Page 40 of Hunter's Hidden Camera
“Don’t turn this around on me!” says Oscar. “I see what you’re doing! I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid! You fucking someone else?!”
“Why don’t you ask Victor?!”
“Victor?! Why the fuck would I ask Victor?! I’m askingyou!”
Victor says, “Shut up, Blanca!”
Then, a thought slowly occurs to Oscar. He looks at Victor, then back at Blanca, then back at Victor again. He comes to a horrible realization. All the anger drains from his body. He is filled with what looks like deep sorrow. He feels betrayed.
Oscar says, softly, not wanting to believe what his mind is telling him to believe, “Victor?”
Victor lets go of Blanca. He holds up a palm toward Oscar. “We were gonna tell you. Not like this. But we were gonna tell you. We didn’t mean for this to happen. It just happened.”
Oscar looks down, as if he’s trying to piece together all the clues. He turns to Blanca, but can’t make eye contact. “Yesterday, when you said you were on your period and didn’t want to bang and made me go home. Was that true?”
Blanca, for the first time, dons a softer expression, something close to regret or remorse. “Nah. After you left, Victor came over.”
“Sorry, dude,” says Victor. “Wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“You and me are no good, Oscar,” Blanca declares. “We’re always fighting.”
“That’s ‘causeyou’realways starting it.”
“We’re always fighting, and me and Victor are different. We get along. And he treats me right.”
“Itreat you right.”
“But Victor’s like all romantic and shit. He buys me flowers and shit.”
Silence. There seems to be nothing left to say.
By this point, Davey has disappeared. So has the homeless woman. It’s like the rest of the world has faded away, and it’s just me, Oscar, Blanca, and Victor.
Victor and Blanca quietly get into Victor’s car and drive away.
I’m still holding onto Oscar, even though he doesn’t pose a threat any more. When I try to release him, he grabs my arm, indicating that he wants me to remain in this position. I notice that he has tears in his eyes. I can tell he’s trying to hold them back.
Oscar says, his voice trembling with sadness, “You and me.We’restill friends. Right, Hunter?”
I nod, emphatically.
“You said we’ll always be friends. Right?”
“Yes,” I say. “Always.”
Oscar begins to cry. He doesn’t try to stop it.
19
Campus
Oscar and I sit in my car quietly, watching people walk in and out of the 7-Eleven. Neither of us has said anything for several minutes.
Oscar seems to have repressed the image of the homeless woman eating chow mein (I mean, if you can forget about that, why wouldn’t you?), and is exclusively obsessing over his broken relationship. I know this because he keeps mumbling Blanca’s name and Victor’s name and swearing in Spanish under his breath.
I can only imagine what he is going through. As I’ve said before, he’s loyal AF. Like, one of his core beliefs is the idea of being loyal to those you are close to, to those you love. It’s not like he’s ever expressed his beliefs out loud or anything, but I just know through his behavior, through his actions.
So, inhisworld, someone close to him being disloyal tohimis not even in the realm of possibility. That’s why he never suspected that his girlfriend and friend were messing aroundbehind his back. And now, those two have put a serious dent in Oscar’s sense of trust in people, in the world, in God. What a horrible state of mind to be in.
