Lisa looks up from her microscope; she can feel him staring at her. He is bored and waiting for something to do, but she doesn't have anything for him at the moment. With Lily, all she had to do was say that there was nothing to do before the younger woman stepped out of the lab and played with her phone or something. However, with Francisco, he will stare at her or look for something to do. Granted, she liked having an organized laboratory and properly sorted files sorted in a timely fashion, but him staying in her lab for hours because he insisted on her getting her money's worth, was beginning to bother her.
She turns around and faces him, "You know that you can go back to your domicile, right? I have nothing at the moment for you to do."
"But it's only been three hours; don't you need anything done at the moment?"
"I do not," she says before turning around to her work.
It's like that every day, five days a week. She doesn't need him around as much as she told him; she only required his services sparingly, however, Francisco is like a thorn at her side, and he refuses to leave, claiming that he can find a way to make himself useful.
At the moment, Francisco is beginning to slowly walk around the lab trying to find something to busy himself with, whether it be cleaning the lab surfaces for the umpteenth time, or shuffling the papers over again, or checking the calibrations on her machines; he doesn't want to leave.
Lisa walks over to him extends her hand towards the door, "While I appreciate your diligence, I also request that you leave. Your work is done for the day, and the moment there is nothing more that I can ask of you."
"You could teach me some of the more technical aspects," he suggests, "You know that I'm capable and you're more than capable of teaching me."
Lisa shakes her head, "I understand that you have a desire to be of service, and you are doing more than enough, but use this time to recuperate your physical and emotional strength."
Francisco sighs, "Alright, thanks for today."
She hears him walk towards the door, "Before you go, I want to ensure that you have been taking the medicine that I have been providing you with."
"I have, Lisa. I have been working for you for some time; I think that you can stop reminding me to take the medicine like a child."
He doesn't like her constant repetition, and after a few months, he figures that she should be aware that he knows to consume the pills that the lab provides the staff.
"It's precautionary. I don't need to worry about my gui–" she begins to lightly cough, "I don't need to worry about my lab techs getting sick."
Francisco slowly steps back from her," Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"How about I call you first? Sound like a plan? I don't want you to waste time when I don't have much for you to do," she told him.
Francisco is about to say something, but sees Lisa focus on her work, and knows that it's futile. It keeps happening. No matter how hard he works, no matter how much he tries to show initiative, Lisa keeps him away from the lab more often than not.
As he walks to his truck, he looks at his watch, "It's still early," he sighs. Francisco doesn't know why she bothers teasing him like this if he's just going to show up for maybe an hour or so every day. Every other Monday, their meetings are the same – she asks for his charts, asks if anything has changed and then subjects him to those annoying tests of hers.
"Three dang months of this crap…"
Yes, it is decent money, but at this point he is getting sick of how unproductive he is feeling. What good is the money, if all he ever did was just take a few pills, work for a handful of hours, and go home? He could stay home for that matter and not bother showing up; not that Lisa would even mind, assuming that he is reading her right.
Francisco feels a vibration in his pocket and reads the message – it's his brother.
I'm in town
And I've got some laundry
He sighs, and types back.
I thought that you were coming last week?
I can't meet you right now.
I'm going to go see if I can pick up Elena today.
Bring her over, it's been a long ass time since I've seen her
And pick up some ice cream
We're both craving the stuff
Francisco doesn't want to see his brother, not now. He wants to use the afternoon to sending time with his daughter, instead he'll have to keep an eye on Kiké just to make sure that he doesn't say or do anything that he has to explain to Elena later. Francisco shakes his head, nearly every time that his brother appears, there's a gift of unknown origin or some story that his brother deems appropriate for the near ten-year-old girl.
I don't have time
Well too bad
Next time don't leave your spare key where I can find it
Francisco groans and drives to pick up Elena from her aunt's house.
Lynn, Margo, and Francisco are sitting down under a tree at the park watching people pass them by. The heat of the summer sun is beating down on them as sweat beads down their heads, the three are bored and summer is barely halfway over.
"I'm bored!" Lynn complained, "What is there to do?"
"Sit under a tree and hear you complain," Francisco jokes.
Lynn rolls her eyes as he and Margo laugh, "I'm serious, we've been sitting around here for hours and we've done nothing! I swear there has to be something to do!"
