Arquitectura de red

Chapter 11: Dinner with the Worthingtons, Have I Mentioned That I'm Poor?

Alec guided me to the intricate maze that was his house. Occasionally I felt our shoulders bumped and I inched away from him. Nevertheless, somehow my feet kept bringing me closer to him.

I swear, this must be because of the whiskey. I was so accustomed to cheap beers that even the smell of a slightly expensive whiskey would intoxicate me.

Alec didn't seem to mind our bumping, though.

Just before we reached the dining room, Alec's grandmother showed up. Her face transformed into pallid white as she saw me.

"Alec," her voice was warning him.

"Hey, Grandma," Alec greeted her easily. "You know Andrea, right?"

"I know that she's not going to have dinner with us," Mrs. Worthington snorted through her high-nose.

"She is," Alec was smiling, but his voice demanded finality. "And she's here as my friend, not as a help."

Mrs. Worthington sighed, and for once, her botox couldn't quite conceal the wrinkles around her forehead. "This is outrageous."

I stared at the ground, my cheeks heating up. I fumbled with the hem of my tee, suddenly noticing the fading colors and the cheap quality of the fabric. And then I dared myself to take a glance at Mrs. Worthington's clothes:

yet another one of her collection of colorful suits. I wondered if my whole wardrobe would account to buy one of those.

"Pretty please, Grandma?" Alec smiled, the kind of smile that would make girls at any age swoon. He looked straight at Mrs. Worthington's eyes, and then added. "I need her."

I saw Mrs. Worthington's green eyes started to flicker with hesitation. There was no doubt that she loved her grandson: the way she couldn't quite keep her chin tilted high around him was the dead giveaway.

"Oh, okay," she finally acquiesced. "But you have to take me for an afternoon tea tomorrow."

"I will," Alec kissed her on the cheek, before then leading us to the dining room.

Mrs. Worthington was walking right beside me, and I could feel her gaze hovering towards me. She didn't keep me wonder for long, though, because she whispered to me, with quite a lot of contempt: "You sneaky maid."

"I didn't do anything!" I whispered back at her.

Mrs. Worthington was about to retort, but then the sight of Victoria and Phillip met us. Nobody introduced me to him before, but just one look, and I was already pretty sure that the blonde man was Phillip.

He was a typical all-American boy: blonde, buff, and blue-eyed. He smiled at me when he saw me, but there was something about his face that made me distrust him almost instantly. Maybe it was his high-cheekbones that reminded me of Disney villains, maybe it was because his crooked smile.

That. And he put too much aftershave.

"Is that your new girl?" he asked at Alec while half-leering at me. Victoria noticed his leering, but her mouth didn't quite say anything. It seemed like she had already accustomed herself in her partner's habit.

"No. Andrea's just a friend," Alec said curtly. He then gestured me to sit beside him.

"Why you never bring a proper partner for dinner, man?" Phillip smiled his crooked smile. His ruddy cheeks reminded me of a punchbag. "I keep waiting for you to come out of the closet."

Now. I could practically see it in my head: my fists contacting his cheeks, his teeth were all clattered on the floor.

"Don't worry, Phillip. If I ever want to swing that way, you'll be the first to know," Alec somehow could keep his cool. "I mean, that blue eyes? What kind of man can resist that?"

At this point, I fought the urge to open my palm and high-fived Alec with full strength. Phillip gurgled for a while before then deciding that he couldn't come out with a good comeback. He did, however, elbowed Victoria

slightly.

Alec's mom came to her boyfriend's rescue in an instant. "Alec. Manners, please."

"I'm always at my best behavior," Alec reached for the wine and started to pour some into his glass. "I was just telling Phillip the truth. He should take that as a compliment."

He couldn't be anymore drunk than that! As Alec raised his glass, I took it from him. Before he could protest, I'd already gulped everything down my throat. It burned a bit, though, and my face was all scrunched as the sudden vertigo attacked my head.

"You could teach Andrea how to drink wine properly, Alec," Victoria said. I didn't know how she did it, but somehow it made me feel patronized and elevated at the same time.

Phillip groaned in mock-disappointment. "I don't want a drunk in this dinner table."

