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We pull away after a while and I lean my forehead against his. “This is crazy, right?” I breathe. He keeps me tight against him. “What this is…what we feel? It’s crazy right?”
“It feels right,” He whispers. I nod in agreement. He slowly puts me back on my feet, keeping me close against his body the whole time. He kisses my forehead before taking my hand. I lead him inside where Ana is smirking on the couch.
“I don’t want to hear it from you,” I warn her, pointing a finger in her direction.
“I would never dare say anything,” She gasps mockingly. She stands up to come over to us. “Elliot Decker,” She says, eyes narrowing on him. She sizes him up and somehow manages to look down on him even though he stands several inches taller than her.
“Ana Reyes.” He dips his head to her politely.
“You know what I’m going to say. You break her heart and I will slowly destroy you and break you down until you have no one and nothing to live for,” She says with a straight look on her face. I smirk but playfully swat her arm. “No me pongas a prueba.” Don’t test me.
I whisper a translation to him.
“And since you’re an intelligent man,” She continues. “I’m sure you’ve realized that Madeline and I are a package deal. You want her, you put up with me. You’re stuck with me now too,” She says matter-of-factly before turning around and returning to the couch.
“That’s fine with me,” He says earnestly with a small smile. I squeeze his hand and return to the kitchen to finish dinner. I direct him on how to set the table, and Ana comes over to help us. Just a few minutes later, I set the food on the table and we all sit down to eat.
It is quiet for a little while as we dig in.
Ana groans. “Seriously, pollito, amazing as always.”
I smile at her. Elliot nods in agreement. “It’s incredible.”
“Thank you! It’s my mom’s famous recipe. I can’t have anyone elses’ lasagna,” I say seriously before shoving a huge bite in my mouth.
“Can I…” Elliot starts. “Can I ask about the nickname?”
“Yes. Yes you can,” Ana answers.
I throw her a warning look before turning to Elliot. “It means ‘little chicken’ or even ‘chick’.”
Ana laughs. “You think she’s little and scrawny now, you should have seen her in grade school.”
I groan and put my head in my hand. “Stop.”
Elliot chuckles and Ana continues, “She had the cutest little chicken legs. I was still struggling with speaking in both languages back then, switching back and forth between speaking Spanish at home and English at school, so I slipped up all the time and said random words in Spanish. I called her pollito once and when she asked me what it meant…” She bites her lip and looks at me.
“Yeah, please tell him what you told me it meant,” I say with a serious face.
Ana tries not to laugh. “I told her it meant ‘pretty’.” She bursts out laughing. Elliot’s smirk turns into a wide smile.
“Yes, and I told my entire family and most of my classmates that they should call me pollito from now on!” I yell, speaking animatedly.
“No,” Elliot says quietly, his broad shoulders shaking softly in restrained laughter.
“Yes! And you can imagine my humiliation, when Ana pulls me aside—A WEEK LATER—and tells me I’ve actually been asking everyone to call me ‘little chicken’.” Ana is cackling loudly now, gasping for air. I can’t help but join in. I look over at Elliot and he looks the most light and carefree I’ve ever seen him.
“That’s…equally messed up and hilarious,” He finally says.
“I know! I know!” Ana cries. “I felt so bad after I realized she was telling everyone. Then I didn’t want to embarrass her…but I had to say something before people started to really catch on.”
I wipe the tears under my eyes from laughing so hard. “I was so mad at you, but I think that was the day I told you that you needed to teach me everything you knew in Spanish.” She nods, smiling.
“Yes, your exact second grader words were, ‘Please teach me how to speak Spanish so I’ll never be humiliated again’.” Ana laughs.
“I also asked my parents to buy me books that would teach me Spanish.” I sigh.
“Yeah, but I taught you all the fun words that the books don’t teach.” Ana winks and I laugh again. There are a few moments of silence.