It hasn't been hours, but Margo and Francisco both know that Lynn-time runs much more differently than everyone else. However, they don't blame her. Without any games or practices, the three are at the mercy of their own imaginations, and they didn't have much that wanted to do that they haven't already done.
"We can go to Gus' Games and Grub? Play some games or something?" Margo suggests.
"I guess…" Lynn says without enthusiasm in her voice.
Neither girl is thrilled at the idea of heading to the arcade; all three have played every game and have won every prize that they desire, so there isn't much to do there anymore.
"What about Dairyland?" Lynn suggests.
Francisco shakes his head, "Nah, we just went for our end-of-school year trip. Do you really want to go again?"
"Museum?" asks Francisco.
Margo shakes her head and silently points at Lynn; he knows what she's trying to say. Historically, Lynn gets easily bored at museum and tends to walk away from exhibits if they don't interest her, so there isn't much of a point of wasting their money if they aren't going to spend much time in the museum.
"What about a trip to the beach?" Margo suggests. "When was the last time we've been?"
The other two friends think about it; summer is halfway over, but it's also tourist season, so the idea of trying to make their way through crowds of people isn't the most appealing. However, she did make a point; they've never gone together as friends and with licenses in their pockets, they could take a daytrip.
"Alright Margo, we're in," Lynn speaks up for herself and Francisco, "but which one do we go to?"
"I have an idea," Francisco circles his right hand with his left index finger, "Just tell me when to stop," he jokes.
The girls laugh and close their eyes before telling him to stop. They look at where his finger stops and look up.
"Anyone up for a trip to Muskegon?" asks Francisco.
The girls shrug their shoulders; it's a three hour trip, but they don't see that as a reason to say no. The group rarely goes on leisure trips together, so this is their opportunity to get away from Royal Woods and have a little fun.
Margo begins to prepare for their trip, "We can probably get snacks there, maybe invite a few more people–"
"For a volleyball game?" Lynn interrupts.
"Or a hike," Francisco brings up.
Lynn responds, "Okay, that too." She turns to Margo, "Will your car fit a bunch of people?"
"I was sort of hoping that you could bring your family's van," Margo suggests.
Lynn stops to think about it, Vanzilla can fit her softball team, so a few extra friends plus all of their beach gear, shouldn't be too much of a problem.
"Alright! So who are we calling?"
Francisco drives up to the gates of the community where Violet lives. He understands that Caroline is busy during the day, and without school, Elena needs some sort of supervision, but he hates that his daughter is staying with Caroline's sister. When he first met her, she was indifferent to him, and as the years passed, Violet has made it clear that she doesn't like him around her sister or niece.
He knocks on the front door of her home and answers the door, "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Violet," Francisco says, trying to maintain his cool, "I'm here to pick up Elena. I told Caroline that I would pick her up and drop her off later this afternoon."
"She didn't say anything to me."
Francisco took a deep breath, "You can call her while I wait for Elena to get her things."
He knows that Caroline told her sister, but she likes to make things difficult for him. After he and Caroline broke up, he understands that she was bound to harbor some negative feelings towards him, but after so many years, he's sure that she enjoys doing so.
"Must you raise your voice like that?"
He barely spoke higher than how he was speaking to her, but decides not to say anything to aggravate her.
"Well I thought that with such a large home, it would be helpful."
"It isn't, now wait here, while I ask my niece to retrieve her things."
Francisco puts up a fake smile as she closes the door, and lets out a huge breath when he hears it close, 'It has been too long…'
He doesn't make a habit of visiting her, but with summer and his new job, he unfortunately will have the displeasure of seeing and talking to her more often than he likes.
The door opens and Elena emerges with her things, Violet looks at Elena at eye-level and tells, "Next time, I promise that I'll take you out on our boat to have some actual fun."
He knows that that was directed at him, but he continues to keep calm, for Elena's sake.
'They help her…they give her great opportunities…they are…her…family…'
"Goodbye aunt Violet, see you tomorrow."
Violet gives her a hug and kiss goodbye, "I can't wait."
The two walk towards his truck, and Francisco asks, "Did you have fun?"
She nods, "Yeah, aunt Violet and I had a private tennis lesson, I swam in her pool, and her chef made us lunch."
