Disastrous

by E. L. Montes

  ****

  “What do you think of this dress for today, Mia?” Elle twirled around, modeling a yellow sundress with white flowers. I smiled at her. It was the sixth dress she tried on so far.

  “I love it. They are all very pretty, Elle, but if I have to choose one for today, I would have to say that one.” She squealed with delight and ran back into her closet.

  Marcus was still asleep. It was almost noon, and I didn’t have the heart to wake him. When I woke this morning, I took a shower and dressed, meeting both Elle and Jimmie in the kitchen. We had breakfast together.

  Jimmie and I didn’t mention anything about last night. Maybe it was because Elle was with us. I realized I truly misjudged Jimmie when we first met. He was nothing like I thought he was. He’s a family man, just like Marcus, a loving and devoted father to Elle. At times he seemed to drift off thinking, trying to hide the loneliness in his eyes, but once he looked at Elle, it all went away. Jimmie, just like his brother, is a very handsome man, I wondered why no female had come and stolen his heart. He still may have been grieving from the loss of his wife. If I had any female friends and if any of them were good enough, I would definitely try to play matchmaker.

  There was a knock at the door, and a gentle female’s voice followed. “Where’s my precious granddaughter?” A petite woman walked through the door. She was dressed in a fitted summer dress and wedge heels. Even with the heels, she still looked tiny. Her long light brown hair and gleaming green eyes radiated with her soft fair skin. Elle ran from the closet and jumped into her grandmother’s arms. Mrs. DeLuca hugged her tightly with closed eyes. When she re-opened her eyes, she finally laid them on me.

  “Well, Elle, who’s your friend?” She asked with a huge grin while straightening her posture.

  “Grandma, this is Mia. She’s my new best friend and Uncle Marc’s girlfriend.” Elle grabbed her grandmother’s hand and dragged her over to me. I stood from the bed and offered my hand.

  “Hi Mrs. DeLuca, I’m Mia. It’s very nice to meet you.” She gently smacked my arm away and pulled me into a tight hug.

  “Oh, call me Theresa!” She tightened her arms. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you. You’re all my son talks about lately.” She pulled back, looking me up and down. Her face was beaming with satisfied delight. “And I can see why now. You’re gorgeous!” Smiling, I placed my hand against my belly. I’m not sure why. I was embarrassed by the compliment, and I thought maybe by doing that it would hide me.

  “Thank you.” It was all I could say.

  “So where’s my son? I haven’t seen him in weeks.” She tilted her head.

  “Oh, he’s still sleep—”

  “I’m right here, Mom,” Marcus said, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. His hair was a mess, his eyes were still blood shot, and he was only wearing pajama bottoms. Most people would look terrible after chugging down a bottle of liquor, but Marcus DeLuca is not most people. He was still good-looking. She turned with joy and ran over to her son.

  Theresa was so tiny in his arms. He embraced her with a tight hug and bent over to kiss her cheek. Then he stood up straight, looking in my direction. His gentle smile met mine. His mom was still clinging to his waist.

  He looked down at his mom and smiled. “Mom, you act like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  “It feels that way. Do you know how it feels to have both your boys all grown up? One minute they come to you for everything, the next they don’t need you.”

  Marcus playfully rolled his eyes. “No Mom, I don’t know how that feels, but we still need you, especially for Sunday dinner.” He laughed.

  She nudged him in the rib with her elbow. Stretching out her arm towards Elle, she called out, “Come on my little helper, Grandma has a lot of prepping for dinner tonight.”

  “Can I help?” I blurted, not ready to be alone with Marcus yet.

  Her eyes widened, and her dimple remarkably appeared when her lips curled up her cheeks. “Of course, darling, I would love your help.” She walked past Marcus and patted his arm before making her way down to the kitchen.

  Following behind her, Marcus stepped aside to block me from exiting. Looking up at him, I crossed my arms. “Mia, can we talk? I know I messed up last night.” His chest moved in and out as he breathed impatiently.

  All I ever wanted to do was talk, but he always shut me out…giving me half-assed answers. With his family coming, I’d rather have a talk after they leave.

