When Reason Breaks (17 page)

Emily rolled her eyes.

“
Cálmate
, Em. Pop's bark is worse than his bite. You take his threats way too seriously.”

“Oh really, well I still have the teeth marks from when he forced me to do community service last June.”

Austin laughed. “So you had to read a script about not drinking to the six idiots who showed up drunk at the senior prom. So what? You are
muy sensitiva
, Sis. Laugh it off.”

“Whatever,” she said. “Easy for you to say since you're away at college.”

“You two can fight later,” said Abby. She wrapped her hand around Austin's bicep. “Come say
hola
to my parents and then we'll go downstairs. Sarah and Kevin are already here.”

After eating and draining the
coquito
bottle, the girls exchanged presents. Abby gave each of them a Coach wristlet, and Sarah bought MAC makeup bags filled with goodies that she said were the perfect colors for the season. Emily gave her friends colored picture frames to match each of their bedrooms. One side of the frame held a picture of them when they were younger, while the other side displayed a recent photo of the group.

“Okay, if you're done ooh-ing, ahh-ing, and hugging, I have something for my girl,” said Kevin. He led Emily by the hand to another part of the finished basement so they could have some privacy. They sat cross-legged on the floor facing each other with a gift bag between them. Emily reached in, but Kevin stopped her.

“Wait, I want to explain why I didn't buy you something fancy. I mean, I could've bought you jewelry or something like that, but my dads insisted personal was better than expensive. So …” he retrieved one gift from the bag. Emily unraveled the red tissue paper to find silk sunflowers.

“They're summer flowers, as you know since they're your favorite, so I had to get fake ones, which I think is okay because this way you can enjoy them year-round.”

Emily smiled. “Thank you. They're beautiful.”

“There's more,” he said. He offered her a second gift wrapped in red tissue paper, note cards with quotes from famous poets. “Because I know you like to read and write. And there's one more,” he said and tapped the gift bag.

She peeked inside. “An insulated lunch bag?” she asked, surprised, and quickly added, “I mean, who couldn't use one, right?”

Kevin laughed. “The gift is inside.”

“Coconut ice cream!” she yelled with glee, raising the pint in the air.

“Your favorite. See I pay attention,” he said with a smirk. “But, if you think these are stupid, I could run to the mall tomorrow and buy you Michael Kors sneakers or something.”

“They're perfect. Thank you.” Emily leaned in and kissed him. “I have something for you, too.”

He shredded the wrapping paper to find a black steel Fossil watch.

“Whoa, this is awesome!” he said. “Is this because I'm always late?”

“Maybe,” she said with a grin.

“Well, I'll be Mr. Punctual from now on,” he said, fastening the watch on his wrist. “Go ahead; ask me what time it is.”

“What time is it?” she asked with a laugh.

“It's 12:15 a.m.”

“In London,” she chuckled. “You need to reset it.”

As she leaned in to help him, he pulled her on top of him. They laughed and kissed; his hands caressed her back and her cascading hair tickled his face.

“Ah-hem!” Abby coughed to get their attention.

Emily slid off Kevin, who said, “Hey, Abby, ask me what time it is.”

“It's time for you to get a room.”

“No, seriously,” he said with a laugh. “Let me check my new fancy watch. It's … oh, wait … minus five hours … 7:19 p.m.”

“The Mayans would be impressed, I'm sure,” she said and smiled. “Come join the party.”

Hours later, the group fell into siesta mode. Abby rested on one couch, her legs across Austin's lap, while he reclined and propped his feet on a nearby table. Sarah sprawled on the floor with a pillow under her head, as she watched
It's a Wonderful Life
again. Kevin lay on his back on the other couch, with Emily by his side.

“Hey, Em,” he said quietly. “Tommy and Elizabeth are taking her sister cosmic bowling. You know, with the black lights and music. Want to go?”

“Sure.”

“Should we invite this crew?” he asked while stroking her hair.

“No. I can hang out with you alone, with you and them, or with you and Tommy and Elizabeth, but we all can't hang out together.”

“Why not?” he asked with a laugh.

“Trust me. It wouldn't work. Abby would start yapping about paying attention to the little people …”

“Like midgets?”

