Opposite Worlds

by Sasha Pop

  Rodrigo nodded affirmatively, and walked away. He was afraid that if he hugged her as now, he would not be able to stop just at that, so this was for the best. Boarding the Ferrari, he noticed that she was still looking at him in the mirror. Fighting the feeling to go back and touch her, he turned the engine on and pressed on the pedal. He was getting too involved, too attached and he could not afford it….

  Jessica watched the red car grow smaller in the distance, and when the roaring noise finally disappeared she headed back home to get her IPhone. She felt a burst of energy and felt that she could easily jog the eight miles to Miami’s pier and back from her house. Coming back outside with the music blasting in her headphones she ran, without a care in the world, feeling like she could move mountains. Exams, bad friends, nothing of that really mattered. She had a purpose now…she wanted to see him again.

  When she finally returned back, she felt like she had completed a half-marathon, so fast was her pace. On the driveway by their house was now parked her father’s Lexus, meaning her parents and the little brother had now returned from the airport. Jessica eagerly hurried to greet them. She was genuinely happy to see them back.

  “Oh Jess we were so scared for you,” her mother exclaimed, hugging her tight. “We wanted to return the same day but there were no flights left. It must have been terrifying for you to stay here alone last night.”

  “It is ok, mother. Marta came over so it wasn’t too bad,” Jessica said, feeling forced to lie.

  “Oh wow sis! Did you and Marta use the fireplace? I never thought you girls could do it!” her brother Mickey blabbered innocently.

  “Oh yes, it was cold so… we figured it out,” Jessica muttered, hoping nobody would notice.

  “And Tara, how is she? I saw our poor thing upstairs, she looked so pitiful…at least her bandage is clean,” Joanne commented.

  “What, did he also manage to change Tara’s bandage today?” Jessica wondered. “Oh yes. I took her to the hospital this morning,” she said. The lies were piling up so Jessica decided to shed a little bit of truth.

  “About that mom… I have a friend who is a vet. I asked him for help to check on Tara, so he might come by this week if you don’t mind,” she tried to say neutrally.

  “Well I don’t really take kindly to you bringing guys home, but if he is a vet and just your friend then it is ok. Right?” Joanne asked, looking intently at Jessica during the last part.

  “Um.. right, right,” Jessica said with a nod.

  The afternoon went by uneventfully for her as she studied for tomorrow’s Biology exam up in her room. Often, during the small breaks she took, she caught her hand reaching for her IPhone and typing him a message. When she finally decided that she had nothing to be afraid of and that it was ok to text him, doubts began creeping into her mind about what to write. Finally deciding on a simple “how are you?” she pressed the Send button. Waiting for five minutes without a response, she got back to her books, periodically throwing a glance to the phone to see if a text had come in, even though she had sound notification on.

  Dinner time had come by, and there was still no response. “Maybe he is not much of a texter,” Jessica justified to herself. Anyways, gathering the remains of her willpower she came back to studying the molecule synthesis that right now appeared to her to be as dull as dishwater. She knew though that she had to focus, as her last scores haven’t been so great and she hadn’t paid too much attention in class. This would risk her GPA and the application to the top medical schools in the country, something her dad would definitely not take kindly to.

  As she was about to fall asleep on her desk, daydreaming about yesterday’s evening, the phone finally rang. Instantly her hand was holding the screen and she read:

  “Good luck on your test tomorrow. I will come by afterwards. R.”

  “He remembered!” Jessica almost fell from the chair from excitement. And what’s more, he would be coming by tomorrow! Feeling energized again, she grabbed the pencil and began solving problems. She would not disappoint him even if she had to pull an all-nighter.

  The next day, when she was reading her notes one last time before going to the test, Philipp approached her. He had invited her several times over the last week to study together with her avoiding him every time.

  “Hi Jess. Will you be ok at the test? You haven’t come to any of the review sessions,” he said with concern. “You have been different lately…it is like you are not taking your future seriously.” From his tone could be incurred that she, as his potential future wife needed to be more responsible.

