Chapter 2
2
Anais
Present day
“Anais Maria De La Cruz.”
My name is called and I make my way across the stage, stopping when I reach my principal. He hugs me, hands me my diploma, and we pose for a picture. I move to shake hands with the superintendent then make a quick detour to hug my favorite teacher, Mrs. LaSalle.
“You’re going to be someone amazing,” she whispers in my ear, and tears spring to my eyes.
Shouts and whoops ring out in the auditorium, and I search through the sea of attendees for my family. It actually isn’t all that difficult to find them because they’re the loudest and probably the most annoying ones out there.
Mom stands, one hand up in the air and the other holding a giant cardboard cutout of my smiling face. Next to mom is my gramma, holding the same sign as mom and cheering just as loud.
Uncle Nix is here and beside him is his fiancée, Vivian, who is the cutest darn thing I’ve ever seen. She’s also the feistiest and keeps Uncle Nix on his toes, for sure. By just the looks of them, you’d think they are quite a mismatched pair. Phoenix is tall and muscular with light brown skin that is a product of my black grandfather and caucasian grandmother. Vivian, in contrast, has fair skin with green eyes and gorgeous red hair that many women pay a fortune to replicate. She’s the lucky bitch who has it all naturally.
However, those aren’t the most drastic differences between them. That would go to the extreme height difference. Uncle Nix is a six-five beast and Viv is this teeny tiny thing that could fit in his pocket. She’s like, a sample size of what a normal sized human should be. Uncle Nix calls her Tink –which she hates– and her friends all call her a people McNugget and Fun Size.
Speaking of Vivian’s friends, her best friend Camille and soon-to-be husband, Vaughan, are here along with his daughter Dagen.
I met them last fall after Uncle Nix got traded to the Houston Wranglers baseball team. Vivian was still making him work hard to gain her trust, and her friends welcomed him in immediately. During the game, I sat with all of them and had a fun time talking with Dagen. She claimed me as her new best friend and I’ve been able to spend time with her when I’ve visited Uncle Nix.
Two people are noticeably missing, Uncle Nix’s best friend, Bishop Michaels, and my dad. Not that Bishop would have a real reason to attend my high school graduation, but I surely hoped he might anyway. And dad…well he should be here. But like many other of my milestones lately, he can’t be bothered to leave the poker tables to spend a few minutes with his daughter.
During the same first visit to see Uncle Nix in Houston where I met Vaughan and Camille, I also met Bishop. Since that day, he has remained the leading star in my every fantasy. He’s been nothing but respectful and nice to me every time we’ve seen one another, but the problem is I don’t want him to be. I don’t want just the nice guy who’s polite to his friend’s niece. And I most certainly don’t want him to be just a friend .
I want Bishop Michaels to go from the man of my dreams to the man of my reality. And yes, I realize I’m eighteen –nineteen in three weeks– and he’s thirty…ish, but age is just a number and to me, it’s one that doesn’t matter.
I applied and was accepted to Rice University almost solely because he works there as the baseball coach. Another deciding factor was my uncle and the distance I so desperately need to put between me and Slidell, Louisiana.
Sure Texas is only a couple hours away, but it’s a change nonetheless. The move means new people, new faces, and new chances. I won’t run into the same kids I’ve spent the last four years with, and that is a very good thing.
Living on campus means I’ll be close to Bishop, and Uncle Nix has already told me that I should definitely go to him if ever I need anything. This gives me plenty of opportunities to be alone with him. All I need to do is make him see me and not his buddies' niece.
Uncle Nix and Vivian moved to Magnolia Creek at the beginning of the year after Camille moved in with Vaughan and Dagen. Uncle Nix loved Cami’s house –the perfect place for pool parties I plan to throw– and Vivian was wanting to be closer to her best friends, especially after Vaughan suffered a near fatal accident and her other biffy, CeCe, was nearly killed by her fiancés pyscho ex-wife.
The girls –Cami, Vivian, CeCe and Cami’s sister, Cathia– are tight like sisters. The entire crew is more like a family than a group of friends, and I envy that bond.
So with all of them living a good thirty miles away from campus, that leaves Bishop as my go to for emergencies since he lives nearby. And since I’m new to the city and don’t know anyone or my way around the city, I think I’ll be calling on Bishop to be my own personal tour guide quite often.
They have all made it too easy for me. Now Bish, he’s the hurdle. He keeps me at arms length every time I see him no matter how hard I try to get close. I take one giant step forward, and he scurries four steps back. But I’m not worried. We’ll meet in the middle…eventually .
I’m so lost in my daydreams that I almost miss the announcement congratulating the class of twenty-twenty four and throwing my cap into the air. After hugging classmates and locating my cap, I push through the crowd in search of my family.
It’s Dagen who finds me first when I hear my name called out over the ruckus.
“Anais!” she shouts, and I spin just in time to see her barreling towards me. I catch her with an oompf, then carefully scrunch down to see her eye to eye. “Congratulations. Did ya hear us cheerin’ for you?
“I sure did. I think I had the loudest cheering section out there.” She smiles and leaps forward, wrapping her little arms around my neck and squeezing.
“Day. For cryin’ out loud,” Vaughan walks up behind us along with the rest of the family. “Will you let her breathe?”
“Sorry,” she pouts and I kiss her little cheek.
“It’s okay. Let me just say hello to everyone else, then we can go see about some cookies,” I tell her then turn to mom who stands waiting patiently.
“Congratulations sweetheart,” she sniffs before a tear begins trickling down her cheek.
“Aw mom. Don’t cry. This is a happy day.” I pull her into a hug and swallow down the lump that threatens to burst.
As excited as I am to leave Slidell, I am equally as sad. Mom and I have had our fights –what mother and daughter haven’t– but she’s still my best friend, and I’m going to miss seeing her everyday.
“I know. It’s just a lot. That’s all.” She takes a step out of my arms and swipes at the tears that have fallen.
Gramma pushes mom out of the way and takes her turn crying into my shoulder. “I’m so proud of you, my angel pie.”
“Thanks gramma.” I kiss her nose and she smiles.
“Okay, my turn!” Viv shouts and jumps to hug me. “Congrats beautiful.” She raises up on her toes and whispers, “I have some celebration champs for you, but we’ll have some girl time later to enjoy.”
I roll my lips between my teeth and giggle to myself. I feel like she’s initiating me into their little girl gang, and I couldn’t be more giddy about it.
Cami moves in to hug me and wish me congratulations as does Vaughan, leaving Uncle Nix for last.
“Congratulations Ana,” he says hoarsely, and I’m not positive but I think he may be crying.
“Why’re you crying?” I ask for only him to hear.
He snakes his arms around my waist and lifts me high, leaving my feet to dangle and my heels hanging on by my toes.
“I just can’t believe you’re all grown up. I swear it feels like yesterday that I was teaching you how to hit a ball.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. It feels like yesterday that I was soaking up the blood from my busted lip from said baseball lesson,” I tell him, pointing to the small scar that remains from my very first set of stitches.
He gives me a crooked grin and sets me down on my feet. “C’mon y’all. We have reservations before Anais heads out with her friends to the grad party.”
“Yeah. I’m starved,” Vaughan whines, rubbing his belly.
“You are always hungry,” Cami tells him and smacks his arm.
“I’m a growin’ boy. What do you expect?” Cami and Viv roll their eyes, and everyone links arms as we walk towards the cars.
Dinner is wonderful and just like Viv promised, she, Cami and I have a private celebration congratulating me on my graduation, and welcoming me to the Magnolia Creek family.