Pride and Preference, Page 3

  “And he is such nice man, Chencha. Caramba, he'll make a wonderful boyfriend for my Carmela,” declared Doña Chona.

  “I imagine you're talking about Fernie Quintana,” chimed in Eloisa.

  “Of course. Who else would I be talking about?”

  “I've been waiting for you, Eloisa,” informed Chencha.

  “Come to my room with me, so I can get out of my work clothes.”

  After Chencha followed Eloisa to her room, Eloisa stepped into her closet. Chencha sat on the bed. Quickly changing into old faded jeans, Eloisa got back to her friend in record time.

  “What did you need to talk to me about, Chencha?” Eloisa inquired, also sitting on the bed. “Is everything okay?”

  “I just wanted to ask you about that handsome man I saw you with last night.”

  “Handsome man?” questioned Eloisa, puzzled.

  “Your mama told me that Carmela went out with Fernie Quintana, but who was the other guy? The dreamy one?”

  “I guess you're talking about Dario, Fernie's older brother,” she muttered, grimacing. “Do you really think he's handsome?”

  Chencha let out a deep laugh. “Eloisa, did you take a good look at your date last night?”

  “He wasn't my date,” blurted Eloisa, annoyed.

  “He wasn't?”

  “No, definitely not. Fernie took his brother as a chaperone, so Mama and Carmela made me go.”

  “How lucky for you.”

  “Chencha, you only think he's handsome because you haven't met him. He's got the personality of a cocky rooster.”

  “Rooster or not, I would've loved to have been out with him,” Chencha murmured, sighing.

  “Luckily, Fernie is nothing like his brother. If I'm not mistaken, he's every bit as easygoing as Carmela.”

  “He looked to me to be very infatuated with her.”

  “You've got a very good view from your window next door, don't you?” Eloisa asked wryly.

  “I've got to live vicariously through you and Carmela,” Chencha explained in an embarrassed way. “I don't have much of a life.”

  “Don't say that, Chencha. Of course you do.”

  “I rarely get asked out. Carmela will end up in a wonderful marriage with wonderful children,” murmured Chencha.

  “Life isn't all about getting married and having children.”

  “But that's what I want out of life. It'll probably never happen for me,” Chencha muttered unhappily. “But it’ll certainly happen for Carmela. That is if she starts showing her feelings more. She seemed too quiet and restrained last night. What will Fernie think?”

  “He isn't looking close enough if he doesn't understand Carmela's true feelings for him. You know that Carmela is a reserved person.”

  “She needs to get out of some of her shyness.”

  Chapter 7

  Eloisa sat quietly in the University of Texas at El Paso Union Building checking the notes she took in her last class, child development. No one else sat in the small lounge. She was so engrossed that she didn't hear when a young man plopped down on the sofa opposite from her.

  “Hi,” he greeted.

  Not hearing him, she didn't look up.

  “Hi,” he repeated louder.

  Eloisa finally looked up, wondering if someone was speaking to her.

  “Me?” she asked.

  “Yes, you.” The handsome stranger with light brown eyes and hair stood up, walked over to her, and extended his hand. “My name is Wayne.” His friendly smile took her in.

  She shook his hand. “I'm Eloisa.”

  “Can I sit here if I promise not to bite?” he asked, pointing next to her.

  “I don't know. You look like a strange character to me,” she responded with a smile.

  “I’m strange, but I don't bite.”

  “In that case you can go ahead and sit.”

  “Can I ask you something, Eloisa?” he asked, plopping down.

  “You already did.”

  “Technical, aren't you?”

  “Sometimes,” she answered, smiling. “What's your question?”

  “It's Friday. Why are you still here?”

  “I can ask the same question of you.”

  “After my last class,” he explained. “I hang around the University on Friday nights to see if I can meet up with intelligent ladies.”

  Eloisa chuckled. “Does that line actually work for you?”

  “It did before tonight.”

  Eloisa chuckled louder. “I'm sorry to break your winning streak.”

  “I forgive you. You’re much too beautiful not to be forgiven for anything.”

