Delia's Crossing (Delia 1)

I went upstairs as she had ordered, but I was hesitant about knocking on Edward’s locked door. I felt as if I were intruding. I imagined he would much rather spend his time with his friend and hear about all he had missed at school, but I did finally knock. Jesse opened the door just a little to peer out. When he saw me, he smiled with relief and opened it wide.

“It’s Delia!” he cried.

“Alone?”

Jesse looked past me down the hallway. “It appears so, Edward.”

“Good. Let her in, and lock the door again,” Edward told him.

Why did they have to lock the door, anyway? Jesse gestured for me to enter.

“Hey, Delia,” Edward called to me as soon as he heard the door close behind me and Jesse lock it again.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

He was in his bed, propped up against two very large pillows. His eyes were still bandaged, and although his facial burns and scrapes weren’t as red, they were still far from healed. He was wearing a pair of light blue pajamas, the top almost completely unbuttoned. I didn’t know he had a bad bruise on his chest until I saw it now.

“Cómo está, you mean,” Edward said. “We’ve been studying Spanish. Show her, Jesse.”

“I brought him this CD set of lessons in Spanish. We’ve both been listening to it and practicing.” He showed the disc to me, and I read what was written in Spanish on the cover. It was ten elementary lessons for the basic, necessary expressions. I handed it back to him.

“But now we have the real thing here, Edward. We don’t need this,” Jesse told him.

“Sí, correcto,” Edward said, and laughed. There was something unusual about the way both of them were behaving, I thought, and then I got a whiff of Jesse’s breath.

I quickly looked around and realized they were drinking tequila. The bottle and the two glasses were on Edward’s side table.

“You are drinking tequila?” I asked, pointing at the bottle.

“Discovered?” Edward said.

“We’ve hardly made an attempt to prevent it,” Jesse told him, and they both laughed. It seemed nothing anyone would say or do would not make them laugh. No wonder they had locked the bedroom door.

“Should you be drinking tequila, Edward? The doctor said it’s good for you?”

“Dr. Butler said so. Right, Doc?”

“Correcto,” Jesse said, and they both laughed again.

“Right now, it feels good, Delia,” Edward said, smiling. “Just trying to take the edge off. How do you think you say that in Spanish, Jess?”

“No idea. You understand what he said?” Jesse asked me. “What he wants to know?”

I shook my head.

“The tequila, it helps make him…it helps relax him,” he said. “He needs to relax, and so do I.”

“You?” I asked Jesse. Edward laughed, so I turned to him. “I do not understand, Edward.”

“It’s simple, Delia. He’s afraid of my mother,” Edward said. “Terrified of her, actually.”

I looked at Jesse. He had reason to be afraid of her, I thought.

“How do you say that, Delia?” Edward asked. “Cómo se dice en español, he’s afraid of my mother?”

“Él está asustado de su madre.”

“Yeah, right. Asustado. We’ll be speaking Spanish in no time, Jess.”