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Julieta removed the pillow from her face as she awoke after very little sleep.
She sighed with relief when she was met with silence, except for Agustín and Pepa’s slow and deep breathing.
She and Félix had always been the early risers of the family, and he’d clearly woken up first and taken himself for a walk.
She looked over bleary eyed at the wall clock.
Eight in the morning.
Later than she usually woke up, but she hadn’t managed to get to sleep until close to sunrise, and neither had Agustín.
They loved their brother in law, but there was no way they could cope with that noise again tonight.
They’d have to make him sleep elsewhere.
She sat up, rubbing her aching forehead as she watched her sister, spread out on her stomach across the entire bed now that Félix had moved, imitating a starfish.
Julieta still couldn’t quite believe that Pepa had managed to sleep through Félix’s snoring.
She remembered her threat to kill Agustín from a few hours ago, and silently prayed that Pepa didn’t remember the incident and there would be no tension.
Agustín woke up next, just as tired as his wife and they began to get ready for the day.
They heard a groan and movement from the other bed as Pepa started to wake up.
“ ¿Por qué diablos es tan horrible despertarse? Me duele la cabeza…”
Julieta stiffened. So she wasn’t in a good mood. Wonderful.
“Morning, Pepi!” She tried to sound as cheerful as she could.
Please don’t remember the book. Please God don’t remember the book.
Pepa sat up, blinking her green eyes open and then her face instantly set with rage as she spotted Agustín.
“ YOU! How dare you throw things at me! Who do you think you are!?” She leaned over the side of the bed and picked the book from last night up off the floor. “You hit me with the Holy Bible!?”
“I-I…” Agustín stuttered. “It was meant for Félix! He was snoring! We couldn’t take it anymore!”
Pepa growled, as she got out of bed and stomped from the room, not wanting to hear his excuses.
The couple hoped that she would be in a better mood after her coffee.
-x-
The family decided to eat breakfast together on tables pushed together at the ruins of their Casita, slash construction site.
Despite having a good sleep, Pepa wasn’t in a good mood. She’d have slept better if she hadn’t been hit in the head mid slumber by The Holy Bible of all things!
Now her head was sore, there was no healing food, and the bump on her head was too sensitive to even wear her beloved hair ribbon.
She felt naked without it.
Everything felt wrong.
Félix came and sat beside her, with a kiss on the cheek and some orange juice.
“Did you sleep well, Pepi? You were so peaceful when I woke up, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“That makes you more considerate than Agustín, then.” Pepa replied, a grumble rising from her throat. “He threw a book at me in the middle of the night! I have a huge lump on my head, I can’t wear my ribbon, I feel all different and wrong! And to top it all off, I might have a concussion!”
Félix looked concerned as he stood and kissed the affected area of Pepa’s head tenderly. It wouldn’t make the pain go away, but it helped.
“I’m sorry, mi vida. Why would he do that?”
“He was aiming for you, apparently.”
Félix looked confused.
“What? Why?”
Pepa opened her mouth to answer, then other family members started filtering in, carrying various dishes of food that people in town had prepared since they no longer had a kitchen.
Julieta and Agustín were the last two to arrive. They both looked exhausted, and Julieta was glaring at Félix, with Agustín trying to look anywhere but at Pepa, who was glowering at him.
“Uh…is it just me?” Bruno eventually spoke up from his seat between Mirabel and Antonio. “Or is it really tense?”
“It wouldn’t be if Agustín wasn’t such a stupid- OW! JULIETA!” Pepa had received a sharp kick from her sister under the table.
Alma looked at her daughters disapprovingly from the head of the table.
“Ay! What is going on? You’re behaving like children!”
“Félix kept us awake all night with his snoring!” Julieta whined. “He wouldn’t stop! Agustín threw a book at him to try and wake him up, but he missed, and it hit Pepa instead, and now she’s upset with him.”
Dolores looked from her Tia to her Pà, and smirked subtly into her orange juice. Pepa had noticed it and gave her the look of a mother who wanted her kid to cut the act out.
Clearly her daughter was thinking, “welcome to my world.”
Félix, however, looked completely and utterly confused.
“I snore?”
Julieta’s mouth hung open, trying to process what on earth Félix had just asked her.
“You seriously don’t know that you snore? Pepa has never mentioned it to you!?”
Pepa rolled her eyes as she sipped some more of her juice.
“I’m an insomniac, Julieta. A bit of snoring doesn’t bother me.”
“It was more than a bit….”
“So no, I haven’t mentioned it to him, because I didn’t feel the need.”
Julieta blinked a few times.
“You cursed Agustín out just a week ago because he was breathing too loudly!” She spat, incredulously.
“That’s different. I’m not married to Agustín, thank the Lord. I don’t have to like him. Maybe he should have looked that up in his Holy Bible before he threw it at me.”
Félix narrowed his eyes at Camilo, who was practically choking on his arepa because he was laughing so much, before he smiled sheepishly at Julieta.
“Apologies?”
-x-x-
The day consisted of clearing rubble and working out a plan for the Casita rebuild. Julieta and Pepa were happy to be spending time with their hermano again, although things between the two of them were still tense.
Technically, it was Agustín who Pepa had the problem with, but since they’d married, Julieta and Agustín came as a pair.
And she didn’t appreciate death threats being made upon her husband.
Julieta was so exhausted from so little sleep the night before that the day seemed to go in a blur. She was relieved when dinner was over and the two couples could retire to bed for the night.
Only this time, with one notable difference.
“Oh no you don’t!” Julieta threw a pillow and blanket at Félix as he was about to climb into bed beside Pepa, who looked horrified that her beloved Félix was being banished. “You can sleep in the living room.”
The living room consisted of only one small couch, so there wouldn’t be room for Pepa to join him and still sleep comfortably.
“Ay, that’s not fair, hermana! What am I supposed to do!?”
“No one’s asking you to leave.”
Félix sighed in understanding and gave Pepa a long kiss to the lips. Julieta felt mildly guilty because the couple looked so sad, but she had to sleep tonight.
“It’s only until the morning, Pepi.”
Pepa sulked as Félix left the room. She looked so lost in that big bed all by herself, and Julieta couldn’t stand to see it.
She gave Agustín an apologetic look, but there was no need to as the man was already passed out under the blankets, just as exhausted as she was.
“Pepi, are we still having a disagreement?”
Pepa hummed in response.
“Maybe.”
“Are you too angry for me to join you?”
With that, Pepa moved aside in bed so Julieta could climb in beside her.
She may have banished Félix but she wasn’t going to leave her hermana without company.
“How’s your head?”
“Hurts.” Pepa sniffed, dramatically. “I wish you could heal me.”
Julieta smiled sadly. It had been less than two days since the fall of their home and she missed her gift more than she thought she would. She wrapped her arms around Pepa who softened and nuzzled into the embrace.
“Me too. Lo siento. The target really was Félix.”
Pepa shrugged.
“If me getting hit meant that he didn’t, I’d do it again.”
Julieta chuckled.
“Such a good wife you are, Pepi.”
“Ay. So are you. I’ll spare Agustín’s life by the way.” She yawned. “This time.”
With that, Pepa stuck her thumb in her mouth and began to suck.
Julieta let the sound lull her to sleep, holding her hermana’s warm body close to her.
It was the best sleep she’d had in months.