[Complete] Ariel and the Bandits

13 - The Next Step

When I first left for college, my parents made a whole deal out of it. They took two weeks off work and booked the family a little trip to Los Angeles prior to my move-in date. And while they were excited, I was bummed. Like any teenager, I wanted to stay a little longer-- make the best of my last days with my best friend and girlfriend before I had to go.

Regardless, it was a memorable, fun, and heart-wrenching two weeks. When I said my goodbyes, my sisters hugged me first. Naz cried as she said she wouldn't miss me at all, and Ally reminded me that college experience is just as important as academics-- but not to mix that up with making rash decisions. Hera said our parents will mope around in my room so that if there was anything I didn't want them to find, I should tell her.

My parents hugged me tightly and gave me the whole we love you, and we're proud of you spiel-- kind of like the one they're giving me now.

"Mijo, please don't forget to visit or call us or FaceTime us-- we can do our FaceTime cooking like we did when you were in school," Ma says. Her hands cup my cheeks as if I'm still the little child who cried about everything.

"Ma, I live closer this time. The house is like twenty minutes away from here." She shoots me a look that says none of that matters. I'm grinning like an idiot. "I would love to do our cooking calls."

She gently smacks my cheek. "Good, because now que andas con Ariel, you need to cook more. I don't want her to think I raised my only boy to be a machista."

I laugh and tilt my head back. "Ma, I had to fight you to stay away from the Flan that's currently in the oven."

"I only wanted to help with the caramel. Yours always comes out a little bitter."

"Elenora," my dad says.

He knows that if we let her, Ma will create a list of improvements on how I can better myself. I don't take anything to heart because it feels like more than anything-- it's things that really would make me a decent human being.

Things like: Don't look at your phone when people talk to you. I will disown you if you are one of those people who change lanes without signaling. Do not ever-- and I mean ever-- blame a woman's feelings on their hormones or period. They're already having a hard time as it is living in this stupid patriarchy on a grand scale, they don't need it in front of their faces. And for the love of all that is good in the world, I trust that if a woman is in a dangerous situation they themselves cannot get out of, you will not be a bystander.

It's sad that she feels like she tells me these things, but I get it.

Ma lifts her hands in surrender. She wraps her hands around my torso. She rests her forehead against my collarbone, and I place my hand on top of her head.

When I look at my dad, his eyes are on the moving truck in my driveway. He casually rubs the corner of his eye as if he doesn't want to give himself away. There's something funny to me about that-- similar parenting styles, two different cultures, and two different outcomes. Mi Abuelita Luz and Abuelito Jose stayed together until he passed, whereas Grandpa Allen and Nonna Federica divorced and remarried. The key there really was love.

It's funny to me because Ma is affectionate, and Dad likes to pretend he doesn't need it, but the moment she gives him affection, he basks in it. It's like every time he has these feelings in front of anyone he almost waits for some kind of permission or acceptance to show them. Oddly enough, he's never made us feel like we couldn't express that.

I pull him into our hug. "I love you guys."

"I love you guys too," Liam says. My parents break apart one side to reel him in. Liam leans his head against my dad's shoulder, and something about that makes me happy-- to a point where eyes start to well up.