AVERAGE MARIA: CHAPTER 1

Maria
 

“Maria, this is your father! It’s time to wake up!” Mom should have never gotten dad that megaphone. I open my eyes and sit up in bed. Dad in his plain colored t-shirt, sweatpants, slippers, and his glasses that mom had to beg him to finally get 4 years ago. He’s a very stubborn man and then again so is mom. Kinda what attracted them to each other.
 

“Good morning to you too, dad.” I swing over to the edge of my bed as dad lowers the megaphone.
 

“Your Abuelo made breakfast.” Of course, Abuelo made breakfast. Abuelo’s been making breakfast since he moved in with us a year ago. I slip my feet into my slippers, get up, and grab my phone. I walk over to my closet to grab my robe.
 

“Are you excited for today?” I put my robe on and groan loudly while slipping my phone into my robe pocket.

“Why is Grandma wanting us to be together? Mom’s in London and you haven’t talked to Aunt Alexis in years.”
 

“It hasn’t been years.” I turn to look at dad.
 

“Really? When was the last time you talked to Aunt Alexis? Or Daniel for that matter?”
 

“Your mom’s and I’s wedding.”
 

“And that was?”
 

“2011.”
 

“You haven’t talked to them in 30 years?”
 

“It hasn’t been 30 years.”
 

“27 years. Still! Does Aunt Alexis even know that Luis and I exist?”
 

“Of course, your aunt knows. Your mom and I have sent her loads of pictures.” Which apparently none have made her want to meet her niece and nephew in person.
 

“Which again, why is Grandma wanting us to be together? Mom’s still in London until at least later tonight or tomorrow.”
 

“Technically, this is a photo shoot of the Meade grandkids. A bonus that both of the Meade kids are there.” Of course, it is. I walk to the doorway of my room.
 

“Well, time to go wake up your brother. I love you.” Dad presses a kiss to my cheek before heading to Luis’ room.
 

“Love you too.” I head for the kitchen as dad opens Luis’ door and lifts up the megaphone.
 

“Luis, this is your father! It’s time to wake up!” Another megaphone lifted up.
 

“I’m up!” And we definitely shouldn’t have gotten Luis a megaphone for Christmas a couple of years ago. I shuffled into the kitchen where Abuelo’s already handing me a plate.
 

“Morning Abuelo.”
 

“Morning Mi Neta.” I take the plate from Abuelo as he gives me a kiss on my other cheek. I shuffle once more over to the table. I set my plate down and sit down as I feel my phone vibrate. I pull out my phone. Ah, it’s mom. I prop my phone up on the table before pressing accept. It takes a moment before mom appears on the screen.
 

“Hi, mom!”
 

“Hi, Mi Hija! How are you?”
 

“Fine. Got woken up by a megaphone and dad.” Mom rolls her eyes at that.
 

“Put your father on the phone.” I look over to the hallway where now it’s a megaphone fight between dad and Luis.
 

“Dad’s busy having a megaphone fight with Luis.”
 

“Maria.” And she’s giving the look. I turn my head to the hallway.
 

“Dad! Mom wants to talk to you!” Dad lowers his megaphone as Luis does. Dad walks to me and I hand my phone to him.
 

“Hey, Betty!”
 

“Daniel, I thought we agreed on not using the megaphone to wake up the kids anymore?” Ooo, dad’s in trouble with mom.
 

“I know, but it’s easier than me having to yell.”
 

“Daniel, you do remember Maria's 22 and Luis’ 19? They’re both adults, they can wake themselves up.”
 

“I know. But they’re still our babies. I thought you would be more sentimental about that than me?” At least dad didn’t bring up the Mexican part of that.
 

“Trying to not cry thinking about it but moving on. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with being around Alexis today?”
 

“She’s my sister, why wouldn’t I be?”
 

“Because the last time we saw her in person, she got plastered at our wedding and had to be escorted out.”
 