"That's nice."
Elena stops talking. She knows that her dad and her mom's side of the family aren't on good terms, but he never admits to how uncomfortable it makes him. Whenever they know that he's coming around, they'll turn up the charm and shower her with some extravagance, which she suspects is to make him jealous.
As the two get in the truck, he tells her, "I hope you don't mind, but your uncle Kiké is going to be at home."
"Its fine," she shrugs her shoulders. "He's been planning it for weeks."
Francisco raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know I just get this feeling that he's wanted to come over after so many months."
She is used to having him show up at random times after so many years, and while her uncle doesn't have a set pattern, he does at least appear every few months.
"Okay…well, I don't know how long he's staying, but he's probably staying with me for a few days."
"That's fine. I don't get to see him that often, but why does he always stay with you instead of tío Chuy or abuelita?"
"I don't know, I think he likes my house better," he tells her.
"Even though he has to sleep on the couch?" Elena asks, "And endure you both occasionally arguing with one another?"
Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I guess."
"Do you think that his visit has anything to do with what happened to his store in Montana?"
Francisco looks over at her from the rearview mirror, "What store in Montana?"
She closes her eyes, as if she was trying to remember, "The general store that gave away presents to frequent customers if they said 'swordfish'."
He doesn't know how to answer that. Heck, he didn't even know about the store that she's referring to, "I…don't know…but how about we ask him when we get home."
Francisco's phone vibrated; it's Kiké.
"Ey menso! Don't pick up any ice cream, I already got it. I mean, seriously, what the hell is taking you so long anyway?!" Kiké complained through the phone.
"I had to pick up Elena near Huntington Oaks, cut me a little slack."
Kiké scoffs, "Whatever, just get home already before the ice cream melts."
"Then put it in the freezer," Francisco suggests.
"But then it'll be hard and tough to scoop," Kiké complains.
"Then be smart about it, instead of whining. We'll be home in a bit."
The father and daughter pull into the driveway and can hear loud music blaring from inside of the house. The windows are trembling and Francisco is dreading to see what he'll find when he walks through the front door.
"Guess he's already made himself at home," Francisco says out loud.
Jackson, who noticed that his neighbor arrived, walks outside to speak with Francisco, "Thank goodness, you're home. The cacophony hailing from your house has been aggravating my bees, and quite frankly, I'm sure that the other neighbors are also becoming annoyed by the noise your brother is making."
Francisco sighs, "I'll put an end to it," he says before walking towards the front door.
"Mrs. Green is staring," Elena whispers to her dad.
"I know," Francisco sighs as he turns over to his neighbor across the street, who immediately closes her curtains upon seeing him staring back at her. "She is such a busybody," he mutters to himself.
Francisco walks into the house and the noise from the music startles him and Elena, who runs over to turn off the speaker.
"Hey!" Kiké shouts in the direction of the speaker.
"Hi tío Kiké," Elena waves at her uncle.
Kiké smiles and opens his arms for a hug, "Hey, how my favorite little niece?"
Elena giggles, "I'm your only niece."
"Which automatically makes you my favorite, how's school been?"
Francisco could not figure out why his brother is able to build such a rapport with his daughter, despite rarely being in her life. With his erratic visiting schedule, the two rarely have time to spend with one another, but every time they see each other, it's as if no time has passed.
Kiké leads Elena to the kitchen to serve ice cream as they catch up on everything that has happened since they last saw each other.
He set a bowl down in front of her, "I've got something fun planned for this weekend, if you're both interested," Kiké says, looking at Francisco.
"What is it?" asked the girl, curious about what her uncle had planned.
Francisco's ears perk up; in the past, Kiké has never been the type to just invite his family on any sort of outing, and if he did, there is always some element of foolishness behind it. The younger brother shudders as he remembers a side trip in Arizona from his college days.
"So you know my friend, Ali?"
"The one with the bum leg?" Francisco asked.
"No, that's Max, I'm talking about the guy with the import shop. Anyway, he's outta town and he's going to let me borrow his dune buggy so we can go to the beach."
Francisco is skeptical. He knows the types of people that his brother is involved with; they're usually the types that don't mind skirting around the law for a quick buck, and they aren't the types of people that he wants his daughter to be around.
