𝐋𝐘𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆.
the entire family rushed out.
"no dancing! you heard what the doctor said."
elena frowned.
"who could understand her? i am fluent in mambo, not mumbo jumbo." lydia shrugged.
"well, as a future nurse practitioner, let me explain her diagnosis. sit your crazy fondo down or you're gonna die!" penelope said.
"i don't trust that doctor! the first thing she did was weigh me, and after that, everything she said was clouded by jealousy." lydia complained.
alex and cherry took a seat in the table, and began to eat their breakfast.
"open your mouth." cherry said.
she tossed a grape into alex's mouth.
cherry cheered when he caught it.
"i want to see you using that cane." elena demanded.
"okay, that i can do. papito, hit it." lydia said.
alex tossed the cane to her, and cherry started playing the music.
"don't enable this!" elena frowned.
"you're lucky i talked her out of the fishnets." alex said.
elena spent the better half of the day trying to convince her grandmother to use her cane, but she refused.
at a school benefit, lydia was selling dance lessons, and wearing heels, which she wasn't supposed to do.
she ended up getting hurt.
schneider met a new woman, named avery.
they got along well, because they were both kinda weird.
then, nikki and avery began to bid for schneider's handyman for a day services.
schneider ended things with nikki, and avery gave him her number.
but, avery ended up making a slight comment that might have made the pair incompatible.
"i'm so glad you're not a rich trust fund baby!" avery grinned.
yeah.. definitely!
"we are so on the same page!" schneider agreed, covering the panic on his face.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
alex took a seat on the couch.
"happy anniversary." alex said, and placed a red bag on the table.
"thank you." cherry said, and placed a bunch of red-wrapped boxes onto the table.
alex's eyes widened.
"i'm too broke to date you." alex huffed.
cherry laughed it off. "being with you is enough."
"aw, when'd you become corny?"
"i'm never being nice to you again."
cherry opened the small box hidden in the bag behind paper.
there was a set of hello kitty earrings and a matching necklace inside of it.
cherry grinned, and turned around.
she lifted her hair up, and alex clipped the necklace onto her.
she peeked inside the bag, and pulled out a few tubes of lipgloss, and a hello kitty plushie.
"i love you so much!" cherry smiled, and wrapped her arms around him.
"i love you, too." alex hugged back.
alex began to unwrap his presents, gasping at each thing.
he couldn't even begin to look at what she'd purchased for him.
clothes, shoes, jewelry.
"holy shit. did you need to buy so much?" alex said. "thank you. i really appreciate it."
"i'm your sugar daddy."
"you were being serious about that?"
"i have too much money to spend."
alex leaned in, kissing her gently.
cherry's hands cupped his face, and she got closer to him.
suddenly, elena and lydia burst into the apartment.
cherry and alex pulled away from each-other, and lydia sat beside them.
elena ran into the kitchen, and returned with an ice pack.
"here you go, abuelita. this should help with the swelling." elena said, and placed it on her foot.
"thank you." lydia took a sip of rum.
"now can we talk about getting rid of the high heels?" elena questioned.
"elena, please, give the woman a moments peace." alex complained, and paused. "i'm just used to taking her side, i don't even know what you guys are talking about."
lydia motioned for the pair to leave.
cherry took alex's hand, and led him to his room while elena and lydia came to an agreement.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
the family was crowded around the table.
cherry was sitting at the head of the table.
alex returned to the table, placing a red cake wirh 16 candles in front of her.
"happy birthday, cher." he grinned.
"thank you." cherry said, as lydia placed a plastic crown on her head.
elena popped a small confetti firework.
"blow out the candles!" penelope motioned.
cherry hesitantly blew into the candles, making a wish.
schneider pressed her head down into the cake.
cherry pulled away, laughing.
there was frosting on her nose and cheeks.
lydia grabbed a knife, and cut off the part that had cherry face in it.
cherry smiled, pulling alex closer to her.
"i love you so much, ale." she said, watching as people brought out her presents.
"good." alex smiled back. "i love you too, cher."
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
alex was complaining about his family not vacationing.
"i'll talk you somewhere. anywhere you wanna go." cherry offered.
"why don't we go visit your brother in seattle?" lydia suggested. "it is on my bouquet list!"
"mami, tito travels for a living. if he wants to see us, he can come here. you know, the way he did when you were clinging to life in the hospital? oh, right, that was everybody but him." penelope stormed over to the table.
lydia said nothing.
"ay. whatever, mami, i get it. he's the boy, he can do no wrong." penelope sat down. "you really embrace that cuban stereotype. that's why tito's the way he is."
"confident, handsome, and successful? then hashtag, no regrets." lydia shrugged.
"i don't know, where would we even go on vacation?"
"tito has been helping open restaurants all over the world. he could make sure that we have an amazing vacation!"
"well guess what? so can i. pack your bags, people, we are going on vacation. it's gonna be great, and it's gonna bring us closer than ever."
"can cherry come?" alex questioned.
"i'll pay for the hotel." cherry offered.
"then of course." penelope grinned.
everyone packed as fast as possible, while cherry and penelope purchased the hotel.
the drive over there was weirdly stressful.
a bunch of traffic, everybody was weirdly tired, and elena was really frustrated.
finally, they arrived at the hotel.
none of them could wait to plop down onto the beds.
elena ran into the bathroom as soon as she got there, and began to vomit.
"que tan fancy!" lydia admired, dragging her suitcase along. "they even spell motel with an h!"
alex was carrying cherry's heavy suitcase, and his own.
"mom, how can we afford this?" alex asked.
