For You I'd Count the Salt Under the Sea.

Bright light assaulted my eyelids. I pried them open just enough to realise it wasn’t even morning anymore.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked my Darth Vader alarm clock, inspecting the red lines of time he displayed evilly on his chest. “Shiet. That long”.
Reaching for my phone, I found I had a missed call from my sister. She also texted me, reminding me about a specific dinner that was in a couple nights. I yawned, rolled around a bit and fell off my bed. I made a face and reluctantly got up. I texted her back telling her that I didn’t have a date yet and I’d probably be there alone. While I was in the texting mood, I asked Vic what time I should be round to his later that night. While I waited for a response, I scanned my fridge, hoping to have some leftovers or a somewhat nutritious breakfast amongst the scattered items that habited that igloo. Having days off were great, but it could sometimes get monotonous. Deciding that this day would be productive, and not a huge lounge around until I was expected in better company, I wrote a list of things to do. Groceries, record store, book store and to locate a skate park that had the same graffiti tag as the skeleton graffiti I so dearly loved.

Getting the groceries was easiest thing I had done that day, as battling to not spend heaps in the book and record stores was the biggest inner war I’ve had in a long time. While I was in the confectionary aisle, guiltily placing some chocolate in my trolley, Vic replied telling me to be ready around 6pm and he would pick me up. He also told me I would be stuffing my face at a Fuentes Family style Fiesta, which was described as “basically a barbeque with Mexicans”. I smiled at the thought of being invited to a family affair. I didn’t want to get too excited though, in case it wasn’t even meant in a way that said I was being enveloped into their group. I tried to push the thoughts, positive and negative, out of my mind so I wouldn’t have a panic attack before the Fuentes Fiesta. I also had bigger fish to fry: Graffiti artists and their elusive nature.

Driving around San Diego, with my windows down and music loud enough to be obnoxious, I drove to my nearest skate park, where I spent many afternoons as a rebellious dumbass teenager. I parked wherever I could and hoped there was someone I knew or at least someone who knew about the graffiti. Sighing with relief after spotting a familiar face, I walked over with a smile.
“Well, would you boys look who it is? The dear princess of badass, Anara”, the shaggy hair with a smirk greeted me. His hair was always covering his eyes, but amazingly never to the detriment of his skating. We called him Waldo because he was always overshadowed by the Bright Star of the house, his brother (whose name was Wally).
“Hey Waldo, hey boys” I smiled at the rest of his skate crew and threw Waldo a one armed hug.
“What can we do for you, Nora?” Waldo smiled, brushing some blonde shaggy hair from his eyes.
“Well, I need a favour. I wanted to find out who did the skeleton graffiti up near the business area of that other park. That piece over there has the same tag as the skeletons”, I pointed to an intricately detailed piece of graffiti. “And seeing as you boys are here most of the time, I was wondering if you knew anything about it”. I smiled as cutely as I could, really wanting to get some answers.
They all burst out laughing. I imagine my face was showing copious amounts of confusion on it.
“It’s Nic’s. He’s Alan’s younger brother” Waldo pointed at one of his crew, who raised his head to acknowledge me. “Why did you want to know that?”
I was extremely excited to finally have some progress on my wall. “Oh my God, those skeletons are amazing and I wanted him to paint them as a feature wall in my apartment. I mean… if that's cool with him?” I shrugged, hopeful.
“I’ll have a chat to him for you. Waldo can let you know what’s going on” Alan replied, smiling, probably stoned.
“I could pay him to do it too, if he’d like. In fact, I’d insist!” I beamed back at him. I turned to Waldo. “Hey man, I got to go out later on tonight, but I’ll come hang some other time, yer?”
“Yer, no worries” Waldo fist-bumped me and I thanked them for the help before I turned to walk away.

The drive back to my apartment was nerve-wracking because all I could think about was what does one wear to a ‘barbeque with Mexicans’? After I showered and all that jazz, I threw on a red summer dress that ended before my knees, and a slouchy cardigan to make me not look so formal. I slipped my feet into some black flats, checked my hair and flopped down on the couch, waiting for Vic to knock at my door. After viciously staring at my watch for over twenty minutes, because I may have gotten dressed early due to nerves, I finally heard the knock on the door that I had been anxiously waiting for. Skipping over to get it, I made sure I had everything I needed before I left and smiled quite large at Vic.
“Hey”, he smirked, pulling his sunglasses off his shirt and putting them down on the table, “If you smile any wider, your face will crack”
“Shut up”, I whacked his arm, then tried my best to make a frowny face, feigning hurt. He just laughed at me and dipped down to kiss me, which I gladly returned before dragging him out of my apartment and to his car. I was slightly excited and I really wanted to know the news that he promised to tell me tonight. He paced through the streets that I had become familiar with on the way to the Fuentes Pad. Through our conversation on the journey, which largely consisted of humorous fights and the occasional remark about the song that was playing, I forgot all about the butterflies in my stomach until I was being led into a big house. It was Vic and Mike’s parents’ place, which was just a few houses down from their own.
“Don’t be nervous or anything, Anara. My parents are really chill” Vic smiled, dragging me through the house to the backyard.

I thought I could relax because it would probably be just the boys and Vic’s parents, but the sight I saw before me was anything but. There were a lot more people at this Fuentes Mexican Fiesta than I was comfortable with. It was like they invited the whole street or something.
Mike, Jaime, Tony and Stephanie waved to Vic and me from one of the corner tables. I gave a tiny wave back before Vic dragged me along some more and stopped me in front of two people.
“Anara, this is Mama and Papa Fuentes”, he smiled, knowing that he didn’t give me fair warning and was enjoying my mouth open and close like a fish.
“Uh, hello. I’m Anara. It’s nice to meet you”, I smiled, trying to look calm, but probably ended up looking like a psychopath. They smiled back, making small conversation and told me to enjoy myself. I promised them I would and walked back to the boys and Vic, who had abandoned me mid-conversation. I exhaled deeply, and whacked Vic on the arm.
“Thanks for leaving me back there, you ass”, I poked my tongue out at him before stealing some food off his plate.
Awkward first meetings with parents were always the worst.