Chapter 9: Meet the Gonzalez's

Blake POV:

My mind wandered impatiently as I wait for Dana and her siblings to come downstairs. Truth is, I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at the moment. I have no idea how I'm to react once I meet them and how I should explain my relationship with their sister.

Obviously, I can't tell them it's a contract marriage because that would be embarrassing and a bit too much for them to handle, so I have to make it seem like Dana and I really have something serious and genuine going on between us.

Another reason I'm so nervous is because of my inexperience in dealing with kids, most especially teenagers. I know how difficult they can be and since I never had any siblings to prep me for such experience, I'm pretty much just hoping I choose the right words with them and that they are not too difficult to interact with.

"Blake?" Dana's familiar voice calls out my name and I turn to see her and her siblings climbing down the stairs in a somewhat slow manner.

All three of them unsurprisingly had bored expressions on their faces and a nervous sigh escaped my lips when I spot her brother staring down on me with a somewhat unimpressed and disappointed look.

"You brought a pretty boy home?" He hisses with an irritated tone and honestly, I wasn't expecting to be immediately disliked for supposedly being a pretty boy.

"Shut up Carlos! Where are your manners?" Dana snaps harshly at him.

"He's right though, sis. You said we were about to meet your fiancé, but this guy here doesn't seem like the type that would want to marry someone like you. No offense, Dana, but you know I'm right. Are you sure he isn't playing you?" A young girl who I assume is the Ximena Dana talks about speaks up, and I chuckle a bit at her boldness.

"Did this pretty boy just laugh at me? Did I say something funny?" she fires at him with an annoyed look on her face and I couldn't help but chuckle at her childish attitude.

"I'm so sorry about them, Blake. It seems I failed to teach them how to respect people that are older than them. If you don't shut your piehole and apologize immediately, you and I are gonna have serious problems, Ximena,” she snaps at her, but judging by that stubborn look on Ximena's face, I doubt she'd obey a word Dana says.

"I don't need her to apologize to me, Dana. It's fine,” I chirp in quickly, taking her hand briefly in mine and giving it a small squeeze to assure her that I wasn't at all bothered by her sister's attitude.

"You see, Hermana, he needs no apology. Stop being so dramatic. Anyways, good afternoon, sir. I'm Ximena Gonzalez and it's nice to meet you. Although I have a thousand and one questions to ask you, I'll let my other siblings introduce themselves first so Dana here doesn't say I have no respect,” she blurts out nonchalantly. I definitely understand why Dana warned me previously that if I ever met her, I would be both perplexed and intrigued.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ximena. I'm Blake, Blake Davies,” I reply, stretching my hands out and taking her hands in for a handshake.

"Mr. Davies, I apologize for my previous remark about you being a pretty boy, but I wasn't lying. You really are a pretty boy, and I still don't understand what you're doing here, but anyway, the name's Jencarlos, and I'd like to say that I consider myself the man of this household," her brother introduces himself earning an unimpressed look from all three of his sisters.

"You should be ashamed of yourself if you really consider yourself the man of this shit hole. How embarrassing!" Ximena hisses, earning a light smack on the head from Carlos.

"You really have no respect, you brat!" He hisses, she rolls her eyes.

My eyes move towards the young girl who seemed to be trying to hide behind both Ximena and Dana.

"Don't be shy Carmen,” Dana tells her, and she sighs a little before moving away from both get sisters and walking towards me. She gestures that I squat down to her level which I did immediately and to my surprise, she wraps her hands around my neck for an unexpected hug.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Davies. Please take care of my sister when you marry her and make sure you're nice to her. If you don't take care of her, I won't be friends with you anymore,” she blurts out as soon as she lets go of me and I honestly could not help but smile.

"Don't worry about that Carmen. I promise, I will do just that,” I reply to her, and she smiles widely at me.

"I never taught you to be so easy Carmen. How is he your friend so suddenly? Do you even know him?" Ximena snaps at Carmen, who didn't seem too surprised by her sister's outburst.

"Not everyone should have no manners like you Ximena,” Dana hisses back at her.

"Looks who's talking. Like you actually have good manners," Ximena fires back. I definitely had no idea how the situation went from good to bad in seconds.

"Just stand back and watch, Mr. Davies. Don't be too surprised," Carmen whispers to me and I take her advice since I didn't exactly know what to do or say.

"Do you always have to show how much of a brat you are to everyone? Can't you just pretend to be normal and respectful? We have a freaking guest here Ximena!" Dana snaps at her, sounding frustrated and just when Ximena is about to reply, Carlos chimes in.

"Don't you dare say a word Ximena. Show some respect if not to Dana but to the guest in front of you,” he warns her and surprisingly, she immediately pipes down. Now I get why he calls himself the man of the house.

You're lucky it didn't get messier than this Mr. Davies. A lot of times, it actually gets so bad that Ximena ends up getting slapped and then they don't speak to each other for days." Carmen whispers in a very low voice and I could tell she already found a gossip partner in me.

"Really? That's bad!" I reply in a low voice, playing along with her.

"Unfortunately, it is,” she replies, shaking her head vigorously like a judgmental elderly woman.