  Eloisa turned a bright red. “Thank you.”

  Wayne checked his watch. “I've got to make a private call. Promise you'll be here when I get back?”

  “Sure, I'll be here.”

  He walked away to a secluded area next to the restrooms. Eloisa smiled lightly. Wayne seemed interesting, and he was outgoing and funny. It was a good combination.

  Eloisa returned to her notes and soon was engrossed again in the realm of study. When her name was mentioned again, once more she didn't hear it.

  “Eloisa,” the voice repeated.

  When she looked up and saw who it was, she had to remind herself where she was and that she wasn’t in some kind of a bizarre time warp. “Dario?” she muttered in disbelief.

  Dario’s dark eyes set on her with some bewilderment of their own. “Hello, I thought that was you.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I'm giving a lecture on business,” Dario informed.

  Eloisa’s eyebrows rose, surprised. “You are?”

  “Yes, as a favor to a friend. He's a professor here.”

  “Really?” Eloisa questioned.

  “And you? What are you doing here?” he asked, eyeing her notes.

  “I take classes here.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  “What's your major?”

  “I'm going to be a teacher,” informed Eloisa.

  Both his eyebrows shot up. “You prefer that career over any other?”

  “Yes, by far.”

  “I'm back, did you miss me?” asked Wayne as he walked up behind them.

  A startled Dario turned around. Glaring at Wayne, Dario’s eyes flung out flares of burning fire.

  Wayne gasped with surprise. “Dario!”

  Chapter 8

  Dario turned back around to face Eloisa. “I've got to go. Nice to see you, Eloisa. Bye.” He strode away.

  When the glass doors leading to the outside of the building closed behind him, Eloisa turned to Wayne.

  “You know him?” she asked, barely concealing the surprise in her voice.

  “Unfortunately, I do. Apparently, you know him too.”

  “He's such an arrogant man,” blurted Eloisa. “I'm afraid I don't like him very much.”

  “That makes two of us,” asserted Wayne.

  “He didn't seem very happy to see you. How do you know him?”

  “I was his brother's best friend,” explained Wayne.

  “Fernie's best friend?”

  “You know his brother too?” Wayne questioned.

  Eloisa nodded. “Only a little. So what happened?”

  “Dario got jealous of our friendship,” Wayne asserted, groaning. “Dario doesn't like sharing anything with anybody. And he thinks whatever he says is law. When I started encouraging Fernie to think for himself instead of being under his brother's thumb, Dario threatened to never speak to him again and take his fortune away if he didn't end our friendship.”

  “What a terrible thing to do to a brother!” Eloisa exclaimed, upset.

  Wayne nodded, his eyes in an angry squint. “That's Dario for you. Selfish and full of himself.”

  At home that night, Eloisa became enraged every time she thought about how Dario had treated Wayne. If it wasn't for the fact that
her sister was head over heels infatuated with Fernie, she would advise her not to get involved with such a family. The one good thing of that night, though, was meeting Wayne. He had assured her that if he hadn't had a previous engagement with friends, he would've loved to spend more time with her that night. Instead, they exchanged phone numbers and agreed to see each other soon.

  “Eloisa!” called Doña Chona. “Come here!”

  Stepping out of her room, Eloisa headed towards Doña Chona’s voice. “Yes, Mama?” she asked as she reached the living room.

  “Come say hello to Ralph,” Doña Chona announced.

  Eloisa became aware of Ralph Cola who was standing next to Doña Chona and gawking at Carmela. He hadn't changed much since she had last seen him a few years ago. He was still tall, thin, and with sandy hair and hazel eyes. He would’ve been handsome if he didn’t have such a heavy handed personality and an unfiltered mouth that said the wrong obnoxious things at the wrong times.

  “Hi,” Eloisa said, wondering what Ralph Cola was doing there. Doña Chona usually sent him the mortgage through the mail now that his parents have awarded him the rest of the house payments to several of their homes, including the Longoria one.

  “Caramba, isn't it nice that he came specifically to say hello to you girls?” asked Doña Chona.

