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“What happened? Are you okay?”
She nods, then she shakes her head, her red hair is all messed up and her dark eyes are dull.
“Lucas has gone back with Diego to NY. He had to go to the hospital.”
Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t ask if Lucas was going with him, but it makes sense that they went together.
“And?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“And we were spending time together. That’s all.” She folds her arms and moves away from me.
“You like Lucas.”
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t dislike him.”
I remember the way they were at the match, even Diego picked up on it.
“I’m too young to get tied down or anything, but I do enjoy his company.”
My cousin, as much as I love her, she is a ‘love them and leave them’ type of girl. She loves art just as much as I do, but then maybe a little more, which is why she showcases her art to galleries, whereas I tend to talk about it but not doing anything about it.
“Don’t look at me like that, besides he’s so different from his brother. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Diego now.Before I did, but since you guys have been together, I can see I had him all wrong.”
A big grin comes across my face and I shift to hug her.
“It means a lot to me that you’re saying this. I did see the way that you were takingchopitos1 with him and I thought, is this really Cristina?”
She laughs as she talks about Diego and her taking shots. I’m not much of a drinker, but it was clear that Diego had every intention of drinking Cristina under the table. She loves going out and drinking and I’m envious about her doing it, because I’ve never seen her drunk. Not once.
“It’s all in the hips, alcohol enters me and I soak it up.”
We both laugh in unison, Cristina prides herself on her curvaceous body and she’s not the only one, which is why she attracts so many men.
“Let’s go and see Abuela, she’s waiting at the kitchen table for someone to join her for breakfast.”
It’s a little early. Normally, we don’t have breakfast until at least ten. Then again, it’s a weekend. Most rules go out of the window when it comes to the weekend.
“Let me freshen up and I’ll join you.”
She nods, kisses me on the cheek, and then leaves my room.
I’m going to have a quick shower. I wouldn’t want to see mi abuela like this, even if I don’t want to rub the scent of Diego off my body. I must at least look as if I haven’t spent the whole night partying and having sex.
Yeah, I’m an adult, but she always makes me feel like a child and I love her for reminding me that with age there comes some wisdom that I haven’t quite obtained yet. Even if I will never get it, because I will never be as old as she is.
As I enter the shower and the water runs over my body, I feel as if I’m missing my other half. The other part of me, andI remember being with Alberto and never feeling like this. The longing, the wanting to be with him all the time.
He had a way of making me feel small. Not the same way that Alberto does but in a way as if I needed to know what to do next, and without him I was incapable of making any decision. They say that things happen for a reason and the more I think about how I used to be with Alberto, the more I realized that I’m not the same person I used to be.
I would never turn my back on Belén. Even as much as she’s hurt me in the past, I ignored her manipulative ways, but I realize no matter what I do for her, she will never love me the way I love her.
A tear streams down my eye as I think about the way I’ve seen twins in school, even in our neighborhood, and how they are with each other, and I think about Belén.
I used to blame myself for the distance between us. I would come up with excuses, like if we were more alike then she wouldn’t hate me as much as she does, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe one day she will come around but I won’t let her hurt me. Diego says that he has fired her, and she’s never tried to get in touch with me, even when I was in Japan.
A sadness washes over me as I dry myself and then head into my room to change. It’s hot as always in Cobeña so I put on my yellow floral dress that mi abuela has said makes me look like a sunflower. I feel like one today.
I head down the stairs, and they creak as they’ve always done when was a kid. No doubt Papá will be at his bar, and Mamá’s probably there helping him. The only thing they refuse to do is hand it over to mi primo, Javier, who is keen to take over it. He has a wife and kid now, and is the only one who has ever showed any interest in it. I know part of the reason why my parents don’t want to hand it over. Handing it over and retiring means that they will have to find something to do. They’ve spent theirlives working, their friends still go there to hang out with them and it’s all they’ve ever known.
