Why Can't You Love Me?

Tony Perry was the first to arrive at the Fuentes household. He walked inside the house without knocking or ringing the bell. He didn’t have to. He’d known the family for years.

The house smelled of something spicy cooking and of its usual apple cinnamon smell. He entered the living room, yelled out a Hello, Tony’s here! and then plopped himself on a couch. He reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned on the TV. An episode of Adventure Time was showing.

Tony watched the cartoon for a few seconds before flipping the channel.

“HEY!” a small voice shouted the very second the channel was changed. Tony jumped, not knowing that he was not alone and looked around the living room, seeing no one.

“I was watching that!” the voice said again. The speaker popped out from the corner of the couch on her hands and knees. “I like that show.” She said, standing up.

Tony chuckled at not just her but at himself too before changing it back to the show about Jake the Dog and Finn the Human. He should have known that Melody was going to be around.

Melody was Vic and Mike Fuentes’s three year old niece. She was a damn cute thing. Talkative and squeaky but very cute. Tony had known her since the day she was born, but he never really connected with her like the other guys had. He knew her age, her name, and that she, guessing by her TV preferences, liked Adventure Time, but that was about it.

“Do you like this show?” Melody asked Tony as she crawled up on the couch and sat next to him. Not too close, but not too far either. He could smell a familiar scent off her, but he couldn’t quite figure where he’d smelled it before. “Cause I like this show. I like the dog. His name is Jake. He gwows like weally big! Like the twees!”

Tony couldn’t help but just smile as the little girl explained the show like she completely knew everything about it.

A few minutes into their one-sided conversation, the familiar scent wafted into the living room as well as a girl in her early twenties. She looked from Tony to Melody and began to chastise the toddler immediately.

“Melody! Que haces? Are you bothering your uncles’ friend?” she walked over to the child and picked her up off the couch. She turned to Tony. “Sorry Tony. Melody should have been eating her lunch. Not watching cartoons.” She said, more towards Melody than Tony.

Tony suddenly felt guilty. He didn’t know why, but he did.

“It’s okay, Lily. Don’t get after her. I enjoyed her company. We were watching Adventure Hour.” Tony said, pointing at the TV.

“Advenchuh TIME!” Melody corrected. Tony laughed.

“Yeah, yeah! That!” he ran a hand across the back of his neck. Nervous habit.

Lily, Melody’s mom, softened and set her daughter back on the couch.

“Hmm… well alright. I’ll be in the kitchen. Mel, tell me when your uncles get here.” Lily said, shooting Tony a smile, and then retreated back to the kitchen.

Tony followed her with his eyes. This was the first time Tony ever saw her the way he did now. A fucking goddess.

For as long as he could remember, Liliana Fuentes was just his buds’ little sister. Their conversations had always consisted of just a simple hello or a wave. Nothing more even though he knew everything about her, mostly cause of Vic and Mike.

He knew more than he probably should know. Like how she was allergic to oranges. Or how she hated when her foods touched and always had to separate them before eating. Or how the high school quarterback raped her in her senior year and resulted in Melody.

Tony glanced at Melody. The child was laughing at something that just occurred on the screen. This was the closest he’d ever been to her. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable feeling but it wasn’t uncomfortable either.

Melody’s head suddenly popped up, away from the TV and towards the living room window that faced the front of the house. She squealed in excitement and hopped off the couch. She stumbled as she dashed to the window and peeked through the curtain.

“Mami!” she screamed in excitement. “My tios are here!”

Just then the front door opened and a tall, skinny, tattooed man in sunglasses and a trucker hat sauntered in.

“Tio Mickey!” Melody exclaimed and ran to her uncle.

“Musica!” Mike Fuentes said back as he bent down and stretched out his arms to the little girl.
Melody jumped into him and wrapped her little arms around his neck. Mikey covered her face in kisses as she giggled.

“Tio Mickey, musica is music! Not Melody!” she said as she pulled her uncle’s glasses off his eyes.

“You are correct. But Melodia sounds weird, don’t you think?” Mike asked her. They both scrunched up their faces and then burst into fits of laughter.

“I like it when you call me Musica.” She finally said before Mike put her down. She grabbed his hand and led him to where Tony was at.

“What’s up, Tony?” Mike greeted, high fiving his fellow bandmate.

“Nothing much.” He replied. He didn’t have nothing more to say for Melody was hopping onto Mike’s lap before he could even sit down.

“Calm down, Mel. You haven’t even said hi to your other uncles.” Mike said as he pointed to the door.

Sure enough, two other guys were standing there looking absolutely heartbroken. Both were pretending to cry. Mike snickered as he saw his older brother, Vic, quickly look up and wink. The other man, Jaime Preciado, was screaming and hollering how Melody didn’t love him anymore.

Melody quickly walked over to the guys and hugged each one.

“I’m sowwy Tio Jaime! I love you so much!” she apologized. Jaime picked her and gave her a kiss.

“I love you too, munchkin.” He smiled and then handed her over to Vic.

“I love you too, Tio Vic. But not mo’ than Jaime. He’s a cwybaby.” She whispered. Vic laughed and carried her over to where the rest of the guys were sitting.

They sat and chatted for a bit. It’d been two months since they had really seen each other. They had just gotten off tour and they were now ready to start working on their third album.

Just as Vic was starting to explain some songs he had written, Lily walked in and said hello to everyone.

“Dammit, Lily! You get sexier every time I see you!” Jaime said as he pulled her into his lap.

“Oh, Jaime, you silly horndog, it’s all for you!” she whispered into his ear and then scampered off him and took a seat next to Tony, for that was the only place left.

“Momma, Tony has scwibbles on his arms like my Tio Mickey.” Melody said, pointing at Tony’s arms. They all chuckled. “Can I have scwibbles on my arms too?” she asked.

Lily’s eyes widened.

“No, baby. That’s for big people.” She said. Her daughter frowned.

“Don’t listen to your mother! Tio Mickey will let you do whatever you want, babe.” Mike said and winked. That made Melody smile again and then she turned to look at her Uncle Vic, whose lap she was sitting on.

“How come you have a eawwing in yuh nose like Mami?” she asked, reaching up to touch Vic’s nose ring. “How come you no have scwibbles?”

“Cause you’re Tio Vic is a PUSSY!” Jaime exclaimed.

“JAIME!” Vic, Mike, and Lily all screamed at him. Jamie laughed.

“Alright, alright. Sorry. Mel, honey, don’t ever say that word. I meant to say scaredy cat.” Jaime said. Vic rolled his eyes.

Tony was amused at all this. How a child could make everyone come together like this. He only wished that he was closer to Lily now. She was sitting so close to him. Her scent was making him weak. When she shifted to cross her legs, she barely rubbed against him, but that didn’t fail to make Tony’s heart skip.

Why had he never seen her like this before?