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Olivia glared at Rafael. Is this really the hill he wanted to die on?
“It’s in the rulebook.” He stated, pulling her card off the stack and sliding it back to her.
“Who gives a-” She glanced in Noah’s direction, cutting herself off. “This is how we play.”
“Well, it’s wrong.” Rafa countered, “according to the rules.”
Liv placed her own fingers on the other side of the card and tried to slide it towards the center of the table where the discard pile was, but his fingers countered the pressure from the other side and left them in a standstill.
“Who cares? It’s the Benson way.”
“And I would’ve gone along with it, if we were at your place.”
Noah rolled his eyes at both…and a bit in disgust at the underlying tension between his mother and Uncle Rafa.
“But we’re not.” Rafa said smugly, as if that detail ended their squabbling.
“We’re not at yours either.” Olivia retorted.
It was true what she said, the three of them were sitting in Lucia’s kitchen. The four of them had been playing a board game when they opted to switch games and the change prompted Lucia’s exit, to go watch some TV, while they started their first round…only to be halted by Olivia and Rafael quarreling about the rules of the game.
Their silent stand-off turned into bickering again and Noah knew they were distracted enough, allowing him to be able to slither out of his chair and walk to the living room where Lucia was watching TV. He rolled his eyes and she smiled at him in understanding as he plopped himself next to her on the couch.
“They’re so annoying.”
Lucia chuckled, throwing her arm around his shoulder and giving him a quick squeeze. “Ah mijo, that’s just the way they show their love for each other.”
Noah scrunched his face in confusion; he knew they weren’t fighting fighting but wondered how this could be an expression of love. He decided not to delve further into it and glanced at Lucia as she tried to hand him the controller.
“Want to change the channel?” She offered.
He glanced at the TV, seeing it was a telenovela she was watching; judging by the staticky screen and the outdated look it must’ve been an old one. He wasn’t interested in watching it, but he didn’t want her to change the channel for him- he didn’t mind and besides this could help him with his Spanish- something he wanted to improve on as his mother and him spent more time with Uncle Rafa and Lucia.
“It’s okay.”
“You’re sure?” Lucia glanced at him skeptically.
He took a moment to think about it but ultimately shook his head. “I’m good, what better way to improve my Spanish?”
Lucia smiled at him and turned back to the TV.
Noah did the same and sat back and watched the show as well. There was a man with dark hair and tanned skin with a blonde woman; the style of clothes they were wearing indicating a time long past. He leaned over to Lucia. “So, what’s this show about?”
Lucia bent her head closer to him. “Let me catch you up on it.” She pointed towards the screen. “Those are the main leads.”
Noah nodded.
“She is from a wealthy family and her mother had agreed to an engagement for her when she was barely a child-”
“With him?” He guessed.
She shook her head. “No, with another man. They were kids who grew up together and their mothers thought it would be perfect to have them marry each other but when they got older…the other man returned and saw her younger sister first and fell in love with her.”
“But he was already promised to another?” Noah frowned.
“He never took it seriously because it was just a verbal agreement between their mothers and so he married her younger sister.”
“So now she met him.” Noah said, looking at the main couple.
“It gets juicier.” Lucia said, patting his knee. “Her younger sister knows the main guy and had a romantic relationship with him before she married the other man, not knowing the main guy is the older, illegitimate brother of her husband.”
Noah raised a brow, this was interesting. He followed along to the scene before him and despite not being able to catch everything, he was still able to get by with the few words he understood, and the context clues he was able to pick up from the actors’ body language. Then another man entered the scene, taller than the other two and judging the manner the female lead was looking at him, he was able to figure out who he was. “Is that the guy she was ‘engaged’ to?”
“Mmhmm.” Lucia confirmed, glancing and seeing Noah was hooked, his eyes glued to the screen.
They continued watching for a while, but Noah was getting annoyed hearing a random shout coming from the kitchen every now and then. He did his best to focus on the TV but found himself unable to when he caught snippets.
“Why are you being so childish-”
“I’m being childish?” His mother sounded affronted. “Why are you being such a stickler-”
Noah groaned, letting his head fall back, he pulled out his phone, not knowing why they didn’t do this in the first place. He smiled upon reading the rules.
“Do you have a printer?”
Not looking away from the TV, she pointed towards her desk. “In the corner.”
He walked over to wait for the paper as it printed out when he saw a highlighter amongst the writing tools she had in a mug. “Can I borrow your highlighter?”
She waved him off. “You can borrow whatever you want, mijo.”
Noah tried to brush off her statement as an ‘in the moment’ thing since she was busy watching her show, but he felt happy and fuzzy whenever she called him that. He pulled the cap off the highlighter and passed it over the important parts. After capping the marker, he strode over to the kitchen and dropped the paper in between his mother and Uncle Rafa. “You’re both wrong!” Noah announced. “Now, be quiet please, me and Lucia are trying to watch TV without you two fighting!” He walked away, shaking his head and grumbling underneath his breath. “All this over a round of Uno.”
Liv glanced over at Rafa, a blush rising on her cheeks and seeing him return her glance with a sheepish expression. They sat in silence, letting it settle in that they’d just been scolded by a twelve-year-old boy. Rafael picked up the sheet Noah dropped on the table and scooted closer to Olivia and with heads bent together, they read the official rules.