfriend but she was getting paid to do it. She had been in charge of the choreography and Matteo had to admit it was her best work yet.

Luna had never been to Europe before and to say she was excited was an understatement. She had spent an entire night researching every place that they were stopping and created a list of everything she wanted to do. Some more realistic than others.

“Mi amor, I don’t think that we will be able to do all of this.  Stalking the royal family will take a couple of days at least and we are only in London for a night.”

“But what’s the point of going to England if I don’t get to see one royal Matteo.  Honestly, why are we going on this tour then.”

Matteo shook his head at her amused. “You are right. Forget performing in front of sold out crowds, let’s get arrested for breaking into the palace.”

“That’s the spirit!”

It was the middle of the night on the plane, and Luna was fast asleep snuggled against him. The movie they were watching was still playing on the TV, the fast paced action sequences unable to awake her from her dead sleep.  Matteo wasn’t tired, but he was perfectly content watching her breathe.

She looked so peaceful, the blanket pulled up to her chin, her hair falling into her face. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was midnight in Buenos Aires. It was officially their one year anniversary.  Not that Luna would remember that it was their anniversary, she was terrible at dates.  But Matteo was never one to forget things like that.  He could still tell you the date and time it was when he first ran into her in Cancun all those years ago.

Who would have thought he would be here now with her? When he met her for the first time, there had been an immediate spark between the two of them, but he never considered that one day Luna would be asleep on him while they flew off on an adventure and with hundreds of memories behind them.  He thought of the first time he kissed her; how he had been secretly dying to do it for weeks and how right it felt when he finally did. He thought of every kiss afterwards, how even now kissing her made him feel like he was flying. Of how her walking in the room still made his heart beat faster.  Of how she knew him better than anybody.  Of all the walks in the parks, the scary movies watched, the jokes they shared.

It was an overwhelming feeling. It felt like he had hit a tidal wave of thoughts.  Once the thought was there, he couldn’t think of anything else.

He had to spend the rest of his life with Luna.  He was going to marry her.

The thought enveloped him as he watched her sleeping. It was an excitable feeling.

He knew he wouldn’t propose until far in the future. She would kill him if he proposed when they were so young. There was no rush. But from that moment on, the fact was in the back of his mind that she was his forever.  Even when they argued, even when the fights got so bad she was screaming at him and he would walk out slamming the door, even then he knew that Luna was the only girl for him.

Luna shifted, jarring him from his thoughts and making him jump just a little.  She woke slightly, murmuring “Everything ok Teo?”

“Si, mi amor,” he said, rubbing her arm, “Everything is perfect.”

Now it was five years later. She was 24 and he was 25. They had spent six years together, full of adventures, fights, makeups, and him adoring every moment with her. It was time to make forever official.  

As he stood at the case pondering what Luna would prefer, he heard a voice behind him.

“Matteo?”

“ Gastón ?”

……

You could say that Simón always thought he was going to marry Ámbar .  Even before they were together, and she still guarded herself with sharp words and poor decisions, he could only imagine a future where they were together.

There was one moment that really cemented it in his mind though.  He remembered it fondly. He was walking up to the apartment that they shared and could hear music blasting from the doorway. They had only been living with each other for a month or so.  It was a big step for Ámbar , who had always lived in mansions, to move into a one bedroom apartment in the city. She had been adjusting to things like having to buy your own groceries and cook for yourself.

Simón opened the door and Ámbar didn’t even notice.  She was standing at the mixer, spatula in hand and a mess surrounding her. She was swaying to the music and singing softly along as she read from the cookbook.

Simón closed the door loudly as not to scare her and she turned down the music when she noticed him.

“What are you doing mi amor?” he asked, taking in the scene in front of him.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be home until later, it was going to be a surprise!”

“Pedro had to leave for an appointment so I came home early. Are you baking?”

She gestured towards the counter. “Clearly. Though it is much harder than it looks. I’ve called Monica three times already.”

Simón chuckled, approaching her. “You have some flour on your cheek,” he said, brushing it off gently with his finger. “And your forehead. And all over your shirt.”

He leaned over to give her a peck on the lips. She smiled, before pushing him away.

“Well now that the surprise is ruined, you will have to help me. I can’t figure out how to add flour without it flying out of the mixer and all over!”

“For starters,” he said, assessing the situation, “You should start it off on a lower setting.”

Her eyes grew wide. “There are settings?”

Simón laughed.  “Here, let me show you.”

Ámbar watched closely as Simón taught her how to run the mixer properly. It was a lot easier now that Simón was showing her.

“It looks like we just need chocolate chips,” she said, grabbing the bag.

“But we have to hand mix those in, or a mixer will break.”

Ámbar looked back at him. “What would I do without you?”

Simón showed her how to fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough with the cookie spatula.  

Ámbar tried a bit of the cookie dough and moaned in delight.

“Babe, you have to try this. I did so good.”

Simon let her feed him a bit off the spatula. “Mmm very good. Best cookie dough I’ve ever eaten.”

Ámbar stared at the spatula and then looked up to him with large doe eyes.

“I should bake more.” Then she turned to get the cookie sheet. He went to sit on the bar stool as she scooped the dough into balls on the pan. She was humming to the music again, focusing on making sure the balls were spaced evenly. And then it hit him.

He could suddenly see years from now what their life could be. Simón would still be making music, Ámbar would have risen in the ranks at Vidia. They would live in a house together with their kids. And although they would live busy lives, they would always make time for their family.  They would spend weekends making cookies, roller skating in the park, going to the beach. It would be a chaotic but perfect life.

Ámbar looked back at him staring at her.

“Don’t tell me that I have flour all over the back of me too?”

Simón smiled and went over to her, pulling her in for a kiss.

“No mi amor, I was just thinking of how much I love you.”

Ámbar looked at him confused but not complaining.

“I love you too.  What brought this on?”

“Nothing.  Let me help you get these cookies in the oven.”

It was thinking back to that moment that made Simón realize that it was time for him to propose to her.  He went to the jewelry store that day, not expecting to see two familiar faces inside.