  “When I received your mom's payment last month, I told my father how rude I was in not coming by to say hello. You’ve been deprived of my company for much too long, so here I am,” announced Ralph, chuckling.

  “He's having dinner with us,” informed Doña Chona.

  Lola and Marta grimaced and rolled their eyes as they entered the kitchen along with Ralph Cola and the rest of the Longorias. Eloisa and Carmela looked at each other with quizzical expressions.

  “Caramba, you're lucky you came tonight, Ralph,” said Doña Chona. “I made my famous arroz con pollo.”

  “I love rice and chicken even if it’s poor people’s food,” stated Ralph. “I’m very lucky today, Doña Chona, like a hungry fox in a chicken coop! Here I am spending time with the most beautiful girls on this side of the border!”

  “Ralph tells me he owns his home in the country club and is a supervisor.” announced Doña Chona.

  “I have quite a successful life, but no one to share it with,” he stated forlornly, gazing at Carmela.

  “Caramba, that's too bad!” burst Doña Chona. “The woman you find companionship with will be a very fortunate woman.”

  “It’s time I find my soul-mate—the woman who’ll love me forever,” he gushed.

  Doña Chona sighed deeply. “How romantic.”

  “Once nature takes its course and we marry, she'll have everything provided for her and will have to do nothing but look pretty,” Ralph asserted.

  “Look pretty?” muttered an annoyed Eloisa.

  “I don't have to tell you what living in the country club will be like and being the wife of a high level supervisor,” Ralph chortled. “We'll be entertaining the best people. And we'll have the best of everything.”

  “Why ever would she want more than that?” Eloisa inquired sarcastically.

  “Precisely, why?” questioned Ralph, not catching Eloisa's sarcasm.

  After dinner, Doña Chona walked him outside to his red Ferrari as he got ready to leave. He seemed very pleased with how the evening had gone.

  “Caramba, what a car,” remarked Doña Chona.

  “I don't have to tell you that this car costs more than most houses in this neighborhood. I know how much they cost since my parents own most of the homes around here.”

  “I can imagine what your car is worth.”

  “I work very hard to have what I have,” he asserted.

  “I can see that.”

  “I'm glad you walked out here with me, Doña Chona, because there’s a very important matter I wish to discuss with you.”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s time for me to meet my true love. Naturally, I thought of your beautiful daughters.”

  “You did?”

  “I was thinking of Carmela,” he declared. “I think she would make a suitable girlfriend.”

  “Let me explain that Carmela already has a suitor,” rushed Doña Chona.

  “That's too bad,” Ralph murmured with disappointment.

  “Eloisa is free, though,”

  “Eloisa?”

  Doña Chona nodded. “Yes, Eloisa is unattached.”

  Ralph grew pensive for a few seconds. “Yes, I think she'd make a good girlfriend too.

  Chapter 9

  Because Doña Chona insisted, the family arrived at Fernie's party early. Eloisa absolutely didn't want to attend, but her mother had told her she didn't have a choice in the matter. Eloisa invited Chencha to join them, hoping that the evening wouldn't be a complete wash out.

  “Caramba, it’s not that I don’t want Chencha coming with us, but Fernie only invited us,” asserted Doña Chona.

  “She's coming with us,” Eloisa insisted firmly.

  As soon as the Longorias and Chencha stepped through the doors of the villa, Fernie took them on the tour he had previously promised. Meanwhile, Dario stood in the living room with Jacqueline, Ivana, and Balbino Jr. who had also arrived early.

  “I can't believe your brother invited them,” scorned Jacqueline, sighing.

  “Unfortunately, they’re my family so I had no choice but to invite them to the christening,” Balbino Jr. declared.

  “Dario, your brother has too good of a heart for his own good,” grumbled Ivana.

  Dario nodded. “Yes, he does.”

  “He doesn't know what he's getting himself into,” spat out Ivana. “That Carmela might be pretty to look at, but who knows what's on the inside. She's so secretive.”

  “Very true, and the whole family is off kilter,” Jacqueline retorted. “I'm sorry that I'm saying this about your family, Balb, but I have to be honest.”

