Chapter Text
Tony felt Maria’s breath on his neck as she slept. Maria was practically sitting on his lap.
They had gotten on and off various busses this one leading to California. There were a few people on the bus, a family of three, a man strumming his guitar every few thirty miles, and an elderly woman who Tony hoped wasn’t lost.
The family of three had a little boy. He was reading a Superman comic book with great interest. He looked up and saw Tony’s sad brown eyes staring at him and gave him a wave.
Tony felt his hands shake for a moment and his breathing hitch. Maria stirred in her sleep and he calmed himself down. He couldn’t wake her…
He sighed and turned his head to look out the window.
“Where y’all headed?” The elderly woman asked.
“Oh, San Jose… what about you?” Tony didn’t expect anyone to talk to him at all this whole trip.
“Visiting my son and his wife in Sacramento. Is that your girlfriend?”
Tony thought for a moment and looked down at the sleeping Maria. He brushed the hair out of her face and she smiled softly.
“She’s my wife.”
The old lady blinked for a moment. “Oh, you two are young! But I married my husband when I was seventeen… where did you two meet?”
“At a dance… I um saw her across the dance floor.”
“Oh, how precious! Love at first sight!”
Tony blushed. “Oh I never thought of it that way but yeah…”
“Do you two want children… it’s probably too early to ask that…”
“I want kids… we haven’t talked about it much… I want daughters.”
“No sons to pass on your name?”
“I don’t think my name deserves to be passed on.”
The old woman’s eyes widened at his sudden cold tone and turned back around in her seat.
Maria let out sigh and rubbed her face. She yawned and stretched.
Tony thought she looked like a cat.
“I didn’t realize I fell asleep on you I’m sorry.” She said softly sleep still evident in her eyes.
“No, no it’s okay.”
She smiled at him and leaned up to kiss his cheek. She laughed for a quick moment.
“What?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over how tall you are… even sitting!”
Before he could respond the bus stopped.
“Final stop San Jose! Everybody off!”
Maria grabbed their suitcases and stood up.
“Ready?”
He smiled and grabbed her hand. “Yeah.”
One thing Maria was not expecting was how hot it was.
She was used to hot days of course she grew up on an island. And the summer in New York got hot, especially in late June. Maybe it’s because she had spent so much time on a cold bus with air conditioning blaring at her legs.
“The ocean…” Tony said suddenly.
Maria turned from the bus terminal and looked.
Off in the distance was the ocean waves crashing against the sandy beach. Women in bathing suits splashed each other. Men played volleyball. Little kids played in the sand.
Maria smiled, “what New York has an ocean?”
“Not like this…” he was almost memorized.
She grabbed his hand. “I’m hungry.”
Maria watched Tony outside talking on a payphone. She bite into a slice of pizza and chewed. Too greasy… she would miss New York pizza.
He hung up the phone. A group of teenagers ran past him with surfboards.
“Watch it square!”
“Get bent!” Tony cursed back.
Maria giggled.
Tony came back instead and slid into the chair across from her. He got out his wallet and began to count the money that Valentina had given them, along with his own cash.
“Tomorrow I made an appointment for a couple of apartments. We’re gonna have to stay in a motel tonight I think I saw one a little while… what?”
Maria was gazing at him with a far-off look. He couldn’t tell if she was sad or happy.
She leaned over and gently touched the side of his face, tracing a cut that was just starting to heal.
He had many bruises and cuts all over his body specifically his face but something about the cut near his eye got her attention.
“I’m sorry…”
“You have nothing to be sorry for Maria.”
Tony took her hand and kissed each of her knuckles.
She liked to just simply look at Tony. Of course, he was handsome with his deep brown eyes and hair that she couldn’t figure out if it was brown or dirty blond.
But sometimes she could look at Tony and tell exactly what he was thinking. He had just that expressive of a face. From the look of it, she could tell he was thinking about the rumble.
“I don’t hate you,” Maria said.
He looked up at her confused, still clutching her hand.
“I… I don’t get why.” Tony said after a moment of silence.
“I love you too much to ever hate you. Even when I’m mad at you… I could never hate you.”
“I don’t deserve that.”
Before Maria could respond a waitress came by and handed them a check.
“Are you full? You want anything else?”
Maria shook her head and watched Tony pull out cash.
“I saw a motel this way,” Tony said gesturing across the street.
Maria wanted to hold his hand but he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
The motel was probably the sketchiest place Tony had ever seen. When he turned on the lights he saw a cockroach run for cover.
“I’m gonna check for bed bugs…” Tony said trying to not show his contempt.
Maria closed the door.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Tony nodded and stripped the bed feeling around for any signs of bugs.
Maria opened the bathroom door and let out a scream. Tony ran over and saw a rat scurry out the room. He opened the room door and kicked the rat sending it flying, it let out a small scream.
“Este lugar es repugnante!” Maria ran a hand through her hair.
“I know,” Tony replied with a sigh.
Maria closed the bathroom door. Tony flopped on the bed hearing it squeak.
He heard the shower running. He decided to turn on the tv to drown out his thoughts. An episode of ‘I Love Lucy’ that he had never seen was on.
She made the shower as hot as she could, hot droplets of water hitting her ice-cold skin and thus fogging up the bathroom. She wondered what Anita was doing right now.
Was she eating dinner?
Had someone moved into Maria’s old room?
Was Anita even still there or did she move back to Puerto Rico?
Did any of her friends at work wonder where she was?
Did Anita hate her?
She let out a soft gasp when hearing the sound of canned laughter from just outside the bathroom door. She shut off the water and stepped out of the shower.
The room was full of steam and she wiped the mirror so she could see herself. She stared at herself for a few moments trying to see if she had changed at all.
Maria looked around and saw she forgot to bring in pajamas from her suitcase. She blushed for a moment…
She could ask Tony to bring her some… he had already seen her naked… she cleared her throat and held the towel tightly around her body.
She opened the bathroom door.
She saw Tony sitting on the bed that was too small for him.
God, he’s so tall…
“I forgot a change of clothes,” Maria said drawing Tony’s attention.
“Oh, I can bring you some from your suitcase…” Tony said only looking at her face.
She hadn’t expected that, she expect him to get nervous or embarrassed but he just gave her a reassuring smile. Was it wrong that she found that incredibly attractive?
Tony opened her suitcase and picked out a cotton pink nightgown.
“Oh that reminds me of something!“
Tony ran over to his duffel bag and pulled out a small brown leather notebook.
“I got this for you, when we were at that truck stop in Texas. I thought maybe you could write in it? I don’t know I get that sometimes you may not want to talk to me about certain stuff and that’s okay I just don’t want you to think you have to keep it all inside…”
Tony was about to hand it her the nightgown and the journal but she dropped the towel and jumped into his arms. Wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
She kissed him as passionately as she could and he fell back on the bed.
She pulled away and looked into his brown eyes.
His face was red, Tony cleared his throat. “Wow maybe I should just keep buying you journals if you’re gonna do this every time.”
She giggled and they embraced once more.
They would truly started a new life tomorrow… the life they deserved.