…

…

…

Gastón knew he was going to marry Nina not long after they had gotten back together.

Breaking up with her was the biggest mistake he had ever made. He thought that he was helping her. He was on an entire different continent. They never got to see each other and the time difference was killer. He had convinced himself that it was for the best. It hadn’t taken him too long to realize that he was wrong.

He had tried to go out with other girls, but they were no Nina.  There was this one girl that lived down the street from him. She was gorgeous and she was obviously into Gastón . He had asked her out to a movie with him.

He should have known things weren’t going to work out when she wanted to see the latest crude humor movie. He agreed to go, to give it a chance. It was just as awful as he thought it would be.  

“Wasn’t that so funny?” the girl asked as they sat at a diner afterwards.

Gastón hesitated. “It wasn’t really my taste. I prefer sci-fi movies actually or movies that make you think. My gir- uhm my friend from back home and I used to watch old mystery movie marathons. It was lots of fun.”

“Hmm, I don’t think that I’ve watched one of those.”

“They are really good.”

An awkward silence fell over them.

“So what books do you like to read?” Gastón finally asked, trying to break the tension.

“Oh I don’t really read.”

Gastón nodded. “That’s alright. What about music?”

“Anything that’s on the radio.”

Why is this so awkward, thought Gastón . It was never this awkward on dates with Nina. With Delphi maybe, but Nina could have conversations about anything with him.  He remembered that one time they talked for an hour ranking every mainstream Shakespearean play.

No matter how many times he tried to focus on what the girl was saying, he could not stop thinking about Nina. And the girl noticed.

“ Gastón , I really like you but I don’t think we feel the same way.”

Gastón was snapped out of a memory of Nina learning to skate to surprise him.

“Que?”

The girl smiled sweetly and put a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s her name?”

Gastón looked ashamed but told her “Nina.”

“How long have you been broken up for?”

“I broke up with her a couple months ago. She lives in Buenos Aires and I am here.”

The girl sighed. “That is tough. But I can tell that you must really love this girl.  And if you love this girl that much,  you should try to make it work.”

Gastón took those words to heart and almost ran home that night so he could call Nina.

She told him that she had met someone. Gastón broke inside.

For the next few years, Gastón went on many dates but everytime that he got close to someone, he realized that he did not love them.  He started to wonder if he would ever find someone he loved as much as he did with Nina.

It had been five long years since he had last seen her when she came walking into the restaurant in Buenos Aires. It was like he had been sleeping for the past few years and seeing her had finally awakened him. The sky was brighter, the air fresher. She filled up his thoughts that night and into the next day. He had to tell her that he still loved her. He had to.

And he did. And she loved him back.

It was a few days later when Gastón had the thought that he had to marry Nina. Luna had called in the morning saying that Simón and Gastón were at the Jam and Roller and that they were going to meet them at ten and Gastón had no choice but to come with them.

Gastón was over at Luna and Matteo’s apartment in ten minutes to meet them. Nina answered the door wearing a sundress and her glasses and Gastón had thought it had been a long time since a girl had taken his breath away like this.

The four walked to the Jam and Roller, Luna rambling on about the changes Ámbar had made since she had become the head of Vidia.

“Honestly I was afraid when she said she was going to redecorate,” Luna said, “But Simón kept saying that I needed to trust her vision. I’m like oh yeah Simón , I really trust her vision. Did you ever see her bedroom in the mansion? Anyways it turned alright of course.”

The familiar exterior of their old home away from home came into view. It gave Gastón a warm feeling as he saw the sign.  

Luna was literally bouncing, Matteo holding her hand and giving her a look. It was obvious a surprise was waiting inside.

Gastón reached out and interlaced his finger’s with Nina’s.  The two walked inside.

A cheer arose as they did, and in front of them was not just Gastón and Simón , but all of their old friends. Jim, Yam, Ramiro, Pedro, Nico, and Delphi were there. Delphi was holding up a laptop with Jazmín on it. Immediately their friends noticed Gaston and Nina holding hands.

“GASTINA’S BACK?” Jim and Yam shouted at the same time.

Nina nodded, and the girls shrieked in happiness going to tackle Nina in a hug. Delphi dropped Jazmín on a table going to join, Jazmín shouting in protest.

After hugs and greetings, the gang settled in the cafeteria for juice.

“Are you back for good?” Yam asked, “Both of you?”

Gastón turned to Nina and smiled. “At least for a little while.”

Yam clapped. “You can be models in my fashion show next month! I’ve already recruited the rest of our friends too! It will be perfect!”

Nina paled a little, but Gastón squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Ramiro, shouldn’t you be touring?” Gastón asked, “I thought you’d be in Europe.”

“I thought you would be in Europe,” Ramiro laughed, “I’m taking a break to train a team for the internationals. I get to skate and be here with the love of my life.” Yam smiled at him, grabbing his hand.  

“It is so perfect that we are all here!” Simón said, “The Roller Band recording their next album. Delphi managing the Jam and Roller. Jim being a dancer in music videos. Nina is writing her book and Gastón is taking a job here! It’s perfect!”

“Ahem,” Jazmín coughed from the laptop, “I think you are somebody.”

“Perdón Jazmín , I could never forget you,” Simón laughed. “Maybe you should come back too!”

Jazmín scoffed. “And give up this job in LA working for E! I can’t.”

Pedro raised his glass of juice.  I’d like to give a toast to the last pieces of our puzzle back together! To Gastón and Nina!”

“ Gastón and Nina!”

Gastón looked over to Nina. She was turning a little pink in the cheeks from all the attention, but Gastón could tell she was so happy.  He instinctively leaned over and kissed her hair, eliciting awws from their friends.

“I always knew that you would find your way back to each other,” Jazmín sighed. “Gastina was like the third most popular ship on Fab and Chic.”

Ámbar raised an eyebrow. “Who was first and second?”

“I’m glad you asked, I still have all of the statistics-” Jazmín started, but Simón cut her off.

“Why don’t we talk about this some other time Jazmín .”

