Hallows: Duets

To Salvaje Villanueva

Skrillex & Damian Marley- Make It Bun Dem

Ashley:

My mom's house is swarming with Tias and Tios who are just talking s**t about everyone and everything. Dante, Tony, and Lily look so out of place but they're having a great time. My mom decided that she didn't want to get rid of my dad. Ever. So he'll be cremated but we're doing the wake here in our home.

Lily is standing in front of the armchair where my mother has my father on display. He's dressed in his best gangster clothes. Tanned dickies, a black wife beater, his favorite LA belt buckle. A matching fedora, and of course, his black Nike Cortesses. I crouch down next to Lily and tuck a blunt between his fingers.

"Perfect," she nods.

"Eulalie, que chingado estas aceindo?" my mom barks.

"Dad wanted a smoke," I shrug. The guys both laugh.

"Hija de tu puta madre," she tries to reach for it and I stop her.

"Ma, stop. Be happy I didn't put it in his mouth," I brush her off.

"Cabrona," my uncle Hector, her brother, laughs. I go over to him and give him a hug. "Quien son tus amigos,"

"Right. Guys this is Tony and Lily," I introduce them. "And this is Dante,"

"Her novio," Dante adds. My mom grins and shakes her head.

"The rockstar," my uncle nods.

"Not right now," Dante looks over at me. I feel my face heat up.

"Y esta loca de donde la sacaste?" she asks looking Lily over.

"Lily De Laughrey," Lily introduces herself. My mom's eyes widen.

"Serio?" she asks me.

"Yeah," I nod. "Lily, this is my mom. Mom, you remember Anthony,"

"I remember," she glares at him. Anthony just laughs.

"What am I missing?" Lily asks.

"Puedo hablar contigo un minuto?" my mom requests.

"Go," Dante encourages me. "Try not to snap again, Darling,"

I follow my mom into my dad's room. Everything is clean now. His medications are gone. Any sign that he had been sick in here is gone and disinfected so well that the tiles and walls look brand new. She shuts the door and sits down on the bed. I go over to her and sit down next to her.

"How did he go?" I ask after a while.

"He robbed the Sicario on Star and Eighteenth. Took out two cops and twelve BPLs on his way out," she answers and gets up to go to the closet. She pulls out a duffle bag. Inside is a s**t ton of money, guns, and jewelry. I laugh reaching for a watch. "Take some more for Dante. Y el estupido de Tony,"

"Thanks," I take a few more things.

I think Carter and Teeg would appreciate the gesture. She slips me a couple of rings and another necklace before dropping the bag on the floor in front of us. I toss the money I brought for her into the bag and kneel down in front of her when she starts to cry.

"If I could trade it-" she sobs. I nod.

"I know, Crazy," I sit on my calves in front of her wrapping my arms around her. She places her hands on my head and keeps crying. "I think you should head back to Cali with Tio Hector,"

"Y tu?" she asks cupping my face to make me look up at her.

"I have a lot of s**t to do here. This is my home," I shrug.

"Esta bien guapo el emo grandulon," she smirks and I laugh. "Estas segura?"

"I've never been more sure about something, ma," I nod and stand up. "Dad wouldn't want us to be crying," I say taking the bottle of rum Lily snuck out from her dad's private collection. She holds it up and laughs.

"The good s**t," she grins.

"Thank Lily," I smile at her and open it for her. She takes a long greedy drink before handing it back to me.

"Chingado," she nods and takes another one. I let her keep it and pull her with me so we can join the others.

"Okay, okay, but can you do a handstand?" Lily is asking my uncle who is holding the hose to the keg in front of him.

"Aver, guerita," he laughs.

"Oh, s**t," I say when Lily puts her hands on either side of the keg. She puts the hose in her mouth and lifts herself up until her fet are in the air. My family is cheering her on. The guys aren't exactly upset. When she looks up to see me and my mom standing here she jumps off and rips the hose out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she rushes out the others stay quiet. I shake my head and snatch the hose out of her hand.

"You should be. I always go first," I laugh.

"Yeah," they all cheer as I put the hose in my mouth. She laughs when I lift myself up. My mom hands me the bottle and scolds us for putting our mouths on the tap.

"This is my best friend," Lily declares.

"b***h, you wish," Kelly calls out from the front door. "That's my girl and we'll throw down for her," she holds up my mom's favorite tequila. "Dona Villanueva,"

"Kelly," my mom greets her. She hands her the bottle and gives her a hug. "Mija, where have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Ash is a full-time job," Kelly laughs. I roll my eyes when my mom agrees with her.

"Igual que su papa,"

"To pimp daddy Savage," Kelly raises her own bottle.

Everyone raises their cups and beers to toast with my friend. She really helped my mom when I couldn't. Even hired some people to help her out at the store. Kels is really good at keeping things to herself. I love her.

Carter makes way for his guys who bring bright red flowers of all kinds of shapes and sizes. He gives me a single nod as he follows Kelly and my mom. The others join as well. Teegan and Beli are the last to arrive. Food is passed around. Drinks. Snacks. The stereo is blasting Chalino Sanchez and Ramon Ayala.

I keep an eye on my mom as we all party with the old man for the last time. My father just sits there as if he were simply passed out in the greatest crossfade of his life. Dante wraps his arms around me as I look down at the man who raised me. The man who taught me how to survive. The man who gave me all the ugly parts I hate about myself. The ones I've really been relying on as of late.

It's not just in the back of my head anymore. This is real. He's really dead now. It's a really strange feeling of both pain and relief. This way I know he's not suffering anymore. Wherever he may be. Maybe like me, he's most likely to have gone down to the fiery place.

