Take him!
Page 2
All of a sudden, a car brakes so I can cross and I’m shocked that, behind the wheel of a beautiful grey Audi ―which I don’t see the model as I can’t even see the street I was willing to cross― it’s him… the serious guy, waiting for me to cross, following me with his gaze. I know he’s with someone, I think it’s a girl, but I can’t look again, I just know his look is the usual… cold
At that moment I die. I feel how my steps are uneven and clumsy. I’m dying of shame, impotence and everything. Dang! But I had almost got it! And suddenly, I see his car disappearing down the street.
Today, Thursday, I don’t know how to face the day. I’m sure I can’t go through the Rambla, I mustn’t eat outside the school and I shouldn’t cross… streets? God! I’m so absurd! But I’m afraid to see him again and embarrass myself again.
I don’t understand where this guy came from, from one day to the next I see him every day, to make me feel more insecure and restless than I’m already am. I’m starting to think it’s a kind of divine punishment or something like that.
Luckily, the day ends well and I don’t see him, not on Friday and of course, not at the weekend.
Week 3
Today a new week begins and it starts quietly, until the principal of the school summons me to his office.
“Martina, I need you to do a little personal favor for me. I must go to pick up a couple of parcels at the shipping company office in the Rambla.”
“In the Rambla?” I only manage to say.
I can’t believe he’s asking me to be his errand girl, and besides he asks me for going to the Rambla, where my last week principles forbid me to go.
“Yes, the Sarriá Rambla. You’re the only one person in the school I can request this personal favor, I trust you so much…” he says with an affectionate voice.
And I don’t want to ―nor can’t― say anything else.
I go at my working hours in direction to the Rambla. I try to be alert because I think I see the serious boy everywhere. But I get to the shipping company office safe and sound.
The girl at the office makes me wait very long time and makes me sign different receipts for each parcel that she gives me in dribs and drabs. I don’t understanding, but as I don’t know what to say, I endure until, according to her, I have everything I need and I can leave blankly and with the ten parcels on my hands.
Luckily, the parcels cover my face and I’m happy it is this way because I can go unnoticed. What a fool, as if I were an important person for somebody.
I go through the first street I see and suddenly, when I get to the corner ―continuing my usual bad luck―, I collide with somebody.
All the parcels fall on the ground. I don’t know if they’re fragile or not, but I don’t care. I finally, lose my grip when I try to save any of them and I also fall down; I put my hand and I feel a lot of pain, I have hurt myself badly.
I’m pissed at myself, at the shipping company witch, with the jerk of the principal and with whoever blocked my way.
My hand hurts and my heart as well, and a tear falls through my face. The person who I collided with kneels quickly and speaks to me at a short distance from my face.
“Hey! Don’t cry. Did you hurt yourself badly? Let me help you to get up… I’ll take you to the hospital to check that hand, it’s starting to swell.”
I hear a deep man voice and I don’t want to look at him because I’m very angry.
I’m sure I don’t want any guy to touch me, so I open my eyes with the intention of getting up and leaving, but I’m surprised when I realize it’s him again… the serious guy, and he speaks and looks at me again, although he does it in a different way to the previous times.
“It’s been a few days since I last saw you. Are you avoiding me?” he says with a half-faced smile.
I can’t believe it and I’m incapable of pronouncing a single syllable. I think he even starts getting scared of my reaction.
Then he addresses to the person who is with him.
“Go to the office, I’ll go with her to get that hand checked. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
I hear how the other person tells him something about not being late as someone from somewhere is coming and it’s very important he’s at that meeting.
Then, he picks up all my absurd parcels and with his other hand he takes my arm… and that contact leaves me breathless. It had been a long time that I didn’t feel the touch of a man, and I don’t know what feeling I’m feeling right now.
Something inside of me tells me to run but, on the other hand, I’m hypnotized and I get carried away by him… the serious guy takes control of my absurd morning.
He takes his phone and I hear him talking with someone, who ask them the favor of see me urgently.
On our way, none of us say anything.
We get to a clinic near where we are which is of one of his friends who is a doctor, as I can see and hear. I explain to the doctor the situation and he giggles, what a stupid.
“Well, I’ll get you some X-ray films done to check if you have something broken.”
“Okay.” I answer.
I go with the doctor and when I go back to his office it’s empty, and a weird feeling runs through my body. He’s not there, he’s gone and I breathe relieved.
I start thinking how I got here and I feel tears falling through my cheeks again, I’m feeling a bit silly. Suddenly, I hear someone knocking on the door and I just hope it’s the doctor and lets me go.
But it’s not the doctor, it’s him… the serious guy. He’s not gone and he looks at me with a scared face.
“Hey! What’s the matter? What did the doctor say? Why are you crying?” He asks me worried.
But at that moment the doctor enters the room.
“What’s going on Javier?” He asks him.
The doctor sits down in a relaxing way.
