Interlude: In Which Julieta Begins Shipping It

Julieta woke up some time later when the door to her room creaked open. She rolled over and sat up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Bobby slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. She blushed and was all too aware of her tangled hair and groggy, sand-filled eyes.

“How long have I been out?” she asked, yawning.

“Couple hours,” Bobby said. “Elisa came down to the lounge with the rest of us so you could rest. Your laptop’s over there,” he added, nodding toward her bedside table.

“Is she having a good time?” Julieta asked, grabbing the laptop and putting it back in its case.

He cringed, sitting down on the bed next to her. “Uh… I was trying to see to it that she would, but then my plan was very cleverly usurped by my sisters and Darcy.”

She laughed. “Oh no. Darcy can’t seem to walk three feet without pissing my sister off, can she?”

“Darcy pisses off most people, just by being herself,” Bobby admitted. “It’s a gift. Elisa’s just the first person that she’s cared about pissing off.”

“What did she do this time?”

“Well, it was her and Cora, really—they were talking about what they thought made for an accomplished person. Elisa thought that the requirements were a bit too harsh. Honestly, so did I.”

“What was the list?”

“I can’t remember it all,” he chuckled. “It was kind of long. She was already pretty annoyed with Cora, but then Darcy decided to chime in, and, well…”

“That only annoyed her even more,” Julieta finished.

“Exactly. The sad part is, I think Darcy may have been trying to compliment her, but it…backfired. She said an accomplished person would have to be well-read.”

“Elisa is certainly that.” She tilted her head. “What about me? Do I fit Darcy Fitzgerald and Cora Charles’s requirements for an accomplished woman?”

He smiled, leaning in to peck her lips. “You meet my requirements for an accomplished woman,” he said. “Surpass them, actually.”

She grinned. “Good enough.” She pulled back, tucking some hair behind her ear. “So where’s Elisa now? Sulking in her room to avoid Darcy?”

“How’d you know?”

“I know my sister. And where’s Darcy?”

“Last I checked, sulking in the lounge, lamenting the failure her latest conversation attempt with Elisa.”

“Well, she did kind of go about it wrong,” she said. “I mean, she couldn’t have just said, ‘Hey, Elisa, I think you’re really accomplished’?”

Bobby laughed, shaking his head. “Darcy doesn’t do things like that. She just dances around the subject and hopes the people she likes will get the hint.”

“So she does like Elisa? Like her, like her, I mean.”

He hesitated, before saying, “Yes. But you cannot tell her you know. Do not so much as hint at it. And don’t tell Elisa, either.”

“Why not?”

“Because Darcy swore me to secrecy, and I don’t want her to kill me.”

Julieta chuckled. “Well, I think it’s sweet. It’s too bad Elisa’s so oblivious.”

“It is sweet,” Bobby said. “I mean, I’ve known Darcy her whole life, and this is the first time she’s ever really had a crush. She’s had a couple of dates, but they always asked her out. I’ve never seen her try to go after someone herself… Probably explains why she’s so crap at it.” He let out a fond laugh. “But… I mean, I know it’s none of my business, but, like—does Darcy even have a chance there? Is Elisa…?”

“Gay?” Julieta finished. She nodded. “Yeah. Bi, actually. She’s been out for a couple years now. She doesn’t really care who knows. Sometimes I think our grandparents think she should care, but she doesn’t. I’ve always liked that about her.”

Bobby cringed. “Are your grandparents really conservative?”

She sighed, fiddling with the blanket. “Yes and no. I think if Elisa had just been a lesbian, they’d have been okay, once they got past the initial surprise. But to them, the idea of being bi is so…out-there. It wasn’t even really considered a thing when they were our age. So, I’m pretty sure Abuela thinks Elisa’s just ‘going through a phase,’ and Abuelo… well, I can never tell what he’s thinking. He’s like a brick wall.”

“I hope they come around someday.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Shaking her head, she tried to steer the conversation back into calmer waters. “For real, though… I’m not sure Darcy has a chance, anyway, with the way things have been going.”

Bobby let out a small laugh. “Yeah. Taylor Swift, she ain’t.”

“How’d you and Darcy meet, anyway? Isn’t she, like, five years younger than you?”

“Six,” Bobby said. “Her mom was my dad’s best friend, ever since they were kids. I think our parents kind of hoped Darcy and I would end up together.” He grimaced at the thought. “Luckily, Darcy being gay meant that plan was all kinds of dead.”

“What’d your parents say to that?”

“Well, by the time she came out, my parents had already accepted that I see her as family, so even kissing her is basically incest as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “And, well… Darcy’s parents died before she even really knew herself.”

“She was very young when they died, wasn’t she?”

“Fourteen,” Bobby sighed. “I know they would’ve been okay with it, though. They were good people, good parents. I wish you could’ve met Darcy’s mom, especially. She was such a nice woman. She would’ve liked you, and Elisa.”

“Was she like Darcy?”

“No. Gianna takes after her more, I think. Honestly, I’m not sure where Darcy got her…Darcy-ness from. But she’s always been like that, ever since she was a kid.”

“It is so strange, knowing you two are best friends,” she said, chuckling. “It’s sweet, but objectively, it makes no sense.”

“I don’t know if we would be if we weren’t raised together,” he admitted, “but I’m very glad we are. We’ve been through a lot together. Darcy’s never turned her back on me, even when I felt like I had nobody.”

“I know what you mean,” Julieta said, thinking of Elisa.

“So, you like the idea of Darcy and your sister?”

“I do,” she admitted. “But Elisa’s stubborn. She’s already decided to hate Darcy, and well, she’s single-mindedly hated Armie Hammer for years because of The Lone Ranger.”

“Well, I mean, I saw that movie, too. I can’t really blame her for that.”

Julieta laughed. “But you see what I mean. Once she’s made up her mind that she hates somebody…”

“Darcy’s got her work cut out for her, huh?”

“Oh yeah.”