First impressions are very important, no matter what Elena said about how there's more to a person than their appearance. You can't check out someone's personality from across the room, Alex decided. So yeah, first impressions were important and whoever had been whistling and walking loudly up and down the hallway for the past half hour was making a terrible one. Sure, Schneider had warned the Alvarezes that someone was moving in across the hall, but he didn't say they would be this loud. Who would be so happy to move around boxes on a Sunday morning anyway? It was seven am! Couldn't they wait for a more sensible hour? Regardless of the noise, Alex seemed to be the only one who had been awakened by the thump that had come from the hallway thirty minutes ago. The weekend was made up of two days where Alex could sleep in as long as he wanted but this dope had to come and ruin-
"Ya llegó tu enamorado
Al que nunca correspondes
Ya llegó hasta tu ventana
Desde donde tú lo escuchas
Pero donde tú te escondes"
Okay, so maybe it wasn't completely ruined. This persons voice was... not too horrible. Not up to par with anything Alex had to offer but not too shabby, he supposed. Still, he wasn't going to say he didn't want to hear more of it. Maybe he'd be able to hear it better from the living room.
"Ya no sé ni que decirte
ya ni tengo que cantarte
yo quisiera maldecirte
pero ya estoy convencido
que nací para adorarte."
Alex wasn't spying. He couldn't even see the guy (it had to be a guy because Alex didn't think girls could have a voice like that) so it couldn't be spying. Abuelita's curtains swung open but the usual music was turned off before it could start playing. Abuelita looked as confused as she looked delighted.
"Un ángel?"
"The new neighbor, Abuelita."
"The new neighbor is an angel?!"
"No-"
"Ay ay ay ay ay - ay ay ay
la suerte me está fallando
ay ay ay ay ay corazón
la vida me estás cambiando."
Abuelita sat down next to Alex just as Elena crawled out of her room with the rat nest she called hair. Seriously, they needed to get her a comb. Alex, however, new better than to say so.
"What's going on guys?"
"Ya llegó tu enamorado
el que te interrumpe el sueño
ese pobre desgraciado
que anda siempre desvelado
porque quiere ser tu dueño."
"The new neighbor sings like a little bird", Abuelita swooned. Alex rolled his eyes.
"More like a little pain in the-"
"Watch your mouth, Papito."
Lupe rolled her eyes at her son. Kids these days, she thought. He wasn't wrong though. It was abnormally early for that level of joy, especially on a day where they were supposed to sleep until noon.
"I think we should welcome more Latinos into the building. We're like extended family."
Abuelita nodded before stopping to add, "Unless they know my sister Mirtha. We don't mix with her kind of people."
Lupe rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Over the years living with her mother had taught her to pick her battles.
"Come on, let's go say hi."
Alex dragged his feet and walked as slowly as possible. He opened the door with as little gusto as possible and looked at his phone while his mom introduced everyone. This guy may have a nice voice but he was the only obstacle between Alex and a morning of beauty sleep-
"-and this is my son Alex."
He swears he only meant to look up and nod. Just a cool guy head nod, but his intentions were for shit, this guy looked like he was sculpted by the gods.
"Hey, I'm Pablo."
Pretty eyes. That's all he saw for the first moment and curse the person up in heaven who told god making this guy was a good idea. Who knew eyes could sparkle so much?
"Hi- I um... welcome! To the uh,... building."
'Way to keep it together! Being gay is Elena's thing' his brain screamed at him. No one was supposed to know. That was the problem with having an older sister, if she got to do something first it would be old news by the time he got to it.
"Thanks! I'm sorry if I was being too loud. My dad's already at work and it's kinda boring to do this in silence. This is the last one though!"
He hoisted up a box marked 'clothes' and Alex nodded. Maybe now he could go back to bed and dream about the hot new neighbor. 'Cool, not hot! Cool!'
"Oh well you can come over for breakfast since everyone's up! You're a little skinny Chico."
No! This was definitely not what Alex needed. Leave it to Abuelita to invite a hot guy into the apartment two minutes after meeting him.
"Thank you señora but I really wouldn't like to be a bother."
Oh thank god. Bed here he co-
"Oh don't be stupid, we'd love to have you over! Come on, you're a twig."
Alex wanted to scream. Didn't they bring in enough strays already?! This was not going to be good. This would end in disaster he was sure of it. He dragged his feet back through the doorframe and plopped down on the couch. He was still in his pijamas, he hadn't done his hair yet, he had no idea what his breath situation was, and there was a hot guy helping his Abuelita set the table. Things could not get worse.
"Papito, help Pablo set the table."
He spoke too soon. Elena said something about a shower and went back into her room, Mami was getting ready for work, and Abuelita was cooking. Great. Just them. Alone. He grabbed some forks and knives while Pablo set out glasses and cafecito cups.
"So... Papito, huh?"
He was going to kill himself. Maybe it was because his face was probably as red as a tomato but Pablo laughed.
"Hey, don't sweat it. My family calls me pepsi. I don't know why and if you ever meet them please don't ask."
Alex laughed. Okay, maybe he was being dramatic. This didn't seem so bad, except maybe if Abuelita started talking about anyone's love life over breakfast again.
"Yeah, families are weird."
"You have no idea."