My mind was still bubbling with the alcohol to come up with a proper retort, so I stayed silent. The best thing I could do right now was to smile and nod and pretend like there were currently not a million nails throbbing against my head.

To my surprise, though, Mrs. Worthington was the one who spoke on my behalf. "Oh shut up, Phillip. Stop picking a fight with every single person you meet."

Both Alec and I turned around to see Mrs. Worthington pouring a glass of wine for herself and dunked a big gulp.

And then she belched. "There. Family dinners should consist of embarrassing moments."

"She's not family," I heard Phillip muttered under his breath. He was talking about me.

"And neither do you," Mrs. Worthington shot back at him.

An awkward silence came in between us. Again. We weren't in outdoor area, unfortunately, so there were no crickets to fill all quietness. Alec was still smiling, but his eyes were not twinkling so I knew that it was all an act.

When Gabriel and the other cooks entered the room, though, I nearly jumped in joy. His eyes bulged as he saw me, and as he presented the magnificent duck with all the side dressings, he couldn't quite keep his eyes off me.

'What the fuck are you doing here?!' he mouthed.

'Eating,' I mouthed back. 'He forced me!' I gestured at Alec.

The WTF expression didn't quite wipe out off his face, and as he stood behind the Twosome Gruesome aka Victoria and Phillip, he kept trying to send me messages through his expressions.

Alec suddenly spoke to me. "You're in friendly terms with Gabriel?"

I nodded.

He took a glance at the curly-haired boy, who was still trying to communicate with me, and then snorted. "Why the hell he keeps making faces at you?"

"He's just confused as to why I'm here," I said, before smiling back at Gabriel. "You rich people always let your helps wait for you as you eat?"

"In case we need anything," Alec didn't seem to retain his previous good mood. And then, in a sudden, he voiced out. "Gabriel, you can wait at the kitchen."

Gabriel bowed a bit to him, and then jerked his head to me, telling me to go with him. I stared at the rich people:

Victoria and Mrs. Worthington were only picking all the vegetables, while Phillip had almost half of the whole duck on his plate. A second away from all these people would be wonderful.

I touched Alec's shoulder. "I need to go to the restroom."

Alec murmured something as a yes. I was bouncing when I could finally get away from all the Worthingtons, and Gabriel regarded me with very widened eyes. "Worthington son invited you for a family dinner?!"

"Yeah, I think it's just a spur of the moment thing," I said. "Shit, Gabriel. Your duck looks so nice. It's so shiny."

"Let's talk about the duck later," Gabriel waved his hand. "Worthington son never invites anyone for a family dinner, ever."

"So?"

"So you're the first girl that Worthington son invites to witness the dynamics of his family."

"That's more of an fiasco than something to brag about," I said.

"That's not my point, Andrea."

I raised an eyebrow, confusion filled my mind. Drinking wine with an empty stomach reduced my ability to think, and by now, I felt like everything multiplied. "I don't understand."

"Of course you wouldn't," Gabriel scratched the back of his head. "So what are your plans to survive the Worthingtons?"

"Eat my way through it?" I answered truthfully. "I think I'll just eat the whole time so I don't need to speak anything."

"Seems good enough for me."

"I guess I need to go now," I said. "Wouldn't want the Worthingtons to think that I'm crapping right now."

"Ugh. Be a little girler, please? I'd forgotten when was the last time a girl ever said that to me. Probably when I was in kindergarten."

"It's part of my charm," I smiled at him.

To my surprise, he smiled back. "It truly is," and then, he took my hand and squeezed it hard. "Don't fall for the Worthington son."

What?

Did I just really hear that?

I messaged my temple, and some of the aching was assuaged, but I still couldn't believe my memory. Don't fall for the Worthington son?

"I'm sorry?"

"Just don't." Even at Gabriel's rather tanned skin, the redness on his cheeks was prominent. "It's just... a girl like you deserve much better than a broken boy."

I blinked, just to make sure that I wasn't imagining things, but the memory didn't fade, and the rapid heartbeat wasn't from intoxication. Gabriel really did say those things to me.

Oh. Wow.

