Adios To All The Drama. Diana Rodriguez Wallach
gazed at the familiar Main Line Philadelphia homes.
“My dad said he’s not paying all this money in property taxes so I can go to boarding school in Connecticut,” Madison added.
“My mom’s a professor. She’s all about not raising a ‘sheltered, spoiled brat.’ But apparently serving as a role model for meaningless sex and betrayal is perfectly fine in her book,” Emily snipped.
Alex looked at me again, his eyes curious at Emily’s tone.
“Is she all right?” he mouthed.
“It’s a long story,” I mouthed back.
Lilly grabbed Alex’s shoulder. “Isn’t this crazy?”
“Loco,” he repeated.
Then he turned his face away from me and whispered to my cousin. “Is their house like this?”
“Sort of, but not as bad,” she replied softly.
“Hey! No secrets!” Madison yelped. “It’s my car, and I get to hear everything.”
He looked at me. “I just can’t believe your dad grew up in Utuado, my Utuado, and now he lives…here,” Alex muttered.
“Why, is Utuado that bad?” Madison asked.
I bit my lip. I had told her that I had lived in a cement house, sleeping on a moldy twin bed for two summer months, but truly I didn’t think Madison was capable of picturing the scene. To her, staying at a Holiday Inn was roughing it.
“It’s not bad!” Lilly squeaked, offended. “It’s my home.”
“A home that you couldn’t wait to get away from,” Madison added.
“It wasn’t like that…exactly.”
“Uh-huh.” Madison nodded.
Just then, the car rolled to a stop in my spacious driveway. Alex scanned the monster white house artfully lit by a landscape designer. The black shingles and shutters glowed in the dusk above the expansive white porch that encompassed the front façade. The lawn, illuminated by floodlights in the grass, had not even the hint of a dry blade.
“This is home,” I said, raising my eyebrows with a wide grin.
“I love it already.”
When we got inside, my parents had rolled out the red carpet. The cheesesteaks were heated, our Philadelphia-themed souvenirs were arranged in a toile-wrapped basket, a collection of collegiate brochures littered the kitchen table, and they were standing like the welcoming committee—with Teresa and her fiancé Carlos beside them.
“Wow, Teresa. I didn’t know you were coming,” I said, my tone sounding more surprised than I had intended.
“It was a last minute thing,” my mother explained with a gentle smile. “We figured why not surround Alex with as many familiar faces as possible?”
“Gracias.” Alex nodded at my mom. “This is increíble.”
His Spanish accent made my insides flutter.
“Good to see you again, Alex.” Teresa stepped out to greet him, her hand extended.
Alex shook it politely and kissed her cheek.
“So, bien-ven-i-do,” my mom welcomed slowly, with horrific Spanish pronunciation.
“It’s good to have you here,” my father added, loosening his red power tie.
“No, thank you. It’s so generous of you. Gracias….” Alex nodded to my father.
“Well, when Uncle Miguel called and told me your situation, how could I refuse? It’s the least I could do after he let my kids spend the summer in his home. Any friend of Miguel’s is a friend of mine,” my dad explained.
“Um, Alex is my friend too,” I pointed out.
My father coughed awkwardly as if to block out my statement. We had yet to have any real discussion about what Alex’s moving here meant to me. Of course these are the same parents who skipped over the birds and the bees speech and never bothered to discuss the menstrual cycle that debuted when I was twelve. A box of pads and tampons just miraculously appeared in my bathroom closet. (I’m still not sure if our maid or my mother put them there.)
“So come, eat,” my mom ordered as she herded us into the formal dining room. My friends shuffled behind. I could see they were being careful not to interfere. Teresa added an awkward element to most situations.
The cheesesteaks were being served on a stainless steel tray along with my parents’ wedding china. I don’t think chipped beef ever had it so good. I plopped down on a polished high-back chair and grabbed a sandwich.
“Ever have one before?” I asked, handing Alex his meal on a white porcelain plate with a silver-patterned trim.
“No, what is it?” He pushed his chair closer to mine.
“A local delicacy. Try it.”
Alex glanced at Teresa and they both took tentative bites into the foreign substance, grease dribbling down their chins.
“Está bien,” he mumbled, reaching under the linen tablecloth and squeezing my knee.
My eyes immediately shot to my father, who was staring at Alex’s stretched arm like it was an automatic weapon. I discreetly brushed his palm away and Alex furrowed his brow. I pulled my eyes wide, hoping to telepathically inform him that he was not to touch me in my parents’ presence. He didn’t catch on, but Madison and Lilly did. They both glared at me and then at my dad. He was stroking his black mustache and frowning, his dark eyes pointedly focused on our house guest’s hands.
“So, Alex, I’ll have to give you the low-down on the Ruízes,” Lilly joked, subtly nodding at my father.
“Oh, please, if you want the real truth, come to me,” Madison said. “I’m practically a member of this family.”
“Well I actually am,” Lilly added.
“Wow, two teenagers fighting over how much they want to be part of this household. I’ll have to film it and send it to Vince,” I joked.
“That’s enough,” my mom warned. “We have guests.”
“No, I like how your family interacts,” Teresa said as she delicately placed her cheesesteak back on her plate. “It’s like you have your own language.”
No one said anything.
“It’s nice,” she reiterated.
All I could think of was how she probably never had this for herself. She didn’t have siblings growing up to annoy her. She’d only had her mother, and from what I’d heard, that wasn’t much of a consolation prize. The woman had had an affair with my grandfather and a very public falling-out—she ran my family off the island. No wonder Teresa was seeking a bond with her half-brothers, no matter how late in life.
“Well, I’m sure you and Carlos will have your own language with your kids,” I said.
“Manny will be here soon,” she said, referring to her two-year-old terror. “I can’t wait for Carlos to spend time with him.”
“Neither can I.” Carlos kissed Teresa on her nose.
“There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask you girls.” Teresa’s brown eyes darted nervously between Lilly and I as she brushed her dark red hair behind her ear. “It’s about my wedding…I was wondering. You see, I don’t have any sisters and all of my friends are in Utuado. And with everything coming up so soon, I was hoping…that maybe…and this is entirely up to you…that you’d like to be my bridesmaids?” She bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at the table.
“Totally!” I cheered. “How cool is that?”
I looked