"Sleep well, Therese?"

Theresa rocked back and forth in the doorframe leading to the hallway, stifling a yawn. "Huh, uh-huh."

Her mother shook her head, disapproving. "Good way to start your vacation. You didn't even eat dinner."

"Yeah, well," Theresa sighed. "The Medenas. You know."

Eva clucked her tongue. "Sylvia told me he ran out on them."

Theresa nodded as she slid into her regular seat at the table, savoring the smell of crisp, greasy bacon. "Juana says hi, though."

"You know, we should do something for them. You want to help me make a casserole later on?"

"Only if I don't have to take it over," Theresa grumbled, and her mother actually laughed. "You think I'm kidding."

"Oh, no, I'm sure that you're not."

"Ooh, bacon?" Arturo stomped loudly into the kitchen. "Hey-hey. What are you still doing here?" He stopped in his tracks, staring at his sister.

"Playing hooky," she said casually, slumping in her seat.

"Oh," he said, not getting it. "Be careful. You know they busted Trey's brother downtown last month for truancy."

"I know," she spat back. "And it's summer vacation, you moron."

"It is?" Arturo asked, befuddled. "So soon?"

"Don't call your brother names," Eva chided from the kitchen.

"Mom," Theresa whined back.

"So what are you doing here, then?" Arturo asked, squeezing her shoulders from behind. "Go. Enjoy summer. There's sunshine and popsicles and playgrounds awaiting you, my child."

"I wish," Theresa sighed, shrugging him off. "More like the cash register at Pizza King."

Arturo threw his hands up and she shook her shoulders out, twisting in the seat. "It's not my fault these women keep me out of the loop!"

She laughed and swatted him with a napkin holder. "So are you working today?"

"No. Hey, me and the boys were gonna hang out this afternoon. We're going to Pepe's, if you want to come."

"Really?" She perked up. "Who's gonna be there?"

"Dunno. Eddie. Trey."

"Ryan?"

"I did not ask." Arturo snatched the napkin holder and began tossing it dangerously from hand to hand. "He's your boyfriend, isn't he? You ask him."

"Ryan is not my boyfriend," she insisted.

"Arturo, put that thing down before you break it!"

Theresa exchanged an amazed look with her brother – their mother hadn't even turned around from the stove – before she took it from him and returned it carefully to the table.

"Sure he's not," Arturo scoffed.

"We're just friends," Theresa said firmly before narrowing her eyes. "Why? What did he say?"

Arturo snorted. "What did he say? Does he ever say anything?"

"Does he ever have anything to say to you?" Theresa countered. Arturo grabbed at her hair and pulled. "Ow! Mom!" Her hands flew up to grab her scalp, to try and ease the sharp pain.

"Arturo, stop that this instant," Eva called, bored.

He jerked her hair again, causing her to smack him away. He turned on his heel, absorbing the blow, and wandered in the direction of the kitchen.

"He looks like an eighteen year old boy," Eva sighed. "Sadly, it's an illusion. He is only eight."

"You treat me like it," Arturo grumbled.

"You want to be an adult?" Eva snapped. "Pay rent."

"Oh, but I like being your baby boy, Mama," Arturo whimpered as he wrapped himself around her from behind.

"Ai yi yi. Both of you. Out. Out of my house. Here." Eva shrugged her son off and dumped the bacon on the platter beside the scrambled eggs. "Go. Devour like that the animals that you are, and go."

"You see?" Arturo asked as he carried the plate to the table. "You see how she treats us?"

"I see how she treats you," Theresa said. "I, on the other hand –"

"You," Eva sighed, "are a spoiled little brat who needs to come make some toast for everyone so she can earn her keep."

Theresa obediently scurried into the kitchen, kissing her mother as she passed. As she reached for the breadbox, the phone rang.

"So early?" Eva murmured as she moved to answer it. "Hello?" She set the receiver down. "It's Trey Atwood."

Arturo darted back into the kitchen and snatched it from the counter. "Hey, man! Yeah. Now?" Theresa glanced up at him. "I was gonna – okay. Lemme eat first. My mother cooked this delicious breakfast." He glanced up, hoping to score points, but Eva only shook her head as she carried the orange juice to the table.

