Victoria looked up from the book she was reading to see who or what had made the distracting noise. Her eyes landed on Héctor, who was currently talking to Tía Rosita. At one point, they laugh loudly, and Victoria cringes. She doesn't see how anyone can talk to Héctor that long without looking uncomfortable. Sure, she is Héctor's granddaughter, but the two of them don't have that good of a... connection.
They hardly ever talk.
Victoria knows that if they were to talk, they'd hit a misunderstanding. Victoria is straightforward and stern. A bit shy at times, too.
Héctor is open, caring, energetic, and loud. And optimistic. Those two personalities would never be compatible. One of them would end up getting their feelings hurt. Victoria knows which one of them that would be.
Not that they don't talk.
Occasionally Héctor says hola to her and vise versa, and maybe they do talk breifly, but not super long like she's seen Héctor do with the other members of her family.
That's their relationship.
If you could even call it that.
Victoria turns a page in her book and glares at Héctor, who seems to find him and Rosita's talk hilarious. She can't hear what they're talking about, but she knows one thing: she wants him to be quiet. At one point, him and Victoria make eye contact, and he waves at her, casting her a cheesey smile. Victoria glares back, which Héctor seems to find unnerving as he turns his back to her.
Satisfied, Victoria smiles as she goes back to reading. But then her smile drops. She sighs. She wants the kind of connection Héctor and Rosita share. She wants to be able to talk to him like they're family and not enimies or accquantinces. She wants Héctor to open up around her, and she wants to do the same around him.
But she can't
She keeps her eyes to the floor as she walks upstairs.
It too crowded to read downstairs anyway.