Kiké hypes up the trip to the girl, "What do you say, huh? I meet you both by the beach on Saturday and we can have some fun, get some sun, go swimming, drive the dune buggy, maybe even screw around with tourists."
Elena smiles, "That sounds fun, except for the messing with tourists part," she turns to her dad, "Can we go, please, please, please, please, please?" she begs.
The older brother rests his head on his niece's shoulders, and they both attempt to use the old puppy dog eyes routine; it's ridiculous that the two of them even tried, even if Elena could get away with it sometimes.
Francisco shakes his head, "No." Elena frowns, "I can take you to the museum, sweetie, but I don't want you getting on some strange man's dune buggy."
Kiké scoffs, "Strange man? He's not strange. How about this? You ride it first and see how safe it is, and then Elena can ride. Win-win, right?"
No, it isn't. Francisco isn't afraid of the machine being unsafe; he just doesn't like Elena being out and about when Kiké was involved, especially when he has a history of 'borrowing' certain vehicles.
"Please dad. Just one ride, then we can spend the rest of the day at the beach."
"I'll invite Chuy so that he can keep an eye on her and me," Kiké says, in an attempt to sway his younger brother. "You'll outnumber me two to one, how's that sound?"
Francisco still isn't convinced takes a deep breath, but he looks down at Elena, whose eyes are begging to go on a beach vacation and he agrees.
"Fine, but if I don't think that that dune buggy is safe, then you take it back or put it away or something, got it?" he tells his brother.
"Deal!" Kiké says. "One more thing, my laundry is in the garage already."
Francisco takes a deep breath before he leaves the two and walks to the garage. He opens his brother's luggage and sees the contents before whispering to himself, "Swordfish."
Lynn pokes her head into the kitchen and sees her dad making his latest experimental concoction. His happy face creates an opening for Lynn to ask her dad for Vanzilla to go to the beach with her friends. The trip ended up with more guests than expected, but no one complained; after all, the more the merrier.
Lynn Sr. notices his daughter standing by the entryway and asks, "Hey LJ, want to give me a hand in here?"
"Uh…sure," she says as walks towards her dad.
She looks into the pan and is surprised by the giant fish that is staring back at her. Lynn knows that the home kitchen is dad's opportunity to try out some of his ideas, but sometimes she wished that he would space it out a little more than once a week.
"Can you get me the tomato sauce from the pantry?"
She covers the fish back up and walks to retrieve the sauce. As she hands him the sauce, she decides to ask, "Hey dad, can I borrow Vanzilla to go to the beach with my friends? We wanted to go to Muskegon, and we invited a few people and in case we go to a beach with paid parking, we don't want to waste too much money with a lot of cars. And Vanzilla can fit nearly everyone, I mean, Francisco still wants to take his truck, but he knows how to fix cars, so if anything happens, he can carry some tools and we won't have to worry about being stranded on the side of the road. So what do you say, can I borrow Vanzilla?"
Lynn Sr., surprised by the request, temporarily stops stirring the pot, "What? Lynn Jr. no," he tells her. "I can't let you take Vanzilla."
"Dad, what the heck? You used to let Lori drive three hours to go to the city, why can't I take Vanzilla to the beach with my friends? I'm not even leaving the state."
Lynn Sr. looks at his daughter, "LJ, you don't have your license yet. I can't let you take Vanzilla without a licensed adult inside or behind the wheel, and your mom and I are going to be busy this weekend."
She hoped that he forgot that she didn't get her license yet.
"What if Margo drove it? Or Francisco? They both have their licenses."
He shakes his head, "Sorry Lynn, maybe you and your friends can figure something else out."
Lynn groans; her plans ruined because she still hasn't passed her driving test. Her meager attempts at the test have resulted in nothing but failure, but she knows that she's close…she just has to get past her speeding problem and her tailgating problem and the excessive close calls that she makes with pedestrians, street signs, and nature.
"Okay."
With dinner served and finished, Lynn heads to her room and texts her friends to let them know that she won't have Vanzilla to take to the beach. With other friends going along, someone can probably borrow a car to take their trip; they'll just have to travel in lots of small groups.
Lynn Sr. knocks on Lynn's door, "Hey LJ," he says as he walks in, "I thought of a way that you can Vanzilla to the beach."
