"Natalia! Where are you?" Nathaniel asks me urgently.

"I'm like five minutes away." I speak into the phone. I wait impatiently for the red light to turn green, but this few moments feels like an eternity.

"Okay, well please hurry. Mom and Dad are doing the usual thing." My brother groans at the other end of the line.

I know that the thing he's talking about is our parents lack of understanding towards anyone who isn't Hispanic. I know that they're more than likely interrogating Grace for whatever they can come up with. The poor girl has probably had enough, and the dinner hasn't even started yet.

"Okay, just hold them off until I get there." I joke. He gives a sarcastic laugh before hanging up the phone. I see my parent's house from just up the road and cringe. Nathaniel and Grace just bought a brand new G-Wagon and have been bragging about it on Facebook. Although I know they don't really view it as bragging, everyone else in the family sees it that way.

I pull into the driveway and glance down at my much less luxurious Toyota Camry. As simple as this car might be, it has been my absolute favorite car. I don't need some fancy car to drive around LA to show my worth. I'm perfectly fine with what I have.

"Mama! Papa!" I yell out as I enter my childhood home.

"Natalia! Come, come!" My mom exclaims as she enters the living room and guides me into the kitchen. I see Nathaniel and my smile grows immensely.

"Baby sister." Nathaniel says as he stands up from his seat and engulfs me in a hug.

"It's been so long! I can't believe you allowed us to be apart for this long!" I jokingly blamed him.

"Hey, I told you to come to Miami!" He tells me.

"I know, I know. School and work had been crazy." I say. Although I could have made the time to travel to Florida, I always talked myself out of it. But as I'm standing in front of Nathaniel now, I really don't know why.

"It's so good to see you again, Nat." I hear a soft voice say. I pull away from Nathaniel and go to give Grace a hug. She hugs me lightly and gives me a bright smile.

"It's so good to see you, too! I'm so glad you two were able to make it over here." I tell the two.

"Dinner is almost ready." My mother says, entering the dining room.

"Can I help you with anything?" Nathaniel asks. My mom hands him a large wooden spoon and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"Elote, son." She tells him with a smile.

"She's making you make it because you make the best elote in the family." I inform him.

"Oh trust me, I know." He laughs.

"What's elote?" Grace asks with a small laugh.

"You don't know what elote is?" Nathaniel asks with mock surprise.

Grace laughs and nods her head.

"Oh baby, you're going to learn today." He tells her with a wink. I roll my eyes at the two, but honestly love watching them interact with one another. He's so carefree and happy with her. I'm happy for him.

"So Grace, how is the YouTube channel going?" I ask. When Nathaniel was first talking to Grace, he informed all of us that she had a very interesting career. Once we found out that she was a YouTube vlogger, we were shocked to say the least. Hell, my parents barely even know what YouTube is. She may not have millions of followers, but she does have a few thousand. She definitely has enough to make at least some money. My brother loves it, too. He loves how much fun they are able to have because of it. He claims that we missed our shot in LA while we had the chance.

"It's growing, that's for sure. I still love it. How is your new job going?" She asks me.

"Really well, actually. I'm working on this new app design and I really think it's going to be a hit." I admit.

"That's amazing, Nat! Congrats!" She exclaims.

"Thank you. I'm really excited for it." I reply.

"You should be! That's amazing! I wish I were even half as talented as you are. You understand coding and all of that. I could never even imagine how to start something like that." She laughs.

"It definitely wasn't the easiest, but I love it."

"My baby sister is going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg." Nathaniel brags. "Grace, come taste this." He adds. Grace goes over and takes a spoonful of the elote. Her eyes go wide and she tastes it.

"Good, right?" I ask.

"That's amazing. How have I never had that?" She asks.

"Because you're white." Nathaniel teases, earning a small slap on the arm from Grace.

"Okay, dinner is ready." My mom says, bringing a tray of meat into the dining room. Carne asada and chicken covers the entirety of the tray and I smell the familiarity of it. I haven't had a good carne asada in so long. My parents make the best food I've ever had. LA food just doesn't cut it.

"Everything smells amazing, mama." Nathaniel praises. My mom smiles and sets everything onto the table. "Who wants to say grace?" He adds, remembering all of our old family traditions. He holds out both of his hands to us we begin our prayer.

"Señor, gracias por reunir a mis hijos de nuevo. Gracias por esta maravillosa comida. Danos fuerza y guíanos a través de la semana restante. Amén." My mother speaks.

"Lord, thank you for bringing my kids together again. Thank you for this wonderful meal. Give us strength and guide us through the remaining week. Amen." I translate in English. My mom glares up at me slightly, but shrugs it off I release our hands.

"Thank you." Nathaniel says politely. As he reaches over for a plate, he gives me a small smile. I know how hard our parents can be sometimes. I know that he wants them to accept Grace the same way I have. I really wish they would, too.

As we all prepare our plates, the room is silent. The silence is almost deafening. Finally, I clear my throat after my first bite of the street taco I made.

