As soon as I walked through the large, French-style doors that led to my Grandma Ana's large kitchen, I already saw chaos ensuing. Ava was piling dishes along the pretty, grey granite countertop near the sink, getting ready to wash them up, I assume. Ella and Grandma were at the kitchen island, mixing up what appeared to be enough dough to feed the entire town and chattering incessantly in half English, half Spanish. Unlike myself, Ella had a natural talent for picking up foreign languages, and she had been getting pretty near fluent over the years.
"¿Abuela, necesitas más azúcar?", Ella asked, walking over toward the cabinet. They needed sugar. I think. At least based on the fact that Grandma saying, "Sí, azúcar y leche, por favor.", had resulted in Ella returning with both sugar and milk.
Knowing my well-rehearsed place in the kitchen, I grabbed a bunch of bell peppers out of the fridge and plopped them down on the cutting board. This was pretty much the only use I was in the kitchen. Lord knows, my grandma tried to make me into a housewife, but I always found a way to screw something up in the kitchen. We're talking about the girl who once microwaved EZ-Mac without adding the water first, here.
I grabbed the spray hose that was attached to the side of the faucet, stealing the water from Ava in the process.
"Um, hello?! Washing dishes here!", she informed me, sarcastically. The look she shot me simultaneously said I hate you and I'm totally kidding.
"Oh, I'm sooo sorry", I rolled my eyes. Just for fun, just because I knew she'd kill me because her curls were perfect today, I pulled the sprayer, just for a second.
"Grandma!", Ava whined, shooting me a dirty look out of the corner of her eye. The girl had the side eye down do a science. "You're going to ruin my hair.", her 5'0" form added, thin arms crossed over her chest.
"What? It slipped.", I smiled innocently. Not telling her that I had purposely missed her hair (I may mess with my sister, but I'm not a jerk!), "You've got flour in your hair! Want me to get it out?"
"Marielle! Stop it!", she looked up at me with concern in her eyes that so closely resembled my own color. "Grandma, Marielle's making a mess!"
Trolling her just a little more, I motioned toward my sister with the hose. She squealed out a cry of concern and sidestepped me, just in time to get one more squirt in the back. That did it. Ava headed back over and splashed sink water at me. Of course, this is when our grandma looks up.
My grandma may be short, but she's a rather large woman with a face that can either invite you in for cookies or drop you dead. She's a sweet woman, but she doesn't play around when it comes to getting work done. She crossed her arms over her chest, her French braided, grey and brown hair accentuating the piercing state of her brown eyes. Oh, shit. She looks pissed.
"Marielle Lousia Francesca Cavalli!", her Spanish accent rang through the room. The look on her face said that she was clearly tired of our shenanigans. "Leave your sister alone before you two soak my floors! And you," she turned to my sister, "dry that counter off!"
"Lo siento, abuela!", identical alarm in both of our voices as we called out an apology. Once grandma had looked back down, Ava shot me a satisfied smirk, which I responded to by motioning for the spray hose again, flinching at my sister once I'd grabbed it.
Ava, sticking her tongue out at me returned to the pan she was washing out. I finished off the bell peppers, grinning at my sister as I stole her water again. She returned my smugness with a dirty look and bumped me out of the way as I replaced the spray hose into the sink counter. I was really going to miss this. This may have looked catty to the untrained eye, but it was just two sisters goofing around.
After locating a paring knife in the drawer, I started chopping up the bell peppers. I have to say, I was proud of myself for two reasons. A, for only nicking my own hand once, and B, for not yelling obscenities in front of my elderly grandmother when it happened.
By the time the we placed the steaming empanadas on the table with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans, the four of us were smiling and feeling the slight burning and restful feeling of a back that's been bent over a counter for a little too long.
In true Cavalli-Martinez tradition, my family, including aunts, uncles, and a couple of cousins settled into the table and started digging in. The food was great, the laughs were awesome. The only thing out of place was that Sammy had still not texted me yet.
How do you kiss somebody like that and then not call or text them? I would have texted him first, but didn't that violate some sort of rule? The last thing I wanted to do was be the clingy girl that can't leave someone alone for 24 hours. We weren't even dating. There was no mention of dating! Still, I could feel the anticipation bubbling up in my stomach. After an encounter like I had last night, I definitely wanted to get to know him better.
"Have a date for prom yet?", my cousin Kaya asked casually, as if reading my thoughts. Kaya, blond haired and blue eyed, was seated across the table from me. She was a year behind me and went to the same school, but we didn't see each other much. She took more artsy classes, while I stuck to the basic core classes and weight training.
"Not yet", I rolled my eyes.
"Loser!", she teased.
"Who are you taking, Marco?", I shot back. Marco just happened to be her younger brother who was two years to young for prom. He had just started his freshmen year.
We bantered back and forth for a little while, initiating a warning glance from my grandma. The plates of food in front of us eventually disappeared and when my extended family finally pulled out of my grandma's wide, asphalt driveway it was around 7 pm.
I trudged down the hall of the one-story house and opened my backpack. The last thing I wanted to do was my chemistry homework. I mean, seriously, when in my life was I ever going to need to calculate the amount of sodium hydroxide it took to neutralize a mole of hydrochloric acid? As far as I was concerned, moles were furry little creatures that dug holes and lived in your backyard. And if I was told to balance a chemical equation one more time, I was going to double displace my teachers face with his butt.
The end of the year senioritis was on its way to get me, and tonight I could swear I literally heard the freight train coming. On second thought, that probably was an actual freight train. My parents were painting my room and my sisters' today, so we were staying at my grandma's house tonight. Which meant that we were situated in town. Right off of the railroad tracks. I took a moment to appreciate the irony before checking my phone one more time. Still nothing. Did I screw something up? I mean, damn it, Sammy. He had to know a lot of girls worry about this shit.
Pushing the thought out of my head, I forced myself through the 10 titration problems Mr. Halsworth had assigned us. Ten. Seriously?! At least after the first two or three problems, I had a feel for what I was supposed to do. I scrolled through Pinterest on my phone , looking for inspiration for my prom dress, and texted back and forth with Layla, who made sure to remind me to bring her leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The girl was serious about her Spanish food fix!
After deciding that I would "sooo look killer in red", Layla stopped texting me back so I could go to sleep. Which really meant reading goofy listicles on the Internet (i.e. 10 reasons Ed Sheeran's new album will make your heart stop") for an indefinite period of time.
By the time I went to bed at 11 pm, I still hadn't heard anything from Sammy. I thought about texting him, but he wasn't in my contacts. I guessed that I would have to wait until tomorrow to see what was up with him. I could text Layla, but I knew she'd just over analyze the whole situation, go all girly, plan our future wedding, and then ultimately call him an ass for not texting me.
I set my alarm and settled in under a multicolored, flower-pattern comforter on my grandmas day bed. Sleeeeeep. My favorite thing next to running! And now, apparently, Sammy? Why was I still thinking about this?
Thank you, as always, for reading! If you like the story, keep going! It's going to go on for quite some time!
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Teen FictionI lost him. It's definitely my fault. Now where do I go from here?
