"i love her, and that is the beginning and end of everything." - F Scott Fitzgerald
Mia was gathered with the entire family on the bleachers, cheering on Alex during his baseball game.
"Dale, Dylan, dale. You got this! Stand right in there, don't be afraid of the ball." Screamed Pen, only to groan when a loud thud was heard.
"Just shake it off, Dylan! Shake it off! Yes! Way to take one for the team!"
Mia giggled, before fanning herself lightly, trying to cool her body down, "God, the weather's awful today," she grumbled.
"Si," Lydia agreed, "Ay, por el amor de Dios... it is so hot." The grandmother took out a bottle of run, and began cooling herself off with it.
Pen glanced at them, calling out, "All right, Mami, Angelita, let's do the wave."
They grabbed hands, cheering in a line, until it reached Elena, who simply shook her head, deadpanning, "No."
Mia booed her jokingly, as Pen told Lydia to bring out the food. Looking down, the girl chuckled at the whole meal they'd brought, before trying to grab a cookie, only to have her hand smacked away by Lydia.
"You will ruin your appetite," scolded the older woman, before sneaking her a biscuit anyway, winking slyly.
"Okay, Alex is up. Here we go!" Screamed Penelope excitedly.
Mia stood up, jumping happily in her seat. She had one of Alex' old jerseys on, with his last name and number decorating the back.
What? He was her boyfriend, she was basically contractually obligated to show him support.
As the boy scored a home-run, they all screamed happily, dissolving into laughter when Lydia pulled out a Cuban flag.
"Ooh! That's new. Where'd you get that from?" Asked Pen with a grin.
"Walmart!"
———————
The minute the game had ended, Mia had run straight to Alex, jumping into his arms and giggling loudly when he twirled her around.
Dropping her back on her feet, he grinned when she pressed a happy kiss to his lips, saying, "I'm so proud of you! Mon coeur, you played so well!"
Foreheads leaning against one another, he mumbled, "Thank you, princesa." Before pulling away, smirking when he finally noticed what she was wearing,"Is that my old jersey?"
The girl grinned, twirling around flirtatiously, "Yep. I stole it so I could wear it to your games. Let everyone know exactly who it is I'm supporting."
"I love it."
As the two began walking back to their family, fingers weaved together, a group of kids from a nearby bus screamed, "Build the wall!"
Mia straightened, eyes narrowing in anger as she turned around, but before she could open her mouth, Alex pulled her back, mumbling, "Just let it go."
Looking at him in confusion, she said, "You're actually insane if you think I'm letting that go. Lex, that's not okay!"
He shrugged sadly, wrapping his arm around her shoulder to hold her in place, "I know its not okay. But I don't want you saying anything. That's just dangerous. Please."
She sighed, nodding, before pressing a kiss to his cheek, "Je t'aime," she whispered, knowing he wouldn't be able to understand her, and that it would frustrate him.
And just as she'd predicted, he rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face, as he grumbled, "When are you gonna tell me what that means."
"When I feel like telling you, trésor, which isn't today."
———————
"What a game, papito!" Pen cheered happily, as she ushered everyone into the apartment.
"Hello, Dodgers? You want Alex Alvarez? We'll think about it!" Joked Lydia happily, winking at her grandson.
Mia, however, could see the frustration growing on the boy's face, so she remained quiet, opting instead to softly rub his knuckles, hoping to calm him down before he imploded.
Unfortunately, she failed.
As Pen began signing a song she'd created, Alex erupted, "Oh, my God, shut up!"
The group quieted down, and Lydia spoke up, "Did you just say shut up to God?"
Pushing her away, Penelope approached her son, glaring slightly, "Did you just say shut up to me? Because that's worse."
He let go of Mia's hand, gesturing wildly, "Everything you are doing is embarrassing!"
"That's not getting me on your side."
"Well, I don't like all that crazy yelling you guys do at my games! And that song, I hate that stupid..."
"First of all," Pen cut him off, voice rising, "don't talk to me like that. Second... you hate that song?"
Schneider approached quietly, telling the boy, "Alex, you gotta appreciate how these guys support you. My dad never came to my games. All he ever did was put me through rehab six times and buy me this building."
Mia rolled her eyes, rubbing her dad's shoulder softly, before murmuring, "You tired." As Alex explained, "Look, all I know is, none of the other parents act like you."
"Come on, it's all because we're proud of you, papito." Cajoled Penelope softly.
"And stop calling me papito! I'm not a little kid anymore. My name is Alex, okay? No more papito." He added.
Both women made astounded eye contact, before shaking their heads, "Yeah, no. we'll still call you Papito."