“Agreed,” Luna said, grabbing Nina’s hand. “Nina, you need to look at Yam’s designs for the fashion show. They are muy muy chic!” Nina let go of Gastón’s hand, giving him an apologetic smile as she went to gather around Yam’s tablet.

Gastón watched her for the rest of the night, trying hard to pay attention to Ramiro’s tales of tour and updates on Roller Band, but he could not stop his eyes from drifting to wherever she was.

“Hermano, I don’t think I’ve seen you this bad since, well since you were with Nina last,” Matteo said while putting a hand on Gastón’s shoulder.

Gastón grinned. “There hasn’t been anyone else besides Nina.”

“Well make sure to not let her go this time,” Matteo said as he walked away.

Those words hit Gastón hard. He couldn’t let Nina go, ever again. She was the shining light in his world.  He wouldn’t be able to survive if she was gone again. This is why less than a year later, Gastón found himself walking into a jewelry shop one day in November, unexpectedly running into his best friend standing at the counter.  

[still-love-the-moon]

Ghost Of You

Prologue

The first time she sees a ghost is after her cousin Luna almost drowned her. She is nine and she is skating and yer younger cousin is dancing near the pool. One minute she is lost in her thoughts, the music playing in all the garden and, the next, she is gasping for air and trying to pull herself on the surface with Luna screaming her name at the top of her lungs- which is a lot for an eight years old, but she is not gonna complain.

The second she is out and wrapped in her aunt Monica's hug- and a towel- she can see things- person- that shouldn't be there and no one believes her. Which, she understands that is the most realistic option, but still she is offended and she will be petty about it for the rest of her life.

Sharon thinks is a brain injury- Ámbar bites her tongue to not tell her that she is a brain injury because she knows that the price for that comeback wouldn't be worthy- and wants to bring her to a doctor, Alfredo dismiss the thing by saying that it's probably just her childish imagination but she should still be checked by someone and Miguel says that she should probably see a therapist since she almost drowned and could be PTSD. Monica- Ámbar will love her forever for that- close the discussion, telling them all to shut up and let her rest for the day because she doesn't need other things to stress about.

The ghost of an old lady behind her snorts- in a total, not lady-like way that Sharon would hate- saying something along the line of 'That's my daughter'. Before she can even see a therapist's studio she shut up about the ghosts, pretends that the incident never happened- hard when Alfredo doesn't let her near the pool for the rest of the summer- and that ghosts don't' exist.

Her family goes back to normal and she learns how to live with her gift- last time she called it a curse a ghost wanted to slap her in the face and the only thing stopping it was the fact that they pass through humans- without letting others noticing.

Then Ramiro Ponce dies and starts to haunt her because she is the only one that can see him.

And she wants to kill him again.

i.

Ramiro Ponce is an idiot. A fucking idiot and a spineless coward that can choke on a fork- or he could have done it since he is dead now.

He had a car accident and Ámbar wants to scream that she always told him, million of times, that he always went to fast, but she reprime herself because she is grieving him. Even if he doesn't deserve it, even after everything he did.

They grew up together, friends since they were little idiots running around in the garden of the mansion. With their group, they ruled the school- and the Jam & Roller and everywhere else they went because they were that iconic.

He was always the funny one, the sunshine of the group. Hell, Ámbar always thought that he was the only one of them that judged people without being a complete jerk.

Then he skipped Luna's funeral and then they found out that he flew out of the town without even having the decency to tell them or call them or paying respect for her cousin.

That's probably where everything went to shit because if he didn't care for his friends then they shouldn't care about him, right?

No, because they all care for him, even if they are still pissed. And now Ámbar is crying for his death in Matteo's living room with the rest of her friends, hugging Jazmin tightly to support her. He doesn't even deserve them after the little stunt at Luna's funeral.

He shows up one hour later they found out- of course, he had to do it- standing in a corner and watching everyone with a pale face and guilty expression- serves him right.

She wants to get up and punch him but it would be a little weird since no one else can see him- she wishes that she couldn't see him either.

He turns her head to watch her and when he realizes that she can see him, he swallows. Then the bastard tilts his head to the side, a smirk on his face as he realizes what's going on, and wave his hand in her direction.

That's when she realizes that she is fucked.

ii.

"Does this dude never stops talking?"- he asks annoyed without moving his eyes from the dude he is referring. The priest. He is referring to the priest that is holding his funeral as an annoying dude- "It's like blah blah blah, Jeez just shut up and let them mourn me in peace."

He is standing right next to her and he's making really bad jokes that only she can hear.

Would it be weird if she opened the casket and slapped the body of Ramiro with the excuse that he deserved it?

"Shouldn't you be crying?"- he asks leaning towards her face and pretending to not notice that she is done with him and just want to be left alone- "You know, mourning me or something like that?"

Ámbar wants to laugh in his face- how can she mourn him when he is standing right in front of her and he's annoying her with his jokes?- but it's not the best thing to do since they are in a graveyard and someone is dead. At least for everyone else.

She hates that place because they are always more people around that they should be- but there are never the ones that she needs- and now she has to stand him too?

"Not a single tear? That's hurt Ámbs, makes me think you hate me"

She does, but at the same time, she doesn't. It's complicated.

Ramiro was a pain in the ass when he was alive but still, they grew up together, they were best friends. Then everything happened so fast and she wanted him dead. She never meant dead like this, more on metaphorically way.

Matteo grabs her hand, holding tightly and trying not to cry- he fails, memories crossing his minds too quickly to stop them- and Ramiro shut up for a few seconds, knowing that he can't do anything for his living friend.

It takes Ámbar a few minutes to realize that the Chilean is gone, disappearing the second Matteo breaks down against her shoulder.

iii.

She thinks that is the end, that Ramiro I'm-the-asshole-that-didn't-showed-up-at-Luna's-funeral Ponce will leave her alone and she would just add his name to the people she is mourning and then will move on.

He saw his funeral, the guys that a long time ago were his friends and he can move on to his next life or the white path or whatever he wants to do because she doesn't care for him.

Sadly it's not the end, at least not for her.

Ramiro is in her apartment, waiting for her on the couch, sitting upside down like he used to do at the mansion.

HE IS FUCKING HAUNTING HER.

iv.

