Y/N's POV
As I drove Soos home, he seemed to be nervous. "Everything okay, hun?" I asked.
He wrung his hands. "I hope Abuelita isn't too mad at me for leaving again."
I gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it, Soos. I'll talk to her, alright?"
I stopped in front of his house and parked. As I helped him out of the car, Abuelita came out of the house. "Soos!" She rushed over and hugged him. "¿Dónde has estado? ¡Me tenías preocupado!" (Where have you been? You had me worried!)
"Sorry, Abuelita..."
"¿Y por qué viajabas con esta mujer? ¿Quien es ella?" (And why were you traveling with this woman? Who is she?)
I tried to smile as friendly as possible. "Hola. Yo soy Y/N Pines. Mucho gusto." I held out my hand for her to shake. (Hello. I am Y/N Pines. It's nice to meet you.)
She hesitantly shook my hand. "Pines? From the Mystery Shack?"
"Si. Mi esposo decidió contratarlo. Pensé que sería mejor hablar contigo." (Yes. My husband decided to hire him. I thought it would be better to talk to you about it.)
"Please come inside." She ushered Soos into the house and gestured for me to come with her. I followed her into the small living room. Then it just occurred to me that I was fluently speaking Spanish, even though I hadn't spoke a single word of it since I was in high school in my previous dimension. (Please ignore that sentence if you are actually fluent in Spanish or if it's your first language.)
I cleared my throat. "Your place is nice."
Abuelita gave me a small smile. "It is kind of you to say so. Please sit."
I sat down across from her designated chair. "Mrs. Ramirez, I know that this is strange but but please listen to me before you get upset with Soos." I took a deep breath. "He found a missing piece of our toolkit in your yard, and took it upon himself to return it. My husband happened to be firing our handyman at the time and gave Soos the job when he saw the screwdriver in his hand. Normally I would reject the idea of someone so young working at The Mystery Shack but Soos seems to have a fascination for our exhibits. We need that kind of outlook on the team. I can promise you that I won't let anything bad happen to him and I will personally bring him to and from The Shack." I gave her a hopeful look.
Abuelita thought for a moment. "As long as he is safe, I have no problem with it."
Soos came from around the corner and gave her a big hug. "Thank you, Abuelita!"
She chuckled as she hugged him back. "Anything for you, mi precioso."
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Teddy's POV
"I can't believe you have to go back to school in a month." Isra groaned as he sat on the kitchen counter. "It feels like I hardly got to see you this summer."
I sighed as I grabbed a Pitt Cola from the fridge. "I know. I would hang out more often if I could, but working in The Mystery Shack on my breaks means I have more money saved once I graduate."
"Who's going to help you run the business side of things once open up shop?"
I frowned. " I haven't really thought about that."
"You could probably get advice from Stan or my dad." Isra suggested.
I shook my head. "My dad is a con man and Daluh keeps his place open with his magical charisma. Plus they both have their own places to run." I internally winced at calling Stan my dad. While I trust Isra, I did promise them to never tell anyone.
Isra scratched at his stubble. "Hmm. Maybe I can be your business partner? I'm not exactly running any places and I've picked up a couple things from my dad."
"I'll think about it."
Stan walked into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you were here, Isra. How's Daluh?"
"He is well, and will be here for poker tonight."
Stan rubbed his hands together. "Good. That will give me the chance to try to beat him."
"Dad, you haven't won against him even once." I said as I rolled my eyes.
"He MUST be cheating somehow... I swear that one of these days that I will out-cheat him!" Stan declared.
Isra snickered quietly at Stan's confidence. I smirked a little. "Do you need us to get anything at the store for tonight?"
"I do actually." He grabbed a scrap piece of paper and scribbled some items down before handing it to me and pulling out his wallet to give me some money. "If you get any change from that, give it back to me."
"Yes sir." I said as I gave him a mock salute.
Stan rolled his eyes before directing his attention to Isra. "Be sure to ask your dad to bring some brownies over as well, alright kid?"
Isra nodded before Stan walked away. He turned to me and smiled. "Shall we get going?"
A/N:
I know this is just filler, I'm sorry. We'll get to more plot stuff soon.
-Rynn
P.S.
One of the benefits of having a Hispanic boyfriend is that he can check for grammatical errors when you're attempting to write in Spanish 😂