“It’s nothing serious. The X-ray films are okay. It’s just a little sprain, you should be careful with your hand for a few days, take an anti-inflammatory and put a lot of ice on that. I’ll bandage your hand to immobilize it, okay?” The doctor adds.
I just nod.
The serious guy waits patiently as I get my hand bandaged and from time to time, he answers some phone calls.
“Well, it’s done! I’m going to get the medication you should take until Thursday, approximately.” The doctor says.
I just nod again.
When we are left alone at the doctor’s office, the serious boy gets close to the stretcher where I am and sitting next to me, he says:
“Are you more relaxed?”
Of course, I only nod again.
“My name is Álvaro. I’m sorry I made you trip over.”
The first few words start coming out of my mouth and I say:
“Martina, don’t worry.”
He looks at me with a half-faced smile and I wonder why I’m so silly.
At that moment, the doctor shows up again and gives me the necessary medication.
“By the way, do you need the sick leave for this week?” The doctor interrupts.
“No, thank you.”
“Alright, but if you feel it’s getting worse, don’t hesitate in coming back.”
“Thank you, goodbye.” It is the only thing I can say and I turn around to pick up my ten goddammed parcels.
“Hey! wait. I’ll help you with that.” Álvaro says, and the doctor giggles again.
“Where do you want me to go with you?”
I just want to run, but I can’t take all the parcels by myself and that makes me feel useless, so I tell him:
“I’m going to Sensat School, I work there.”
Then, when he realizes I’m not saying anything else, he adds:
“Perfect, then let’s go there.”
On our way to the school, he keeps that serious face that I remembered again. I imagine he noticed I don’t talk too much, so he doesn’t smother me and we walk in silence.
When we get there, he leaves th
e parcels at the entrance and says:
“I’d have liked to meet you in other circumstances, Martina.”
A chill runs my body when I hear him pronouncing my name.
“It’s okay.” I answer.
“I hope it’s nothing serious and it stops hurting soon, Remember that, if it keeps hurting, you should see Dr. Ruiz again or any other doctor. If you call me, I’ll be happy to go with you.” he says as he gives me a card with his telephone number.
“Yes.” I answer taking it.
“Then, see you soon.”
Suddenly, he takes la bandaged hand and gives a kiss on it. Phew! This is crazy, my head is spinning. He notices my reaction and looks at me with that half-faced smile he usually has.
“Goodbye.” I say with a confident tone and turning away.
I’m not going to call him, I’m not going to see him again and I’m not going to be close to him again. Because, because… he smells so good.
When I see him leaving the school, I breathe and I gather all my strength to enter the dear principal office. I go in without knocking, I’m pissed and I tell him:
“Your parcels are at the entrance.”
He tells me with a pissed face:
“Can you tell me where you were?”
And as he’s my goddammed boss, I don’t have any other option but explaining what happened.
During the rest of the day, my clumsiness seems to be very funny and everybody cracks up at school. Firstly, because how my boss makes fun of me and after that, for my tumble and for ending up at the doctor’s.
At five in the afternoon I can finally go home with my bandaged hand and my bad mood. On my way home, I calm myself down. Luckily, it doesn’t hurt much and in a few days this will be an anecdote, I even smile for the first time in the whole day.
When I arrive home the hand hurts a bit, but it’s bearable. I have a low-fat yogurt as a snack and I decide to phone my preadolescent niece ―as every Monday― to gossip about the weekend.
“Hello auntie!”
“Hello honey! How was the weekend?”
“It was great. I could finally convince my mom to let me go to the party of a friend’s brother with Alexia and some other girls from class. The guy is very nice and Alexia is deeply in love. I really like his best friend, he practices motocross and is very handsome.”
“Aha.” I say so she knows I get what she’s saying and I don’t stop her speech.
“To be honest, they ignored us most of the time, but when I went to the kitchen to get a soda, he was leaving and looked at me.”
God! I feel her so much! I remember the day I saw Álvaro leaving that café and I think I felt as a teenager.
“Great!” I encourage her to continue.
“I didn’t see him again, though. Alexia told me that his brother told him that his friend’s friend, the one I like, you know? left with an older girl. But not older than us… but older than him.”
“Are you sure?” I ask her to calm her down.
“The truth is that I’m not sure. Because Alexia’s brother is a liar and besides, he wants me to go out with him and I don’t want to. He’s a man and his face is filled with pimples, auntie.”
“Don’t be mean, Carla.” I say laughing. “The pimples will disappear and he’ll soon have a beautiful face.”
“Ha, ha.” she laughs ironically. ”You have surely never seen him.” She adds.
“And how is everything at home?” I change the subject.
“The brat is as annoying as always.”
The brat is my two year old nephew, son of my sister Lara and her second ex-husband. Carla, however, is the daughter of her first ex-husband. That little monkey is always annoying every girl in the world, especially his sister, who he is driving crazy.
