A/N: This is the long-time coming Carlos/ Keesha/ DA chapter, which while it didn't turn out exactly as I pictured, I kind of like anyways. I hope you all like it…sorry for anyone out there looking for a specific couple (I know there's lots of DA/Carlos fans out there…)
Carlos laughed loudly and stumbled – quite drunkenly – to his Camero. The sun was about to come up and the celebration was pretty much done. People were walking home drunk or demanding lifts off their designated drivers. Carlos lifted a hand to several of the football boys he passed – most of whom looked a little worse for wear, usually supported by other buddies or their girlfriends. The fires in the trash cans smoldered with the early morning dew and luckily, the rest of the evidence of their party was being cleaned up by several of the more responsible students and the football player wannabes (also mostly drunk out of their minds). Looking up, Carlos avoided a prone body on the ground and saw his group of friends getting their stuff together by his car.
"What's brown and blue and polka-dotted all over?" Carlos yelled to the diminishing crowd. His friends didn't even look up, used to his antics already.
"What?" someone yelled back as everyone turned to him. Grinning and reaching into his pocket he pulled out a pair of panties.
"Flo's panties!" he yelled waving them around, before the Queen Bee herself marched up and grabbed them from him in embarrassment. Instead of slapping him, she turned to walk away before turning around and winking at him. He winked back and she giggled, scurrying away to her group of cheerleading friends.
"CARLOS" everyone around him groaned while rolling their eyes, expecting little less from the school's prankster. Laughing he turned to his friends to see them shaking each other's hands. Or at least Ralphie was shaking Tim's hand.
"What is this?! Ya leavin' already?" Carlos barked as he neared the blue vehicle. Ralphie looked up and gave his friend a dopey looking grin. Carlos attributed this to either the fact that the football quarterback had consumed too much alcohol or that fact that his thick arm had snagged the tall, lithe beauty that was Pheobe Terese. Granted, when they had been children Phoebe had had quite the lanky look, but she had blossomed into a beautiful woman in her own right. If only Carlos had managed to jump in there before Ralphie…Instead he threw a lecherous grin and wink at Phoebe who managed to blush, giggle and bury her face in Ralphie's chest. Ralphie's look quickly soured and he glared at his friend.
Carlos almost heard DA and Keesha rolling their eyes before he saw it. He also knew the hand was on its way 10 seconds before it hit him. *Smack*
"Don't embarrass Phoebe" Keesha said firmly, taking a hold of his ear tightly. Carlos yelped slightly, but remained grinning.
"But Keesha, it's too easy" Carlos whined at the girl. DA stood beside her with her hands firmly planted on her hips in disapproval.
"According to my research," she started, "Phoebe can take care of herself and you probably shouldn't be making fun of her. She takes kickboxing you know."
Phoebe looked up indignantly and stuck her tongue out at the Hispanic boy.
"Yeah Carlos" Phoebe sniffed in mock offense. Ralphie tightened his hold on her waist and she smiled up at him adoringly.
"Good one Terese" Janet drawled from her spot on the hood of her car with Tim. Tim leveled a hard look at the fiery red head and she managed to force out a smile in Phoebe's direction. Phoebe just stared wide-eyed at her frenemy and gave a strained smile in return. Tim grinned and laced his fingertips with Janet's, to which she smiled coyly and shifted closer to him. Carlos suppressed another internal groan. If only he had the same appeal as his quiet, artistic friend. Maybe then Janet would have given him the time of day…or night…
Seeing his smoldering look in Janet's direction, DA kicked Carlos in the shin. *Thud* Cursing, Carlos jumped up and down, rubbing his shin while everyone else laughed. Suddenly, Arnold and Wanda appeared from the dark bushes to the right, giggling and tripping over each other. Janet rolled her eyes at the two fiends while Ralphie snickered into Phoebe's hair.
"What's up guys" Wanda tried to ask casually, but ended up failing miserably considering the branches sticking out of her bird's nest of hair and the crinkles in her and Arnold's clothing. Everyone just nodded in amusement while Arnold looked away in embarrassment. Wanda just grinned and leaned back to pinch his butt when he wasn't looking.
