#oc ro

It had been a while since the eldest Reyes came home. She didn’t have a schedule or routine in stopping by, most of her visits were unplanned and unannounced. Normally her visits just included a few hours with her Pops, enjoying the outdoors or watching TV, maybe dinner if she felt like staying a little longer. This time around was different though. As Rosario entered the back door to the house she went straight for the fridge, her eyes immediately fell on a case of beer that sat on the third shelf of the fridge. As she grabbed a bottle from the box, she heard her two younger siblings bickering in the living room. A smile formed on her face, ever since moving out years ago, getting her own house, hearing her brother's bicker was enjoyable verse what it used to be—annoying. 

She decided to grab her beer and make her way silently to the open doorway that led into the living room, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed so she could sip the beer with ease as she enjoyed the free entertainment. 

“Joining the club is a stupid fuckin’ idea, EZ.” Angel’s voice was firm. 

“It’s done, Angel.” EZ’s voice was more neutral, like he had already come to terms with everything that Angel was struggling with. 

“Ain’t shit done, you still need a sponsor.” Angel was getting angrier as the conversation continued. 

“Just–just sit on it for a minute Angel, really think about it, it makes sense!” Now EZ was leaving his neutral ground and starting to fight for his side of the argument. 

“You were looking at 20 years, bro. 20 fuckin’ years inside. And by some miracle you got out early. Go do something, man. Stockton State didn’t turn you into no fuckin’ gangster.” Angel was now giving up, he pushed past EZ to go turn the TV off that was likely on when Angel was the only person in the house. 

“I just want to be home, Angel. Be with you and Pop. Be part of something. I know there’s a spot for me at the club, I’m smart, I’d be an asset.” EZ was begging in only a way EZ would, humble brag. 

“Man, what the fuck does that mean?” Angel turned around now, his face scrunched up in a frown. 

As he turned around his face immediately fell when he saw his big sister standing in the doorway watching everything unfold. 

Rosario let her arm hold her beer and she clapped her hands together sarcastically at the show of events her little brothers just put on. EZ’s head snapped to look at her, his face falling pretty much the same as Angel's. 

“Bra fuckin’ vo. Encore, encore!” Ro pushed off the wall and grabbed her beer as she approached both of them. “It’s refreshing to finally see you make a mistake.” Neither brother knew who she was actually speaking to since her eyes were on the carton of cigarettes that were on the coffee table next to the recliner. As she grabbed one cigarette with the hand that wasn’t holding the beer she stood back up, now between both brothers and let her gaze fall on EZ. 

Angel’s mouth twisted up in the slightest smile when he realized who his sister was talking to. It wasn’t much, but he felt some sense of relief knowing for once he was right over EZ. 

“See!” Angel extended his hand out to show how he knew he was right all along and that their older sister agreed with him. 

“I make mistakes.” EZ frowned, not loving his sister's comments. 

“Clearly.” She huffed out a laugh and made her way over to the front door to make herself comfy on one of the wicker pieces of furniture Felipe and Marisol decorated the porch with. 

The brothers conversation must’ve continued inside for another 15 minutes, Ro heard muffles of their voices from outside choosing to ignore it and put her attention on the scenery around her as she smoked her cigarette. The birds, the sun setting, the cars pulling into driveways. The last one made her wonder. It made her mind go to each person that pulled into their home after working their society accepted jobs. Was it just her life that was this royally fucked up? Or did everyone in this town have something dirty to hide? 

As her mind ran free her ears focused less and less on the conversation inside, it’s why when the front door opened, Ro’s neck snapped to look at who was exiting. EZ was closing the door behind him when he saw his big sister sitting there, he hadn’t thought she would be out here still and his facial expression said it all. 

Looking out into the neighborhood he stood on the top step as he situated his riding gloves on. Despite him not even being in the club yet, he still went out and bought the bike. 30 seconds passed where neither of them said anything, Ro was wishing she still had her cigarette from earlier, give her something to pass the time. 30 seconds wasn’t long but when there was tension flying in the air it could make that time feel like triple that. Rosario wasn’t one to care about that though, her need for cigarettes in these moments was more of a fidgety thing than feeling the weight of what was really happening. 

EZ on the other hand, that was eating him alive. “It’s not a mistake.” 