“So, she had a lot to drink at our wedding. But it’ll be different this time! She’ll have DJ with her, and I’ll have Maria and Luis with me.” This is going to end in flames, isn’t it? Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. Should I though? I mean, it should be obvious. Okay, okay, okay! Jeez, take a chill pill. Alright, here goes nothing.
 

My name is Maria Rosa Guadalupe Meade. I know, long name. You can thank my parents for that. Daniel Meade who I call dad and Betty Suarez or legally Meade who I also call mom. Yea, you would have thought mom would have kept her name or just made it Suarez-Meade when she married dad but, I guess not. She is still legally Suarez when it comes to her publishing company in London which she’s been desperately trying to do for all my life actually for them to open an American location. Specifically, Manhattan. But here we are.
 

Luis, my little brother who is currently trying to shove the pancakes that Abuelo made for breakfast in his mouth like a chipmunk. Speak of the devil, Abuelo,
now walking with a cane, comes out of the kitchen. Abuelo surprisingly walks well for a man in his 80’s.
 

“Luis Manuel Alexander Meade, don’t make yourself choke!” Mom is still being a mom even on the other side of the world.
 

“Morning, Mi Hija.”
 

“Papi! Hi! How are you feeling?”
 

“I’m alright. How are you?”
 

“Stressed. But hopefully my flight home will be boarding soon.”
 

“Alright. Be safe.”
 

“I will.” Abuelo hands my phone back to me.
 

“Love you, mom!”
 

“I love you too. Try to not kill your brother today.”
 

“I’ll try.” Mom hangs up the phone and I slip it back into my pocket. Time to go get dressed for the fire we’re about to walk into. I get up with my now empty plate and head for the kitchen. I walk over to the sink and set my plate down. I head for my bedroom. As I close my bedroom door, I hear dad and Abuelo tell Luis the same thing that mom told him over the phone among other things. I head for the closet, open it, and pull out my suit. Well, it was originally dad’s before I took it and had Justin tailored it to fit me. Dad went full Pterodactyl when he found out what I did to the suit. I set the suit down and grabbed a dress shirt and a set of heels. Got grounded for at least a month when I bought these. Worth it though. I set the shirt and heels down next to the suit. I close the door and take off my robe. I hang it up and begin to search for where I put my bra.
 

“There it is.” Now, time to get dressed.
 

After I’m dressed, I walk out of my room as Luis comes out of his. Luis in his nice clothes with his camera.
 

“Luis, why are you bringing your camera?” Luis shifts his eyes from the left to the right and so on.
 

“I, uh, want to take pictures of Manhattan.” Really?
 

“Really?” I give him a look.
 

“Ok, I want to take pictures of the models at the photo shoot.”
 

“You know you and I along with Daniel are going to be the models, right?”
 

“Well, you never know.” I just roll my eyes as we head to the door where dad’s waiting for us, in a nice suit that I didn’t nick and tailored to fit me.
 

“Alright, we’re ready to go…And Maria’s wearing her heels which make her taller than me by an inch. And your aunt Alexis’ height.”
 

“Oh, what a weird coincidence that I happen to be wearing my heels that make me 3 inches taller and just at my aunt's height?”
 

“Maria…” Luis puts his shoes on as I grab my purse and dad grabs his keys.
 

“Let’s go.” Dad opens the door.
 

“Later, Ignacio.” Dad heads out the door first with Luis and I following behind.
 

“Bye, Abuelo!” And we lost Abuelo to his Telenovela, The Golden Angel Wings of My Heart! Yea, it sounds more dramatic and impressive in Spanish than it does in English. Luis shuts the door behind him. We head for the elevator and head downstairs. We get downstairs and outside there’s one of the Meade Publications town cars.
 

Dad still owns half of Meade Publications even with the wicked bitch owning the other half as Grandma calls Wilhelmina. Just because my father stepped down from being Co-Editor-In-Chief of MODE and her boyfriend getting out of prison, didn’t mean that it stopped her from butting heads with Grandma. A lot. Though, I see why Aunt Alexis got along great with her. Moving on. We get in with me in the middle, dad on my right side, and Luis on my left. The driver takes off after we get settled. First time ever meeting my aunt. Not Tia, Aunt, and cousin who’s at least over 20 years older than Luis and me. Not really sure how to feel about that.
 

