The next few weeks weren't too eventful for Carlos. Niff would show up, he would help her manage her dyslexia, and she would 'motivate' him to help him get better in Mr. Jackson's class.
Niff's soft breasts were wrapped around Carlos' cock with its head - just barely sticking out - being sucked off by her mouth. It popped out of her mouth as she asked him a question about homework.
"U-Uh… homework?" Carlos reiterated, still in a daze.
"You told me that the answer was 'syphilis blankets', and we're on World War I; are you still so blinded by your dick and balls that you can't remember what you studied?" As he failed to sputter out an answer, she stood up, grabbed the pile of flash cards he made himself, and handed them to him. "Look over these again, and focus."
"Good." She went back to her knees, as Carlos looked over the notes.
"Th-the treaty of Versailles was... in..." He focused until he gave the answer. "June… 28th, 1919."
Carlos waited as Niff checked the answer. It was a painfully long time as she concentrated and used the methods she'd learned on the letters that made the words that made the answer.
"Okay, good." She returned to her former position - her breasts around his cock. "Next card." She began to stroke him while reciting the next question and, upon finishing it, began to lick and suck on the bellend.
"The… hah~... death of… archduke…. Ferdinand, started… World War One."
As they continued, they lost track of time, as well as forgot to lock the door. She began to recite the next question, before beginning fellatio again and Carlos giving her the answer. At that exact moment, the door swung open to reveal his mother, whose face read of shock, surprise, anger, and, for the briefest of seconds, vindication.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" She shouted. Before he could explain, his mom grabbed Niff's hair and pulled it off and away from her son. "Is THIS what you've been fucking doing with my son?!"
"What are you going to explain?! How this chaotic little whore has been avoiding her tutoring duties and sucking your penis?!" She pulled Niff out of the room. "Get the fuck out!"
"Ah, fuck; let me go! Let me go, you crazy bitch!" Niff tried to pull herself free, but only felt Carlos' mother continue to pull on her hair.
"No, Mom; let her go! I swear I can explain!"
However, Carlos' pleas and eventual threats fell on deaf ears, as his mother and Niff continued to scrape, scratch, and fight against one another.
Niff and Carlos' mother's fight made its way out his bedroom door, of which Niff was violently thrown out. "Leave my house, you gross slut!"
There was a pause that Carlos felt lasted an eternity. He exchanged glances with Niff, and thought she would say something. However, she just took a breath "Fine, you fuckin' bitch; fuck you!" She turned away and began to step down the stairs. Shocked by the scene in front of him, Carlos was snapped back into the moment when his mother slammed the door. He looked over and saw her pulling out a phone. "I'm calling the cops and I'll make sure that whore never goes anywhere near you ever again. I knew I was right about her. Nothing but fucking trouble."
"How could she be anything but? You saw how she was dressed in those spooky black clothes all the time, making her look like a whore!"
Carlos' hands balled, as he heard his mother talk.
"Not even to mention that she totaled my car!"
"I said 'FUCK YOU', Mom!" He went after Niff, and slammed the door behind him as well. "NIFF!"
As he ran out, he saw his... he saw Niff, sauntering out of the neighborhood, who was unable to grab her shirt before she left. Nevertheless, she sauntered with her head held high, and her tits fully out, an aura of murder surrounding her.
Carlos managed to catch up to Niff. "Niff, I am so, so sorry; my mom's-"
"A fucking bitch; yeah, I know." As she stopped, she crossed her arms, achieving ample cleavage catching Carlos' attention, before he looked her in the eyes.
"Yeah..." He paused, before he began to strip off his shirt-
-And handed her the shirt. Not having any other options, she was quick to put it on, and while it did eventually fit covering the 'offending' body parts, there was a bit of a stretch that warped the decal on its front - or at least, it would have, if Carlos were allowed to have any decal t-shirts.
There was moment where neither of them spoke, that nevertheless spoke volumes. Finally, Carlos broke the silence.
"Do... do you wanna get back at her?"
