Things That Go Bump in the Night

Episode: 4x06

Summary: When Roque can't get to sleep one night, he discovers that he can't keep his eyes closed anymore about Ivan and Julia.

The night felt like an eternity as Roque struggled to fall asleep. Lights out was over an hour ago, but sleep felt like it was nowhere near.

The situation with Julia had gotten so complicated. For once, a cool girl was giving him the time of day and his friends were making a mess of it. They didn't trust her, even after she proved that Noiret was the one who killed Cayetano. Either she was completely crazy for seeing ghosts or completely evil for her father's involvement with Sandra Pazos' therapy sessions. According to Marcos and Vicky, it was possibly both. While Carol was more logical than them, she also never fond of Julia. Then there was Ivan…

By flaw or by design, when the boys were growing up, girls only took notice of Ivan and Cayetano. Roque never had a date to any dance. He had never hooked up with a girl in the woods. And he never had a girl that was in Ivan's league. Things were about to change though. Roque could hardly believe his luck when Julia befriended him. She laughed at his bad jokes. She told him about her family. Most of all, she hadn't laughed in his face when he told her about the love letter on her bed. In fact, they had become better friends after his confession. If she knew that he liked her and she still hung out with him, it must have meant something. To him it meant everything. It was why he had to defend her from the others.

Roque could hear every joke and snide comment Marcos and Ivan had made about his crush on her. Pretty girls threw themselves at Ivan and Marcos, not Roque, and anything outside of that norm was grounds for suspicion. Marcos thought Julia was using Roque for information about their investigation. Ivan, on the other hand, thought that Julia was toying with him because she knew how he felt. Carolina and Vicky were open to both theories. Roque didn't believe them though. He knew that she cared about him… But was it the way that he wanted her to care? According to Ivan, he was never going to get anywhere with her. Looking back on it, of course, Ivan would think any girl that he wanted was out of Roque's grasp.

Why did everything look so clear in retrospect?

Roque remembered when he thought Ivan's distaste for her was his way of dealing with the revelation that Noiret had murdered Cayetano. He begged Ivan to try to get along with her, because Roque couldn't have his best friend and his girlfriend at each other's throats. He immediately realized his mistake the next morning when he watched them arguing in gym class. Ivan was too wound up around her for it to be about his father. Ivan was always picking a fight with her. They were constantly invading each other's personal space. They were both tense around each other. Then Roque saw it during gym class. When Ivan was sparring with Pedro, Julia was not laughing like the other students. She looked concerned that Ivan had once again gotten in over his head with his big talk. She was the one screaming loudest when Pedro wouldn't let him go. One look was all it took for Roque to realize that he had completely misread the entire situation. Not only did Julia like Ivan, he probably liked her too. It left a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Girls never made Ivan nervous unless he really liked them, then he would act mean to prove that they didn't have an effect on him. Ivan had been acting excessively mean to cover up the truth. They had casually flirted in the past, but Roque never thought much of it. He certainly hadn't anticipated having to compete with Ivan for Julia's affection. Though Ivan denied it, Roque knew better. Julia also seemed to think Roque was oblivious to her feelings too. When she asked Roque if Ivan was over Carol, he knew that she wanted to make a move soon. That was why he made Ivan promise not to get involved with her. If Ivan stayed away, she would get the message and focus on him.

Roque could see that this plan wasn't working very well though. When Ivan wasn't being mean to her, he could barely look at her. There was no way that Roque could ask him to help the others see that Julia was on their side. If Julia knew Ivan was standing up for her, Roque knew that she would be with him and he would be out in the cold. For their entire lives, Roque had lived in Ivan's shadow and he hadn't seen a world outside of it until she came into his life. He wouldn't go back. However, that avoiding Ivan's help did come with a price.

As he reflected on dinner earlier that night, he recalled that it had been oddly quiet. Julia refused to sit at the usual table with the others, so Roque accompanied her on the other side of the cafeteria. She wasn't in the mood to talk, and he knew she was still upset that they still believed that she stole Marcos' flash drive. While eating her supper, she made a few unreadable glances in Ivan's direction, but nothing more. Roque wondered if they had another argument when they were in the stables. Meanwhile, Vicky, Carol and Marcos had decided that Julia was more crazy than evil after reading her file, which was just as dangerous these days. Vicky was once Julia's friend, but she seemed to have no fondness of her lately. It left Roque and Julia without allies.

Roque lay flat on the bed, feeling quite powerless over his life. He wasn't smart like Vicky and Carol. He wasn't good-looking like Marcos and Ivan. Of course, they didn't take him seriously. Julia understood him, because people didn't take her seriously either. That was why they belonged together. He had to believe there was the potential for something more between them. He wouldn't let Ivan or the others ruin this for him. They did not get to take away the one person who didn't look down on him.

