ETHEREAL

4

"Mother, where is Dad?" I ask.
"He's in his office" She says, as she prepares dinner. Which is rare.

I furiously open the door, and ask him what I've been wanting to ask him. "Okay, tell me why a white boy in my class is telling me that you are tearing down a homeless shelter in orlando to build another stupid hotel! Please tell me he's an ardido and is lying".

"Mija, cálmate" he says. I can tell he knows im upset.

"How am i suppose to calm down, Pa! You know how much support the homeless need from people like you! Rich people! How are you going to just throw everything.. all the money you have donated to homeless organizations.. they wont mean anything if-"

"Mariana Preza! Ya" he interrupts me. "Since when do you question my morals?.. huh?" he looks me dead in the eyes and suddenly im quiet. "Mariana tu sabes la historia de mi familia. De nuestra familia. Tu sabes that in this position... the money that I have.. is clean.. my family has never forgotten its roots. We help those who need it. I know we have more money than we need, and you know whenever given the opportunity.. I help. I do not destroy. Mija tu sabes. Now, I don't know cual gringo te dijo esas estupideces pero I am not doing what he thinks. Yes, the homeless shelter is getting demolished, but I am gonna rebuild it in a new location. Twice the size. And i'm gonna sponsor it"

I still say nothing. I feel awful. I doubted my dad and for what? For a boy I literally don't know.

"Pa... I am so sorry. I- I do not know why I doubted you. Im sorry"

"It's okay mija. Don't let these new people get to your head. These people don't know me, they don't know you... Now i have some meetings to attend" he says.

I walk out his office, and as i head to my room i hear Ander. "Mari!" he calls out from the hallway. I didn't see him at the dinner last week, his mom said he was out with friends.

"Ander, what are you doing here?" Trying to sound happier than I actually am.

"Fer invited me to play soccer, your dad had a soccer field installed last night" he says. "Wanna play with me?"

I smiled and followed him. I remember my dad saying something about that yesterday. Our backyard was being filled up. When you walk into the front of our house, to the left is my dad's office, to the right a guest room, if you continue to walk straight, the kitchen is to the left and dining table to the right. Moving forward still is the living room and bar. There are big sliding doors that let's us see the backyard. There's a grilling station, pool, bonfire station, some outdoor furniture, and the soccer field. Behind our back yard is lots of open fields.

As Ander and I finish playing soccer and fall to the ground he says "So what's up with you? You seem a bit sad"

"Ah. Nothing." I try to play it off.

"You sure?... You know you can tell me anything" he says. The way he looked at me made me want to kiss him.

I contemplated telling him how i really felt. How i let a boy who i didn't even know get the best of me. Instead i said "I kinda miss my friends from new york" I said.

He gasped, a dramatic gasp. "Am i not enough for you?" he said. We both laughed. "Let me take you to pops. Its a diner in town that has really good shakes.."

"I am so down for shakes" my brother Fer says walking towards us from the sliding doors. "Should I invite Lu?" he says.

Ander and I look at each other and make a scrunched face. "Of course!" I say.

Here's the thing with Fer. He likes Lu. I know he does, but he's so scared to admit it. Ever since we been here he finds any excuse to see Lu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After we finish our shakes, the waitress comes and asks if we need anything else. She looks like she's in her early 30s, has long blonde hair, and is petite. As she walks away from us, I see Wyatt walk in.

He walks up to the cash register and I overhear him ask if his mom is almost done. They tell him she only has one table left and he says that he'll wait inside then. As he sits in the coffee bar area he sees me, and immediately walks out of pop's. Im confused? Does my presence make him that uncomfortable?

I tell my brother that i'll be right back and walk out of pop's. I follow Wyatt.

"What do you want?" He says.

I let out a sigh, and turn around to go back inside. I don't know why I wanted to clear up the situation about my dad with him. I owe him nothing.

"What? Did you wanna say something? Let me know how good of waitress my mom is?" he says.

I stop. What the fuck? He thinks I came outside to make fun of him? What the actual fuck.

"What? What are you-"

"I mean that's what you trust fund babies tend to do, you always have some slick shit to say. You don't love yourself so you do and say everything in your power to make others feel like shit. Go out of your way to make people feel bad. Tear shelters down to make room for more rich people who already have two houses, you-"

I started walking away, towards the front of the diner.

"Honey, are you okay?" the waitress who attended us stops me before reaching the front door. I didn't even realize I had tears in my eyes.

"Im fine" I wipe the two tears off my face and walk back in like nothing happened. Then, I see the waitress get in the car with Wyatt. That was his mom.