Okay, so what would be the right reaction towards this?

"I'm..." I took my time to decide for the appropriate words, but couldn't find one that could really represent what I was feeling right now. "flattered... But I just drank a shot of wine so my mind's pretty blurred."

Gabriel's hazel eyes were a little clouded. "You drank alcohol? Did Worthington son gave it to you?"

"I took the glass from him," I grinned sheepishly.

Gabriel's frown looked dangerous. "You took the glass from him?!"

"He already drank nearly half of a bottle of whiskey prior dinner."

"He already drank nearly half of a bottle of whiskey prior dinner?!" Gabriel repeated my exact words, only in a more ominous tone. "What the hell was he thinking?!"

"He's stressed, I guess," I answered absent-mindedly. "I mean, look at them. I'm poor but at least my family's not dysfunctional."

As soon as I said that, a sudden pang of guilt hit me. I needed to go back to the dining room. Alec specifically asked me to join him because he wanted someone to hold on to while he was facing his mother, and here I was, dilly-dallying with Gabriel.

"I need to go back," I said to Gabriel as I swiveled around.

I thought I heard Gabriel saying 'Don't', but when I looked back, he was already busy with the dessert.

Huh. Must be my imagination, then.

-When I returned to my seat, I saw that the faces of the Worthingtons had darkened to a certain shade of crimson.

They all kept quiet and all I could hear was forks and spoons clinking against the plates.

What had just happened?

"Did you and Gabriel have fun back there?" Alec hissed as I was picking up my spoon.

It took all of my willpower to ignore that.

"How come I never know that you and Gabriel are friends?"

"Because it's nothing special to talk about." I whispered back. "Did you all just have an argument?"

He jabbed against the meat viciously before answering. "Yes."

I let his words linger in the air. Even if I were sober, I didn't know how to deal with this kind of thing. When I went to Hannah's house earlier this year, his father and mother were yelling to each other, but then again, they were doing it inside their room so Hannah and I could pretend like we didn't hear anything and we just turned up the volume of the TV. Three hours later, their screaming transformed into pleasureable ones. We only maximized the volume of the TV just to maintain our sanity.

Obviously, I couldn't do the same in the dining table.

"Are you okay?"

Alec was about to answer, when Victoria spoke up first. "So how is your school going on?"

"Fine."

"What about you, Andrea?"

I looked around, not quite sure what to answer. Victoria was staring at me with her big bright green eyes. They reminded me so much of Alec and Vienna. "Fine, too, I guess."

"Are you too classmates?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"How is Alec at school, Andrea?"

Alec's elbow jabbed onto my arm violently the instant his mother's question ended. I jabbed at him back as I answered. "He's good."

There. I did my job.

"Define good," Victoria's voice was soft, but there was no questioning the demand on her tone. She was like an impending force that somehow could bend people to do what she wanted them to do.

And I was one of her workers. "He's got lots of friends. He's got good grades. That's basically what everyone in high school could ever want."

"It is," Victoria nodded.

"I was a captain in football in the four years of my high school life," Phillip suddenly announced.

"Alec's the captain of Basketball," I said in a defensive tone.

"Yeah? Do you think you could go anywhere with basketball?"

Breathe, Andrea. Breathe. And don't forget to lock your hands onto the invisible chains so that you won't fly your punch to Phillip's ruddy cheeks.

"Yeah, of course, and Alec's really good at basketball." I attempted to smile when I said that. "I'm sorry, but what's your job, Phillip?"

"His job is to be around my mother," Alec answered. "Right, Phillip?"

He didn't answer. He was hyperventilating.

Victoria, however, was fast to handle this situation. "He was a football coach in a school, and right now he's currently looking for.. a better prospective. Be a little more polite around him, Alec."

"I'm sorry," he said even though nothing in his look could translate into apologetic. "I was just answering my friend's question."

Victoria's chin got even higher than before. I began to learn that this was the sign before she started sprouting words that were meant to hurt. "If Joshua were here, Alec, he would have chosen words that would not be humiliating."

I didn't know if it was medically possible, but I heard Alec gulped. His eyes darkened before he shuttered them, then, and when he opened his eyes again, they were filled with menace.