Roque turned and tossed again to face Ivan's bed. The other boy seemed to have difficulty sleeping as well, turning for what seemed like the fifth time in ten minutes. He never hated Ivan more than he did tonight. Why did Julia have to like him? What had Ivan done in his miserable life to deserve her? Of course, everything in life came easily to Ivan. He never had trouble talking with girls. He was popular with the other students because he could break the rules without repercussions. Within their circle of friends, he was the one that was close to everyone. Where did that leave Roque?

A faint buzzing noise interrupted Roque's thoughts. It sounded like Ivan's phone on vibrate. Suddenly, the noise stopped and Ivan got out of bed. He quickly changed into some clothes that he had left on the footboard of his bed. He was always a slob, so Roque hadn't thought much of him leaving clothes everywhere. Where was he going at this hour? It wasn't unusual for him to leave for a hook-up on a Saturday night, but it was strange that he hadn't mentioned anything to Roque. He picked up his jacket and backpack from the floor and carefully left the room as Roque pretended to be asleep. As he closed the door, a whispered voice came in behind him.

"Well that took you long enough," said a girl's voice in a hush tone. "Did you get to do your makeup too?"

Julia? Ivan's response was muffled through the closed door.

Roque's eyes shot open and rushed to the follow them, but he was too late. There was no one in the hallway when he opened the door. Then he realized that they must have been headed outside, and he went to the window. He surveyed the courtyard as two figures quickly dashed out of the building. He recognized them immediately. Ivan and Julia. Ivan and Julia were sneaking out together. He watched helplessly as Ivan started a motorcycle that was in the yard. Where had Ivan gotten a damn motorcycle? And why was Julia even going anywhere with him? They were fighting like hell yesterday.

Nothing made sense. This had to be a dream. A very bad dream. But as Roque stared at their escape into the night, he knew that it wasn't.

He collapsed against the wall as if he had been punched. How could Ivan do this to him? He had only asked for one thing in their entire lives – stay away from Julia. Roque shook his head as he held in a scream of frustration. He should have known that Ivan didn't care about anyone but himself. Julia was just as bad. She knew how Roque felt about her, but clearly she didn't care either. Maybe Julia really was crazy, because Ivan had always been a complete jerk to her. Or maybe she knew that he liked her, and decided to overlook it…

Roque began pacing up and down the room, not caring if Marcos woke up. Ivan told Marcos everything, and Roque had a good mind to wake him and start demanding answers. But Marcos was already going through enough horrible shit that Roque decided to leave him out of it. A part of Roque wanted to blame Marcos for this entire fiasco. If Carol didn't break up with Ivan for him, Ivan wouldn't have noticed Julia. Who was Roque trying to fool? Ivan, Marcos and every other boy at school had noticed her when she arrived. Ivan probably would have hooked up with her while Carol was away for a long weekend. He would probably rent a room in Barcelona, like he did last year with Noa de la Guerra.

Suddenly, he realized that they probably snuck off to that shady motel by the highway where the older students liked to go. It made Roque's skin crawl to imagine Ivan spending the night with Julia. But was it only tonight? They didn't just happen to meet in the boys' corridor at midnight, go outside and stumble upon a motorcycle to escape on. They had planned it. That was why Julia was so quiet at dinner. That was why they were exchanging those weird glances. Roque felt like such an idiot. All of the clues had been there the entire time. But when had this started?

They had been screaming at each other as recently as two days ago, when Ivan made some unkind comment about her father and she chased after him. The pieces began to fall into place. Roque didn't see her again until an hour later, but he never asked what happened between her and Ivan. He never really knew what they fought about that day in Latin class or in gym class the next day. Ivan had been noticeably absent when Marcos, Vicky and Carol decided to go through Julia's things to find the flash drive after breakfast. Roque spent the entire Saturday afternoon without seeing Ivan or Julia until dinner. He had been so concerned with what could happen in front of him that he didn't think that it could take place behind him. They were supposed to be his best friends and they had lied about everything.

Ivan was supposed to be angry at Julia because he couldn't have her, not because he felt guilty about fooling around with her behind Roque's back. Yet somehow, he didn't feel guilty enough to stop sleeping with her. Roque pretended his pillow was Ivan's face and punched it in frustration. That son of a bitch knew Julia was stringing him along the entire time. He could hear everyone at school laughing at him if they knew. Who wouldn't have seen it coming? One of the prettiest girls in school chose Ivan over Roque. Maybe some things never changed after all, except Ivan never hid it from Roque before now. Then there was Julia. They had just met, but Roque believed that they had a great connection. She had been candid with him, so he foolishly assumed that she would talk to him before anything serious happened. Then he would remind her about what kind of guy Ivan was and she would realize that Roque was the one for her. Together they would laugh at Carolina and Vicky arguing over Ivan.

