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Pepa and Julieta sat on the dining room chairs as their mama looked between the two of them, her serious gaze making the two look down to the table.
"May I ask why you didn't tell me about this before?" Their mama asked, and Julieta looked up.
"I thought that it was best that Bruno talked to her first, so that maybe he would come out of his shell a bit."
Alma hummed. "But, that didn't go so well, did it? Now Abigail hates Bruno and the two are never going to get married."
"I don't think she liked him before." Julieta added, but Alma raised her hand in the air, silencing her.
"I thought, Pepa, I told you that I didn't want Bruno to interfere." Mama said, turning towards her other daughter. Pepa stiffened.
"I'm sorry, Mama, I forgot."
Alma sighed. "Well, it's done now. I'll talk to Bruno when he comes out of his room and maybe there's a way to fix this. And I do not want either of you two involved at all anymore, understood?"
They nodded, and Alma stood up, leaving the room not long after. "I have jobs to attend to in the village, and I suggest you girls do the same."
Julieta sighed, playing with her hair. "I can't believe how concerned she is."
Pepa nodded. "Yeah…but, if Mama thinks that she and Bruno are supposed to get married, then I'm not surprised. I'm glad it went bad, though. I hate her."
"You've said that a million times already."
"I know."
Julieta got up and began preparing a plate for Bruno, who was still hiding in his tower. She really hoped that Mama wouldn't be too upset with Bruno, he didn't know what her plans for him were. And, he tried his best. But his best wasn't enough for Abigail.
Julieta, deep down, truly hoped that he would meet someone that loved him for all that he was. Someone that loved him when he was socially awkward, when he had bad visions, when he carried around his rats everywhere he went. She wasn't sure if Bruno was going to be this lucky.
A part of her felt bad about telling him that there was someone out there for him. There probably was, but in the village of Encanto? Not very likely. His status in the village as a curse tainted the minds of everyone that lived here, including their own mother.
She really wished that Bruno wouldn't be alone forever. He deserved so much more than that.
Julieta made her way to Bruno's room, a full plate in hand, and knocked on his door. Bruno opened it after a minute, his hair messier than usually, dry tear stains on his face. She could see a rat hiding on his shoulder, sniffing the air. Julieta held out the plate in offering.
"Hungry?"
Bruno nodded, taking the plate thankfully.
"Can I come in?" She asked, and Bruno backed away from the door, allowing her room to get into his dark room.
She walked through the hourglass doorway, no sand falling down it, thankfully. As she walked into the wide area, she observed that there were some more stairs leading up to his bed.
"More stairs?" She observed, and Bruno looked at it like it was the first time he had seen it.
"I guess. I didn't notice."
Bruno sat down on one of the stairs and began eating, feeding his rats at the same time. Julieta sat down on the floor across from him, dusting away the sand near her feet as she kneeled down.
"Mama really wants you to marry Abigail." Julieta said, and Bruno's widened.
"What? Really?"
"I guess so. She's going to talk to you about what happened."
Bruno's face went red, and he looked to the floor with embarrassment. "I…I didn't know."
"You weren't supposed to know."
"I guess it's not happening, then." He said, and Julieta put a comforting hand on his knee. "I messed it up."
"No, you didn't mess it up. She's not the one for you. She's a jerk, and I really hope that you don't marry her. No matter what Mama says."
"I'm sure that Mama will find a way to make it happen."
Julieta couldn't find a way to respond to that.
Bruno looked at the door as Pepa walked in, her orange dress flowing behind her, a cloud forming above her head.
"Mama is going to talk to Abigail's family. Tonight. They're coming over for dinner."
"What?" Bruno whispered, eyes widening, and Pepa nodded.
"Mama wants you two to talk. And, she said that you're not too young to start dating."
"I am not dating her!" Bruno exclaimed. "She called me a curse!"
Pepa laughed. "Wow. You know you used to have a mad crush on her, right?"
"I know!" He blushed. "But…I don't want to be with someone who thinks I'm a curse."
That shocked Julieta. That took a lot of maturity to say. Maybe he was getting a bit less naive. Maybe, and she hated to think this, but maybe this whole experience helped him a bit.
And probably hiding in his room for a whole day helped too.
