“Somebody else will get them.”
Javier didn’t knock. Nobody would hear it anyway. HisTíaSylvia was already rushing towards them, her long green halter dress brushing the tile floor. “Mi conejito,” she cried. “Pasa. Pasa.”Come in. Come in.Once inside, she swept Javier into her embrace, kissing his cheeks, before turning her attention to Bowie. “¿Es este tu novio? Muy guapo.”She threw her arms around Bowie’s neck, kissing both his cheeks. “Hola! Dulce chico,”she said, squeezing his face.
Javier did his best to scowl at histía. “He gets sweet boy but you’re still calling me little bunny?”
She scoffed, still holding Bowie’s chin. “Look at this face.Preciosa. How could I call him anything else? And you’ll always bemi conejito. Deal with it.”
Javier rolled his eyes, but Sylvia was already pulling Bowie towards the backyard, clearly expecting Javier would follow. Of course, he would.
“A ballet dancer,” she said in her heavily accented English, linking her arm with Bowie’s. “I love the ballet. I make Angelo take me at least three times a year. I can’t believe I finally have a dancer in the family. I’m so happy you’re here.”
Bowie looked back over his shoulder at Javier, who could only smirk. Bowie looked both excited and terrified. Sylvia could be a bit much when she was excited. “You have the most beautiful home,” Bowie said, looking around. “The exposed brick alone…”
Sylvia’s face lit up. “¡Sí! It’s what sold me on the house. Angelo didn’t want it, said the cost was criminal, but you can’t find old world charm like this”—she swept her arm around the courtyard at the inlaid blue tiles in the rust colored stucco walls— “in one of those townhouses in Polanco.”
Bowie nodded, even though it was clear he had no idea what Polanco was. Sylvia was right. He’d had an apartment in the expensive suburb, but there was nothing about it that had stood out. Not like there.
When they reached the table, Javier’s stomach started to growl. Unlike Hurley, he hadn’t eaten his body weight in junk food.
Sylvia had really pulled out all the stops for Bowie. Chickentamales, skirt steak tacos, black beans, porkcarnitas,sopaipillas,tres leche. “How many people are you feeding,Tía?”
She scowled at him playfully. “Quiet, you. I wanted Bowie to feel welcome.”
Javier laughed. “He’s a dancer,Tía. I’m lucky if I can get him to choke down a salad once a day.”
Bowie gave him a look that screamedshut up. To Sylvia, he said, “This all looks amazing. I’m starving.”
Sylvia gave Javier a smug look before guiding Bowie to his seat and beginning to pile food on his plate. Javier dropped down in the chair beside Bowie, clearly left to fend for himself.
“Are you really planning to eat all that?” Javier murmured against Bowie’s ear, unable to keep the amusement from his voice as he gazed at Bowie’s now overflowing plate.
“Yes. It looks delicious and I am not going to insult your aunt,” he whispered back.
“Daniela, get off the phone and come eat,” Sylvia called to his cousin, who was once more lounging by the pool. She waved her mother off without even breaking her conversation. Sylvia rolled her eyes before looking at Bowie. “¡Perdón!She’s a bit of alengua larga…Um, inInglésyou would say…” She seemed to be searching for the word before she snapped her fingers. “Chatty Cathy,si?”
Bowie threw his head back and laughed. “People have said the same about me.”
Sylvia beamed at Bowie.
Javier spent the next two hours watching as Bowie dazzled Sylvia and—eventually—Daniela. He was relieved to see Bowie eating, trying a bit of everything, laying on the praise with each new dish he tried. The food was excellent. Sylvia employed a chef but these were the foods she made herself, the foods her mother had taught her, that she would pass on to Daniela. Bowie’s clear appreciation of her food had all but clinched his new title of favorite.
“Javi?”
“Si, Tía?” he asked, dragging his attention back to the table.
“Did you hear me?”
He had not. “Of course.”
“You don’t mind?” she asked, hopeful.
Bowie raised his brows with a smirk. The little shit knew Javier hadn’t heard a word she said. “Um, whatever Bowie wants.”
Sylvia clapped her hands together once. “Excelente. I’m going to let Hurley and Manuel know we’ll be leaving again soon. I assumed you’d be staying in Javi’s room with him. I told them to put your bags up there if you want to freshen up before we go.”
Out?Sylvia disappeared inside, and Daniela wandered off, staring at her phone screen, leaving Bowie and Javier alone. He moved his seat away from the table before tugging on Bowie’s arm. He stood before dropping into Javier’s lap.
Javier pinched Bowie’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning his gaze towards him. “What did I just agree to, angel?”