Roque could only imagine how the others would react when they found out. He was sure Marcos probably knew, because Ivan told him everything. Carol and Vicky would be pissed. Julia and Carol never got along well, and this would only add fuel to the fire. Vicky would probably give her the cold shoulder, because they had once been friends. Of course, it could be no worse than how she treated Julia today.

"What's your problem with Julia? What has she ever done to you?" Roque had demanded that afternoon.

"To me? She's done nothing to me," Vicky replied cryptically.

Suddenly, Roque realized why she was in an awful mood these past few days. She knew about them. It was the reason why she didn't trust Julia anymore. It was why she looked like she wanted to rip Ivan's head off at breakfast this morning. If Victoria knew, then it meant Carolina knew too. Once again, Roque was the village idiot with his head in the sand. He couldn't believe this. They all knew and they left him in the dark? Did they all laugh as he defended a girl hooking up with Ivan behind his back? Poor naïve Roque, Julia had him and Ivan wrapped around her finger, but Ivan was the only one getting the reward. Roque's heart sank.

Everything felt meaningless now. The two people who mattered most to him had stabbed him in the back. Roque had never felt more used in his life. He needed a drink. That would ease the pain. He would break into the pantry wine and drink this whole disaster away. There was nothing else he could do until they returned from… Damn, he really wanted that wine in the pantry so he could stop thinking about this. He stormed out of his room and into the hallway, not caring if Marcos woke up.

As Roque walked downstairs to the kitchen, he kept trying to think how he could have stopped them. They knew how he felt about her. He had told Julia about the love note. He had begged Ivan not to go after her. They had known everything and they still didn't care. Roque cringed at that blow. They were two of the most self-centered people he had ever met, so of course they were a perfect match.

They were cowards for not telling him the truth. Since when did Ivan and Julia stop owning up to their self-serving behavior? They had hurt a lot of people in the past to get what they wanted, and they rarely ever hid it. They were fun, but they were also very bad news. Roque had always lived in awe that they did whatever they wanted, not caring about the consequences. While they had disregarded everyone else, Roque thought that he would be immune to their behavior. Tonight that theory was proven wrong.

When Roque entered the kitchen, he realized that they probably hid it because cared about him. They had no reason to hide it from the others. He was almost sure that Ivan and Julia would have rubbed it in Carolina's face if they were willing to tell anyone. He wasn't sure which was worse – that they had tried to spare his feelings or that they wanted each other enough to disregard him. He would let the wine decide. As he tried to get to the pantry in the dark, it was clear that he couldn't tell the stove from the refrigerator. Without thinking, he decided to risk Jacinta's wrath and flipped on the light switch.

The door to the pantry was already wide open. Roque froze as someone emerged from the pantry. He was screwed.

"Roque? What are you doing here?" asked Elsa. She sounded more like she had been caught rather than having caught him. But that impression changed when she crossed her arms in front of her and put on a stern look. "Well? I'm waiting to hear why I shouldn't have you in Saturday detention for breaking curfew."

Roque paused trying to think of a good excuse. It was so unfair that Ivan hadn't been caught sneaking out. Ivan had the luck of a cat. That was it!

"I was coming to tell Jacinta that Ivan is missing. And I think that Julia is with him." The excuse was so perfect that Roque almost pinched himself to know that it wasn't a dream.

"What?" Elsa asked. She was very unhappy to hear this bit of news. "When? Where are they?"

"You don't believe me? Check their beds," said Roque, more firmly this time. "I have no idea where they went, since they hopped on a bike and drove off."

He was going to retaliate against Ivan and Julia's betrayal by returning the favor. They despised Elsa, and the feeling was mutual. She would make them pay for what they had done better than Roque could have. This was a better resolution than the wine he had come for.

Elsa nodded. Of course, Julia and Ivan had paired off. They gravitated towards trouble like mice to cheese, and there were no bigger sources of trouble at school than those two. "And why would you tell on your friends?"

"They're not my friends," Roque spat out.

Elsa nodded again, her arms still crossed. She could guess what had happened and felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. "Fine. Now go back to your room. I'll deal them, don't worry… And you're better off not getting involved with Julia. You're not a bad kid."

Roque nodded. "Yeah."

Then he turned around and went back to his room, feeling somewhat satisfied with the outcome of his trip to the kitchen. He yawned as he got back into bed. They would get what they deserved for sneaking around, and Roque could stop worrying about if something was going on between Ivan and Julia. At least he knew where he stood with them now. They could spend the rest of the year in the stables together for all he cared.

This time as Roque lay in bed with his thoughts, listening to the things that go bump in the night, he had never felt more alone.