"Really?" she says with a spark in her eyes.
Her dad nods his head, "You can take Vanzilla, if Luan goes with you and your friends to the beach."
"What? Why?"
She isn't against having her siblings around, but she hoped that it would be more of a trip with her friends and teammates.
He takes a seat on her bed, "Lynn, you don't have your license, and Luan said that she's free to take you."
She gives in. She knows that she isn't going to get her license in time for their trip, so better to take Luan and Vanzilla than to rearrange their plans.
"Oh, and your brother said that he wants to go too," he mentions.
Lisa opens the passenger side door and enters Vanzilla. Lily looks at her from the driver's seat and begins the drive home.
"So," starts Lily, "how was work?"
Lisa looks over in her younger sister's direction. She asks this question every day, and every day she has the same response.
"At the moment, everything is the same as the previous work day," Lisa sighed.
Lily gives a playful smile; she knows that the question bugs Lisa, but sometimes it is fun to just break the silence after a long day.
"How is your game coming along?" Lisa asked.
Lily bites her lower lip; she didn't really work on it. It's unfortunate problem that she has; she is a procrastinator and a huge one as well. She used to put off homework to play video games or draw, she put off college to help Lisa, and now she puts her job aside to finish her game and she is still struggling to even get through that.
"Fine…so is Francisco working out okay?"
Lisa nods her head, "Affirmative. He is an excellent employee whom I can count on to be productive and to take initiative…unlike my last assistant," she says to Lily.
The younger sister rolls her eyes, "Like you ever wanted anyone to help you with anything," in her best Lisa-voice, "Younger sister, please refrain from going through patient files. Younger sister, must you insist on playing that electronic game while I am doing this highly delicate procedure. Younger sister–"
"Enough," Lisa groans. "I understand that I can be particular about my work environment, but when I go into a laboratory I expect a certain degree of professionalism."
"Particular?" Lily scoffs, "If that ethics committee let you clone yourself or if the school didn't require you to hire students interested in research projects, you would be all alone in that lab. Be happy that somebody endures you and doesn't want to leave."
Lisa rolls her eyes and silently contemplates potential ideas for how to talk to Francisco. He's stubborn like Lynn, but unlike her, easier to approach with this sort of news. It doesn't sound difficult, but Lisa is aware that he'll try to find a reason to stick around her lab.
"What are you up to?"
"I'm thinking if I can have Lynn talk to him, and get him to understand that he doesn't need to work as frequently as I previously stated. He'll still earn the same monetary compensation, but won't be in the laboratory as often."
Lily raises an eyebrow, "You do remember the reason he's working for you, right? Lynn said that he was driving himself nuts not having anything to do. How do you think he's going to react when you tell him that you're going to cut his hours?"
Lisa didn't care and begins to dial Lynn, "That's odd, she's not answering." Lisa presses on her screen, "She's talking with Luan. I guess I can contact her later."
Lily nods her head, "I guess…wait a minute! You can see who we call?!"
"…No…"
"You liar!"
Francisco and Margo pull into Lynn's driveway. It's eight am and the friends wanted to quickly pick up the rest of their group so that they can get on the road soon. With Lynn saying that her parents let her take their van, they want to meet with her first so that they can gather everyone else, and get going.
Margo looks at the backseat of the truck, "Are you sure that you don't want to move some these things into Lynn's van? It's sort of crowded."
Francisco looks at the rearview mirror and shakes his head. He knows that if he places their supplies into the truck bed that nothing will fly out, but he worked hard getting everything to fit perfectly in backseat, and he knows that some people may want to bring extra supplies and better to place them in the truck bed than flying off of the roof of Lynn's van.
"It's fine. Besides, Lynn mentioned that her van can fit her whole family, and now if she and anyone else want to bring their bicycles or something, we'll have space in the back."
As the two stepped out of the truck, Lynn comes at them in her bicycle. She narrowly misses Francisco, and stops at the end of the driveway.
"You guys ready to go?"
"Whenever you are," Francisco says, ready to go.
Margo turns to Lynn and asks, "Do you have everything?"
Lynn thinks about it, "Just give me a minute, and I'll bring my bag out. Also, my sister and brother are coming too," she tells her friends before running inside.