"I got me some fine ass" Wanda concluded cheekily while Arnold jumped and blushed and everyone shared another laugh (except Janet, who looked slightly nauseous). Carlos sighed aloud. If only he had someone as adventurous and kinky as Wanda, imagine what his life would be like…
Seeing his far off expression, both DA and Keesha rolled their eyes at each other and decided to combine their forces this time. *Whack* Groaning, Carlos doubled over as the girls continued to shake their heads and everyone else tried to suppress their laughter.
"Ok, ok enough already!" Carlos yelled, sticking his hands up in surrender. "No more abuse! I'm ready to go home!" Agreeing, everyone waved goodbye and stumbled sleepily and drunkenly to their rides. Luckily, Tim hadn't drank anything and Janet was more then willing to let him drive her car, seeing as how he would have to sleep at her place until she sobered up enough to drive him home. Arnold and Wanda piled into the back of Janet's car as she slid seductively into the passenger seat, tossing her keys at Tim.
Ralphie declared that he could not allow Phoebe to walk home unprotected and they waved goodbye as they stumbled into the early morning light together. Carlos figured it wouldn't take long before they broke their attention away from each other long enough to realize they were headed in the wrong direction. Shaking his head, he turned to the last two girls left: Keesha and DA.
Keesha was standing with her arms crossed across her chest and her hip jutted out to the side. A small smile around her mouth indicated that she was not as irritated as she seemed. Her wavy brown hair was pulled to the side in a low ponytail and she had pinned ribbon the colours of the football team to be intermingled in her hair. Her eyelashes were coated in many layers of mascara, emphasizing their natural length and thickness. She was wearing a dark chocolate, satin jacket that was belted with a small, rhinestone studded belt at the waist and a pair of dark brown short shorts with gold, pointy toed kitten heels. Keesha was exceptionally curvy and very attractive. Plus, Keesha was friendly with just about everyone and offered sound advice for a friend in need. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and Carlos really admired her for that. She was fiercely loyal and to her, a promise was a promise; a secret was a secret.
DA stood next to her, hands on her hips, lips pursed, but her bright blue eyes danced in amusement. She had french-braided some of her hair to act as a headband for her side-swept bangs, and the rest of her golden blonde hair was loose around her shoulders. She was wearing a bright blue, scoop necked, cap sleeved baby doll dress with sheer nylons and a pair of simple black flats. DA was simple and pretty and an all around, All-American girl. Carlos could certainly appreciate that, what with the blonde hair and blue eyes, DA turned heads wherever she went, whether she realized it or not. DA may come off as snobby to most people, but her closest friends knew she wasn't really like that. She was reserved and intelligent and didn't waste her time on people who she thought weren't good for her. She was always willing to help her friends understand things, but liked that they knew better then to leave her with her books all the time, and Carlos had a good time hanging out with DA, admiring her intelligence and her no-nonsense attitude.
And here Carlos got the opportunity to head home with easily two of the most gorgeous young women in the entire high school. So, once faced with them, why wasn't the opportunity as exciting as it should be?
"All right Carlos, we've had enough of your antics for one night, hop in the back" Keesha smiled indulgently at him the first time all night, taking his keys in her hands. As she walked around to the driver's side, DA grabbed his upper arm and led him to the passenger side and smiled shyly at him.
"Thanks for bringing me out tonight Carlos" she said quietly as he crawled into the back.
Ah, right. Now he remembered.
He didn't know when it started, but somewhere along the line, DA and Keesha had started competing for his attention. At first, he had had a blast. Along with making all the other available males in the school insanely jealous, the two girls had certainly stroked his ego. After a while, however, it became quickly apparent that this was not going to fade away as he thought it would have. And what was worse: he couldn't make up his mind between the two.
To him, he was young, he had all the time to fool around and make stupid decisions and have fun; DA and Keesha, all their positive aspects aside, wanted something more serious then he was willing to invest in. He thought maybe he could explain this subtly and indirectly to them, but they didn't want to seem to listen, instead continuing to moon over him, even if it was just usually in private. He was at a complete loss as to where to move on from here, but was quickly realizing that it had to end, and soon. For his sanity, if for no one else.
