Big City Dreams
Troy pulled into Gabriella's empty driveway and gave a sigh of relief. "I thought he might still be here…"
"Thank goodness he's not!" Gabriella laughed as she unbuckled her seatbelt and unlatched the car door, bursting into the warm, fresh, Albuquerque-winter air. She grabbed her shoes from the back seat and quickly slipped them on.
"Hey, is anybody here?" Troy asked as he began to walk up to the door.
"I think the car is in the garage…" Gabriella flicked her wrist and slid the key into the lock. She pushed the heavy oak door aside and walked in, Troy close behind.
They heard the clack of shoes going across a tile floor and looked toward the dining area. Sitting in one of Maria's mismatched dining chairs was-who else?-Roberto.
He was in a pair of dark brown slacks, accompanied by a crisp white dress shirt, a burnt orange tie, dark loafers, and a diamond encrusted Tiffany&Co .- how ironic? - wristwatch.
Roberto dropped his fork onto the top of his scarce stack of pancakes when he saw her.
"Hola, mija!" He stood up.
Troy took a step closer to Gabriella. "Hello, Mr. Montez…"
"Um…hello…Roy, is it?" Robby asked the question but obviously didn't care about the answer, because he quickly took a few steps closer to Gabriella, arms outstretched.
"Where's mom?" She said, not bothering to bring her gaze up from the floor.
"Um…she went out to run some errands…"
"Or to run away from you…" Gabriella mumbled as she made her way into the kitchen and took out a skillet and the half-full eggs carton. Troy followed.
"Mija, I made pancakes already…" Robby pointed to the large stack of buttery pancakes sitting on a plate on the island counter.
"No thanks…" She muttered as she cracked an egg and watched it sizzle down onto the pan. "I hate pancakes…you would know that if you were here…"
Roberto just sighed and went to pick up his plate of unfinished pancakes.
"Why are you here, anyway?" Gabriella said as Troy pulled out two plates from the cabinet.
"Mamá let me stay the night. She said that you might be a little calmer after a good breakfast."
"Well she was wrong…" Gabriella cracked another egg.
"D-do you want me to leave, Gabi?" Troy whispered, rubbing her lower back slowly.
"No," She whispered to him, her voice pleading. "Stay for breakfast…"
Troy pulled a spatula out from one of the drawers and handed it to Gabriella, who in turn, began to cut up the eggy-mush into tiny pieces, before scooping them up and dropping them onto the plates. Troy took his plate and sat down at the table, Gabriella followed.
Roberto sat down across from the couple. "I need to talk to you, mija…"
"Then talk, because as soon as Mom gets home…you're out of here."
"Sí, mija. But…I can't tell you while your friend is here…"
"Fine…I'm out…" Troy stood up. "Gabs…I'll be at Chad's if you need me…" He gently kissed her forehead and grabbed his plate of eggs. "You'll be fine…"
"Bye, T…" She cooed as he walked slowly out the dining room and through the door. She heard his car door slam, then heard the engine flare as he drove off.
"Now…what do you want to tell me?" She asked as he stared down the doorway.
"Since when do you have a boyfriend?" Robert asked, frowning to himself.
"What makes you so sure he's my boyfriend?" Gabriella challenged him, letting her elbows rest on the table.
Robert shot her a dubious glance. Gabriella sighed heavily.
"Whatever. What is it that you really wanted to ask me?"
Roberto let out a small yawn before putting his elbows on the table, facing Gabriella. He half-smiled before saying, "I have a proposal…"
"No thanks," Gabriella said automatically, taking a bite of her eggs.
Roberto narrowed his eyes, "You didn't even hear it yet, mija!"
"Yeah, well, I don't think I'll be too interested in it no matter what it is," Gabriella remarked bitterly, stabbing at the plate full of eggs, angrily.
"Ouch…"Roberto sighed, putting his two hands around his wrinkled forehead, "Gabriella, mija, you are not making this easy for me. Hasn't your mamá trained you well?"
Gabriella dropped her fork before looking up from her plate toward Roberto. She let her mouth hang open for awhile before saying incredulously, "Trained? What am I to you? Some dog!?"
Roberto remained gruff, "Do not use that tone with me!"
"I don't care!" Gabriella screamed out, getting out of her seat, "I honestly do not care!
"WAIT!" Roberto called out, "What if I told you that you would be able to visit New York City?"
Gabriella froze, staying in her spot of the archway between the kitchen and the hallways, which eventually led to the living room and staircase. She closed her eyes before saying, "New York? Where you live? With your nutcase of a family and your new wife who could practically be my SISTER? No thanks, dad. No thanks."
"Just think about it, mija," Roberto said, looking down at his watch, "I'm afraid I have to go now. I'll send you flight tickets and you can talk about it with your mamá," He said, standing up and stretching his arms for a hug. Gabriella just turned around and stared at it blankly. Roberto sighed and put them down, "Goodbye mija," He said, before walking out of the kitchen and towards the doors.
She squinted her eyes, trying to keep the tears that were pinching the backs of her brown eyes from falling.
"Here…" Robby turned around and pulled a small brown box from his jacket pocket, which he had just slipped on. The box was tied with shiny pink ribbons and had the letter G written on it in blue marker. "I guess I won't be needing this anymore…" He threw the box on the ground, causing it to land right in front of her feet. "Call me if you change your mind…"
With that, Roberto walked out onto the porch, slamming the door behind him.
