Upside Down

El Cuarto

The Room

"Dad?" Valeria yelled out as she dragged her luggage through the door with the spare key he had given to her before she left. She kept calling out his name as she made her way throughout the house and came across the room that was supposed to be hers. A surge of curiosity ran through her to know what her room looked like but she also didn't want to see it without her dad being here so she waited patiently for him in the living room.

In the meantime, she dragged her luggage to the bedroom without glancing at anything to make the surprise authentic. She wasted time by going through her Instagram looking at the posts made by her favorite celebrities and mildly stalking attractive guys and girls she had found.

"I know I should, but I got a daughter to look after now." She could hear her dad's voice from the entrance of the house and looked around the room looking for a place to hide. Her hair tossed around her until she thought of the back of the couch and threw herself behind it awaiting for her dad's voice to come closer to scare the cholo out of him.

"Just because you have a daughter doesn't mean you have to put your entire life on pause. Look at me and Monica. We still go out on dates and leave the kids alone or I go out with you and the guys and she doesn't get mad. She's young, she's probably not even going to be home half of the time." She heard Victor's voice getting closer as they walked closer to the living room.

"Yeah, he would leave us at my abuela's house all the time to go on dates." She heard another guys voice join in the conversation.

"Yeah, you didn't want us interrupting you guys having loud ass sex." Another voice chimed in jokingly.

"How do you think you were made, the immaculate conception? Hell no, I was and am dicking your mom down all the time." Victor's voice said laughing at the second mystery guy's groaning at the unnecessary information. She mentally cringed at the thought that every human, including herself, was created that way. That was not a pretty picture in her head and she shook it to get rid of those thoughts quickly.

"I don't know, I don't wanna be all crudo when she gets here tomorrow. I wanna be good to make her feel welcome." Her dad's voice was now in front of her because she heard and felt when he sat down on the couch and pinpointed exactly where he was seated. The conversation continued until she could slowly move towards his spot without alerting anyone about her presence.

"Aw dad, you don't have to stop partying for me." Valeria said seriously as she wrapped her arms around her dad's neck loosely. Her dad's scream at her random appearance made the uncomfortable position she was laying on worth the while.

"What the fuck!" Her said quickly turning to see her face completely red from the lack of oxygen as she laughed.

"Hi!" She said climbing over the couch to stand on the cushions and he stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist bear hugging her. " I missed you." She said in his chest, the scent of his deodorant and cologne made her feel at home. The feeling of his black t-shirt and the muscles under it made the moment seem even more real because even being here felt surreal for her.

"I thought you were coming in tomorrow." Martin said with a face-splitting grin, this was by far the best surprise he had ever gotten. The scent of the coconut shampoo was the best smell he could think of because his baby was home.

"I know, but I didn't want to be home anymore. The cookie-cutter homes were starting to suffocate me." Valeria joked because at the end of the day she was as white as they were. She was raised from the age of five in that community and it would always have positive connotations to her. 

"Hey, how come she didn't get punched?" The guys called from behind them, the same voice that made the joke about his parent's sex lives. And it was the same one that was a victim at the restaurant from scaring her dad as well. He was upset at the fact that she didn't get the same fate as he had that painfully [for him] hilarious day.