  “You don't need to apologize,” Balbino Jr. asserted. “I know what my family is. That's why I hardly consort with them.”

  “You don't see much of your family?” questioned Dario, criticism in his voice.

  “No, hardly.”

  “Especially now that we have a son, we don't want him picking up their low class habits or their absurdity,” asserted Ivana. “Look at Eloisa, for example.”

  “What about Eloisa?” asked Dario, curious spikes in his tone.

  “She's completely illogical,” declared Ivana.

  Dario’s face became a question. “What do you mean?”

  “She should be attending college full-time, but she refuses to.”

  “Why would she refuse?!” Dario asked. “Why would she prefer part-time over full-time?”

  “See what I mean about being nonsensical and absurd? She's got to be crazy,” stated Ivana, sniffing. “Absolutely out of her mind if you ask me. She should’ve already graduated. She could've left to an out-of-town university and left that tiny, provincial, insignificant life she leads and done something to get herself elevated, but instead she chose to stay.”

  “Why didn't she go?” Dario questioned firmly.

  “She said something about needing to stay to help my mother financially,” Balbino Jr. explained with a sneer. “I don't know what she was thinking. Mother would've been fine. I left to marry Ivana, and she has never needed my help.”

  “You don't provide your mother with any monetary help?” questioned Dario, his voice chastising.

  “No, as I said before, she doesn't need it,” Balbino Jr. burst defensively.

  “Besides, people like that wouldn't know how to handle money,” Ivana rushed.

  The villa was breathtaking, and Eloisa was certain she had never seen quite a home ever. To have such an enormous space for only two people was more than Eloisa could imagine. She had counted ten bedrooms with bathrooms in each, two huge living areas, two dining areas, a number of assorted rooms, four home offices and countless halls.


  When they stepped back into the main living area, guests were now arriving in abundance. Fernie stood at the door greeting people with Carmela joyfully at his side. Because Fernie had asked for no gifts, just donations to his favorite charity of juvenile diabetes, people walked into the house holding no wrapped presents. Eloisa couldn't help thinking how great of Fernie to eschew his own birthday privileges to do something for others.

  Because of Fernie's distinct fun-loving personality, this affair was much more informal than Balbino Jr.'s had been. The party goers served themselves tamales and sat wherever they wanted while a disc jockey played varied forms of music—rock-n-roll, disco, oldies, and Mexican music. Eloisa started to think it was good she came after all—that was until the doorbell rang and the next guest walked in the door.

  “Ralph Cola!” Lola exclaimed unhappily. “What’s he doing here?”

  “I don't know, but you'd better behave,” demanded Doña Chona. “Caramba, you'd better not make fun of him.”

  “But his name,” said Marta. “You can't expect us not to laugh at it.”

  “What's wrong with having the name of a soft drink?” Doña Chona asked sternly.

  “But his last name in Spanish also means butt,” giggled Lola. “His name is Ralph Butt.”

  “Caramba, hush! Shut up!” snapped Doña Chona.

  “He's coming this way,” Eloisa murmured miserably.

  As Ralph and his parents walked straight to them, Eloisa tried not to grimace.

  “Doña Chona, it's been so long since we've seen you now that we gave the note of your house to our son,” remarked the elderly Mr. Cola.

  “How are your parents, Chencha? We haven't seen them since we also gave the note of their house to Ralph,” stated Mrs. Cola.

  “They're fine,” responded Chencha. “How have you been?”

  “Everything going well for you?” asked Doña Chona.

  “Wonderful,” Mrs. Cola announced loudly, her voice going up a few decibels. “We've bought a new home in the country club, close to Ralph. The old one wasn't adequate enough. The pool was much too small, the garage only fit four cars, and the house had barely six bedrooms. Who could live under such conditions?”

  Doña Chona forced herself not to roll her eyes. “Yeah, caramba, who?” She had forgotten how obnoxious the elderly Colas could be.

  “I'm so happy they live close to me,” Ralph stated.

  “Ralph, I never expected you here. How do you know Fernie?” asked Doña Chona.