Starving Love -Luke Patterson

Chapter 2

I sat down at the table, as Ray placed down day old spaghetti.

I stared at the food as Julie cleared her throat.

She held out her hand so I grabbed hers and Carlos' hands.

"Your turn, Carlos." Ray said as we closed our eyes.

"Thank you for our leftovers and the power of the mighty microwave." Carlos said dramatically.

"Amen."

"Amen." We said after him.

"Carlos tells me he found you two in the studio." Ray spoke serving.

"Yeah, they were talking to themselves." Carlos said as Ray was about to give me food.

"I'm not hungry." He nodded.

"We were practicing lines for the play." Julie replied.

"Hello, hello!" Aunt Victoria's voice called as our eyes widened.

"Oh busted!" Carlos said.

We quickly hide the evidence that we left out a place for Aunt Rose just as Aunt Victoria came in.

"Spaghetti. Again?" She asked.

"I brought you my pasteles and arroz con pollo." She said placing it on the counter.

"Yum." Ray said.

"Mm." Julie agreed turning around.

"Thanks, tia."

"It smells great." I lied through my teeth.

"You can have it tomorrow." Victoria said going to the fridge.

"I can't let you have leftovers every night. My sister would kill me, may she rest in peace."

Victoria came over kissing the top of my head as she looked around the table.

"Oh... I see things here are going better?" We all nodded.

"Actually." Dad cleared his throat. "Julie and Kaia has been cleaning out mom's studio."

Julie filled her mouth with pasta as Tia smiled at us.

"Hopefully, we can get the house on the market and some offers soon." Dad said.

"Well, I like the sound of that. Moving from here is only gonna help you move."

I pulled my oversized sleeves over my hands.

"You've got to rip that Band-Aid off get the pain over with."

I looked up to see the boys, just as Julie let out a yell.

Everyone looked at her weirdly but me.

"That's her. Ripping off the Band-Aid." I told the alive people.

"That's my brave girl." Victoria said squeezed Julie's face.

"Hey, Kaia, I really like what you guys did with the place." Luke told me.

"You shouldn't be here." I snapped at him as Victoria gasped.

"Oh, I'm just here to help, mija."

"Oh... I think that's our cue to leave." I heard Alex say.

"She means you should be at pilates." Julie told her.

"Thanks for bringing us food." Julie hugged Victoria.

"We should've called first." I heard Reggie said.