My Cousin Lance (V:LD/ODaaT 2017 Crossover)

007. 1000-2500 Words

She would have confessed to him first, had he not disappeared.

By confession, she wouldn't have been confessing to him about some crush on him she had, for she didn't have such feelings. No, she would have confessed to him that she wasn't interested in guys, but girls instead. She couldn't talk to Alex about girls, or her abuela or mother. No, instead it was Lance she could talk to about such things.

Elena first met Lance when her mother brought her older cousin home from the airport to stay until he headed to the garrison. Alex was instantly infatuated with his cousin who managed to get into the garrison, but she wasn't sure how Lance was related to them. Her abuela and mother seemed loathe in regards to discussing the subject.

Eventually she asked Lance as he dug around in his duffle bag in Alex's room while her younger brother stepped out. "My papa? Well, he met my mama in Cuba."

"That doesn't answer how I'm related to you though."

"He went to Cuba, and decided to stay. Told me he made abuela very unhappy about his decision, but he'd met my mother, and she wasn't going to leave."

"I see."

She headed back to the kitchen in order to dive back into her studies, digesting what Lance told her. She didn't notice her cousin sit down on the other side of the table from her. Eventually she looked up, seeing Lance staring at her, his arms crossed, his lips pushed together.

"What?"

"Girl, you are in serious need of a facial."

"I've no interest in those misogynist ideals."

"Misogynist?" One of Lance's eyebrows shot up.

"You know..."

"Uh, no, I don't know what that word means. So, no, I don't know."

Elena took a deep breath. "The word means woman hating."

Lance pushed his lips together to whistle. "Really?"

"Dresses, marriage, all of them were put into place because of misogynist behavior."

"Annoying!" Her abuela piped up. The beautiful woman walked over. "Elena, your cousin is here for only a little while. Your abuela misses seeing his padre, and he's only here for a short time. Why don't you two have a more, I don't know, conversación positive."

"What did she say?"

"Learn Spanish chica!" Their abuela walked away, tossing her hand over her shoulder, indicating she had enough.

Lance folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah. I may not be very bright, but I think you know what that one means."

"You're annoying."

Her cousin took in a deep breath. "How come?"

"Well, because, I don't know. You're kind of, talking about facials and stuff. Are you, I don't know. Gay or something?"

"So your homophobic. Great." Lance motioned with his finger indicating Elena was crazy, before sticking his tongue out at her, proceeding to pull on the corners of his mouth.

"Wow. Really mature." The young Cuban female looked him in the eye, wondering how her cousin could be so immature when he'd managed to get into the garrison program. "And for your information, my issue is that I don't like talking about that kind of stuff. I mean, unless you're talking about how misogynist the behavior is." Elena set her pencil down. "My asking if you were gay was me trying to make polite conversation."