  “I will be fine, thank you,” Jessica responded with ice in her voice. How dare he look down on her. She felt like she finally gotten past the tipping point which she was reaching over the past year - she had no more time nor desire to spend time with fake people who didn’t really care about her and just had hidden motives. Not after meeting a guy like Rodrigo. “You are always so worried about me,” she said, throwing him a fake smile. “Why don’t you find yourself a girlfriend to worry about instead?” She turned away and walked into the auditorium.

  “But Jess, I….” Philipp let the book he was holding drop on the ground as she walked away. Going after her inside the auditorium, he saw that she had picked a spot in the middle of two occupied tables. Resigned, he had no choice but to pick a different spot for himself. Sitting two rows behind her, he often looked at her during the test with concern, having trouble to concentrate on her own exam. “Why is she so cold to me? I have to find out,” he decided, planning to ask her when the exam would be over. To his surprise, Jessica stood up fifteen minutes before the allotted time was up, and went to the professor’s desk to hand in her exam. He still had two questions left to finish, so silently cursing he kept on writing.

  Jessica on her end was whistling happily while walking towards the exit of the Biological Sciences building. The exam had gone better than expected, with the all-nighter certainly helping. There was some material that she wasn’t too sure about as she had not paid attention in class, but mostly she was confident it would be enough to keep her average grades up. There were no more classes for the day, and she could finally relax, anticipating Rodrigo’s visit. She realized he hadn’t told her what time he would be coming, but she assumed it would be in the evening as he probably had classes too.

  “Maybe I can go shopping to kill some time,” she thought, remembering the sleeveless red Prada dress that she saw advertised in the issue of Cosmo. It was expensive, even for her, but her parents had promised to buy it for her for Christmas if she kept her grades up, fearing her decreased motivation. At the time, the promise didn’t really affect Jessica as she didn’t care too much about buying a new dress, but now she really wanted to get something flashy to impress Rodrigo.

  Two hours later and with fifteen hundred dollars charged to her credit card, she proudly walked out of the Prada store feeling that if this didn’t seduce him, nothing would. Carefully placing the dress on the back seat of her BMW X5 along with the lacquered black heels that she got to match, she started on the drive home, a little anxious about seeing him soon. When she came home, her heart sunk to her stomach: the red Ferrari was already parked by the gate! Was he inside already? What if her parents had been rude to him? A million negative thoughts raced through her mind as she waited for the gate to open to park her BMW. Getting the bag with the PRADA logo from the back seat, she stepped out and walked towards the door, trying to keep her composure. It almost felt like she wasn’t returning to her own home. On the third try, she finally slid the key into the door lock and successfully opened it.

  “Mom, I am home,” she carefully announced. No response came, but she heard some voices from the living room. She went to check who it was, and saw her mother and Rodrigo chatting away happily over tea, laughing and making jokes.

  “Oh Jess, you are back. What good timing, your vet friend is here too,” her mom said with a smile. “Tu ne m’as pas dit qu’il était très mignon.” Bot
h Rodrigo and Jessica blushed at the compliment.

  “I am sorry, I should have warned you when I was coming,” Rodrigo said.

  “It is my fault, I didn’t tell you when the exam was,” Jessica said, pulling a chair to join them. Her mother noticed the plastic bag she was carrying.

  “Oh and what do you have there, young lady? Is it a dress to impress somebody?” Joanne teased.

  “Mom!” Jessica gave her a mean look, asking to stop.

  “Oh right, I guess we promised you could get the dress you wanted when your exam was over.”

  Jessica was about to pull her own hair. Now she probably looked like just some superficial bimbo to him that only cared about shopping. He was just smiling gently at her though, just as unreadable as ever.

  “Jess, you are home!” her brother Mickey came running down the stairs. “Your new boyfriend is so cool! He taught me this great soccer trick.”

