Bitter Sweet

12. Snakes

Julio poured milk into Lorena's bowl of cereal. "How much sugar did you sprinkle on there?"

Lorena smiled as she shoved a spoonful of sugary cereal in her mouth.

Sergio went out for the day, and Julio decided to hang out with his little sister, what a better way to spend a Saturday. He looked out the window that faced the house across the street. It had been four days since his last interaction with Stephanie. And though he had been called on by Mrs. Rios to do trivial repairs around the house, he knew that Stephanie got out of her way to avoid him, and it made him do nothing but think of her. He wanted to apologize, he wanted to be on speaking terms again. They weren't friends, but he didn't want her to hate him.

His mother came out from her room and shuffled through the kitchen. Lorena sat still as if not wanting to disturb her. Julio watched her intently. She didn't say good morning, she didn't even acknowledge them. She walked slowly, opened the fridge, grabbed a bottled water and walked back to her room. She was very heavily medicated, he realized. Julio sat up and followed her into her room.

"You alright, Ma?"

She didn't reply, she went back to her bed, and finally turned to see him. "Julio? Why don't you ever bring a girl over?"

Julio blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She let out a laugh, a strange sound to his ears. "I wanna be a grandmother, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, and I want to make you a nana too but not quite yet."

"You're not planning to spend the rest of your life in the army, are you?"

Julio had thought about it, he didn't particularly enjoy it, he had gained many useful skills, not to mention the mechanic degree he earned. But he didn't enjoy being yelled at by sergeants, and waking up at the break of dawn to work out wasn't exactly fun. "I don't know," he admitted. He never had any other plans. Not being enlisted never came to his mind.

"Bring a nice girl home, get married, have babies," she droned on. Julio wondered just what it was that brought all this up.

"I'll think about it. If you need anything, I'll be around."

He walked out her room and returned to the kitchen, Lorena had finished her breakfast and was now watching TV. Julio took care of the dishes and turned to look behind him towards the window. He wondered when he was going to bring a girl home as well.

He sat beside her little sister as they watched cartoons, Spongebob and Patrick were doing something or another making Squidward angry. Julio wasn't paying attention, his gaze drifted to his phone as he was expecting a text from Natasha.

A knock on the door made him sit up, Lorena didn't seem to notice. He opened it rapidly half hoping it would be Stephanie, even though he knew it was a farfetched hope.

He exhaled disappointedly as he saw the petite blonde girl standing before him, a bright, white smile on her face. "Hi! I hope I'm not bothering you," she said cheerily.

"Not at all. What can I do for you, Lacey?" he asked already knowing that she needed something. She only came to see him when she had trouble with her car.

"It's my air conditioner. It doesn't blow cold air," she replied pointing at her yellow beetle.

"You want to use the air conditioner in November?"

She let out a small giggle. "Well, you know how it is, it's cold in the mornings, it's hot in the afternoons."

Julio nodded. "Alright, let's have a look." He shut the door and followed her as she skipped to her car.