Habanero Ch.1: One Step Closer to Home
You walk down the dark New York streets, hands in your pockets. You are wearing a simple pair of jeans, a button down shirt, and a vest. You just want to blend in with the crowd.
You look up at a restaurant and double take. You glance down at the address your friend asked you to come to.
"Oh boy," you gasp, "I always knew Rosita liked attention, but this?"
A neon red sign with the word Habanero written boldly covered in drawings of Rosita's favorite food, chilies. It hung over an orange door that popped out, florescent, off of the black building with flowers painted on it. The two bay windows in the front showed designs on the inside walls were just as elaborate as the front, in the same colors.
You slowly and cautiously opened the door. The room was bigger than it looked from outside. It was adorned with basic, yet sleek, wooden tables and chairs.
A man came to the door and greeted you, "Ah, may I help you?" The man was muscular and tan, with dazzling green eyes. A crowd of girls flocked behind him.
You glanced around awkwardly, "Um, I'm looking for Rosita..."
"Oh! You must be the famous roommate, _!" the man said cheerily.
"Yeah." The man took your hand and dragged you to a bright yellow door at the back of the room, much to the other girls' dismay. You were sure you even heard someone swear at you under their breath.
He pushed open the door, "Rosita! _ esta aqui!"
Rosita ran around from behind an industrial size stove and gave you a hug. At first it was crushing, but then lightened up a bit. You noticed she still smelled of chilies and marigolds. Was that the dress you had made her in college?
"_! It's been so long since I've seen you!" she backed from you, gushing, "We should really have seen each other more often. I have no idea how I got here, in New York, I mean. I think it was Alfred's idea..."
"Oh, and where is Al, may I ask?"
"_, you know he hates when you call him that!" You laugh, remembering your college days. You would spend all your time with Rosita, Alfred, and Mattie. You missed them.
"Alfred's out tonight, but he'll be back by 11."
You sigh, "Rosita, you still have no sense of time, it's two in the morning."
"What? Antonio! You were supposed to close at twelve! You should have closed two hours ago!"
After all the ruckus of closing (it was hard to get the girls away from Antonio) you noticed a chestnut haired boy with an odd curl coming out of the side of his head. You glanced around, confused. Who was he?
"Ay! I haven't introduced you to mis hermanos, have I?"
"No, no you haven't," you say quite bluntly, making the tan boy smile and the chestnut haired boy scowl.
"Este mi hermano, Antonio," yet again, you noticed she still continued to break into her native Spanish without warning.
"You never told me _ was so pretty," he kissed both your cheeks, you blushed, "Oh, you must really be from around here, no?" he stared at you, "Aren't you going to kiss me back?" he poked once on each cheek.
"Antonio!" the chestnut haired boy scowled, you noticed he did that a lot.
"What?" Antonio asked," turning around.
"Stop being such a flirt. It looks kind of sad from over here. You of all people, begging _ for kisses." At this, Antonio blushed.
"Y eso es mi otro hermano, Lovino."
You stare at him. "Wait," you begin to say, "Lovino is an It-"
"Good job, sherlock," he walked over and you scowled, "I hear you were Rosita's roommate in college."
"Yes... And?"
"Did you happen to meet my little brother?"
You stared at him. Who was he talking about? You looked around and saw the weird curl, then it clicked.
"You're Feli's older brother?"
"Don't call him that!"
"Yes, we were friends, what do you need?"
"What have you heard about him?"
"Wow, um, I haven't seen him in years. I think he's becoming a chef, like Rosita, but he doesn't make that much off of his restaurant, so he's living with Ludwig for now, or so I've heard."
"Feliciano is living with that potato-"
Antonio cut him off before he could say anything else, "_, why don't you tell us something about yourself?"
"As you know, I was Rosita's roommate in college," you began, "I have a degree in fashion design. I just flew here from Paris, where I was working with the esteemed fashion designer Francis Bonnefoy. After a few days I will be going back."
The door opened as you spoke, and everyone turned to face it. A man wearing a 1930s bomber jacket walked in. He had blond hair with a cowlick and thin glasses.
"You're staying with us, right?" he picked you up and gave you a bone crushing hug, "Please stay you're staying!"
You glance over at Rosita when you are set down by the man, "What was Alfred talking about?"
Meanwhile, Rosita was hitting Alfred on the head whispering, "You Idiot! I hadn't told her yet!"
"Told me what?"
"Um, I kind of told your boss you wouldn't be back for 2 months, not a week," Rosita answered quietly.
"Please tell me you're kidding Rosita," you place your head in your hand and shake your head.
"B-but he said it was ok!" she defended, "Señor Bonnefoy said that your work was good enough for you to take the time off. All you need to do is design a dress that is inspired by this restaurant!"
"So I should make a giant chili suit, is what he's saying?" you joke.
"Hey!"
Everyone started laughing. You pulled Rosita and Alfred into a hug. "I missed you guys so much..." you managed to croak before your eyes began to pour out tears.