Page 26 of Raspados & Regret

Also, why did u skip yesterday?

Elías looked like someone pissed in his frijoles.

I did skip Sunday, but it wasn’t because of Elías. The shop right now is maxed out, and my tío needed my help more than tía. I may have also decided a day away from the Bahía Nights Summer Market would be good for my health.

That’s not cowardice.

It’s more like preventative maintenance.

I open the link Junior sent, and it’s an immediate mistake.

It’s a TikTok.

Of course it’s a fucking TikTok.

The video starts with me and Elías behind the booth Saturday night. Not the whole booth, just us, cropped tight. Music plays over it—some stupid trending sound with a dramatic bass drop.

I’m standing at the register in my black crop top, jaw tight, arms crossed. Elías is beside me, glasses low on his nose, in tiny shorts and a silver chain, talking with his hands like the whole world has been waiting for his opinion on mango syrup.

Text floats across the screen.

WHEN THE RASPADO STAND COMES WITH FREE ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS ENTERTAINMENT,

The clip cuts to Elías saying something I can’t hear over the music. Then it’s me scowling, Elías laughing, and me just looking at him.

Not normal looking either.

Looking, looking.

My stomach drops, and that’s when the video zooms in on my face. More text appears.

HE WANTS HIM SO BAD IT’S EMBARRASSING

“No,” I say to my phone, practically begging this video to be some kind of prank.

The video cuts again, and this time Elías licks syrup off his thumb while I’m in the background, watching him. Fucking creeping on him like a man who’s never seen a tongue ring before.

Then the video freezes on my face.

My dead, thirsty, apparently very public face.

The caption reads: crop top papi fighting for his life at the raspado stand @ Bahía Nights Summer Market off East 14th/Washington Ave.

I throw my phone onto the creeper, and it bounces once, the screen still playing while the audio loops. Elías laughs again, and my whole body goes hot.

Not because I am embarrassed. I mean, yes, because I am embarrassed… because the video caught it. The thing I have been pretending is not there. It caught my eyes dragging over him. It caught my jaw tightening. It caught the exact second my brain left my body and went to hell wearing a slutty crop top.

Junior texts again.

Junior

Comments are wild lmao

I really shouldn’t look—a smart man wouldn’t look. A man with dignity would delete the app, turn his phone off, return to the Altima, and go on with his day.

Let’s be so fucking for real though, I’m far from a smart man… or one with a modicum of dignity. I tap the comments.

The crop top one has never known peace.