Sixty Days (18 page)

After what seemed like forever, I finally notice my six-
foot tall, freakishly handsome uncle coming towards us. I quickly jump out of my seat and run toward him, embracing him in a huge hug. He lifts me up off the floor and twirls me around before setting me back down.

“God, I’ve missed you so much,
” I tell him, pulling out of our embrace.

“I’ve missed you
, too, Lai.” He smiles back at me “Honestly, how many times have you said those words in the last couple of weeks?” he teases.

“
Too many times to count, but I truly mean it with you,” I admit.

“You better.” H
e winks at me.

“Y
ou’ve got a five o’clock shadow, is this a new thing going on in Hollywood or what?” I tease.

“This, is me being too lazy to shave.”

“Touché.”

“Hey, Mickey, how are you
, man?” he asks my fiancé once he spots him.

“Never been better, y
ou?” he answers, sporting the same cheesy grin that’s been on his face all day.

“Same here, man,
” my uncle repeats.

“So, how’s the love life been treating yo
u?” I ask him as we move toward the luggage carrousel to get his belongings.

“Good, really good,
” he plainly says. He looks to both of us and asks, “Yours?”

I look at Mickey to see if he’s okay with
me telling Luke the news. I need to tell someone, otherwise I’ll go nuts.

He nods a
nd my smile grows even bigger. I pull out the necklace that holds my engagement ring around my neck and close to my heart. “We’re engaged!” I practically scream out of excitement.

“Congratulations, sweetheart!” he says hugging me and kissing the top of my head. “Does this mean
that you two have come out of the relationship closet?” he asks.

“Umm…no
,” I admit. “This whole engagement thing just happened last night.”

“Plus, we both thought it m
ay be best to tell them after Christmas. You know, just in case Kevin and Carlos throw a temper tantrum,” Mickey adds.

Luke nods and stares directly into
Mickey’s eyes when he says, “You better make my favorite niece happy or you’ll have to deal with me. Trust me, I’m not afraid of throwing you to the lions that my new neighbor owns.”

“I promise, I will,
” Mickey answers back.

“Are you two done with the testosterone
party? The luggage has already started to come out and I have no clue which one is yours, Lukey boy,” I say, teasing both of them and making them laugh.

“I really did miss you, L
ai,” he says “By the way let’s not tell Mary and Arianna about the whole favorite niece thing. No need for Mary to be more jealous of you or for Ari to be disappointed in her favorite uncle.”

“
You’ve noticed that to?” I ask him about the whole Mary thing.

“It’s kind of hard to miss it,
especially when your one of the people that gets to know all that is going on that crazy head of yours,” he says with a shrug.

“I just wish I knew what her deal is. As far as I know
, I haven’t done anything to her,” I say while Luke finally fishes out his luggage.

“I c
an never tell what’s up with her. I love her, I love all of you, but Mary is a selfish girl. And, being selfish gets you nowhere,” he says as we start walking.

“I just think she’s unhappy,
” Mickey adds.

“Selfish people are also unable to find happiness, young grasshoppers. Sure, they look and play the part
of a happy person, but inside they are miserable. And, unless they stop being selfish, they will not know what it is to find the happiness they crave,” he says.

“You’re just winging
out these things you’re saying, aren’t you?” I ask.

“Yo
u know me too well, grasshopper,” he says, smiling down at me and wrapping his free arm around my shoulder.

“Whatever. I just think she needs someone to challenge her and take her out of the little Mary bubble she
seems to be living in,” I say.

“That actually
sounds better than what I said,” Luke says.

“My
fiancé is a wise cookie, Lucas,” Mickey says, planting a kiss on the top of my head.

“You bet your ass I am.” I pull
out of my uncle’s embrace and move towards him for a kiss.

“Yuck!” Luke says in mock disgust. “You two are going to keep this up until we get home
, aren’t you?” he asks.

“Yep!” I cheerfully say while Mickey says at the same
time, “We most certainly will.” We then smile at each other and start kissing again.

“Young love…” Luke mutter
s, shaking his head with a smile.

When we get to the Jeep, Mickey opens my door and says
, “Here you go, my beautiful fiancé.”

While he heads toward his side
, my uncle, who’s already inside, says, “Boy, he’s got it really bad for you, doesn’t he?”

“He sure does,
” I say as Mickey settles into the driver’s seat and reaches for my hand.

On our way home,
I get hungry and suddenly have this huge craving for pancakes.

“I’m hungry,
” I declare “Do you think we can stop somewhere to eat?” I ask.

