Romeo was mid shift, sweaty from the heat of the stoves partially visible from the front counter. No Manches was a small joint, four round tables inside and two tables outside, colorful hand painted murals and a wall to wall counter with a menu hanging overhead written in chalk. They served a few things, but served them well, in a Tex-Mex style that screamed tourist trap, not to mention the vegan options (Romeo didn’t mind them, but he had some suggestions). A white uniform apron was strapped around his tall frame, pressing down on the t-shirt he wore and freshly stained with grease splatter. He was on a roll that day, moving from front to back of house to the manager’s office to have a few words with his boss that had offered to mentor him (more like, make him work overtime under the guise of gaining experience). 

His laughter was contagious, and despite being overwhelmed and exhausted he made a joke to one of the cooks in Spanish about the state of the beans and slapped two of them on the back, a trio of boisterous hollering. Romeo shook his head before another coworker nodded at him and spoke through crooked teeth, “Chica guapa con un culo gordo sentada al frente, echa un vistazo.” Romeo laughed, but when he looked over and saw Shay his face dropped, moving to slap the guy on the arm. “No seas un pervertido, Josélito.” Romeo tugged at the towel in his hands before throwing it over his shoulder, thinking. He rubbed his thumb to his mouth in an attempt to wipe the grin off of his face. Lightly smacking the back of his hand against the shoulder of the guy nearest him, “I’mma take a fifteen, handle the pick ups.” he spoke without so much as looking at the worker, who nodded in grunt form and patted him on the back as they passed. 

Coming out from the back, he cocked an eyebrow at Shay teasingly and put his hands out, mouth slowly curving into a grin. “Looking for someone in particular, or you just hungry and we was the closest place?” he joked, put his hand on the table she sat at. “What can I get for you? On the house.”

Shay’s smile matched Romeo’s evenly as she saw him approach. She hated to admit even to herself that she was relieved to see him, and suddenly more in the mood for Tex Mex for lunch. 

Amused as she was by his joke, she didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. Instead, she instinctively leaned forward on the table towards him and offhandedly painted towards the trendy looking chalkboards. “Well, none of that stuff, because if I remember right, you said you had some off-the menu ideas to treat me to if I ever visited.” 

“Dope!” Angel got momentarily thrilled before Reya hit him with some sass he honestly wasn’t expecting. Was it taboo to think the lowkey deaf girl was probably shy and would readily slide all her hard taken notes over to the cute guy following her down the hall? Yes, the answer is yes. “Damn!” he laughed, a little out of shock and a little out of respect. “I mean, what do you want?” his eyebrows knit before a charming grin met his lips. 

Reya hadn’t thought that far ahead when she’d asked for an exchange, just that she wasn’t going to help out a near stranger for free. Still, she didn’t want to lose the upper hand so without missing a beat she answered, “An IOU in the future. No questions asked. Gimme your word and the notes are all yours.” 

Shay sat down centrally, taking in the smells of the place as she did a cursory glance around to try and spot the person she wouldn’t quite openly admit she’d come to see just yet.

Romeo’s lips pursed like he knew a secret at Shay’s blatant admitting of wanting to stick around in his company. Smirking on impulse he teased, “Must be breaking your heart to see me go.” Romeo didn’t want to seem as though he was in a rush to leave her, he really wasn’t, but his life always seemed like every time he sat for a breath he was needed elsewhere. With Veronica so irresponsible and Angel in the worst age phase of his short life, it wasn’t infrequent the amount of times Romeo would be beckoned on his off days. He smiled softly as Shay signed to him, and went to speak before he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket, the sound slightly audible. Cutting himself off, he jumped right back into a smile. “Just another reason for us to hang out again.” his grin was smug as he pushed himself up slowly from his seat. “See you in class?” he offered, knowing at the very least their paths would cross again without their doing. 

“Nah, I was just hoping you had more tacos in your pockets is all,” Shay shrugged, though her grin didn’t fade. She was just as alright teasing him back as she was letting him know that he wasn’t half bad. 

There was something in the silent moment that Romeo smiled at her that put her completely at ease. So much so that even when his phone went off and startled them out of the feeling, it was still alright. At least they had that moment.

Shay’s response to him, along with her smile, left them both sitting for a moment where Romeo just looked at her with a smile in return. The linger only lasted a few beats before he was laughing out loud again, watching Shay flex for him. “That shits impressive, you should be proud.” 

“Eh—I’ll try my best.” he shrugged with a laugh at her promise of a reminder. He would love to say he’d be on time in the future, but he knew that just wasn’t a promise he could tend to. “I don’t mind.” he gave her a soft smile, and left out any sassy remark she may have been expecting from him in return. Food was his love language, after all, and for those that knew him it wasn’t a secret for Romeo food was the way to the soul. 