The two are surprised; she didn't mention her siblings coming along. Neither one is bothered by them coming, but more annoyed that Lynn didn't bother to mention it sooner.
Lynn's dad pops out of the front door with a small cooler, "Alright I packed some sand-wiches for everyone. I want you kids back home before it gets dark. Get it?"
Lynn sighs and Francisco and Margo let out a small chuckle.
Luan laughs as she takes the cooler from her dad's hand, "Good one, dad. We'll be shore to enjoy them."
"I fish I was going," he sadly says, "But you kids go and seas the day. Make sure you avoid pier pressure and keep yourselves octopied."
He and Luan laugh at the puns, "Here are the keys, and please be careful with my baby," Lynn Sr. says.
Lynn squeezes between the two jokesters and places her bag inside of Vanzilla. Both friends turn to Lynn, "What's going on?" Margo asks.
Lynn quietly responds, "Dad said I couldn't take Vanzilla to the beach alone, so Luan is coming," Lincoln runs through the front door with his back, "and my brother too."
They understand Lynn's older sister coming along, but having her younger brother doesn't make sense, but neither one question it, and decide to go along with it.
Lynn drops off the bicycle in the truck bed before she walks towards the passenger door. She is about to get in when her dad quickly says, "LJ, how about you go in Vanzilla? I want you to learn from watching Luan drive."
"But I can learn from watching Francisco drive."
"Yes, but…but…but you're going to be driving Vanzilla one day, you should see what makes her tick and how you handle her. Lincoln, why don't you keep Francisco company?"
Both boys are surprised. Neither one has ever been alone with one another, and weren't sure how to react to the man's announcement.
Without thinking, Lynn asks, "What would they talk about?"
"I'm sure they'll think of something," Lynn Sr. says as he drags Lynn and the girls into Vanzilla, "Now I'm sure you kids don't want to be lake!"
The kids minus Luan sigh and the girls begins to settle into Vanzilla as Francisco and Lincoln get into the truck to go pick up the rest of the group.
Francisco keeps his eyes on the road. The two boys remain quiet, neither one says a word to the other, as the older boy begins the drive behind Luan to pick up the rest of their friend group.
"Do you want to turn on the radio?" asks Francisco.
Lincoln shakes his head and looks out the window, "Not really, unless you want to listen to something."
Francisco takes a deep breath, it's a three hour drive, and it is also the first time that the two have ever in each other's company alone for an extended period of time. He doesn't understand why Mr. Loud placed Lincoln in the truck with him, but he didn't question him at the time; now, he sort of wished that he had. Francisco doesn't have anything against Lincoln, but he doesn't know much about him, except for whatever Lynn has told him before.
'My brother? He's into things like video games and science-fiction nerd stuff…oh! And Ace Savvy, he loves that guy.'
Francisco doesn't know much about those subjects, 'This is going to be a long drive.'
Chuy and Francisco pull out their belongings from the back of Francisco's truck. The two of them are keeping an eye on Kiké as he confidently rides the dune buggy by the shore. Elena watches over her uncle and is excited for her opportunity to get in the vehicle.
"Do you honestly believe him when he says that his friend is letting him borrow the dune buggy?" Chuy asks his youngest brother.
Francisco shakes his head, "No, but at the first sign of trouble we hightail it out of here," he jokes.
Chuy chuckles to himself, "Alright, but maybe don't alarm your daughter. The last thing she needs to know is that her uncle is going to get taken away during a simple beach trip."
Kiké pulls up by his family and turns to Francisco, "Are you ready to go on a ride? I don't think that you want to keep your daughter waiting."
"We just got here," Francisco declares, "Let's get set up and then we can have fun."
Kiké blows a raspberry, "Just let Chuy do it," the older brother isn't thrilled at hearing that, "besides, I think he can handle it."
Chuy walks up and hands him a cooler full of food and drinks, "I think you can handle it," he tells Kiké, who is struggling to keep it up on his own.
"Fine!" Kiké yells, "Don't know why you're putting off the inevitable!" he taps on the vehicle and a mirror falls off.
As everyone set up their site, Francisco is muttering to himself, "One ride…just one ride…just one ride…" He is not thrilled about getting behind the wheel with his brother by his side, but just to get it out of the way and keep Elena from getting on.
"Are you nervous?" asks Chuy.
