"Who did this to you?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse.
I shrugged which caused him to sigh. He appeared genuinely upset by my lack of an answer. But why? We had hated each other for years, why would I open up to him of all people? Besides, it was only a cut and a black eye. It wasn’t like I had been beaten senseless.
Without another word, he stood up and went toward the kitchen. I watched him whisper-yell at the girl who was still peeking over the counter. He and the girl argued back and forth, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. She then whined before storming off, and Javier went into the kitchen.
When he came back, he had a zip lock bag filled with ice in one hand and a towel in the other. He sat down and wrapped the towel around the zip lock bag, and then gently placed it against my eye.
"Was it some kid that goes to our school?" Javier asked after another minute of silence.
Well technically, yeah. It was. Not only did the kid go to our school, but he also lived in my house. Not just that, but he was related to me. Such crazy coincidences.
I sniffled. "Why do you care?"
"Why wouldn't I care?" his eyes narrowed.
"We don't even like each other," I stated.
"I like you just fine."
"No, you just like that you're better than me at everything," I said with bitterness. "Congrats on winning class president for the fourth damn time in a row, by the way."
I hated how I immediately went to bring up the election. It was a bit pathetic of me, I knew that much. Javier was being nice, yet all I could think about was my defeat. I couldn't help it, and I hated myself for it.
Javier sighed. "Let's not talk about this now."
"Why not? Since when do you pass up the opportunity to brag in my face?"
And that's when I heard the front door creak open, and who came through was who I assumed to be his parents. They were both dressed up nicely. His mother had a beautiful long dress with sparkly gold heels, and his father had on a tuxedo with a red tie. Wherever they had come from, it was expensive.
They both were startled to find a stranger sitting on their couch with an ice pack on his eye.
"Mijo, who's this?" his mom asked with a gasp.
Javier’s father dropped the keys on the counter next to him while his mom rushed over to us in a panic. I probably looked like a train wreck in his parents’ eyes. My hair was a mess, I had an ice pack on my face, and I am pretty sure that I was still shaking.
"This is Elias," Javier said, scooting over so that his mother could take a seat next to me.
I forced a smile. "Nice to meet you."
"You as well,” his father grunted from across the room. He leaned against the wall, making no move to come close to the rest of us.
"Elias Richardson?" His mother eyed me.
When I gave a sharp nod, her lips curled into a smile. She opened her arms wide and wrapped them around me. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"
Finally?
I froze in her arms, confused on how to act because adults didn’t normally come up to me and hug me like she did. I reached my arm around and awkwardly patted her on the back twice and she responded by squeezing tighter. When she eventually pulled away from the hug, she took a long and hard look at me.
She gently took the ice pack from my eye and when she got a good look at it, her head jerked back, and she let out a gasp. She then mumbled something in Spanish that I didn’tunderstand at all. I had a 93 in Spanish class and that was only because I memorized enough for the tests. After the tests I forgot everything. So, it was safe to say that I did not know Spanish.
"You poor boy, what happened?" she asked, her voice heavy with concern.
Her husband now stood right next to us, his hands on his hips as he shook his head. He had left his position by the front door and finally decided to join the rest of us. Javier side-eyed his father, but he shook it off so quickly that I almost didn’t notice it. I wouldn’t have noticed it at all if I wasn’t so focused on him.
"Oh, nothing really. Just an accident," I lied with the best smile I could conjure up.
They were all looking at me in disbelief, clearly I was a shitty liar. Thankfully, they didn't press me for more information on it.
