Hector
Friday night, Hector stayed out in front of the gym for as long as he could with Walter and the guys. He kept hoping he’d see Leticia and Miriam walk out and leave, preferably with guys so they might not be too pissed at him. Not that he cared one way or another if they were, he just didn’t want to deal with any drama in case they’d gone in and kept drinking, which he knew was probably the case.
His new chess buddies busted his balls about being quite the ladies’ man. Hector laughed mostly because he thought only people over fifty used that term anymore. They were all under the impression that Hector would be leaving with two girls that night, and for some reason, this delighted them. Apparently, Walter had filled them in on last weekend when he’d seen Hector actually leave with them.
Not wanting to disappoint them, he neither confirmed nor denied it would be happening again that night. Obviously, a topic of that nature was not one any of those guys had ever had the pleasure of discussing. Usually, he would’ve cut it short. He wasn’t one to kiss and tell. But that night he stood out there and let them have their fun, bouncing their brows, making stupid faces, and coming to their own conclusions about what Hector would be doing with the two girls that night.
Hector cringed the few times Walter made reference to what a lucky guy he was to be able to have any girl he wanted.
By the time they finally left, he’d been out there with them for nearly an hour. His plan had worked. When he got back to the party, Leticia and Miriam were both on the dance floor with two different guys. And judging by the way they were dancing, they’d had plenty more to drink. Hector took advantage of their distraction and snuck out.
The next morning, he went into 5th Street to cover for Gio since he’d be at that marathon—just another thing that brought continual thoughts of Charlee. He’d actually been tempted to ask Abel to take over the youth-training class so that Hector might take a little drive to Long Beach. He was still kicking himself about forgetting to ask for her number. He’d been that close to doing it too, and he was sure Abel wouldn’t have minded, but then Walter walked in. He was there to work out and all gung ho about it.
Walter hadn’t actually discussed a schedule for his workouts. Hector just assumed they’d start out slow—a few days a week, especially after that brutal first workout Hector had given him. But apparently Walter was going to work out daily. He told Hector he’d be back again on Sunday, and he seemed pretty damned determined.
Another thing Walter let Hector know he was also more determined now to do was whatever it took to impress and get to know Charlee better. He said after seeing how beautiful she looked at the party Friday night he was even more motivated now.
Annoyed, Hector reminded him what a contradiction that statement was to how hard Walter actually tried at the party. With the most pathetic expression Hector had seen on Walter, and he’d seen quite a few on him already, he told Hector all about the insecurity issues he’d faced all his life. As if that weren’t enough of a guilt grenade, he then added how being harassed all through school only made things worse.
Sunday, Hector had to once again hear about Charlee the whole time Walter worked out. She was the typical main topic of conversation for Walter, but after what happened Friday night, Hector could hardly stand it anymore. A few times he told Walter to shut up and concentrate on his workout. It was killing him. How the hell was Hector supposed to do anything more with Charlee when she was all Walter talked about? He felt like a total asshole all over again for not having been able to hold back kissing her.
It was still hands down totally worth it, even if he was drowning in guilt all over again. He just had no idea how this was going to work. Walter was going to hate him again and for good reason. He’d trusted Hector.
When Walter was finished with his workout, he approached Hector before he left. “You have a minute? I wanna show you something.”
Hector looked at him curiously. “Sure. What is it?”
“It’s in my car. I don’t want to bring it in here.”
They walked out into the parking lot where it was already getting dark. Beverly, a girl he’d hung out with in the past, walked in and smiled at Hector knowingly.
Walter smirked as she walked past them, shaking his head. When she was far enough away, Walter glanced back. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be you.”
Gritting his teeth because he already felt like a big enough dick, Hector pushed the thoughts of being with Charlee on Friday away. “It’s not as glamorous as you may think.”
“Shit!” Walter laughed. “Glamorous or not, I’d trade places with you any day.” He stopped and pointed his finger in the air just as they reached his trunk. “But only for a day at most. I think I’m finally gonna start liking my life.”
He opened the trunk, and Hector froze, feeling every hair on his body stand. Staring at it for a moment, he wasn’t sure what to say or why Walter would bring it to him now. Could he possibly know about Friday? Had he maybe talked to Charlee?
Finally able to put a few words together, Hector began to speak. “Is that . . .”
Walter picked up the robot and held it with a smile. “Can you believe Charlee read about this thing before she even knew me? She had no idea it was me who built it but said she remembered reading about it online.” Walter slugged Hector’s arm with the biggest goofiest smile. “I fucking impressed her, man!” The laugh he let out next was too happy, too genuine for him to know anything about Friday night. “And get this; she said she’d love to see it. So I brought it down from my garage this week for the first time since . . .”
Walter paused, meeting Hector’s eyes, his expression falling but only momentarily before he was smiling again. Hector tried to match Walter’s enthusiasm, but all he felt was the same suffocating guilt he felt when he heard Walter’s robot hadn’t been entered in the national event, even though Mr. Sifuentes, their Science teacher, was certain Walter was a clear front-runner to win the whole thing. Hector remembered feeling horrified, his first thoughts being that Walter must’ve taken his own life.
The one thing that had given him hope was that when Hector had Googled Walter’s name, the only things that ever came up were stories about his chemical-detecting robot.
“Anyway,” Walter continued with his story, “I wanted to work on it a little before showing it to her, so I did. I’m thinking of asking her to come over this week.” His uppity mood suddenly swayed and he looked nervous. “You think it would be too much if I order pizza or something then maybe ask if she wants to hang out and watch a movie?”
Hector stared at him, suddenly knowing all the bullshit mental lists he’d made up this whole weekend of reasons why it had been okay for him to move in on Charlee had just blown up in his face. It wasn’t okay. It would never be okay, no matter how much he tried to justify it. No matter how unlikely it was that Charlee would ever be interested in anything more than a friendship with Walter, Hector owed him that much: the decency and respect of staying away from the one girl that could make Walter this excited.
I think I’m finally gonna start liking my life.
“Too much, huh?”
Hector didn’t even realize he’d been shaking his head until Walter’s question brought him back to earth. “What?”
“Asking her to hang out and watch a movie.” Walter winced. “Maybe just the pizza?”
“Nah,” Hector finally responded with a weak smile. “The pizza’s cool, and it wouldn’t hurt to ask if she wants to hang out. Worst thing she can say is no, right?”
Hector couldn’t stand to even look at the robot anymore, so he was glad when Walter set it down in his trunk again and closed it. But he had to ask. He wasn’t sure why. He just had to. “So how come you never entered it in the national event? Sifuentes said you were a front-runner.”
Walter’s cheerful expression went flat again, and he shrugged. “I just lost interest in it. That was a real bad time for me, and I stopped caring about everything.”
Feeling like total shit because it’s what he’d suspected all along, Hector did what he said he wouldn’t do anymore. “Listen, Walter, I am so fucking sorry about—”
“Nah, nah!” Walter shook his head adamantly. “It wasn’t just what happened that day, man. There was a lot of other stuff going on. My parents were talking about getting divorced. I pretty much knew it was coming, and it was hard and all, but I still had this stupid robot to keep my mind off things. Then my uncle, the one who helped me built it,” he frowned now, looking more irritated than dejected like he had a moment ago, “he was a science teacher over at Union High. He got arrested for getting involved with one of his underage students. It was just one of those times when everything happened all at once, you know? So the day that happened at school, I just said screw everything.”
Once again, Hector felt numb. Even with the shitty hand Walter had been dealt, especially in comparison to Hector’s, here he was trying to make Hector feel better. But he’d done just the opposite. Hector didn’t think it was possible, but, unbelievably, he felt even worse now.