MERCEDES | SEBASTIAN STAN

TWENTY EIGHT

MEAL

028.
❝You had to go and call her Lexus didn't you?❞

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Mercedes sat down beside Cruz, his arm slung around the back of her chair as they sat in the restaurant. Her parents insisted on taking them all out for a family meal.

The girl knew that it was just because it had just been the anniversary of her disappearance and they wanted a distraction.

She didn't mind, she couldn't have imagined how her family felt at her disappearance. Wondering if their daughter was alive or not. If she'd ever return.

"Tell us all about comic con, mi hija." Julián questioned his daughter from across the table.

Cruz noticed the way his younger sister tensed, so he placed his hand over hers. Their parents didn't keep up to date with the news tabloids unlike him, they didn't know that she ran off stage when Lexus was mentioned or that she was hit.

"It was great, papá." Mercedes smiled towards her brother thankfully. She knew that he would do anything for her. He always had her best interest at heart.

Astra glanced over to her sister, knowing that she probably wasn't going to tell their parents the truth.

Their food all came and the Coleman's quickly went quiet as they ate, which Mercedes didn't mind. It gave her a chance to zone out and just be in her own little world.

"Lexus." Lucía, her mother, snapped as her daughter was ignoring her father.

Mercedes eyes instantly filled with tears at her name. It was something that she hadn't been called since she was ten. Bentley noticed the way his sisters face faltered. He hated the way she seemed so panicked by the name. She didn't deserve that.

"That's not her name any more, mamá." He spoke up.

Bentley barely remembered when Mercedes was taken but he remembered. Maybe not in the same way that his parents or Cruz did, but he remembered. He was only four when she was taken, so the memories were a little hazy, but something like that sticks with you for a lifetime.

All he remembered was his older sister shutting herself in her room when she returned. She wouldn't speak to anyone for months, barely even uttered a word to anyone other than Cruz.

"Well then she should answer her father." Lucía shot a glare towards her son, silently telling him that if he interrupted again, he'd be in trouble.

Her mother was a lot sterner than her father, her father usually went easier on her. But her mother was the complete opposite.

"Sorry, mamá." Mercedes apologised and quickly wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek. "Papá. Is everything okay?"

"Tell me about Sebastian. Your sister said he's a nice man." Julián announced as he placed his hand on Astra's shoulder.

Astra offered her older sister a sympathetic smile. It was no secret that Julián's favourite child was Astra. He doted on the girl much more than anyone else.

"I don't think she really wants to talk about Sebastian right now, papá." Cruz spoke up, giving his sisters hand a light squeeze.

"Cruz, please don't speak on your sisters behalf." Lucía said raising her brows disapprovingly. The way she spoke was in a hushed but angry whisper, she knew that everyone's eyes were on them.

After all, they were a well known family, not for the disappearance of Lexus but for all the films that Julián had directed.

Their family was born into fame, which Cruz hated. He wasn't into the fame and fortune like his parents, he would much rather fly under the radar.

"Mamá, Papá, may Cruz and I be excused?" Mercedes questioned, standing up and walking out without waiting for their response.

"You had to go and call her Lexus didn't you? You know she hates it." Bentley snapped as he watched Cruz throw down his napkin onto the table before rushing off to go and find their sister.

Cruz noticed Mercedes leant against the wall with a cigarette burning in her hand. He knew that she didn't smoke, but it was a habit that she picked up from him.

Whenever he went outside for some air at a restaurant, he didn't want people to give him odd looks for just standing there, so he lit a cigarette.

"Mamá will not be impressed." Cruz spoke up as he went to stand beside the girl. He took the cigarette from her hands and placed it between his lips.

Over the past couple years, he took a few drags so that he didn't look weird just standing with a cigarette burning.

"Well, Mamá doesn't seem to care about my feelings, why should I care about hers?" Mercedes uttered, looking up at her older brother.

His dark brown hair fell just in front of his eyes, he had a cocky grin on his face, as he always did.

"Mamá just deals with things differently. She named you that name-"

"Actually, She named me Louella." Mercedes corrected. "I chose Lexus because I was the only one out of the four of us that didn't have a car name." She lightly tapped his chest. "Then when everything happened-"

"You went back to Louella, felt left out again and went to Mercedes. You're saying it as if I wasn't there." He slung his arm over his sisters shoulder and pulled her into his chest. "You still have his ring on, hermanita."

Mercedes looked down at her thumb, it was true, she still wore Sebastian's ring. She had his leather jacket at home as well as one of his tops that he gave her to sleep in. There was no denying that she missed the safety that the man brought her, as well as the happiness.

"Why don't you message him?" Cruz suggested as Mercedes pulled herself out of the hug.

"That's not how our relationship works. We flirt in person, constantly try to be next to each other. It gives the fans something to gossip about, but when we go home, we go out separate ways. Occasionally, we comment on the others instagrams to keep the fans interested but that is all."

The girl explained, causing her brother to scoff and roll his eyes. Mercedes furrowed her brows and hit the back of his head, not liking his attitude.

"Ouch." Cruz pouted as he rubbed the back of his head. "I think it's bullshit. You like him, he likes you. Go get him. Go tell him that you love him."