Notes:
Nina, Vanessa, and Pete are 15
Benny and Usnavi are 20
Sonny is 12
The first weekend of the summer after her freshman year of high school found Nina in the middle of her quinceañera, despite many arguments with her parents against the lavish party. She thought a February birthday would have saved her the embarrassment given how cold the city was that time of year, but it only delayed the inevitable. At least she wasn't worried about nobody attending her party, the entire neighborhood made it out and she'd even managed to make one really good friend in high school, a girl named Vanessa. Polar opposites, the girls balanced each other out well. Embarrassingly, Nina had been forced to ask the one boy her age who actually spoke to her, a kid named Pete from her art class, to be her escort. Luckily he'd just shrugged and agreed to the party with the promise of free food. But after all the formality and showmanship, Nina was stuck in a big poofy pink dress waiting for the night to end. As she'd predicted the entire barrio had been invited to what was essentially a block party.
"Hey, I got you something," she heard from the seat next to her. Usually, Nina was pretty good about feeling Benny's presence long before he announced himself but it had been a long day.
"You didn't have to do that," she smiled taking the package and slowly opening it anyway. Looking inside the box she couldn't help but giggle at the gift. Inside was a cap with the words Barrio's Best airbrushed on the front much like the graffiti on the side of the bodega.
"I busted some kid tagging the bodega a few days ago, I promised not to snitch if he'd do me a solid," he revealed.
"Thank you, I can honestly say I don't already own one," she grinned.
"That's what's up." They sat in companionable silence for a while before Benny broke the ice again. "So why aren't you out there?" he asked gesturing to the group of people literally dancing in the street.
Nina shrugged in response, she couldn't tell him she'd feel too awkward. Dancing with Pete had been bad enough, but there was no getting out of that. She'd tried. Now she just wanted to be on her fire escape and away from the crowd. Benny would just scoff at that, bump her shoulder and make her face her fears if he knew. That's what he always did, pushed her out of her comfort zone. Benny's tendency to push her without piling on pressure probably contributed the most (aside from his amazing smile) to her silly crush.
Practically reading her mind and raising an eyebrow, Benny offered Nina his hand. Sighing in resignation, she relented and joined him on the dance floor for an upbeat latin number. Much to Nina's teenage dismay, Benny kept the physical contact between them to an absolute minimum. He basically just held her hand and spun her around for about 45 seconds before Usnavi cut in.
"Finally having fun?" Usnavi asked as they danced. He really was the older brother she never asked for.
"Yeah, as much fun as I can have in a large group of people," she laughed as he twirled her.
"Come on one day won't hurt," Usnavi argued, as the shyest guy she knew she was sure he really did understand her reservations behind large groups of people despite his encouraging words. "In a couple of hours, you'll be back on top of the world watching over all of us as we work or in Benny and Sonny's case get into trouble."
"I can't wait!" she grinned.
"So, on a scale from one to ten, how much fun did you have?" Vanessa asked Nina as she helped the Rosario's clean up after the party. Nina had ditched the heels and tiara and replaced them with her sneakers, a hoodie over the pink dress, and her new airbrushed hat.
"I think maybe a nine? I still felt weird dancing in front of everyone." Nina admitted. Vanessa had been on a mission to get Nina to do things that got her at least to an eight-level of fun, thinking her new friend was way too cautious for her own good.
"That's not bad Rosario. I'm proud of you." Vanessa grinned. "So, who's the hat from?"
"One of the guys," Nina shrugged noncommittally.
"One of the guys," Vanessa mocked, "A certain tall dark and handsome guy?" she guessed. Causing Nina to turn bright red. She should never have confided in Vanessa that she had a major crush on Benny, but she had to tell someone or else she'd go crazy!
"It's my birthday, he had to get me a gift." she rationalized. That was the worst part about being a mature kid, she knew the reality of their age difference and never actually entertained the idea of her and Benny being together romantically. He was more of an ideal than an aspiration, she wanted a guy like Benny, not Benny himself. That would be crazy, not to mention illegal. At least that's what she told herself every time he did something that reminded her he saw her as his little sister.
