Chapter 10 (Maria)

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Chapter 10 (Maria)

When I stepped into the dining room, they were already sitting and waiting for the first course of the evening. The maid had set up a plate for me next to Robbie and...

"Allan!" I squealed, running in and hugging my uncle from behind. Allan was my father's older brother, and I hadn't seen him since Christmas last year. He use to come by more often but he's been so busy with his job in Connecticut we rarely see him these days. He was my favorite uncle out of my father's and mother's siblings. He was always spoiling Robbie and me.

"Maria," he said, patting my arm, "I think you grew even taller."

"God, please no. I could use some shrinking if anything," I said, taking a seat.

Robbie gave me a perfunctory nod when I sat down. That was pretty much the extent of our communication lately.

"Maria, how nice of you to join us," My grandmother said from the other side of the table.

"I said I would," I answered under my breath; my grandmother brought out the passive-aggressive in me.

"If you had come a bit early, I would have properly introduced you to Ana and her daughter Viviana. I'm sure you had an excellent reason as to why you're late, though."

"New York traffic. It's killer," I said, grabbing a dinner roll.

"You live in the city?" The girl asked.

I looked up to see she was sitting in front of me. I hadn't even noticed her in my excitement to see my uncle joining us.

She was stunning. Long curling brown hair and big green eyes. She was slender but still curvy.

"Yeah, I go to school there," I said, cutting my roll open.

"I'm sorry, I'm Viviana," she said, smiling at me. Her smile was shy and soft, but her eyes were anything but. She gave me a sweeping look, assessing me.

"Maria."

"So, do you go to school with Robbie? That must be so exciting!" She exclaimed and gave me another smile. She had an accent when she spoke that made her sound cute.

"No. I graduated last year. I go to college."

"Wow. How exciting," Viviana said, "Like Gossip Girl."

"Not that exciting."

"That's what Robbie says, but I'm sure you guys are just humble. I can't imagine how going to the city every day can't be exciting."

I guess that was her favorite word.

"Well, Viviana, I am sure if you spend enough time there, you will see what I mean," I said, biting into my roll.

"I want to. I've been hoping Robbie can show me around, but he's been so busy with school and helping your grandfather. Maybe this weekend, Robbie?" She asked, turning to look at my brother.

He had been looking at his phone on his lap the entire time.

"Maybe, sure," he mumbled, not really paying attention.

"Maybe you can join us?" She asked, turning to look at me again.

"I don't know. I'm pretty busy too," I was being rude at this point, but I could see my grandmother looking at me and expecting me to be the perfect hostess.

Viviana pouted briefly and then smiled again, "college in the city must be really serious."

I changed the subject, "So, Viviana, where are you and your mom staying?"

"Well, here actually, your grandmother and Robbie were really gracious to accept us."

My head jerked to look at Robbie, but he kept looking at his phone.

"You're staying in the South wing?"

"My mother is. I'm staying in the spare room next to your room."

I stopped chewing.

"That's where Lana stays when she sleeps over," I said, looking at Robbie. I probably sounded so rude and childish.

"You have your own apartment now," he said, finally breaking whatever oath of silence he took against me.

Viviana's doe eyes widened." I didn't mean to intrude. It's just the south wing was so isolated. I was bored almost every day," she said as the kitchen staff brought us our soup.

'Yeah, I'm sure you were bored and not trying to find a way to weasel yourself into my brother's life,' I thought to myself.

"It's fine. I was just worried that a friend of ours wouldn't have a place to sleep," I said, shooting Robbie a glare.

"Your girlfriends sleep in the spare room. That's so sweet. Mine would always share a bed with me. That way, we could talk all night."

"Yeah, well, my friend kicks. I also have another friend who sleeps with me. It's more comfortable if one of them takes the spare," Now I really sounded childish.

Viviana noticed," Please excuse me, Maria. Robbie told me no one had used the spare room for a while."

"Well, that's because the friend who usually slept with me found another place to sleep."Robbie jerked up from his phone and shot me a look.

"Oh?" Viviana said, confused.

Lia had become She Who Shall Not Be Named in our house. My grandmother noticed my brother's visibly shaken expression and decided it would be a great time to interrogate me.

I groaned inwardly and prepared myself for the mental abuse coming my way. I have no one to blame but myself. I broke the cardinal rule of keeping my trap shut during family dinners.

"So Maria, how is school?" My grandmother asked, warming up. I was about to answer when she added.

