Sarai's cousin tilted her head and chortled, sloshing her drink all over the ground.
"Ay por dios," Sarai murmured under her mouth, watching her dazzling cousin get drunk before the whole family and then some. The elders had started to huddle, talking and talking, occasionally looking their way, giving them disdain looks. Don't you dare, she thought. This is all her.
Estrellita slurped the last of drop of her drink, almost licking the plastic cup and said, "Can you believe that Sarai?"
She mumbled a few words, not really wanting to get into this. It was a celebration, everyone's spirits where high, there was endless chatter of family gather, loud merengue music, people dancing on the patchy grass and alcohol, two fridges worth of alcohol.
In the meantime her cousin, Estrellita was mourning her boyfriends.
Once more, her cousin gripped Sarai's hands and slurred out in Spanish, "Can you believe it Sarai? Can you!?" Her eyes were searching Sarai's face, for an answer, something but she only shook her head, thinking the girl was getting a little crazy.
She remembered when Estrellita barely stepped foot in this country, a year older than her, not knowing a lick of English (still), a bubbly fresh faced individual that wanted to strive. But Estrellita didn't want to strive in the way that people all tried: get a job, work hard, file for residency, and maybe go to school. No, Estrellita wanted to find a husband, a rich one, get pregnant and live the rest of her life being fed grapes into her mouth.
Sarai's mother called Estrellita a vividora. Told her right in her pretty face as she kindly opened her home and was left with a giant phone bill debt that she was trying hard to pay off, going and coming wasted at all sort of hours, not caring who saw her. Estrellita was astonished, when her aunt kept it on a roll, told her she had to find a job, or she was outta there.
In that moment Estrellita's face contorted into a look of disgust, as if she would never lower herself to be someone's house maid. Nothing wrong about that occupation, her mother did that. Estrellita thought she was that high on the bar, so she left.
They reconciled...after a few years but Sarai's mother was very hesitant towards her niece; she didn't trust her, especially after she started to date Ramon and Felipe, at once.
"Quien ase eso," her mother declared behind closed doors. "Esta muchacha!"
And she got dumped, simultaneously.
Estrellita embraced Sarai as soon as she saw her and told her that somehow Felipe and Ramon had found out and had a huge fight, breaking it off with her, calling her all sorts of names.
"Don't you feel for me, Sarai?" asked Estrellita as she tossed her hair to the side. Sarai smothered a, "No tanto." Not really, in their native tongue only steered Sarai to an empty table and tried to pry her off that subject. No luck, Estrellita was aaaall about her, talking about excessive luxuries they had given her while she managed through her relationships. It was getting annoying.
It seemed that the family knew all about Estrellita's suffering because they didn't dare get near or intervene. Thanks a lot guys, Sarai thought. Good to know family sticks together.
She felt kind of bad for Estrellita, in a way. She was raised in a rural part of Mexico with certain beliefs that were so backwards and outdated, like relying on a husband or boyfriend for everything. Marrying at sixteen, raising children at twenty, being a perfect little wife with a perfect household--that was an extremely weird concept for Sarai to absorb. And her cousin was so full of herself, never asking about anyone else (not once had she asked Sarai how she was doing), yakking about her damn problems. But they were cousins...that had to count for something...plus there was that one time where they shared a laugh...about something that she couldn't recall at the moment.
Sarai watched her cousin, intently as she started picking at the ends of her hair. She had the face of an angel, long fake lashes caressing her lids, pink cheeks, light freckles peppering her nose, shiny bright eyes that were now low, not really seeing her anymore, almost like if she dismissed her altogether. She even tried a little small talk, but Estrellita wouldn't respond in those agonizing paragraphs where she turned the subject towards her issues.
What brought on the sudden cold change, she wondered.
A little chirp of Estrellita's phone said it all. It was one of her boyfriends—ex-boyfriends, or at least that was the indication that Sarai thought, because she became all giggly and sprightly and irritating.
She announced, "Mi novio."
Sarai couldn't help but ask, "Felipe o Ramon?"
"No tonta. Another one," Estrellita giggled as she fired her fingers onto the illuminating screen. Even in her drunkenness she was tech-savvy.
For a few minutes Sarai did feel somewhat sorry for Estrellita and her 'troubles,' but that stopped when her cousin lowered her blouse and bragged that her novio was extremely wealthy and that he was coming over this instant.
"What about love," Sarai asked, turning her plastic chair towards Estrellita's moving torso. She had put her phone away, taken out her lipstick and mirror.
"What about it?"
"Don't you want to find that?"
"Prima, I already did."
Sarai shook her head, dismissing her drunken talk. "Estrellita, are you sure? I'm mean positively sure? What about Ramon and Felipe, didn't you love them?"
"They didn't provide what I wanted. What I needed."
What? "But they dumped you, Estre—"
"Shut up!" Estrellita took Sarai's arm and yanked it down. "Don't talk shit! I'm done here. With this stupid lame party, your negativity, your jealousy over what I have and you don't!"
"What?!"
Estrellita stashed her belongings in her bag and gave an intensified glare at Sarai, as if trying to zap her with her eyes. "You talk about love like if you knew what it meant. No sabes nada."
And with that Estrellita stood and stalked (with great difficulty) away. Sarai was left there in the corner, her head lowered, playing with the empty cup Estrellita had used, attempting to comprehend what happened as the party went on bleeding into the early morning.