Niff scoffed. "I'm already listening for the cops, and I don't think actually attacker would do me any good." She looked off to the middle distance, eyeing down the backroad that ran against the neighborhood. "I think your mom might've been right... about me. I'm a bad person. I've stolen shit and beaten people up. I stole my mom's car and crashed it into yours'." Here eyes started to water, but her face remained stoic. "Maybe I should just go back to doing that." She looked back at him. "Every time I try to change or improve, it's always the fuckin' same; I'm knocked down a peg, and I end up back in the gutter."
"No, no; she's a Karen, and everyone knows it." He looked around and was fortunately met with no one and nothing but the sound of crickets. He then looked back at Niff. "Niff, if you can deal with me for just a bit longer, I can- I am going to make this shit worth it."
She gave Carlos an inquisitive demeanor. "And how's that gonna work? I don't think I'll be allowed back into your house again."
"No, no; hold on." He took a moment to gather the courage to say his next line of thought.
"Niff Weston," Carlos said, as he held both her hands. "Do you... wanna go out with me?"
Her demeanor shifted and her eyes slowly widened. "Huh?"
"Listen, your mom's been dropping you off for the last month, we've been in a closed room, you're hot, so…" he shrugged. "I figure the cops would believe it."
She looked him up and down. She saw his tanned and slender build, which had the thinnest glint of sweat. "Okay."
"Yeah, I'll go out with you. You're a dork... but it's kinda cute."
"Alright." he paused, studying Niff's face, before he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to raise her eyebrow.
"That's it?" I've had your dick in my mouth. I deserve at least some tongue."
"I'm sorry I just didn't wa-" Carlos' sentence was cut short as Niff pulled him in by the chin into a wet, sloppy kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth, and her breasts - which were braless underneath the borrowed shirt - squished against his bare chest. Their tongues danced and collided until Niff detached, slurping back a trail of spit connecting their mouths.
"How was that?" She asked, a subtle smile creeping onto her face. "First time?"
"U-Uh, y-yeah." He wiped the remaining spit off from the sides of his mouth. "Uhm, so... we're dating now, then." He paused until he realized he had been smiling like an idiot this whole time. As he stopped smiling, he returned to the moment. "So, what's out story, then?"
"Like..." Carlos paused. "I mean, sure we can lie and say that we've been dating this whole time, but like, the cops don't know us; what's the story?"
Niff's slight smile dropped. "Look, if I'm ever near a cop, I'm gonna be through." She paused. "Let's just go to my house until things cool down."
"Okay." The two walked off, Niff doing her best to keep them off the main road on the chance that someone would be looking for them until it was dark out, which led Carlos through various patches of woods and forest, an abandoned construction site, and a seedy park. Thankfully for him, however, he was forced to be on a hiking team back in middle school and - despite his insistence otherwise - did enjoy it enough to continue hiking for a few more years.
Eventually, they made it back to Niff's house, which Carlos would tell was in a notably shady part of town. On the property's overgrown lawn that grew onto the sidewalk, , there was an old and rusting pickup truck that visibly had the bumpers taped on with various types of tape. Nearby, on the gravel parking lot, was an old brown sedan with a large gash in the front. He could tell that the building in front of him had seen better days. He could tell that the vehicles in front of him had seen better days.
He was unsure if Niff had seen better days.
As he looked up, he saw that the bushes that lined the bottom of the porch overgrew onto it. The wood of the actual porch was so cracked that it'd probably creak with a gentle summer's breeze. The railing hung loosely with one side loose from its socket and the other missing chunks.
As he began to step on the porch, he felt his weight shift substantially and dangerously. However, the wooden door looked as damaged as the porch; beaten, scratched, and chipped with what used to be green paint peeling off and turning into a mulch color. As Carlos continue to observe, he saw there were small holes lined up on the wall next to the door, leading to the windows that were cracked in some places and completely shattered in others, seemingly only barely secured in place out of pure spite.