“And mom?”
“Speaking on the phone with her new pickup. Did I tell you about the last one?”Sshe asks with her witch tone.
“The one from the appliance store?”
“No, the very last one. Apparently she met him online and he was sending him some photos of a hot guy.”
“Really?” I ask intrigued. I love these gossips about my oldest sister’s affairs, to be honest.
“Yes, I told mom to meet him. So they met at Charlie’s tavern and when he arrived, he wasn’t the boy in the photos, but he must have been his dad instead, or maybe his granddad.
“You’re so exaggerated.” I tell her off.
“Seriously, auntie. He told her it was him when he was young. Obviously, she ran without looking back.”
“Ha, ha.” I crack up with how the rugrat tells stories, she’s not so young anymore and she will soon turn fourteen.
“What about school?”
“Good, I’m studying for a History exam I’m taking on Wednesday.”
“Do you need some help?”
“No, everything is under control.”
“I know.”
“What about you? How are you?”
I can’t keep my mouth shut and I tell her my day. I leave out I had seen that guy before, because if I start to explain the truth, she’ll realize I’m as crazy as her.
“And does it hurt?”
“No.” I lie.
“Auntie, I must leave, I still have to study, take a shower, dry and straighten my hair for tomorrow.”
“Alright honey, I love you.”
“I love you tooooo. Bye.”
I hang up with that wonderful feeling I have every time I speak with my niece. A while later, I eat an apple for dinner and I go to bed to read.
My hand starts to hurt a lot and I almost can’t stand it. Being like this makes me think about him… the serious boy… Álvaro, more than I want to.
It hurts so much I can’t even sleep. I see how hours pass by and it’s five o’clock the last time I check the clock.
The alarm goes off. <
I get in the shower after covering my bandaged hand. Later, I drink a latte for breakfast and I leave home to catch the train to go to work.
When I get to the school, my colleagues are worried about my face and I think I should see them after sleeping only for two hours.
When the break finally comes, Lucía gets in my classroom quickly, closes the door and looks at me with a roguish smile.
“What is going on with you?” I ask her.
“What about you?” She answers.
“I’m not in the mood, so I’d better see you at lunch break.”
“I have something to tell you.”
“What’s the matter with your wedding now?” I ask her desperately.
“It’s not about my wedding.”
“Then what is it about?” I ask her again more desperate.
“I was talking to Néstor yesterday.”
“About the wedding?”
“No, shut up. It turns out I know who the guy you collided with is.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Yes, and I think you do too.”
“Yes, he’s a clumsy. What else?”
“Okay, listen up. Yesterday when Néstor came to pick me up, he told me they had had a hard day at the office.”
“Lucía, I don’t care about the day your boyfriend had at his office.”
“Shut up and let me continue” She says getting on my nerves a bit.
“Oof.” I hiss as I think this is going to be long and I must do a lot of things before the children come back from the break.
“I continue… It turns out all the directors from the different delegations of his company came to an annual meeting that day to meet with his boss.”
“Lucía, seriously…”
“Listen!” She tells me off and stops me. “Well, all the executives arrived expect the boss, who didn’t seem to arrive. Then his assistant showed up and told them that the damn boss would arrive soon, that something had come up and i
t wouldn’t take much longer. Then, after a while as he didn’t come, the executives were climbing the walls. You know that they think their time is gold and not only for their paycheck.”
“Lucía, straight to the point. Now.”
“See, two hours later the boss they were waiting showed up and he explained to them he had collided with a girl, that she had been hurt and he had had to go to the doctor with her to make sure she was alright. The executives, who also like women, understood he stood them up and laughing, they resumed the meeting they should have started much earlier.”
She doesn’t say anything else, everything is understood. I’m lost for words and she notices it.
“Don’t you get it?”
“What?”
“He’s interested in you.”
“Don’t say non-senses, I really hurt my hand.”
“Yes, but he could have left you in the doctor’s office and run to his important meeting, and not waiting for you like a good boy and coming here with you afterwards.”
I hide my emotions, as something inside me blushes and makes me feel very very good.
“But I must tell you something.” She adds with a harsh face.
I start thinking that she’s going to tell me he’s happily married and has four beautiful children or he’s about to marry the prettiest top model in the world, or…
“Hello? Are you listening to me?” She looks at me with a serious face.
“Yes, tell me, what now?”
“Nestor says that he doesn’t get involve with women for an unknown reason, although he thinks he’s gay.”
“Gay?” I almost choke myself on my own spit.
“I don’t know. I don’t know him, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Besides, every time we’ve seen him he hasn’t even looked at us, and we’re very cute.”
“Lucía, thank you for the info. But I don’t care about this guy’s life and I don’t think I ever see him again.” I say a half lie, because I’m certain I’m never going to see him again, but I wouldn’t mind to know more about his life. What can I do? I’m a busybody.
The break is over and kids enter the classroom running.