A Step to Love

“Huh?” What else could I say? “What?” Yeah, that works, too.

“Welcome home!” Pat repeated launching herself at me in a hug. Brit was still jumping and giggling when she joined in.

“I don’t get it,” I admitted.

“What’s not to get?” Brit finally spoke, but this time like this was some inside joke I was not getting. I mean, I understood the whole living-with-her thing, but, why? How? She smiled.

She was about to explain when Pat broke in, “I negotiated with him. He promised he would talk to a Nancy Scowl. She is in charge of these cases. And so he did on the phone.” She paused.”I’m not taking custody over you, because we need a judge, time and also because I’m not part of your family, but you’ll be living here until something is done. Right now, I’m not sure what that ‘something’ is, but he said he was going to call me later. Isn’t this great?”

She ended up giving a warm smile and my eyes were getting wet with excitement. “Yes,” I whispered as I hugged her. Then, we all went laughing toward the door, but my smile faded once I realized a little detail.

Alex lived here.

Brittany took my hand and she skipped upstairs while I stumbled a bit trying to keep up.

She introduced me to George though I had met him before on Brit's last birthday. I couldn’t forget the drunk who got on a table and started acting like a pony. I smiled at myself. He blushed in embarrassment.

The housekeeper was thrilled once she heard the news. “I’m Patience, but you can call me Nana,” she had said. She was the only one wearing an apron, so she was the easiest to recognize, I think. Well, also and that her hair was a faded black, almost white, but looked like she was in her late thirties. She was also around four-foot-eleven and her frame was stout. But on top of all that, she had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. There were turquoise; not something I saw every day.

We sat in Brit’s bed once again and she started to make immediate plans from where was I going to sleep to the loads of fun we were going to have. I nodded still absorbing the moment.

I was excited. I was really happy to be here, but I felt and urge to run away from it all.

Fabiola Santiago Díaz didn’t love me. She loathed me and everything that had to do with it. And even though I didn’t like her for it, she was still my mother. Also, even though I mentioned to my friends I hated her, deep down I felt compassion for her. Not love, but compassion.

Now that it was gone, I felt weird. Perhaps like a complete stranger only knowing that maybe everything would be different from now on.

A new chapter. A new beginning.

~*~*~*~*~

I opened my eyes to find a hazel-eyed guy with black hair and blonde highlights on the part of hair that covered half his face, crossed-legged and staring boringly at the TV screen. He turned his head to me the instant a yawn escaped my lips and smiled.

“Hello, there,” he greeted and extended his arm to shake my hand.

I grabbed it. “Hi,” I said shyly while I saw our hands going up and down and up and down. I wouldn’t dare to look up to his eyes. His beauty intimidated me.

“I’m Jake. Brit and Alex’s brother.” I looked up, surprised. “I guess they never told you, huh?” he suggested. I shook my head. “Little bastards,” he muttered and then laughed at himself. His laugh sounded like a perfect orchestra. Weird comparison, huh? It sounded so sweet and it soothed me somehow. For God’s sake! I just met the boy.

I looked down at our still link hands and felt a slight heat rise up. I shifted uncomfortably causing him to release my hand. “Do you have a name?” he asked and again I looked up. I nodded, and then looked down again.

He bent his head to look at me in my eyes and simply asked, “Are you mute?”

Before I even thought of analyzing what I was going to say, Alex’s voice came from the stairs. “No, she’s not. She’s just plain stupid.”

I gave him an irritated look, but then turned to Jake. Sadly, he seemed entertained. “Then you will have no problem with her—you always seem to choose the stupid kind.”

I had to laugh at that one. I haven’t heard of it before. Alex glared at me…again. It wasn’t something new. “Hey, she laughed!” Jake announced to Patience—I mean Nana—that was dusting some family albums in the sofa that was next to the loveseat Jake and I were in.

Alex climbed down the stairs and stood beside Jake. He whispered something I couldn’t really make out. I sounded like “be careful with her” or “isn’t something wrong with her?”…I don’t know. Jake looked at me and shook his head.

What the fuck?

Jake couldn’t contain whatever he had inside. “Dude, she’s hot!” he yelled throwing his hands in the air.

Alex rolled his eyes, scoffed and walked away from him. I stared blankly at Jake.

“What?” he asked. I shook my head once again. “Are you going to tell me your name?”

I gulped in response. My voice came out raspier than I thought it would. “Lillian, but everyone calls me Lilly—except Alex, of course. He calls me every insult in the book.”

“Hmm.” He seems pleased. I guess it wasn’t that bad. “That’s a pretty name,” he complemented. “Common, but pretty.”

“Uh-huh.” What a stupid response.

“So…,” he continued with his interrogation. “You like him?”

My eyes widened. I held up my index finger and placed inside my mouth. My action was followed by a gagging sound.

“Haha, I got it,” he said. “He’s not your type.”

“I don’t believe he’s anybody's type. He’s absurdly stupid.” Then I decided to change the subject. “Why hasn’t anyone mentioned you?”

“I don’t know. And maybe I shouldn’t—”

“I’m probably staying here until I go to college,” I reminded him guessing he had already heard the story of my arrival.

“Fair enough.” He sighed and stretched his back a little bit. “I don’t think they like to talk about me because of my dad.”

I understood that. Brittany had mentioned to me before the situation with Marc Rodriguez—their dad. Pat and Marc’s relationship didn’t work out once he realized he had no feelings at all for Pat. It was all a lie. Pure…lust. He had no intention whatsoever in staying with her though I never understood one thing; three children out of simple lust?

“I was very close to him. We were like best friends before all this, so it became really hard for me to face the fact that he wasn’t going to be here anymore.

“Weeks later, I moved in with him and I only came home every once in a while on special occasions like birthdays, Christmases, Halloween…you know.” I nodded. “Anyway, they probably don’t mention me, because it revives those memories that they want to keep hidden in the past. Kind of lame, right?”

“Not really—Brit has told me how much it hurt when he left.”

He stared at his hands. “Yeah.” Then his gaze met my eyes. “It’s a good thing I could talk to someone. At least you understand—well, I think you understand.” Then embarrassment crossed his face. “To tell you the truth, I only say it’s a long story just so people won’t ask.”

“Yeah, I imagined something like that,” I said.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.”

I thought so, too, Jake. I thought so, too.

I mean, who ever said you couldn’t be friends with the enemy’s brother?