Niff put a key in the rusted lock and opened the door.
"Hey, sugartits," a male voice said from inside, "how's my favorite sl-" A man in a greasy wifebeater and with a scraggly beard that let Carlos know that he'd been probably 'out of work' for the last year. However, the amount of beers let him know that the 'probably' was more closely related to 'definitely'.
"Oh," the man said, disappointed. "It's you." He paused as he looked Carlos up and down. "Who's the beaner?"
"He's from school," she said dully. "We're gonna study in my room."
"You? Study?!" He began to guffaw, his mouth opening and letting out a putrid and cloying smell of alcohol, chewing tobacco, and a general lack of dental hygiene.
Niff's neutral demeanor gave a fiery aura that seemed to burn. Nevertheless, the only thing Carlos could actually see was her scowling and baring it.
"Good luck trying, beaner!" He cracked up laughing at his own low-effort racism.
"Yes, sir." Carlos chuckled nervously, before Niff pulled him away by the wrist upstairs. On the way, he saw trash on the staircase, trash on the landing, and a strange wet spot in the carpet leading down the hallway. She threw open one of the doors and rushed the two of them in, before she closed and locked the door behind them.
"Sorry," she said, "Mitch wouldn't like it if we were dating."
"Ah." Carlos paused. "So, how long do you wanna hide out in here, then?"
"That's... that's as far as I've thought. I don't know." She gave a sheepish shrug. "We're back to square one, I think... though your mom's probably gonna be freaking out soon, for sure."
"Yeah, but I can just say that I'm not going back. Your… dad…" he said, unsure if it was her dad. "…can take the brunt when they come for us, and we just change our names."
"Stepdad," Niff clarified. "Mitch isn't my real dad. He'd never do something nice for me or my mom. He'd actually sooner turn us in to anybody looking for us if it'd make us laugh."
"Oh..." Carlos thought about the situation from as many angles as he could, before he spoke. "Then... I guess we wait him out, and we head back out, until we find my cousin; he'd probably be able to help."
"Yeah, the one I told you about."
As she seemed to look through him, he realized. "Oh, right, I never said; he's like, in his thirties and lives upstate."
"How far upstate?" she asked.
"Like..." Carlos began to do the math in his head. "About an hour, maybe two?" He gave a hopeful look before he remembered-
Niff groaned. "This is hopeless," she said, deflating. "Just... go home. I'll see you at school if I'm not arrested for either 'assaulting' you or wrecking your mom's car."
"No." he grabbed her hand. "Niff, my mom's crazy, and your… Mitch doesn't look any better. My cousin is going to be worth it, I promise."
"I said-" she snatched her hand back. "Go." her voice was a low gravel and her eyes were daggers, but only lasted a second, as she immediately dropped the demeanor, her features softening. "I don't want anything to happen to you, just because you got involved with me."
"No, I want y- I want to be involved with you." Carlos' heart beat fast.
"Why?" As she let her anger ebb away, her tone denoted a genuine interest in knowing his answer, as well as a sorrow based on her expectation of the answer. "I'm just... I'm mean, and dumb, and... and all I am is trouble." Her eyes began to water as she looked away. "You shouldn't wanna be involved with me."
"Because... because..." his foot tapped as he looked past her shoulder to the door. "Uhm... does the door actually lock?"
Carlos sighed. He got up, looked around Niff's room, and was met with a bed, dressers, and a closet with a mirror in front. On the bigger dresser, there were melted candles that had seeped into it, as well as a cheap looking television with the VCR slot. Below it were various video tapes, all seemingly untouched. On the smaller dresser, there was a stereo radio with a CD slot, with a stack of CDs next to it, with names Carlos couldn't quite make out. Within those CDs, however, seemed to be legible handwriting that had recordings of library books read aloud. While there was much dust in the house, Carlos saw that Niff's room - especially her corner of tapes and CDs - was dust-free.
"Alright." He went back to Niff and kissed her. "I... I think I love you, Niff."
