Double Dog Dare

So Much For Not Bumping Heads All The Time

"Oh Rosa I am so sorry! Forgive my daughter as lovely as she seems she never caught on to the whole ladylike thing." My mom blushed and apologized for my outburst. Guilt filled my veins seeing her so embarrassed of me. I knew how important this dinner is to her and yet here I am acting like an ass. Sergio chose the perfect moment to snort making me glare at him.

"Karen please don't apologize, I'm raising five boys, all I hear are cuss worse and fighting all day. Alex please feel free to be yourself dear. Based on both of your reactions I take it you two know one another?" Rosa smiles softly carrying big plates of food to the table. I grabbed one off of the counter and followed her hoping to to salvage any chance of making a decent impression here. 

"You could say that, we are in a few classes together and he's my co-captain on the team." I sat the tray down and stepped to the side while my mom brought the rest.

"Wait...you're the other captain? No wonder you have the mouth of a sailor! You're on an all boys soccer team. You must be really good then." Everyone started to sit down at the table. Rosa and Gabriel at the heads leaving both sides empty. My parents sat on each side of Rosa and Felipe, Hector, Christopher, and Alejandro sat down by their father. Elijah sat across from me leaving me to sit by Sergio. Great. Just great.

"I'd like to think I am." I know I'm pretty good but admitting it out loud will make me sound conceited and I've already made an ass out of myself as it is.

"Well I can't wait to watch you play." I shot her a bright smile.

"Thank you for having us over Rosa everything smells so good!" I gushed and my mom mouthed thank you to me shooting me a small smile.

"Lex you look different." Sergio's breath fanned the side of my face. Everyone had made their plates and started eating and talking among-st themselves. Elijah was wrapped up in baseball talk with the twins leaving me all alone and out of my element.

"Umm okay?" I glanced out of my side peripheral and noticed him looking me up and down taking in my appearance. My dress had rode up exposing from my mid thigh down. I pulled it down but I could feel his eyes burning into my skin.

"It's a good thing. Shows you're capable of being feminine."

"I am a girl asshole." I hiss through clenched teeth. I am so over hearing this shit all the time. Why can't I just be me without catching shit from everyone? Do you see me criticizing everyone for what they wear? No. Because I accept people for who they are and not what they wear.

"Oh believe me I know. I saw you almost bare chested yesterday." He arched an eyebrow and I felt like my face was about to catch on fire from the blush creeping across it.

"Fuck off." I whispered thankfully our parents were so engaged in their conversations that no one noticed us talking except for my stupid brother. Hector and Felipe whispered something to each other in Spanish before whispering something in Eli's ear and they all started smirking at us. What's that all about?

"So we are neighbors." Sergio made conversation like we were the best of friends.

"Apparently so."

"Lex you can push me away all you want but I'm not going anywhere. We have four more months to deal with one another. I don't know about you but I don't want to be bumping heads all the time."

"Why do you keep calling me Lex?" I take a bite of my enchilada and almost moan when the spices dance across my tongue.

"I don't know, I like it though. Don't you Lex?" I watch him take a bite of his own food before taking a sip of water. Little droplets of water slid down his bottom lip and like a vulture i watched it drip from his lip onto the table. 

"No." I frown taking another bite forcing myself to stop staring at him. Even though the guy is a pain in the ass he is attractive no doubt. 

"I'm sorry Lex." Again with the damn nickname. Everyone calls me Al or Alex or Alexis and the guys call me Alex or Patterson but no one has ever called me Lex and I am not a fan of it at all.

"So you're going to call me that whether I like it or not?" I arched a curious eyebrow at him.

"Most definitely." He smirked, the nerve of this guy is infuriating. I wanted nothing more than to stab him with my fork but I'm sure his and my parents wouldn't appreciate that.

"So much for not bumping heads all the time." I mumbled under my breath. He winked at me and we both went back to eating. I spent the rest of the meal ignoring him at all costs and thankfully he left me alone.

"Thank you again for dinner everything was wonderful." I thanked Rosa after we finished loading the dishwasher.

"You're very welcome, you're welcomed here whenever. My house is your house." She smiled brightly at me and led us into the living room where Felipe was sitting on the couch reading his book and Hector was back to building his model.

"What are you reading?" I calmly asked Felipe who looked up from his book showing me the cover.

"The Great Gatsby." He smiled brightly at me as if he is thankful to have someone talking to him.

"It's for English."

"What grade are you in?" I ask making small talk with him. He closed his book and sat it down on his lap turning his attention towards me.

"I'm a sophomore. Hector is a freshman and Chris and Alejandro are juniors and you know Sergio is a senior."

"Oh gotcha. You guys are all really close in age." He nods before fiddling with the cover of his book.

"Yeah my parents should have taken up a different hobby that's for sure but here we all are."

"Oh I'm sure you'll be the same way when you're older."

"Ew no."

"No girls at school caught your eye?" I ask leaning forward. Talking to him was easy he didn't look at me like I was weird, he actually smiled brightly at me and engaged in conversation with me.

"Um I'm gay." I widened my eyes and sat up straight.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything-" I apologized feeling bad for assuming. .

"Alex it's okay! I'm not ashamed of who I am." He reassured me grabbing my hand squeezing it gently. 

"You shouldn't be shamed anyways. I think it's great that you are so comfortable in your own skin and being who you are. So many people hide behind masks and it's not right. I just didn't know."

"Why because I'm not wearing pink and parading around?" He teased and I threw my head back laughing harder than I should have but talking to him was easy and actually enjoyable. 

"Well yeah." I shrugged once I was able to contain myself.

"Sweetheart just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to be flamboyant."

"I think you and I are going to be great friends."

"Really? Oh I would love that!" We exchanged phone numbers. I can't wait to introduce him to Reagan and Shawn they are going to love him.

"I'll see you later! Keep building that skyline Hector it looks great! Bye Chris bye Alejandro! Text me later Felipe!" I sang waving by walking backwards. After dinner we all sat in the living room talking. Sergio's whole family is great what happened to him? Who the hell knows.