She ignores him for two days straight- two longs day of bad jokes about death and annoying questions- before she eventually breaks and confronts him.

"Aren't you suppose to move on?"- she doesn't really know how it works because she never died- inside doesn't count apparently- and most of the ghosts don't even know that she can see them- "So you can finally leave me alone" "Well it's my first time as dead, I don't know what to do"- the boy smirks, thinking that is funny and she is gonna laugh- "Aren't you the one that talks to ghosts?"

Does he fucking think she has a manual or something like that? Do her memories fool her and he is actually fucking dumb?

"I don't talk with them and they don't talk with me, which is a really great deal for both of us"- she wonders if Ghostbusters are real? Maybe she could check on the Internet, that would be a really good idea.

"That's depressing"

She wants to ask what's his deal, what's his unfinished business with the world. There must be a reason why he can't leave her alone, but she tells herself that she doesn't care for him. She does, even if she doesn't like it.

"You are a shitty ghost-talker"- he sounds serious but his smile tells her that he is not.

"You are a shitty ghost"

There is a high chance that he might die again.

first act

When Ámbar Smith was younger and dumb, she had a crush on Ramiro Ponce. He was sweet, charming and funny.

It was her little secret, her own dirty, little secret.

Then she realized he was a fucking idiot.

v.

She founds out that having a ghost as a roommate is not that bad- most of the time.

They don't leave the toilet seat up after they peed as Matteo used to do, they don't eat her favorite yogurt like Delfi and they don't steal her precious and beautiful clothes to go on dates with Nico- Jazmin could never be trusted again after that.

But then again her roommate is the ghost of Ramiro fucking Ponce, so it's definitely bad.

He is a pain in the ass and he wants to make sure remembers it every second of the day.

He complains about what she eats ("You've been eating the same meal for three days straight" "I really fucking like salad, okay?"), what she watches on TV- if she is the one that can touch the remote, she is the one that chose what to watch- he annoys her when she is reading something and he makes faces behind the people she's trying to talk to.

If he was human she would have thrown him out, but he's a ghost and she can't touch him.

vi.

"I won't talk for three days and I won't show up either but, please, for God's s-"

"I thought you were an atheist. Death made you change your mind?"- she teases him, putting the DVD of Titanic on and getting ready to enjoy her film.

"For someone's sake can you please, pretty pretty please, not watch Titanic again?"

She pretends to think about it- she will never says this out loud, but she does think about that because she can't stand him anymore and would do anything to make him shut up- then she simply says 'no'. A little word but it's not like he can do something to change her mind, it's her choice.

"Why can't we watch something else? You always pick the movie!"

He can't stand another evening watching that movie, that's his own personal hell, but the girl seems to love it endlessly.

She looks at him in disbelief- is he seriously asking that?- stopping herself from reminding him that she is the only alive, human being in that house.

She doesn't do that, though, because it would be too insensible even for her- he doesn't deserve kindness but she spent too much time with Simón after Luna's death and he made her soft.

They watch the movie together like always and, surprisingly, he doesn't complain.

At least, not that much.

vii.

The thing that Ámbar learned with time, is that seeing ghosts is not that bad once you get used to it.

You learn that is not as poetic or beautiful like in movies because the ghosts are not pretty. They are paler then they were in real life with sad expressions on their face, they leave this tiny dust wherever they go- that disappear in a few seconds- and the longer they stay on Earth, trying to fulfill their porpuses the shadest they get. She saw one of them one time and it terrified her in ways that she can't, yet, elaborate.

It was just a black silhouette standing on the corner of the road, watching a kid playing basketball with a sad smile of his face, or what was left of a face.

She saw family members watching the others, at least for a few seconds, before vanishing and she wished she had those moments too.

When Luna died, the first of the long list, she never visited her for saying good-bye or checking on her and it broke her heart knowing that she didn't care about her feelings, then her mother died and did the same thing- but she is not surprised that Sharon Benson didn't think of her.

Her biggest lost, hower, is without a doubt her grandad Alfredo that died a few weeks before her twenty-one birthday, leaving a grieving girl behind, breaking her heart when she realized that he wouldn't have come visiting her. But again, why would he? He was already with his favorite niece.

They never showed and she is still waiting for them.

viii.

They live like that for a few weeks- well she lives, he just ghosts around the house- before it happens.

She was particularly moody that day- blame Matteo that kept her up till 3 am- and Ramiro was joking around, pushing her until she exploded. Of course, he forgot that it was Luna's birthday- or it would have been if she was still alive- he doesn't care how much time pass or what day is, he just care to haunt her until she is even more miserable than she already feels.

So when it happens everything became a battlefield and, later a greek tragedy.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Ramiro is a little taken back- it's the first time she doesn't respond with a sarcastic comeback- not knowing exactly how to handle an extra mad Ámbar, mostly because he doesn't know what's going on with her.

"For once in your life can you shut up and leave me the fuck alone?"- she means all of that- being haunted is not something that she likes- but at this point, she is mad, and hurt and just want to be left alone for some time and he is pissing her off, so she doesn't care if she hurt his feelings in the process. She just wants a fucking break from everything.

"What's wrong with you today?"- the blonde ignores how his voice sounds hurt because she is not gonna deal with a sad ghost right now- she never wanted to deal with a ghost in the first place.

"What's wrong with me? Well, for starters, I can see and talk with ghosts"- she starts explaining- "Two, the one guy that I considered my friend left me alone the day of my cousin's funeral without even having the decency to call me and third, today is said cousin birthday and everyone is constantly asking me to go out with them because they are scared that I'll do something stupid"- exasperation fills her voice and she hates herself because she doesn't want anyone to see her breakdown- even if he is a ghost.

Everyone is constantly expecting her to explode like a bomb and Ámbar doesn't want to, but it's hard mourning someone when you are still waiting for them to visit you.

The conversation dies there because Delfi shows up unexpectedly claiming that she fought with Pedro- is just an excuse to talk with Ámbar and stay with her- and Ramiro disappears is a second.

He knows that he screwed up, but he wants to make amend.

ix.