  “We can talk, but after the dinner. Right now I’m going to help your mom, then have this dinner with your family, and then you and I are going to have a nice long talk.”

  “Are we okay?” he asked desperately.

  To be honest, I wasn’t sure. Considering last night’s drunken binge and being stood up the night before when he was six hours late, I needed answers, but he was always shutting me down.

  “We’ll talk later, Marcus.”

  Closing his eyes shut, he stepped aside to let me by.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I was placed on dicing duty: chopping the potatoes, tomatoes, and veggies. Elle was on rinsing duty: she stood on a stool by the sink rinsing all the fruit, meats, and vegetables. Theresa was busy preparing the meatballs and other items for the dinner tonight. She moved so fast in the kitchen I wasn’t sure she needed help at all. Jimmie was watching a game in the living room. I laughed with his mom as she talked about raising two boys who were four years apart. She had plenty of stories about the two of them. His mother was loud for someone so little. She also moved her hands wildly as she talked.

  Theresa began going down the list of all the family that was coming tonight. It was a lot! I never knew anyone with such a huge family, and they get together once a week for dinner! She went down the list, warning me who to stay away from, who was the sweetheart, who would bust my “balls,” and which of Marcus’ cousins would try to hit on me even in front of Marcus. She said not to worry about them though; they’d just be teasing Marcus for fun. I tried to keep up with them, but there were too many. On Theresa’s side of the family there were four brothers and two sisters. Marcus’ father had three sisters and one brother. Their brothers and sisters had kids who also had kids! It was exhausting just to think about.

  “So, Uncle Marty is the pig?” I asked, describing him exactly as she described him to me.

  “Yeah, but don’t worry about him; if he makes you feel uncomfortable, I’ll throw him out,” Marcus said jokingly as he walked in the kitchen. He was freshly showered, his hair was tamed, and he was dressed in a fitted black t-shirt and jeans. He was back to his normal self. Picking up a knife from the counter, he stood beside me. Grabbing a carrot, he began to chop it. He smelled so good this close compared to last night when it smelled as if he’d bathed in liquor. I watched him as he pushed the chopped carrots aside with the pile of diced veggies I’d already done, and grabbed another one.

  Not able to resist, I put the knife I was holding down on the cutting board. I leaned up, wrapped my arms around him, and pulled his face down to kiss the side of his cheek. Turning to fully face me, he pressed his forehead against mine with his eyes closed, and kissed the tip of my nose. I giggled and he smiled. We were okay for now. But I couldn’t let him go the entire night thinking we weren’t. It wasn’t fair to him. When we turned back to our chopping, I looked up; his mom was staring at us the entire time with a huge smile. Smirking at her, we continued to go down the list of the family.

  After cooking all day, the table was set, and the food and dessert were done. Thank God I didn’t decide to choose cooking as a profession because it was too exhausting. We had enough food to feed fifteen households and then some. With an hour to spare, I decided to shower and get dressed for the dinner. Marcus was occupying his mother and niece in the kitchen, so I knew I could have some time to myself.

  Managing to quickly shower and dress, I took my time on my hair and makeup: nothing extravagant, just a simple blush, mascara and lip gloss. I wore dark blue skinny
jeans, white flats, and a fitted white t-shirt. Once I was finished, I made my way back down the stairs. The moment I entered the living room, I noticed the entire house was full. Looking around nervously for Marcus, I slowly passed an overweight man. He jumped as I brushed past him.

  “Whoa! If you wanna’ feel me up just say so, cupcakes” the short fat man said while smiling.

  “Oh, um, I’m sorry; I wasn’t trying to feel you up. I was just, uh.” Nervously I chuckled. After a second glance, I was able to place a name with a face. “You’re Marty?” I asked.

  His smile grew wider. “The one and only sweetie, and you are the new love of my life?”

