My mom's house wasn't big, definitely not big enough for the fifteen people that were going to be sleeping here the next week, but that was part of the experience. There were three bedrooms, a living room, an office, and kitchen. So we had to get a little creative with the sleeping arrangements.

My mother has two older sisters: Maria and vanessa. Maria married Felipe and had my cousin Rachel. Rachel married Darren and they had Charlie (3) and baby Amelia. Vanessa married Oscar and they had my cousins Julia, Ben, and Kelly. My mother, Natalia, had Sofia and I. Plus Lili made 15. The order of ages of cousins went Rachel (30), Me (21), Sofia (21), Julia (20), Ben (17), and then Kelly (14).

"You must be Lili," Rachel said when the initial introductions had ended.

"In the flesh," Lili blushed.

"You are stunning," Rachel told Lili. "Has anyone ever told you that you should model?"

Lili laughed politely, "I actually am a model."

"No shit?" Rachel asked.

Lili blushed modestly.

We were all sitting around the living room. Lili had immediately found the least threatening person in the room and proceeded to play with her. My cousin's infant daughter, Amelia. Lili sat on the floor between my legs, making faces at Amelia, while Rachel sat across the room on the floor with her husband, Darren, and her son, Charlie. Everyone else was littered around the room, on one of the two couches or on the many chairs.

"That's where I recognize you from!" Julia burst out. "You were in that lingerie campaign!"

Everyone's heads snapped to Julia. Withering under the look that her mother was giving her, Julia scrambled for a recovery. "I mean.. I meant.. The licorice campaign."

"Good save," Ben said to his sister dryly, without looking up from his phone.

"Shut up," Julia grumbled.

Lili's face was red again, and thankfully my aunts changed the subject, instead they started to rapid fire attack Lili.

"¿Cuánto tiempo han estado juntos tú y Josh?" Tia Vanessa asked.

/How long have you and Josh been together?/

"¿Dónde conociste a Josh?" Tia Maria asked.

/How did you meet Josh?/

"puedes cocinar?" Tia Vanessa asked.

/Can you cook?/

"¿Puedes cantar o bailar?" Tia Maria asked.

/Can you sing or dance?/

"¿De donde eres?"

/Where are you from?/

"¿Qué hace tu padre para ganarse la vida?"

/What does your dad do for a living?/

"¿Practicas algún deporte?"

/Do you play a sport?/

"¿Vas a los partidos de hockey de Josh?"

/Do you go to Josh's hockey games?/

"¿Cuál es tu especialidad?"

/What is your major?'

"¿Cuál es tu carrera ideal después de la universidad?"

/What is your ideal career after college?/

"¿Quieres niños?"

/Do you want kids?/

"Tias," I interrupted their rapid fire questions. "Lili cannot speak -"

"Un mes pero éramos amigos antes de eso. En la universidad, estábamos en la misma fiesta. No, no sé cocinar, pero me gustaría aprender. Definitivamente no puedo cantar, pero bailo, necesitas ese movimiento para modelar. Soy de Texas. Mi papá es mecánico de autos. No practico ningún deporte, pero corro y hago ejercicio. Voy todo lo que puedo para apoyarlo. Me especializo en inglés, pero me especializo en español. Quiero ser escritor, pero también quiero ayudar a la gente a ser escritor o traductor para la corte de inmigración. Sí, quiero hijos algún día." Lili answered confidently.

/A month but we were friends before that. In college, we were at the same party. No, I don't know how to cook, but I would like to learn. I definitely can't sing but I dance, you need that movement to model. I'm from Texas. My dad is a car mechanic. I don't play any sports, but I run and exercise. I go as much as I can to support him. I major in English, but I minor in Spanish. I want to be a writer, but I also want to help people, so either a writer or translator for immigration courts. Yes, I want children one day./

Everyone's mouths hung open at her calm and collected answers to my Tia's questions. In Spanish no less. I had no idea that Lili could speak Spanish. Lili talking in Spanish was enough to give me a hard on. It was by far the sexiest thing that I had ever seen her do, and I was going to get her to talk Spanish to me.

"White girl can speak Spanish better than Ben," Julia said in surprise, breaking the silence.

"Hey!" Ben complained. This set my family into a fit of laughter and I watched as Lili's shoulders relaxed as she began to feel more comfortable.

I leaned down, until my lips were next to Lili's ear, and then I whispered, "How did I not know you could speak Spanish?"

"You never asked," she whispered back. That was when I knew that this girl was going to be the death of me some day.

"I love your girlfriend," Sofia told me, when Lili was getting bombarded with fewer questions.

"Me too," I said quietly.

After a nice dinner, Lili offered to help my mom with the dishes and they disappeared into the kitchen.

"You know," Kelly said from next to me. "Lili is slaying. I mean most college girls be wildin', but you guys are giving Justin and Hailey Beiber. I mean your taste in girls completely glowed up, and I stan it. You have got to wifey her up otherwise her waist is not the only thing that will be snatched, no cap." Kelly promptly got up from the table and moved to the couch in the living room.

"What the fuck did she just say?" Rachel asked. She had been sitting across from Kelly and I, and apparently listening to our conversation. "She just made me feel so old, like ancient."

I laughed. "Kelly basically just told me that she likes Lili, in her own gen Z way."

"Well," Rachel said. "I like her too."

"I think that I am getting the cousin stamp of approval," I told her.

"As you should," Julia said. "I vote yes on Lili, I mean her calm answers to Vanessa and Maria were priceless."

"We aren't voting on my girlfriend," I told them. "Please don't scare her away," I added as a much needed side note.

"When have we ever done that?" Ben asked.

"Rachel's boyfriends 2009, 08, 07. Julia's boyfriend in summer 2020. And Sofia's boyfriend 2021 and her girlfriend winter 2021," I used as evidence.

"Three years worth of boyfriends, down the drain thanks to family events," Rachel sighed wistfully.

"We tried on Darren, but you outlasted our best efforts," Julia said casually.

"Yeah we did!' Darren said as he passed our little group. He and his wife gave each other a dramatic high five.