JOHNNY HAD told Isabella about his plan to force Miguel and Robby to become friends; she didn't know why he was suddenly bothered, but she just tagged along for the free food at the restaurant. Isabella had lied, slightly, and asked her brother if he wanted to go out for lunch, and Johnny told Robby the same thing.

Isabella had to drag Miguel towards their table when he saw Robby, who was just about to get up and walk away. Isabella blurted out, "Wait, wait, wait!"

"Where are you going?" Johnny rushed towards them, "Sit down. Hear me out." The four of them sat down, Isabella skim-reading the menu. He continued, "Alright, yeah, we lied to get you here. I know you're both in bitchy moods because you broke up with your girlfriends."

Isabella frowned, her attention drawing away from the menu, "You and Tory broke up?" Robby nodded.

Johnny continued, "Since the Mexico thing felt like a small step in the right direction, I figured it might help if we went on another trip."

"A trip?" Robby scoffed, "To a mall in Chatsworth?"

"It's your tastebuds that travel the world," Isabella retorted sarcastically, "Have you seen the menu? There's breadsticks."

Robby replied, "Breadsticks aren't gonna fix this."

"Spoken like a man who's never had the Garden's breadsticks." Johnny said, "One bite, you'll forget why you were ever mad at each other."

Miguel shot back, "I'm never gonna forget that."

"Neither am I." Robby added, as the two boys both stood up and stormed outside.

"At least they both agreed on something," Isabella sighed optimistically, "That's progress."

Johnny asked curiously, "Can you help me with interneting?"

After a few hours of cutting out cardboard beer boxes and stacking up beer cans as obstacles, Isabella and Johnny had finally finished making an escape room in the man's apartment. Robby was in his room the entire time and Miguel was in his apartment, so the two had time to set it all up.

Isabella wandered back to her apartment to retrieve her brother, continuing to lie straight to his face. She called, "Hey, Migs! Come here."

"What?" Her brother called back from their bedroom.

"Come here!" The girl raised her voice.

"Indoor voice, Belle." Carmen replied.

"Sorry," She responded, before yelling again, "Miguel!"

Finally, the boy strolled out of his room very slowly, a frown of confusion on his face. Miguel asked, "What's up?"

"I could've been dying, but you took your sweet time," Isabella remarked, before explaining, "Johnny sent me to come and get you."

Miguel refused, "I'm not going if Robby's there."

"He's not there." Isabella lied, "I've been helping him with something and he wants to show you. Man-to-man."

"Okay." Miguel replied, but it sounded like a confused question. He followed his sister to Johnny's apartment, where Isabella nudged Miguel through the door before locking it behind her. Miguel made a face, "What is this?"

"Don't worry about it," Johnny replied flatly, before walking through the cardboards doors named 'JAIL' to retrieve Robby from his room.

Isabella pointed at the cardboard 'WANTED' posters proudly, "I drew them—"

Miguel sighed, "Belle, you told me he wasn't here."

Isabella glanced at Robby, who had just walked through the cardboard doors; the same frustrated expression on his face. The girl shrugged, "I lied."

Johnny explained, "I got Belle to help me with some interneting. Found a bunch of strategies for building trust and teamwork through cooperative exercises. The least lame one is called an escape room. How it works—"

"I know what an escape room is and I'm not doing it." Robby interrupted stubbornly.

"Me too," Miguel agreed, before attempting to open the front door which had been locked.

"I reversed the locks." Johnny replied, before taking out a key from his pocket and throwing it down the sink, "And that was your only way out—"

"I have a spare key, in case something bad happens. So, don't worry." Isabella interrupted, "The escape room theme is the Lincoln County War."

Johnny nodded, "New Mexico territory, 1878. Lincoln County regulators José Chavez y Chavez and Josiah Doc Scurlock have been arrested to be hanged." He looked at Miguel, "You're Chavez, obviously."

"This is just the plot of Young Guns 2." Miguel blurted out.

Isabella sighed, "I told you he had seen it."

"Shit." Johnny replied, "Really?"

"Yeah," Miguel shot back, "With you!"

"Who cares. Dad, you're missing the point. You could lock us in here forever, and we're never gonna be friends." Robby exclaimed.

Miguel added, "Why are you suddenly pushing this so hard?"

Johnny hesitated, "Because, with me and your mom, we're sort of becoming a family—"

"A family? Me and him? Are you joking?" Miguel scoffed, "Belle, give me the spare key."

The girl frowned, "No—"

"Give me the spare key, Isabella." Miguel argued, "I'm not kidding."

"Neither am I." Isabella shot back stubbornly.

Miguel argued, "I'll tell Ma."

"You always do." She scoffed, "You've already told her everything I've done."

Miguel blurted out in frustration, "Not about how you kept selling your pills, even after she found out!"

The silent room felt like it went even more silent.

"Fuck you," Isabella scoffed in disbelief, before storming over to an empty beer can and tipping it over into the palm of her hand. She walked over to Miguel, before chucking the key on the floor beside him, "Have the fucking key. I don't give a shit! Spare me for trying to help you."

"I never asked you to fix my problems." Miguel shot back in frustration, before unlocking the door and storming outside. He slammed the door behind him, leaving Isabella in a fit of rage. Breathe— no! Fuck anger management.

Johnny took a long breath, "Kid, I—"

Isabella suddenly stormed out, slamming the door behind her and following her brother to their apartment.

Isabella lowered her voice behind him, as they walked through the door, "If you tell her I'll kick the shit out of you."

Miguel scoffed, "I'd like to see you try."

"It'd be easy," Isabella argued, "I'll just wait until you pull a muscle again—"

"Go to hell!" Miguel snapped, as he stopped walking and turned to face her, "At least I can actually fight back. You're pills make you crap—"

Isabella shoved him, causing Miguel to stumble back into the wall. The boy kicked her in the backwards, causing her to roll over the back of the couch and thud onto the floor. Miguel's eyes widened before, like always, attempting to run to their shared bedroom to hide. And, as usual, Isabella chased after him.

She jumped on his back, causing the boy to stumble down the hallway towards their bedroom. Miguel managed to pull her off of his back, before securing Isabella in a head lock while she tried to hit him.

"Whoa, guys!"

Carmen rushed out of the bathroom, blocking Miguel's way to the bedroom, standing in-between them both.

"Both of you stop!" Carmen split them up, "Enough! What's going on? What are you both doing?"

Isabella blurted out, "Miguel's being an asshole!"

"Because Isabella can't keep her head out of my business!" Miguel shot back in frustration.

"Both of you need to stop. Now! You're lucky your Grandma isn't here." Carmen lectured, "I'm just about to go to work and I don't trust either of you together in this house. One of you, go to your room, the other go back to Johnny's."

Miguel tried, "I'm—"

"I'm staying here." Isabella interrupted quickly, before making her way towards the bedroom.

"That's not fair!" Miguel complained, "Robby's at Johnny's place. I can't go back there."

Isabella shrugged, "That's not my business, is it?" 

Miguel went to shove her again, but Carmen guided the boy outside. Her mother said, "We will be talking about this when I get back from work."

a/n:
isabella and miguel are so dramatic i love them