Pen softened her voice, explaining, "Papito is not an age thing. We call Conrad "Macho" because when he was four, he sang "Macho Man" once. We call Francisco "Pepe Popo." Figure that out." Gesturing towards Mia, she continued, "You call Mia, Mellie and Princesa, and we call her Angelita, cause she looks like an Angel. I'm called Tata, Lupita, Yoyi."
"And my nickname is Pucha. It is the way of our people! If you don't have a nickname, there's something wrong with you." Finished Lydia with a smile.
"Do I have a nickname?" Asked Elena, only to frown when Lydia said, "No."
"Anyway," finished Penelope, "it's a tradition to call you papito, so we're gonna keep doing it, okay, papito?"
Alex shook his head in aggravation, "No! You need to stop it and all the embarrassing stuff you guys do at my games. If you can't, then don't come anymore." Before turning his heels and leaving.
Mia followed after him, knocking on his door softly. When she received no reply, she tried again, "Mon coeur? Can I come in?"
"Yeah," he finally mumbled.
She found him sitting on his bed, head in his hands, and softly, she took a seat beside him, rubbing his back.
"I'm sorry about those kids, and the stuff they said. It's not right." Mia murmured, "But your family....they just love you a lot Lex. That's all. They don't mean to embarrass you."
"I know." He replied, before raising his head, and smiling at her apologetically, "Sorry I yelled. I know it makes you anxious."
Mia shrugged, nudging his shoulder playfully, "It's okay. I've gotten used to it, since everyone in your family has such a passionate personality." Biting her lip, she smiled softly, "Are you okay?"
"I will be. But you can help though." He was grinning, a mischievous spark in his eye, and Mia sighed in relief.
That was her Lex.
Raising a singular brow, she smirked, "Yeah, how?"
"Kiss me, princesa."
She giggled happily, before wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, pulling his lips to hers, and kissing him softly.
Lovingly.
——————
The next day, she, along with Alex, Hugo and Andy were walking around the observatory.
The couple had their finger weaved together, as usual, and Andy joked, "have they always been this lovey-dovey?"
Mia blushed, as Alex smirked happily, while Hugo simply snorted, "Oh yeah. Even before they started dating, they were constantly glued at the hips."
"cállate (shut up), Hugo," laughed Mia happily, as Alex added, "podrías ser tú, pero estás demasiado asustada (it could be you, but you're too scared)."
The other boy rolled his eyes, nudging Alex on the shoulder, as both girls giggled, Mia leaning close to Andy and. Translating the conversation.
They entered a darker room, and the blue-eyed girl looked up, eyes widening in awe.
"Mon dieu, c'est sublime! (My god, it's sublime!)" she whispered reverently, before looking at Alex and explaining, "I've always loved the stars, but between Paris and LA, the sky's never clear enough for me to see them."
"So you'd wanna go stargazing then?" He questioned, eyes narrowed in thought.
Mia nodded, though she snorted right after, "Like we ever see in stars here. Between the smog and the air pollution, its basically impossible."
"Never say never, princesa. I'll make it happen." He grinned.
Rolling her eyes at him, she quickly checked for any nuns, before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, "My saviour."
Disaster struck when they exited however, as two random boys strolled up to her, and ignoring her and Alex' linked hands, began flirting.
Mia rolled her eyes, before turning to the boy and saying, "Could you back off? I'm not interested."
"Come on baby. I can make you interested, I swear." He insisted, stepping closer to her.
Alex pulled her behind him, sternly saying, "Dude she told you to back off, so back the fuck off."
The boy scoffed, and as Hugo and Andy approached them, mocked, "How about you two," he gestured between both boys, "Go back to Mexico where you came from, and you leave these two sweets to us, huh?"
Without warning, Alex' fist shot out, landing on the boy's jaw. Mia gasped, before pulling him away, looking at the other waste of human life, before barking, "Vas the faire enculer, batard! I told you to fuck off, but clearly you're too dumb to understand English!"
"Oh, yeah! I need a whore like you to teach me, clearly!" He joked back.
This time, Alex clearly pulled Mia behind him, shielding her from view, as his fist landed on the boy's nose with a sickening crunch.
The girls gasped, and unfortunately, Sister Barbara noticed the commotion, quickly pulling Alex away, leaving Mia behind, worry and tears etched on her face.
As she bit her lip, breaths heaving out of her, Andy softly rubbed her back, murmuring, "it's gonna be fine. He's gonna be okay."
———————
She'd run back to the Alvarez home after the excursion, hoping to beat Alex there.
As she quickly entered, huffing to catch her breath, she found Lydia on the couch, looking at her worriedly, "Are you okay, Angelita?"