"Well, Mama probably doesn't care." Pepa continued, crossing her arms across her chest. "You know that. But, I'm pretty sure by how upset I am that it's going to rain!"
The cloud above her darkened and Bruno smiled.
"Could you?"
Julieta smiled. "That would be pretty nice. But, you know Mama…"
"Oh! Speaking of Mama, Julieta, she wants you to start making supper."
She got up with a sigh, brushing the stray flecks of sand from her skirt.
"Are you going to be okay, Bruno?"
Bruno nodded. "I think so. I don't know what I'm going to say, though."
"I would say that you shouldn't say anything." Pepa said. "Let Mama deal with it."
Bruno nodded hesitantly. "Okay."
With that, the two sisters left the room and Julieta started cooking, afraid of what the night ahead would bring.
The night came quickly, and Bruno was called out of the tower when the guests arrived. Alma brushed the sand off of his ruana and gestured for him to take a rat off of his shoulder.
"I expect you to be on your best behavior tonight, Brunito." She said, brushing his hair away from his eyes. "And no rats are allowed to be seen or heard."
"I can't really control them, Mama, they like me." Bruno replied, and she frowned.
"Bruno…" Her voice took on a tone of warning, and Bruno looked away. "Tonight needs to go perfectly. I do not want any of your rats or visions making everything worse. You already made the situation bad. I honestly don't know if I can convince Abigail's parents to give her to you in marriage."
"She thinks I'm a curse." Bruno said, his voice small and weak. "I don't want to marry her."
Alma kneeled down to his level, placing her hands on his shoulders with a strong grip.
"Marrying her is the best option for our family. Don't you want to help our family, like your sisters do?"
He shook his head. "Not like this."
"She is a good girl , Bruno, you should be very happy."
"I loved her, a part of me still does, Mama, but I can't spend my life with her. She's so mean."
"Well, you're going to have to live with it. For the good of the family Madrigal."
Bruno shut his mouth, knowing that he wasn't going to win this fight. He let his mama fix his appearance a bit more, like he was five and not seventeen, without fight, soon following her to the kitchen, where Julieta was chatting with Abigail's family.
Bruno avoided Abigail's eyes as he sat beside Julieta, resisting the urge to knock his fists on the table. Alma put on a huge smile and greeted the family with joy.
"Ahh, the amazing Lopez family! So good to finally dine with you!"
Mrs. Lopez smiled. "It is very good that we finally did this, I have to say this is an incredible house. Very beautiful."
The tiles under the table flipped up at the words, and Alma laughed kindly.
"Why thank you, Casita is very happy to hear that. Now, please, let us eat!"
Juleita began to pass around the food, and Bruno risked looking up. Abigail wasn't looking at him, instead focused on the story Alma had begun telling.
Bruno's eyes widened when he saw another girl sitting beside Abigail, her black hair put in a messy bun. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of light brown, her smile uncertain and strained. Her hands fumbled with the fork in her hand as she watched Bruno's mother.
"Oh, and I don't think you all have met my youngest daughter." Mr. Lopez said, gesturing to the girl. "This is Cassidy, she's sixteen years old. She never gets out of the house very much." He finished with a laugh, and everyone around the table giggled kindly. All but Bruno. He watched as she blushed under the attention, turning back to her plate nervously.
"So, Cassidy, what do you like to do?" Julieta asked, and Cassidy gave a small smile.
"Umm..I like to paint. And draw."
Pepa smiled, the cloud above her getting a bit smaller. "That sounds like fun."
"It is."
Alma cleared her throat. "Anyways, how is your business doing?"
The adults jumped right back into conversation, leaving the teenagers to try and make up their own conversation. It wasn't working. Bruno never said a word, while Pepa and Abigail talked about school, but anyone could see that Pepa was containing her anger, her coud getting darker and darker by the minute. Julieta tried to talk to Cassidy, but the other girl wasn't very verbal, only answering her questions with short phrases. Bruno noticed that Cassidy glanced at the adults occasionally, worry in her eyes.
Bruno opened her mouth to ask her a random question, maybe to distract her from what she is worried about, but in that instant a rat decided to make an appearance on his shoulder, poor Juno sniffing his cheek, searching for minor crumbs to eat. Juno let out a squeak, and Julieta's head whipped around to him, her eyes wide. Bruno grabbed the rat and set it down on his lap, hoping that Alma hadn't seen it.