  “No, she’s the one and only love of my life.” Marcus cut in, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

  “Huh, would you look at this guy!” Marty yelled over his shoulder while pointing at Marcus then placed his hand against Marcus’ shoulder. With his free one, he shook hands with Marcus. “You’re a lucky man here, Marky!” Then Marty’s expression grew serious, and he leaned into Marcus’ ear. “Hey, have you heard about the rats Louie has? There are rumors that FBI agents have been snooping all around the warehouses,” he whispered.

  Marcus shook his head. “No, Uncle Marty, we’ll talk more later in private.”

  Marty nodded his head, and Marcus led me to other family members, leaving me with more questions to ask later. After being introduced four times, I began to ease a little. His entire family has the same sense of humor and animated characteristics as his mother. They made me laugh with all the jokes they had and stories they told of Marcus’ childhood.

  Marcus joined in with the teasing of others. He was so loose and himself around his family. I’d love seeing him like this: around them he was worry and stress free. He was like this with me until he’d get a phone call from “him” for another job. Then his entire demeanor changed.

  After dinner, everyone talked and joked over dessert and wine. The kids played in the backyard, chasing each other around. I sat back and watched all of them. I never had a big family, not even on Thanksgiving. It was no particular holiday, and yet this family was together just because. I couldn’t be more in love with them. They were all about spending quality time together, and that’s what they cherished the most.

  Marcus threw his arm around his oldest cousin, Romeo. “So Rome, you ready for school in the fall?” he asked him with a huge smile on his face.

  “I’m freaking out, man.” Romeo laughed.

  “Hey, you’ll do fine. Mia’s starting her second year.” Romeo looked at me and smiled. He was starting law school, and I might see him around campus.

  “Yeah, the first year was hard: a lot of studying and less partying. Well at least for me, but if you focus, you’ll do fine. If you need any help at all, I have no problem helping you study.”

  “Really? That’s awesome, thanks, Mia.” Marcus patted Romeo’s shoulder before he walked away.

  “Thanks for that.” He said sitting beside me. “So, what do you think of my crazy family?” he whispered, leaning in so no one could hear him.

  Turning, I brought my lips to his ear and whispered back, “They are the best family I have ever met. You’re very lucky to have them.” The side of his eyes wrinkled when he smiled. I kissed his cheek, and we continued talking to his family.

  ****

  “Mia, don’t forget me on Wednesday!” Theresa yelled from the front porch. A few minutes earlier she’d plugged her number into my phone and mine into hers. She insisted that we have lunch downtown, just the two of us. If it were any other person, I would’ve been nervous, but she was so sweet it was hard to resist.

  “I won’t, Theresa, see you then!” I yelled, waving my hand. She was the last to leave. Marcus closed the door after he said his goodbyes.

  The entire day was draining. After cleaning the kitchen with his mother’s help, I felt beat. Elle fell asleep under the dining room table. She was playing hide and seek with her other little cousins. They never found her. Jimmie crawled underneath the table, lightly picked her up, and carried her to her room. Marcus and I stood alone by the foyer. He looked down at me. My serious expression let him know that I didn’t forget about our talk. Pressing his lips together, he closed his eyes, and then let out a heavy sigh. “You ready to go to bed?” I nodded in response.

  We made our way up the stairs, not saying a word. When we reached the room, I heard a loud beeping sound from my phone: the same tone it makes when warning the battery is too low. Walking over to the nightstand, I unplugged Marcus’ phone and plugged mine in. When I unhooked his phone from the charger, it lit up, showing he had a message from Stephanie. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed he was by the dresser taking off his clothes. I’m not sure why it came over me, why within those few seconds I thought of it, but without second guessing, I quickly swiped the screen and opened the message.

  I felt a punch to my chest and lost my breath. Heat boiled up in my veins and radiated all over my body till flames reached my face. This bitch sent him a picture of herself in nothing but a bright pink lace bra and a matching thong. It was a side profile of her entire body, posing with one hand on her hip with the other hand holding the phone toward a mirror, clearly taking the picture herself. Lifting the phone in disbelief, I turned around to face him. He was pulling down his jeans. Finally turning in my direction in nothing but his boxers, his eyes met my evil glare.

  Startled by my quick change in demeanor, he asked, “What?”

