Author's Notes: I was posting this story and my other fanfic, A Family Dysfunction on Archive on Our Own under a different name, CreativeGurl. However, I just deleted my A03 account because some people were cyberbullying me and I couldn't take it anymore. Here, I feel safe. At least, I don't have to worry about some troll yelling at me for not having valid reasons for disliking a Pixar movie. Am I not allowed to like or dislike? It's called Free will! Anyway, back to the story.
Chapter 21: Ah Sweet Mystery/Falling in Love
"Why can't I seize my moment?" Ernestina De la Cruz swung her half bottle of liquor down on her table. Some unpleasant words escaped from her lips."Esto es ridículo! Cada segundo, no me estoy acercando a la poción ni a Héctor!"
She and her gang were sitting in the corner of Massimo's.
"None of my plans are working!" Ernestina complained. "First, that stupid son of the mayor failed me. Then my two best friends didn't follow Hector and his bratty nephew like I told them to. And now neither the monkey or the love potion are to be found anywhere."
"Yeah, you should have let me follow your loser ex-boyfriend and his obnoxious brat instead," Mihaila snapped rudely. "I mean, they were right there! How could they not see that stupid monkey? Don't they know that I don't like-"
"Shut up Mihaila!" Ernestina hissed. "I didn't give you permission to speak." Her henchwoman shut her mouth immediately. Ernestina sighed and ran her hand through her bob, trying to make it look perfect. "If only something will come in my way."
"Psst!" LaCienega hissed. "Ernestina!"
"Que?" the woman snarled. "Can't you see I'm trying to calm down?"
"I saw Natalia!" The 14-year-old girl pointed her finger at someone at the front door from a distance. "Mira!"
Ernestina and her posse followed LaCienega's finger with their eyes, which landed on a blonde woman in the same nice dress that she wore at the restaurant earlier that evening. At first, Ernestina was about to dismiss that gringa being no use to her, until she saw the flapper walking with a man with black curls and wearing a dark green suit. He looked oddly familiar to her. 'Now where have I seen that man before?' Swiftly but quietly, the women signaled her group to put their menus up and follow them with their eyes. They want to be as discreet as possible. 'That can't be Bruno, can it?'
On the other side of the speakeasy, Bruno and Natalia just entered. They scanned the area, trying to spot a monkey or a love potion. Bruno motioned Natalia to follow him to the seating. They sat on stools and looked at their menus, trying to be hidden.
"Hello, what can I get for you two?" A bartender with an Italian accent asked. His voice made them almost jump out of their seats. The bartender was a bulky man with tan skin, short brown hair, bushy eyebrows that covered his eyes, and a short mustache that covered his mouth. He wore a light-yellow short-sleeved sweater and brown pants.
Natalia couldn't help but notice that the bartender had only one arm. When the bartender looked at her with concern, Natalia quickly snapped out of her stupor. "Forgive me," she smiled, politely. "You startled me, heh, heh."
"That's quite all right," the bartender said, kindly. "My name is Massimo and I will be your bartender. It's always a pleasure when new customers come. Now what can I get for you?"
Natalia swallowed, trying to figure out what to drink that did not have alcohol.
Juan also gulped. How was he supposed to order a drink without even saying one single word? Remembering that he had the menu, he tapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed to one particular drink that he wanted.
"My friend wants a Marlow," Natalia spoke for him.
"All right," Massimo said. "And how about you?"
"You wouldn't happen to have any water or lemonade, would you?" she asked, sheepishly.
Juan covered his head in embarrassment.
"No," Massimo shook his head, awkwardly. "Sorry, miss. But we do have other options." He began listing his drinks. "We serve cocktails like Mojito, Bee's Knees, Sidecar, Hanky Panky, French 74, and anything with alcohol."
Natalia frowned because she was one of the few residents who was thankful for the Prohibition. How anyone could serve alcohol illegally is beyond her understanding. She looked at the menu again. Ideally, water or lemonade would quench her thirst but now that everything is alcoholic, she felt stuck.
Juan pointed Natalia at the Bee's Knees Drink. He gave the uncertain woman a reassuring smile that she would enjoy.
Sighing in defeat, Natalia ordered the Bee's Knees drink.
"Good choice," Massimo smiled. He began making drinks. Even though he had one arm, the bartender was able to make the drinks. "Here you go," he said. "One Marlow and one Bee's Knees."