The car stops and I guess we’re here. Whatever here is in this case. Dad opens the door on his side and gets out first. I get out next with Luis getting out after me. Dad closes the door and the driver leaves. I turn to look at the building that I’ve been at a few times during my life.
 

Meade Publications, the empire that Luis, I, and even DJ are all heirs to. I see that Grandma chose this location for the photo shoot of the Meade Grand kids.
 

“Hopefully we don’t have to deal with Wilhelmina.” Not quite sure why she would want to be involved with this but, we’re talking about Wilhelmina here. This is the same woman who stole Grandpa’s sperm shortly after he died and tried to have a kid with it. Mainly heard that story from Grandma. She told me that story when I was like 12. That was a very interesting Christmas to say the least. Anyway, we head in. Why is the press here? And dad stops dead in front of us. Why is dad getting into an athletic pose? Dad turns his head enough for us to hear him.

“Maria, get on my back and tuck your head.” What the hell?
 

“Dad, we’re not toddlers.”
 

“Maria, now!” Alright then. I put my hands on dad’s shoulders and manage to hike myself enough for dad to hold me. I tuck my head.
 

“Luis, take off your glasses and get on. Get over here first and then take your glasses on.” Dad also manages to get Luis on.
 

“Alright, here goes nothing.” Dad takes off for the elevator. I have no idea how the hell a man in his 60’s is able to carry his two adult children to the elevators through the crowd of the press.
 

Throughout not only my life but also Luis’, mom and dad have tried their best to keep us from the limelight. They can’t really stop us now since we’re adults but, dad tries when we’re with him at least. To this day, the media still doesn’t know what Luis and I look like. All they know is that Daniel Meade married his former assistant and had two kids with her. That is literally all they know about Luis and I. They don’t even know our names except for mom’s blog and not much of the media cares enough to look for it. Even though mom’s blog is very popular.
 

Dad repeatedly presses the button for the elevator until it arrives. Dad almost becomes one with the elevator from dashing right into it. Somehow dad turns around and does the same to the button to close the doors as he did to the elevator button.
 

“Both of you can come down now.” Dad lets us down after the doors close. I adjust myself as Luis puts his glasses back on and dad presses the button for the floor we need to get to.
 

“You know that the public is going to know our names after today because of the photo shoot, right?”
 

“I know, but still would like to keep you two out of the limelight for as long as I can before then.” I don’t think anyone would believe me if I told them that Daniel Meade is sometimes a weird man. Especially when it comes to his family; The one he was born into, the one he married into, and the one he helped create.
 

After a weirdly silent elevator ride, the doors open to whatever floor we’re on.
 

“We’re almost there.” Dad walks out of the elevator first as he puts his phone back into his pocket. I drag Luis behind me out of the elevator while following dad to wherever we are in this building. Barely a few steps away from the elevator when we have to duck away from the amount of wardrobe, hair & makeup department people in the hallway. After ducking a lot of people inducing the photographers, we finally find Grandma and she’s talking to some tall woman with a French guy right next to her. We catch Grandma’s attention when she sees us walk in.
 

“Wonderful. I have both of my children and all three of my grandchildren in the same room for the first time ever.”
 

“Hi, mom.” Dad and Grandma hug.
 

“Hey, Grandma.” Grandma hugs both Luis and I after she pulls away from dad.
 

“Daniel, introduce your children.”
 

“Why don’t you, mom? You had her.”
 

“And you help create them.”
 

“And? Your point?”
 

“You’re their father, I’m Grandma. I outrank you.” Dad sighs before he comes up behind Luis and me.
 

“Maria, Luis, meet your Aunt Alexis and your cousin Daniel Jr.”