"Hey Ámbar"

"I thought you disappeared"

"Do you think I'm still beautiful, even as a ghost?"

"You were beautiful when you were alive?"

x.

He thinks they are cool then, or at least until she calls him in her room two nights after their fight. He wants to make some jokes about inviting boys in her room at night, but he stops himself. She is crying and he doesn't know what to do or how to make her feel better.

He never saw her cry- well, maybe when they were kids but she almost broke her arm it was normal- and he doesn't even what's going on.

She is a mess- beautiful and complicated, but still a mess- and usually, she would handle things alone but this time she can't anymore.

For the last years of her life, she tried to handle everything and everyone in her way- Luna's death, Sharon's death, and Alfredo's death- trying to not make anyone worry about her or her feelings. She had been there for everyone but she ignored her feelings until they became too many.

He looks at her from the frame of the door, still not moving, still trying to understand what's going- why did she suddenly breakdown?- when he notices that she is holding Luna's old diary in her hands.

Well, that explains a lot...

"I'm sorry for yesterday, I j-just couldn'-"- she can't even talk and she feels pathetic- what would Sharon think of her?- but it's not like Ramiro care if she is crying. He is more worried about what could happen if he leaves her alone.

"It doesn't matter Ámbs"- it's just a whisper but she hears it anyway and that makes her cry even harder, to his surprise.

He sits on her bed, trying to hug but trespassing her and giving her chills while he feels warm under the hands- he hasn't felt that in a while.

He listens to her for the whole night. Listen to how she blames herself, how everyone is copying and she can't move on, like the moment Monica told her that Luna was dead is stuck in on repeat in her head. She tells him about her ex Benicio and everything he put her through, she opens up about why she is always so mad. When she is over he tells her about the Adrenaline, how they put him in bad habits that he tried to quit them, but only got worse after Luna's death. Which is why he could go to her funeral, because he felt so ashamed of himself and that Luna would have hated him.

They fall asleep together, facing each other and maybe- only maybe- having Ramiro around is not that bad anymore.

second act

When Ámbar Smith was an innocent little girl she had a best friend, Ramiro Ponce. Then they fought and she hated him. Then he died and he started haunting her.

That's how the tragedy started.

xi.

Turns out that after that night a lot of things change.

He is not a little shit anymore and staying around him is actually funny- she feels like they went back to be kids. They watch movies and spend days talking. Until Jazmin's knock on the door of her apartment to talk with her. She hasn't been much around lately and her friends want to check on her.

The blonde sips her tea while her friend shows her some magazines with the latest trends, Ramiro realizes that no matter how much time passes, Jazmin is always gonna be Jazmin- and he loves her for that.

"Are you gonna go back to the mansion one day?"- the redhead asks in a moment of silence, almost making the other girl choke on her precious tea- it's green tea and Ramiro teased her about that too.

She never really thought of it- yes, the mansion has been her home for her whole life but she is haunted by the memory of Luna there- and, for the first time in her life, she is not sure of what to answer. She misses that place, but mostly she misses the memories she had there- she misses who used to live there.

"I'm not sure of it, why?"- it's a simple question and yet Jazmin sighs, making her furrow her eyebrows. Both of them know the answer, one of them just don't want to accept it.

"You haven't been around much lately, not since Ramiro's funeral. We are worried for you"- she is whispering- why everyone always whispers? Is that a secret move that she doesn't know, is there an actual reason or people can't raise their fucking voices?- and she is terrified to make her mad.

Everyone knows that talking to Ámbar about her feelings it's like walking on a mine-strewn and it would be better to leave her alone, let her think about everything alone- like always- but then they remember. Remember how miserable she was after Luna, how she couldn't even get up from the bed for a whole week. Her screams whenever she had a nightmare and when she finally broke down, trying to keep herself together but failing. How hard it was to convince her that she wasn't broken, she was grieving and it was okay. They don't want that to happen again.

Ámbar understands her point of view but it's hard grieving for the boy that she can see standing in the hallway with a sad smile on his face.

xii.

The morning of her birthday she wakes up with Ramiro already by her side, looking at her and waiting to start the day- to piss her off.

"You are creepy"- and if he was still alive she would have pushed him down the bed and called the police but it's just her roommate ghost- "Couldn't you wait for me in the kitchen?" "Happy birthday Ámbs"- he states, completely ignoring what she said before- "What are we gonna do today?"

"Gas told me that Teo threw me a party. Seriously is sad how that guy can't even keep a secret"- she is rambling, he knows because she keeps moving her mouth and he can hear words but he is too busy watching her face. He feels sixteen all over again when they talked about everything and he got lost in her eyes. When he used to spend hours wondering what would feel like to kiss her and hold her in his arms. Except that he is twenty-two and he is dead now. But it could be worse, right?

"I would ask you to come to the party but- "- she doesn't end the sentence, she doesn't need to because Ramiro understands.

He is dead and no one would see him. No one will see him ever again.

"We can always watch a movie, but I'm gonna chose it this time"

She laughs and he follows her. None of the two notices that their smiles don't reach their eyes, and they won't know that it's for the same reason.

He is dead and nothing can change that.

xiii.

She missed her friends. And she realizes it as soon as she steps in the room and the group is there waiting, smiles on their faces and birthday's gift on the table near the lemon cake that she loves. A cake that was probably made by Matteo since he hates buying the in the pastry shop- and that's definitely not because he fought with the employer.

She missed them so much and yet, she can't shake the feeling that something- or someone- is missing. Maybe she is just so used to have Ramiro around that is weird being without him, even if it's only for a few hours.

They drink and party all night, feeling like they are seventeen and rebels all over again and maybe- only for one little second- they are. They don't have to worry about the friends they lost, about the family that they lost. They just care about the moment and for a few hours, they are free.

Then it all ends just as fast as it started. Ámbar is slightly drunk- she is wasted but she is denial- and Simón offers her a passage home- her apartment is on the way.

Pedro and Nico fall asleep in the car and the girl would make fun of them if she wasn't too busy looking at the stars from the window.

