So… I had another writing kick and this chapter was the result. Either way, I feel productive! Haha. This chapter is the part 3 continuation of the previous 2 chapters and we're going right in with Heather's perspective now that Kelsey and José showed up at the last minute. Hope you all enjoy! :)
(Heather's POV)
Well, great … this is just peachy.
I was actually somewhat looking forward to coming here today and those two insufferable, fake-ass posers just had to show up.
Ugh!
Well, whatever, at least this house has plenty of room in its drawing room so I can be as far away from them as possible while not standing out in the hall like some reject. And I could tell Alejandro felt the same way and that the feeling was mutual since Kelsey and José were also trying to 'keep their distance'.
And that wasn't the only person looking like they were keeping their distance.
Natalie was coming over a little closer by us near the bar cabinet in the corner. Looking like she was pouring herself a glass from the bottle of Moscato Alejandro and I brought rather than any of the other bottles on the counter.
Hmm… good taste.
But, I could also see something else behind it for why she came over here and honestly… totally understandable to me considering I don't want to be anywhere near her parents either.
I don't know why but I smirked and remarked, "Let me know if you think it's good. We think it's okay, but not our favorite."
She swirled the glass around and looked at it for a moment before saying, me completely hearing the bitter cynicism plain as day, "As long as it does what I want it to do then it's good enough for me."
She then went ahead and drank a sizable amount from the glass she just poured.
Ah… guess it really is that bad today.
I let out a scoff before responding, "Been there… If anyone knows what it's like dealing with your mom's crap it's me. Take it from someone that had to sleep in the next room over from her for 18 years. You can stay here as long as you want for all I care if you want to stay away."
I was about to take another sip from my glass until she said, surprisingly unsarcastic and almost… genuine, "Thanks... Aunt Heather."
I glanced over at her and we both gave each other a nod as she proceeded to top off her wine glass.
Honestly, as much as I still can't believe it's coming out of my mouth since teenage me wouldn't have believed me saying this for a second… but I think I've found the one and only thing I don't mind that has anything to do with my sister. Seriously, if just Natalie showed up without her parents… I could deal with that.
She's fine honestly.
She's also the only kid aside from my own son that I even bother to care about remembering their birthday.
Well, considering I couldn't give a crap and a half about CJ and Megan's useless, entitled, and lazy kids… and thankfully Damien doesn't have nor wants any kids which is practically a service to humanity from my perspective.
And Kelsey… I still can't believe I actually don't mind if not go as far as saying like her daughter.
Because truth… she's nothing like my sister and that's probably why I don't mind her company honestly. Besides, it's not her fault that her parents are a couple of skeezy hoebags… and that includes my 'brother-in-law' to completion with that description too.
I was about to take a sip when I saw Alejandro tap Natalie on the shoulder before whispering something into her ear that immediately got an amused ghost of a smirk out of her before she let out a short and almost silent scoff-like laugh.
Alejandro just gave her a similar smirk back with a wink as he took his place next to me while Natalie walked off to sit down at a nearby loveseat as she proceeded to sit and read something off her phone.
I leaned over and quirked up an eyebrow as I inquired, wondering what that was about, "Um, care to share something with me? Or is it something I already know?"
He just smirked and came a little closer as he started, "I can't recall if I ever told you this one… but I was just giving her a bit of a pick me up so to speak."
I quirked my eyebrow even more as I followed up, getting frustrated by his usual opaque teasing like he usually does, "Which was?"
He just grinned mischievously as he said, "I just told her a quick story from when I was 15 and José replaced my soap with a urinal cake that gave me a rash as a result, so in return… I decided to give him a 'fitting gesture' and soaked his toothbrush in the bathroom toilet we shared between our rooms while he wasn't home. I never told him… and he proceeded to use said toothbrush for 2 more months after my deed was done."
He smirked and took a sip as I took that story in.
