au where dani lets go of diego sooner

"When are you going to tell Marifer that you like her? It's been a few weeks since her and Alex "officially" broke up," Dani looks over and asks Memo.

She's taken to hanging out with him after school because she likes his company and Pascual always offers to drive her home. Plus Memo's house has the best snacks.

She watches Memo's face turn red as he fiddles with a cassette tape that he'd been writing on at his computer desk.

"I don't think there's been enough time yet," Memo mutters.

Dani sits up from his bed and takes a look at what he's written on the tape. She gets up and puts her hand out and Memo gingerly sticks the tape in her hand.

"Is this for her?"

Memo nods, not meeting her eyes.

"Come on, Memo! You need to tell her!"

Dani think it's sweet. If Diego had been half as attentive as Memo is for Marifer, she might have been more put out about cutting him off.

But poor Memo just shakes his head.

"I can't."

"Why not?" she presses.

"I'm moving at the end of the year."

Dani pauses and stares at him, trying to make eye contact. Memo doesn't look up.

"What? When? Why? Weren't you going to tell us?"

Dani is questioning a mile a minute and poor Memo's hands start shaking as his eyes water.

She stops when she sees that he's not going to answer, on the verge of a panic attack.

"Okay, okay, okay," Dani steadies herself. "My mom sometimes gets panic attacks. Go turtle and take deep breaths. You're okay just keep breathing."

The room is quiet with just their breathing for a bit.

Finally, after a few minutes, Memo's breathing grows lighter and he smiles at his friend.

"I'll tell you, but you can't tell the others yet. I want to figure out if I can convince my parents if I can stay."

Dani promises and Memo begins to tell her about what his dad shared with him after the day they all sang karaoke. For the first time since that day, Memo no longer looks like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.