Treat You Better

Chapter Twenty-eight: Shopping Trip.

"Si, mama." Pedro shrugged, wiping the line under his glasses.

Tío Damien gestured to me, "Violet, would you like to join them? You don't have to if you're still feeling..."

"Oh, no I'm fine, Sir. I'd love to go." I shrugged. "Where are we going?"

"We can find most of these stuff downtown so, why not go there?" Elena said, scrolling through the list on her phone.

"Just don't overspend." Tío Damien gave her a pointed look which she countered with an innocent smile.

"Papa, have I ever?" Elena cooed.

"Does 'interior decorating' ring a bell?" Tío Damien deadpanned. "Because I asked you to buy me one roll of wallpaper and it turned into a-"

"Okay, papi. Point made." Elena interrupted with a smirk.

Half an hour later, we were driving downtown in Angelo's car, Elena and Paul in the back while I was in the passenger seat, shooting glances at Angelo and trying to decipher his mood.

Literally nothing else had happened after our um...make out session which I was still trying to push to the back of my mind to no avail. We were called down for lunch and that was it.

I couldn't really see his face from this angle since his hair was obscuring my view, but his jaw was clenched and his shoulders seemed tense, otherwise he looked fine.

A sigh left his lips as he glanced at me for one second.
"I knew you were staring." He murmured and I raised my hand to bite on my thumbnail.

"I wasn't..." I got interrupted by him pulling my hand away from my mouth.
"Sorry." His ring was somewhere in my suitcase and I kept forgetting to look for it.

"Don't apologize," he reminded me, but he kept his hand in mine, maneuvering the car with one hand.

"I just thought you looked stressed" I said quietly, stroking my thumb back and forth on his skin while I watched him stare at the road.

"I freaking am" He murmured in reply, a rough edge to his voice. He flexed his grip on my hand, tightening and loosening and my eyebrows creased with worry.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I had a guess though, we were getting closer to Dia de los muertos, of course he was anxious!

Angelo only shook his head as a reply, looking up at the rearview mirror. Oh yeah, his cousins were in the car with us.

I peeked around the seat and met Elena's eyes darting between the both of us with quiet interest.
Paul was busy on his phone as always.

My attention returned to Angelo though. I just wanted to hug the stress out of him and see that once-in-a-while smile of his.
When he let go of me to change gears, I put both my hands between my laps, watching the town pass by outside the window. And that, for some reason, he didn't approve of.

"Hey," Angelo said in light protest, a small pout to his lips as his fingers skimmed over my knee to pull my hand out of where it was tucked between my thighs. "I thought we were... doing this..."

"Oh," I felt my face heat up slightly. And I thought I was supposed to be the "touchy" one. I wasn't complaining anyway, not at all.
"Does holding hands make you feel better?" I asked quietly, with a knowing smile.

"Not that, just you as a whole." He replied, glancing at me once more.

I could feel my blush fan across my cheeks now. "That's um...good to know."

"So basically..." Elena said loudly enough to make Paul look up from his phone. I turned to look at her skeptical expression and folded arms, "You guys are dating."