I Love You, I'm Sorry; Sydney Adamu

010. Growing Sideways

"No, you got it all wrong!" Richie pointed at the man in front of him.

They didn't even make it through the front door yet. The petty arguing had been going on for at least five minutes at this point.

Carmen stared off into the space in front of him, hoping that the arguing would subside soon, and Alessia dropped her head onto his shoulder, this was going to be a long day.

"It's literally the easiest fucking job a person can do." Cicero claimed.

"—I'm the only one that stands up to your ass."

"The phone rings, there's a problem—" Cicero continued, as they both practically shouted over one another.

"It wasn't my phone!" Richie claimed.

"You call an electrician or a plumber, that's it."

"I've been saying this for fucking years! It wasn't my phone—"

"Cousin! Cousin!" Alessia reluctantly lifted her head off of her brother's shoulder, "—ok, ignore me, great."

Once the yelling finally subsided, Carmen spoke up, "Do you want us to get this stuff out back...or?"

Finally, Cicero's eyes caught on the Berzatto siblings, and he calmly nodded, "Yeah, take it around the side for me, will you?"

"Around the side, sure." Richie nodded.

"Yeah, thanks, Rick."

Alessia's head dropped in defeat, and she turned towards Carmen just as another argument was about to break out, "I'm gonna go get the propane tank and take it around the side. You deal with this."

The blonde couldn't help but feel a little bit sick. There were so many people in that house that she had absolutely no desire to see or talk to.

She wished more than anything that she would have backed out of the party.

Several minutes later, Carmen was cutting up oranges and Alessia was preparing sides. Their work had only just begun and Alessia was already much ready for it to be over.

"Carmen? Is that you?"

Carmen's eyes flickered up, away from his task at hand, "Hey, Mr. Szorski, how are you?"

"I thought you'd killed yourself?"

Alessia's eyes grew wide, as she looked between Carmen and the old man. A pit of worry had already formed in her stomach and now she couldn't help but feel worried for her brother too.

"No sir, that was my brother."

The man wordlessly nodded, and without another thought turned and walked away, "Well that wasn't strange at all..."

The woman's voice trailed off, and Carmen nodded, going back to cutting up the oranges.

"Bullshit." Richie's voice carried, as he approached the tent, "That motherfucker is completely fucking bullshit."

"Hey, perfect timing, we already did everything, dick." Carmen noted.

"Who does he think he is?" Richie scoffed, stuffing his hand in his pockets, "You know he's not even Italian, right? One hundred percent polish. Fucking insulting."

Alessia rolled her eyes, "Dude, you're not even Italian."

"Yeah, well, I'm more Italian than that guy."

With a shake of her head, Alessia set down her knife and looked at the man, "Richie, that doesn't even make any sense."

"Okay, turn on the grill, we really need to get the hot dogs started." Carmen instructed, interrupting the argument before it could even begin.