Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

cuarenta y nueve: thanksgiving pt. 2

Oscar and Cesar stare at the diner table in awe as Venus and Jamal's family sat down. The long dining table was filled with Cuban food such as: ropa vieja, black beans, rice, tostones, plátanos maduros, yuca con mojo and for some reason, a plate full of stacked Cuban sandwiches. Normally, Oscar makes a turkey, mashed potatoes, rice, ceviche and a few traditional Mexican dishes, but Venus' mom went all out.

"The rest is in the kitchen, but don't touch the desert yet!" Lisbet told everyone. Oscar sat beside Venus with Cesar on his other side and Luis was on the other side of Venus. Across from them was Jamal and his family, and Pablo and Emiliano sat at the ends of the table. Lisbet said grace, and everyone started piling food onto their plates.

"Is your Thanksgiving always like this?"

Venus nodded and messed with Oscar's hand since it was on her thigh. "Just wait until Christmas when my family from Cuba comes over." She told him. "Is there still a party tonight?"

"Hell yeah. Hector said he got everything set up in his backyard already." Oscar told her. He stabbed one of the plátanos maduros that Venus put on his pkate and held it up to her. "What's this?"

"It's just a fried platano. Try it." Venus moved the fork and shoved the plátano into his mouth.

"Eres una muy buena cocinera, señora."

Lisbet smiled. "Gracias, César, pero no hables con comida en tu boca." She pat his shoulder and he nodded, mumbling a sorry as he chewed the rest of his food. "Does it ever get awkward with them?" She whispered, punching to Venus who was putting more food onto Oscar's plate.

"Why would it get awkward?"

"Because she dated Pablo. And since they're best friends and one of the Santos, I'm assuming he comes over a lot." Cesar eyes went wide and he looked over to see Pablo messing with Luis while Oscar and Venus whispered to each other and laughed. "It wasn't for long though, so I don't know. I was just curious."

× × ×

"Amá, we don't need all of these leftovers."

Lisbet stopped wrapping food in foil and turned around to see Venus already holding the containers of dessert. "Yes you do. I saw Oscar eating, he's gonna want more later." Lisbet turned back around and went back to wrapping the pastelitos de guayaba, churros and tres leches. "Did you not tell Oscar about you and Pablo?"

Venus shook her head and leaned against the door frame. "We literally dated for 2 weeks because we felt obligated since we went to Junior prom together." Lisbet tilted her head and nodded, understanding her reasoning.

"Here's your food, mija. Next time, don't wear sweatpants, por favor."

"But I always wear sweatpants? And look. Isn't my food baby cute?" Venus asked, rubbing her full stomach and making her mom laugh.

They both walked out together and saw Oscar holding Luis while talking to Emiliano. Cesar had left with Jamal and they were being dropped ff at Ruby's house. "Are you guys coming back next week?"

"Or tomorrow." Oscar told Lisbet, putting his arm up for Venus to go under when she walked to him. "Thank you for all the food."

"Of course, it should last for a little. I gave you guys the rest of the tres leches because I saw you eyeing it after you ate some." Lisbet said. Venus giggled and looked up to Oscar who was smiling and looking down. "Now go get to your party."

Emiliano opened the front door for them and Oscar let Venus walk out first. Oscar opened the door and moved the seat so Venus could put the food in the backseat and handed Luis to her. Ever since the flan cake, he's been asleep and it didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon.

"Should we drop the food off before we go to Hector's house?" Venus watched Oscar nod his head before he grabbed her hand.

The car ride was comfortably quiet and at some point, Venus moved to the middle and put her head on Oscar's shoulder. When they got to the house, Oscar left the car on and ran inside to put all the leftovers in the fridge before grabbing Luis' blanket and running back outside. He started driving to Hector's house once Venus got comfortable and held her thigh the entire time.

"Did you really date Pablo?"

Venus sighed and moved her head so she was looking up at him. "Did you hear me talking to my mom?"

Oscar shook his head and gripped her thigh. "Nah, your dad was a little tipsy and asked if it bothers me that your ex boyfriend is always around."

"We only dated for 2 weeks. I thought I liked him because he was helping me after the whole Prophet situation. We broke up like a week after prom." Venus explained. And she wasn't lying at all. Other than the fact that they both felt obligated because of prom, Venus thought Pablo was cute, but now he's like her brother. Oscar hummed, and Venus lifted her head off of his shoulder again. "Don't be mad. I didn't think you would care because it was years ago for a minute."

"I ain't mad." Oscar's thumb rubbed her thigh and when he pulled up to a stop sign, he let go of the wheel to grab her face. "Stop pouting. When we get home, we can have our own party."

Venus smiled and nodded, kissing him again before she told him to drive. Hector's house was filled with cars in the front, but the driveway was empty so Venus assumed that wss reserved for Oscar. "Are you sure this is a party? It's kinda quiet."

"It's in the back and it's just the gang. I don't what happened to the music." Oscar picked Luis out of his carseat and led Venus to the back yard. Once the gate open, they could see the Santos sitting around the backyard.

"Spooky!" One of them shouted. "Wassup fool." The guy dapped Oscar up and nodded to Venus as a greeting. "You can lay lil man in a room if you want."

Oscar nodded. "We'll be back." Going through the back door, Oscar led Venus through the house to lay Luis down and cover him with his blanket. "He'll be fine, no te preocupes."

"I know, it's just...last time we left him in a room alone, he got kidnapped."

"She's dead now, and no one's gonna break in with all of us here. This ain't even half of the people in the gang." Oscar assured. Venus nodded and kissed Luis' head before walking out with Oscar in front of her.

They got outside and there was like double the amount of people there was before. On the way to the couch that was oddly sitting in the grass, Oscar grabbed two beers and lifted Venus into his lap. She thought nothing of it, but he did it so the cholas would stop looking at him.

"I didn't know there were this many cholas in the gang."

Oscar hummed and rubbed Venus' hip as he took a swig from his beer. "They hangout somewhere else. And if they come over, I give them runs because they're annoying."

Venus chuckled at that and subconsciously leaned into him more. Oscar smiled at her and looked up to see a group of cholas huddled up and watching him and Venus. He smirked to himself and look back to Venus when she began talking. The cholas didn't stand a chance against Venus, he just hoped that they knew that.