Opposite Worlds

by Sasha Pop

  “Alright then. I don’t even know how we can apologize for the trouble we caused you Miss…Would you allow me then maybe to escort you home? Or would you prefer going back in?”

  Jessica slowly conceded, feeling somewhat pacified with the respectful treatment she was getting from this gentleman who clearly appeared to be somebody important (and not bad-looking, she could still tell despite her fading vision in her drunk state).

  “Well I don’t think this will be enough for me to forget about this incident…” the premed made a pause to show off and save face. “But I am not going to look for a cab like this,” she said, pointing again at her bare foot, somehow not feeling as angry anymore. “It will be the least you can do.”

  Rodrigo approached her and lent her his arm for support. Her first reaction was to reject his offer, but she gave in, not feeling confident that she could walk on her own, especially with only one shoe on. Without raising her chin to look at him, she slowly followed his lead towards the exit. As they were leaving, Jessica turned around and waved at John and the other bouncers with a feeling of superiority as if she had won their initial altercation. After all, the boss himself came to get her… or so she thought.

  Finally outside, she felt relieved with the invigorating air from the ocean filling her chest, gradually beginning to lighten her head. She still dreaded having to walk back to the VIP parking lot which was still a couple hundred feet away at the very least. To her surprise, the young man stopped right at the curb, where an exquisite convertible red Ferrari was parked. It wasn’t unusual to see this type of car in Miami, however meeting somebody so young driving one was less common. “Just some guy with very rich parents,” she assumed, judging by her own and her friends’ at U of M example.

  He went ahead and opened the door of the convertible for her. “Now this is a little different,” she noticed. From all the guys she ever went out with, the only person who would open the car door for her was her friend Philipp, who was always so painfully nice in an attempt to please her that it made her slightly sick. In this young man’s case it looked so natural, as if it was simply part of how he was raised, knowing how to treat a woman.

  “So where would you like to go, Miss?” Rodrigo asked once in the car, smiling at the blonde. This didn’t turn out to be so bad after all. The contrasting memories of the last drunk woman he had to escort, a cougar who kept hinting that she wouldn’t mind if he brought her back to his place instead, made this meeting all the more pleasant. He couldn’t shake the impression that there might be a lot more hidden about his new acquaintance underneath that tough girl/rich spoiled brat act she was trying to keep…but then again, he had many more important things on his mind before he could give it much thought and considering getting involved with somebody.

  Jessica named the neighborhood where her family’s mansion was located. Despite his own place being on the other side of town, in a less than glamorous location and with barely enough space to put more than a mattress and a desk in, Rodrigo knew where to go. The new life he began living over the last few months brought a lot of changes.

  As they were driving, Rodrigo noticed that his passenger had begun sobbing.

  “Is something wrong Miss?” he carefully asked.

  “Everything is. Everything is wrong…everybody lies, and I don’t even have any real friends!” Jessica blurted, proceeding to tell him about the hell that her life had become over the last few days. She didn’t care that this was a complete stranger whom she was telling the most intimate details to; she just didn’t care about anything at all at that moment. When she tried earlier to share with Marta what she been through, Jessica had the lingering feeling that the redhead could not relate to her, nor did she even try to offer any real sympathy. Plus, the way Marta ditched her at the end of the night, just to go smooch with some wannabe celebrity… All the painful emotions that Jessica managed to hide temporarily with the high from drinking were now coming back.

  Rodrigo just kept driving and listened, trying to make sense of the whole story. Throughout her gibberish he could tell that she somehow ended up in deep suffering, something related to heartbreak and deception. After she finally concluded her tirade and went quiet, Rodrigo threw a glance at her and, placing his right hand on her cringed left fist, said:

  “Everything happens for a reason you know…you are still very young, I am sure you will find your happiness.” What may have come out as a cheesy line from a movie if one of her guy friends had said it, somehow ended up sounding calming and re-assuring instead. And she felt no hint that he was hitting at her at all…did he even consider her attractive?

