Page 176 of The Plan

“We’ll get an apartment here and visit more often.” I kiss her forehead, and we make our way into the house once Vid enters a code.I look around as we make our way through the entrance. This entire house is gorgeous. The ceiling is incredibly high, and the floors look like they were just polished. We enter the living room, and Vid spins with open arms, letting out a sigh.

“God, I missed this.” She walks over to the couch, and instead of walking around it to sit, she rolls over it, disappearing. She peeks her head up and waves me over. “She’s not home, you can breathe.” I let out a breath and make my way over to her.

I walk around the couch, unlike she did, and flop down next to her. “What was that you were saying about not caring about her opinion?” I look ahead out the floor-to-ceiling window, matching ours, that looks out the backyard.

She shakes her head at me. “Were you being serious about getting an apartment here?”

“Yup.” I turn to her, and she has that beautiful smile I love on her face. I pull her onto my lap, kissing her slowly. “We’re here for a week with nothing to do besides my game tomorrow. We can look at a few places if you want.” She gives me a nod before leaning in again, her lips finding mine.

“This feels familiar.” I pull away from Vid at the sound of her mom's voice and practically throw her off my lap so I can stand. “At least your pants aren’t down like last time.” She descends down the stairs, and I painfully close my eyes at the reminder of how we first met.

“Cion, Mami,” Vid says as she chuckles and rises from the couch to kiss her mother’s cheek.

“Dios te bendiga.”Her mom kisses Vid’s cheek, then looks over at me, and I give her a shy smile.

“Hi.”Say something else, idiot.“How’ve you been?” We’ve been speaking in English on our last few phone calls, but now I wish I greeted her in Spanish.

I remember what Vid said about kissing her cheek instead of shaking her hand, so I quickly made my way to her. She must be able to tell my intention because she leans in, and we sort of sideways hug as our cheeks brush over each other.

“Good, and yourself?”

“Good.”Good? You moved in with her daughter a few months ago, and you’ve only been good?!“Great, actually,” I correct myself, and she only nods, clearly studying me. I feel my skin burning under her gaze, and I quickly look away to Vid for help.

“So,” she quickly saves me, “I see you got the couches you’ve been dying for.” She taps the seat next to her, and I go back to my seat on the huge white couch beside her. Her mom sits on the loveseat a few feet from us.

“Mhm, don’t they look better than the other ones?” She looks at her couches like she’s in love with them, so I’m assuming Vid wasn’t being dramatic, and she really was dying to get these.

“They definitely do, but the other ones were so comfortable. Did you get rid of them?” Vid asks.

“Of course not. I moved them to the other sala. I couldn’t just throw them away. Estas loca?” I know sala is living room, and I smile at her last part.

Vanessa looks at me like she’s waiting for me to say something, so I do. “You have a very nice house.”

“You’ve only seen la sala.”

“And you have a very nice sala.” I give her a cheery smile, and she only nods. I can’t tell if that nod was good or bad, so I look back over at Vid. She gives me a small smile, but I can’t tell if it’s ayou’re doing goodsmile or astop talkingsmile.

I try not to slouch in my seat, although I want the couch to swallow me whole. I can’t believe we agreed to stay here with her for the week, but I, of course, couldn’t say no to her and make her hate me more, so here we are. For a week.

“How's your Spanish coming along?”

“Muy bien.” I nod with a smile, and Vidia laughs beside me.

“Bueno…” I learned that exactly means ‘well’ and not in a good way. “I’ll act impressed for V.” I slouch a bit at her bored tone but try not to show that her words affected me.

“Ma, don’t be like that. He’s trying.” Vid’s tone is soft, like she doesn’t want to speak up to her mom, but I know she isn’t scared of her; she just hates fighting with her.

“De la misma manera que trató de usarte.” No way am I trying to figure out what she said, not only because she said it fast but because her tone alone tells me it wasn’t good.

I look over at Vid for any indication of what she said, and her face alone tells me I was right. It wasn’t good. “De verdad, Ma. I already told you that was a misunderstanding. If you invited us to stay here so you can be like this, thennos vamos.” She sounds upset, but I can’t help but smile at the way she switches between languages.I love it when she speaks Spanish.

“You’re right.” I look back at her mom, and she sounds like she also feels bad. “Disculpe.”

“Decir lo a él, no a mí.”

Her mom looks over at me with a small smile. “Are you hungry?”

Vidia sighs, but I give her mom a smile anyway. “Starving.” We ate on the way here, but her mom doesn’t know that, and the house smells like she cooked before we arrived, so we eat.

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