Although it did bring up a memory of my own as I responded with a smirk, "Funny… I did something similar when I was 15 to Kelsey's toothbrush when we were on 'family vacation'. She kept hogging the bathroom and kicking me out so I took her toothbrush and put it in the fish tank of the house my parents rented for the week… and then I dried it off with a used pair of Damien's boxers. It was gross even for me on the latter portion of it, but the satisfaction of seeing her brush her teeth with that gross as hell toothbrush made it worth my while. And truth, she was already used to putting other things from random guys' boxers in her mouth anyway so I didn't see a difference at that point… and neither did Kelsey apparently."
I grinned in satisfaction to myself as I glanced over at Alejandro who seemed to be smirking and looking impressed back at me as he responded, "Well… as they say, great minds think alike."
I smirked back as we both laughed a little and clinked our glasses together before respectively taking a sip.
5 hours later
({No POV})
It was late evening and the Burromuerto's just got back from visiting the family cemetery on the distant corner of the property to pay respects and also converse about the various ancestors they passed along the way.
After returning to the house and having dinner, they returned to the drawing room to continue the get together.
Everyone was talking and visiting with the exception of Natalie, not necessarily for the reason of being 100% antisocial (although she preferred to be alone anyway most of the time), but mainly to just lay low by sitting on the loveseat away from her parents as she continued to get progressively maintain her buzz.
She kept looking like she was spacing out as she kept taking sips of her glass of wine.
Meanwhile across the room, Diego kept looking over at her like he had been doing in intrigued confusion for the majority of the visit. Especially his confusion kept spiraling even more since it seemed like every time he and Natalie would make eye contact, she would immediately look away or go somewhere else to avoid speaking to him.
He kept looking at his cousin in his current state of mind until he caught something and immediately felt his body clench in anticipation at what he saw coming.
Natalie kept reading until Kelsey stuck in next her and leaned over, while saying in a hushed yet annoyed tone, "Will you sit up straight and stop slouching like a loser burn out behind a high school dumpster.''
Immediately, Natalie stood up abruptly and grit her teeth as she threw her glass on the ground resulting in a loud 'CRASH' as it shattered that also called the attention of everyone in the room.
Kelsey took a slight half step back as her eyes went wide eyed as Natalie immediately started stomping out of the room and loudly exasperated in enraged and done annoyance, "That's IT!"
Right as Natalie rounded the corner out of the room, she continued through clenched teeth, "UGH! I CAN'T TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE!"
Everyone was dead silent as a huge fog of dense awkward and tense energy filled the room.
Kelsey, while still slightly taken back, looked more flustered and perturbed at Natalie completely making a scene and calling attention to them. Meanwhile José just looked away as he proceeded to down the rest of the glass of scotch in his hand, trying to look as if he 'wasn't involved' and trying to ignore everything.
"Ugh… touchy." She said under her breath as she took her place next to José and took a sip of her cocktail she was holding onto while rolling her eyes.
While everyone else just kind of froze up and didn't really seem to know what to do to react, Gerardo and Elena exchanged looks and it looked like they were about to get up and follow Natalie to check on her until they realized Diego was already sneaking out into the hall and seemed to be going off in the same direction as Natalie.
They kept their places but still held a look of concerned intrigue at what was happening with their 2 youngest grandchildren.
Meanwhile on the other side of the house on the balcony outside the music room, Natalie was standing outside and pacing around in anger for a moment as she looked like she was desperately trying to calm herself down.
Eventually she settled on leaning against an exterior wall of the house and started angrily rummaging through a hidden pocket in the side of her skirt until she pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She took out a cigarette from the box and put it between her lips as she put the box back and took out a lighter in its place.
Right as Natalie was about to light her cigarette, she heard a familiar voice inquire plainly, "What are you doing?"
She whipped her head over and saw Diego standing there with his arms crossed and giving her a look with a quirked up eyebrow.
But, for the millionth time that day, Natalie got a conflicted expression on her face before settling on an agitated and defensive expression as she snapped, "Fuck off, Errol Flynn."
Natalie immediately ignored her cousin and proceeded to attempt to light her cigarette again… emphasis on 'attempt' as Diego reached in and snagged out of Natalie's lips.
