Trouble in a Tank Top

"We were in high school," Tony whispers, and Ande can barely hear it. "Jaime and I had been best friends since fifth grade. He hit me in the head with a soccer ball he had kicked at school and we had to sit in the principal's office while our parents talked..."

Ande closes her eyes, imagining a young Tony and Jaime. She had seen plenty of pictures of them from those days from the photo albums Tony's mother had let her borrow. Those two looked like they had been inseparable. They were running around the small neighborhood that Tony had lived in. They played guitar in the basement and climbed trees and did their best to hide all of Tony's little tattoos and scrounge up the money for more. I can see the look on his mother's face when he comes home with his bottom lip pierced and his eyes glazed over red from smoking one too many joints in the back of Jaime's Pinto.

"He had that ridiculous afro," Tony laughs softly into Ande's hair, feeling nostalgic about his past as a teenager. "He carried around a yo-yo and a bouquet of feather flowers under his sleeve everywhere we went. It was so embarrassing and girls would always laugh in his face. There was one time that a girl poured her milkshake all over him. It was a bitch to get out of his hair."

Ande listened with open ears, taking in all that he was willing to tell her. They laid in the hammock comfortably. Things were beginning to be clearer as the sound of the pool filter switched on.

"We dropped out of high school," Tony says, and it becomes deathly silent. Not even Ande can hear the pool filter now. "Ma kicked me out and Jaime's grandmother was furious. We had plans to join a band and travel the world. We stayed at a Jess' parents' camper and even made it in a band. I was lead guitar and Hime was bass. We were inseparable. It was us against the world."

Tony's arms suddenly tighten around Ande's waist.

"I met this girl, Alana, at a show. We started dating and I fell in love." Ande feels jealousy bubble in her belly. "We had it going good for awhile. The band was touring out of state more and more. I was falling for Alana more and more, and then the band dropped us out of no where.

"Apparently they had been looking for someone... well, someone better. Hime and I were heart broken. We had no money, and Jess' parents weren't happy with us staying with them anymore. We had no where else to go..."

Tony took a deep breath as his fingers slowly began to stroke over Ande's arm.

"Alana introduced us to her cousins, Vic and Mike. They were in construction, and worked during the night. Jaime and I would do anything at this moment. I had spent my last paycheck on a ring for Alana."

Ande closes her eyes tight, and can see the gorgeous Latina beauty that is Alana. Her shiny black hair and natural tan skin and curvy hips and long, endless legs. Ande knows why Tony loved Alana... so, how could Ande possibly compete with that?

"And then Vic and Mike told us about The Job. They had a friend who worked at a bank in LA and the manager was stealing money. He had this idea to steal the money back and they would split it even, but they needed two more guys. Hime and I agreed, but we decided that this would be our only job and that we would make enough money to get us by until we could find some other way to live."

"But it wasn't the only time, was it?" Ande asks, her voice just barely over a whisper.

"No," Tony whispers back. "We went through with the plan and got five-hundred thousand each. Jaime and I looked at the money and knew we couldn't get out of that life now. We kept working at the construction site up until our second job and then we quit altogether. After our third job, we became known as the Los Ladrones. We had stolen almost a total of twenty million and we weren't sated yet. Casey had joined us by then, and Jaxin had been my go-to tattoo artist. He asked how I had so much money at such a young age one night after too many drinks and I told him about the jobs. He never threatened to turn us in or demanded money. He just told me to be careful."

There's a silence after everything clicks together, but there's one question burning in the back of both of their throats.

"What happened-"

"To Alana?" Tony finishes, and Ande nods. He doesn't answer for a few minutes, trying to find the words. Ande regrets saying anything now but it is far too late to take it back.

"She got into the drug dealing business. One day a deal went bad and she got shot. She was pronounced dead at the hospital."

Suddenly, Ande feels hot tears fall onto her neck. She sighs and turns, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I was going to propose that night. I had it all set up. She was the one, Ande. Alana was my zing and I lost her."

"I'm so sorry," Ande whispers, rubbing his back and letting him cry because she had gotten herself into this situation. There was no going back.

"Next week will be three years," Tony tells her. "I try not to think too much on it, but Vic and Mike's family always holds some big celebration in her memory and I get dragged along only to get drunk and forget everything that happens. They say I cry a lot. I'm not all that surprised."

For the first time in a long time, Tony tries to hold an emotionless, blank expression and voice, but Ande knows there is pain and loss behind it, holding that barrier up. He broke down her walls, and it is about time she broke down his.

"Tony?" Ande says softly, tilting her head to look up at him. The hammock sways again, and Tony looks down at her. His eyes are red and puffy, and his breath smells like alcohol. "You didn't tell me about the jobs because you didn't want me to end up like Alana." It was a statement, but the slight rise in her voice at the end made it sound like a question. Tony nods to confirm. Ande takes a deep breath. "When did you know you loved me?"

Tony frowns. "What do you mean?"

Ande's lip twitches up slightly. "Before you left for your job, you said you loved me. When did you realize that you loved me?"

Tony takes a few moments, trying to pinpoint the exact moment that he knew Ande was going to take the open space right beside Alana in his heart. There was no exact moment, but a series of moments.

