Wow! Lance's family's house is nice, and big. It has to be, I mean he has such a big family.
His mother, his father, his sister Veronica who I already know, his other sister Rachel. His brother Marco, his brother Luis and his wife Lisa. As well as his niece Nadia and his nephew Sylvia. Plus there are his grandparents.
In all, there are a lot of them so this has to be a big house. And it's all cheery and colorful. Filled with green and red and all kinds of Christmas colors. It's so bright and joyful, I don't know how to describe it. It's poppy, yeah I guess you could say that. It's poppy.
You can see from a fair enough distance the Christmas tree. It has lights and family ornaments or all shapes and sizes. It's beautiful, it's homey.
I snap back to reality when I hear Lance's moms voice.
"Lance you will be in your old room and Keith will be bunking with you, is that okay?" Lance's mother says
"Yeah that's fine." Lance replies
"Yeah that's fine" I say as well.
"Well, I need to go and finish dinner, but Lance will show you around, and tell you where everything is. Make yourself at home Keith."
Lance's mom, pauses for a second, gives lance some sort of signal and goes back to where the kitchen is supposed to be.
"Well," Lance says "I guess I better give you the house tour." He winks and waves his hand for me to follow.
We walk up the stairs and go to the right. We then stop at the door that is all the way at the end of the hall. Lance opens the door gently and steps in.
It's a big room, far bigger that I would have thought it would be. It's a nice room too. There is a bunk bed, and next to that there a desk. He has a couch on the other end of the room and directly in from of that there is a TV. As I look to my left there is a door.
"Bathroom," Lance told me, although I didn't even ask. It's like he could read my mind, or maybe he just say me looking around the room. He continued again.
"Ok so, which do you want, to or bottom?"
"WHAT?!" I scream. He points to the bunk bed, oh!!!
"Oh, that's what you meant. uhmm. I guess I will take the bottom one." I say as I sigh with relief.
"What did you think I meant?" Lance asked. He had a smug look on his face that seemed to be thinking of all the things that were the worst things to think about.
"Nothing." I lie.
"Seriously, what did you think I mean?" He asked again.
"Nothing, just wasn't paying attention. That's all." I say in a firm voice to him.
He can't find out, he just can't.
"Anyway," Lance says as he tries to move from one topic to another, "let me show you the rest of the house.
K?"
"Yeah sure, sounds fine." I reply not very enthusiastically. I don't want to lead him on. And plus I am not in the best mood. I've never been with people during Christmas time. It's hard to get adjusted to.
"Ok then" lance steps out of the room and goes down the stairs, I follow.
We reach the bottom of the stairs and start heading to the living room. There I see Nadia and Sylvia playing around on the floor and shaking the Christmas presents. On the couch sits Marco, Rachel, and Lance's dad with his grandparents.
"This is the living room..." Lance says
We start moving and head towards the dining room.
"Dining room" lance states. I see Luis setting up the tables. One for the adults and the others for the children.
We keep moving.
"The kitchen." Lance says
In the kitchen there is his mother, sister Veronica and his sister in law Lisa.
"Mama, what are you making?" Lance asks
"You're favorite," Veronica says, "Creo que ella quiere impresionar a tu novio allí."
I have no idea what she is saying, if only I took Spanish in middle school.
"cállate, no es mi novio Veronica." Lance replies back to her. His tone is sharp and firm. It's as if he is warning her.
"pero te gusta él, no?" She says to Lance. She keeps continuing the conversation. And it looks like lance doesn't want her to.
"Sí, pero él no sabe así que cállate. si dices una palabra te mato ¿vale?" Lance tells her once more
"bien bien, pero solo puedo estar callado por tanto tiempo" Veronica teases him.
I am watching them go back and forth and whatever they are saying, lance doesn't seem to like it.
"verónica te lo juro si ..." Lance starts, but his mom cuts both of them off.
"Lance, Veronica, suficiente" she says to them. They stop and become quiet.
"Lance tu y ayuda a Luis con la mesa, Verónica termina con la papa. ahora ve." She tells them both.
"Si Mama." They both day in unison, but Veronica is still teasing Lance.
Lance went to help his brother, and so I went back upstairs to fully unpack.
It's quiet up here, in Lance's room. It's nice too. But all the silence is broken when I hear a huge knock on the door.
"Hey Keith!" Lance says. "Dinners ready"
"Ok I'm coming" I tell him. He rushes back down the stairs and to the dining room.
I can hear all their voices. I get up off the bed and head down stairs.