Francisco nods his head. It's bad enough that he is putting his trust in his sketchy older brother, but also with his daughter around, it's worse. As Francisco keeps his eye on his Kiké, who ditched them and drove off with the buggy; he feels his heart rate rising. His gaze is fixated on the rising sand, as if he was being put into a trance.
Chuy places his hand on his youngest brother's shoulder, "You'll be fine. Just tell Kiké to go slow and you won't have anything to worry about."
"I guess…"
"Is tío Kiké almost back?" asks Elena, before her uncle appears, as if summoned by the girl.
Kiké stares down at his younger brother, "Ready to admit that you can trust my friend's dune buggy?"
Francisco isn't, but he figures that if it isn't safe to ride, then he doesn't have to worry about Elena getting hurt, and if it is, well, there's always lying.
Francisco takes a seat behind the wheel, and Kiké takes a seat next to him, "Alright, you ready to go?"
"I guess…"
"I guess? Jeez what confidence you have."
Francisco turns to his brother, "I'm sorry I'm not as trusting in my brother, it must have been that trip through the desert, right Richard?"
Kiké holds his tongue, "You'll be fine. Just give yourself enough time to stop, don't make any sudden turns and nothing bad will happen."
Francisco stares at his brother, "What? Are you telling me the brakes are shot?"
"Not shot, just not great. Now let's go!"
Francisco slowly moves the buggy. It moves well, and so far isn't giving him much reason to doubt what his brother said. He presses down on the brakes and realizes what his brother warned him about; the buggy slows down, but only when Francisco pressed down hard on them.
"See! Nothing to worry about."
"Except your reckless driving habits," Francisco responds.
"Oh, but if your girlfriend did it and it was no big deal," Kiké retorts. The younger brother turns to his brother, who can see what Francisco wants to say, "Yeah! I know."
Francisco sighs and decides to speed the vehicle up and really go for a test drive. Kiké hold on tightly to the rails as Francisco swerves a bit to avoid rocks and people.
"Watch out!" Kiké says, before Francisco quickly turns the steering to move away from the people.
The buggy rolls over and Chuy watches as the two lose control of the vehicle and quickly shields his niece from the accident. Beachgoers move out of the way as the vehicle heads towards them and the two eventually crash onto a large rock near the shore.
Kiké emerges from the turned-over vehicle. He feels pain and something running down his back, before he looks over at Francisco, who is still in his seat, bleeding and biting down on his lip trying to keep himself from screaming in pain.
Onlookers head towards the accident to help turn the vehicle, and Francisco eventually passes out from the sudden shock of pain from his injuries.
Francisco taps his fingers on the steering wheel as he looks out at the road. For the last hour, neither one of the boys have said much to one another with the only noise in the vehicle being a sneeze or a cough.
Lincoln speaks up, "You know, Lynn mentioned that you…" he loses his train of thought.
Francisco nods his head; he has an idea of what Lynn could have told her family about him, but he assumes that he doesn't pop up in conversation much, after all what reason would she have to even mention him to her family.
The older boy clears his throat and decides to go along with what Lincoln was starting, "She mentions me?"
Lincoln pauses. He knows that at some point Lynn had a crush on him, but she hasn't mentioned it at all in the last three years. Deciding that putting his sister in hot water with her friend isn't worth it, he tells the driver, "Just a little bit. I know that when she mentions hanging out with friends, your name pops up."
That's believable. Lynn doesn't mention her family that much either and aside from a few sisters, he doesn't have a grasp on who is who; he rarely asks and she didn't ask much about his family. Although, he doesn't blame her for not asking about his family, the last time she visited his home wasn't so positive.
"Is it weird to live in a house with so many sisters?"
He's been curious. Living in a house of all boys, he doesn't know what it's like to have sisters, let alone ten! Although, that would probably be his next question.
"Not really," Lincoln responds. "I mean, it's just everyday life for me. We get up, we play, we fight, but we still love each other. However, a brother would have been nice."
Lincoln isn't sure what else to say. Despite growing up with such a large family, he can't say that his life is that much different than anyone else's; it's all he's ever known.
Francisco chuckles, "Sometimes they're nice, but sometimes they can be a pain, but that's all siblings, right?"