"Maria is going to Barnard. It's a quaint little school. She applied to other schools, but unfortunately, none of them accepted her. School can be very competitive on the east coast," She said to Viviana's mom.

"It's going well."

"What are you studying," Ana asked.

"Business administration," I said, stirring the soup in my bowl. I hated artichoke soup. Robbie's head jerked up again, a puzzled expression on his face.

My grandfather chuckled.

"What do you even plan to do with that? Open a party business?"

"Our Maria love to throw parties," My grandmother explained to a confused Ana.

"I only threw them for school. It's not all I do," I said, and I didn't really understand why I was getting so defensive.

"Really? You could have fooled me with those grades," my grandfather muttered, still laughing.

The rest of the night continued like that. Discrete jabs and slow character assassinations. When dessert was called for, I said I was feeling ill and went upstairs.

I lay in my bed feeling more upset than was probably warranted when I heard a soft knock on my door.

"What?"

"Can I come in?" Robbie asked.

I sighed, "yeah."

He opened the door and walked inside, taking a seat on the edge of my bed.

"If you came to check up on me, I'm fine. I'm sure they're wondering where you are."

"No. I can tell you're upset. I want to stay here with you," Robbie said, sliding down to sit on my floor and leaning his head against the side of my mattress."

"Why? You hate me."

"I don't hate you, Maria."

"Yes, you do; you blamed me for you and Lia breaking up. You've ignored me all summer."

"Because I know you're not telling me something, and it's frustrating. Maybe Lia did want space; 

maybe it was true what she said. But I don't know, we were so good one minute and then suddenly she didn't want anything to do with me. Maybe it's my ego, and I'm overthinking it. I've never been rejected before. It's a hard lesson in humility."

I stared at him. He also looked tired all the time now. His hair was somewhat of a mess, as if he ran his hands through it a few times.

"I hate that they think I'm stupid," I said, looking up at my ceiling.

"They don't think you're stupid, you just don't show any interest in what they like, and they don't appreciate what you're good at. It's their loss."

I sighed. Why was he always so nice? Sometimes it was almost irritating.

"They don't know what I have an interest in. They just assume. Here," I said, reaching over and giving him my laptop, "open the file titled Robbie."

I went back to look at the ceiling while I waited. Last year I put little glow-in-the-dark stars with Lia so we could stargaze at night. She mapped out actual constellations using a map. Even calculated ratios on the proximity they had with each other.

"Why do you have a book on all our accounts...I haven't run through this yet. Who did you get to do this?" He asked, scrolling through the files.

"I didn't get anyone to do it. I did it. You said you were tired, and I felt bad, so I did them for you."

"These numbers are perfect," he said, surprised.

"Thanks," I said, looking over to where he sat.

"How did you know what to do?"

"I listen to your conversations."

"Why?"

"Because I do have an interest in what they like. They just don't like me."

"Maria, I'm confused; you seemed like you wanted to pass on any involvement in our father's business?"

I crossed my arms in front of me, "I mean, it was never an option, so what was the point of even considering it?"

"That's not true; the only reason I'm doing this is that you said you didn't want it. You were the original inheritor."

"On paper."

"What more do you want? You were going get everything."

"Yes," I said, turning to look at him. "But I was never going to actually manage anything. As soon as dad died, they were shoving Liam down my throat. He was going to Bolivia with our grandfather and golfing trips with associates. I was never invited to any of those meetings, and the one time I brought it up, they looked at me as if I was telling a bad joke."

"I'm sure it wasn't like that.."

"It was exactly like that. You know it. You were there with me during every dinner."

"I mean, you never made it seem as if you liked this. You always seem disdainful if anyone even mentions it."

I bit the inside of my cheek already over with this conversation. I hated heart to heart's with my family, especially if I was the vulnerable one.

"Why don't you bring this up to grandfather?" He pressed.

I scoffed," Please, Robbie."

"Seriously, maybe he doesn't know."

"Even if he knew it wouldn't matter. He thinks I'm an idiot. He has literally said I'm the family disappointment."

"Well, your grades weren't the best," he said, giving me an apologetic look. I shot him a glare.

"Well, they weren't Maria. You know how our family is. It's Ivy or bust."

I scoffed, "I'm tired of everyone acting as if I failed at high school. I had a 3.5. Sure, it's not Harvard, but it's hardly failing."

"Maria, I think you're competent; you don't have to explain it to me."