Niff, not knowing what else to do, kissed him back, though her kiss seemed to be more aggressive than romantic, as if his confession of love filled her with a hope that she hadn't known for a long time, and her kiss was in defiance of Mitch, of Carlos' mom, of everyone who thought she wasn't worth shit.
As she moved back from the kiss, she locked eyed with Carlos, who looked at her with an astounded expression.
"I take it that you love me back?"
Niff paused as she took in what she had done, and where she found herself, both physically and mentally.
"I... like you, is all I can say right now." She held his hand. "I want you around."
"Okay." Carlos nodded, as he heard and understood her answer. "Yeah; I think I can manage that." He paused. "I'm gonna call my cousin and have him pick us up at the end of the street; sound good?"
Niff nodded. "Yeah, okay." As she stood up, she took off his shirt and handed it to Carlos, before heading to her dresser, grabbing a new bra and shirt, and put them on.
"Thanks." He put on his shirt again, and noticed that it smelled like her. He turned on his phone, and - after swiping past all the missed calls of his mother, and outright blocking her number - called his cousin's number.
"Hey, Carlitos; wassup?" his voice said.
"Hey, Chucho, I need your help, bad; my mom-"
"Uhp; say no more. Just tell me when and where, and I got'chu."
"Uhh, yeah; gimme a sec." He turned to Niff. "Hey, what's the name of this neighborhood?"
"Hoplite Lane," she answered.
"Hoplite Lane," he repeated.
"Oh, yeah; I'm like, actually twenty minutes away. Gimme about ten and I'll be there. Peace!"
Before anything could be said by Carlos, Chucho hung up.
"What'd your cousin say?"
"That's... actually really nice," Niff said, as she grabbed a duffel bag and started throwing clothes and personal items into it.
"Yeah; kinda curious why he's in the area, though."
"I try not to think about stuff like that," Niff said, not looking up, as she continued packing.
"Yeah," Carlos said, putting away his phone, "it's probably for the best."
The strong aura of dread and decay permeates the house as Niff finished with her clothes selection. Afterwards, she started on toiletries as well as a couple of keepsakes, one of which was a picture of a girl. The girl looked like Niff, but it wasn't her.
This girl looked happier. This girl was happier. She was in the arms of her mother and father, who looked nothing like Mitch. Among them, there was another girl.
"Alright, I think he's gonna be here in about five minutes, so-"
Carlos caught a sight of Niff having a moment.
He moved to unlock the door as quietly as he could. As he did, the door opened from the hinged being screwed in incorrectly. This led him to hear a commotion that came from a room downstairs, sounding like wild banging and drunken ramblings.
"Hey, uh, Niff?" he asked in a whisper. "Is that normal?"
She sighed. "Yeah. We just have to be quiet getting out; he won't notice." She zipped up the duffel bag, and wiped her tears. "I'm ready to leave. Let's go."
"Alright, then." As he went down the stairs, Carlos saw what all the commotion was about. He saw Mitch rambling and raving at a news station with a large bottle in his hand and two cigarettes in his mouth; one in each corner, spewing out mostly nonsense and only a few choice slurs directed at people whose skin color tones weren't porcelain.
Niff, focused on leaving and leaving as little of herself behind as possible, was light on her feet, despite her boots The old stairs - which looked in about the same condition as the porch outdoors - did not creak; a practiced gait.
As they made it out of the house, with Niff following Carlos close behind, Carlos saw a truck waiting at the end of the street, which was a few houses down. Niff carefully closed and locked the door behind her, a thud and sound of shatters heard from inside. Niff turned to meet where Carlos was looking at.
"Is that your cousin's truck?" she asked.
"Uhm, I think so," he answered, unsure. It had been several years since he had seen any of his family members in person, though he had been aware of them, when he had a letter placed inside his locker once and gave him his maternal family's real name, as well as a number that belonged to Chucho.
"Alright, then; let's go."
