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Ana wasn’t expecting Eddie to invite her to his abuela’s house. They had only been dating for 3 months and Christopher had barely expected her as his dad’s girlfriend. Ana’s nerves were skyrocketing. She knew how much his abuela meant to Eddie, how much he loved her and respected her. Naturally, Ana wanted to make a good first impression in front of someone who is really dear to her boyfriend.
Ana sat in Isabel’s family room in a beige sweater paired with her black dress pants. Her curly hair laid beautifully on her right shoulder and her nude lips awkwardly smiled at Isabel. She already knew Eddie’s grandmother wasn’t taking a liking to her.
“ah, el maestro en cuya presencia se lastimó mi nieto? (Ah, the teacher in whose presence my grandson got hurt?) ” Isabel muttered as she flashed Ana a condescending smile. Ana’s smile fell from her face as she remembered Eddie’s livid face that day, and Christopher’s eyes wide with tears. She nervously bit her lip as her shaking hand played with the hem of her sweater.
Eddie let out a heavy sigh, “Abuela, eso pasó hace un año, estamos pasó ese incidente, (Abuela, that happened a year ago, we’re passed that incident)” One of Eddie’s hand gripped Ana’s “de todos modos, cuándo vamos a comer? Estoy famélico? (anyway, when are we going to eat? I’m famished)” Ana let out a sigh of relief as Eddie quickly changed the topic from the horror incident to something light. Isabel also dropped the condescending smile, a genuine, affectionate smile slipped onto her face, “en cuanto llegue mi Evanito! (as soon as my Evanito gets here)”
Eddie looked at his grandmother with confused eyes but his lips turned into a soft and gentle smile, “lo invitaste? ni siquiera me dijo! (did you invite him? He didn’t even tell me)” Ana looked up at him in confusion as to who this ‘Evanito’ was, from what Eddie had told her about his family, he only had two sisters. She heard the door unlock and the jiggling of keys as Isabel stood up to greet whoever was entering her house. Maybe a cousin? She wondered.
What Ana wasn’t expecting was her boyfriend’s best friend to be standing at the door, a beaming smile on his face as Isabel wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. “Mi hijo! No te he visto desde el pasado, parece que no has comido, has adelgazado. (my by! I have not seen you since the barbecue, it seems you have not eaten, you have lost weight.)” Beside her, Eddie chuckled at the man’s confused face, “She’s saying she hasn’t seen you since the barbecue and it looks like you’ve lost weight, Buck”
Buck let out a laugh as he unwrapped himself out of Isabel’s arms, “Why do you think i’m here abuela?” He smiled mischievously at her, “I really hope you made the Diaz special tamales” He slipped off his shoes and hung his jacket into the closet on his left. An act that looked so flawless, it seemed to happen every day.
Ana watched in pure surprise and confusion on how Buck had the keys to Eddie’s grandmother’s place, she didn’t have the keys to her best friend’s grandma’s house. “Buck, this is Ana, Christopher’s teacher last year,” Eddie introduced them. Ana couldn’t help but feel her heart clenched in pain as her boyfriend introduced her as Christopher’s teacher from last year. “Ana! Hi! I’ve heard so much about you from Eddie and Christopher, it’s so nice to finally put a face to a name” He smiled enthusiastically at her, holding his hand out to her.
Ana couldn’t help but smile back at him, his smile was just so contagious, she can tell why Christopher could never stop talking about him. She shook his hand. “Same, Christopher, only ever speaks of you.” Ana watched as a beaming smile spread onto Buck’s face as he blushed bashfully. “He sp-” he was cut off by a loud squeal of “BUCK” with the sound of crutches hitting the floor. Surly enough, Christopher was hugging Buck’s waist. The man laughed as he hugged the boy back, a soft smile she saw Eddie have for Christopher, slip onto his face. “Hey buddy!” Christopher beamed up at him, the pouty face he had from the moment Ana arrived slipping off his face.
“Okay, enough talking, I’m sure everyone is hungry” abuela’s voice was relaxed, unlike the tenseness Ana had received upon her arrival. Awkwardness and dejection was slowly slipping into her heart. Her lips curled into a small smile as Eddie held his hand out to her. “I’m so sorry about her, Ana. I really didn’t think she was going to bring up the skateboard incident” He smiled apologetically at her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She shook her head and smiled softly up at him, “It’s okay, my grandmother would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.” With that, they made their way into the dining room.
Isabel was sitting at the head on the table, on one side Buck and Christopher sat, food already piled onto their plates. Ana watched as Eddie to the seat in front of buck, leaving the chair beside his abuela empty. She nervously made her way over and sat down next to Eddie. Ana let Eddie fill his plate first; she served herself some really tasty looking quesadillas and the famous Diaz tamales she heard Buck speak about when he first came in. A comfortable silence filled the table as everyone dug into their food.
“Bucky, can you open it up for me, it’s really hot.” Christopher’s tiny voice broke the silence. Ana watched as Buck smiled softly at him and reached over to open up Christophers tamale for him. She watched in amazement how effortlessly Buck not only opened up Christophers tamale but also cut it into small pieces for him from where he sat. She turned her head to look at Eddie, who was looking at the two with a gentle smile, his eyes soft, admiring the scene in front of him. He was watching them the way she saw her brother watch his wife with their kids, a man looking at his family.