After she heard Robby's car pull out of the driveway, she slowly picked up the box, tearing away the brown paper and ribbons. Inside of the wrapping was a little card that said:
Bienvenida a la familia
(Welcome to the Family)
Underneath the card, there was a small framed picture of Gabriella and Roberto under a cherry tree in Gabriella's first house. She looked like she was about four. Roberto's hair was jet black-completely different from his hair now, which had flecks of silver sprayed over it.
She smiled, but the smile quickly faded when she realized that just four or five months after that picture had been taken, he had left them.
Gabriella wanted to throw the picture against the wall- cracking the glass or ripping the precious memory -but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to remember the picture- hold it carefully and place it on their coffee table- but, she couldn't do the latter either. So she stood there. She just stood.
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McKTAY_89: 4 realz?
GaBIbaBe: yup. Should I accept deh offer?
McKTAY_89: if u dunt I willz!
GaBIbaBe: but Tay, listen. He cant just prance back in 2 my life like he has always been here, cause he hasn't. he found a replacement fam. and ditched us here!
McKTAY_89: but hes tryin 2 fix it. He made a mistake gabz.
McKTAY_89: a BIG mistake
McKTAY_89: a HUGE mistake
GaBIbaBe: I get it, but…ugh! Idk!
McKTAY_89: my point iz…he iz tryin 2 be every1's dad. He has 2 commitments, but he wants u 2 b part of both.
GaBIbaBe: I g2g
McKTAY_89: this mite b a gud experience 4 u gabz. Just think about it, plz.
GaBIbaBe: bye.
GaBIbaBesigned off.
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"Gabi…I think you should do this…" Maria was sitting at the table with Gabriella. They were picking out of a huge basket of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and pouring out of a pitcher of milk. Maria's curly hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head, which matched her whole "Cookin" vibe. She was still wearing her frilly green CAN'T COOK apron over her thin yellow house dress. Maria's face looked naked with no makeup on and her bare toes wiggled freely.
"What do you mean?" Gabriella pulled up the sleeves of her white fluffy bathrobe and took a bite of her cookie that she had just dunked in milk.
"You should take that vacation with your Dad, mija…" Maria wiped a few stray crumbs off the battered wood table.
"Ma…I don't know if I can." Gabriella set her cookie down on her small plastic plate and looked up, staring into her mother's deep amber eyes.
"I know. I didn't think you would say yes. But, just listen for a second…" Maria bit into another cookie, causing crumbs to cascade down into her lap. "Your father is trying so hard, mija. He came all the way here- away from his family and kid-"
Gabriella stopped her. "We're his family…"
"To see you." Maria finished as if nothing had happened.
Light flooded through the sunlight above the table, causing the room to warm up. Gabriella smiled. She loved this house. It was - aside from her first home - her favorite house that she had ever lived in. It had a perfect sized kitchen, a comfy living room, a small dining nook, a huge metal-spiral staircase, a cozy bedroom for her, and a large master bedroom for her mom, along with two bathrooms. The best part about her room was that the door was on the ceiling (it was originally the attic). She had to climb up the staircase and, when she reached the top, pull a string for the door to swing open.
The inside of her room was covered with fuzzy blue shag rugs and huge seat-pillows with deep purple fake velvet cases that Taylor had helped Gabriella make. Each pillow had sequins, rhinestones, or glitter strewn across it. Her room had a large window on one side that flooded light into the room in the late afternoons. She had a small television that hung from her ceiling, along with beads that hung over her door. Gabriella's bed was large, covered with green comforters and a huge patchwork quilt that Maria and Maria's mom Julia had made together when they were younger. Gabriella's ceiling was painted like the sky. It was turquoise and covered with tiny glow-in-the-dark stars. Highlighter yellow lockers were to one side of the bed. There was a tall skinny one that contained her DVD player, her PS2 silver, her Stereo-iPod speaker, and her CD collection. The short wide locker contained her jewelry boxes and miscellaneous belts and charms. Across from those was a small computer desk, on top of which stood a pristine MacBook Air To the left of her bed, directly under the window, there was a large flower box filled with bright green plastic grass and fake flowers. Each one of those flowers was given to her by Troy. There were twenty-one for each time they watched the stars together. Finallt, on the mantle above her bed was "Wildcat", her penguin that Troy had given her.
Gabriella knew that she wouldn't be able to experience the joys of her house if she stayed with her father for vacation. Gabriella sighed, her mind sinking back into reality.
"Gabriella…he loves you. If he slips away again…you might never see him. Mija. I hate him just as much as you do…but I know he wants to be with you and make up for all his lost time. Just think it over and let me know…I love you, sweetie."
"I love you too, Mom…"
Maria stood up and kissed Gabriella on the forehead before quickly sweeping the plates from the table and dumping them into the trashcan. She then picked up the basket and stuck it into the fridge.
Gabriella studied every movement and every step her mom took. Would Tiffany be able to do that? Walk like that? Cook like that? Clean plates like that? The most trivial tasks suddenly looked as if they took a rocket scientist. I don't want Tiffany-Claire…I want my mom…
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Bball_T-star: gabi?
GaBIbaBe: um
GaBIbaBe: hey?
Bball_T-star: wats wrong?
GaBIbaBe: nuttin
Bball_T-star: tell me. U promised 2 call me 2 day and u never did. thats usually not like u. u can tell me, i promise.
GaBIbaBe: uh-I got grounded…
GaBIbaBe: g2g bye
GaBIbaBe signed off.
Gabriella hated lying to Troy, but what could she do? She would tell him about the proposition after she made up her mind. Right now, she was just too overwhelmed to care.
If you got it all figured out
Then what is there to shout about
This southwest town is gonna miss you
Just go ahead and work it out
But first come on and let it out
Scream it, shout, tell everybody how you're gonna leave.