"Ryan?" Theresa whispered to him as she dropped the bread into the toaster.

Arturo plugged his open ear with a finger. "Yeah. I got the stuff, we're cool, no."

"Is Ryan coming to lunch?" Theresa asked, a little louder.

"Okay. Seeya then. Right, man."

"Is," Theresa shouted, "Ryan! Coming! To! Lunch?"

Arturo made a face at her. "Chill, woman. Yeah, man. What she said." He paused. "He doesn't know." Theresa threw up her hands. "What?" he protested, tucking the phone to his shoulder. "Not like they live in the same house anymore."

"Still, he's Ryan's brother. He should know," Theresa argued.

"Like your brother knows what you're doing?" Eva interrupted politely.

"Yeah, I know she is," Arturo muttered into the phone. "Believe me. Okay. Be there soon." He dropped the phone back into its cradle.

"Ai yi yi, is it time for school yet?" Eva muttered. "Theresa, the toast."

Theresa turned to see that the toast had indeed popped up, and she grabbed the hot slices, dropping them quickly onto the plate before her fingers could burn.

"School's out till September, Mama," Theresa said, then let out a squeal of delight, twirling around with the plate of toast. "School's out! Till September!"

Eva just shook her head and snatched the toast away before it could fall. "Oh," she grumbled. "It can't come soon enough. Three whole months of this?"

Once her stomach was full and she had showered and made sure that her hair was in decent shape, Theresa bounced through the front yard, whipped around the overgrown fence on the corner, unhitched the gate, fastened it behind her, and made her way up the cracked sidewalk to the creaky front porch, where she pounded on the door.

A minute passed.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and glanced around. The cracked, peeling sea foam green paint, the weather-worn "outdoor" furniture. She knew for a fact Ryan would be only too happy when he could get away from this place at last.

Silence.

Theresa pounded again, impatiently.

The white door yanked open. "Oh," Ryan said, sizing her up. "It's you."

She wrinkled her nose. "Why are you dressed like that?" He had on his usual white tank top, but with dark, heavy jeans instead of his usual Dickeys, and his industrial boots.

"I gotta work." He leaned up against the doorframe, blocking her view of the inside of the house, in a manner that made Theresa want to jump him. Right now. In the yard. She didn't care who was watching. They'd seen sex before. They could deal.

"What are you doin' after?" she asked, licking her lips suggestively.

He shrugged and glanced over his shoulder, pulling the door in behind him. "I'm kinda busy right now, can we talk later?"

"If it's another girl you keep blowing me off for, you are gonna find out how much of a girly-girl I am not."

He cracked half a grin at that. "Sadly, no girls."

"Sadly?" she echoed, staring at him.

"Happily! Happy. I am. Very, very – I'll find you later, okay?"

"Tonight?" She hated to feel desperate, but... the lean... oh, the lean. She inclined her head, hoping to implant an idea in his brain.

"Maybe," he said, glancing over her head at something in the sky. He squinted against the sun.

"Ryan! You get my OJ?" Dawn's voice came from somewhere deep inside the house.

"Coming, Ma," he called over his shoulder. "Uh, yeah. So. I gotta go."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm having lunch with your brother and the guys, if-"

But he was already shaking his head. "I can't leave the site till my shift is up."

"Now, Ryan!"

He shook his head again. "Bye."

Not even a peck. Theresa sighed and leaned against the porch column as Ryan pulled the door closed.

Sometimes, she wasn't sure why she even bothered.

But then he leaned against the door like that, and she remembered. Oh, did she ever.

"Ai, hot mama!"

"Whoa, save me!"

Theresa laughed at the guys as she bashfully slid onto the edge of the vinyl seat. "Too much. Too much, fellows."

"Not a bit," Eddie insisted. "If you weren't Arturo's sister-"

"If she wasn't his sister," Trey said, cutting him off, "I think he'd want to do her, too."