“Aye, I’m the bEsT.” he grinned, poking fun. “You know you can’t take that back now, you put it out there!” he waved his hand in a circle at his chest and knelt his head in fake-fancy-bowing formation while still seated. “Yours Truly.” he winked before turning to check his phone before sticking it into the back pocket of his jeans. He turned back to Shay, arm leaning on the back of his chair. “Guess we’re all good here?” he asked. He wouldn’t have minded keeping her, but he figured she was just as busy as he was. “‘Less you needed something else?” 

Shay laughed but shook her head at Romeo’s dramatics. She certainly didn’t take her eyes off him throughout though. Only when he checked his phone did her gaze move with his hand. 

She raised a brow in amusement at his words, leaning back herself at the nudge to bring the good times to a close. “Well, no, I don’t need anything. But wanting to stick around is a whole different story. Plus, I can’t just leave you empty handed, we agreed on a fair exchange of services, you know.” 

She fixed him with a small smile and a tilt of her head. 

“Damn, you don’t seem happy to see me.” he laughed, truly feeling it but laughing it off anyway. It’s not like her disinterest was going to send him off, he came with a mission. “Alright, straight to the point, respect.” he nodded with a shrug, hands gripping the straps of his backpack. “You got Ms. Jameson for physics right?” he asked, already knowing she was in the period before his. “I was wondering if you had notes and shit for the test on Friday. You know, you seem smart and stuff.” Smooth.

Reya throws up some halfheartedly excited jazz hands in response to his statement, though she’s still smiling slightly, showing her amusement to be approached by him over anything else. She vaguely knew Angel, vaguely knew the people who were usually around him and knew there had to be a reason he stood in front of him in that moment. 

“I am and I do,” Reya shrugs, “But what’s in it for me?” She raises a brow at him, challenging to make helping him worth her while.

“Yo, Reya!” Angel yelled in the middle of the hallway despite only seeing the back of his school peer as she walked. He was gonna be honest, he didn’t know shit about her hearing or how it worked with her hearing aids, so it was a 50/50 shot him yelling would do anything. He saw a girl from his history class walking in the opposite direction of Reya look at her and point to motion in his direction, as if helping to signal someone was trying to get her attention. He grinned at her and when she walked by he half turned while giving her a nod, “Thanks Ivelisse…” He winked at her and the girl giggled back, rolling her eyes while swatting him away. He ran up to Reya to walk beside her, “Hey!” he said, a smidge out of breath. “What’s up?” he added politely, as if he didn’t have ulterior motives. @shaydecampo​

Reya thought she heard someone calling her name but questioned it just enough that she didn’t pay it mind until she was pointed in Angel’s direction. She looked at the boy in questioned and slowed down her on-a-mission-walk seeing him approach. 

“Hey? You tell me. What’s up?” She spoke slowly, raising a brow at him. It wasn’t sharp, more to the point and curious. 

“Hey, that shit takes time! That’s not fast food. But I’mma jot that down mentally,” Romeo noted, tapping his finger to his temple, “next time I need to put you in a good mood.” He let out a light laugh, but an unspoken promise lingered in the air after it. 

Romeo nodded slowly, his mouth curving into an impressed, not sad, but intrigued frown. Almost like a stank face, but lighter. “That’s hard.” he added, assuming she would know he meant badass, but a part of him also meant difficult considering whenever he tried to look at those kinds of applications he got overwhelmed. “You smart though, I’m not surprised, I’m sure you earned it.” 

Romeo’s mouth instinctively curled and he laughed at her comment about his self promotion, “Damn, okay!” he said playfully, “I can be persuasive when I wanna be.” After a moment of falling into Shay’s teasing, his face softened and his brows knit tight and quick before releasing once he truly processed her offer. “Yo, forreal?” he filled the space between them, but was still taken aback that she would go through that trouble to help him. “We friends and shit, ain’t we?” he grinned, not letting the softness of his honest fluster overpower the moment. “Bet.” 

It was as if his ability to properly express gratitude had left his body, his mom would smack him over the head if she was there. “My mom would smack me over the head if she was here, ‘cause I ain’t say thank you right away. But thank you. That’s real dope of you. I’mma forget though, honest to God, you might have to remind me.” He absolutely would not forget, he didn’t play with his money nor did he play with not passing up a chance to hang out with his new…friend. 

He set his gaze back down on her notebook before sliding it on the table back in her direction, like a sneaky business transaction. “You all set. Just fix what I edited for you and you’re good.” 