  “We are not like that,” Jessica and Rodrigo interjected almost in unison. Joanne just smiled. She had never taken kindly to any of the guys in Jessica’s life before; they all were either jocks or rude entitled rich heirs with no goals in life of their own to who she could never entrust her precious daughter. Especially that brute Bob from the football team that Jessica had introduced to them a few months ago; Joanne still remembered the tough time he had answering when she asked him what he was majoring in, finally uttering something about some mix of Sociology and Political Science. This young man here however had made a distinctly good impression on her. He had gentle matters just like the actors from old movies. He could easily hold conversation about intellectual topics and had a keen sense of humour, plus he was studying to become a veterinary doctor himself. She couldn’t help but notice how his expression changed when Jessica walked in; he certainly cared about her daughter. He was also very presentable and well-dressed and would fit in perfectly at any social gatherings that were a must for the Perry family. She didn’t have the chance to ask him about his own family and background before, but judging by his education and the car he drove, she had nothing to worry about.

  The four of them heard the front door opening again; it must have been the father who arrived. While he was taking of the shoes, he called for his wife.

  “Honey, do we have new neighbors? There’s this red bombshell parked outside our house…”

  Coming to the living room, he saw the whole family sitting at the table with an unknown young man. Joanne went to greet the husband with a quick kiss.

  “Dear, let me introduce you, this is Rodrigo, the vet student that Jessica told us about.”

  Rodrigo stood up and gave a firm handshake after a slight bow.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you Sir.”

  “Likewise. Thank you for helping out with our dog,” Robert said, evaluating the young man. He could swear that he had seen these same green eyes before, a long time ago… their determined emerald look was hard to forget. He shook the impression off, deeming the thought silly as clearly this boy was too young for him to have ever met in the past.

  “How was your day, dear?” Joanne asked, as he joined them around the table.

  “It was busy, I had a surgery in the morning and then had to review all these reports. It feels like I am spending more time with bureaucracy than with real medicine” he complained. “Anyways, do you know whose car is it outside?” he addressed her, looking more like an eager child who wanted to play than the head of an internationally famous clinic.

  All eyes on the table shifted to Rodrigo, who clearly was uncomfortable with the attention.

  “It is mine,” he finally said.

  “It is yours?” Robert asked, incredulous. “That is an 84’ original Testarossa, there are only forty of them made! Are you a student or do you have your own clinic already?”

  “One day, hopefully,” Rodrigo answered, letting out a polite laugh.

  “Come with me,” Robert stood up. “I have to see this for myself.”

  “Dear, that is not polite, he is still having tea,” Joanne said.

  “Oh come on.” He waved his hand, dismissing the wife and winking at Rodrigo. The boy stood up and they both went outside, with Robert bombarding him with questions.

  “Is it true that there is an overclock trigger? And there is the signature of Enzo Ferrari himself on the engine cap?”

  Rodrigo didn’t know about any of these things, but that didn’t matter to Robert who kept talking like a true Ferrari aficionado.

  “We have an old Maranello in the garage that I bought at an auction last year. I work on it whenever I get a chance,” he proudly said.

  As they were standing before the car, Robert circled it twice, observing every detail. Finally he just stated, resigned:

  “I can’t believe it. It is the real deal,” Robert looked at Rodrigo with some obvious envy in his eyes. “Would you be willing to sell it?” Before Rodrigo could respond, he added “Oh forget it. I know that this is probably the only one of its kind in the US, there is no way you would sell it. But I dreamed about this car ever since I first saw it in Monaco when I went backpacking around Europe in 1984.”

  Rodrigo looked at him with sympathy. “Would you like to try driving?” he offered him the keys. In his eyes, Robert saw no sign of a man trying to suck up to him like the aspiring doctors or other Jessica’s suitors did. He saw just a kind gesture from a man who gave expecting nothing in return.

  “Thank you. I will be sure to take you up on your offer one day, so you will have to come back to visit us,” Robert said, regaining his serious expression. “Besides, our daughter hasn’t been the same ever since she first mentioned you, so I am sure we will definitely be seeing you.” The man in the suit patted Rodrigo on the back, while the boy blushed.

