♥ 𝙑𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎 𝘿𝘼𝙔 ！

⭒ ♪ ❝ 𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙗𝙪'𝙨 𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 ❞ ♪ ⭒
———————— (chapter two)

©ivysbookgarden , march. 2024

tw: mentions of Barbie doll decapitation

When Corazon was four years old her and Gabe got into their first fight, she had eaten his Oreo cookies and in retaliation he ripped her favorite Barbie's head off. After an hour of crying and chasing Gabe around the house, Corazon's papá managed to get her to stop trying to bite Gabe. Their argument was resolved over cookies and cream ice cream and a new Barbie doll.

Their next big fight was when Corazon turned ten, her brother had turned fifteen and discovered girls, and he decided to invite his newest girlfriend Ashley, to Corazon's birthday party. Now, please remember Cora was only ten years old and her brother's affection was one of her dearest possessions (other than her Barbie pop up camper and her three floor dreamhouse), Cora's jealousy had gotten the best of her and she managed to tilt the giant birthday candle towards Ashley's silky blonde hair, burning the tips off, it was a miracle the Harvey's hadn't sued. The next day Gabe threw her Barbie pop up camper in the dumpster and ripped Skipper's head off. The sibling's mother made it better by having Gabe take Cora to Toys R Us where he bought her a new Skipper doll and took her out for cookies and cream ice cream.

This time there weren't any Barbie's for Gabe to damage, and Cora claimed she was too grown up to do something other than avoid him. So they settled into a new pattern, Gabe would wake up early and try and gain Cora's forgiveness and Cora would avoid him. For two weeks Cora had done an amazing job at avoiding her brother, but Gabriel's girlfriend, Lina knew them too well.

"Corazon baja un momento por favor" Lina's voice rang out from the kitchen below.

"What's up?" Cora should've seen this coming, of course Lina was going to try and solve things, it was one of the things she did best when it came to her and her brother.

"Gabe and I are thinking of making some dinner, are you down?"

Faking guilt, Cora frowned. "I have plans with Gus, sorry. He's coming to pick me up in a few minutes."

Her smile dropping, Lina responded clearly disappointed in Cora's answer. "Oh okay, we'll leave out some leftovers for you"

"Sounds good, im gonna go get ready" Cora said turning around to go back to her room.

Shutting the door behind her, Corazon rushed to her bed and texted Gus.

Cora: GUS! 911

Gus: DID YOU FINALLY KILL JAKE?! I GOT THE PERFECT PLACE TO HIDE THE BODY

Cora: no crime was committed and for the sake of your freedom i'm going to ignore that.

Gus: if you didn't commit a felony then why is there a 911?

Cora: i lied to lina and told her we're going out today so i could avoid my brother

Gus: YOU LIED TO LINA?!

Cora: I KNOW ITS BAD BUT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. pls back me up

Gus: malibu's?

Cora: pick me up in 15?

Gus: sounds good

With a relived sigh, Corazon turned to her closet, immediately searching for something to wear, forever grateful Gus always had her back. She didn't really enjoy lying to Lina, but she was trying to get a point across, and Gabe needed to understand she wasn't a little kid. As a way to tune out her thoughts Corazon pressed shuffle on her library, thoughts replaced by the sound of MUNA, as she waited for Gus to pick her up.

Malibu's was this cute ice cream parlor on the pier that Cora and her family had been going to her whole life. It easily became her and Gus' favorite spot to hang out in when emergency hang outs were needed. It was now a hot spot for Redmont's teens, specially on weekends, but it still remained as Corazon's favorite place.

"So you're still avoiding your brother?" Gus asked looking at the menu, as they both waited their turn to order. Cora already knew what she was going to get, the only time her order changed was whenever she got reconciliation ice cream with Gabe, but Gus was more adventurous and he had made it his mission to try every flavor in Malibu's, he was only missing two, and whatever new flavors were released.

"Mhm, I'm waiting for him to apologize"

"Is it really that bad if you apologize first?" Gus questioned, he knew the Delgado's tended to be stubborn, but sometimes he truly believed his best friend and her brother were the most dramatic people on Earth.

"If I apologize first it's like admitting Gabe is right, which he's not, and as his little sister I can't give him that power" Cora reasoned as she got her wallet ready.

