modern family | vanessa delgado

Fizbo

Will and I are shopping at the mall together to buy Luke a birthday present. His birthday party is today so Mom leaves us in charge to buy him a present. We invited Manny if he wanted to come with us, but his excuse is that he's not in the right mind set because he's worrying about some girl he has a crush on and she'll be at Luke's party.

I just hope it won't be another Brenda Feldman replay.

"Do you know what Luke likes?" Will asks me as we walk through the mall, holding each other's hands.

"Pretty much anything and that's what makes him dangerous or hurts himself, so we should get him something that's safe," I answer. "One time, Phil and Claire gave him gift bag that only had a box inside it and he just liked the bag. So, he's just really simple."

"Seriously?" Will laughs. "Is he a dog?"

"Sometimes..." 

We browse at the shops to see if there's anything Luke will like. While we're walking, we happen to run into Connor and his little brother is with him.

"Connor, hi." I greet him. 

Feeling a little nervous deep down because it's been a long time since we've seen each other. 

"Hey, Vanessa." He greets back formally.

"I see that you've brought your little brother." I acknowledge him.

"Yeah, Isaac," Connor says his brother's name who made a half smile and waved at us. "So, how's it going, Ness?"

"Ness?" Will looks at me, being confused about my nickname. I'm not sure how he feels about that.

For now, I just ignore him.

"Oh, it's fine," I answer casually. "I'm just looking for a birthday present for my cousin, Luke."

"Is he Luke Dunphy?" Connor asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm going to his party," Isaac chimes in. "We're friends at school."

"Oh, well, isn't this a small little world?" Will says in amusement, his eyes flickering to me and Connor and his brother.

"Yeah, it is," Connor agrees and gives a confused look to Will. "Uh, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Will Hewitt, Ness's boyfriend." Will holds his hand out for him to shake, but Connor's arms are just at his side, not willing to shake his hand.

Why is Connor being so rude right now?

Also, why is Will using that nickname? If it wasn't for Connor, he never knew about it. It sounds like he's saying it patronizingly. I don't know.

"This scrawny boy is your boyfriend?" Connor asks in disbelief. He puffs his muscular chest just to make him look tough and intimidating to scare off Will. 

"Hey, I am not that scrawny." Will defends himself.

"Yeah," I agree. "We've been dating for..." I trail off when I don't remember how long our relationship has been.

"Three months." He fills in helpfully.

"Yep. That's right. Three months." I nod in confirmation.

"How can you date...him?" Connor's expression to my boyfriend is like he wants to beat him up. "Scrawny boy looks like he's way out of your league."

"There's no one who is in or out of my league, Connor," I argue. "I am not that shallow! Will asked me out and I found that flattering, so I said yes. Better than what you ever did, so you have no right to be jealous."