Tears in Vegas

"Zhenya, you`re here!" Vic exclaimed with a grin as he pulled me into a hug. "Are you ready to meet Papa?"

I nodded slowly. "Is it bad that I`m nervous?"

"No. But he`ll love you. And if he doesn`t I`ll make him," Mama answered with a grin, making me and Vic laugh.

"What are you talking about?"

I turned around at the sound of a new voice to see Mike and an older man walk into the house. He had short grey ish silver hair and was ever so slightly plump. Like Mama he had a Spanish accent but his was more predominate.

"I am talking about this lovely woman, Zhenya. I love her and you will too," Mama said as she pointed a finger at the older man. She sounded serious but you could tell by the smile on her face that she was teasing him.

"Zhenya, this is my Papa. Papa, this is my very good friend Zhenya," Mike said with a grin.

"It`s very nice to meet you," I said shyly, nervous.

Papa smiled and nodded. "It`s very nice to meet you as well. She has you call her Mama, yes?" He asked, referring to his wife. When I nodded he smiled a bit more. He walked over to me and pulled me into a hug, lightly patting my back. When he pulled away he kissed my forehead. "Then you will call me Papa. Is that understood?"

I nodded with a smile. "Of course, Papa."

"Good, good. Now, what have you two made for dinner?"

Mama let out a soft laugh and lightly smacked him on the arm with a dish towel. "What does it matter? You`ll like it."

Papa chuckled and gave Mama a kiss on the cheek. "True. Now, let`s eat."

We ate dinner, talking and laughing the whole time. When we were done eating Mama pulled me away from the table and into the kitchen to make desert. We ended up making fried ice cream and it was completely amazing. And again, while eating desert we talked and laughed.

"I remember one time when I was five, my parents took me to the park and some little boy was picking on me. Pushing me, pulling my hair, the whole ten yards. I got so mad I pushed him off one of the swings. When my parents wanted to know why I did it I told them it was because he was picking on me. My mom laughed and said it meant that he liked me. I remember telling her how completely stupid I thought that was and how girls would only like mean guys if they believed that. She laughed so hard and agreed with me and my dad told me I was too smart for me own good," I said with a grin, exchanging another story.

Papa chuckled at my story. "I agree with your father. You were much too smart for your age."

"But you were very right," Mama said with a big grin, the guys nodding in agreement.

"What time do you have to be home, Zee?" Vic asked with a slight yawn.

"Midnight."

"It`s already nine thirty," Papa said with a chuckle.

"Are you sure you can`t stay?" Mama asked with a frown.

I shrugged. "I don`t know. Iv`e been trying to agree with my dad on a curfew so we won`t fight. But, I don`t know if he would bend the rules or not."

"Why would you fight?" Papa asked with a frown.

"My dad isn`t very fond of the idea of his eighteen year old daughter hanging out alone with four boys in their twenties. He`s slowly warming up to them though."

"But you wouldn`t be alone with four boys in their twenties. You would be hanging out with two boys and their parents. Please see if you can stay, Zhenya. I can teach you how to cook some more things and we can even make breakfast together," Mama reasoned.

I bit my lip to try and hold back the smile that was threatening to spread on my face at her words. But it didn`t work. I ended up smiling, no grinning. She was so hard to say no to. "Okay. I`ll call my dad and see if I can stay."

"Good, now call him," Papa said excitedly, making me laugh softly.

I got up off the couch and went into the kitchen, hopped up on the counter and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and called my dad.

"Hello?"

"Hey dad. Could I stay here? Vic and Mike`s mom is kind of hard to say no to," I said with a laugh.

"You want to sleep over there?" My dad asked slowly.

"Yeah. Vic and Mike`s mom actually suggested it. Like I said, she`s hard to say no to."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Uh, yeah. Let me go get her," I answered, a bit shocked. "Mama? My dad wants to talk to you!" I called into the living room. Seconds later she was walking into the kitchen and took the phone.

"Hello? Oh yes, I did. I wanted to show her some recipes of mine. Yes, she mentioned that before. Oh, the boys will probably go home sometime later so it`ll be just my husband and me. Mhmm. Of course," Mama said before handing the phone back to me.

"You can sleep over," My dad said as I answered the phone.

"Really? I can actually stay?" I asked, completely surprised.

"Yeah. You said so yourself, she`s hard to say no to," My dad said with a chuckle before adding, "Just come home to get your clothes and you can stay the night."

"Thank you so much, Dad!" I exclaimed with a grin.

"You`re welcome. I`ll see you soon?"

"Yep. Love you, bye," I said before hanging up. I put my phone back into my pocket and quickly went back into the living room. "He said I can stay! I just need to go home and grab some clothes."

Vic and Mike cheered with Papa and Mama smiled. Though Mama`s smile was a bit smug. It was like she knew that she could get my dad to say yes so fast. And she was proud of the fact that she could, too.

"Good. Now, I want you to go home and get your things so we can start cooking when you get back." I grinned at Mama`s words and nodded.

"I can take you," Mike offered.

"Okay. I`ll be back soon," I said as Mike walked me to the door. I got a chorus of Byes and we left for my house. We got there fairly quickly and I all but jogged up to my room and packed some clothes as well as a bit of makeup.

"I`m ready to go," I told Mike as I walked down the stairs, bag slung over my shoulder. He nodded and we walked to the front door. "Thank you for letting me do this," I told my dad as I gave him a quick hug. He just nodded and hugged me back. After we pulled away and said our goodbyes I hopped onto Mike`s back and he carried me to his parents house.

The moment we walked through the door and I got off Mike`s back, Mama was pulling me into the kitchen. She took my bag off me and handed it to Mike, telling him to put it in his old room. We ended up making chocolate chip cookies and thanks to Mama they didn`t burn. After that we made homemade hot chocolate and Mama surprised me by putting a couple pinches of chili powder in them. I was even more surprised at how good it tasted. By the time we were done making everything it was eleven and we were both exhausted.

"Well, I think I`m going to go to bed. I`ll see you in the morning?" Mama asked.

"Of course. Goodnight, Mama," I answered as I gave her a hug and watched her go to her room, Papa following her.

"And then there were two," Mike murmured as he made himself a cup of hot chocolate.

"What now?" I asked with a yawn before sipping my own cup of hot chocolate.

"Curl up in bed and watch a movie?"

"Sounds good to me. Just lead the way."

Mike nodded and grabbed my hand, leading me down a hall and into a bedroom. The walls were stark white with a few random posters. In the middle of the room was a slightly small bed with dark blue blankets and pillows and my bag was sitting on it. Above the bed was a small window with light gray curtains. Against the right wall was a small dark blue dresser and on the left was an off white closet door. On the right, beside the door was a little light gray desk with a tv and dvd player on it. The room was simple looking but it was nice and kind of cozy.

We curled up under the covers after Mike put Gremlins in the dvd player. The bed was comfortable, but because of how small it was we were basically spooning. Though neither one of us were complaining.

"Hey, Zee?" Mike whispered in my ear.

"Yeah?" I asked, turned my head a bit so I could see him. He bit his lip as he looked at me. He looked surprisingly nervous. Though what surprised me even more than that was when he pressed his lips against mine.