Spectrum

11

"Papa!" I exclaim, "No. This is my boss. My boss."

"Oh, that doesn't mean anything." He dad says with a wave of his hand. "My daughter is beautiful, yeah?" He says proudly. I could fucking die right now and be perfectly fine with it.

"Muy hermoso." Grayson replies quickly, only glancing at me briefly.

Very beautiful. My stomach flutters at the words that leave his mouth. They only stop when I realize that he's only saying this because my dad is standing right in front of us.

"Okay, you need to leave." I tell my dad with an embarrassed laugh. "Gracias, papa. Now leave." I say, standing up from the booth and guiding him away from our table.

As we walk away my dad finally says, "If you aren't with him, then you should be with Jose. He always asks about you." He reminds me.

"Dad, no. I'm not seeing anyone. And that's my boss you were just speaking to! The owner of the startup company. That was so embarrassing." I groan.

"That's what parents are for." He laughs, giving me one last hug before walking through the doorway to the kitchen. I walk back to the table and see Grayson looking at the sizzling food in front of him.

"I am so sorry. That was painful to sit through." I groan as I take my seat.

"Why?" He asks, handing me one of the plates on the table.

"My dad can just be...well, you saw. I'm sorry." I apologize.

"They seem nice." He tells me.

"They're embarrassing." I laugh.

"Aren't all parents?" He asks.

"Are yours?" I counter.

"Something like that." He tells me. When I look over, I see him eyeballing the tray warily.

"It's really good, I promise. Have you had fajitas before?" I ask. As I begin to wonder if this was a dumb question, I quickly remember that this is also the same guy who had never tasted guacamole before.

"No." He says.

"You're going to love them. You can make your own little tacos out of them. See, the tortillas are in this little container here." I say, opening the lid on the little red container holding the warm flour and corn tortillas. "There is flour and corn. They know that I like the corn ones, but they brought you some flour just incase." I add.

He nods and looks over at the other plate.

"Then, you have the limes, lettuce, tomato, some cheese, and sour cream on this plate. You can add whatever you want on top. Oh, and over here is some of our homemade salsa. It's pretty spicy, so that's why my mom asked if you liked spicy stuff." I explain.

"I love spicy food." He tells me, placing his fork into the pile of chicken and trying a piece. "This is really good." He says.

"I'm glad you think so." I smile. "I'm glad you like spicy food, too. My brother's wife can't stand spicy food. So, family dinners at our house are always pretty difficult." I laugh. I almost forget about the entire ordeal with my brother and his wife, but feel an rush of sadness pass over me at the memory.

"Your brother...he's married?" Grayson asks.

"Yeah. For about two years now." I smile. "They're getting ready to have a baby." I add.

"My brother and his wife just had a baby, too." He says with a little nod.

"Oh yeah? Is that their first kid?" I ask.