Gus rolled his eyes, of course that was why she was avoiding her brother. "Cora that's so-" he stopped mid sentence as he laid his eyes on an unfamiliar menu item. "Is peanut butter pie a new flavor?"

"I think so" Cora shrugged.

With an appreciative hum, Gus faced forward, ready to say his order. "Hey Nat, can I have a cone of peanut butter pie and a two scoop cup of orange and chocolate with m&ms on top?"

"That'll be $20 Gus" Nat, the owner, said. It wasn't rare for him to take over the cashier sometimes, he was always around working on something.

Gus payed the man, reaching for the two ice creams, giving Cora her cup. The girl looked frozen in time, a frown present over her now pale face. Gus turned to look at what she had seen only to find Zora Mills feeding Jake Lowell ice cream. Sometimes forgot how much Jake had truly meant to Cora, they had been so close, so in love, and it only took one summer for Jake to care about someone else, some other girl he had met that didn't eat orange ice cream with M&M's on top and didn't paint her room purple, some other girl that didn't write songs when she was upset and didn't love the Twilight movies and Olive Garden. Zora Mills was everything that Corazon Delgado wasn't and seeing Jake fawn over her reminded her of that.

"Hey Cora, the dock bench is empty let's go eat there" Gus suggested with a sympathetic smile, he knew all Cora wanted to do was leave, but he wouldn't allow her to give Jake or Zora the satisfaction of leaving.

A strange silence settled upon the duo as they walked towards the bench, it was obvious Jake's appearance had upset Cora, and Gus hated him for that.

The silence between them was broken by the sound of Gus letting out a pleased hum as he ate his ice cream. A smile settled over Cora's face, she always found Gus' mission hilarious. "So what's the verdict on peanut butter pie ice cream?" She asked, sitting on the bench.

"Mrs. Nat has once again changed lives" Gus responded, he looked like a kid opening the biggest box under the Christmas tree, he was that happy with the ice cream.

"You do know her name isn't actually Mrs. Nat right?"

"Yeah but I don't like using her actual name, way less fun that way" Gus shrugged, as he started chewing on his cone. They both started laughing, Cora's blue mood long forgotten as the duo's laughter took over everything.

Gus and Cora's laughing fit was interrupted by a new voice behind them. "Baby, I'm just saying they should start respecting you as a team captain, it makes you look like more of an authority figure to them" Zora was apparently in the middle of an advice rant to Jake as they walked along the dock, Jake clearly not paying attention to her. His attention was directed towards Cora, actually towards his thoughts of her, he couldn't help but miss her as Zora once again tried to advise him on how to be a better team captain, Cora wouldn't have done that, she would've probably encouraged him and made fun of him along with his friends even though she had never felt all too comfortable with them. But Zora wasn't like Cora, she fit right in with his friends, quickly bonding with the girlfriends over their common love for the latest pop albums on the radio and who did their nails.

"Babe, hello? Are you listening to me? Jake" Zora exclaimed frustrated at her boyfriend's lack of attention to her words.

"Sorry Cor-Zora. I zoned out" Jake excused, his eyes settling over to his girlfriend's face. It seemed like she hadn't caught on to his small slip, it wasn't something that happened often, him confusing the two names, but whenever it did Zora made sure to correct him.

"It's almost curfew we have to go" She reminded him softly as she discarded the ice cream cup previously in her hands. Taking his hand the couple left, leaving a wide eyed Cora and a laughing Gus.

"Did you see what I saw or am I crazy?" Cora asked turning to Gus, whom was doubled over in amusement.

"You mean him confusing your names? I don't know how she didn't catch that it was hilarious" Gus said, as his laughter settled down.

"Other than that, they were eating orange ice cream. You know who eats orange ice cream? Me!" Cora questioned, the thought of Jake sharing something as Cora's favorite ice cream with his new girlfriend enraged her.

"It's like she's your replacement, except she doesn't watch as much Twilight" Gus concluded, an amused smile never leaving his face. The thought of Zora being a copy was amusing to him while horrifying to Cora.

With a defeated sigh, Cora turned to the trashcan, discarding her ice cream. "This is crazy, let's just go home" She was clearly frustrated with the topic, and staying in the dock, its ambience now ruined by theories of replacements and old flames.