Ro didn’t move her head to look at him, she just nodded in acceptance of what he said. Her brother was old enough to make his own decisions, he had been for years. EZ nodded once and made his way down the stairs to leave on his bike leaving his eldest sibling alone on the porch for a few more minutes until the middle Reyes sibling came out. 

Angel stepped out onto the porch and looked directly at Rosario before making his way over to her on the seat next to her. His hand reached into his kutte and pulled out his carton of cigarettes she stole from earlier to offer her another. She thanked him, grabbed one and waited for him to pull his lighter out to light it for her. 

“Thanks for that, by the way. It’s nice to have someone finally on my side.” Angel leaned back in his seat and exhaled his own cigarette. 

“Dude, I’ve always had your back.” Her face twisted in disgust practically. 

“What do you mean?” Angel snagged her beer from her and drank the rest of it. 

Rosario shook her head and looked back out on the streets at the birds and the cars. “Since EZ was born, I saw it. How Pops treated him, how mom treated him. I knew he was special, I knew he was smart, but I saw what that did to you, how that made you struggle.” 

“What are you saying, Ro?” Angel asked, still a little slow to what the girl was getting at. 

She let out a chuckle. “I know I don’t take after mom, never did. The whole comfort and caring thing was never my strong suit. But I tried to stand up for you, take your side, be there for you in the way I knew I could.” She inhaled the cigarette, letting her legs move up against her chest as she sunk down a little more in the seat. “And look, I’ll fuckin’ deny I said this if you tell anyone but, I love you and I love EZ, you’re my little brothers, but Pops and Ma were so easy on him and so hard on you that I chose to be what both of you were lacking, what both of you needed. EZ needs someone to be hard on him, make him think twice. And don’t get me wrong, it’s fuckin’ hard when that motherfucker is so smart. But when the opportunities presented themselves, I took it.” 

“I guess, I don’t really remember that.” Angel leaned back too. 

“Of Course you don’t. It’s Angel’s world and we’re all just livin’ in it.” Rosario let out a laugh causing the smoke in her mouth to blow out. 

“You don’t think E made a mistake shooting that cop?” The question out of Angel’s mouth was one he was sitting on since she made the mistake comment to EZ in the house, she could tell by how he asked. 

“I think it was a mistake but it wasn’t refreshing.” She looked over at Angel, clarifying her statement from earlier. “Honestly, I think EZ going after whoever shot mom was a long time comin’, he thought he was right, never really been told he wasn’t. No one was going to stop him even if someone tried to stop him.” 

Angel nodded knowing that last sentence was to relieve him of the guilt of giving him the gun. 

“Ro?” Angel had his thinking face on, his eyebrows frowning and lips pursed out a little as he thought. “You happy?” He looked over at his sister. “You left the minute you could, you come back home every blue fuckin’ moon, I just– we don’t really ever get to talk.”

“You checkin’ in on me, hermanito?” Rosario’s arm moved forward to push him. Angel let out a laugh before pushing his sister's arms away. As she settled back in her seat, she sighed before speaking. “I left because I didn’t know how to be here anymore. I felt this dark cloud above me living here. I have my own with Pops–had my own shit with mom. It got better when I wasn’t here.” 

“You didn’t answer my question.” Angel flicked his cigarette over the porch. 

“I’m alright.” She looked over at him with a fake smile. 

“I’ll take it.” Angel nodded in acceptance. 

There were a few beats of silence, no cigarettes needed, it wasn’t a tense silence, just one of acceptance. The sun started to fade in the distance, the sound of the cicadas getting louder in the distance all while the chill breeze of the night started to sneak past both of them. 

“When does he get his prospect kutte?” Rosario broke the silence with something she knew would shock Angel. 

“How’d you know?” Angel looked over at her. 

“Because I know both of my brothers. EZ, always right, never one to take no for an answer and you, Angel, the one who would do anything for either of your siblings.” Ro looked over at him now and they both stared at each other. “I knew the moment I heard you arguing that you’d end up sponsoring him. It’s not your fault, EZ puts up a good fight, makes good points, plus he’s the younger brother, uses those puppy dog eyes any chance he fuckin’ gets.” 

“You think it’s a mistake?” Angel asked even though he knew the answer. 

“I think everything any of us do in this town is a mistake. But hey, you can’t make the same mistake twice, they say,” Ro stood up from her seat and began walking back over to the front door, “something about the second time you make it, it's a choice!” Her voice got louder as she entered the house letting Angel sit with her last words on his own before she mumbled more under her breath.