*****Maritza's POV*****
Maritza had been so upset after Humphrey had forced her to eat that baby mouse. The very thought of it made her nauseous, the only way she got it down the first time was from the feel of the cold steel of Humphrey's gun pressed against her temple. The whole time she was in that house, she kept wondering what would happen next. She never thought she'd be glad to see the gates of Litchfield prison again, but she was on that day. She'd made it out of that house in one piece, at least physically. The whole experience was revolting and had left her feeling violated. She was too humiliated to tell anyone about it. In the few days since it happened, she just spent most of her time at her bunk mulling it over.
And on top of that she had to take shit from Ruiz and the other Dominicans for not delivering their drugs anymore. So much for being her "family", as soon as she was no longer useful to them, they discarded her. She never really clicked with the rest of the rest of the Latinas anyways; she associated with them mostly because of the natural racial segregation that occurs in prison. In the outside world, they never would have befriended her, nor she them. There were some exceptions. Aleida had taken care of her before Daya came. And Gloria used to look out for her, Flaca, and the other Latina girls. But now Aleida was gone and Gloria was busy worrying about Daya.
Her only real friend in this place was Flaca. They had had their differences at times, but she was the only one who stood by her no matter what. She was the only one who seemed to genuinely care about her as opposed to the other Dominicans who saw her as some sort of "ally" they could exploit in whatever prison feud or smuggling business was going on. Besides, Flaca and her had such natural chemistry together. Even so, she was still too afraid to confide any serious problems to Flaca. Their interactions had been fairly light-hearted up to this point and Maritza wasn't sure how Flaca would react. But she needed to talk to someone about this whole incident with C.O. Humphrey and get this off her chest. No! She couldn't tell anyone! She didn't want to appear weak. She'd just try to forget about it and hope that nothing like it happened again.
*****Flaca's POV*****
For Flaca, Maritza's friendship had offered enough of a distraction to make the daily grind in this place bearable. When they first met, she didn't like Maritza and even resented her slightly for her good looks. She seemed like the kind of girl that guys love but other girls hate. But the sassy girl's dry wit, wry sense of humor and good taste in fashion won her over. Soon, they had become best friends and over time they developed a strong bond to one another.
Everything was fine until that kiss they shared during the Valentine's Day party. Deep down, Flaca was actually kind of confused afterwards. She was surprised that she had enjoyed it; she had just tried it as more of a joke than anything else. She had pretended the kiss was meaningless because she thought Maritza felt that way. She was afraid she'd have scared off Maritza if she had told her how she really felt about it. She had always thought Maritza was attractive just as one girl to another. But after that kiss, she started to look at Maritza a little differently. She had never looked at another girl in that way before and it kind of scared her because she wasn't sure why she felt that way. She had always thought she was straight and had never questioned it before. Maybe she had been locked away in this place for too long with no guys around. Regardless, Flaca tried to put these thoughts out of her mind and eventually she forgot about it. She missed Ian and hadn't talk to him in forever. As time went on, he seemed to fade into her distant memory. She had a hard time now even remembering what exactly his voice sounded like. He seemed less like a real person now and more like someone she met in a dream or like someone from a former life. More and more, it felt like Maritza was the most important person to her. They were always there for each other and the relationship relieved the boredom and occasional depression that prison life engendered.
In the past couple days, Flaca noticed that Maritza wasn't her usual perky and sassy self and had a rather somber expression on her face most of the time. She began to wonder if Maritza was in some sort of trouble and decided to ask her about it tonight before the movie.
Maritza told Flaca what had happened with Humphrey.
Flaca held her close. Maritza rested her head on Flaca's shoulder.
"Mataré a ese hijoputa si vuelve a tocarte." Flaca told her. Maritza nodded slightly. She wanted to get back at Humphrey too but for the moment she felt some relief knowing that her friend was there for her.
"I'm so done with this shithole. I fucking hate this place! I'd rather be anywhere but here." Maritza said as she wept. Flaca nodded while gently rubbing Maritza's back consoling her. The two sat in silence for a moment.
"If you could go anywhere, where would it be?" Flaca asked trying to take Maritza's mind off the whole incident with the baby mouse.
After a moment's pause, Maritza lifted her head to look at Flaca and then replied, "Italy. The food alone would be worth it."
"Yeah, I'm sure real Italian pizza would be so good." Flaca commented.
Maritza cracked a faint smile and nodded in agreement. "For sure." It was the first time Flaca had seen Maritza smile in a while. It brought Flaca some relief that she was able to cheer up her friend a little.
"You could ride those funny looking boats through the canals in Venice." Flaca joked.
"Yeah, I suppose I could also go to the museums and see all the paintings." Maritza suggested. After thinking about it for a second, they both looked at each other and said "nah" in unison while shaking their heads and laughing lightly. Maritza rested her head on Flaca's shoulder again.
"Where would you go?" Maritza asked Flaca after a few seconds' pause.
After thinking about it for a minute, Flaca replied. "England. Depeche Mode, the Smiths, all the best 80's bands are from there."
Maritza lifted her head to look at Flaca "Isn't London one of the fashion capitals of the world?"
"Yeah." Flaca said in an uplifting tone as she tilted her head to the side in her characteristic manner. "We could be fashion models and shit."
"We'd be rich and famous." Maritza added. "And we could spend our summers yachting in the Mediterranean."
Flaca smiled nodding her head in her usual suave manner.
They talked for several more hours until bedtime.
That night after the guards did their final checks; Maritza got up and slipped into Flaca's bed. Startled and not knowing who it was at first, Flaca immediately sat up and spun around. After seeing it was Maritza, Flaca relaxed and laid back down.
"Hey" Flaca whispered softly.
"Hey" Maritza replied, she saw the confusion and concern in Flaca's facial expression. "¿Está OK si me quedo contigo? No quiero estar sola ahora mismo."
"Claro" Flaca said softly. Maritza and Flaca both closed their eyes and tried to get comfortable. In the process, Flaca moved her left hand up slightly and accidently brushed it against Maritza's, she was about to move it away when she felt Maritza take hold of her hand and squeeze it gently. They both opened their eyes and looked at each other. Almost instinctively, Flaca extended her arm and Maritza moved into her embrace resting her head on Flaca's shoulder and placing her arm around Flaca's waist. Flaca wrapped her arms around the petit girl and held her.
This place had really gotten Maritza down lately. She was vulnerable right now and needed to feel this warmth and affection from her friend.
"Te amo, Flaca." Maritza whispered. Feeling safe and cared for in Flaca's arms, Maritza quickly fell asleep. Flaca couldn't bring herself to say the same to Maritza. She knew Maritza referred to love in a platonic sense but she couldn't say that her feelings were restricted to this sense of the word. Even so, she was just happy to be her friend and put these other confusing thoughts out of her mind.