sweetheart

six

Chapter Six | Elara

The day after Gabriel's romantic intervention, I am tired and he is not on shift for a hot second, which all things considered is probably a hidden gift for me.

The nurse in charge of watching me this morning is none other than Samantha and I pray she is exchanged for someone more tolerable by the time my parents come here.

She chats often and nonsensically. Unlike the other nurses, who actually had a personality, she seems to talk about nothing and everything all at the same time with her main focus being my family company.

We, Varese Technologies, had started off small but steadily progressed to where we are now once we started dishing out the more sophisticated software. We began getting big-name partners such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and even Nintendo outsourcing to us and constantly renewing their contracts every few years because of our quality. Curating such an efficient business, forced us into the spotlight.

And then my last name became a dead weight.

I spend most of the morning at the window, watching the traffic as people try to get to work. They look tiny from here but I can almost pretend to see Mom and Dad from the street.

I sigh and watch as Samantha pours over a magazine, pointing out my siblings to me as if I didn't live in the same house as them for a good chunk of our lives.

All of my siblings and I have gone into somewhere in technology not because we were obligated but because we grew up tinkering with computers and electronics; I built my first PC with my Dad when I was eight.

We make a nice whole number of four.

The firstborn was Lola, all bouncy light brown hair and tan skin; she went into cybersecurity. I was the secondborn, and I loved patterns and numbers so data scientist it was. The third to come out was Daniel, with dark brown curls like mine and a boyish grin; he liked making things so he went into coding. And the baby of the family was Arlo with his brown wavy hair and unusually deadpan humor; he ended up liking software engineering.

We all got our Mom's amber eyes which Dad says feels like a hate crime but we gently inform him he colonized all of us since he's the Spaniard and we are all part Dominican. He never takes it well.

I eat breakfast by the window and debate the ups and downs of telling Samantha what I know of Gabriel's interest in her.

On the one side, he might actually get laid. On the downside, he might actually get laid.

I frown.

***

I return to my bed at around 10 AM and glance at Samantha before acknowledging her for the first time since she sat down in her designated chair, "Gabriel came by before he left yesterday."

She stops midsentence and peers up over the magazine, her eyes hopeful but also tinted with something resembling envy.

"I told him that you liked him and that you asked for my opinion."

"Ms. Varese!" she gasps, her cheeks turning red and I laugh, consoling her by shaking my head.

"No, it's okay. I got verbal confirmation he likes you back, girl. The ball's in your court now," I offer her a small smile, and her shriek of elation gets cut short by a couple bickering in Spanish in the hallway.

I watch as Mom and Dad look around the entire area before they finally catch sight of me and come running over, expressions of relief dawning on their faces.

"Oh, my beautiful Elara, are you okay my love?" Dad coddles me gently and I can't help it when I break down into tears.

By the time Mom joins in on the action all three of us are collectively sniffling and have sticky cheeks.