The girl nodded, before gasping out, "Is Lex home yet?"
As the woman shook her head, the front door opened again, revealing a yelling Alex, "It's not that big a deal!"
"Check your tone." Pen warned, as she followed him in.
Ignoring the older woman, Mia ran to him, hugging him tightly and whispering in his ear, "Are you okay? Nothing bad's happening right?"
Alex tightened his hold on her, mumbling, "everything's fine, promise." Before pulling away, as Lydia asked, "What happened?"
"His class went on a field trip to the observatory, and he punched a kid from another school." Announced Pen in a disappointed tone.
"Papito! Is your hand okay?" Lydia fretted.
"You know, I've had enough of you and your teen crap. I'm not raising a jerk." Penelope scolded him angrily.
"I'm not a jerk! The other kid's the jerk!"
"Everyone's a jerk! It is still not okay to punch them!"
Alex scoffed, "Whatever. You don't understand." Walking away to place his bag down.
Noticing Mia's anxious face, he quickly grabbed her hand, rubbing her knuckles lightly, as his mother exclaimed, "Well, make me understand. Because how is this okay? Did he hit you first?"
"No, but he was saying stuff!"
"Okay, so what? So what, he called you a name? What? Stupid, dummy, goober?" Questioned the woman angrily.
Mia's head tilted, and she asked, "What grade do you think we're in, exactly?"
"Listen, if papito punched somebody, there is a good reason for it." Lydia tried to help, only to be ignored by everyone, before adding, "Was it about Angelita? It's okay if it was about Angelita."
Pen sighed, "No Mami, it's not okay."
"He said, "Go back to Mexico!"" Alex finally yelled. "And then he called Mellie a whore, okay?"
Everyone's jaw dropped, as Pen asked, "So, this was just some random kid?"
"Yeah. First he started coming onto Mellie, and wouldn't leave even when she asked him to. And then when I tried getting him to stop, he yelled it, and I don't know, I just lost it." He explained tiredly, hand tightening around Mia's for comfort.
"Okay. This is not okay. I'm gonna call the school and straighten this out." His mother said.
The boy shook his head, "There's nothing you can do. None of the teachers even saw him say it. Then after I hit him, Sister Barbara pulled me aside and him and his friends took off."
"Alex, we're gonna figure this out, but you can't hit somebody every time they call you a name."
"I don't! It was just this time!"
Penelope gasped, "Wait, this has happened before?"
"After one of his games, a kid yelled 'Build the Wall' once." Mia piped up, face scrunching in frustration.
"Oh my god," Elena yelled, as Pen continued, "Does this happen at school?"
"No. Just a couple of times when I'm out." He huffed, letting go of the girl's hand, before walking to his room, "It's so stupid! Whatever. I don't want to talk about it anymore."
As they heard his door slam, Mia turned to them guiltily, "The first time he hit him was because of the Mexico thing. But the one Sister Barbara saw was because of me. Cause the guy called me a whore, and I was starting to get anxious, and Lex knew it. I'm sorry."
"Sweetheart," Penelope murmured, drawing the girl into a hug, "I'm not mad about that. In fact, that, I'm actually proud of. It tells me how much he loves you."
The girl smiled shyly, before pointing in the direction of the room, "I'm going to go check on him. Leave you guys to have one of your family meetings."
When she entered his room, she found him sprawled on the bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling.
Mia laid down beside him, joking softly, "That's the second time in two days I've found you in this position. Is it going to become habit?"
The boy chuckled dryly, "Yeah, maybe."
The girl bit her lip, before leaning close to him and whispering, "Do you wanna know what it means? That thing I always say in French, that you refuse to look up because you want me to tell you?"
His eyes widened, and he turned to her, nodding excitedly. Mia giggled, before leaning close to his ear, and saying, "Je means I, t'aime, means well...love you."
Alex' smile grew soft, and he pulled her close, leaning their foreheads together, "You do?"
"Of course. And I'm sorry about today. I know you only got caught because you punched him for me."
He shook his head, "I'd do it again. No he's allowed to say that to you, ever. And just for the record, I love you too."
She chuckled softly, pulling back to look at him with a raised brow, "I know you do, but its nice to hear regardless."
The boy rolled his eyes, pulling her in for a kiss, and when they pulled away, she leaned her head on. His shoulder, fingers weaved together.
As usual.
When the door opened, Penelope peeked her head in, before sighing, "I see you've calmed him down."
Mia stood up, nodding happily, "Oui, he's all yours now." Turning other boyfriend, she threw him a sassy wink, before leaving the duo behind, and heading back to her own apartment.