  Intrigued by his attitude, Jessica started observing him more closely. His hands that were holding the wheel seemed to be quite soft, with perfectly trimmed nails. His well-ironed shirt was open just enough to reveal a tiny bit of his chest. His face, while not being clean shaved, was well-maintained indicating that he took care of himself. And then that earring on his right ear …

  ”Very suspicious,” Jessica thought. That would explain why he was such a nice gentleman…Remembering the urban legend that wearing an earring only on the right-ear indicated an alternative sexual orientation, Jessica started leaning over, trying to check if his left ear was pierced too.

  “Um…are you ok?” Rodrigo asked, not taking his eyes off the road but puzzled by her weird behavior. Pulling back and looking guilty like a cat that was caught stealing, Jessica pretended that nothing had happened for a moment. But then, with her curiosity getting the best of her, and the alcohol inside her system making her again forget about any sort of politeness, she dropped the big question, staring at him intently.

  “Are you gay?”

  Slightly shocked, Rodrigo pushed hard on the brakes. Growing up in the slums, he faced a lot of ridicule in his life, however in the past ten years nobody dared to call him that.

  He was about to ignore her question, taking it as a drunken outburst, however noticing the worried look on her face and the seriousness with which she had spoken, he decided to reply.

  “Why do you think so?” he replied, somehow not being able to take offense at the concerned way she had asked her question.

  “Well…it’s just that you have an earring…and you’re such a sweetie,” she said giggling as if she found the whole idea cute.

  The thought of somebody besides his own mother considering him a sweetie was so hilarious to Rodrigo that he started laughing hard. There was something contagious about his laugh so that Jessica ended up joining in, although she did not really understand why he was laughing in the first place.

  Stopped in the middle of the road, they kept laughing like maniacs for a while.

  “Wait, what are you laughing about?” Jessica hit him on the shoulder, playfully mad. There was something about this guy, despite his mysterious aura that made her feel at ease… maybe it was the way he seamlessly defused her anger earlier that night…or maybe because behind his strong posture and determined look from his eyes she could notice that there was a little tenderness while he was listening to her blabber.

  “Well, you are funny,” he acknowledged, starting to drive again. “And no, I am not gay.” Feeling like playing a prank on her, Rodrigo changed his tone of voice to a more feminine one with a higher pitch and carried on, trying to keep a serious look. “However, I have never been with men before to be completely sure.”

  “Oh, you jerk!” Jessica laughed while hitting him again a little harder, repeatedly this time, not caring that they were on the road.

  “We are going to crash if you keep doing that you know,” Rodrigo said, swerving to avoid some trash that was blocking their way. Maestro sure wouldn’t be happy if there were even the smallest scratch on the bumper.

  “So what, you can just buy a new one, right?” Jessica said in a casual tone, as if buying new Ferrari was an everyday thing to her.

  The smile on Rodrigo’s face dimmed considerably at that comment. If only she knew who he really was, or where h
e lived…plus, speaking care-freely about money like that, this kind of people made him, who had to work hard since childhood to support himself and his family, sick to his stomach.

  Jessica noticed that he seemed to have grown colder, but couldn’t tell what she had done to make him upset. Plus, the fact that he hadn’t made a single flirty comment yet, or done anything to try to get closer to her despite his niceness was a little unnerving to her. Ever since she hit eighteen and started going out she was used to having men fawning at her all the time, particularly in one-on-one situations. And here she was, alone in this erotically red convertible supercar, in her short dress, and vulnerable drunk state, yet this guy wasn’t doing anything to take advantage of the situation. He had to be gay, she concluded, with a slight hint of disappointment, which she didn’t know the origin of.