"Kk" Gus responded as they both started walking towards the car. It was obvious to both that the outing had done a great job in distracting Cora from the argument with her brother, unfortunately Cora's thoughts of the argument were replaced by thoughts of Jake, and his new girlfriend. His new girlfriend with the name so similar to hers, with the perfectly filed nails and neatly pressed soccer uniform. Jake with his lacrosse uniform and his haircut that framed his perfect face. The perfect couple, not like Jake and Cora, with their endless disagreements and her stubborn tantrums and endless scribbling away at journals full of musical thoughts, and Jake with his dedication to his sport and social status. Cora couldn't help but envy them, it was well established in her mind that her and Jake were never perfect, but she wanted to be part of a perfect pair. Staring out the window of Gus' car, Cora zoned out to the sounds of Lana Del Rey on the radio.

Gabriel Delgado truly believed he was a good brother to Corazon, he kept up with her school, made sure everything she liked to eat was always in the pantry, had movie nights with her every two weeks, and of course he put her above all. Which is why he is currently faced with the great predicament of commitment, he loved Lina, he truly did, but he didn't want to have to force Cora to live with her, and it wasn't that easy to ask for her opinion since she was doing an amazing job at avoiding him. He had been dating Lina for two years, three in a month and Lina had given him time to sort out everything after his parents died, but she had expected him to at least talk about eventually moving in together, yet the subject had never come up. That was until last night when Lina thought dinner was a good time to talk about it. It was safe to say the whole thing ended with Lina storming out the house just as Cora got home.

Now, Gabe was taking breakfast up to Cora's room in an attempt to form some sort of truce with his sister. The sound of Cora's keyboard and humming took over the silent house as he made the motion to knock on her door.

Cora's voice resounded from her bedroom as she let Gabe know he could come in. It took a lot for Gabe not to act surprised as she went in the room.

"Hey, I brought you some breakfast, and maybe some reconciliation ice cream" Gabe greeted as he laid the tray on Cora's desk. With a soft sigh he moved to sit in the corner of her bed, motioning at her piano, "That's a nice melody you've got going there. It reminds me of that ice cream truck back home," He paused, watching a small smile appear as she grabbed the ice cream bowl and the two spoons. "You used to go crazy whenever you heard it, running around the house looking for Papi's wallet, and you always did these puppy eyes, that suckered him into buying ice cream no matter the time"

They both dug into the ice cream as Cora let out a soft hum, as if she was considering giving him a response. She smiled, "I'm pretty sure the ice cream truck guy went out of business after we moved." She knew what Gabe was trying to do, he was trying to apologize without actually apologizing, they both excelled at it.

Looking up from the ice cream bowl, Corazon faced Gabe, "Gabe, are you going to apologize?" She asked, Cora didn't plan on apologizing anytime soon if Gabe didn't.

He looked at her, a bit dumbfounded, he was well aware he had some apologizing to do, but Cora had never approached the aftermath of an argument like that. She always bid her time, ignored him until he felt bad enough to muster up the courage to apologize, but that was always when Gabe had actually done something bad. Now she sat there, sharing a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream with him, wondering if his apology was coming anytime soon, and he couldn't help but wonder when she planned on apologizing. "Are you?"

Corazon's soft gaze turned into a glare as she took in her brother's response. They had both said bad things during that argument and she couldn't believe Gabe was trying to turn this on her. Pushing the ice cream bowl away Corazon cleared her throat "Gabe I think we both know who's apologizing first and it's definitely not me"

Gabe sighed, he didn't expect Corazon to actually present an attitude when there was reconciliation ice cream present, it was in the name, it was meant to make them reconcile. "Look Cora, I am sorry about what I said, I know you're not a kid and that I'm not Papi. But I am the one taking care of you, and you need to respect me and my rules"

"You were giving me shit about a pair of shorts, Gabe, don't you think you were being a bit overdramatic?" She questioned, averting her eyes to the plate of waffles on her desk, Gabe knew she loved waffles.