"Don't talk about Joshua."

The temperature dropped twenty degrees after that. I didn't have any clue who Joshua was, but I was dragged on the tension that loomed over us. Everyone's faces became taut, and Mrs. Worthington's eyes alternated between Alec and Victoria, waiting for each of them to speak.

Victoria dabbled a napkin towards her mouth. "It's also not a pleasant subject for me."

"Then don't talk about him," almost instanteously as she closed her mouth, he growled. "You have to stop trying to compare me with him."

They fell into silence, then, but the tension hadn't quite disappeared. Trying to ease the situation, I tried to open up a conversation.

"Who's Joshua?"

Victoria shot me a look of pity. "Oh, you poor thing. Alec didn't tell anything about that to you, did he?" and then, she turned to Alec. "A good move, Alec. I'd rather you don't talk about everything that happened in the family to all of your..." she eyed me suspiciously. "-friends." Victoria put down her fork and spoon, and after arranging it neatly, she pushed the chair away from the table. "I'm done now."

She said no other words as she got up from her seat and sauntered away from the dining room.

I found my voice after I could no longer hear Victoria's heels clicking against the marble. "So am I not supposed to know who Joshua is?"

I was about to say that it was totally okay if I didn't know, when Alec cut me off.

"He's my brother," Alec said noncommittally. "In other words, he's a better version of me."

Mrs. Worthington was frowning. "Alec, sweetheart..."

It was the very first time I ever heard Mrs. Worthington used a term of endearments. But when Alec looked at his grandmother, I understood. Victoria might be the woman who carried him within her womb for nine months, but he regarded his grandmother with more affection than he would to his own mother.

"I've never even met Joshua in person, but from the stories, I hear he's a great guy," Phillip said, his gaze directed at Alec.

How was it possible that every single word that came out from his mouth was poison?

Alec poured wine on his glass (which I immediately took and claimed). It was very obvious that the smile on Alec's lips were forced. It quivered a bit as he spoke. "He is."

Phillip took a mouthful bite of the duckmeat so when he was talking, bits of chewed food would spurt out of his mouth. "I hear that he's -munch-munch- excellent at football, too. And -munch-munch- he's quite popular in the school."

"At our old school, yes," Alec confirmed, although his voice sounded different. Like he was putting zero emotion on his words. Again, he poured another glass of wine. When I reached for it, he jerked my hand away and took a big gulp.

Phillip grinned, a bit of meat was stuck in between his teeth. "Too bad Joshua's dead, huh?"

The whirlwind of ache inside my head stopped.

Dead?

Alec's brother, dead?

I didn't even know that he had a brother before. Nobody ever talked about this; Alec never mentioned it, and the only sibling that Gabriel ever mentioned was the insufferable Vienna.

Alec's brother, dead?

With a new wave of confusion, I stared at Alec. He didn't even spare me a glance, and kept going on the staring contest he had with Phillip. There was no definite emotion crossed across his face, and for a moment, I doubted if the person beside me was really Alec. I was so used seeing him plastered with a smile that he looked like a much different person without.

This time, Alec wasn't the one who poured the wine, but it was me. This much information couldn't sink inside my thick skulls without the least bit of help from alcohol.

Why did Alec never talk about this before?

"Just imagine how joyful this family would be with Joshua around," Phillip continued mercilessly, and I noticed that he had a very annoying habit of repeating the name of Alec's brother over and over again.

I poured more wine, this time, one for me and one for Alec.

"Phillip, you're crossing the line." Mrs. Worthington warned, but the blonde man gave her words no heed.

"No wonder Victoria's so stressed. Her ex-husband's life is fucked up. Her daughter is an absolute airhead and her living son will never be able to replace the dead son."

"No wonder Victoria's so stressed. Her ex-husband's life is fucked up. Her daughter is an absolute airhead and her living son will never be able to replace the dead son."

In document Tesis doctoral. Arquitectura de un sistema C4ISR para pequeñas unidades. Autor: Israel Pérez Llopis Director: Dr. D. Manuel Esteve Domingo (página 108-113)