anaya was happy to be with her family and friends, glad to see how well cody fit in with them. throughout breakfast they all laughed and made jokes as her mom inquired about america. she was so deeply invested because she had never been out of the country. cody mentioned that he was from canada, and that sprang a whole other conversation about the differences between americans and canadians. the whole time anaya watched cody with a side glance, noting all the times he laughed at one of valentina's jokes that weren't funny or how he kept his gaze on her for a second too long.
she knew she was dumb for being irritated at her friend and her blatant flirting, she kept putting her hand on his shoulder and smiling, batting her long eye lashes. cody was cast under her spell faster than anaya could have imagined, soon he would be eating out of her hand. out of anger, and a hint of jealousy, anaya brought up a touchy topic.
"valentina, how is julian doing?"
valentina's eyes instantly flicked to anaya's at the mention of her ex boyfriend's name, "he's fine," she said shortly, "i would assume, we don't speak anymore."
"oh," anaya said, even though she knew that already, "and how's the baby?"
the table got quiet and valentina looked slightly upset, "she's great, misses her tia yaya, though."
"you have a baby?" cody asked, surprised.
"uh," valentina sighed, "yes, a daughter. she's 6."
"you're a bit young to...." cody trailed off, "oh."
valentina cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter, "i had her when i was young, her name is sophia. she's with her grandmother right now."
"cool," cody said, but he seemed to be thrown off his game, which is what anaya wanted.
she knew he would be scared off by the idea of a child being thrown in the picture, she was glad she was right. the table resumed the chatter and it went on like that for the rest of the morning. anaya's mom pulled out photo albums and began to show cody anaya as a young girl, playing in the front lawn with water hoses and with the family dog. she was an only child so the pages were just her, it looked like flipping through a picture book of her whole life. a picture of her at one year old, a picture of her first lost tooth. cody had to admit she was an adorable kid.
he kept glancing up at her, her hair had fallen into her face as she looked over the book with her mom, laughing at the memories. she was beautiful, he thought, but something kept side tracking him. valentina continued to give simple touches to him, here and there. he didn't think anything of it until her hand was placed on his knee, he looked up at her in surprise.
"sorry," she excused herself, taking her hand off, "i'm just a touchy person."
cody shook his head with a wink, "no worries, i like it."
the girls were all in the living room, on the couch. valentina and cody sat together, chatting quietly. anaya was wedged between yamilet and luciana as they caught up on some of the key things they had missed in her five year absence.
"cody!" mama linda called from the kitchen, "will you please come help me with dinner?"
all the girls looked at cody as he walked to the kitchen, "what do you need help with, ma'am?"
"cut those zucchini," she said rapidly dicing some onion, "i'm making calabasitas, do you know what that is?"
"no," cody answered.
"you'll see, mijo," she replied as she tossed them into a pan to sauté them, "so, a friend of yaya's?"
she turned her attention to him, knife still in hand.
"yes, a friend," cody practically spat the word out of his mouth, he hated how it sounded.
"she's not your friend," her mother said, "i see how she looks at you, cody. that little, how do you say, emotion in her eyes."
"she doesn't look at me any certain way, ma'am," cody lowered his voice in case the girls in the living room were listening in, "she's made it clear she only wants to be friends."
"aye," she shook her head, "yaya never knows what she wants, you have to tell her! or else nothing will ever happen. but only if you like her.."
cody thought for a second, "i do, things are just difficult."
mama linda rolled her eyes, she looked like anaya when she did that, "make a decision or leave her alone, the last thing she needs is an indecisive gringo toying with her heart."
cody almost blurted out all that was on his mind, "me?? i'm indecisive!? she's been playing with my feelings for the last two months." another voice in his head chimed in, "but you've let her." he didn't respond, only nodded as he chopped the zucchini.
"no, mijo," linda said, taking the knife from cody, "those are too big. how about you stir, huh?"
they finished cooking dinner together and once again everyone sat at the table to eat, it was hard for cody to believe that they had spent the whole day here already, he saw the sun set in the window and couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his lips. he mentally added this to one of his favorite vacation experiences. anaya hadn't really made eye contact with cody the whole time they had been there, but he understood, she was with her family. they all ate and drank, only getting tipsy, but not drunk.
"cody, here," anaya said pointing to cody, "punched a kid that was being mean to me at a party?"
"what?!" yamilet said.
"oh my god," valentina laughed.
"wooow," luciana commented.
"dios mio..." mama linda shook her head disapprovingly.
"well!" cody threw his hands up and smiled at anaya, "what else was i supposed to do? let him yell at you?"
anaya laughed, taking a sip of her sangria. valentina took liberty in applauding cody, raising her drink in a toast, "to the heroic gringo!"
the table all clinked their glasses together and laughed in unison, in the heat of the moment, valentina placed a quick kiss on cody's cheek, making his face heat up with blush. anaya saw the exchange and felt tears well in her eyes, but quickly pushed them away before finishing off her drink.
"are you done with your plate?" she asked her mom, standing and taking the empty plates to the kitchen. she piled them up and made a sink full of soapy water, running her hand absentmindedly through the bubbles as she thought about her best friend and cody flirting in the dining room.
"need help?" valentina asked, placing her plate in the sink.
"sure," anaya said, smiling politely.
after a few minutes of anaya washing the dishes and valentina drying them, valentina spoke up, "cody is very cute."
"yeah," anaya agreed, "i know."
"and you guys are friends? or is there something more?"
anaya stuttered a second before replying, "no, just friends, val."
"good," val replied, satisfied, "i am very interested."
"go for it," anaya said tonelessly, "have fun."
valentina smiled and kissed her friend on the cheek, "you're the best for bringing american boys back."
she skipped away back into the dining room, sitting directly next to cody again. anaya sighed as she placed the last plate on the drying rack, "cody?"
cody was invested in something valentina was saying, his eyes caught up in the way her lips moved, he didn't hear anaya.
"cody?" she said a little louder.
"yeah?" he asked, not looking away from val.
"we should get going soon, the last bus comes in ten minutes," anaya said.
cody nodded and stood up, talking to mama linda, "thank you for welcoming me into your home tonight, mama linda. gracias."
everyone laughed and began to say their goodbyes, cody hugged everyone and so did anaya, hugging her mom extra tight. she walked out of the door and expected for cody to be right behind her, but she felt no presence following her. she turned towards the door and her mouth fell open in semi-shock.
cody and valentina's lips were connected and moving slowly, as it was their turn to say goodbye.