Realization hit her like a brick. Everything just made sense now. They never went past a quick peck on the lips. How Christopher wasn’t happy with her dating his dad, how Eddie’s abuela loved Buck, to the point he had a key to her house. She now understood why Christopher had Buck in every journal entry he wrote after the weekend. Everything was so obvious in front of her all along, Buck was co-parenting Christopher with Eddie.
“Are you not enjoying the food, Ana?” Isabel’s voice brough Ana out of her thoughts, she smiled lightly at Eddie’s grandmother, “The food is delicious, Mrs. Diaz, they remind me of my grandmother’s food” Isabel gave her a warm smile back. Ana bit her lips, her new realization made her feel so awkward. For the first time since she and Eddie began dating, his hand on her knee felt wrong, she felt like the ‘other woman’.
As dinner finished, she noticed how Buck and Eddie worked in sync cleaning the table up as Christopher and she made their way to the couch. The first time in the evening, Christopher was alone with Ana. Her heart clenched as she noticed the boy wasn’t smiling the way he was when Buck was around, or even when she was just his teacher. “Buck seems even more amazing than how you wrote him, Christopher.” She smiled at him, trying to make a conversation with the 9-year-old. “Bucky is my superhero” Chris looked up at her with the same smile he wore when he talked about his father. Her heart softened just a little, the sudden epiphany she felt at the dining table was just piling up. “He seems like a hero” the smile stayed on her face. Ana hesitantly pulled her phone out, calling herself an Uber.
Soon enough, Isabel, Eddie, and Buck joined Ana and Christopher in the family room. “I think it’s time I leave, I have to be at the school early, comes with being the vice principal, my ride should be here” Ana laughed awkwardly as she stood up. “Thank you so much for having me. Mrs. Diaz, and it was so nice to meet you Buck” She smiled politely at them, as Eddie placed his hand on her waist, It felt wrong. That was the only thing Ana could say. She kept quiet as she slipped her coat on and wore her shoes.
“You could have stayed for dessert, abuela made dulce de leche cheesecake” Eddie spoke once they were outside. Her Uber had not arrived yet. Ana smiled slightly at him, that sounded great, but she just couldn’t stay there anymore. Like how their dates always end, Eddie leaned in to give Ana a small peck on her lips, Ana turned her face and Eddie’s kiss landed on her cheek. She watched as Eddie’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, “Are you okay, Ana?”
Ana bit her lips, and her eyes teared up slightly, for a while she had really thought she might have a future with Eddie and Christopher, that she would be the one Eddie builds his future with, but there was a person there all along. A person who was present for all of Eddie and Christopher’s trauma. How was she supposed to compete?
“These past 3 months have been one of the best moments of life. You are everything a woman looks for in a man. Kind, hardworking, good with kids” Ana let out a wet chuckle, looking at Eddie. HIs face was confused and soon filled with realization and hurt flashed through his eyes. “You are everything I looked for in a man.” She took a deep breath, trying to keep in her tears. Biting her lips, she looked up at Eddie, who stared at her woundedly. “But I’m not who you want.” She placed his hand on his cheek, “I’m not the one Christopher wants or even who your abuela wants to see you with, Eddie.” A tear slipped from her eye as she hastily wiped it away.
“Ana, I-” Eddie took a deep breath “I don’t understand, these three months have been so good, I-” He looked at her, his eyes filled with confusion, “There is no one-” Ana smiled lightly and laughed, this Uber was taking too long. “Eddie, it’s right in front of you.” Realization filled Eddie’s eyes, “are you talking about-”
“-Buck? Yes, Eddie, I am. I genuinely felt like the other woman tonight Eddie, I didn’t fit in, but he does.” She found the entire situation funny, “Eddie, you two are literally co-parenting Christopher, you look at each other the way lovers do. Your son loves him, Eddie.”
Eddie stared at her blankly, like he does when he is ruminating. Ana took her chance to see her phone, her Uber was still 3 minutes away. She rolled her eyes as an awkward silence filled between her and Eddie.
“I love him.” Eddie’s voice came out breathlessly. “Ana, I am in love with my best friend” His eyes were wide. Ana flashed him a pleased smile. His eyes then looked at her in guilt, “Ana, I’m so sorry. I-” the sound of a honk cut Eddie off. Ana laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m breaking up with you doesn’t mean we can’t be friends,” she kissed his cheek. “I’m 100% sure he reciprocate your feelings, tell him” She turned around and walked towards the car. Before sitting inside the car, she smirked at Eddie as she teased, “Make sure you text me how it went, unless you two are busy then please do not text me” She laughed as Eddie’s check turned red and threw his head back laughing.
Ana sighed as the car began moving. Maybe she didn’t get a romantic relationship out of Eddie, but she surely gained a great friend.
And if the next morning Ana got a text from Eddie saying “Thank you” and “He loves me back” and “We should totally go on a platonic date if Buck is okay with”, it’s nobody’s business.