“No,” Emily said and laughed.

Abby glanced at the couple and said, “You two are so cute. You have me to thank for this, you know that, right?”

“What's she talking about?” asked Emily.

“Nothing. She's drunk and talking nonsense,” he said. “Yep, thanks for having us over, Abby. You're the best. Sleep it off.”

Emily giggled and said, “Hey, Kev, will you break up with me if my dad sends me to a Catholic boarding school?”

“Of course not, especially if you have to wear one of those cute uniforms. Totally hot.”

She laughed and wiped her eyes.

“Are you crying?” he asked.

“Not really. I'm just so tired and the
coquito
made it worse. I think I'm passing out.”

“Go ahead and pass out, Em. I've got you,” he said and held her tighter. He kissed her on the head and added, “
Feliz Navidad, mi amor
. I've been practicing. Not bad, right?”

“Yeah, not bad. Merry Christmas,” she whispered. She snuggled into him and fell into a deep sleep.

On the way to cosmic bowling, Elizabeth sat in the backseat with Lily. She said they needed to strategize, but really she didn't want to hear it from her mom the whole ride about how she was still grounded and this outing was an exception for Lily and she had to be a responsible older sister. Like she'd ever let something bad happen to Lily.

“I wasn't going to say anything, but I think you have a right to know,” said Elizabeth.

Lily widened her eyes. “What is it?”

Their mom's eyes flicked from the road to the backseat through the rearview mirror, clearly nervous about what Elizabeth might say.

“Tommy said it should be boys against girls. I reminded him that they'd be outnumbered since there are three of us
and two of them, and his exact words were, ‘Well, with Lily, it's more like two and a half, plus I think you girls need all the help you can get.' ”

“Oh, no he didn't,” said Lily.

“Yes, he did.”

“He doesn't know who he's messing with,” Lily added and circled her wrists.

“You got that right, sister,” Elizabeth said, joining her in the wrist warm-ups.

A smile was evident in their mom's eyes as she glanced at them through the rearview. “Okay, have fun, you two,” she said after pulling up to the bowling alley's entrance. “Text me when you want me to pick you up. Not too late.”

“Does that mean I get my phone back?” Elizabeth asked, her hands pressed together as if she were begging.

“Nope. You can use Lily's phone.”

“Sure, the eleven-year-old has a phone.”

“The eleven-year-old didn't swear at a teacher and go three rounds with a row of lockers,” said Lily.

“Good point,” said Elizabeth.

As Lily hopped out of the car, she called behind her, “Later, Julia.”

Elizabeth shrugged, while her mom gave her a look that could only mean “I wonder how she learned that.”

Tommy spotted the girls soon after they pushed through the main entrance doors and peeled off their winter coats.

“What the …?” Tommy nudged Kevin in the arm and pointed. The girls walked side by side, wearing jeans
and matching black shirts trimmed in cobalt blue. Both wore their hair in two French braids and carried their own bowling balls in matching blue-and-black bags.

“Are you serious?” asked Kevin.

Elizabeth answered by pulling out her own shoes, a resin sack, towel, and tape.

“Aw, man,” he said. “We're screwed.”

“I think Emily should be on our team,” said Tommy.

“Oh, no,” said Lily. “You want to make sexist comments? Now, you have to deal with the consequences.” She laced her fingers and flipped them over, cracking her knuckles.

Elizabeth stood beside her. She tilted her head from side to side, a loud pop generated with each movement. “Emily bowls with us and we need a few minutes to warm up.”

“Warm up?” Kevin threw up his hands and turned to Tommy. “Dude, we're dead.”

Emily hesitated and then moved closer to Elizabeth and Lily to change her shoes. While she waited for the Davis girls to finish stretching, her phone buzzed with a text.

Abby: Hey, Em, whatcha doing?

Emily: Bowling.

Abby: Really? w/Kevin?

Emily: Yes & Tommy, Elizabeth, & her little sister.

Abby: Oh … never mind.

Emily: What?

Abby: Sarah & I are going to the movies. We were going to invite you, but you're busy.

Emily: You could meet us here.

Abby: Ummm … no, thanks.