"Hey! What the!..." She started and looked over and expected to see a judgmental expression… but that was not the case. While still looking 'disappointed', she saw the majority of his expression more showing 'concern' and almost genuine 'familial care' for her… something she was not normally used to and frustrated her from her already conflicted feelings about her cousin.
This was emphasized as Diego continued to hold the cigarette before stating just as plainly and straightforward with his intentions, "I'm just… trying… to help."
He then proceeded to break the cigarette in half before tossing it aside into a nearby hedge.
Natalie looked away again and bit her lip, trying to hide her guilt for how she was acting toward Diego, as she crossed her arms before snapping in defense, "What if I don't want any help?"
She then proceeded to slump to the ground and hug her knees close to her body, almost as if she was an angry armadillo trying to curl in on itself to avoid her problems. But, she was mistaken as her stomach continued to clench in confliction as Diego just walked closer and sat next to her as he proceeded to rest his elbows on his bent knees.
They sat in silence for a moment before Diego replied to her previous statement, "I'll believe you that if can say it to my face this time."
It looked as if she got another conflicted guilt-filled 'gut punch' as she proceeded to not even remotely look in Diego's direction.
Meanwhile Diego was getting more frustrated by this same fact as he expressed it outload, "Natalie… what? What is your problem? You wished me luck at the Olympics before I went to compete and haven't heard anything from you since, not even when I won. Now all of a sudden you're acting as if you can't stand the sight of me. You haven't talked to me once the whole day and I catch out here with that and you're still refusing to look at me. I just… CARAJO! What?! Did I do something?!"
Diego completely lost it… and in a certain respect it was understandable.
After all, they had always been relatively close, gotten along, and shared a certain 'bond' between them for their interesting 'family circumstances' considering they were fully related on both sides because of their 'parental lineage' with Heather and Kelsey being sisters and Alejandro and José being brothers… Natalie and Diego were always seeing each other at holidays on both sides and Diego always saw Natalie as the sibling he never had.
Even Natalie knew Diego wasn't necessarily 'wrong' either.
Mainly that despite her frustration, she did see Diego as a friend… if not a brother by extension who made family gatherings tolerable for her.
But… that wasn't entirely the case now as she continued to give him her defensively sharp glare before snapping with a scoff, "Oh… what haven't you done? Considering all everyone and their fucking mother talks about is YOU. Ever since you won that dumb-ass medal. All I do is have EVERYTHING I do get shit on because it's not as impressive. Your popularity, your gold medal, and your fucking 'success'! I'm dragged by my parents to attend so many stupid country club events with grandma and grandpa Wilson like some damn 'accessory' just like I've ALWAYS been for my entire fucking life. And immediately every dipshit is walking up to me INCLUDING grandma and grandpa and ask me about what I'm doing… and they don't give a fuck! All they do is immediately talk about you. I just won my first real championship title the day after I turned 18 about 4 months ago and beat out a chick 10 years older than me for it, but did anyone care?! HA! What a fucking joke?! You constantly BITCH about your mom not paying attention to you when you have NO fucking idea how good you have it! At least your parents give a shit and leave you alone! My dad (who by the way got me into boxing as the only 'cool' fucking thing he's ever done for me in my stupid life) has never had ANY idea what to do with me and just 'acts tough' but is really nothing but a little bitch who has his balls in a vice by my mom. Heh… mom. All she does is constantly ride my ass about every fucking thing I do, mainly because nothing I do is what 'she' wants me to do. Ugh, gross, why do you like boxing? She says. Why don't you do something like cheerleading like I did and leave boxing to boys and just let them fight over you like your dad did for me? Well guess what mom?! I'm not you, OKAY?! I'm not a priss like you that just aspires to 'stand and look pretty' on the sidelines! SHIT! The girl I won my title from came up to me the day before our match and called me a 'prissy little preener' and told me to 'back off before I break a nail on my french manicure'. Well, guess what? I knocked her ass out as well as two of her teeth with one punch in the third round. I'm the youngest women's champion in the gym's history and busted my ass for it and yet NO ONE SEEMS TO GIVE A FUCK!"