“We can afford that, yeah,
” Mickey says at the same time that Luke says, “Thank God, I’m not ready to confront the craziness that’s for sure going on in the house. Plus, I need an update on things.”

“Have anywhere
in mind you want to go?” Mickey asks, raising our joined hands and kissing mine.

“To the
International House of Pancakes. That’s our destination, boys,” I confidently say, earning me a look from both of them that says ‘seriously’. “What? I can’t help it. I want pancakes. Preferably blueberry pancakes with lots of syrup. And bacon. Lots and lots of bacon, because you can never have too much bacon. Bacon good, really good,” I say that last part in some horrible caveman impersonation.

“IH
OP it is then,” Mickey says with a nod.

“Whatever the pr
incess wants, the princess gets,” my uncle teases.

“Always,
” Mickey answers back, taking the risk of kissing my temple while he’s still driving.

“Hey! Eyes on the road, Ro
meo. I’m too young to die,” Luke reprimands him, smiling and shaking his head. “Puppy love…” he mutters this time.

We f
inally arrive at IHOP and my happiness has tripled.
I have my order all figured out as we enter this wonderfully magical place full of pancakes. As soon as we sit down, I order double blueberry pancakes and red velvet pancakes with some extra bacon on the side.

“What? I’m hungry,
” I tell them both so they’ll stop looking me like I’m crazy.

“Not judging, just impressed. Y
ou’ve never eaten this much,” Mickey states.

“I know, right?” I tell him.

“So, update me,” Luke says after he orders.

I start telling him
everything that’s happened ever since day one of the craziest Christmas ever, finishing with the most recent debacle between my dad and me. Since I didn’t get a chance to tell Mickey before, I also tell them about my conversation earlier with Mama…and Kev.

“Seriously? What’s up with your dad and that brother of yours?” Luke asks.

“I have no idea,” I acknowledge. “Hey, does your new neighbor seriously have a lion?” I ask, wanting to change the subject.

“What?” H
e furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“You said before that you’ll feed
Mickey to your neighbor’s lions if he ever hurts me. So, does he really have a lion?”

“It’s Hollywood, what do yo
u think?” he simply explains. I just nod my head because there’s really no other explanation needed.

“So, what crazy Hollywood star do you have as a new neighbor?” Mickey asks.

“I’m not supposed to be disclosing this type of information,” he says before whispering the name of his new neighbor.

Freaky.

Mickey whistles and says, “That’s most definitely a whole new level of craziness.”

“In
deed it is,” I agree.

Our food soon arrives and we d
ig in. We are completely silent while having our breakfast-dinner.

After we are done eating
, we talk a little more while Luke orders more coffee.  He’s addicted to the stuff, just like almost everyone else in my family. Me, not so much. I have a cup once in a while, but it’s just not my thing. After he’s finished getting his fix and is pleased with all the updates, we get back into the car and head home.

Chapter Eleven

W

hen we finally arrive back home, the first thing I see is Mama practically running toward us to welcome her youngest spawn home. It’s almost midnight, so the rest of the family is probably sleeping, planning to greet him as early as they can tomorrow morning. But, my grandmother, knowing how she is, couldn’t wait a second longer to see her baby boy. I bet she’s been itching since yesterday to hug and kiss him.

“My
beautiful, beautiful boy. Te he extrañado tanto,” she says hugging Luke, crying tears of joy for her son.

“I’
ve missed you, too, mom. So much,” he says tightening his hold on her. Out of all of us, he’s the only one that rarely refers to her as Mama.

“Co
me on, let’s get you all inside,” she says, finally paying attention to Mickey and me. “Thank you both for bringing my baby home.”

“It’s not like we had much of a choice,” I tease her.
“Besides, we should be the ones thankful for what you did for us,” I finish.

“You’re
more than welcome. I’m so glad to see you both so happy. Now, inside, all of you. I don’t want any of you getting sick,” she says, hurrying us all inside. Once we’re all inside, she asks, “Are you hungry? Want me to prepare you something quick?”

“Nah, were fine, but thank you,
” Mickey says.

“Yeah, t
he princess over here got hungry and wanted some pancakes,” Luke finishes for him.

Mama smiles and says
, “I’m so glad you all made it back safely and with your bellies full. Now, go to bed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Aren’t I suppose to
be staying at Diana’s?” he asks.

“It’s late, t
ake my bed. I’ll take the couch,” Mickey offers.

“Yeah…sure…the couch,
” Luke says sarcastically.

“I promise, man.
By tomorrow morning you’ll see me sleeping on the couch,” Mickey retorts.