Emily: Maybe I can meet up with you later.

Abby: Don't worry about it.

“Hey, Em, you ready? You're up first,” said Kevin.

“Oh, sorry,” she mumbled as she tucked her phone into her pocket. She held her sweaty hands over the dryer for a few seconds.

“Check her out, trying to act all professional like her partners,” Tommy joked.

Emily wiped her hands on her jeans and bowled twice without finesse. Two pins toppled. “Sorry,” she said again.

“Shake it off, Delgado. We got this,” said Elizabeth as she rubbed her sister's shoulders.

Emily grinned and returned to her seat. Kevin sat sideways on the plastic chairs, one leg stretched out, the other on the ground. Emily fit herself into the space in front of him and released the breath she was holding as Kevin wrapped his arms around her. He pecked her on the neck and squeezed her tight. She sank into him.

Lily's ball crashed into the pins. Strike! Elizabeth hooted and taunted Tommy, who rubbed a hand over his recent buzz cut as if that would bring him luck. While Tommy bowled, Elizabeth toweled off her ball and handled her resin sack.

“Those two need to kiss and get it over with,” Kevin said to Emily. “Watch this.” He cleared his throat and raised his voice, “So, this is kind of like our first double date, right?”

Elizabeth launched the resin sack in Kevin's direction.
Emily ducked as the pack sailed toward them and hit Kevin in the eye.

“Don't worry, Delgado, I've got good aim,” said Elizabeth.

“That's all you have to say? How about an apology, Davis?” asked Kevin, laughing and blinking back tears as he lobbed the sack to her. “You know, be a good role model to your sister.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but realized Lily was watching and laughing like everyone else. She winked at Lily and added, “Sorry, Kevin, it slipped out of my hand.”

The group grooved and played as dance music blared and anything white glowed fluorescent under the black lights. Tommy shook his head at Elizabeth as they rested between games.

“What?”

“You surprise me,” he said. “How did I not know you were like a semi-pro bowler?”

Elizabeth chuckled. “We were in a league with my dad, but I kept quiet about it when we moved here and I realized most of the girls in town were semi-pro jazz dancers.” She flashed a smile and shook her hands.

“Yeah, you and jazz hands don't go together,” Tommy said with a laugh. “Like you cared what the jazz girls thought.”

“I did,” she said and looked down. “Not anymore. Whatever. The bottom line is I have dark secrets lurking beneath the surface.” She snarled in her creepy-horror-chick way. “You don't know everything about me, Tomás.”

“I'd like to,” he said.

Elizabeth's eyes widened and her heart raced as Tommy's warm, brown eyes drank in every inch of her face.

“Oh,” was all she managed to say.

Tommy laughed and rubbed his head. “You've got a way with words, Davis, you know that? Which reminds me, I wanted to ask the committee a question.”

“What committee? What question?”

Tommy stood and faced the others.

“You may not know this, but Davis writes all of this amazing stuff in her journal.”

“How do you know it's amazing?” she asked.

“I have the floor, Miss Davis. Please don't interrupt.”

Elizabeth covered her face with her hands as Tommy continued, “I'm sure it's awesome because you're smart and creative and deserve to be immortalized like that chick in the Shakespeare sonnet we read in class. I want to publish one of her poems in the newspaper. What does the committee think?”

Elizabeth protested, “When did this become a group decision?”

But everyone else shouted over her, “Yes! Do it!”

Lily bounced to Elizabeth's side. “That would be awesome! You'd be a published author! And I'd be the sister of a famous poet!”

“Not exactly, Lily. Did you miss the part about it being published in the
school newspaper
?”

“Hey …” said Tommy.

“Sorry, but it'd be no big deal,” said Elizabeth.

As soon as the words were out of Elizabeth's mouth,
Kevin punched her in the arm and yelled, “Gotcha! If I can't say it, you can't, either.”

In response, Lily wound up and punched him in the groin.

“Don't hit my sister!” she yelled as Kevin doubled over.

“Lily! You shouldn't hit people.” Elizabeth firmly held her sister's shoulders to seem stern but ended up laughing so hard, she was wheezing. Emily alternated between laughing and acting the part of the sympathetic girlfriend.