"Okay." As they walked down the street, the truck's lights went out and drove at them at a snail's pace. As both approached each other, and the truck came more clearly into focus, Carlos could finally see a familiar face. Well, familiar in that he'd seen the face on Facebook lining up with the story the person texted him about.
"Chucho," he said, with a slight smile.
As Niff came out behind Carlos, and the window was level with them, she was able to make out a handsome dark-skinned man; darker than any she'd seen at her predominantly white school, but not necessarily black, she knew that much.
"Hey, cuz," the man said, with a toothy grin, "how's it hangin?"
"It's uhm… well, my mom caught… us having sex, and she was gonna call the cops."
"Ah, the ol' 'Santa Clara', huh?" Chucho chuckled at the inside joke.
"Yeah, so… I mean, we're both adults, so there's nothing she can really do now, right?"
"Well, there's gonna be some paperwork we'll have to get, but don't worry; I'll just take you to my place, and we'll figure it out next week."
There was a pause as his eyes looked over to Niff. "So, is this the girlfriend?"
Carlos nodded quickly and Chucho nodded slowly in understanding. "Nice to meet you, girl."
Seeing her stay quiet, he added, "Don't worry; I'm not gonna bite."
“I’m Niff. Nice to meet you too, thanks.”
"Niff." he repeated it to think about where the name might've come from. "I'm Chucho." The door unlocked. "Alright, primo; ladies first."
Carlos stepped aside and let Niff step inside to the truck. However, when Carlos got in behind her, her thighs were pressed into the side, making her quick to put her bag in between her legs.
"Okay; you both strapped in?"
As the two of them nodded, Chucho gave another toothy grin, though one that carried a more chaotic intent. "Alright, hold on tight, then-" He turned on the high beams, and sped off while he began blaring a heavy rock version of "La Cucaracha". While Carlos was caught off-guard by the sudden change and his cousin's maniacal laughter at all the neighbors poking out their heads, Niff was calm and vibed with the music.
After they cleared the street and made it onto the highway, Chucho killed the high beams, and turned down the music. "So, Niff, what's the deal? How'd you meet my lil' cousin?"
"Uh, well, I kinda crashed my mom's car into his mom's car, so I had to help him study or his mom would call the cops."
"Ahh, I see, so-" he then looked at Carlos, who had managed to calm down as Chucho went the speed limit again. "you saw her beuatiful face and thought, 'she'll be more than just my tutor'?"
"U-Uh, well, the sex was her idea," he clarified.
"Yeah," Niff corroborated, "turns out I'm dumb as shit and I wasn't gonna actually be able to help him, so I thought, 'he's a guy so his dick's probably distracting him'." She took a beat. "I guess helping him with that's been making the difference, 'cuz it'd been working."
"Yeah, I get that," Chucho said, understanding. He paused. "I dunno how much Carlos told you about me, but I have dyslexia, so words and letters got mixed up in my mind. However, before that I thought it was me being gay that was fucking up my learning."
Niff gave him a quizzical look, though Carlos could almost see a smile forming at the corners of her mouth. "You thought it WAS your dick distracting you?"
"Yeah; I was crushing HARD on this one dude, and I really just wanted to fuck his cute little ass." He smiled.
"Nice, I respect that." Niff took a beat. "I'm being honest, I only really crashed because I looked at the PRNDL and got the 'R' and 'D' mixed up."
Chucho shot a laugh. "Dude, I had the opposite thing; I was getting chased and accidentally went in reverse. Luckily, I learned I was good at speeding backwards."
Niff laughed. "I guess we would've gotten away with it if our brains didn't suck."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, girl, but I actually did get away with it."
Niff raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"
"So, the guy I was crushin' on was bicurious, so he invited me so that I could suck his dick. Not bad; it was about the normal amount of salty. However, the money shot was when his dad walked in, so I jumped out the window, and hauled ass, before he could catch me." He gave a chuckle which was followed by a sigh. "That's the last time I saw either of them, but MAN, was that fun." There was a slight smile as he thought about it.
