Have You Ever?

“ Thank you Charlye. I know you didn’t want to come, but I’m glad you did.”
I smiled weakly at my sister her grumbled back a response. Our little argument yesterday, seemed to have convinced her to come to the Lopez dinner today. I know she didn’t want to be here, but I was really thankful that she decided to stop being a childish baby and come to the dinner anyway.
What?
She was.
My mom knocked softly on the wooden door. It was only a few seconds wait before it opened.
“ Hi. I’m so glad you could make it.” Ms. Lopez said, with a kind smile, “ Dinner isn’t ready yet, but it will be done in a few. Please make yourselves at home.”
We entered the Lopez’s house, both my mom and sister in awe, just like I was when I first watched Noah. We took a seat on the red couch in the living room, which looked absolutely perfect now that it was completed. A black entertainment center and table set was moved in and so were a red loveseat and a red arm chair. On the black table in the middle of the room was a white vase that held one alarming red rose, bringing your attention directly to that centerpiece, even when it wanted to be somewhere else.
“ Do you like it?” Ms. Lopez said, noticing how everyone’s faces was in awe. “ I thought it was too…dramatic at first, but TJ kept saying it looked perfect so I decided to trust his opinion on it.” She looked around the room as if she was still having second thoughts.
“ It’s perfect.” My mom said. My sister did nothing but look at the bright red rose.
“ Thank you. I’m going to go check on the food. I’ll be back in a minute.”
She left to the kitchen and I plopped down on the couch. My mom and sister kept looking back and forth from the couch to one another, probably debating whether to sit down on the couch or not.
“ It won’t hurt if you sit down, you know.” I told them. “ That’s what couches were made for.”
“ Um…right.”
My mom and sister looked at each other one last time before sitting down. When they saw that the couch wasn’t going to break (or explode for that matter) my mom let out a small sigh of relief only for a yell to be heard from another room.
“ Noah! Get back here!”
My whole family jumped up in shock.
“ Noah Nathaniel Lopez!” One of the boys yelled out. Soon enough we saw little Noah, crawling into the living room with his bare butt cheeks exposed for all to see. But Noah didn’t care about this. He was smiling and laughing like he was playing a game of hide and seek.
“ Noah! Put some pants on!” Another voice yelled. In came TJ, Daniel, and Christian. Daniel had a pair of pants in his hands and TJ had a diaper.
“ Grab his legs!” Christian yelled.
All four boys immediately jumped into action. The three older boys leaped for Noah, who began crawling as fast as his little legs could go, smiling and laughing the whole while. Christian was the first one to catch Noah. He flipped him over gently, held his legs together and lifted them in the air. Daniel hurried and slipped the pamper under Noah and Christian laid Noah down. Daniel began strapping the pamper on, trying to ignore Noah’s constant kicking and laughing.
“ TJ the pants!” Daniel yelled once he was done putting on the pamper. Noah caught TJ rushing toward him and began to crawl once again, but Christian grabbed him by the leg and flipped him back over softly. TJ rushed into action, and began sliding on the pants. Noah didn’t give up that easily, and started kicking. TJ got the pants up to Noah’s ankles, before Noah kicked TJ right in he jaw.
“ Ah!” TJ let got of Noah and the pants and began clutching his jaw. Christian grabbed Noah, and managed to slip on the pants, without being fatally kicked in the face.
The older boys let out a sigh of relief while Noah just sat on the floor giggling. My mom had a weird expression on her face and Charlye was smiling. I let out a small laugh. I was pretty sure that the Lopez’s never had a dull moment, and if they did, then it only lasted for a few seconds.
“ Man,” Christian sighed, “ That was hard.”
“ Well, it would have been easier if TJ didn’t let him go!
“ It wasn’t my fault! That little booger kicks hard!”
“ Gah!”
TJ shot Noah a small glare, then smiled right as his mom walked in.
“ What are you boys doing?” She asked sternly.
“ Noah tried to moon everyone.” Christian said, as if it was an everyday thing. His mother nodded in understanding.
Huh…
So maybe it was regular.
“ Well, dinner is ready. Come with me.”
Everybody stood up (except for Noah, he was carried), and followed Maria into the dining room, which was decorated just as immaculate as the living room. The theme was black and white Victorian, so everything looked really old in a classy way. There was a white vase in the middle of the long, elegant table, just like there was in the living room, but instead of a red rose, there was a pure white one, that stood out against all the black.
“ Take a seat, while I go get the food.”
She smiled at me, my mother, and my sister before going into the nearby kitchen. Daniel place Noah in a black and white high chair, which looked like the only modern thing in this room.
Maria came back in with a silver tray, carrying medium sized bowls. She put the silver tray down on the table and began to pass out the bowls to each one of us, giving a very small bowl to Noah. I looked at the food, which looked like soup, but it smelled…I don’t know…different.
The boys began eating (Christian was feeding both Noah and himself at the same time) and my family just stared at the contents.
“ Um…what is this?” Charlye asked, eyeing the soup. My mom nudged her with her elbow.
“ Sorry, what my daughter meant was-”
“ Oh, no, it’s okay Jennifer,” Maria said, using my mom’s first name, “I get that all the time. This is asopao. It’s sort of like a soup, or gumbo made with whole chicken and different spices and vegetables.”
“ Oh.” Charlye said, still eyeing the food, not daring to take one bite.
“ Your never gonna know how good it taste, until you try it.” Daniel said to her, taking a big spoonful of asopao. He licked his lips and grinned at her, causing Charlye to smile. She dipped her spoon in the soup and brought it to her nose to smell it.
“ Last time I checked, humans didn’t eat with their noses.” TJ said.
“ Gah!” Noah yelled in agreement.
Charlye glared at them and then stuck the spoon in her mouth. I watched her expression, waiting to see a look of disgust spread across her face, but instead, the corners of her lips turned up into a smile.
Me and my mom took this as a sign that the food wasn’t poisonous and began to eat it. A bunch of different flavors exploded in my mouth as the food hit my tongue. It was good. Really good. It made you feel warm once it was inside you, making you wish that feeling would last forever.
I wished it did.
XXX
“ Thanks for inviting us over. It was really nice of you.”
“ Oh, your welcome. Come over anytime.” Maria said.
“ Okay.”
Both mom’s waved at each other as we walked back to our house.
“ Hey, Charlye?” I whispered.
“ Yeah?”
“ Thanks for coming. I knew you didn’t have to, but you still did. Even after I assaulted you with earbuds.”
I smiled at her and she smiled back, and for a split second, life felt good