"You said you have questions to ask me Ximena. Do you still wanna ask?" I ask.

"Of course, I want to ask and although I have a lot of questions, I'm only going to focus on the important ones but first, please take a seat because I don't want Dana here to lash out at me again,” she replies, drawling the last part sarcastically and earning an eye roll from Dana.

We all sit down with Dana sitting beside me first before Carmen sits in between us whilst Ximena and Carlos sit on the single sofas opposite us.

"How did you guys meet?" Carlos asks suddenly.

"I thought we agreed that I was asking the questions?" Ximena asks but he ignores her.

"You're sixteen sister Ximena, you barely know the right questions to ask. Let brother Carlos do the talking and we can add extra questions when he's done." Carmen replies and I have to admit that she seemed like the most sensible and interesting sibling.

"Who taught you how to be so rude?" Ximena scoffs, obviously about to scold Carmen but immediately quiets down when Carlos glared at her. Apparently, he's the only one that can control her.

"Can he answer now?" Dana asks, he nods positive.

"Okay, so your sister and I met at a bar where she works,” I reply to his question, hoping he keeps it simple and short.

"When did you start going out?" He asks and thankfully, Dana and I had previously decided that we were going to agree on a certain time frame whenever we're asked this question, so we don't get caught lying.

"We've been going out for about seven, eight months now,” I reply, and he squints his eyes for a while, as if inspecting me.

"I mentioned earlier that you're a pretty boy and as far as I know, pretty boys deal with pretty girls and just so you know the pretty is not literally..." He's explaining and I quickly chime in.

"Don't bother explaining bro, your sister already did,” I say to him.

"Firstly, it's good to know you know, secondly, you haven't earned the right to call me bro yet,” he corrects, and I chuckle a little, deciding against giving a reply.

"Anyways, as I was saying, what made my sister so great that you actually want to marry her? I mean, compared to you, she's pretty mild and I'm pretty sure there are other women out there better and prettier than she is. So, tell me, what makes Dana special and why she's the one?" he asks and I'm taken aback for a few seconds.

"If your answer doesn't satisfy my siblings and I then we won't consent to this marriage." Ximena quickly chimes in, and I sigh.

"I'll be honest with you. You have a point. Everyone would expect me to be with someone who they believe would fit my supposed standard or something but that isn't what I want for myself. Frankly, your sister doesn't have a specific trait or attitude that makes her special in any way, she has simply always been herself with me and I felt comfortable and happy with that. She brings a sense of peace and relief in my life, and I don't think a supposed 'pretty girl' can do that for me."

"I don't know how you see your sister but to me, she's very far from being mid and I don't think I've met a more beautiful and intelligent woman like her. You really should give her that much credit cause if she wasn't as courageous and as intelligent as she was, she wouldn't have raised all three of you so well. So, to answer your question plainly, your sister is the one because she's an amazing human being and I would be the luckiest man ever to have someone like her agree to marry me,” I reply to him, taking a quick look at Dana who looked surprised, but she tried to mask it.

I honestly feel like the worst human being on earth for having to lie to them about something as important as why a man would choose their sister, but I wouldn't say everything I said was a complete lie. I definitely have a lot of respect for Dana, and I do admire her courage and how far she's willing to sacrifice for a better life for her siblings and I definitely don't regret meeting her and asking for her help.

"So, you think she's pretty? That one?" Ximena points towards Dana with an unimpressed look, earning an eye roll from Carmen and Dana.

"Anyways, when's the wedding?" She asks.

"It's in a few days,” Dana responds.

"Few days? Why the rush?" Carlos asks.

"It's for the better Jencarlos,” Dana assures him and although he didn't look too pleased about it, he seemed to just shrug it off.

"So, you'll be my brother-in-law in a few days? That's amazing!" Carmen squeals excitedly and I felt relieved to know that she already accepted me whole heartedly.

"You are so easy, Carmencita! You really shouldn't be that way, it's embarrassing." Ximena hisses at her, visibly displeased by her friendliness.

"Let the girl be Ximena. Anyways sis, I hope you made the right decision and I hope you're happy with it. You know that's all I care about and if this pretty boy is gonna make you happy, then I'm willing to accept him as my brother-in-law. Now, can I go back to my room?" Carlos says, drawling the last part with an expressionless look on his face.

"Do whatever you want!" Dana replies absent mindedly, struggling to make Carmen let go of my left arm.

"Well bro, good luck dealing with that psycho. You'll need it,” he says as soon as he turns to face me, and I chuckle.

"Thanks bro,” I reply, stretching my hands out for a handshake and thankfully, I don't get snubbed.

"I'm off too. Carmencita, you're coming with me!" Ximena adds, immediately pulling Carmen off the sofa and dragging her back upstairs.

"Thank God!" Dana heaves a sigh of relief as soon as they are out of sight.

"I have weird siblings, don't I?" She asks.

"I don't find them weird. I find them interesting,” I assure her.

"Well, it's good to know they didn't traumatize you. At least I don't have to feel guilty,” she jokes, and I chuckle lightly at how dramatic she was being.