Cash’s POV
The second that Royal had cursed all eyes were on me for some reason, “why are you all looking at me? He literally has the f-bomb,” I said eyeing my baby cousin who was sitting next to us now, “tattooed on his body. In more than one place!”
“He’s your friend…” Luke was interrupted by Royal screaming and cussing words again, switching between English and Spanish like it was nothing.
“We’re not friends.”
“Then why is he here?”
“Cause mom made me invite him and I made him come. I can guarantee you that he wants nothing to do with me,” I got up to walk away before my mom grabbed my arm.
“Honey, someone who doesn’t want anything to do with you wouldn’t have came. Something tells me that he has more of a soft spot than what everyone thinks.”
“Mom, to say the least Royal is respectful when he wants to be. He is nice around kids and some parents. That is all he’s not soft he’s a spoiled brat. All this cursing,” I waved my hand to him, “is one of the only true natures he’s shown you.”
“Well,” Irene finally joined the conversation, “I really hope that what you’re saying is wrong. Jo loves him already and I don’t want to have to ban them from seeing him.”
“We live 3 hours away that won’t take much.”
“Actually, Luke got a job in Hardensville. We wanted to tell everyone when we were all together,” of course they are why wouldn’t they be.
“What the…”
“FUCK! YOU KNOW WHAT, MAX! FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR SO CALLED APOLOGY AND FUCK EVERYTHING! I SWEAR TO YOUR MOTHER FUCKING ASS IF YOU TRY TO MESS WITH ME ONE MORE TIME I WILL DESTROY YOUR BITCH ASS! WE BOTH KNOW THAT I AM VERY FUCKING CAPABLE OF IT!” And with that show Royal hung up and nearly threw is phone before catching himself.
Royal looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown and just trying to keep it in. He kicked the tree, that he had wandered next to, over and over. If it wasn’t such a big tree surely it would’ve collapsed by now. He finally decided to just hunch down and breathe for a second. After he got back up he had the brightest, most genuine looking, dimply smile there was. It looked like he wasn’t just beating up a tree over a phone call. But, what worried me is that he did it effortlessly. If he could do this what else could he do?
“No one who changes expressions as simply as that is the type of person you originally think they are.”
With that Royal walked over and started playing with the kids again. The parents started talking. And I was watching the person who I might not know as much as I thought I did.
Lunch
By the time lunch began everyone had found out about Uncle Luke’s new job. The kids were upset at first since they were moving 3 hours from everything they’ve ever known, but in some way Royal had comforted all of them up. He even whispered something into Jo’s ear to make them smile.
“So, Royal,” I gave my dad the ‘what are you doing’ look.”
“Yes, sir,” so polite when he wants.
“What was that phone call about?” Really.
“Well, sir,” somehow the exact same words didn’t give off the same level of politeness, “it was about a personal matter that has to do with someone I used to care about. That is all.”
“So, R,” Jo spoke up switching topics, “you speak Spanish, right?” They are now my favorite cousin.
“Yes…”
“How good do you speak?”
“Spanish is one of my first languages,” that made them confused, “my parents started to teach me Spanish and English at the same time so I’m pretty fluent in both.”
“Really! Really!”
“Yes! Yes!” Cute, he’s meeting her enthusiasm.
“By any chance would you want to be my tutor. I suck at Spanish to the point I’m currently failing, however, no one wants to be the tutor of the kid who can’t even pick a pronoun.”
“Well, they just don’t see how cool you are. Of course I’ll be your tutor.”
Jo started doing their little dance of happiness when I decided to start a different conversation, “so, where do you work now, Uncle Luke.”
“Oh, I work at this new pharmaceutical company, Santiago Medicine, as a sales representative,” Royal dropped his fork and stared straight at Luke.
“That’s my father’s company,” it was barely above a whisper and mostly to himself, but at this table it felt like a scream. Luke and Irene were looking at each other. Mom was trying to calm my fuming dad down. And the kids sensed something was off so even they quickly got quiet.
Royal stood up and wondered to the car. We had left it unlocked since we’re the only people at the park so Royal just opened it and grabbed out something that looked a lot like a water bottle. Knowing him that wasn’t water in there.
“I’ll go talk to him,” I got up and walked over to him, “alcohol, really? This is a children’s playground.”
“I had to deal with your dad not knowing what to expect.”
“Fair,” I sat down beside him and grabbed the alcohol, “you can’t get drunk now. Wait just a while.”
He sighed, but didn’t protest, “My parents would literally kill me if they knew I was here.”
“They’re not going to find out. If you tell Irene and Luke not to spill they won’t.”
“I’m not worried about them I’m worried about their children. My father invites every single sales rep’s family he has to our house for dinner. Both of the entire families will sit and have a meal together. I don’t trust a six year old enough to not have to worry about my father finding out.”
“What’s that wrong with him finding out? He’s your father?”
“My dad isn’t like yours!” He was getting more upset at this point so I pushed the alcohol farther away, “he’s terrifying when he’s mad and he’s done more things to me than I want to say… all because he was upset,” he sounded really, really scared. In a way that even I couldn’t justify whatever his father did to him. So, I just pulled him in for a hug.
Laughter from the table had started up again causing us to come back to reality, “look, Cash, I know that I haven’t always been the best person. But there is a reason I do the things I do. You are the first person who’s not tried to push for something I didn’t want to talk about. Thank you for that. Maybe, just maybe, you wouldn’t mind actually trying to get closer to each other.”
I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it’s the fact he is being open with me. Or that we were hidden from the rest of the family by the car. Or maybe my hatred for him was actually something else. Who knows.
All that I knew was that one second we were looking at each other with vulnerability and the next I had pushed him against the trunk and kissed him.
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