weekend trip

I decided to go a different direction with this but... this is where i started 🥰

x-x-x

Caro came to get Noelia and me from the university, where we were doing homework (AKA hanging out and gossiping).  Before she opened her mouth, I knew something was wrong.

“Ramon came into the shop and wants to talk with all of us.”

Noelia scrunched up her nose.  “Ramon?  Why? What does he want?” 

“He didn’t say but I think…”

“Don’t jinx it!” I said, but it was too late.

“... he knows.”

“Fuuuuuuck,” Noelia said, and I could see her heart dropping to her stomach.  “What are we gonna do?”

Caro shook her head.  “Right now we’re going to go to the meeting, stick to our story as best as we can, and fucking pray that he doesn’t murder us.”

“Aww come on, we didn’t do anything that bad,” I said as we began walking towards home.

Noelia agreed.  “Yeah, I mean, I can go to another country if I want.  I have a passport.  I have a ride.  What’s the problem with that?”

“No.”  Caro gave us both a hard look.  “You shouldn’t have done it.  And you shouldn’t have brought me into it.”

I touched her arm.  “Relax, I’ll take the blame.” 

“Ramon won’t care.”  She was really anguished about it, and I, like always, was anxious to see how this ended up.  If I could handle Ramon during the camping trip, I could handle this.  He doesn’t scare me!  (Okay he does just a little 😅)

“Guys, you didn’t do anything wrong.  I’ll take the blame.  I’m the one who wanted to leave the girls trip, and I’m the one who told you to lie for me.  And anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves – maybe he doesn’t know.  Let’s just stick to our story.  He won’t do anything if he doesn’t have proof.”  Famous last words.

I was the last to enter the living room, and the first thing I noticed was the wooden paddle on the side table.  It was the smaller one from the comisaria, the thuddy kind, not stingy.  Uh oh.

Mateo and Ramon had both been sitting on the couch, but stood upon our arrival.  “Sit,” Mateo said, already seemingly irritated.  

I tried to stay as confused-looking as possible, hoping he didn’t have any hard evidence on us.  This couldn’t be that bad, right?  

The two of them towered over us like disappointed parents.  “Caro, you used the truck this weekend.  Where did you go?” 

She gulped, entirely too nervous for her own good.  There was so much tension in the room.  “To the settlement…”

Ramon nodded.  “And yesterday you came home, from ‘the settlement’, correct?”

Caro nodded. “Yeah…”

“Any detours, Noelia?” 

“No.”  Her lie came out so easily.  Too easily.

“So you came straight home from the settlement.”  He looked at me.

“Yes…”

Now he glanced at Mateo, who just looked disappointed.  

I shifted in my seat as Ramon looked back at us.  “Care to explain to me how Caro and Lexi were seen in La Patria yesterday?”

My eyes widened – of course… leave it to town gossip to get us caught!  Wtf.

And it’s not like we could deny it at this point because… it’s not like there are many pairs around here that look like Caro and me.  And… everybody literally knows everybody.  Should’ve seen this coming.

I glanced over at Caro, who hung her head, and Noelia, whose head was held high.  

Ramon folded his arms.  “Explain.  Now.”

Noelia tried.  “Oh, I forgot, Lexi wanted to do her photography thing up by the fort, so we stopped in La Patria.  I must’ve been in the bathroom.”

“Caro.  Look at me.”  She was chewing on her lip as she glanced up at Ramon.  He stood there, body rigid, looking hott as ever, but also a little scary.  Eek!  He was really not playing.  Maybe this was slightly more serious than I’d given it credit for… “Why were you in La Patria yesterday?”

“Lexi wanted pictures…”

“Then why did you lie about it 5 minutes ago when I asked you?”

“I… I don’t know?”

“Because it’s a bullshit excuse.  Tell me the truth, right now.”  Caro glanced sideways, but Ramon cut her off.  “Do not look at them.  Look me in the eyes.”

Ooof, Caro was definitely going to break… I knew she didn’t want to let Noelia down, but…

“I asked her to…”

Ramon held up his hand to signal for me to shut up, not taking his eyes off Caro.

Noelia and I squirmed in our seats, wanting to answer for her, wanting anything to get this over… except what actually happened…

“What do you want me to say?” she finally asked.

“The truth.”

A tear streamed down Caro’s face.  “We were supposed to meet Noelia there.”

Ramon still didn’t break eye contact.  “Elaborate.”

“I didn’t know.  When I agreed to take them to the settlement.  I didn’t know Noelia wasn’t going with us…” She trailed off, wiping some tears away.

