☽ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀɪɴɢ ☾

☽ 𝑭 𝑶 𝑼 𝑹 ☾

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As Carlos sets the plates, I sit down in my seat between Julie and dad. It's an awkward set up for the table we have, but it's always worked for us.

"There we go." Dad reaches over my head and puts the food in the middle of the table. As dad sits down, we all reach for each other's hands. "Your turn, Carlos."

"Thank you for our leftovers and the power of the mighty microwave. Amen."

"Amen," we all repeat. Dad then starts helping us with the food.

"So, Carlos tells me that he found you guys in the studio."

"They were out there talking to themselves, like the walls would talk back."

I laugh and shake my head. "We were rehearsing for a play."

"Hello, hello!" We all jump.

"Busted." Carlos and Julie start hiding moms side of the table, since they're the closest.

Dad turns his head towards the direction of our aunt. "We're all in here."

"Spaghetti. Again?"

"Yeah."

"That's too bad. I brought you pasteles and arroz con pollo."

I smile politely. "Thank you, tia. We appreciate it."

Julie jumps in. "Yeah, it smells great."

"Eh, you guys can have it tomorrow. I can't let you have leftovers every night. My sister would kill me, may she rest in peace."

"But wouldn't it technically be leftov-" Julie slaps my arm. "I mean, thank you."

Tia walks over towards moms side of the table. "Oh! I see things are going better?"

Dad swallows the rest of the food he had been eating and points at me and Julie. "Actually, the girls have been cleaning out mom's studio. Hopefully we can get the house on the market and some offers soon."

"Well, I like the sound of that. Moving from here is only gonna help you move on." I drown myself out of the conversation and let my head fall over to the side. I about scream when I see the boys walk through the door. Widening my eyes, I start slapping Julies leg.

"What," she whispers. I just nod my head over towards the door. Her eyes widen as well, but unlike me, she couldn't hold in her surprise.

"Gah!" Everyone turns their heads towards her. She starts to chuckle awkwardly. "That's me. Ripping off the Band-Aid. Aah!"

"There's my brave girl!"

I feel his breath on my neck before I hear his voice. "Hey, Karman. I really like what you guys did to the place." I start to smile before Julie pushes me aside.

She glares at him. "You shouldn't be here."

"Oh! I'm just here to help, mija."

Alex gets the idea first. "I think that's our cue to leave."

While I continue to be subtlety looking at the boys, Julie tries to fix her mistake. "I mean, you should be at Pilates. Thanks for bringing us food."

"We should've called first." I stifle a laugh. These conversations are all over the place.

"It's nothing. And now that you guys are no longer in the music program, you can concentrate on classes that matter." Oh no. Sliding down the chair, I look back and forth between dad and Julie. "You got the e-mail from the school, right?"

Dad rests his face against his hands. "Yeah. We're still discussing it."

"Bueno. I'm off to Pilates. Mwah!" Carlos catches the kiss and hits it with his invisible baseball bat.

"Wa-chow! It's gone." She laughs as she kisses Julie and I on the head. She says her goodbyes and heads out the back door. I just close my eyes as I feel dad's stare.

"So, wanna hear how I slid into home and was almost safe?"

"You're a good brother. That's not gonna work." He snaps his fingers and points up the stairs.

"I tried." Smiling at him, I mouth 'thank you'.

As soon as Carlos is out of sight, dad leans forwards and looks at us. "Why didn't you tell me? You made me lie to your aunt."

Julies always been better at getting us out of trouble so I let her speak first. "We're sorry. We was gonna tell you after dinner." He doesn't believe that. "We were."

"Guys, I know those classes can be difficult...but you still like music, don't you?"

I look away. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Look, we talked about this, you know? And how painful memories can be, but..." He pauses. "You know, every time I see you kids, I see Mom. It's like she's right here with us. But you know what? I love that. I do.  And maybe if you'd give yourselves a chance, you'll get there." It's quiet before loud rock music starts blasting though the house. Carlos runs down the stairs.

"What's that?"

I quickly stand up and drag Julie with me. "We must have forgot to turn the stereo off in the garage. We'll go get it. Come on, Jules." We rush out the back door and down the steps.

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i know this is so short and it took so long to post. im so sorry ! i've just gotten out of the hospital recently and have been trying to stay off my phone as much as possible. a fresh start, y'a know? but i'm starting to get better , i think .
thank you all for being so patient with me. i really appreciate it.