  “So, you’re still seeing Stephanie.” My tone was hoarse, holding back the tears.

  His expression was puzzled. “What? No! Why would you even think that?”

  Lifting up the phone, facing the screen to him, my tears fought against my will and escaped down my face. “Really, Marcus? Because if a woman sends a guy a half-naked picture of herself, it tells me that they are clearly FUCKING!” I threw the phone at him. He lifted his hands to block his face. The phone slammed against his forearms and fell to the ground. Damn it, I missed!

  He reached over and grabbed the phone. When he saw the image on the screen, his face turned red with rage, and his eyes almost burst out of their sockets. Looking up at me, he slowly took a few steps forward, holding his hands up. “Babe, listen to me. I am not seeing Stephanie. I have no idea why she sent this to me. I swear.” His expression was still angry, but his tone was soothing. He was trying to calm me down.

  Growing agitated by that notion, I yelled, “Okay, call her then!” Crossing my arms, I waited for his reply.

  “Okay, I’ll call her right now.” He dabbed through his phone. I’m calling his bluff: he’s not calling her. After he touched another button, a ringing tone sounded in the room. He placed the call on speaker. Good. He looked at me, biting his lip, but I didn’t stop him. I tapped my foot against the floor, waiting impatiently. I wanted to hear what she had to say.

  “Hey.” She picked up! Not only did she pick up, she sounded seductive and happy as if she were waiting for his response. I hate her. I’ve never hated anyone in my entire life, until now.

  “Why the fuck are you sending pictures like that to my phone, Stephanie!” Marcus yelled, clearly pissed. Good.

  “I-I …” Shocked by his outburst, she grew silent.

  “Huh?” he asked annoyed.

  “I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

  He sighed. “Stephanie, you know that the two of us were never serious. I’m with Mia now. I love her. You can’t do that again, do you hear me?” He lowered his tone but remained firm.

  “Y-you love her?” Stephanie’s voice broke. Then she whimpered over the phone. I rolled my eyes. Ugh, I don’t even feel sorry for her. Who sends a naked picture of herself to a man who was in a relationship? To man that she knew was in a relationship! She knows how happy we are; she sees us in the office. Why would she try to break that up?

  “Yes, I do. Look I think it would be best to transfer you to a different department.”

  “I think that’s best,” she mumbled. Then I h
eard a long beeping tone. She hung up.

  Marcus tossed his phone on the bed. Looking up at me, he waited for me to say something. I was so pissed off I couldn’t say anything. Instead, turning on the heels of my foot, I stomped in the bathroom. Stripping my clothes off, I turned the shower on and threw myself in.

  I didn’t care to wait for the temperature to warm. I didn’t care that the freezing cold water stung against my skin when I entered the shower. I didn’t care that my lips trembled, and I surely didn’t care that this was the third shower I’d taken today. Leaning my head back, I allowed the water to massage my aching head. It was literally pounding. There was too much to handle these past few days. It was hard to keep up!

  Marcus stepped in and wrapped his arms around me. Annoyed by this I rolled my eyes. I needed privacy for ten damn minutes! He couldn’t leave me the hell alone? I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs. I relived every emotional moment I’d felt: our first fight, his saying he loves me, my not being sure of my feelings, the dream of my brother, my waking up and finally telling him I love him, his leaving last night and coming home a drunken mess, and just now the thought that he may have … had been with Stephanie after I confessed my love to him.

  All of it, every bit of emotion erupted in the only way I knew how. I cried, and I don’t mean just tears. It was the sobbing, can’t breathe, choking-back-my-own-tears cry. It was embarrassing and pathetic, but I didn’t care. He turned me around, placing his hand on the back of my head, pulling me to his chest. As much as I wanted him to leave me alone, I wanted him to stay and hold me. These conflicted feelings were so stressing. How could you love someone when he was the reason for the mixed feelings?

  “What’s wrong, Mia? Talk to me,” he whispered. Leaning my head back, I looked up at him.

  “It’s just so confusing.” I confessed.

  Wiping a strand of soaked hair behind my ear, he pressed his lips together before asking, “What is?”