"you don't need money when you know how to play the game. i put together a combo of my side id, usaa, and aaa discount. also, if anyone asks, i'm a travel agent." penelope whipped out a business card.
"and the bathrooms so nice!" elena called out, and continued to vomit.
lydia began to unpack her things, and cherry yawned.
penelope searched through the dresser, and pulled out the hotel bible.
"mami, look what i got you!" penelope handed it to her mother.
"a bible? and you arranged for this?" lydia hugged her daughter.
elena and alex stared at her.
"she don't know." penelope whispered. "all right, let's grab some snacks and go down to the pool!"
"oh, the children already drank their sodas on the way here." lydia reminded.
"well, no problem. we'll just grab some from the minibar." penelope shrugged.
the family gasped.
"mom, you said minibars were introduced by the cia to punish poor people." elena said.
"oh hell nah, your mom is possessed." cherry gasped.
"mami, no! the weight sensor!" alex called out.
"who do you think you're talking too? sandbag!" penelope said.
she carefully pulled out a soda, and replaced it with a sandbag.
"we'll replace it later! oh, and while we're here, you two are 12-year-old twins." penelope said.
"and i will not claim that i'm a senior citizen. no one will believe it!" lydia held up her clothes.
"you won't have too, because you're not here." penelope shrugged.
"huh?" lydia questioned.
"it was a lot cheaper to say it was just me and the kids. they probably won't come up." penelope reassured.
there was a knock at the door.
lydia hid in the closet.
penelope opened the door. "tito?"
"llego la fiesta!" tito, her brother, grinned.
"what are you doing here?"
"mami called me."
"tio!" elena shouted, and ran towards him.
"elena!" tito grinned.
"tio." alex smiled.
"what's up, alex?" tito greeted.
"ba-bam! ba-bam!" he stuck hundred dollar bills in their hands.
"love you." elena grinned.
"thanks, tio." alex grinned.
"love you!" tito smiled back.
"mami, you can come out, it's tito!" penelope called to her mother.
lydia stepped out of the closet, with an extravagant pose.
"elena, that is how you come out of the closet." lydia smiled.
she greeted her son.
cherry and alex sat down on the tiny couch.
"who's that?" tito questioned, staring at cherry.
"tio, this is my girlfriend, cherry." alex introduced.
"oh! what's up." tito greeted.
"hi." cherry smiled, and shook his hand.
"you guys wanna head over to the pool? i hooked us up with a cabana, and i have a great place for us to have dinner at later." tito offered.
"that's alright, cause i already made a reservation at a place called veranda. they offer a big discount if you eat before 6, and it's the twins brithday." penelope declined.
"oh, yeah. that place is great. but is it on a boat?" tito asked.
"what? i am so over land restaurants." alex grinned.
"papito, you are so smart." lydia grinned.
"for real." cherry agreed.
"all restaurants should be on boats." lydia said.
"i'll turn my yacht into a restaurant." cherry offered.
"i don't wanna step on your toes." tito cut in. "or get near them, lupita stinky feeta."
"i forgot about that one!" lydia laughed.
the entire family continued to laugh, except cherry, who awkwardly stood there.
"whatever, tito little pito." penelope joked.
the room was silent.
cherry coughed.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
alex looked over the edge of the boat.
"what's up, guys? me and cher are on a yacht! we're up on her stern. that means her butt." alex held up his phone.
he turned it to face cherry, who waved.
alex ended his instagram live.
"nice, so just because a boat is something someone can own, it has to be a woman." elena argued.
"i'm sorry, i'll ask the boat what it's preferred pronoun is." alex apologized sarcastically.
"god, you are so insensitive!"
"okay, i get it, you hate me."
"what? no, i don't."
"it just seems like everything i say makes you mad."
"so? everything everyone says makes me mad."
"well it just makes me not wanna talk to you."
"honestly, i didn't think you listened to me. i mean, you're always on your phone or with your stupid friend."
"yeah, and you're always saying that you hate my friends, and that i'm exactly like them, so."
"i told you, i don't hate you! i mean, sometimes i wanna kill you, but just like in the normal way."
"i only wanna kill you in the normal way, too! but yeah, i'm glad you don't hate me."
"of course i don't, stupid. i don't want us to end up like tio and mami. i mean, they barely talk."
"you guys better fucking not." cherry said, and leaned against alex's shoulder. "what happens when me and alex get married, and i have nobody to be my maid of honor?"
"don't worry, that'll never be us." alex reassured his girlfriend. "have you met yourself, elena? you like to talk.. a lot. besides, we need each-other."
"yeah, we do." elena agreed.
"to deal with mom." the pair said, at the same time.
"what the fuck?" cherry questioned.
"we got that twin thing!" alex laughed.
"do you remember when we were little, mami wouldn't let us go on the seesaw cause we weren't the same weight?" elena asked.
"you're gonna launch your brother into freaking space! plus, some day i want nieces and nephews to throw cash at, like tio tito."
"i'm not having any kids."
"then your cats."
"that is such a stereotype! but yes, there will be cats."
cherry grabbed her phone.
"will you quiz me on a vocabulary words?" elena questioned.
"yeah, if this picture comes out good." alex motioned to cherry's phone.
"shut up, you look good, so it's gonna come out good." cherry shrugged it off.
she showed the phone to him.
"wow, i look amazing as usual." alex grinned.
elena handed him a flash card.
"narcissism." alex read out.
"that's so you!" cherry laughed.
"me? it's you, too!"
"that's why we're such a good couple, babe."
"always will be."
alex kissed cherry, and she grinned at him.