They have small talks- it's not like drunk Ámbar would have a whole conversation- and he found ironic how she can still be her usual smart-ass self even when she is that drunk.

"I'm just stating that 12 is definitely the worse multiple of 4, everyone knows that"- she exclaims while he tries to carry her to her apartment, trying to know laugh at what she is saying- if he could record her when she is like this he would, but then she would kill him and that's not a really good thing.

"Yeah, silly of me to forget it"-he replies and luckily she doesn't catch his sarcasm in that moment because otherwise, he would have to listen to her complaining- and this is not a good moment.

He opens the door and he can't see Ramiro standing in the corner, looking worried at the scene. Maybe he is a little disappointed that he is dead because he can't carry her like that, or just touch her in general, but he is not gonna admit it out loud.

"I want to sleep"- she is drunk and he smiles because she is adorable and cute and everything she can be and she is looking at him. Yes, could only be spaced out and not in her right mind but she is looking at him, not Simón.

"You are going to sleep bonita, just give me a few seconds"- he brings her to her bedroom and Ramiro follows them closely, making fun of the nickname under his breath. It's not like he would hear him anyway, which is good because he completely loses his shit when he sees Simón struggling to remove her high heels- it's not that hard, he is just really tired, ok?- cursing them under his breath.

The Mexican looks around the room, looking for something that could keep her warm- he has no intention of undressing her.

The ghost opens his eyes when he notices the hoodie his friend is putting on her. It was his, from one of the last time he visited the Mansion, long before he screwed up everything- she kept it? Even after everything he did. He left it in the mansion the day they graduated- the best day of his life for many reasons.

The boy that is alive kisses her on the forehead- lingering a little too much to be only a friendly kiss- before closing the door of the room and turning off the light to let her sleep.

Simón is alive and always had chemistry with Ámbar. He is dead and disappointed her too many time. In his mind, that's a battle that he has already lost. In her's, there was never one.

xiv.

The next morning Ámbar is in hangover and Ramiro tries to cheer her up for three hours before she goes to sleep again.

"Last night was fun, uh?"- he sarcastic question when she groans against her pillow.

"Shut up"- she replies annoyed, trying to understand where the buzzing comes from- if her neighbor is masturbating again in the bathroom at 9 am she is gonna throw hands at her husband because he can't make her cum- "Have someone ever told you how much you are annoying?"

"You did it, for all my life and even after"- he answers quickly before remembering what happened last night with his old friend- until he has answers about where those two romantically stands, he is no longer gonna call him by his name- "What happened last night with Romeo?"

"Who the fuck is Romeo?"- he realizes from the skepticism in her voice that maybe is not the best thing to be petty and not say his name.

"Our beloved Mexican, you idiot"

She doesn't answer immediately and his heart would miss a beat if he still had one, then she snorts and starts laughing.

"He just gave a ride home. You know he is always nice with everyone"

He doesn't kiss everyone like that, though.

He talks with her until she falls asleep and he disappears in the kitchen, looking at the note the boy left for her the night before.

'You must hate me because I've let you sleep in that dress but at least I gave you the hoodie. Hope it was comfortable- Simón'.

Ramiro rolls his eyes, throwing himself on the couch. 'At least I gave you the hoodie' you would say something like that? A moron, that's who.

That could have been him if only they didn't screw up so much in the past.

If only...

third act

The last day of school Ramiro Ponce kisses Ámbar Smith against a tree and it's not exactly like neither of them imagined it but it's still perfect. Then Luna dies and he skips town and she fucking hates him.

He had always been selfish to the core, she should have noticed that earlier.

xv.

"This is a setup date"- Ramiro exclaims while Ámbar is looking in the mirror, trying to pick up a dress- "I can't believe you haven't realized that"

"It's not. Delfi and Jaz wanted to go out with Pedro and Nico and offered me to go with them so Simón wouldn't be alone. Now which one"

He snorts. Is she playing dumb or she doesn't realize anything about her romantic life anymore? She is smarter than that, he knows that.

Maybe she likes Simón.

"The light blue one matches your eyes"- she smiles, putting the pink one in the wardrobe and looking in the mirror to imagine the make-up she could wear. There was a nice color in a palette that Jazmin gave her for her birthday, maybe she could use that.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"- she suddenly asks, surprising the boy- he always thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

Her younger self would laugh at her, her ego bigger than the whole mansion at that time, but now she only the fragile ghost of who she used to be and she doesn't feel pretty enough.

"Ms. My-ego-is-bigger-than-my-house, are you asking me if you are pretty?"- the sarcasm in his voice makes her roll her eyes and, weirdly enough, smile at the same time. Why did she ask him anyway? He used to kiss everyone who had an heart-beat.

She goes to the bathroom to get ready, giving him the middle finger before leaving the room. He laughs for a few seconds, then he remembers what she told him. How Benicio used to treat her, what he always told her to keep her with him, how he dared to make her feel less than she was because he was scared to lose her.

He let himself fall on the couch, hating that guy with every fiber of his body- well, of his soul because he doesn't have a body anymore- and waiting for her to get out of the bathroom to speak with her.

"Hey bonita"-he mocks his friend as soon as he notices blondes hair in the hallway, stopping as soon as he takes a good look at her.

She is always being gorgeous, at least in his eyes, and that dress on her is just wow. And he can't shake the ugly feeling in his chest that tells him that he should have been the one.

"Stop making fun of him!"- she complains throwing the purse at him, realizing too late that it will trespass him- "Shit!"

"Well I was about to compliment you but now I'm hurt"- he jokes, ignoring the fact that she looks so pretty and she is going on a date with Simón.

Fuck, he used to like that guy- he still does, he is just jealous- but now every time he thinks of him he just gets angry- at himself, because he never told her how he felt, at their destiny because it ripped away every chancè he had and at his friend because he is alive and has a possibility with her.

Ámbar shakes her head, laughing silently while taking her purse from the couch and fixing in on her shoulder.

"I'm gonn-"- "You look beautiful"

They are in silence for a few seconds that someone knocks at the door.

That's another thing they will never talk about.

xvi.