"Everything is amazing, mama." I compliment my mom.

"Gracias, Natalia." She replies with a tight smile.

"Papa, how is the restaurant going?" I ask.

"Muy ocupado." He sighs. He looks up at Nathaniel who's giving him a look of disappointment. "Busy. Very busy." He corrects.

I smile an appreciative smile at him and nod. My dad is the only one who seems to be caving in from his protest against Grace. Really, it's nothing against her. They like her as a person. They just don't believe Nathaniel should be with her.

"How are those boys doing? Still keeping you on your toes?" Nathaniel asks. The boys that my dad hired to cook at the restaurant definitely keep everything very exciting. They're amazing at their job, but they can be quite the troublemakers with the waitresses that work there.

"They're dating a new waitress everyday, it seems." He laughs. Grace laughs at this, earning a smile from my dad. "Speaking of the restaurant, Jose has been asking about you, Natalia." My dad adds, looking over at me.

"Me? Why?" I ask, squeezing a lime onto my food. I already have an idea of why he might be asking about me.

"He really wants to take you out. He's a good boy. A hard worker." He reminds me.

"I know, dad. I'm just not interested." I reply.

"He's handsome, too." My mom adds.

"Again, not interested." I groan. This must end the conversation, because my mom redirects her focus across the table. 

"Don't you like the food?" My mom asks Grace, who has barely touched her tacos.

"No, it's amazing! Really, it's so good." She says quickly.

"You have barely touched it." My mom points out.

"My stomach has just been a bit upset lately. The tacos are so good, really. They're just really spicy and I don't want to have an upset stomach on the way home." She explains politely.

"Hey, I don't blame you. They are really spicy." I say, trying to help this situation.

"Oh Dios mío." My mom mumbles.

"It's okay. Not everyone likes spicy food." My dad assures her.

"We actually have some news to share with you guys." Nathaniel says, clapping his hands together. "Grace and I...are having a baby." He says, taking a hold of her hand and giving it a light squeeze.

"What?" I ask, mouth agape. I don't have any other words to say. My mother looks like she might pass out and my dad looks like he might explode.

"Don't look too excited?" He jokes lightly, but I can see the disappointment on his face.

"No, no it's great." I say, shaking my head. The only congratulations he's going to get tonight is more than likely coming from me.

"Mom? Dad?" He asks.

"Como pudiste hacer esto?" My mom asks slowly.

How could you do this? She asked this with pure devastation in her voice

"Mom." He says, shaking his head with disbelief. "I'm married to her. I love her. Why aren't you happy for us? You're going to be an abuela."

"No a ese niño" She spits out as she stands up from her seat and rushes out of the kitchen.

Not to that child. Her words hurt me, and I'm not even the one most effected in this situation. Grace is sitting with her head turned down and Nathaniel looks like he could scream right now.

"I'm so sorry. I'm happy for you, really." My dad offers silently. He stands from his seat and follows my mom into the bedroom.

The three of us sit in silence for a few moments before Nathaniel stands up from his seat and throws his napkin on the table.

"Come on. We're leaving." He tells Grace, reaching for her hand.

"Wait, Nathaniel. Please don't." I beg quickly.

"No, Nat. I can't fucking deal with this. Every fucking time we're here, it always ends up like this. I know they don't want us to be with someone outside of our own race but that's not realistic! I love Grace! Who the fuck cares if she's white? I'm married to her. I mean, what the hell do they expect?" He yells.

"Nathaniel, I know that this is shitty. I know, okay? It's not fair. They aren't being fair but I just want you to please wait. Let papa go and talk to her! Let him talk some sense into her! We're happy for you!" I lie. I'm happy for him. I think my dad is happy for him, too. But our mom? I don't know if she'll ever be happy for him.

"Yeah right. Listen, I'm sorry. Okay? I just can't do this. We're going to be in town for a few more days if you're wanting to do something later on. But right now, we need to leave." He tells me as he grabs his car keys and walks to the door.

"I'm so sorry." Grace tells me with tears in her eyes.

"No, I'm sorry. You don't deserve any of this. For what it's worth, I am so happy for the two of you. You will both make amazing parents." I tell her.

"I just hope you'll want to be around for us?" She asks quietly.

"Of course. Yeah, of course. I won't leave you guys. I promise." I assure her. She smiles and gives me a tight hug. I know this is hard for her. She tries so hard to please my parents and it never works. She's not the problem. They are.

As the two of them leave, I watch their car drive away. I can't believe that after two years of being away from the family, my parents drive Nathaniel away like this. Over something so small, too. They're losing the only family they have in America.

 Instead of going to check on my parents, I grab my keys and walk out the door. I have way too much on my plate right now to be worried about comforting them over something like this. I refuse to watch them act so childish towards Nathaniel and Grace.

When my mom calls my a few minutes later, I ignore it quickly. I'll speak to them soon, I know. But not right now. Right now, my mom can sit and think about how she ruined the first family dinner we've had in over two years.