“Sure you will. Be safe
, you two,” he finishes before he heads upstairs.

“Alright
, I’m turning in too. I’m glad you two finally got some one on one time. We’ll talk tomorrow. Que duerman bien, mis niños,” Mama says, kissing us both on the cheek and wishing us a good sleep.

Once she’s completely gone
, Mickey turns toward me with a big playful grin and picks me up over his shoulder, making me squeak as he carries me all the way to my room where we enjoy another wonderful night of pure, hot, loving sex. All while christening my old bed. In fact, this is the first time we’ve ever had sex in this house period. And, I don’t regret one damn thing about, nor do I feel ashamed to be doing it in my grandmother’s guestroom.

“I thought you promised
to sleep on the sofa?” I murmur once we’re done.

“I promised that he will find me sleeping on it on the morning. Not that I will
actually spend the entire night sleeping on it,” he says, kissing every inch of my face.

“Sneaky
. Me likey,” I tell him before he kisses me on the mouth.

“
Wanna go again?” he asks, his mouth close to mine. I simply nod, which is all it takes. I must admit that the idea that we might be caught, or even heard, gives me such a rush, making it even more exciting. We kept the pace up until sleep finally won over.

I woke up feeling cold
and I know it’s because Mickey’s not in the bed with me.
He must have slipped out of the bed at some point to keep the promise he made to my uncle. I roll over to his side of the bed, close my eyes, and inhale his scent left over on my pillows. Now, for the start of another day of pretending. Once I’m up, I stretch until I  can feel and hear my bones pop, immediately relaxing.

I
head to the shower to wash off the scent of sex and Mickey. Done showering and fully dressed I decide to go downstairs to have some breakfast. From the bottom of the stairs, I can hear Mama and Lola working on breakfast for all of us. Because Luke is here, the whole family is going to spend the day over here. I look to where the sofa is and, just as I suspected, Mickey is sleeping on it. By the look on his face, I can tell he’s a hundred percent uncomfortable. But, he still looks so peaceful and happy. My heart skips a beat at the sight and I fall deeper in love with him.

You’ve got to believe me when I say that I tr
uly want him to stay this way, but it’s too tempting not to go over there and see how long I can mess with him until he wakes up. So, that’s what I do. I head over to the sofa and quietly sit in a little spot next to him. My first attempt is unsuccessful. Using a tiny chunk of my hair, I pass it over his mouth and nose. He wiggles his nose and runs a hand over it as if he has an itch. Unfortunately, I’m not so lucky in my second attempt. I should’ve known it wouldn’t work. I decide to cover his nose, using two of my fingers to push his nose holes together. I just wanted to see how long it would take him to notice.

Apparently
, I underestimated him and he really has unbelievable reflexes. As soon as I pinch his nostrils together, he is up and pinning me against the sofa. It all happened so quick that I couldn’t tell how the hell he made it possible. So, he’s still sort of sleepy, on top of me, sporting morning wood, while I lay there breathless and pinned to the sofa by his body weight.

He was
just about to say something when we hear someone clear their throat. And, because our luck is such, it’s my dad. If looks could kill, we would’ve been fifty feet underground and about to decompose. Mickey backs off of me, allowing me to sit up, and is now fully awake.

“Do either of you care to explain what the hell this is?” my dad hisses.

“It’s not what it looks like. I was just trying to wake him up,” I easily lie.

Mickey starts apologizing, “Sorry! I’m
so sorry, Laylah. You caught me off guard and I guess my dream world mixed in with the real world. Before I knew it, I was defensively pinning you against the couch,” he sort of mumbles and blabbers.

“It’s okay,
” I mumble.

“It is so not okay, Laylah,
” my dad furiously says.

“I’m so sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.
I don’t even know what happened,” Mickey sort of fake pleads. I know him well enough to know when he’s lying and when he’s not.

“It bet
ter not.” My dad glares at him. “Laylah, we need to talk,” he says, now looking at me, before he walks out of the room. His only indication that I should follow him. So, I do. Only because we really do need to talk. Before I leave the room, I look to Mickey and mouth, ‘sorry’, referring to my dad’s behavior. He smiles back at me, telling me its fine. I mouth, ‘I love you’ to him and he says it back before I quickly leave the room to go to wherever it is my dad wants to have our talk.

We end up
in the huge backyard, standing in complete silence for a few seconds, making the whole situation pretty awkward. A part of me can’t help but think it’s just too early for this and that I should just bolt while I still have the chance; have some breakfast and then we can maybe, just maybe, talk.

