Valentine's Day

Rehearsal

Finally, I watch the white gate that leads to my house open.

We didn't all fit in one car so Joseph, Louis, and Paola went with mom to the house while Sophie and I went with my aunt. My aunt had to pick up my two cousins, and Sophie and I had to stick around for the ride. I was excited to get home immediately because I wanted to be there to watch Joseph and Louis flip the burgers on the barbecue. Hopefully they haven't started cooking yet.

"Look, there's smoke!" Sophie yells.

"Aw," I whine as I look out the window and watch a thin pillar of smoke rise from the roofless patio to the sky.

The car bumps to a stop and Sophie and I jump out.

"Thank you, Auntie," I say before running into the patio. The patio is a small rectangle where we placed plants all around the walls. The floor of it is covered with outdated colorful pink and blue tiles. Right when I walk in, I see Paola sitting on one of the cream colored chairs that surrounds the glass table, which has an umbrella placed on the middle. Then to the table's right, against the left wall, sits the barbecue, which is now surrounded by Louis, Joseph, and my mom.

Mom holds some kind of spatula and moves it around in the air as she explains.

"Leave them there for a few minutes and then flip it. I'll bring out the bread and vegetables soon," then she hands the spatula to Joseph.

"Hey, mom," I say cheerfully as she passes by me.

"Hi, sweety," she says leaning down and kissing my forehead.

"He's cooking?" I ask pointing at Joseph. He flips the spatula, and he doesn't grab it right, so it jumps from his left hand to his right, where he finally has a good grip on it.

"Yeah, keep an eye on him," mom says looking at Joseph suspiciously. I laugh and nod.

When she's inside of the house, Joseph raises the spatula in the air and kisses it.

"Oh yeah. I've got the power!" He yells.

"It's just a spatula," Paola says bluntly.

"It's not just a spatula. This means I'm in charge of the burgers," he waves the spatula around.

"So if they burn it's your fault," I say.

"They won't burn," he says narrowing his eyes.

"Sure," I say moving next to the barbecue.

"What have you guys done?" Sophie asks.

"We went to the grocery store, bought food and then arrived," Louis answers as he walks slowly towards the table. "Her mom put Joseph in charge of the food and then you guys got here."

He moves awkwardly and unsure next to the patio table, then the shade of the umbrella covers him as he slowly lowers himself onto a chair.

"They won't break," I say trying to reassure him

"I know. I was making sure no spider webs were here. I accidentally... encountered one," He says looking away quickly.

"Encountered?" Sophie asks.

Paola goes into a laughing fit and bends over. I jump back surprised and Sophie stays still. We watch her laugh uncontrollably and look at each other confused. Then Joseph's shoulders bob up and down and I realize he's chuckling.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Oh, you should have been there," Paola says in between laughs. "Louis ate a spider web."

"I didn't really eat," he bends two of his fingers in the air, making quotation marks, "I was just talking and when I walked into the patio a spider web got into my mouth. But I spit it out!"