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Chapter 23

"Ladies and gentlemen," their personal chef announced. "Your dinner is ready."

"Finally, I am starving." I heard one of her cousins say.

Everyone took their seat, and the kitchen staff brought out our first course.

Robbie sat next to me at one end of the long table and his mother at the other end. Abigail sat on his right side in front of me.

"Do you know what spoon to use, Lia?" She asked me with a fake smile.

"Yes," I answered. "I've seen Pretty Woman and Titanic," I smiled back at her. I heard Maria stifle a laugh and shake her head next to me.

Abigail frowned and turned her attention to Maria. "So, Maria, any plans for school this year?"

"Aside from the first event? No. Why Abigail, you have any ideas?"

"No, just curious if you started planning the fall charity dance."

"Lana and I are working on it."

"What booths are there going to be this year?"

"If you are wondering if the blindfolded booth will be up, the answer is yes. It was a hit last year." Maria responded.

I turned to look at her "blindfolded booth?"

"Yeah, it's a dumb idea Lana's older sister thought of years ago. It's like 7 minutes in heaven, except you're both in a booth blindfolded. You then place bets on who kissed who. Most of the time, everyone is wrong, and we make a lot of money."

"Make a lot of money?"

"Yeah, we open it up for everyone to participate but then have a raffle for who will actually be entering the booths. Usually, we entice people by choosing the more popular kids as headliners who will be waiting in the booths and then open it up to everyone."

"Sound gross," I said at the thought of kissing a complete stranger.

"Don't worry, we open it to the public, but we don't really let random people participate. Like we automatically do not pick any freshman. You only get picked as a sophomore if you would make things —interesting." Abigail answered.

"What she means is we only open it to sophomores if they are extremely attractive," Abigail said.

I got a distinct impression that she had been a chosen sophomore the year before.

Maria nodded. "Even then, we hand select everyone else and then fill up the raffle box with the same 20 names. We memorize who we are actually choosing."

"So, it all pre-planned?" I asked

"Yes and no. The person who you paired up with is not pre-planned. It is out of the 20 hand-picked people, but after that, it is random."

"Oh. Sounds dishonest." I answered.

"It is," Robbie said, breaking his silence.

"Well, yeah, it is," said Abigail rolling her eyes at him. "If we let randos start kissing randos, it would turn into a herpes fest. Gross."

Maria nodded. "She's right. While the idea of having an open kissing booth seems fun, in practicality, it would be pretty nasty."

"You want a chance at a booth, Lia? Get matched with a cute sophomore. They'll kiss anyone if they are older." Abigail sneered.

Maria rolled her eyes, "No-one chooses who they get matched with Abigail, you know that. Either way, the sophomore wouldn't even be able to tell who they were kissing. No one would actually."

"Yeah, don't be jealous, Abigail; you might get that sophomore of your dreams," I grinned.

Abigail glared at me and then quickly changed the subject.

"So, Robbie, when are you going back to Bolivia?" She said, turning her attention to him.

"Maybe as early as next month," he said.

"That's great you are getting to learn the ropes so early. Maria, are you going as well?"

"Nope. I have a personality and can say no to my grandparents."Robbie gave her a sharp look and then resumed eating his cold soup.

"Wait —next Month?" Maria asked.

Robbie nodded his head.

"But that's when the preliminaries for the engineering competitions are going to be. If you don't go, you won't be able to compete this year."

Robbie looked at her, then picked up his goblet with wine and took a sip. Quietly he put it down, and he began eating again.

"Robbie!" She said, slamming her spoon down on the table.

He looked at her, and they spoke a silent language that only siblings who have grown close together know how to speak. I sat back in my chair. Clearing their line of vision, trying to disappear from the staredown, they gave each other.

Abigail had other ideas.

"That contest is so nerdy. Like, who cares." She said and then sipped her soup delicately from her spoon.

They both snapped their head in her direction at the same time.

A look of fear flashed momentarily in her eyes as if she noticed her mistake. Then she rolled her eyes and gently dabbed her mouth with her napkin.

"I mean—it is. It's a contest full of all the kids who played way too much Minecraft and saw way too little sunlight in middle school. Why would you give up going to Bolivia to learn how to do an actual skill you will use later on in life? Engineering contests will always exist. Your grandfather won't."

"Because he's wanted this for the last four years," Maria said. She turned to her brother, "Just go the week after."

"They are closing a deal that week and grandfather wants me to go see how it's done. We don't know when I'll get another opportunity to practice that."

"Every time it's something else. They take over your life." She said, ripping a small loaf of bread.

"Well, it is going to be my life."

"It doesn't have to be."

"If not his, then it would be yours, Maria." Abigail turned to her, "and you quickly took that option off the table."

"Not because I wanted it to become Robbie's."

"Well, unlike you, your brother doesn't shirk his responsibilities."

"Abigail, stay out of this," Robbie said. His voice was low and rough. His jaw clenched. Yet underneath the sudden tension, he looked tired.

"No, Robbie. It's not fair. She gets to play princess and throws a tantrum. Then you take up the responsibility that should be hers, and she somehow still has a problem." Abigail pouted.

"What would you know about responsibility Abigail?" Maria scoffed.

"Maria, you and I will be family one day, and I will have the responsibility of that company as well."

"Stop pretending as if you and my brother are actually married already. He doesn't even—" I could see the tears welling up in Maria's eyes. Her cheeks became flushed. I noticed the table had become quieter. Some of the dinner guests that were close enough to hear had paused their conversation. They pretended to eat their food with intense concentration.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach "Owwww," I groaned and dropped my head to the table.

"Lia?" Maria said, a hint of fear in her voice.

I moaned, my cheek pressed against the cool tablecloth. Did I get my hair in the soup?

"Lia, are you okay?" Maria said, and put a hand on my shoulder. I discreetly winked at her.

"What's wrong with her?" Abigail said, annoyed.

I put my hands in my face. "Uhhng, my stomach hurts so much," I mumbled into my hands.

"Maybe, we should go to my room, and you can lay down?"

I nodded my head. I looked up. Abigail looked disgusted by my presence. Robbie just looked confused and concerned. His eyes kept running up and down my body, trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

"Do you need help standing up?" Maria asked.

I decided I should ham it up a bit more and nodded weakly, groaning again.

"Is your friend alright, dear?" One of Maria's older family members asked. She was sitting next to Abigail.

"I think she just needs to lay down," Maria said. "There's a bug going around in our track team. That's probably it."

I pouted and nodded miserably at the older lady.

"Oh, that sounds awful; well, feel better, and be careful, Maria, those things can be nasty. "Maria put her arm around my shoulder and lead me out of the dining room. We rounded a corner and went past the kitchen.

"Wait!" I whispered and made the sharp turn in her large kitchen. I grabbed the jar of cookies and a platter of leftover empanadas from earlier.

"You know if the whole medical school plan falls through, one of my cousins owns a movie production company in LA," Maria whispered, smiling at me.