You Had Me at Hola(59)


“Don’t be smug,” Ava chided. Then she winced, and said, “But I knew it too.”

Jasmine sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. “Am I that predictable?”

“You kinda are,” Michelle said with a shrug. She leaned her butt against the old, ornately carved wooden dresser that displayed a statue of the Virgin Mary and a dish of rosary beads on top. “But can we blame you? No.”

“There’s also serious chemistry between you two,” Ava added, taking a seat next to Jasmine. “Which is good, right? It’ll come through on the show?”

Jasmine groaned. “Except it was supposed to only be on the show. Why am I like this?”

“Because you’re an Aries,” Michelle said matter-of-factly. “You love love.”

Ava sighed and looked to the ceiling for help.

“Okay fine, you want a real answer? Look around.” Michelle waved her hands, encompassing their surroundings. “The men in this family get away with acting like a bunch of babies. They sit around eating and talking while the women do everything. The Latinx gender roles run deep. Is it any wonder our generation has made such sucky romantic choices? I don’t date.” She pointed at Ava. “She’s divorced. And you’re a serial monogamist. We’re like a freaking relationship bingo board.”

Jasmine and Ava just stared at her.

“What?” Michelle threw up her hands. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Jasmine flopped back on the bed. “No, you’re right. I just don’t know how to navigate this. I’ve had so many relationships but this, somehow, feels way more real than any of the others.”

“Why don’t you talk us through it?” Ava suggested.

Jasmine thought back. “The first time he came over, yeah, we’d both been drinking, and it was hot and spontaneous. But we just fooled around. And he stayed the night, which—well, I didn’t expect it, and I don’t think he did either, but it was really nice, you know? And then the second time—”

“Whoa, hold on. Wait.” Michelle stopped her. “There was more than one incident? When were you gonna tell us so we can live vicariously through your affair with the telenovela star? Which, by the way, would be a great title for a memoir.”

Jasmine sent her a dark glare. “I’m telling you now.”

“All right, sorry. Continue.”

“Anyway, he came over the next night, and I think we were both kidding ourselves. He brought his script and we started off like we always do, rehearsing our lines, but then suddenly we were both naked and I was having the best sex of my life.”

Ava sighed. “Jealous. Keep going.”

“That night, he didn’t stay, but since then, we’ve been . . . together. A lot.”

How did she even explain what was happening between them when she didn’t fully understand it herself? On the surface level, it was simple. They were two consenting adults having sex.

Okay, there was nothing simple about sex with Ashton, but she couldn’t explain why. Aside from the fact that he was very, very good at it.

Jasmine stared up at the ceiling, trying to put her mixed-up emotions into words, when Ava interrupted with a question.

“Do you want a relationship with him?”

The answer was yes, and they all knew it. Jasmine wanted a loving relationship more than anything in the world. But for once, she didn’t want to rush it or imagine things that weren’t there. She’d never had this sort of open connection with anyone else before. But they hadn’t discussed commitment or plans for the future, and her biggest fear was that Ashton would drop her like all the others had.

“I really like him,” she admitted. “It’s . . . I don’t know. I think he’s different?”

“Do you want to keep having sex with him?” Michelle asked in her typical blunt fashion.

“Well, yes, but . . . I don’t know if I should.” Jasmine sat up and sent them a pleading look. “I’m fucking up my Leading Lady Plan.”

“Is that what this is about?” Ava asked gently. “Jas, you’re not being graded on it.”

“But I am. This is work. I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Then don’t,” Michelle said, as if it were that simple.

“Aaaaa-vaaaa,” someone yelled from downstairs. “?Dónde estás?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Titi Nita wants my help with the lasagna. I asked why we’re having lasagna at a summer barbecue, but they told me not to question the adults.”

“We should go downstairs anyway.” Jasmine got to her feet. “If we’re gone too long, they’ll start talking about us.”

Michelle snorted. “They’ll do that whether we’re there or not.”

While Ava got roped into helping with lasagna, Jasmine and Michelle escaped to the backyard and sat on plastic patio chairs, munching on chips. Someone moved into the sun, casting a shadow over them, and Jasmine looked up to see Sammy. She didn’t like the joking grin on his face, but she tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“What’s up, Sammy?” she asked. “How’s Erica’s new job going?”

Maybe if Sammy started talking about something else, he’d forget whatever bullshit he came over here to say. Erica was his seventeen-year-old daughter, and she wasn’t at the barbecue because she’d just started working at the Gap on weekends to save money for college.

Alexis Daria's Books