  Soon they were joined by Mickey, Jessica and Joanne. Mickey started to act like his father was acting just a few minutes ago, examining the car. “Wow Rod, this is so cool! You have to let me drive too one day, please, please, please!” the kid exclaimed, jumping up and down grabbing Rodrigo’s sleeve.

  “Now, don’t pester Mister over here, you do want him to come back to play with you, right?” Joanne reprimanded the boy.

  “Yes!” Mickey eagerly nodded. Rodrigo smiled as they were arguing and noticing Jessica was looking at him. She seemed unusually happy too. He didn’t know it was because she was relieved her family received him so well, but regardless of the reason he was glad to see her look that way.

  While the two parents went inside the house, Jessica and Rodrigo stayed on the lawn, not realizing Mickey was hiding behind the bushes, eavesdropping on them. There was a two-person swing in the backyard that they went to sit on.

  “I hope they didn’t bother you too much,” Jessica said.

  “No, it is ok. You have kind parents and your little brother is fun too.”

  “Honestly, I was surprised when I walked in and saw you there, you were getting along so well. Everybody likes you.” She commented.

  “Everybody?” he innocently asked.

  Jessica realized what he was implying and hit him playfully on the shoulder. “Speaking of family, I never got to ask you about yours.”

  His mood grimed considerably at that note.

  “I am sorry…is it a sensitive topic for you?” she asked.

  “No, it is ok. I have a little brother too, but I haven’t seen him in a long time,” Rodrigo said, trying to stay as honest as possible without revealing too much.

  “Oh, why is that?”

  “My parents separated when I was a kid, and he stayed with my dad.”

  “It must have been tough growing up without a father,” she said, feeling sorry for him.

  “It was at first, but I got used to it,” Rodrigo answered, never liking to play the victim part.

  “Did he have another woman?” Jessica asked.

  “No, he loved my mother until the very end,” Rodrigo ambiguously said, hoping she wouldn’t press further.

  “And what do they do?”
r />   This was a tough question to answer, because Rodrigo was too little to remember what his father actually did, and his mother always avoided telling him.

  “My father was a local businessman…I don’t know what he is doing now. And my mother is a nurse.” The last part was true - she did have a nursing degree, even though she never actually got a chance to use it in the US.

  “Oh come on, you guys are so boring, kiss already!” Mickey’s high pitch interrupted them, with the boy impatiently coming out of the bushes.

  “Mickey!” Jessica exclaimed, furious. “Get inside the house immediately! I will see that mother takes your computer games for a week.”

  The threat had the intended effect, and the poor kid reluctantly headed inside.

  Smiling, Rodrigo looked at his watch.

  “It looks like I have to go too,” he said, standing up.

  “Already? Would you not like to stay for dinner?” Jessica asked, hopeful.

  “Sorry, it is important.”

  Jessica saw in his eyes that not even a mountain could stop his resolve.

  “Work?” she asked.

  “What? Oh yes, work,” he said, his mind already wandering somewhere else. The visiting hours at his mother’s hospital would be over in forty minutes, and he had a twenty minute drive ahead of him at a normal pace.

  This time he himself gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “I will see you again,” he said. Jessica couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question, nor if he was telling it to her or to himself. She wanted to ask when, but didn’t want to sound desperate or pushy, knowing on the example of some girlfriends that this could drive guys away. There was a lot more to him and his life than what he let on, that was for sure. She just hoped to be able to discover what it was, little by little.

  Chapter XV

  The next day, Rodrigo was at the hospital again, but not to visit his mother. Instead, he had an appointment with Dr. Smith, a pioneer in experimental cancer treatment at the Miami Medical Center who had patients fly in to see him all over the globe. The first time he had met Dr. Smith was about three months ago, when his mother’s condition was diagnosed, and in panic Rodrigo scrambled all his life savings to get an appointment with the renowned Doctor. At the time, the news had been shocking – the Doctor told him that she would have little hope of living past six months, and that the only hope was the new surgical procedure he had patented.