Don’t be a coward, Lai
, that annoying voice inside of my head tells me.

“Sit,” my dad
suddenly commands. I flinch and do as he tells me, taking a seat at the picnic table my back against the table. When he sits on the opposite side of the table, I turn around so we can face each other.

“I know I was way out of line. Trust me, y
our mother, brother, and grandmother made sure I understood how out of line I was,” he admits. I simply nod. Years of being his daughter has taught me to stay silent until he’s done stating his claim. My father could’ve been a lawyer in another life. “But you have to understand, Laylah, that you’re my daughter and all I want is what’s best for you. I just don’t see this path you’ve decided to take as the best.”

I shake my head
. “If you truly want what’s best for me then you will accept and trust that this path I’ve taken is the best thing for me because it makes me happy, because it’s something I love to do. And, when you do something that you love, you succeed. Why is that so hard for you to understand, Dad?” I ask him.

“I can’t…
I just can’t, Laylah. This isn’t a real job, this is a hobby. You need a career,” he says.

“What you’re sayin
g is that I need an office job, and I won’t. I’m not that type of person and, most importantly, I’m not you, Dad,” I tell him, my voice getting a little higher now.

“This isn’t about you being me. This—”

“This is most definitely about you wanting me to be like you,” I interrupt him. “For the love of God, you wanted me to go to the same college that you did, take the same classes, and end up taking over
your
business. But, it is
yours
, Dad. That is
your
thing, not mine.”

“I can see your point, Laylah. I really do. But painting? Do you really consider it a good choice?
Why not consider something else, something more promising?”

“Why not painting? I’m really good at it, you said so yourself, before you discovered I
was the one who painted them. And it is something promising. I’ve been making good, honest money off of it. But, most of all, I love it. I love what I do and I won’t ever change my mind about it,” I tell him, pouring my heart out to him.

“What do you want me to say, Laylah? I jus
t— I just can’t agree with this,” he says, breaking my heart again.

“So
, what? You’re still disappointed in me?” I sort of snap at him.

“I really don’t know if disa
ppointed is even the right word,” he admits.

“I guess it makes two of us then
,” I say with a sigh.

“Excuse me?” he asks
, confused.

“I’m sayin
g that I am also disappointed, Dad. In you. I am disappointed in you!” I say, getting up and pointing at him before continuing. “A really big part of me was hoping that when I told you about my career choice, you would’ve been happy for me, proud of me. Most importantly, supportive in my choices. Because that’s what parents are supposed to do. They are supposed to be supportive of their children’s life decisions no matter if they are right or wrong. You don’t get to choose for me anymore, Dad.

“I’m not five
anymore, I’m freaking twenty-one years old. I get to choose what paths I take in life. You’re supposed to trust that if I fall, I’ll be capable of lifting myself back up, all on my own. I don’t need you fighting my fights anymore, or picking me up when I fall. All I need is your love and support. But, most importantly, I need your trust. I need you to trust me when I say that I’m happy with the choices I’ve made in life,” I tell him and, as soon as I’m done, I turn around so I can leave.

“Laylah, wa
it,” he says, catching up to me and pulling me in for a tight hug. As soon as he does so, tears start to fall out of my eyes. “Have I really been a disappointment to you?” he asks as he pulls away.

It is then that I notice the tears in his eyes. Never in my twenty one years
have I ever seen my father cry. Seeing him like this tells me that I got to him, that he’s willing to change his mind and be more open about things. Which is another step closer to him accepting my relationship with Mickey. Because, no matter what, it would mean the world to me if my father is the one to walk me down the aisle.

“
As of lately, yes,” I admit. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry, daddy,” I say breaking down. He hugs me again and caresses my hair, soothing me.

“No, sweetie, I’m the one that’s
sorry. I’ve been told countless times that I’m a hard headed bastard. But, I guess it took hearing you say all those things for me to realize it. I love you, Laylah. You’re my baby girl and, no matter what, I am proud of you. I could never be disappointed in you,” he says, kissing my forehead.

“
Does this mean you’ll keep an open mind about it?” I ask while I wipe my tears.

“I promise
, I will.” He walks us back the short distance to the picnic table were we sit, once again. “God, Laylah. Hearing you say all those things…it reminded of all of the things I used to think about my own father. That’s when I realized that I had become him; coercing my kids to follow my footsteps instead of their own. I hated it back then when he did it to me. I guess what I’m saying is...I’m sorry for my behavior and for the things I’ve said,” he confesses.