The two girls chatted idly in the front, occasionally yawning widely while Carlos stayed silent in the backseat. Maybe, if he didn't say anything, he wouldn't be noticed and no one would say anything to him. Suddenly, Keesha's brown eyes met his in the rear view mirror. No such luck.
"So, did you enjoy yourself tonight Carlos?" Keesha asked teasingly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw DA look at her friend sourly. Oh yeah, this needed to stop.
"Yeah, I had a great time" Carlos said carefully, trying to avoid giving more time to one girl then the other, and to avoid the cat fight that might erupt.
"Good, you deserve it" DA said firmly, smiling at him. In the rear mirror he could see Keesha rolling her eyes and gulped slightly, feeling slightly nauseous.
"Yeah" was all he managed to get out before the rest of the ride descended into tense silence. They pulled up to DA's house quietly before Carlos decided he had better solve this quickly.
"Look, girls" he said finally, causing them both to turn towards him. On the spot, Carlos realized that this would be a lot harder then he had anticipated.
"Look," he repeated, looking resolutely straight ahead. "I know what's been going on between you two…or rather the three of us" DA and Keesha shared a surprised look before looking away from each other guiltily.
"Oh bad, oh bad, oh bad, bad, bad" he heard Keesha mutter to herself quietly.
It made Carlos feel slightly guilty, realizing he should have done something about this much sooner.
"And I'm not saying I'm not flattered. Because I am. Really. You are both really pretty girls and you're really sweet, I just…" he trailed off slightly and took in their disappointed looks. Great, more guilt.
"I can't make a decision right now. I'm not in the right frame of mind to have a serious relationship, and deny all you want, both of you know that's what you're looking for. I'm not there yet. And to be honest, I don't plan to be for a while. I'm sorry about this…" he trailed off, not really sure what else needed to be said. DA was the first to recover, and smiled tightly at him.
"It's okay Carlos, I wasn't really that into you anyways. If you had picked Keesha it would have been fine. I can move on no problem now that I know" It hurt Carlos' heart a little to see the pain and disappointment he had put in her eyes, proving her actual feelings were contrary to her words. She gave another tight smile and slipped out the door, practically running into her house. Keesha sat in silence, watching DA's house for a minute while Carlos carefully slid into the front seat. Slowly, she pulled out of her friend's driveway and continued the few blocks over to Carlos' house. Luckily Keesha only lived down the street, so she could just walk home. As she pulled into Carlos' driveway he let out an internal sigh, realizing he had quite possibly, made things all that more awkward between them.
"That was a really mature thing to do Carlos" Keesha said quietly, staring up at his house. He just nodded, sure that if he were to say something he would alter their friendship even more.
"I won't say I'm not disappointed" she admitted softly. "But I'm glad you finally said something. I think DA and I would have ripped each other apart. You know how competitive we get" they shared a look and both of them smiled. Carlos felt immensely relieved. Maybe he hadn't destroyed all his friendships.
"And don't worry about DA. She'll come around once she has time to process it all and Phoebe translates her emotions into regular DA speak. Don't worry too much about her, it's a girl thing" she smiled at him and he wasn't sure if she meant fixing DA was a girl thing, or DA being upset was a girl thing, but he was glad none the less for the reassurance.
"Thanks Keesh'. You're a good friend" Keesha just grinned and got out of the car.
"Just don't forget that Ramon" she teased before heading back down the driveway. Thinking seriously for a few moments, Carlos stuck his head out of the car to yell at her retreating figure.
"Hey Keesha! Did you and DA ever consider a threesome?" Keesha didn't even bother to turn around while flipping him the bird and continuing her way down the street. Carlos laughed and leaned his head against the headrest. That was one more problem solved by the intelligent and handsome Carlos Ramon. Disaster averted. While congratulating himself, he slowly fell asleep in the seat, where he was woken several hours later by his furious mother.
Unfortunately, not all disasters can be averted.