"That day at the diner, when I ate lunch with you. When I took you to that mini golf course and you ended up hitting some guy in the back with your ball. When I made you spaghetti and you made me lemon squares. When we laid out on the beach that night and you told me about the constellations. When I realized that no one could replace Alana, but instead refill the hole that had been left in my heart when she died."

Ande feels her breath catch. Tony kisses her softly, chastely, letting his lips sink over hers and heat to spread out over their bodies. "I love you, Ande, never forget that."

"I love you too, Tony."

"I had a dream last night," He says to her. She tilts her head, curious. "It was Alana. She was telling me to be happy. She likes you. She said you'll keep my ass in line."

They laugh together, making the hammock swing back and forth, back and forth, before they climb out and trek up the stairs, back to the main floor of the home. Everyone is sitting on one of the couches or recliners, with a bowl of popcorn being passed around along with a half-smoked joint that must have been provided by Mike. Tony and Ande find themselves snuggled into the corner of the large white couch, hogging the bowl of popcorn, but the others are too engrossed in the action-filled movie to take too much notice.

----------------------------

"Hey, Vic! Grab that bottle of Jose off the counter," Mike calls from the living room, shuffling the deck of cards in his hand while Frenchi whispers in his ear with a shit-eating grin. Ande fears of what she could be possibly thinking of. Mike grins as Vic sets down eight shot glasses. He begins to deal us out two cards.

"The game is Shots or Drops. The person with the lowest BJ points has to either tell a secret and take a shot, or take off one article of clothing," Frenchi says, sitting beside Mike and Jess. "You can only do an action twice in a row. So, if you take two shots, your third time you have to take off something, and vice versa."

"Dude, not cool!" Casey says, wearing only a pair of gym shorts, his boxers underneath and a towel hanging around his shoulders from his just-finished shower. Jaime rolled his eyes and smacked the back of his friend's head.

"Shut it, Case! You're the best blackjack player in the group."

Casey glares and rubs at the back of his head, running his fingers through his still damp hair. "Fuck you."

"My body is ready!" Jaime calls without missing a beat, leaning back in the chair and unbuttoning his plaid shirt.

"Jaime!" Jess shouts, slapping at Jaime's chest. "Keep your clothes on. We haven't even started the game yet."

Ande watches them all, feeling a slight awkwardness at how close they all were, but she knew that she was welcomed by them and felt grateful for that.

"You okay, babe?" Tony asks, softly talking in her ear as he drinks from a bottle of water.

"Yeah, I'm good," Ande replies, kissing his cheek and holding his hand under the table.

"Good luck," he whispers to her, kissing the side of her recently dyed hair, and clasps his fingers around her own.

"Let the games begin!" Mike shouts, finishing his dealing of the cards. Ande looks at her cards and has a good chance that she won't have the lowest points. The guys put in a few poker chips (some cheap, plastic ones Jaime had found in a cabinet in the kitchen, which is what brought on the idea of a card game). Casey lost the first round, with a count of sixteen points, which surprised a majority of the group. He took the shot.

"I've sucked some dude's dick for pot," he says, just after the burn of the drink leaves his throat.

Mike takes up the cards and starts another round, dealing out another pair of shuffled cards to each person. Vic is wearing a huge grin on his face, before he flips his cards over to reveal a Jack and an Ace of Spades.

"Blackjack!" he yells, pulling the pot of coins toward him with a laugh of victory. Everyone grumbles and flips over their cards. Jess and Frenchi are tied for the lowest points, both at a ten.

"Shots or drops, ladies?" Mike says with a grin, and Jaime flicks a chip at his forehead. The two glare at each other for a few seconds before the girls start to pull off their tops. They're still wearing their bikini tops from their earlier dip in the pool. Mike lets out a wolf whistle and grabs Frenchi by the waist, pulling her into his lap.

"Having fun?" Tony asks Ande, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She nods and laughs as Vic slaps his brother, putting Frenchi back in her chair. "Good." Tony kisses the side of her head, pushing his losing cards toward Mike. More rounds are played, and by the time it's midnight, Casey and left with nothing but his towel covering his naked lap, almost all of the bottle of Jose drunk and Ande feeling the buzz of said alcohol rushing through her veins as she takes off the bra she had changed into after the movie finished from earlier. Her cheeks have a red tint, and her collarbone looks tasty to Tony's glazed eyes.

Mike and Casey had brought out a joint half way through the game, and all of them were feeling the fuzzy high.

"Let's go to bed," Tony whispers, pulling Ande's shirt back over her head and picking up her pants and bra. Jaime and Jess were almost asleep leaning against the wall as Mike and Casey went back and forth drinking the rest of the bottle of tequila. Ande nods and lets him lead her to their room. He helps her into bed.

Ande's eyes aren't fully closed before she's asleep, but the peacefulness doesn't last for long before she awakes with a start and stares at the blank red wall. The clock on the bedside table tells her that it is four in the morning. Tony is out like a light along with the rest of the house, but Ande fears she won't get back sleep after what she just dreamed.

They only get put in the chair if they killed someone, Ande. Tony hasn't killed anyone, and neither have any of the guys. Stop worrying.

However, Tony's hands were a lot redder than she thought.

Notes

Happy Valentine's Day!