There was an impatient edge to Ramon’s voice when he said, “Where did Noelia go.”

“She went with her friend.”

“Are you going to make me pry every detail out of you?  Fine.  Who did she go with?  Where did she go?  When did she leave you?  Was this your intention all along?”

Caro’s lower lip quivered.  “Can’t she just tell you?”

“I’m asking you, Carolina.”

“When we left here, Noelia just wanted me to drop her off at the hotel.  She was going to a border town… with Emilio.”

“Emilio?”  Mateo suddenly piped up.  “Noelia, what were you doing with him again?  I told you to stay away.  He’s a drug smuggler for god’s sake!”

“You don’t even know him!  He’s a good guy!”

Oh, I was living a telenovela.  How wonderful.

“I know enough!”  He let out a growl and walked out of the room to breathe.

Ramon wasn’t finished with his interrogation.  “What border town.”

Caro looked at Noelia, who finally decided to speak.  “I went to *name of place in other country*.”

The whole vibe dropped… like hard.  “You did what?”  Now it was Ramon’s turn to get loud.

I would say, good thing Mateo was in the other room and didn’t hear it, but um… he had come back at the perfect time of course.  Now he just looked disappointed again, maybe a little pouty.  He didn’t like Noelia’s crush.  And he knew there was nothing he could do about it.  His protectiveness was so cute, it brought tears to my eyes.  

But that moment was short lived as Ramon decided to get the story straight. 

“You went out of the country with a suspected drug trafficker?  Did he have drugs on him?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know?!”  That was Mateo again.  Not doing the best job of keeping it in.

“I didn’t ask him!  I’m not just gonna be like ‘hey everyone thinks you’re a smuggler so can you show me your secret hiding spots so I can see if we’re taking drugs’!”

Ramon again.  He was angry, too, but it came out more controlled and commanding and confident.  All the C’s.  “Of course there were drugs in the car.  Why else would he want to go to *border town*.  Why would you want to go?  What the hell, Noelia.”  Then he turned back to Caro.  “And you.  You know better than this.  Letting her go with this guy?  Not telling anyone?  Lying about it when I asked you directly?”

“I’m sorry…”

He ignored her, instead shifting his focus to me.  Dammit.  I thought I was going to be invisible for this one.  “And Lexi, what’s your part in this?”  I wanted to sink into the couch.  I lied earlier… I can’t handle another Ramon spanking… 

“I… um… she…” Words did not find me.

Good thing Ramon knows me so well.  “Did you know about this before the trip?”

“I didn’t know you guys were serious about thinking he’s a gangster or whatever.  She just wanted a little romantic getaway with her man.  Nothing wrong with that.”

His sigh could have powered a windmill.  “So you encouraged her.”

“Wellll…” I trailed off, hoping he would just declare what he already knew, but nope, he wanted to make me say it.  “Yeah, kinda… I mean… girls just wanna have fun?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Noelia said.  “I wanted to have fun.  There’s never anything fun around here.”

“Enough.”  The sharpness in his voice made us all go still and silent.  Then he turned to Mateo.  “You’ve already discussed this ‘relationship’ with her?”

“Of course, but she doesn’t want to listen to me.  Maybe she will listen to you.”

Ramon nodded, turning back to us.  “I’m going to handle this.  Lexi, you’re first.”

I jumped a little in surprise.  I don’t think I’ve ever been first 😅.  

I pushed myself up from the couch as Ramon grabbed a chair and placed it in the center of the room.

“Wait… in here?!” 

“This is a community offense.”  He sat down and waited for me to shuffle towards him.  “Shorts and panties down.”

I blushed a deep shade of red as I glanced around the room at everyone acting like this is just a normal thing that happens because… it is.  Which is something I may never get over.  

Ramon popped my thigh.  “Now, Lexi.”

Now my face turned even redder, if possible, as I obeyed his order and nearly jumped across his lap.  His arm circled my waist and he didn’t waste any time.  The first swat landed, harder than I remembered from the camping night, also a million times more embarrassing because… well at least then it was dark and we were a little more private.  Here I was just out in the open, for all of them to see.  And omg.  Ramon wasn’t playing.  

He covered my entire bottom and sit spots, and I managed to only cry out and kick a little, not reach back, not beg him to stop.  Unfortunately, Ramon has some kind of spidey sense when it comes to making sure a spanking has the right kind of impact, and of course he could tell that I didn’t realize the seriousness of what happened.

“Lexi, what did you do wrong?”

“I lied about Noelia and where we went.”