“Looking forward to it,” Shay’s smile dropped into a smug one, and she was mostl preoccupied by how he intended to not only hang out again, but put great amounts of effort into it too.

Shay laughed when Romeo chose such a descriptor for her and her actions. “Oh yeah, totally the hardest,” she flexed an imaginary muscle for him, making an accompanying brooding face. All that before bursting into laughter all over again. “Naw, I’m pretty proud of myself, not gonna lie. I worked hard and it paid off.”

Taking in Romeo’s reaction to her offer made Shay’s expression soften even more. “Forreal forreal,” she confirmed for him easily. She seemed perpetually amused with how he addressed her, observing how he spoke and seemed to mean each thing that left his mouth.

“You’re welcome, Romeo,” she told him, a warmth coating her voice because she could tell how much the offer meant to him without having to explicitly hear as much. “Don’t worry, we’ll add this onto our study sessions and I’ll remind you to come prepared and on time every time.”

Shay shrugged, “And if you’re not on time you’ll just owe me food. I don’t make the rules, you set yourself up to a standard with this one, so thanks for the win-win.”

Romeo listened intently to Shay as she spoke, often so taken by her brightness that he paid very little attention to anything else. While already nodding as an instinct to show he was listening, his head halted, and his brows tightened with a closed lip smile. He cocked his head, “No shit?” he let out a breathy laugh. “Pozole’s my fucking favorite thing to cook.” Their mutual responses were unexpected, but pleasant, and…like really fucking cool. “Not to diss on ya momz but, everyone tells me my pozole is the bomb, I be spending a whole day on that shit.” Romeo laughed out loud at Shay’s joke about filling her casket, dropping his head back and clapping his hands loud so that the others seated around them looked over in their direction. “I got you, I’ll make sure of it. Don’t go dying though, not till you try mine.“

“Yeah, that’s good.” he nodded with a scrunched nose, “‘Cause even if it’s not the reason, ‘least you won’t be mad and shit.” he half laughed cheekily. “Nah but that’s usually it, for real, or something switched up and I got a responsibility to tend to.” Romeo thought of other reasons he would be late, like having to pick up his kids last minute, or Veronica changing her plans and deciding not to take the kids that weekend, or having to run an errand for his mother. All good reasons in his book, but all his personal business. 

“Grants?” Romeo’s face softened a bit. He knew there was some kind of aid and help he could have gotten, but between being a full time parent, an overtime worker, and a last minute student, he hadn’t looked into it. “Honestly, I woke up one morning and registered on scene like a few weeks before classes started. I ain’t have nobody to help me with that stuff when I was a kid so, I don’t really know how none of that shit works. Why, you got a grant or something?” he was honest, even though he was nervous it made him sound unintelligent, which he strongly believed he was not but was used to people expecting from him. 

Romeo laughed, pulling the notebook away as Shay reached for it like a child’s game. He went to push her hand away, his own so much bigger and rougher than hers. “It’s good, not much to change.” he shrugged, laughing as she handed him a pen. “You walked right into that read but, I’mma let you go on witcha bad self. Multi-color pens and shit, organized ass, look at you.” he spoke, face to her notebook as he made little notes and added accent marks. 

He looked up at her slightly and grinned, hitting his hand to his chest just over his heart dramatically, “Don’t make me blush, Shay.” 

“No shit!” Shay echoed his words with a touch more excitement in her tone realizing they had the same favorite dish. “Seriously, you make a mean pozole and you brought me tacos?!” She was fluttering with excitement now. “I mean, no offense to the tacos, they were great and I appreciate you so much but I would’ve died if you showed up with pozole.”

Romeo’s laughter was contagious and she found it to be the only thing she looked at while it lasted. 

Shay noted how he approached his lateness and took in what he had to say about it but didn’t comment. Her attention was more taken by his demeanor when he spoke about how sudden schooling was for him. It felt too personal to ask him point blank why he decided to come back to school at 35. Plus, he struck her as someone who very clearly compartmentalized which parts of himself he would be outspoken with and which parts he would keep close to the chest. If he wanted her to know, now or in the future, she would. 

Instead, she nodded, “Kind of. I got a scholarship for non-traditional students when I applied so I’m not paying a whole lot, especially since my degree’s just an associate’s.” And then after a pause she added, “If you want, we could look into some stuff and see if you’re applicable for next semester. I can tell you write a mean essay to self-promote when you want to.”

“Damn, I feel like I’m always working and I ain’t seen you there yet. Visit me and I can probably hook you up with something not on the menu, on the house and shit.” he offered with a grin. “No one cooks better than my momz, except me, but I can’t say that to her face either or I’ll get the belt.” he laughed, even at thirty five his mother was still one of the scariest people he new. “What’s her specialty? I’m sure you got a favorite.” 

