Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee

Author:Emery Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Gabi

When we get back to the house, only my dad is home. It’s late enough that the shop is closed for the day and my mom’s off at night classes, but still early enough that my dad hasn’t started on dinner yet, and he gives me a weird, eyebrow-raised look as Theo and I enter.

“Thought you were working tonight, Gabi,” he says.

“We are,” I say. “Is it okay if we use the kitchen? We just need to put together some drinks for Theo’s parents.”

My dad sighs. “You’re gonna make stuff and let it sit in the fridge overnight?” he says, then shakes his head. “The Moris really don’t know how to run a business, huh?”

I glance at Theo, but he looks pretty unaffected. I chuckle awkwardly in an attempt to defuse the tension and repeat, “Can we use the kitchen?”

My dad shrugs and waves us off. “Fine, fine.”

I motion Theo to the kitchen so we can get away before things get messy. We unload our stuff and get to work, but the air is silent, and my brain runs through all these scenarios about Theo hating me now that my dad insulted his parents.

But finally, Theo says, “We should try to finish early so we can squeeze in some soccer practice tomorrow before school.”

My hand freezes over the faucet as I turn to face him. “You’re not mad?” I say.

“Mad about what?”

But now I’m worried that if I explain it, he’ll just realize he should’ve been mad all along. “Um, nothing,” I say.

We work in silence, and I desperately want to break it, but I’m terrified to try. Usually, at Justin’s, everything flows easily, but being at home has my whole body on high alert again. What if I say the wrong thing or steer the conversation the wrong way, and my dad overhears, and suddenly he’s grilling me on my sexuality? Or worse, telling me I shouldn’t spend time with Theo anymore.

“Okay,” Theo says as he tallies up our finished products, “I think we’re almost done. We can just leave the toppings off the menu in the morning until we can make them at lunch.”

“We don’t have to practice tomorrow,” I say. “I mean, if you’d rather make the toppings.”

Theo smirks. “Gabi, you’re not getting out of soccer practice, okay? This is for the good of our school.”

I roll my eyes, but I’m feeling a little bit breathless suddenly.

My dad enters the kitchen and takes a quick look around before turning to me and saying, “Gabi, you boys almost done? I want to make dinner before your mom gets home.”

“Yup, almost done,” I say.

My dad nods. “Bueno, don’t want to spend too much time with the enemy.”

Theo still seems unbothered as we start cleaning up, but something about my dad’s comment gets under my skin, and before I can think better of it, I blurt out, “Theo’s teaching me how to play soccer. Or, how to play well, I guess. ’Cause I know how to play, even though I suck at it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.