Simón is a really nice guy, she always knew. She always has fun with him and she doesn't feel like she is a complete bitch near him because he brings out her best part, but he also ignores her darker self. He always focuses on the good and pretends that the bad in the world doesn't exist. So she smiles and for a few minutes she tries to be like him, but then they face the world and she can't pretend.

She can't pretend that she doesn't notice the way a ghost looks at her with lust trying to get closer until she glares at him, or the way a drunk man cat calls her from the other side of the street.

The truth is that she liker Simón- everyone does- and they have a great time together but then she remembers dark curly hair under a stupid baseball hat, the guy that stood up for her in every situation- no matter how fucked was- and she realizes that he is not the one for her.

And the realization is just a cruel joke on her because her one love is now dead, and she never told him anything. They never had a possibility or maybe they did and they wasted it. What if they had more than one and they threw them all away?

At the end of the night, he kisses her on her cheek, and she thinks that it's a nice feeling, but her mind can't help but wonder how would it be if he was Ramiro.

xvii.

The next day Ámbar is making cookies while Ramiro is sitting on the counter laughing his ass off. She has always been a terrible chef but seeing her trying to cook while also dancing to the ABBA's song 'Lay all your love on me' is something that he never thought he would see in his life. There are already some cookies in the oven and there is a countdown that is running out of time, even if neither of them knows.

It feels natural like it's always being that way, like it should be this way for the rest of her life.

Like is them against the world all over again and they are teenagers one more time.

The blonde slides next to him, ending in front of him and both of them laugh at the once Queen of the rink. She used to be so perfect in everything and now she is tripping because of her white socks.

The atmosphere in the room change as soon as the two of them stops laughing and they look in each other's eyes. Their smiles fade away slowly but they can't look away from the other's eyes- why is it always the eyes?

Ramiro moves his hand against her cheek, forgetting that he is not gonna feel anything if not a warm sensation under his palm.

The cold from the contact sends chills all over her body and she wishes, with every fiber of her being, that she could feel his skin against hers, that she could kiss him in that exact moment.

"I wish I could kiss you right now"- he is whispering and she would really be pissed at him- he knows she hates whispering- if she wasn't too surprised to speak. That is the moment when she realizes that she had been waiting for what's about to happen for a long time- maybe since their first/last kiss in the schoolyard.

They both lean closer, forgetting that they won't ever touch or feel the other until they are the inches apart, still looking in each other eyes. They don't want to look away, almost as they're scared to kill whatever is happening. For a second they forget everything that happened.

It feels like the time has been frozen as they could stay in that moment for the rest of eternity, just the two of them.

But it doesn't work that way and they should know better.

The timer of the oven rings and the atmosphere breaks, bringing them back in the- cruel- reality. He is a ghost- in a few years he will become a shadow if he doesn't follow the light path- and she is a girl with her whole life in front of her. He is gonna finish his business sooner or later and will leave her alone, dealing with an heart-break she will never get over.

They were never meant to be together.

Ámbar moves toward the oven to open it, wishing to take back the last ten minutes because she wants to kiss him now, trying to erase the moment from her mind- and keeping it close at the same time.

Another song from the ABBA starts and both of them smile sadly at the irony without looking at each other.

Because of course, it started 'The winner takes it all', that's their fucking luck.

xviii.

Ámbar and Matteo visit Luna's grave but the blonde can't shake the feeling of loneliness from her. It's been almost two years but she still remembers everything vividly, like it was yesterday.

"Life is a fucking joke on us, don't you think?"- he asks trying to not cry, not in front of all these strangers- "I never told Luna I loved and you never told Ramiro you loved him"

It's different than this, she knows it too well. Too many evenings with her cousin, talking about boys, life and their future. All is useless now.

"Luna loved you too, you know? I always teased her because she was 100% sure you like someone else"- she chuckles at the memories the girl hiding her head under the pillow because she was making fun of her.

"Must be a family trait"- he states with a sad smile before turning to her to put his hand over her shoulder- "Because you never notice that Ramiro was in love with you"

But he is wrong there because she always knew, she was only scared to tell him that she loved him too.

xix.

Technically she could be in love with a ghost, it could work. Yeah, they could never touch each other but as far as now it worked, right?

It's not like she is gonna complain if she can spend the rest of her life with the guy she loves since she was fourteen. Maybe they stand a chance after all- maybe they are destined to be together.

xx.

He is completely and absolutely in love with her.

He loves her, it took him to die and haunt her for two months to fucking admit it out loud but he loves her. And she loves him back, the girl of his dreams loves him back.

Which is why he needs to leave, because he would keep her away from her life because they are a tragedy.

Because they were never meant to be together.

xxi.

As soon as she gets back home she notices that Ramiro is standing on his feet, against the wall and that's already weird since he is always on the couch. Then she realizes that he is whimpering and he is gonna cry soon.

"I lied to you"- she doesn't understand and she is terrified- "I know what's keeping me here. I've known for a while now but I wouldn't admit it because I'm scared to lose you"

What does he mean? Lose her? She doesn't understand anything and Ramiro is crying and she can't touch him to comfort him- can they go back and start the conversation all over again?

"I-It's you, it's always been you. I'm i-in love with you but I could never tell you and now I'm dead and-"- he stops talking when he feels something warm against his cheek, the feeling of her hand, and he hopes that he will remember it in the afterlife.

"I love you too-"- he stops her there, shaking vigorously his head- "I'm leaving. I can't do this to you, you deserve to be happy"

"You do too. You make me happy, please don't leave me"- She tries to hold to him, begs him to stay, letting all her pride shatter to the ground just to be with him- "I can't lose you too"

She refuses to add his name to the list of the ones she will never see again, to not being able to spend the rest of her life with him- to admit that they lost their happy ending.

"I love you, Ámbar Smith, I've always loved you"- she lets herself fall on the floor- "And I've been selfish for too long"

epilogue

Ámbar Smith and Ramiro Ponce's love was written in the stars.

What everyone seems to forget it's that nothing lasts forever and, eventually, even stars fade.

xxii.