“You right,” he laughed with a shrug, “but sometimes I’m texting while I’m doing shit so I just say I’mma be late ‘cause that’s most important.” he shrugged, and refrained from saying something insensitive like the fact that he truly didn’t owe anyone an explanation. “Ayeeeeeeee.” Romeo cheered her on as she supported his grind while mildly pumping his fist in a little dance, “You know I’m all about that green. Bills to pay, and these college classes ain’t cheap. I ain’t really think or plan it out so I really have to catch up on the set back.” he admitted, but to the surprise of almost everyone, Romeo was good with his money. Sure, he went out with his boys when he could, but he never spent out of his limits, and he was a conscious buyer. That is, so long as no one dared him. 

Romeo grabbed Shay’s notebook and readjusted his position, elbows on the table, to show he was oh so focused on whatever she’d written. He searched with his eyes for her partner’s name on the paper and when it was missing, he narrowed his eyebrows. “Normally you say the person’s name but you’re a beginner so, I get it.” he teased, just barely looking at Shay as he did so. “I can tell you worked really hard on this. Look at you!” he said honestly, nudging her upper arm with his upper arm while shaking his shoulders. “Let me fix some shit for you. You got one of those pretty colorful pens or something? I like those.” 

“Yeah we facetimed the other night, it was cool. Bobbie’s fucking funny, nosy too, but she’s a’ight. We got it done quick, we played nice. I know you weren’t expecting that.” he cocked at eyebrow at her, looking from the side as he read her paper over again, lopsided smirk forever on his face.

Shay’s grin at his invitation to have an insider visit to where he worked was enough answer to whether she’d take him up on the offer or not. It turned into a laugh when he mentioned getting the belt. She didn’t grow up in a home that would relate but her moms talked about their families enough that she would understand the context of his sentiment completely. 

“She makes a killer pozole. I could die. Actually when I do die, just fill my casket up with it and lay me in it to rest. I tried to learn how to make it with her recipe a while ago but the way I suck at eyeballing spices? I almost killed everyone involved,” Shay chuckled at the admission. 

“Ah, got it. So the next time you’re running late I’ll just assume work then,” she smiles lightly. She did respect his hustle, even if she didn’t know that was the reason behind most of the things that annoyed her about him at first. 

Shay beamed at Romeo when he did his little jig. It was easy for her to mirror his light heartedness and she liked that. After a beat though, she asked, genuinely curious and wanting to know more about him past their effortless banter, “Were you able to get any kind of grants or anything for this or are you paying completely out of pocket?” 

“Shut up, those are just my notes,” Shay nudged her notebook in a frail attempt to throw off his focus. “I’ll put it all together when I get the Mendoza seal of approval.” 

Romeo’s request for a pen felt like a call out but she didn’t even care because she did indeed have colorful pens- several, actually. Reaching into her bag, Shay pulled out a multi-colored pen with switches on each side to pick the color. “Gochu,” she chuckled, handing it to him. 

“Ah,” Romeo chuckled, “That’s what I was hoping for.” he teased, grinning as she helped herself to the food he’d brought. He laughed out loud at her comment about the white people food, “One day I gotta make you one of my mom’s recipes from scratch. The food at No Manches is good ‘cause I make it, but that Tex-Mex shit just don’t compare to the real thing.” 

“Color coordinating events? In your planner?” he cocked an eyebrow at Shay. He wanted to say they couldn’t be more different, but he knew he had two personalities: him around friends and him around work. When it came to his work, he was incredibly organized in a way most people wouldn’t expect. “That’s…cute.” he said, not teasing her, in fact a small smile was on his face. Arm slung comfortably over the back his chair as he was turned to face her while talking to her, Romeo shrugged. “Eh.” he started, “We get busy at this time, my boss asks me to stay late a lot after my shift is over and I don’t be saying no ‘cause like, I wanna keep my impression high. Plus, the money.” he laughed honestly, “So sometimes I just don’t know when I’m gonna get off.” he said, but easily shifted the conversation so he wasn’t complaining to her too much. “You talked to S….uh….your partner?” he said, still not knowing the woman’s name fully, “What you got for me?” he asked, so willing to help her where she needed.

“Oh, I’ve been to No Manches and I can already imagine how much better your mom’s cooking is,” Shay chuckled. She tried to picture him as a cook and somehow, the hustle of the job seemed to fit him. “My mama has some of those classic homemade recipes but she grew up here so whatever she learned is from her mom, the OG cook. It’s just not the same. But like...don’t tell mama that.”

