Rafe couldn’t hide the smile that played at the corner of his mouth. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not fuck Elaine from down the street.”
“Shut up!” Grace giggled. She had no idea why she always giggled with him. She couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. “You know what I mean!”
“Yeah, and you know what I mean, too,” Rafe said. “Don’t worry, I’m not, like, mad at you about it. But you don’t see things the same way I do sometimes. You don’t have to.”
Grace nodded. “I think we should put a For Sale sign on Elaine’s house,” she said. “Like a neighborhood cleanup.”
Now it was Rafe’s turn to laugh. “You go for it,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“Don’t tempt me.” Grace rested her feet on the edge of the car’s bumper. They were sitting out on the far edge of the parking lot by the mall, the one that looked over the city. From that angle, it almost looked like a big town. Almost.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Hit it,” Rafe said, then sipped at his milkshake.
“So you know my brother, Joaquin, the one I told you about? He’s half Mexican, but he grew up in a bunch of different homes with different families. Do you think . . . I mean, I think it’s hard for him.” Grace wasn’t sure what she even wanted to say, or how to say it.
“Are you asking me to comment on this as a Mexican kid? You know that’s racist, right?”
Grace waited an extra breath before answering. “I don’t know how to ask some of these questions,” she admitted. “But Joaquin’s my brother, and he’s hurting, and I don’t know how to help him.”
They were quiet for a second. Rafe shook his milkshake. Grace had never seen him so contemplative before. “Some people think you’re less Mexican if you don’t speak Spanish, and some people don’t care. But then there’s religion—which church does your family go to, you know? How do you celebrate Christmas? Where’s your family from originally? Are you first or second generation? What traditions do you have? All these things go into it, and if you don’t have them, and the rest of the world sees you as all in on that, then it’s gotta be hard.
“I mean,” Rafe continued, then paused. “It’s like with Elaine down the street. She made assumptions about me, probably, but at least I can go home and talk to my brother about it and we can laugh about how stupid she is. I’m proud of who I am, and I would never want to be anyone else, and when people are assholes, at least I can go back to my family for support. If your brother doesn’t have any of that, then that’s got to be fucking hard.”
Grace listened, then scooted over until their legs were pressing next to each other. It had been a very long day, after all, and she wanted to feel a little less alone in the world. Rafe didn’t move away. “Do you think you could talk to Joaq?” she asked.
Rafe smirked. “What, teach him how to be Mexican?”
“What? No! No, I would never—”
Rafe smiled down at her. “Relax, I’m kidding. And yeah, sure, give me his number, I’ll text him. Maybe we can hang out. Besides, I’d like to shake his hand after he almost beat up that guy for calling you a slut.” Rafe’s voice was dark again. “Asshole.”
“Adam is definitely an asshole,” Grace agreed. “And thanks.”
“No problem. But you know, Joaquin just probably needs less people talking to him and more people listening to him.” Rafe nudged at her shoulder. “And you’re a pretty good listener, Grace.”
She nodded, not sure if that was entirely true but hoping that it was.
“So now I have a favor to ask you,” Rafe said, clearing his throat. “This is important.”
“Anything.”
“Can you please stop chewing on your straw?!” Rafe took her milkshake away from her, inspecting the top of the straw. “Look at this! How are you not bleeding to death right now?”
“Give it back!” Grace cried, but she was laughing as she reached for it. “I just have nervous teeth, that’s all!”
“Nervous teeth!” Rafe howled. “What does that even mean?”
“Shut up!” Grace said, but she was laughing, too, and when she made another swipe for her drink, she fell into him.
They both stopped laughing then.
Grace knew what she was supposed to do in the TV-show version of