Justin

Justin

My first reaction was "please do not leave me alone with this nutcase" when Jhondie left to go up to my room, but I knew she needed to calm down. I did not want her to go off on Denise and rip her head off or something. Jhondie could probably come up with some pretty vile ways to ensure Denise never walked back into our lives again. A few more hours, I thought to myself. In a few hours they'll be gone, and Jhondie and I can just laugh about this. I hoped we would be able to laugh, and not be in a hospital emergency room.

"She's cute," Denise commented when Jhondie left. "A little young, what is she…16, but cute." She smiled at me. I'm pretty sure that was the smile Delilah had when she cut off Samson's hair. "You look wonderful though." It was starting already. She jabbed with an insult, and then followed up with a quick compliment so that I would thank her and say how good she looked, and then have to ignore the insult to my girlfriend.

"She's eighteen," I said. Denise blinked. I had dodged her. One thing about working for EO, you learn how to handle sticky situations, even without having genetically engineered backup. "You know me, I'm not going to get twisted in a relationship…dating someone that much younger." Her smile slipped a notch but she recovered quickly.

"Daddy told me you got that internship," she said. I felt like I was walking blindfolded through a minefield. Denise said everything for effect. She was dropping Jhondie for now. She was plotting her next move. I knew that much for sure.

"Yeah," I replied. "Worked for the LA Times. Even went to New York with one of the reporters for a couple of weeks. I learned a lot." Actually what I learned was that my boss was what I wanted to be like more than ever.

"Must have been hard being gone from home like that for the first time," she commented. "Visiting family is one thing, but being on your own…a little tougher." She was making pleasant conversation. This was scary.

I shrugged. "Wasn't bad. I was too busy to be homesick anyways." She smiled wider and I flinched internally. She liked that answer. I wasn't sure why, but she did. That was therefore, a very bad thing.

"Justin," she said, looking a little embarrassed and chagrined. "Since we have a moment to ourselves, I just wanted to say that I'm terribly sorry for everything before. I hope we can have a nice holiday together and start fresh."

I smiled. I was going to be nice to the head-job. It would make her leave all that sooner if she didn't think there was a fight to be had. She liked to win fights. That was probably why she tried to run me over when I told her we were through and walked away. She just had to get in the last word. "I'm looking forward to a nice holiday myself," I replied honestly. I was. My weekend had started great, and I knew it was going to get better after today.

Dad and Mr. O'Malley came into the kitchen. Sweet relief. Denise hadn't attacked me yet, and I emphasize yet, but I still didn't want to be alone with her. She was mental before, and I wanted proof that she had changed. Nice words were not going to change my opinion of her in the slightest.

"Hi, Mr. O'Malley," I greeted, shaking his hand. It had been a few months since I'd seen him. Between Dad's business, and my dating Denise I used to see him every day, but now I was too busy to go to Dad's business, and Denise was best left to the pits of Hell she crawled out of.

Dad looked around. "Where's Jhondie?" he asked casually, but shot me a worried look. He knew Jhondie was here somewhere. If only he knew how worried he should be.

"Jhondie?" Mr. O'Malley asked.

"My girlfriend," I answered quickly. "She's spending the weekend with us." I looked over at Dad. "She went upstairs to put her stuff up."

Dad nodded. "Okay, well, your grandmother is going to be here in a second, so you might want to go into the living room with the twins and wait for her." Thank you Dad. He knew I didn't want to be alone with Denise for two seconds if I could help it. We went to leave the kitchen, and he whispered in my ear, "I'll check on her," and went up the stairs. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but I couldn't protest and then try to explain why it really could be dangerous to be within six inches of her right now. Dad went up the stairs and we went into the living room. The twins were talking to Mitchell who looked a little confused as usual. It figured. They were already his mental superiors.

"Hi Mitch," I greeted. He got up and gave me a stern look. You'd swear sometimes that I was the one who tried to stalk and kill Denise instead of the other way around. All of her brothers were big, football player-sized guys. They were a big reason that I started working out so much. I wanted to make sure I could defend myself against one of them. Now I could see why Mitch came. Denise decided to come to LA, so he decided he would come too so that he could protect his little sister from evil bad me. Christ. And I had a pissed genetically engineered killing machine to contend with.

"Hi Justin," he said coolly.

"Did Jhondie bring it?" Brittany broke in. She never liked Denise, or her brothers, so Jhondie had a little hellion as an ally as long as she brought the pay-off.