Ámbar wakes up alone on the couch, after watching the last film with Ramiro, after seeing the guy she loves for the last time. She tried to stay awake to not miss a single second of the boy but, eventually, she fell asleep and he left. He left her with teary eyes and a sad smile on his face, kissing- trying to kiss- her forehead and then walking towards the light- technically was only towards the hallway but it was towards the light for him.

Suddenly the apartment doesn't feel like home anymore, it feels like four walls that hold to many memories that she wants to forget- it feels like she is back in the mansion after Luna's death- and she is suffocating, like if she is underwater. She needs to breathe and break free from some walls all over again.

She gets up and puts some shoes on, leaving the house in a few seconds, her mind going back, against her will, to the day of her first kiss with Ramiro. How perfect it was, the way his lips- she needs to forget, she can't deal with that right now or she's not gonna reach him in time.

She runs in the street, not caring about anything, not the drunk mans standing on the corner declaring their love to someone nor the rain that is falling over her with fury. She just wants her best friend Matteo at her side.

He was always there for her and right now that's exactly what she needs- he is the only one that can understand her.

She rings the bell multiple times until a really pissed Matteo open the door, ready to punch whoever is standing there- "It's fucking 2 am, what the fuc-"

He shuts up as soon as he sees her and his heart shatters. Her teary eyes, the wet hair, and clothes are the first things he notices but not the one that worries him the most, she looks broken. For the first time, he thinks- he feels- that he can't help her.

And he goes back when he lost Luna and thought he would never find someone else in his life when he needed someone but the blonde and Gastón were there for him even in his worst days.

"He's gone"- she cries out falling in his arms and losing the ability to stand on her legs, finally letting everything out- "He's gone forever and I love him" "I know Ambs"- she doesn't notice that he is crying too and that they are on the front porch of his house, under the pouring rain.

The next day Gastón will find them asleep on the couch, still wet and with dried tears still on their cheeks. He won't need to ask them anything, he already knows.

xxiii.

An eighteen years old Ámbar is hugging all her friends, happy that she finally finished school, thinking about all the opportunities that the future holds.

"We made it bitches!"- of course, Gastón had to do it and the professor of History gives him a side-eye, making the young boy shut up immediately.

The Chilean grabs her hand, pulling her behind him without the other noticing anything- Matteo does but decides to stay quiet.

He leans against her and steals a kiss under one of the trees in the schoolyard. A kiss that both of then wish could last forever, but that it won't.

"Can you believe I made it?"- he whispers against her soft lips smiling fondly before running towards Matteo, leaving the girl with millions of questions in her mind. And one hope in her heart that will be crashed in a few weeks.

xxiv.

Monica gives her a cup of tea, smiling sadly at the young girl with a broken heart. How unfair is life to young lovers, and she knows that is always gonna hurt.

"Do you wanna talk?"- she questions calmly, not wanting to push the girl over the edge and see her break down again in her arms.

"Not really"- it's a whisper and it's so ironic because she always hated to whisper but lately, it's all she can do, not founding enough voice to speak properly.

"Ok"- then they sip their tea in silence, lost in their thoughts on the same topic.

Some loves are not made to be lived.

xxv.

"What does it means that Ramiro left?"- the blonde asks, clutching her fists so tightly that her knuckles get paler than usual- "What the fuck it means Matteo?"

"I don't know"- he states simply trying to not lose control- "I can try to call him aga-"

"He is dead to me"- she cuts him off, surprising her best friend- "Call him and tell him that he can stay wherever he is because for all I care this is his funeral too"

She regrets saying that one second later, but her pride is stronger.

xxvi.

Ámbar laughs hugging Simón and kissing him to shut him up.

"I'm right!"- he tries to state but he is laughing too and his girlfriend is kissing him and he finds hard to resist her power.

Delfi, Jazmin, and Pedro smile at their friends' happiness while Nico and Gastón are challenging each other to see who can eat more marshmallow without stopping and Matteo is the judge. Jim and Yam are dancing in the living room while Nina records them for her their youtube channel trying to not laugh when she sees Nico falling from his chair.

It looks like they never been through the pain like they are the full group and nothing happened.

"Guys I have to tell you something"- it's Pedro that is talking and everyone already knows what he is about to say- "I'm pregnant and Delfi is gonna be father!"

The brunette girl massages her temples with her finger, wondering why her boyfriend is so damn idiotic and everyone else just starts laughing at the poor boy that doesn't understand what he said that was so funny.

"It's not a j-"- "Delfi is pregnant and you are gonna be a father"- correct Simón patting his shoulder before hugging him- "Congratulation man" The blonde smiles, hugging her friend and smiling at her belly- "Don't worry little thing, you will have an amazing aunt"

xxvii.

Ramiro stares at the phone in his hands, thinking that he could call her and explain himself. Jesus, he would rather hear her scream at him than to not hear her at all. Maybe he could show up at the mansion to explain everything to her. She won't forgive him immediately, he knows she won't, but maybe he could try to fix everything.

Maybe one day they will have another chancé but for now, he only wants to make up for being an absolute asshole, to be her friend again.

The traffic light turns green and he starts the car, not knowing that someone else won't respect the 'STOP' sign on the other side and their cars will crash into each other.

The day he was hoping for, that he was praying for, it will never come.

xxviii.

Ámbar stands on the balcony of the mansion looking at the stars while everyone else is partying for the news. She is happy for Delfi and Pedro, she is happy with Simón and she is happy for all their achievements. And yet, she is not fully, completely happy as she should be.

"I know you are there, I can feel you idiot"- she smiles sadly as soon as he reaches her, looking at the stars just like her.

"How many of those do you think are dead right now?"- is a simple question that makes her smiles sadly, not knowing which answer to give him- probably most of them.

"Alcohol?"- Matteo offers her a glass filled with vodka that he found in the kitchen- why it was there is a mystery.

She takes it and observes the object for a few seconds before raising it to the sky- "To the love we lost because we were too late and too scared to stand a chancé against destiny"- "And the love we found in our darkest times, so we could still believe in fate"

They drink it fast, smiling to each other as soon as they finish before starting to laugh.

Because in the end, every love story that was ever born is a fucking tragedy.