As it turns out, his mama wasn't the person he should've been afraid of.
"Is that a rat?" Abigail exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. Bruno rushed to explain, but the adults stopped talking, turned to them.
"I…I…"
"Bruno." His mama said, warning in her voice. "What did I say about rats at the table?"
"He hangs out with rats normally? Abigail shrieked, backing away, and her father rushed to comfort her.
"It's just a rat, mi hija. Not a big deal."
Her fearful and angry eyes turned to Bruno. "You're so gross! And you're so stupidly lonely that you have rats for friends?"
"Bruno! Get that rat out of here!"
"Y…yes, Mama." Bruno got up and gently put Juno in the kitchen, hoping that the small rat could find his way back to the tower. When he got back the table was silent, everyone waiting for him to return.
As he sat down, Amla turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Lopex, taking a deep breath.
"I cannot tell you how sorry I am about the intrusion. Bruno may have some issues, but he is a good man. I promise that as he grows older he will be an honorable man, bringing pride not only to the family Madrigal but this amazing town."
"I have no doubt, Alma, some people just take a bit more time to mature." Mr. Lopex said, and Bruno ducked his head, trying to stop the tears that burned behind his eyes.
"Anyways, may we discuss the reason that we have gathered here tonight, well, the reason other than enjoying a meal and each other's company?"
"Yes, of course."
Abigail scowled and sat back at the table, turning back to her food reluctantly. Her parents smiled and set down their forks.
"Listen, Alma, we have no shortage of respect for your family." Mr. Lopez began, "What you've built here in Encanto…it's incredible. We would be honored for our family to become a part of yours through marriage. Specifically, through Abigail marrying Bruno. But, we also believe that our daughters should have a choice in who they marry. I don't want them to marry a man that they don't love. So, the choice is down to Abigail herself, and no matter what she chooses we will support her decision whole-heartedly."
Alma smiled at the words, but all of the Madrigal children could tell that it was forced.
"Of course, that is an amazing way to live. And we will be alright with whatever Abigail chooses."
All of their attention turned to Abigail, who let out a huge sigh. "I'm not marrying him. He's a curse, stupid, childish, rat-loving jerk. There is no way in the world I'll ever marry him, let alone look at him."
"Abigail! Be kind." Her mother scolded, and Bruno shifted in his seat, not daring to look at anyone. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles that made Bruno want to run into those arms of comfort. He knew it was Julieta. It had to be.
Alma nodded. "I'm sorry if you feel that way, but I promise, Bruno will get better."
"I don't care. It's a no."
Mrs. Lopez sighed. "Alma, I'm so sorry."
"It's completely fine." The fake smile was back on the older Madrigal's face, and Pepa tried to hide a smile. "We respect your decision, I truly hope that we can continue to be friends."
"Oh, of course. This changes nothing about our relationship."
Julieta began collecting the plates once it was clear that no one was going to eat anymore, and Bruno missed her touch as soon as it was gone. Reluctantly looking up, he noticed Cassidy give him a comforting smile. He didn't have any time to react to the gesture, as Mr. Lopez touched her shoulder, gesturing for her to get to her feet.
As the family began to leave, Alma waved them away kindly, promising that they would have dinner some over time. The instant the Lopez's left, she turned to Bruno, fuming.
"Why are you like this? Bringing rats to the table? Using your gift to make us look bad? This is your fault, Bruno. At this rate no one will fall in love with you! You bring shame and dishonor to the Madrigal family!"
Bruno flinched at the words, backing away from his mother and curling into himself, clutching his ruana for comfort.
Julieta gripped Bruno's shoulder and looked at her mother. "Mama, it's not his fault. She doesn't love him, and if she doesn't love him when he has rats in his hands, or has bad visions, then she doesn't deserve him."
"Both of you, go to your rooms! Pepa, work on the dishes!"
Pepa opened her mouth to argue, but closed it, rushing to the kitchen, a cloud beginning to rain on her head. Bruno walked to his room as Julieta walked to hers, both of them catching each other's eyes before disappearing into their orange-lit doors.