“She’s what?” Jose could not believe his ears.
Alexander must be joshing me. After all, Josefina and I have been a couple ever since we meet as young teens years ago at their place in Denmark. And even though our relationship has been a long-distance one, we’ve regularly kept in touch.
“Please tell me you’re joking, Alex. Your sister wouldn’t dump me. Would she?”
“I wish I could tell you no, Jose. I really do,” Alexander replied. “You know that both you and your brother have been close friends for a long time, so I really hated it when she insisted I give you the bad news, instead of doing it herself.”
Jose immediately frowned, and the two of them got up from where they had been sitting inside the university’s student lounge and headed toward the wall of vending machines.
“Oh, really?” he said just before examining the front of a Coke machine to see what was available. “Then why didn’t you tell her you weren’t willing to do it and she’d have to tell me herself. At least if she talked to me in person, I might have had a chance of convincing her to change her mind.”
“I doubt it, “Alex replied, and pushed the Coke button. “I usually see her on campus every day between my classes and recently I’ve noticed she been with some dark-haired guy. Now heaven knows who exactly he might be, but I’m afraid he’s probably your replacement.”
“Are you sure?” Jose asked as they approached the front of the snack machines. “Perhaps the two of them are just friends.”
Alexander contemplated the idea for a moment and dropped a few coins in the machine offering his favorite chocolate bar. “It could be, but I doubt it, Jose. I’ve seen these two hugging and kissing.”
“That still doesn’t mean anything,” Jose insisted. “Two people can hug or kiss one another but that doesn’t mean they have something romantic going on. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t seen me around campus occasionally hugging or kissing a female classmate. Things sometimes get emotional and you know – it happens.”
Alexander laughed. “You’re right about being seen with a female other than my sister – and you’re also right about being seen hugging and kissing some of the time. Both your brother and I have caught you and I’d make a bet that’s what probably started this mess - we’re not the only ones. If the two of us have seen you in situations that look like you were being unfaithful to my sister, I sure others have too.”
“Oh. Oh,” Jose said, taking a step backward. “I had not thought about that. That possibly would make me look like I was being unfaithful. … I take it, Josefina has seen me, too?”
“Yep. She definitely has. And man, she was hot. She thought you loved her and would never consider doing anything like that.”
“Oh crap!” Jose shouted. “That explains everything. It’s no wonder then that she now hanging around other guys. She thinks I’ve been cheating on her. Why didn’t you tell her it wasn’t so? Being close to my brother, you should know how emotional Latinos tend to be.”
Alexander chuckled. “Yes. Latinos do tend to be emotional. I know that for a fact. But, in regards to the relationship between you and my sister – why should I say anything? You’re a big boy now, Jose. You should know what you’ve been doing could cause negative consequences.”
“Yeah. I know. I just didn’t think …” Jose replied as they headed back toward the table they previously had been sitting at. “So, Josefina thinks I been dating other girls ever since the semester started. Doesn’t she? … Why didn’t she say something instead of jumping to conclusions and calling it quits on everything?”
“She did,” Alexander answered before taking a gulp of his soda. “Just not to you.”
“Not to me?” Jose repeated. “Why not?”
“Because you’re the one who has been acting like a Class A, Number One, Jerk. Didn’t you think about how Josefina was going to react upon not only catching you with someone else, or in this case, multiple someones – but kissing them, as well?”
Jose dropped his head against on the cement tabletop for a sec.
“No. Because none of the women I was with was anyone I’d ever consider getting serious with. They were just girls who I became friends with. Nothing more.”
Alexander chuckled. “Yeah. Right. They were girls who became a friend. Can’t you see how from Josefina’s view how that would make them a girlfriend?”
“Oh, shit. I hadn’t thought about that? What can I do?”
***
Later that evening — Jose’s palms began to profusely sweat as he approached the door of the apartment Alexander and Josefina’s recently moved to. So, should I go ahead and ring the doorbell? And what if Josefina answers, instead of Alexander? What should I say?
Just be cool, he said, answering himself. You can do this.
The doorbell rang.
“Oh. Hi, Chile’s Number One Cheater,” Josefina said, upon seeing him through a crack in the open door. “I can’t believe you had the nerve to actually showed up.”
“Well … I.”
“There’s no needed to say anything – not one word, Jose,” Josefina angerly blurted. “I, my brother, and good many of my friends have all seen you hanging out with other girls, you two-timer, and we all know your true colors. Not to mention, you even had the gall to date my best friend. She told me all about it.”
Jose blushed. “But ..”
“Don’t but me, Jose,” Josefina said. “This is goodbye, you worthless piece of shit … and that’s forever. And be glad I don’t ram one of my shoes up your ….”
And with that, the front door of the two-bedroom campus apartment slammed shut.
“Damn it,” Jose replied, head down-turned and open-mouthed, before making a lonely trip back to his car. ‘I guess it is over – permanently.”
“Man, wasn’t I ever stupid.”