Juan wrapped his hand around the glass and brought it to his lips. He drank it as if it were pure water to him.
Natalia stared at her drink with apprehension. Then, she took a teeny and tiny sip. Liking the sweet taste, she took another small sip. "Wow, this drink is divine!"
Juan smirked, knowing that she would like it. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice that sounded like a cry for help. He turned around in his stool. There he saw the back of a woman struggling in a fight against a short man. He frowned, knowing that the short man was Gustavo.
"Let go of me!" The woman cried.
"Tell me you love me!" Gustavo sneered.
"You're hurting me!"
"Then get used to it!"
"Uh oh," Natalia said. She, too, turned around because she couldn't help but hear them.
"Let me handle this," the bartender said, stepping out from the table.
"Come on, marry me!" Gustavo demanded, his eyes glowing pinker by the second. "And I mean, right now!"
"No, I can't!" The woman whimpered. Even though her eyes were glowing pink, there was something about this man that was alarming her true self. The woman may be under the love potion, but there is something about this man that is not allowing her to say yes.
"Gustavo, take your hands off this woman!" Massimo commanded. He tried to come between them but Gustavo swung his fist and punched the bartender in the face. The bartender fell to the ground and landed on his bottom.
The woman tried to escape but Gustavo was quick and grabbed her by the arm. "Please, you are hurting me!"
"Marry me right now!" Gustavo demanded. "Or else!" Suddenly, a fist came and punched Gustavo in the face! The short man let go of the woman and covered his face in pain. He sidestepped and tripped over a chair and fell.
The woman breathed a sigh of relief. The love's spell was weakening on her. Who was that man in green that saved her? When he turned around, she gasped. "Bruno?"
Juan had enough of Gustavo. Didn't he know better than to harass a lady? He had only seen the back of her head because he was focused on getting his foe away from her. When he turned around to ask if she was okay, he jumped in surprise.
He and the woman gazed into each other's eyes for a brief moment.
'Gloria?' Bruno thought. He thought the woman looked a bit familiar. He wanted to speak so badly but he couldn't break his promise to Imelda. So he formed his two hands in loose fists with each thumb sticking out. He raised one to his forehead and lowered it until his thumb touched the other thumb. "Do you remember me?" Suddenly, a natural strange warm, and fuzzy feeling that had been hidden in his heart came to full fruition.
'Ah! Sweet mystery of life'
'At last I've found thee'
'Ah! I know at last the secret of it all!'
"Bruno?" the woman spoke. The pink dust had poofed out of her normal brown eyes. It was like she came out of a fog. She thought the man looked oddly familiar. Her lovesickness was replaced by a natural strange warm and fuzzy feeling.
'All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning'
'The burning hopes, the joy and idle tears that fall!'
The two new lovers embraced each other very tightly. When they pulled away, Bruno pointed to his chin with his pointer. "I missed you."
"I missed you too!" Gloria said, also pointing to her chin with her finger. Her eyes were glistening.
'I've a very strange feeling I never felt before'
''Tis a kind of a grind of depression.' Bruno thought as he sang inside his head.
'My heart's acting strangely; it feels rather sore'
'At least it gives me that impression,' Gloria sang in her head.
'My pulses leap madly without any cause
Believe me, I'm telling you truly.'
'I'm gay without pause
Then sad without cause.'
'My spirits are truly unruly
For I'm falling in love with someone
Some one girl
I'm falling in love with someone
Head awhirl!'
'Yes, I'm falling in love with someone
Plain to see!' They both signed to each other.
'I'm sure I could love someone madly
If someone would only love me!' Bruno sang in his head. He knew he found that person in Gloria.
Naturally, he led her around in a dance. It started slow at first. Then the music began to pick up the pace a bit and the couple moved their feet. The way they moved their feet was very smooth and very quaint.
Natalia had picked up Massimo and made sure he was all right. It wasn't until she turned around to ask Bruno if he was all right did she finally noticed his peculiar behavior. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of Bruno and Gloria doing the foxtrot. "Um, what's going on? What happened?"
"Oh amore!" Massimo smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Romanticismo."