  “Well, I am going to find out if he is gay or not!” Jessica decided with a determined expression, noticing that they were getting close to her house. As they pulled over near the big two-story mansion with an Olympic-size pool and a marble sign announcing that this was the “Perry Residence”, she knew that this was the time to discover what the deal was. She casually brushed his hand with the tip of her nails, while trying to make seductive eye contact. Rodrigo quickly pulled his hand away, feeling like he got hit by a small electric shock, and hurried to exit the car. He suspected that he knew what she had in mind, but he had other more important business to attend to. Plus, after listening to her story throughout their ride together, he felt that he had already gotten way more involved in this situation than he should have. Out of politeness, he went around the car to help her stand up.

  “And here I thought that princes only existed in fairy tales.”

  Previously Jessica would never have allowed herself to flirt so blatantly with somebody, even when she was drunk, but this time there was a purpose behind it. Taken aback by the comment, Rodrigo looked away and spoke:

  “Miss… I think it is time for you to go to sleep,” Rodrigo said while looking away,

  taken aback by the comment.

  “But I don’t want to sleep alone,” Jessica answered, bluffing and waiting to see his reaction. Her little brother’s room was right near her own, plus her parents were probably long asleep downstairs. So besides the stuffed baby seal that she still kept on her bed, there were definitely no night-time visitors allowed.

  Pretending like he didn’t know what she was hinting at, Rodrigo wished her good night and turned around, ready to walk away. His determination was interrupted by another round of hysterical sobbing from Jessica, just like minutes earlier.

  “So am I that ugly? You don’t even want me? Isn’t that what all men want, just to screw somebody?” she cried, looking like she was about to fall on her knees, with her fists cringed and with slouched posture. To her surprise, Rodrigo made a step forward towards her, wrapping his arms around her back, with one of his hands carefully brushing her hair. The whole moment couldn’t have lasted for more than two seconds, but it had a calming effect on the blonde, almost like a shot of sedative.

  “It’s all going to be alright,“ he whispered in her ear, while thinking about his own life, far from being sure that things were going to turn out to be this way. Turning around again, he quickly walked and hopped into the car, before she had a chance to say anything.

  “Wait…am I going to see you again?” Jessica tried to ask, but the roaring engine of the Ferrari completely overwhelmed her voice.

  Chapter V

  “Jess…Jess, wake up!” a kid’s voice was calling Jessica in her dream. She had slept terribly, with the sound of loud music still ringing in her ears, and with a headache indicating she had consumed way to much liquor for her petite body to handle. Having no idea what time it was, Jessica turned the other way in her bed to face away from the incoming daylight.

  “Come on Jess….wake up, you can’t sleep all day!” her eight-year old brother screamed, continuing to disturb her. As she was about to throw a pillow at him, the loud barking of Tara, their beloved Golden Retriever made her head hurt even more. Usually she loved playing together with them, but this time they have chosen the worst possible occasion to disturb her.

  “Would you please….please just leave me alone,’’ she managed to mutter, as if the troubles of the whole world were laying upon her shoulders.

  “Sure we will,” said Mickey innocently. “We will try not to tell mom that you skipped class today too.”

  Seeing that a confrontation right now wasn’t in her favor, with her little brother having her at his mercy, she conceded.

  “Alright I will play with you today…and I will buy you your favorite ice-cream, just please let me wake up properly”.

  “Yay, big Jess will play with us! Come on Tara, let’s go outside,” the little boy excitedly said, and on that note, making an even a bigger ruckus running out than when they had come in, he ran downstairs with the dog.

  As Jessica slowly regained her composure, she realized that she had gone to sleep in her dress from last night. Looking at the room, it appeared to be like the aftermath of a warzone. The chair was lying on the floor (she didn’t remember if she had tripped over it last night or if it was Mickey and Tara who had pushed it over) and the rug was out of place, as if somebody had crawled on it. Her lonely Prada shoe stood proudly in the center of the room, reminding her of the disastrous night.