Having a mouthy 17 year old sister almost made Shay retort instantly with ‘You’re cute’ but she just barely refrained. Partially because, well, they didn’t know each other well enough to be on that level yet and partially because even if he was cute, she wasn’t sure if he deserved to hear that from her just yet. Maybe the next time they met up, if he wasn’t fashionably late.

“Oh, alright,” Shay’s shoulders relaxed, hearing why he was late. “You could’ve just said so, you know. Clearly, I’m good at getting comfortable and waiting.” She gestured to her belongings, which she had abandoned cleaning up in favor of the food that Romeo had brought as a peace offering. “For the record, get that money,” she chuckled.

“Oh yeah, we talked,” Shay smiled at the mention of her partner project for the week. “Learned a lot about each other, actually. Here’s this...” She slid her notebook over to him where she had written down several bullet points in structured sentences about Selena, though as she had planned on adding an introductory sentence later, the woman’s name was absent from her paper. 

Shay’s work was better researched than the average person in their class but still, there were a few inconsistencies and grammatical errors. 

Selena Shi’s Family:

Sorry - am I talking too much? Please stop me if I am. I just want to make sure I’m doing my part right. [Selena nervously giggled.] Yup. She is. [She could feel her smile grow at the kind compliment Shay paid her.] Gosh, that is too sweet. I’m not the best - not by far - but I’ve certainly done my best. Thank you. Wow.

[Selena joked.] No, no dog or parrot. Though, it’s not like my daughter hasn’t insisted. I just always felt it was a big commitment. Both of us were really busy. We just never had the chance. Who knows? Maybe one day. For the dog, I mean. Probably not the parrot. [She thought for another second to see if there was anyone else. I mean, there was Braden, but she didn’t really consider him immediate family.] No, I believe that’s it. I’m an only child, so no siblings, but lots of cousins? But we don’t have to get into them. I’ll just talk your ear off. [Since there wasn’t much left for her, Selena shifted it now to Shay, opening her notebook and propping up her pen as she asked.] What about you? Family, hometown, dogs or parrots?

No, no, not at all! [Shay quickly corrected the other woman.] The more information the better for this, really. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. You’re good. [Shay smiled at Selena’s humbled response to being complimented.] You’re welcome. I’m sure Riley feels the same.

[Shay made a mental note of the fact that if Selena had other family members, they weren’t worth mentioning.] In that case, I look forward to the day you walk into study group with a dog because it’s new and you couldn’t find anyone else to watch it for the day.

[As it became her turn to share, Shay sat up straighter.] Okay, well I was born here but I was adopted with I was three. I have two moms, one is named Indy and she’s a high school teacher. My other mom is Soledad, she’s a college professor. Having two teacher parents is truly, a joy. [She chuckled at her own sarcasm.] I also have a little sister named Reya, who’s 17. I guess her cat, Figero counts as family too even though all he really does is pee in my shoes and eat my food...

Romeo never meant to be late to things. Well, that was a lie, there were a few occasions he purposely showed up late, strategically or to avoid too much time with certain people, but more often than not it wasn’t malicious. He felt a little bad being late to meet up with Shay, but when he had shit he had shit. He walked into the diner, did a quick look around before seeing Shay sitting alone with some books out, and he smiled even though she wasn’t looking at him. He came up behind her, hand on the back of her chair, and leaned slightly, “Yo,” he said, dropping his bag, “I’m sorry I’m late and shit.” he didn’t really know how to repent without making it awkward. He plopped a white paper bag on the table with a small grease stain that smelled like heaven, “I ain’t know if you ate meat or shit so, I got both. There’s three carnitas tacos and then a veggie burrito, you know, if you like that shit. I don’t judge.” he grinned, and then finally slid into the seat beside her, looking down at her work. “What you doing?”

“Yo,” Shay said slightly less enthusiastically when she heard the familiar voice. She didn’t respond to his apology but turned her attention directly to the smell of the paper bag in front of her. A smile did peek up on the corner of her lips as he described the contents. Her hand was already in the bag and when she spoke it was with carnitas tacos in hand. She hadn’t expected him to sit right next to her instead of across from her and she watched him do it. 

“I guess this gets you a pass...for now,” she told him before taking her first bite, “I was going to wait for you to order an appetizer or something but screw basic white people food now.”

Looking down at the mess before herself, she considered for a moment before answering, “Just catching up on some notes and assignments here and there. Little stuff I’m always meaning to do but forgetting like color coordinating the events on my planner. Like a true loser. So.” She gave him a warmer smile than she had so far. It was hard to stay quite as annoyed at him as she seemed to always start off during their interactions.