Natalia chuckled. She was relieved that their eyes were their normal brown eye color. As she watched them dance, an image of her and Andres doing the foxtrot flashed in her mind. She quickly shook her head off that image. No, there was no way that Andres would dance with her. Although they had sung and danced together before, that was only when they were performing in their band. Never intimate like this. Another picture of her and Andres appeared in her mind again, and she shook it again. But no matter how hard she tried, she kept seeing Andres and herself dancing in place of Bruno and Gloria. Her heart began to ache. 'Why couldn't Andres and I be like them?' She thought wistfully.
Bruno and Gloria had now just spun around and come back to each other.
'Yes, I'm falling in love with someone
Plain to see
I'm sure I could love someone madly
If someone would only love me!' They chorused together through signs.
"Bruno, you have no idea how much I missed you!" Gloria said, hugging him. "Why did you go away? You left without a word when you were supposed to be at my brother's wedding-not that it took place." She inhaled and exhaled. "Well, aren't you going to say something?"
Bruno's face fell.
"Why are you so silent?" she asked, sadly. "It's been four years since we've seen each other. Come on, say something!"
Bruno wanted to say something. Anything to let Gloria know that she was all he had been thinking of. But how could he break his silent vow?
"Hey, that's my girlfriend, jerk!" Gustavo shouted, his face turning green. Suddenly, he lunged at Bruno.
"Bruno!" Gloria gasped.
The two men knocked into a chair and began wrestling with each other on the floor.
"Cut it out!" Massimo shouted, trying to break up the fight.
Natalia held him back before he could touch the two men. "No, let me do it." She turned to the two men. "Hey, cut it out!" she called them. "I'm talking to you!"
Massimo gave the sheepish Irish girl an unimpressed look.
Gloria looked around for something to use. There was a bottle of apple cider on the table that someone had been drinking but didn't finish it. She took it off the table before a waitress could. Gloria tiptoed to where the men were still wrestling. She could see that her lover was still struggling against that creepy short man despite being taller than him. Towering over them a bit, she struck the short man with the bottle. The bottle broke on the attacker's head as some liquid of apple cider ran down on him. It was enough to make Gustavo grab his head in agony and fall to the floor, withering like a fish out of water.
Gloria reached out her hand and helped Bruno up. After he stood up, they embraced each other, never letting go.
"Ugh, where am I?" Gustavo grumbled, holding his head. His eyes were not pink anymore but resumed their normal brown eye color. Before he could resume his fighting, he was picked up by someone large.
"Get out and don't come back!" Massimo sneered. He tossed Gustavo right out of the door in the air and kicked him in the rear. The bartender watched the short man land on the ground with a thud and shut the door.
"Are you two all right?" Natalia asked the new couple.
"We're fine," Gloria smiled.
"You wouldn't happen to have the love potion here, do you?"
"Love potion!?" Gloria said, appalled. She looked at the empty pink bottle by her table. "Oh, I thought that was pink lemonade!"
"Yeah," Natalia cringed. "I think we got our bottles mixed up."
Bruno picked the bottle up and observed. It was clear that it was empty.
"Bruno, should we still give the bottle to Imelda?" Gloria asked. She hoped that he would speak this time.
Bruno only shrugged his shoulders, much to her disappointment. They found it but why bother giving her an empty bottle? He tossed it into the garbage can.
"Bruno, are you giving me the silent treatment?" Gloria wondered.
Bruno put his hands on her shoulders and shook his head. He was assuring her that his silence had nothing to do with her.
"He hasn't spoken a word to me either since we had left," Natalia said, vouching for Bruno. "He's under a silent vow. He can't talk when he's outside the mansion."
"What!?" Gloria was surprised. "A silent vow? Por qué?"
Bruno put his fingers to his lips to be quiet.
"Come on, you can tell me!" Gloria said, encouragingly.
Bruno shook his head, referring to Massimo's. It was not a good idea to tell her why, lest someone be watching over him.
'I knew that was Bruno Madrigal!' Ernestina thought to herself. She and her posse continued to spy on him behind their menus. She had to pull LaCienega back from trying to grab the love potion from the garbage can. "Not yet!" she whispered harshly to the teenage girl.
"…Okay but once we get to your house, then can you tell me?" Gloria beseeched.
Bruno nodded, winking at her.
"You better keep your promise!" Gloria sassed, putting her hands on her hips. "Héctor was upset that you didn't come to his canceled wedding."
Bruno sighed, sadly. He already knew. Then, he took his new girlfriend's hand and they walked out of the speakeasy along with Natalia.