This caused a fit of snorts in Trey and Trey alone, even as Eddie loudly protested, "That is not where I was goin' with that!" Arturo, for his part, buried his nose deeply in his menu.

"Don't worry," Trey said, leaning over. "If you weren't my brother's-"

"Yeah? Your brother's what?" Theresa snapped as she cut him off. "I'm betting he didn't call me much of anything, am I right?"

"Well..." He and Eddie exchanged a look.

"Just don't say it," she sighed. "So are we eating food, or what? I heard a rumor we were, it's why I'm here."

"So is Ryan coming?" Trey asked, staring right at her.

"How should I know?" She stared back for a moment before breaking down. "Naw. He's workin'."

"Working?" Trey said. "Sucker."

Theresa didn't feel like pointing out that Ryan was probably working to support a mother who had given birth to both of them, while Trey hung out at a restaurant with "the guys". It was typical, anyway. Trey was a nutcase, Ryan was the stable one. Stable. Steady, predictable, dependable old Ryan. Too old, really, for his age.

"What are you eating?" Eddie asked, leaning over Theresa's menu.

"I don't know," she said, skimming. "Chocolate chip pancakes, or a chocolate milkshake with a burger? What do you think?"

"Well," Eddie said, seriously considering. "Either way, you do get chocolate."

"You know," she said, staring at him. "Eddie? That is so true."

"I think she's mocking me," he complained to the table at large. "Are you mocking me?"

"Eddie," she said, shocked. "I would never." She raised her eyebrows even as she glanced away, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Make her stop," he begged Arturo, who was sniggering into his menu. "Your sister's such a little bitch."

"Yeah," Trey chimed in. "Go home, bitch."

"Make me, jackass," she shot back. "And since none of you fools are any help, I'm going with the pancakes."

"Good choice," Eddie congratulated her. "But just in case you change your mind, I'll be getting that burger."

"He acts like he's gonna share it," she remarked to Arturo.

"Man," Trey said. "The kid is sharp. Arturo, your sister is fucking sharp."

"And clearly you're not, to just be figuring that out now," Theresa muttered under her breath.

Trey sat up abruptly as the other guys laughed at him. "Ouch!"

Theresa allowed herself a small smile as she slid back in the seat. Sparring with these guys was a challenge, and it never failed to please her when she won, which to be fair was frequently. But given that they were older and presumably cooler than her, every small victory counted. Sex appeal could only get her so far, but personality would carry her all the way home...

Eddie reached over for her menu. "Let me take that for you," he offered.

"Oh, thanks," she said absently, turning her menu over to him. She had to stand up for herself more when Ryan wasn't around. When he was around, the two of them pretty much paired off. If she couldn't swat the big guys off, Ryan would just give them a look and they'd shut up. He was handy like that.

"So Eddie, man," Trey said, a little too loudly, causing Theresa to jump, "how are your girls, anyway?"

"My... 'girls'?" Eddie inquired with a polite tone.

"Yeah. You, uh, you seein' somebody right now?"

"No," Eddie said, perplexed. "Not... now."

"Uh huh," Trey said. "I see."

Theresa wrinkled her nose at him. What was that about?

"My brother," Trey said pointedly, "would love a burger if he was here, you know."

"I know," Theresa said. "Um. I'm confused. Trey?"

Trey shook his head. "I'm just sayin' is all. Eddie, man, we need to find you a girl. What about Anita Allen?"

Theresa wrinkled her nose. "She's a whore. Hello."

"Yeah, welcome to Eddie's world," Arturo said, sniggering again.

"You don't want to go anywhere she's been," Theresa muttered.

Trey glared at her. "She's been with me," he pointed out.

"Okay, Trey? Really wanted to know that." She squinted and nodded at him. "Hey. I know. Save the trouble, you two can just have sex! With each other! Make it easier on all of us."

She wished she had a camera for the simultaneous look of horror on their faces. Arturo let loose with a loud bray, clapping his sister on the back.

She grinned around the table as they tried to calm down. She did fit with these guys. She was just one of the guys.

It was great, really; she just wished Ryan would quit thinking of her that way, too. Just for awhile, just every once in awhile. Just maybe once.