Lincoln nods his head with a smile, "Yeah, so you've got a brother?"
"Two," Francisco corrects, "But they're much older than me, so I'm just their little baby brother."
From Chuy's perspective, it isn't true, from Kiké's it is, but Francisco still isn't sure about why that is.
"Wow! You have older brothers? Lucky!"
Francisco can't tell if Lincoln is possibly romanticizing the idea of an older brother, but with five older sisters, he can't blame him. One of the things that he's happy about having older brothers is that Chuy was nice enough to include him in day-to-day activities growing up, especially when he was often tasked to do more by his mother's side.
"Do you want an older brother?"
"Sometimes, but then I worry that he might be a little rougher, but maybe to have someone that gets me."
"Yeah, I get that. One of my brothers didn't have any issues teasing me growing up, especially after I got this chip on my tooth from playing baseball," he points out.
Lincoln points to his own chipped tooth and the two laugh.
The rest of the ride, the boys continue their talk, and as Francisco pulls into the parking lot, which is currently filled with vehicles.
"Well, that went by pretty quick," the older boy says before noticing the time on his watch, "Maybe not."
The boys step out of the truck towards the beach to enjoy a few hours before they have to head back to Royal Woods. A flying volleyball heads towards Lincoln and Francisco warns him to duck.
Lynn yells from the sand, "Sorry!"
Lincoln turns to Francisco, "Thanks," he says, happy to not be on the receiving end of a ball from Lynn.
"Anytime."
Chuy and Kiké slowly lead their brother into his house. Francisco, disoriented from the medication that he took after leaving the hospital, is mumbling to himself while moving his head in circles trying to make sense of his surroundings.
The oldest brother let go of Francisco, "Can you hold him while I search for the key?"
"Sure," Kiké said, before being overwhelmed by his younger brother's weight. He let Francisco lean against the front door as he rested his arms.
"You know that this is all your fault, right?" Chuy mentions, as he searches for the key.
"How the hell is it my fault? I put the key right back where I found it."
"I'm talking about the dune buggy," stresses Chuy.
"Oh. Well, I told him to be careful and watch his distance when he wanted to stop," Kiké tries to defend himself. "Not to mention the quick turn he tried to pull out of nowhere."
"There was a group of people in the way, what did you want him to do? Hit them?"
"It's not like they couldn't have gotten out of the way, they weren't blind, plus they have functioning limbs!" Chuy shakes his head, "What? Are you pissed that I'm not a damn boy scout like you?"
"I'm mad that you knew about the damn brakes and still insisted that it was safe. I'm mad that I had to deal with a scared niece who was afraid of seeing her dad in an ambulance, and I'm mad that because of you, Pancho now has to deal with a broken arm, broken ankle, and stitches… And one more thing!"
"I get it!" Kiké interrupts, "But us bitching isn't going to make things any better."
Chuy glares at his younger brother, and takes Francisco off of the door, before opening it. The two brothers silently lead the youngest to his couch, and lay him down to rest. The elder brother looks down at his youngest brother and tries to think of how he, his mother, and Kiké can help him out around the house.
"Do you think that he'd want to move back home temporarily?" Chuy asks.
Kiké scoffs, "No, besides doesn't he have a job? Why doesn't he stay with you? You can carpool together."
"Thanks to you, he doesn't, and I'm gone for most of day."
"Which means that it doesn't make a difference who he stays with."
"So," started Chuy, "how long are you in town for?"
Kiké shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, but I can probably stick around a few days."
"Oh great," Chuy says in a sarcastic tone, "the rest of the time, Pancho can just hope that he doesn't have to go out and do anything."
Kiké scowls, "You act like he's going to be loopy like this all damn day, at some point he's going to come down from the clouds and he's going to be able to get around no problem. Besides, he still has an arm and a leg to stand on."
"I'll come by when I can," Chuy starts, "but keep an eye on him for a couple of days at least until he gets the hang of getting around with the cast and ankle brace."
Kiké stares at his older brother; he can't believe that the eldest brother thinks that Francisco can't get around without someone to watch him. He lightly shakes Francisco, "Ey Pancho. Pancho! Wake up!"
Francisco snaps up from the couch, and immediately falls to the floor from the sudden movement.
"Fine! I'll stay a little longer," Kiké complains.