I grinned. "As requested, she brought a bucketful," I replied. Both the twins started grinning evilly. In a few hours they were going to be feeling mischievous and they were going to be on a sugar buzz. I almost, not quite but almost, felt sorry for Denise.

The doorbell rang. I took a deep breath and answered it. Maybe next Thanksgiving I would just grab Jhondie and we would run off together for the holiday. Family was too stressful to deal with especially when right now I would rather be alone with my woman. I opened the door and there was Nana. She was glaring at her cab over her shoulder. Her cab was peeling rubber to get out of there. I couldn't say I blamed him in the slightest.

"Fool thinks I'm some old lady he can take advantage of!" she snarled in rapid Spanish. Nana's English isn't very good, and when she gets upset, it's Spanish all the way. Luckily I've kept up on mine and so has Dad and the twins. "He thinks he can come late and then get lost so that I have to pay a higher fare," she continued. "Ha! I showed him!"

Nana doesn't look like she should be tough. She's barely over five feet tall, and very petite, and I think she's still very pretty for an older woman. She's taken good care of herself over the years. Her hair is still long and black, and her dark eyes were still bright and active. I had to smile. Nana wasn't going to change until the day she dropped dead, and sometimes I wondered if she would even change then. She'd probably be telling the Grim Reaper that he was doing it all wrong.

She stopped ranting and then looked up at me and smiled. "Well, child, are you not going to invite your old grandmother in?"

"I'm still thinking about it," I teased, then leaned over and hugged her. "Happy Thanksgiving Nana," I said. I was one of the few people that could get away with teasing her. Even Maria Theresa couldn't do that. She really liked me. Maybe that wasn't such a good thing. If she didn't like me she wouldn't be concerned about my life and whom I was dating.

She came in and immediately the twins were hugging her. Even after Mom died, I made sure we spent a couple of weeks in the summer in Mexico so that they would still know our grandparents. Our grandfather didn't like to make the trip to the States, and I had a feeling that was because he was worried about being arrested for something, but Nana came up on Thanksgiving. Nana hugged them back, genuinely pleased to see them, complimenting them on how big they had gotten since last summer. Brian was finally starting to outgrow Brittany, and he seemed especially pleased over the compliment.

Nana looked over at Denise who practically beamed. "Hi, Mrs. Alvarez," she said in halting Spanish. Hers was lousy. I had never heard Jhondie speak Spanish, but I knew she knew several languages. I had never asked if she knew Spanish fluently. Denise hugged Nana who was looking pleased to see the future mental patient. "I was so glad when Daddy said you were going to be here!" Denise said, stumbling over the words. Nana knew she had to speak very slowly in Spanish to Denise.

"It is good to see you again my dear," Nana replied. I wanted to gag. I glanced over to the left and Dad and Jhondie were coming into the living room. It was going to begin now.

"Ramona," Dad greeted with a smile. I recognized the expression. It was the same one I had trying to make myself be polite to Denise. Neither set of my grandparents had approved of my parent's marriage for some reason, so relations were slightly strained even after twenty plus years.

"Thomas," Nana greeted, like a queen addressing a peasant. Her eyes lit on Jhondie who glided over to me. Nana approved of good posture, she said it spoke volumes about a person's upbringing, and Jhondie was moving like she had a whole set of encyclopedias balanced on her head. Jhondie probably didn't realize she was doing it, but she always glided like that when she was mad. I think it had to do something with the cat DNA coming out.

Jhondie stood beside me quietly for a second, and then kicked my foot slightly to get me to introduce them. This was not my spunky, outspoken Jhondie. Christ, she had been reading those etiquette books again. Nana caught the little by-play, and for the barest second, a real smile lit her eyes. She had said more than once my manners were reprehensible. The polite thing was for Jhondie to be introduced, not for her to introduce herself.

"Nana," I said, "may I introduce my very good friend Jhondie Harris. Jhondie, my grandmother, Ramona Alvarez." Now what?

Nana paused for a second, testing Jhondie. Maybe this was some weird female ritual. Denise was looking pissed. Whatever was going on, if it was upsetting her, it had to be a good thing. Nana held out her hand. "Hello, Miss. Harris," she said formally. Now Denise beamed. Nana had called her by her first name from the start.

Jhondie took her hand in a polite shake. "Good afternoon Mrs. Alvarez," she said in flawless Spanish. "Justin speaks of you so highly, it is nice to finally get to meet you in person." Nana looked a little surprised. The girl beside me spoke Spanish perfectly and was soft spoken, polite and well mannered. I was still waiting for Jhondie to show up.