"You f*****g asshole," I tell him. Dante chuckles but doesn't say anything. "I swear to f**k you were the worst,"

"Amen," my mom agrees. "Eras un pinche animal,"

"You still owe me two gs," one of my uncles calls out.

"This motherfucker taught me to pick locks," someone else laughs.

"He taught me to hotwire a car," I add.

"Hijo de su puta madre," my mom shakes her head. Everyone laughs. Everyone takes turns talking s**t about him fondly and roasting him one last time as we say goodbye.

"There's a whole army of them," Lily says happily.

The guys all fit in with my family. All of them talking shop and sharing stories. Someone pulled out the dice and a deck of cards. Tony and Lily are outside roughhousing with my cousins. In the morning when they came for his body we all cleaned ourselves up and gave him a final goodbye. My mom finally snaps and cries as they took him away. I just hold her, running my fingers through her hair offering as much comfort as I could.

My aunts all helped me with her while I clean up the mess we had made. That afternoon when almost everyone was gone, I help her pack and even put her things into my uncle's car. As I watched them take her with them, I felt better. Like a huge weight sliding off my shoulders. Everyone is sitting in the living room when I get back inside. I take the jewelry my mom gave me and hold it up.

"My dad went out the way he lived," I say. "Thank you guys for being here. These are the spoils of his last run,"

"For me?" Lily squeaks when I offer her one of the rings. They all smile when I give them a piece. I slip the necklace I chose for myself on and look down at my dad's wedding band.

"To Salvaje Villanueva. The legend that gave us this f*****g thing," Dante places his huge hand on my head.

"Your family partied all day and all f*****g night then just went home as if nothing happened," Rudy laughs. "Damn, these people can drink,"

"I overheard some of them saying they had work after this," Kelly laughs. "Like I want to take a nap right now,"

"We should head back to school," I tuck my hands into my hoodie's front pocket.

"How drunk are you?" Carter asks. I grin giving him a shrug.

"Not drunk enough," I admit. He tosses me a beer bottle. It hits my chest and bounces off me. If Dante hadn't caught it would have shattered on the tile.

"Dude, why would you throw something at me knowing my hands were in my pocket?" I ask. Kelly and Anthony burst into laughter.

"Think fast, Villanueva," he holds his hands out shaking his head.

"Not even if I were sober would I have tried to catch that," I scoff at him. I take the beer from Dante. "I am going to take a look at what my mom turned my room into so I can be mad at her the next time she calls me,"

"Me too," Lily jumps up. she snatches the bottle out of my hand and pops it open with her teeth.

"No," I scold her. She looks at me and laughs.

"Why not?"

"You can break your f*****g teeth, Lily," I laugh.

"I can fix it," she argues.

"That's not the point," I shove her playfully.

"How did you come from such a cool family? You f*****g ruin-er," she shoves me back.

"Told you," Carter says from the living room.

"Whoa," Lily says when she pulls the door open. "Indoor purple,"

"What?" they all scramble to their feet and rush over to us. I burst into laughter.

Sure enough, my room is patted down, sealed, and equipped with a water pump and UV lights. The bottom shelves of the metal shelves have glass jars packed with pretty purplish nugs. I pick one up and show it to Carter. He grins taking the top off. The smell is spectacular.

"I have my bong in my car," Lily says.

"One-upping you, gremlin. I've got my mask in the trunk," Carter laughs.

"Yes," she squeaks. "I'll go get them both,"

Kelly comes over to me and helps me check everything to make sure it's all fine. She smiles and says we should move this into her closet back at the school. We all gather in the living room and put on some of the home movies in the T.V. center. The first one is my parent's wedding.

"Wow, they were so young," Kelly points out. "Damn, you look just like your mom at that age,"

"Look that's you in her belly," Lily laughs and sits up suddenly getting all serious. "How weird is it that we can grow people inside of us?"

"Hella," Tony answers. We all laugh.

"You guys a lit," Rudy grins.

"Are there still tacos?" Kelly suddenly asks.

"Yeah, you have to-" I try to tell her but she jumps up on the couch and flips over the backside of the couch before disappearing into the kitchen. "Heat everything up,"

"Oh, ninja Kels is here," Tony whispers. "We should bail,"

"What? Why?" Lily shakes her head.

"She doesn't have her throwing knives," Carter laughs.

"Are you sure?" Dante snorts. "I don't think Mrs. Villanueva would like coming home to-" he jumps back as a fork cuts through the air just barely missing him. He reaches out snatching it out of the air lightning fast."Kelly, don't f*****g start,"

"Come on. You've been channeling your inner Villanueva for too long. You're becoming boring," Kelly says with a fat burrito in her hand. She leans into it and takes a huge bite.

"Oh, I want some of that," Lily jumps up.

"Kels. Don't start right now. I want Mrs. Villanueva to like us," he adds.

"Aww, really?" I ask. He looks over at me and nods. "Whatever. She's not coming back. She took the safe and s**t. We have a ranch in Malibu. My mom's family is loaded. The good knives are in the display thing in the dining room,"

"Yes," she laughs and turns back to head into the dining room.

"How did your mom end up here? Savage is from here," Carter says.

"My granddad was in the army and they stayed here for my mom's senior year and she got pregnant with me. My dad joined too but there wasn't any money in it. After his first tour, he started running s**t for Jimenez until I started school. My mom told him he had to choose the life or us. He was actually a cool dude. I mean he had his flaws but he was a good dad and a really good husband,"

"He kicked you out of the house," Kels reminds me.

"Yeah, he did and now we're all here. I don't think I would be here with you guys if he hadn't. I wouldn't have accepted that scholarship. I wouldn't have gone to the academy and I sure as s**t would never have worked for you guys if it wasn't for him,"

"Asshole fathers," Tony snorts. "We all got em,"