Ciro ran down the hall, rushing to get at least one scoop of his Pop's mac n' cheese. He was dressed as a Skeleton, since Day of The Dead was near.
His face was painted, and hair was in a low ponytail.
"Papa! Ciro keeps chasing me!" Angie giggled, accidentally bumping into an ofrenda.
"Careful, ion need Angel getting upset with us about this." Imani says, making sure everything on the table was fine.
"Sorry, I swear I didn't even touch into it." Ciro apologized. "Don't get nun of that food on the stove, that's for the get together." Imani immediately said, and Ciro groaned.
The Destino Torres-Smith family are attending a 'Halloween' party—more like a family gathering. Without the family party. Angel is dressed as..well an Angel. And Imani is a Pimp—how ironic.
"Mmcht, please Pops—I'm starving." Starving is definitely not the correct word to be using in this situation, he just ate an hour ago.
"Boy, you is not hungry. And stop sucking yo teeth." Ciro opened his mouth to retaliate, and luckily for him Angel walked through the kitchen. Angie smiles brightly, seeing her Papa.
"Manolo, listen to your Pops—are you guys ready to go?" In his hands were bags of candles, Mexican marigold petals, and tupperware full of Concha Pan Dulce.
"Why do we even need to go? We're Dominican, we don't celebrate Día de los Muertos.." Ciro grumbled out, leaning on the ofrenda table.
"Don't be mean to Papa, Ciro." Angie pouted, and Imani's jaw tensed. "We've talked about this already, go get in the car." Angel smiled softly, and the smile didn't seem very genuine.
"Take some of the food withcu, Manolo."
Ciro sighed, grabbing as much food as he could, before scurrying out the back door to Imani's car. Angie follows after her brother with a smile.
"You okay?" Imani asks, and all Angel does is nod his head. "Let's go, Allison said the party starts—"
"In thirty minutes, I know. C'mon."
Angel had been stressing over this 'party' for a while now. He wanted everything to go right, especially since he denied Ciro going trick or treating.
Imani and Angel left through the back door, and off they went to Allison's house. Hopefully it involved drinking, because Angel was feeling anxious.
"Pai, tomorrow can I go to Valeria's party?" Ciro asks, strapping on his seatbelt and holding tightly on the containers.
Angel has enough to worry about—a teenage party wasn't one of them. "Ciro, let's talk about this tomorrow, si?"
Slouching in his seat, the teen took out his phone, plugged in his headphones—and tuned out the world around him. That's what worked best for him.
•••
Remember how Angel was feeling anxious? Well, he can thank the red lights, smoke machine, and the desire to go home.
He was on his second plate of untouched food, third cup of water, and seventh piece of candy. Black licorice to be exact.
Gross.
The awful taste distracted him from his jumping nerves. Imani was off socializing somewhere, and Ciro probably in the bathroom hoping to go home.
Angel was surprised his fiancé was socializing with police officers, but he proposed to one—so what the heck.
"You've been stuck in this corner since you got here, what's going on with you?" Allison asks, sitting down next to Angel.