"Thank you for coming!" Massimo waved to them at the door, holding a few coins that Bruno had given him. He went inside the kitchen to close it up.
Had Bruno and the girls looked closely at the bottle, they would have seen that only a few drops of it were left. Three green chihuahuas are stacked on top of each other next to the garbage can. One dog grabbed the bottle with its teeth and struggled to retrieve it.
"I'll take that, my puppies!" Ernestina said, fishing the bottle out of it. She held it very close to her as if it were a big diamond. "At last, my love potion! Ha ha ha!" Triumphantly, she planted many kisses on the bottle with her ruby lips.
"But Ernestina," LaCienega pouted, crossing her arms. "It's nearly empty!"
The woman glared at the spoiled brat for interrupting her moment. "Only a few droplets left," Erenstina corrected her. Her eyes darkened and she made a devious grin. "I'll get one on Héctor. It's enough for me to seize my moment. And Bruno is going to lead us to him!"
"Don't you mean seize our moment?" LaCienega questioned her. "I want to use a drop on Miguel! Remember, you promised to help me win him!"
"Our moment," the woman sighed, annoyed. "Of course, I do."
"Can't you believe that Bruno was still here all along?" Mihaela asked in disbelief.
"Sí, who knew?" Ernestina said, putting the bottle into her purse. "Bruno is a fool. He can run but he can't hide!'
But before she and her posse could leave and follow their target, an announcement blared from outside the speakeasy. And another one from Massimo's radio.
"Attention, everybody! Many folks have been going lovesick for some weird reason! Everyone is so lovesick that they have been disturbing the peace in the town. Others have even engaged in violent fights. Just now, Officer Jenkins had to break up a fight between two boys who were fighting over a girl. And another officer had to stop two girls from chasing a boy. This has been done by some monkey who had been spraying strange perfume around! All residents of New Santa Cecilia who had not been sprayed, must be quarantined. Stay indoors at all times until the police and Mayor Smith try to figure out this new love pandemic! If you are in a building, stay wherever you are."
"Stay indoors!?" The girls exclaimed, as soon as the radio was turned off by the bartender.
"I need to go home and get my beauty sleep!" LaCienega whined.
"Me too!" Helga snapped.
"Oh, how delightful to stay in this stinky and uncouth place!" Gill commented sarcastically. "Won't that be fun!"
"Girls, girls," Ernestina assured them. "Don't get your skirts all bunched up. We'll think of a new plan. In the meantime, let's stay here." She was tapped on the shoulder by the bartender.
"Allow me ladies to recommend to you a nearby hotel that you could stay for the night, The Suite Life," Massimo offered. "I just came out of the kitchen and heard that you need a place to stay." He handed her some coins. "That should help you."
"Gracias, Señor," Ernestina thanked him. Once she and her posse stroked outside of the speakeasy, they breathed a sigh of relief that the Italian man didn't suspect anything. She kneeled and put her lips to one of her dogs' ears. "Go and follow Bruno and his little tramp," she whispered. "Sniff them out."
"We still need to get those supplies that Frida needed," Natalia said. "Do you still have the list?"
Bruno pulled it out of his pocket and held it up, smiling triumphantly.
Gloria was so pleased that she kissed him on the cheek. She took the list and read it wondering why Frida needed all of this.
Natalia was about to say but Juan shushed her quickly, lest anyone hear them.
He quickly wrote something down for Gloria which read "Antidote. Top Secret."
"It is almost midnight," Gloria said. "I don't think any store is open right now."
Just then, they heard the same announcement over the speakers.
Bruno sighed and shook his head. Looks like the antidote would have to wait. He led the girls back to Imelda's mansion.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on? Gloria pouted. "I haven't been myself for hours. I can't believe that I was under the love potion this whole time! What did they need the antidote for? And I still don't know why you, Bruno, are on a silent vow." Gloria was about to ask more questions but Bruno shushed her that they would have to wait.
The next morning at the mansion, the sun rose over the hill. Imelda went out onto the balcony. The bags in her eyes showed that she did not get a good night's sleep. When she opened the door, she walked onto the balcony and reclined in one of the lounge chairs.
"May I join you?" a masculine voice asked.
That voice startled Imelda so much that she jumped in her seat. She turned her head with a hand over her heart and saw that it was that shoemaker. "Oh, you gave me a fright!"