I shook my head, "Plus, I managed events at Trinity for two years. I raised more money than any other event coordinator. I collaborated with every school in the entire city at least once. I never once went over budget. I managed to raise enough scholarship money that we were able to double our enrollment for students from lower-income families. I tripled our enrollment for minority students."

I grabbed a notebook from my bookcase and threw it at his lap, "and it wasn't just luck. I ran numbers, I calculated and planned everything."

He looked at me thoughtfully before flipping through the notebook, "You did this by yourself? Lia didn't help you?" He asked, looking through my calculations.

If I could shoot laser beams out of my eyes, there would be a singe on my rug in the shape of my brother.

He looked frightened and tried to backtrack, "i-its just you hate math," he said, gingerly placing the notebook back on my bed.

"Yeah, I'm not a math whiz like you or Lia, but I can do it. I like the outcomes it lets me find," I said, shrugging.

"Huh," he said, grabbing the second notebook and flipping through it, "I didn't know...When did you start wanting this?"

"After dad died. I don't know... I mean, it was never a fully formed idea, and he always complained about it. But also, I don't know. I always liked that dad worked hard for us, and I wanted to do the same. I wanted to be useful."

"But dad always complained about it."

"He did, but there was always this apprehension in the way he talked about it. I don't know. I also just think he was worried about you."

"Worried about me?"

"Yeah. You're like Dad. You go all-in on everything. But the thing is, you can't go all-in on everything. Unless you're focused on one thing, it's impossible."

"And you don't go all-in on everything?"

"No. I'm balanced."

"My college application would argue that I'm balanced just fine."

"On paper. Sure. But are you? How many friends do you have, Robbie? Aside from girls you slept with, how many relationships did you have?"

"I'm friends with Chris."

I let out a snort, "when was the last time you hung out with Chris? The soccer team doesn't count."

"Cameron."

"Same scenario as Chris."

"I'm friends with Abby."

"Are you? I'm sure you weirdly care about each other. But you treated her like complete shit when you were together."

"Things were complicated."

"Yeah, they were. You were with her because you felt pressured. Because you went all-in with whatever our grandparents suggested."

"My relationship with Lia was real."

"And you were struggling between wanting to be with her and feeling indebted."

"Is that why she left me? Do you think I didn't pay enough attention to her?"

"No. Robbie, Lia only says good things about you. Grandfather, on the other hand, would have a different story to tell. You would fall asleep in conferences because you stayed up all night with her and would bail if Lia protested even a little to you leaving. You were not handling things well."

"And you would have?" he asked slowly.

"Yes. I know how to do a good job, but I'm not a perfectionist."

He considered me and ran a hand through his tousled hair, "You've thought about this a lot. Why didn't you tell me you wanted this?" He asked, his head cocking to the side.

"Because you were always busy. You became a total ass after dad died. All you ever wanted to do was fuck around with random girls. Then when you were home, you were in a mood and barely liked talking to me. It was hard to tell you anything."

He looked down at the notebook again before looking back up. "I'm sorry," He said softly and reached out a hand across the mattress.

I took it, and we sat in silence.

"Are you fucking Viviana?" I asked.

His eyes widened at the bluntness of my questions, "N-no."

"I wouldn't tell Lia. You're my brother."

"I'm not. Maria, I'm still in love with Lia. I'm not interested in anyone else."

"I mean, you've slept with girls you weren't interested in, and she's pretty."

"Yes, she's beautiful, but I promise I haven't."

"Why is she in the guest room here? This is our wing."

"Why do you think?"

"Grandmother?"

"Who else? She mentioned how it would be better for her to be there. That way, I could help her if she needed anything," he explained.

"Why are they even staying here? They have money for a hotel."

"I don't know. Viviana and her mother are old friends, I guess, and we have a lot of room."

"She likes you."

"I know. She's a bit overbearing, but I learned my lesson with Abigail."

"Okay, just be careful with that girl. I know her type."

"Duly noted."

I looked back up at my ceiling, "how long do you think I need to wait before I can go home?"

"Not long. I think they're all going to a show after this. They do that a lot after dinner."

"How are you holding up by yourself here?"

"It's okay. Mom is not doing well. She has more lows than anything, and I mostly just do what I always do."

We stayed in silence before he spoke up again.

"I miss her."

I looked at him, not really know what to say.

"She sits next to me in math now. I swear I'm being punished for something."

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end," I said because I didn't know what else to say and because I desperately wanted to believe it was true.

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