After Natalie had her long overdue 'explosion' that seemed to be more things she's been repressing for a very long time, Diego was practically shocked into silence and went wide-eyed.
While a lot of that were things he already knew, mainly her very 'strained' relationship and home life that she always seemed to have with her parents. But, there was one thing he had not even known happened.
"You won your first non-junior championship?" He inquired, clearly indicating that he had no idea about the match even occurring.
But, Natalie just defensively scoffed as she said, "Yeah, wonder where abuela went during your first match at the Olympics, genius? Even abuelo showed up after he wrapped up his 'diplomatic duties' to see the last half of my match. But did anyone else show up? No. Grandma and Grandpa Wilson are about as oblivious as you can get and everyone else could only ever cared about you 'winning the gold'. How the fuck am I supposed to compete with that shit?!"
Natalie looked away until she felt a hand on her shoulder as Diego responded, "Nat…"
Immediately Natalie felt herself clench… but not for a negative reason. 'Nat' was a nickname that she let very few people call her, and Diego was one of them.
And just the way he said it just made her feel like, well… a bitch.
She finally looked over and saw Diego looking in front of him as he ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh before looking at her and saying, "Look, I'm sorry, Natalie. I had no idea about your match. You know I would have come if I didn't need to compete if you wanted me there. But… why didn't you tell me?"
Natalie looked away again and let out a frustrated sigh before eventually responding, "Ugh… because the Olympics was important to you and I didn't want to distract you from winning. I just didn't think it was going to drive me fucking crazy as much as it did after. And then I didn't even care about telling you I won after being pissed off about it."
They sat in silence and Diego still looked like he was processing again.
Well, until he slid closer and bumped her shoulder as he said, "Well, I do care about it. Just like I care about what I saw you almost do out here. When the hell did you even start smoking?"
Natalie rolled her eyes and scoffed before saying, "Please, relax. Only a couple months ago. And I'm not some fucking 'chain smoker'. I just smoke when I'm pissed off or stressed about something."
"And the times for you when you aren't either of those is when exactly?" She heard Diego remark and looked over to see him giving her a teasing smirk and rolled her eyes, smirking back before elbowing him in the side and responding, but more messing around like they usually do together, "Screw you."
They both laughed about it until Diego just stood up, making Natalie tilt her head until Diego held out a hand to her with a smirk as he inquired simply and in a way that only makes sense to the two of them, "La Bamba?"
Natalie tried to look to the side to hide her smirk, but completely failed at it. While Natalie was a person very partial to classic rock and metal… she did have a secret love and exception for early rock & roll music, particularly 1950's Latin American rock star Ricky Balens.
She even emphasized this as she pointed at Diego and directed, "The Ricky Balens version. None of that later on 'cover crap'."
Diego smirked and responded, "For sure; however, I'll only play it if you hand it over."
Natalie gave him a confused look before realizing he was referring to her cigarettes and rolled her eyes and dug them out of her as she said through a sigh in annoyance, "Fine."
She dug into her pocket and reluctantly handed Diego her pack of cigarettes, well until he waved his fingers at her again and pressed, "All of it."
Natalie's eyes went wide before knit her eyebrows at him in an irritated glare as he continued to smirk at her with a quirked up eyebrow. Eventually Natalie gave in and gave Diego her lighter too.
Diego, now grinning in satisfied victory, simply replied, "Muchas gracias, prima."
He then held out his hand to her again to help her up after he put the cigarettes and lighter in one of his back pockets. Natalie took his hand and just said, "You suck, you know that? And you better ante up on the music now or I'm going to take my lighter back and light your pants on fire."
Diego just smiled and got out his phone as started up the song and the two got in position to dance. Right as they got into position; however, Diego said, "But, really. Just try not to do that, sí? If not for you, then for me… and abuela?"