  “Well, it wasn’t all a disaster,” Jessica grinned to herself, the image of the handsome young man in the Ferrari still fresh in her mind, contrasting with her blurry recollection of the night’s events. As she started remembering more details about what she had said to him, she covered her face with her hands, horrified.

  “He must think that I am an idiot…and that I am desperate…and… and…” Jessica kept going through the list of whichever bad adjectives came to mind. As she continued blaming herself, not knowing how she could have been so foolish, the phone rang. With a titanic effort to get up, Jessica reached out to her bag and saw the picture of her redhead friend on the screen. “Oh Marta… she probably just wants to gossip”. The last thing Jessica wanted right now was to hear Marta brag about the “hottie” who “swept her from her feet” last night. Nor did she want to hear about how “sorry” the redhead was for ditching her last night. As she was about to press the “Ignore” button, Jessica suddenly touched on the green to take the call instead. After all she had something she wanted to talk about too.

  “Morning Jess,” Marta said in an overtly happy tone of voice, almost as if she wanted to show off what a blast she had.

  “Good morning Marta,” Jessica replied with a neutral expression.

  “How are you?? I was worried… I tried to call you,” the redhead said with concern. Jessica didn’t double-check her missed calls, but she could bet that there weren’t any.

  “I am alright…just tired. What about you?” Jessica remained unfazed.

  “Oh, you know…” Marta said, making a meaningful pause. “Are you going to class right now? I wanted to ask if you could take notes for me… Is just that last night when we were dancing, I met this guy, he is a professional singer – and he was just so cool! At first I thought he was a player, but then he seemed really into me, he even said he would dedicate me a song!”

  As Marta blabbered on for another few minutes about the qualities of her new crush, and the special connection they had, Jessica caught herself falling asleep again.

  “I am happy for you, but I am actually at home, so I won’t be able to help,” she finally interrupted the hyper redhead.

  “Wait what? The A-student Jess skipping class? Tell me, did you meet somebody last night?” Marta inquired curiously, almost with a little envy.

  “No, I didn’t,” Jessica replied. She was a terrible liar, especially when she had her own secrets to keep.

  “Come on now, spill the beans,” Marta insisted. Seeing that her friend wouldn’t leave her alone anyway, Jessica conceded.

  “Well I did… or at
least I think I did. I actually don’t even know his name,” Jessica answered with a little regret noticeable in her voice. “We will probably never see each other again.”

  “Hooking up with a total stranger? Now that is so erotic,” Marta teased her, already jumping to conclusions.

  “It is not like that…after you left, with your new “friend” (Jessica made a pause at this point)… I wasn’t feeling so well, and then this asshole came harassing me…” the blonde decided to omit describing the part about how she was dancing on the table.

  “And so, was he cute? You always liked the bad boy type after all,” Marta said. The joke was tasteless and uncalled for, especially considering the recent turn of events in Jessica’s love life. However the blonde was used by now to having Marta pushing her buttons.

  “No, it was some just cocky geezer…anyways, I left, and on the way out this guy, I think he was the manager or something, he gave me a ride. And he was so calm and strong at the same time, I can’t explain it…there was something special about him,” Jessica concluded in a sad tone.

  “Wow, that is awesome!! Why aren’t you more excited?”

  “It’s just that I made a total fool of myself,” Jessica sighed.

  “Wait, what happened? Did you puke or something?” Marta said, starting to guess the possible scenarios. Feeling like she had to get the burden off her shoulders, Jessica responded.

  “Worse…I think I invited him to come in!” the blonde said, still in disbelief herself.

  “Jess!” Marta yelled, slightly shocked. That was the last thing she expected to hear from her friend…sure, for the longest time Marta tried to convert her to a bad girl, but the blonde never actually succumbed.

  “No, it is not what you think….well it kind of is,” Jessica spoke, contradicting herself. “It was just a test, to see if he liked me or not! He was such a gentleman and so well-groomed that I thought that maybe he was….you know?”