"I'm sorry," Héctor said, feeling bad. "I didn't mean to frighten you."
When the gangster relaxed, she gestured him to a second chair right next to her. Her guest took it and sat down beside her.
"How did you sleep?" Héctor asked.
"Awful," Imelda scoffed. "I couldn't sleep well. Not a wink."
"I couldn't sleep well, either."
"Por que?"
"It's my sister. I couldn't stop thinking about her. She's the only one I didn't see waltzing down the street so I'm not sure if she had been affected by the potion."
"If she was," Imelda spoke hesitantly. "Then we'll have to keep her hidden."
"Like a prisoner?" Héctor was appalled. "Like you did with Andres?"
"It's to keep them safe!"
"Safe from what?" He challenged her. "It seems to me all you do is collect people, especially those who I have friendships with. What do you have to say about that?"
"What can I say?" Imelda smiled slyly. "I have great taste!"
"You're not being serious," Héctor huffed, not liking her teasing.
"I am being serious," the mafia leader retorted. "That's why I took your lovesick friend; to show this town on how strongly I felt about the love potion! So everyone will take me seriously!"
Now that she had mentioned it, the shoemaker thought back to that night. His eyes widened when he recalled her deadly threat.
"When you say you'd 'deal with them,' do you mean umm…," he held a finger and swiped it across his neck, with a grimace look on his handsome features.
"No, of course not!" Imelda shook her head. "I never promise that; I won't kill anyone."
"Really?"
"Yes, The worst thing I can do to someone is beat them up!"
"I don't want anyone to get hurt," Héctor said, sadly.
"I don't want that to happen either, shoemaker," said Imelda, her voice being gentle this time. "But I have a tough gangster reputation to hold up to. I expect my rules to be obeyed. When someone disobeys me, and I say they're next, I follow through. And I don't want anyone to think that they can mess with me. It's my way or no way, that's how it is."
"You really want the love potion that badly, don't you?"
"I will not let Andres make the same mistake that I did."
"What mistake?" Héctor asked.
Imelda realized that he was asking her questions she preferred not to answer. What started as an attempt to woo her old crush turned into a disaster. She still gets a headache from thinking about it. "I don't want to talk about it."
"But-"
"Not. A. Word."
Héctor didn't push it despite being curious. Maybe Bruno or Frida would tell him what happened.
"So, was your bed comfortable?" Imelda quickly changed the subject.
"Yes," Héctor answered with awe. "I was surprised how soft it felt!"
"And you wanted a different bedroom?" Imelda teased. "What was that you said about wanting a different bedroom?"
"Okay, okay," Héctor laughed. "I admit, one blanket was all I needed."
Their laughter replaced the tension with comfortable silence.
"Here comes the sun!" Imelda whispered, excitedly.
Soon, the sun began to rise over the horizon. The sky was splashed with colors of red, orange, and yellow.
"Oh I love this time of the day," the dark beauty sighed happily. "It's the only time where I can relax before doing robberies-um, work."
"This is my favorite time of the day, too," her guest commented. "The only time in which I can relax before making shoes."
The shoemaker and gangster resume watching the sunrise in silence. The warm colors continue to splash across the sky as the sun rises higher above the horizon.
Héctor gazed over at Imelda. The light from the sun shone on her face, emphasizing her beauty. Her hand was resting on the arm of her chair. By instinct, his hand crept over toward her.
Imelda's hand was instinctively moving toward Hector's hand.
Their hands were getting closer and closer and closer…until they pulled away, immediately. When they did, they turned away from each other and held their heads.
'What am I doing?' Héctor thought, his heart beating. 'She is a criminal!'
'What's going on?' Imelda thought, her face flushing. 'What am I doing?'
Just then, a little bell rang from downstairs. Imelda couldn't be more relieved. 'Thank you Tia Chelo.'
"What's that?" Héctor said after he had recovered from losing his nerve.
"It's time for breakfast," Imelda answered. "Are you hungry?"
Before the guest could answer that he wasn't, his stomach growled, making him blush.
"I'll take that as a 'yes!'" the hostess giggled.
Author's notes: So yes, Gloria has been cured by the love potion by having a love epiphany with Bruno. Meanwhile, Gustavo snapped out of the love potion after having apple cider poured on him.
Hector and Imelda are confused about their feelings for each other which is why they go back and forth between bickering and being friendly.