Carlos saw as Niff's subtle smile grew wider as she felt a camaraderie with the grown man. "I bet that was exhilarating. Did you crush on anyone else after that?"
"Ehh..." Chucho made a face of uncertainty. "Not really." He paused. "I think if his dad hadn't shown up, we would've become official."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "That sucks, dude; I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's all good," he answered, "I'm an old man now, anyways, and we probably would've broken up after that year."
"Says the fact that I wouldn't've kept my mouth shut about it, and he was the lead of the theater production 'Pippin' the year before that. People would've found out."
Niff raised an eyebrow. "And this was how long ago?"
"Oh, about..." "fifteen, years ago?"
"So why're you still stuck on it?"
"Oh, trust me; I'm not. I'm just givin' my backstory." Chucho paused. "Or 'lore' as the kids call it nowadays."
"Good." she began to sense a kindred spirit in Carlos' cousin. "So, what helped you read better?"
"Well, I told my parents that I was gay, and they were really supportive. They were New York punks, so it kinda made sense. When my grades didn't improve, they took me to a specialist friend they had who told 'em that I had dyslexia and they helped me manage it."
As Chucho saw Niff's face fall, he added; "I'm sorry if you were lookin' for some more drama, but it was really nothin' special."
Eventually, he pulled into the parking lot of a tall building. Eventually, Niff was able to make out that they were at an apartment complex.
"Well, here we are; home sweet home."
Carlos got out of the truck and stretched out. "Neat. So… are we alone then?"
"Yeah; it's gonna be that way for a few weeks."
Niff soon followed suit, looking at where Chucho parked. While it was leagues better than Mitch's neighborhood, but it was definitely suspiciously empty.
"Oh, don't worry," he said, as he locked the truck. "I know this place looks kinda sketch, but it's got a whole lotta security. No one's goin' in or out without getting found out."
As she heard his comment, she then noticed how... many, security cameras were around. Some in the usual locations of in the corners of ceilings of the inner cove and on the sides of the building. However, she also noticed other cameras giving away their locations atop trash cans and on streetlights by a blinking red light.
As they entered the lobby, she saw the button code system on the door leading into the rest of the building. It had the numbers 3, 4, and 6 worn down. Chucho hit the pin, and a buzzer rang, letting him know the door unlocked. He opened it, and let them in, leading to them hearing pornographic moans of pleasure both male and female.
"Dude, I thought you said we were gonna be alone," Carlos said.
"Oh, yeah; we're alone; like, inside my apartment. These guys just spend the night, but they're gone in the morning."
"Hey, at least it's better to what I usually hear at home," Niff quipped.
"Well, don't worry, either way; cousin Chucho's here to save the day." He did a weird pose that - with his slight paunch and skinny arms and legs - made for a funny visual.
Despite her amusement at the stance, Niff did not laugh. As the three of them stood in silence for a few seconds longer than awkward, Chucho readjusted himself.
"Alright, so lemme just-" Chucho took off his carabiner and flipped through his keys. He passed his car key, jeep key, sedan key, truck key, van key, garage key, trailer key, chain lock key, pass key, skeleton key, gas key, water key, until-
"THERE it is!" He pulled out his house key, which - as Carlos and Niff could tell - was 1) right next to the car key, and 2) nothing like the other keys. He opened the door and turned on the lights, which revealed a living room that only vaguely smelled of weed, but definitely looked like it should smell more.
"Cool; so... where do we sleep?"
"Well, I'll be sleepin' on the couch, and the two of you can share my bed."
Noting Carlos' widened eyes, he added, "it's a big deal."
"I'll take it, no big deal," Niff stated.
"Alright." Chucho gave a medium smile before he turned to the couch. He fished around underneath the couch cushions, until he pulled out a loop that looked like a seatbelt. As he pulled on it, the couch slowly but surely turned itself into a full-sized bed. After a bit of huffing and puffing, he gave a chuckle, which led into a wide grin.
"Man, I never get tired of doin' that."