Gabe smiled, noticing his sisters reluctance to get the waffles. "They're not poisoned you know? We can settle for a truce, we already had the ice cream." It seemed like Cora liked the idea of truce waffles because she almost immediately stood up from her position on the bed towards the plate. "And as for our argument, I was being a tiny bit overdramatic, but can you blame me? I didn't know where you were going, and you were wearing this tiny pants, I was worried. And I saw you get out of that truck, my mind just immediately went to the scary place"

"The scary place?" Cora questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah you know, sex, teenage pregnancies-"

Cora's eyes widened as she choked on her waffle "Ok, ok, ok I get it! You have the worried brother thing on lock, got it"

Gabe smiled, getting up from the corner of the bed, "Alright, I'll leave you to your ice cream melody" He said, closing the door behind him.

Cora sighed setting her plate aside as she started playing out the melody stuck in her head. Seeing Jake again had gotten Cora back into songwriting, except now she wasn't writing love songs, she was writing about heartbreak, mainly. It led to the realization that all of her songs were about him, at least some of the good ones, and she hated it. Cora hated being that girl, the one whose world revolves around her ex, but right now it did. All she could do was think about how she was wronged, the pain, the feeling of rejection and replacement. With a sigh, she went back to her page and sang the words she had previously written.

"Do you talk to her, confuse her name." She paused, realizing how bad the words sounded, "Oh no that's terrible. Maybe phone?" Sighing she went back to the piano, "Do you phone her, trip up our names, shit, that was shit that's what it was." She quickly crossed off the line and went over different lyrics in her head.

"Do you text her, no because autocorrect exists" Laying down, placing her notebook on top of her face Cora sighed, "He was talking to her. Do you talk to her, almost say my name?" Quickly getting up, Cora placed the small keyboard on her lap as she thought over something she liked.

"Do you call her, almost say my name, cause let's be honest, we kinda do sound the same" Cora smiled, writing the new lyrics down as she reached for her plate, she was back.

Cora needed to vent. She also needed a caramel macchiato, because somehow she always ended up writing after she had one. Which brought her to her current position at the Sunrise cafe, where she was waiting for her coffee as Gus looked for a table.

"Caramel macchiato" The server called out as he placed two cups down on the counter, before turning around. Cora reached for her cup just as another hand moved to grab the other one, looking at the receipt Cora quickly realized the coffee wasn't hers.

"Hey excuse me, I think this is yours" Cora called out, tapping the boy.

Turning around the curly headed teenager smiled as he read the receipt attached to the cup. "Extra caramel, yeah that checks out". He said as he moved to switch cups with Cora.

Cora smiled, "You're Angel right? You're in that band" she suggested tilting her head.

"Yeah hopefully I'll stay there" Angel responded, handed scratching the back of his neck. The truth was his current position as the Tangible Dreams' guitarist was rather precarious. With their lead singer Collin ,quitting two weeks ago , the rest of the band members were at a crossroads , and without what's a band without a lead singer?

Cora frowned "What do you mean, you guys are great" She remembered them playing Kelly Toomes' birthday party the year before and they had sounded amazing.

"Yeah but our lead singer quit the other night"

"Oh shit really?" Cora's eyebrows rose, she remembered Gus telling her about Collin and Moriah Hendrix.

Angel rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, he made this whole argument on how he was better than our keyboardist, and he made us choose, and well Moriah, she's fucking incredible so we chose her."

"And he didn't like that"

"Not at all, so we're trying to figure out what to do before we make a move and stuff you know?"

"Yeah I understand"

"You sing right? I remember you from Mrs. Townes' music class in eight grade"

"Yeah but it's nothing really serious"

"Well if we have auditions you should show up." Angel said before taking a sip of his coffee, "I have to go but it was really nice to talk to you Cora."

"Yeah same to you bye"

As she made her way back to the table, Cora taught over her conversation with Angel, she had never considered actually singing for the world. Her dreams all lay in the lone category of songwriting, but now that Angel had talked about auditions the idea of singing for a crowd didn't seem too bad.

When Cora reached her table Gus looked starstruck, the Tangible Dreams were practically celebrities in Redmont High School and Cora wasn't one known for chatting their guitarist up. "Was that Angel Salazar?"

Cora gave him an awkward smile, "Yeah we confused our orders, he's actually really nice". The look Gus have her was one that had her retelling the short interaction to him and as she got closer to the end, Gus' smile only grew bigger.

"Are you gonna audition?" Gus asked, he sounded excited about it which only made Cora feel like she should audition. But then again, singing to a crowd wasn't  a forte these days.