Natalie gave him another wide eyed look and Diego was now giving her nothing short of a genuine smile… and also making her realize that maybe she has more 'allies' than she thought in her family. However it didn't stop her from giving him a dirty look at his strategic 'emotional blackmail' to make her stop smoking.
This was proven true as she directed, "Fine… but you still suck for bringing abuela into this."
Diego just smirked and shrugged before replying playfully matter of fact to his cousin, "Well, you can't say I'm not persuasive. Surely you'd give me that?" Natalie just smirked and rolled her eyes again before saying, "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lancelot."
They both chuckled at that as they both started dancing together for the first time in a long time. Usually at weddings, they'd usually always dance together. Even now when they could be granted a 'plus 1', they still enjoy dancing as a fun bonding experience between the two of them.
As they kept going through their steps, it appeared their 'private peace talk' wasn't all too private.
Gerardo out of curiosity and concern decided to go find Natalie and Diego about halfway through their talk together. And now he was smiling in satisfied relief to see his grandchildren having a nice time… which was the whole purpose of the holiday to begin with.
Okay, I know it was A LOT to unpack this chapter and seemed more 'Natalie-focused', but I just wanted to show more background on her character. When I first 'workshopped' Natalie, I really tried to put myself in the mindset of having an everyday family situation with your parents that wasn't 'the best'. And that for me was VERY difficult personally since I'm quite close with my parents and have always gotten along well with them which I have always felt lucky for. But, this is what I enjoy about character/perspective writing, it's really interesting, challenging, and fun to put myself in other people's shoes! Now to do a breakdown here, before this point in time and as I stated in the chapter, Diego and Natalie have always been pretty close. And when you think about it, the situation with how they are related is pretty unique and almost by some odd logic almost makes them 'siblings' in an oddly unique way with their mothers being sisters and their fathers being brothers. Sure in some cultures, your cousins no matter what can be considered 'siblings', but that wasn't quite what I was going for. But, no matter what, these two were close until Natalie all of a sudden became a little 'distant' toward Diego once he won his first Olympic gold. Because as much as all of us can love/care about someone and want to do everything to be supportive… we're all still humans prone to negative emotions that can sometimes fester unintentionally. And also since she is still the product of her parents… she is even MORE prone to 'jealousy-pangs' like her parents and unfortunately let it get the best of her with Diego despite how much she cares about him. And as you all saw, it seems Natalie (whether she likes it or not) ended up becoming a talented boxer just like her 'dear old dad'... if not even better than her dad. Lol. ;) Much like José (and even Kelsey), Natalie REALLY struggled with how to control her emotions and her anger in particular growing up and ended up getting into a lot of fights. So José just did the only good 'fatherly thing' in his whole life, and just decided to 'resolve the issue' by giving his 9 year old daughter a set of boxing gloves and signing her up for lessons just like his parents did for him at her age… and a completely new world was opened up for Natalie there and then. She found out she loved and became quite passionate about boxing. Unfortunately and like I said in the chapter, no one really is that 'supportive' of her passion. Her parents don't really do anything to support her since they're pretty selfish and self-absorbed, and Kelsey especially is a constant critic of Natalie since she just wishes her daughter would be 'more like her' but Natalie is far from wanting to be anything her mom wants to be. Well, you know, considering Natalie is the living embodiment of 'she is beauty, she is grace… and she will punch you in the face and knock you and all your teeth out'. Lol. XD And I LOVE that for her! I love this idea of a girl like Natalie with her kind of vibe just being a total badass boxer. :) But, despite everything… she and Diego talked it out and seemed to be getting back on track again to keep their best friend/cousin relationship with each other. And apparently Gerardo noticed this too much to his delight. Haha. :) Anyway, I also hoped you enjoyed the Aleheather content here as well and their dynamic with their niece of trying to cheer her up with stories of how they used to mess with her parents growing up. Lol. XD Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter and constructive feedback is always VERY much appreciated. Hope you all are well and having a lovely day too. :)
Stay Classy!
Dexter1995