Treat You Better

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Crazy by Comparison.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Crazy by Comparison.

True to Elena's word, I got paired with Pedro while Angelo went with her. I wasn't complaining, Pedro was super cool.

He and Camilo had gotten a nice headstart on the food items list so I just helped him out with the rest.

"We need to get the peppers fresh which means I won't be getting some now." Pedro said as he heaved a sack of flour onto the back of his truck.

"Like the night before or in the morning?" I asked, sniffing as I loaded the other shopping bags on too.

"I could get them the night before..."

"I'll do it!" I said eagerly.

Pedro's brown eyes lightened up as he smiled down at me, "Oh, okay then, I uh...have a bunch of stuff to do anyways so I'll leave the peppers to you. Goodness, you're so happy to help, I wish my friends at church could meet you."

"It's nothing" I shrugged, with another sniff and a shy smile.

"'Nothing ' she says." Pedro chuckled, "How did you and our Angelino even meet? Let me guess, you walked over and talked to him first."

I ran the sleeve of my jacket under my nose and shook my head, "My ex boyfriend introduced us and Angelo took my coffee."

"Took your coffee?"

"Yeah, then he offered me some like it was his the whole time, but he was nice."

Pedro threw his head back with a small laugh, "That seems like something he could definitely do, well... besides the being nice to you part, Angelo has a thing with sharing. I'm surprised at how he landed himself you when he would barely share words."

"Yeah, he was pretty closed off, Tìa said he's always been like that. But at the same time, somehow we managed to become friends and..."
I cut myself off with a hard sneeze.

"¡Salud! You have a cold?"

I sniffled and nodded, it was part of my 'time of the month' package.
"Anyways, he's better now, we've like shared a few cups of Starbucks coffee some more times after that" I made a nonchalant wave gesture.

"Ohh, like on dates?" Pedro wiggled his eyebrows as he led me to the passenger side so he could help me up into the truck and away from the windy weather.

"What?" I laughed, "no that was way back like... before I broke up with..." I glanced down at my right arm still covered in my white cast covered in names. "Yeah I was with Hale then."

"Hm." Pedro shut my door and went around the front to his side. Once he got comfortable, he started the vehicle. "You changed too, do you feel soa?"

I looked down at my body, hoping to see a significant change besides the cast. "I hardly feel any different. It's just been a few days."

"Yeah, but when you first came to our home you looked like a puppy someone left out in the rain. Not really different from how you walked up to Angelo and I at Starbucks, you were timid..."

"Still am."

"And your big golden eyes were so sad and you looked terrified when Mami gave you a hug like... what was up with that though?"

I sank back into the leather seat, watching the cars ahead of us as we drove.
"Maybe I was a puppy left out in the rain." I murmured, "a lot of stuff happened to me Pedro, before I was brought here, but Angelo helped ...and Tìa Monica and my friends which include you and your siblings of course."

"See why I said you changed?" Pedro gave me a sideways smile. "Do you still feel like that puppy?"

I chuckled, "No, I feel great! Just being around you all is amazing."