"I'm not big on singing to people Gus, being in a band is big on that." Her response had Gus rolling his eyes, Cora had never realized her potential for singing, she only wrote songs and hid them from the world, and he wholeheartedly believed joining The Tangible Dreams could lead her to unlocking said potential.

"Well, it's just an audition, so it wouldn't be a crowd per se, it's just what? four people? You'll be fine" He said, shrugging it off. "Plus, you could sing that new song of yours you haven't let me hear."

Ah, the song, the song she had written about Jake in a horrible moment of anger and pettiness. The song about that moment at Malibu's. Of course Gus knew about it, Cora had told him she wrote something that morning, but she wasn't ready to show him it. Honestly Cora should've kept her mouth shut, she got Gus all excited about a new song that she now refused to show him, and knowing him he wasn't planning on giving up any time soon. "Or I could sing a cover, like every person auditioning for a band." She said, snapping off a piece of the croissant in front of her.

Gus' eyes widened, "So you're doing it?" He began to smile, "Cora that's great! You can put your songs out with them, and gain a following, it'll be great!"

"I don't really know what I'm gonna do yet Gus, but I'll definitely consider auditioning," She paused looking up, "That is if they even hold auditions."

"Well, I think you should, you have nothing to lose by auditioning, if they don't like you then screw them, but if they do, then you gain a way to get your music out there, a way to grow as a songwriter, that's something that you can't get writing songs in your room all alone."

Cora pursed her lips, Gus was right. She wouldn't lose anything by auditioning, in fact she might gain something. But the idea of showcasing her songs like that intimidated her, knowing that someone in that band might not like them, that she might in fact be a good songwriter and her dreams were pointless. She knew they weren't pointless, her papi had taught her to never think of a dream as pointless if there was even the slightest chance of it coming true. But Cora's insecurity hung over her head like a dark cloud on a rainy day, and it was never ending. She only hoped that when the sky cleared the metaphorical sun would be the band's acceptance of her and a crowd's enjoyment of her songs.

The clashing of forks against porcelain filled the silent dining room. The Delgados' had now established a routine of silence and avoidance. Neither of them wanted to talk about what mattered, and what didn't mattered made the conversation awkward, so they settled for silence, and a question once in a while. Like now,

"So, watch anything good lately?" Cora asked through a bite of her chicken.

Gabe shrugged,"Not really, saw that Juan Luis Guerra concert on HBO."

Cora hummed in response, and the silence returned as the siblings ate their chicken and rice.

They were both clearly deep in thought, about different things of course. Cora was thinking about those band auditions and Gabe was thinking about his girlfriend, ex-girlfriend? He didn't really know anymore.

Of course, him and Lina never actually broke up, but the way she stormed out the previous night had made it seem like it.

"I think Lina should move in with us"

Gabe stopped mid-bite, had Cora heard the fight? No it was impossible, she came home just as Lina left. Maybe she heard him stressing out loud. Fuck, he had to respond.

"What are you talking about Cora?" He knew, but better to play dumb.

She scooped up a bit of rice,"I heard a bit of it when I was coming in last night, You guys were really loud," That was code for standing outside the door for ten minutes snooping before she opened the door.  "Are you scared of commitment or something?" Cora asked, taking a bite of her food.

Gabe sighed, took a swig from the glass of water in front of him," Corazón I don't want to talk about this with you."

"You've been together for like three years, and she sleeps over almost every day. Not much would change" Cora was quite pushy when she wanted to be.

"Corazón deja el tema" He stated, standing up from the table, he wasn't in the mood for her tonight, she gathered.

Cora moved away from the table, "Fine then, let your relationship fall to shambles, but Lina's a great girl and you shouldn't let me stop you from moving her in." And with that last statement she dropped her dishes in the sink and went up to her room, making sure to slam the door on her way in for dramatic effect.

authors note : heyy, I hope everyone is doing great today, thanks for reading. Honestly you guys should thank foxgIoves cause binge reading flatline is what got me to finish this chapter. I did my best with this (ik it sucks) but it's ok cause at least it's up! don't be a silent reader pls! your opinions matter to me and I would love to hear input on how the story is flowing so far!

well that's all for today, love you guys!