Midnight Rain; Cordell Walker

iv. cordell

     Cordell wasn't paying attention to the T.V that Bonham had been watching. After being kicked out of the kitchen by Abeline, both ended up in the living room with Augie and Stella, but they all sat in silence watching the T.V.

     At first, Cordell hadn't noticed Celisa walking in until she huffed and sat next to him on the sofa. The only other available seat in the living room. He came out of his daze when she sat down, straightening up and fixing his seating. He notices that she scoots as close to the opposite side of the two-seat couch as she can, also because Cordell purposely widened his legs the smallest bit towards her.

     "Cut it out," she tells him, pointing a finger at him, making him grin like a child testing his mother.

     She's pressed to the arm of the couch as much as she can be, but Cordell doesn't readjust himself to make her more comfortable. Just leaves himself the way he is because he's being petty and he knows that he's being petty.

     Cordell doesn't say anything, waiting to see if Celisa would start anything because of his pettiness, having an amused smirk as he looks back at the T.V.

     "Cordell," Bonham speaks, making Cordell look over at his father with the same amused look. "Don't," his father says to him, motioning to the small space that he's left for Celisa and not able to sit comfortably. Cordell huffs like a child and moves his legs away from Celisa, making her sigh of relief and fix her seating so she was more comfortable. She mumbles a thanks to Cordell and leans back into the cushions of the couch.

     He would never admit that he was more of a child than his own children when it came to bothering Celisa. Anything and everything to get her pissed off made his day.

❀❀❀

     When dinner was served, Cordell's attention was mostly to his kids who were telling him about their days and asking him how the conferences went with their teachers. Cordell talked about all their classes that requested conferences, other than Stella's classes with Celisa. Not really because there was anything wrong with it, but Celisa was sitting right in next to him like she'd always done since the Friday Night Dinners began.

     She seemed zoned out when Cordell glanced up at her and chewed his food. She was moving around the carrots across the plate before actually picking it up with fork and eating it slowly. Every so often, Cordell would look back up at her. The "protective dad" in him noting the tiredness she gave off as she kept to herself the majority of the dinner.

     He tried not to feel for her as she stifled a yawn, looking away from the table so they wouldn't see. If he had liked Celisa as a person and she didn't have a car, he would've offered her a ride home after dinner, but none of those options applied, therefore, he continued on with his dinner and with his conversation with Stella and Augie.

     After the talk with his mother before Celisa showed up, the words in the back of his head kept repeating. Call a truce. Be nice to her. She works hard. Blah, blah, blah.

     Eventually, he looked over again and saw her check the time on her phone. The wallpaper of her chocolate labrador with the time above her head. It was already past eight, and he knew better than all that she was exhausted.

     One of the times she stayed late helping Bonham with the horses, she fell asleep on the couch while Abeline called Lourdes to pick her up. Cordell had asked Abeline how she managed to fall asleep so quickly, mostly a rhetorical question, until Abeline said that she always fell asleep early even if she wasn't tired.

     Now that Celisa was older and worked more, much like Cordell, he was obviously aware that her job was hard and took a lot of energy.

     Cordell huffed before looking over at her. "Tired?" He asked her casually, taking a swig of his drink.

     Celisa looked up at him with a surprised expression, but narrowing them the more she looked at him. "No," she said, her voice laced with skepticism. "No, not at all."

     Lie.

     Her eyes were pretty much closed.

     He snorted, shaking his head and going back to his dinner. "I was gonna offer you a ride home so you don't crash and burn, but never mind."

     "I'm perfectly capable of driving myself home, thank you," she says with a mocking tone.

     Neither of them notice that the table has gone silent and are now watching the bicker between him and Celisa.

     "Fine, fine. Drive yourself home in an exhausted state for all I care."

     "Cordell," his mother warns, lowering her hand onto the table by her plate. Abeline's warning doesn't stop Celisa.

     "Upset your plan of driving us off the road backfired?" She challenges.

     "Shame, isn't it?" Cordell retorts, now facing Celisa.

     "Don't tell me you've spent more than a decade plotting my murder only to fail now?" Celisa continues. "In the wise words of William Shakespeare, 'His wit's as thick as a Tewkesbury mustard.'" Celisa was clearly proud of herself for that one.

     In fact, Cordell would've bursted out laughing if he hadn't thought of another comeback. "Simply saving the real thing for a special occasion," he says. "Trust me, I won't make the same mistake again."

     Her middle finger is in Cordell's face before either of them could process it and he's still from the suddenness of her actions as if it was anything so serious. It wasn't. They've said worse.

     Abeline and Lourdes gasp and Catalina bursts out laughing. At Catalina's laughter, Augie and Stella snicker and Bonham covers his mouth to hide his own.

     "Cordell, that is enough," Abeline scolds while Lourdes scolds Celisa and pushes her hand down. "Celisa Luciana Martinez!"

     When it came to growing up, Celisa kept Cordell young just as much as Cordell kept her young while still making white hairs appear in the midst of her long brown hair.

     "She started it!" Cordell goes on to say, feeding in to his childish behavior.

     "Cordell," Bonham says, his own laughter still being hidden.

     Celisa grows red from the embarrassment, but glares daggers at Cordell. "Excuse me," she mutters, tossing her napkin by her plate and standing up, walking out of the dining room and most likely to the bathroom to cool off.

     Abeline made him take her home.