Marisol's POV- April 2018

I took a seat on the floor and tried to catch my breath as my old dance partner, Manny stripped off his t-shirt.

"I forgot how much you sweat" I admitted.

He chuckled as he made his way over to his duffle bag.

"It's why I always wore black and navy tops for competitions"

"I'm just glad you never smelled," I told him.

Sure he sweated a lot, but he never smelled of BO.

"The power of deodorant"

He slipped on a clean t-shirt.

"You helped me with my dilemma, and now we're going to go across the street to get some ice cream"

It wasn't even a dilemma.

"Oh Manny, you had everything under control" I stated.

Manny actually worked here during the weekends, and on occasion, he worked here during the week.

"I know you love me very much, but I'm not the reason why you left a baseball game before it even started"

As we waited to cross the street, he glanced at me.

"Start from the very beginning"

"I met Cody last summer" I began.

He shook his head.

"I know all of that, why'd you leave?"

"Desi actually announced that we were leaving," I said.

He hummed and hooked arms with me as we crossed the street.

"Well someone had to piss her off"

That's very true.

"So who pissed her off?"

"Cody's mom and sister" I answered.

"How?"

"They were a bit rude to me" I replied.

He frowned.

"So you're telling me that you let them talk to you that way?"

Kinda.

"Like I totally get the respecting old people and whatnot, but if you're being a bitch then you should be treated like a bitch"

"She's Cody's mom," I told him.

He rolled his eyes and held the door open for me.

"Like I get that you want to be respectful to her, but she's being rude and getting away with which is why she continues doing it"

True.

"So what did she say that made Des snap?"

"She told her daughter that I wouldn't last long" I replied.

He hummed.

"Well that's rude, I hope you two get married"

I laughed and got in line. Once we ordered our ice cream, we took a seat in a small booth.

"Quick question"

I signaled for him to ask away.

"Is this the same guy who stood you up last November?"

The second I bit my lip he shook his head.

"No"

"He didn't stand me up on purpose, his mom did" I explained.

"You don't need that type of negativity in your life. School keeps you busy, you don't need a guy's family taunting your free time"

He had a point.

"I hope I'm not the first to ask, but is he worth it?"

Before I could respond, his phone started ringing.

"Hey, coach, what's up?"

He looked at me.

"Yeah, I'm with Marisol"

He hummed.

"It depends, who's asking"

He rolled his eyes before sighing.

"Let me ask Mari if she wants to talk to Cody"

Looks like dad had told Cody where I was at. Once the call was muted, Manny spoke up

"Do you want to talk to him? Cause I can tell him to fuck off if you don't"

"Tell coach we will be over in a bit" I answered.

Cody was going to have to wait because I was going to enjoy my ice cream.

"Tell them to take a seat, we will be there...eventually"

He smiled.

"All right, see you in a bit"

"Please be nice," I told him.

He scoffed.

"No promises there Mari"

I knew better than to ask him how Med School was going.

"How's your love life?" I asked.

"Non-existant"

"What about Jake?" I questioned.

"I didn't tell you about that?"

I shook my head.

"I'm surprised Leo didn't tell you"

Leo loved to gossip.

"His parents threatened to cut him off, and he didn't want that to happen so he cut ties with me"

I frowned.

"He'll be back," I told him.

He chuckled.

"Like Anthony with Lucy"

Exactly.

"Would you get back with him?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"No, don't get me wrong we had fun but I'm not someone's second choice"

We finished our ice cream and made our way back to the dance studio. Cody stood up the second he saw me and made his way over.

"Hey"

"Hi" I greeted.

He looked at me and then at Manny.

"I'm Cody"

Manny nodded.

"I know who you are"

He stuffed his hands into his pockets before looking at me.

"You know where to find me"

I nodded and cleared my throat.

"Oh right, I'm Manuel"

They shook hands.

"I would say it's nice to meet you, but I would be lying to you"

He faked a smile at Cody's mom and sister before making his way into the hallway.

"I tried getting a hold of you, but eventually I just got your voicemail"

"Oh, sorry about that. It died, so it's been charging" I said gesturing to my phone behind the front desk.

He nodded.

"Can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about" I admitted.

A frown formed on his handsome face.

"Maybe it would be best if we stopped seeing each other," I told him.

His jaw tensed a bit.

"Can we talk about that?"

"There's nothing to talk about" I repeated.

"My mom and Ashli were rude to you and they will apologize to you"

"I don't need a forced apology" I replied.

I smiled.

"You're a great guy Cody" I began saying.

He bit his lip.

"But?"

"Your family decided they didn't like me before they met me" I stated.

I looked up at him.

"And I don't want to waste my time trying to change their minds when I could be using that time focusing on school," I said.

He slowly nodded.

"If that's what you want"

I smiled.

"I promised Manny I would help with his next class," I told him.

I reached over and lightly squeezed his hand before grabbing my phone behind the front desk. As I made my way into the hallway, Ashli spoke up.

"Marisol"

To which Cody replied.

"I think you've done enough"

As I walked down the hallway to the room where Manny was, the waterworks started. He looked up from his phone and frowned when he saw I was crying.

"Oh, Mari"

He pulled me into a hug.

"Yeah, now's not the time to apologize"

With one quick movement, he closed the door. After a couple of minutes, I pulled away from the hug.

"He's not worth your tears, I know it's not sustainable but how about we get some takeout and head to your place?"

I did not want my dad to see me like this, but I did want to go home.

"Okay," I said agreeing.

He smiled.

"Okay, let me get my stuff real quick and we'll head out"

As he picked up his stuff, I couldn't help but wonder if my decision was the correct one.