Maite:
Although Mami told us to come home early, we managed to sneak in at 6 am and was surprised that she hadn't woken up this time. All day we did nothing and laid in bed while watching tik toks. All of a sudden I hear the same song on Sara's phone when I turn to look at her and she looks at me. I show her my screen when her jaw drops and shows me hers. It was the same video that popped onto both of our fyp's at the same exact time. "WHAT THE FUCKKK" Sara says in disbelief. I laugh and turn back to my phone to scroll some more.
"Ughhh I can't believe I'm leaving in a week" Sara complains as she turns to look at me.
"I knoww, it really did go by fast, but hey we still have Bilbao together, and heyy we're going tomorrow"
"Oh yeaa, that seems fun"
"Yea and you'll get to meet my aunt and her dog, he's huge by the way, like horse dog huge" I blithered,
"Oh damnn, whats the name?"
"Txomin" I say
"Tx-Txo-ming?"
"Txo-Min" I sound out
"Txomin" she repeats
"Ahh ok Txomin, got it"
"when are we going again?" Sara asks,
"I think in 2 days" I say
"Ohh ok"
"What do you want to do today?" Sara asks,
"MMm I don't know to be honest, it looks kind of gloomy out, do you want to make bizcotxo?" I ask
"What's that?"
"A bread cake Amuma usually makes, it's absolutely delicious, and the batter, I won't even start on that" I gesture with my hand
"GURL you eat the batter"
"Hey hey, the batter is good, you can't judge you haven't tried it" I defend myself
"MMkkk"
We make our beds as it it 11 am and barely got any sleep. The bags under my eyes surprisingly aren't as bad as they should be at this time in day. We head over to the living room where Amuma is circling the words in her word search book.
She looks up in a surprised manner and smiles "Oooo you two are lucky that Edu is still asleep, she didn't even notice when you came back home, but guess who did" she says pointing to herself with her thumbs.
"Whatt you heard us?"
"Ohh sweety I hear a lot of things, including the neighbor that has to close the door five times before she actually leaves the house, every single day" She adds with a straight face as she presses her lips together.
"Oh, well Amuma we actually wanted to make bizkotxo, can you help us?" I ask
"Ohh I would love to" She beams with delight as she stands up to walk to the kitchen.
"And your lucky I just bought more oranges" She laughs
"Oh thank you Amuma" I say with a smile
We begin taking out glass bowls and measuring cups along with the ingredients for the cake. Four, Three, Two, One and a little bit. I think to myself
Amuma looks at me firmly "Now do you remember the order of it?" she questions
"Four oranges, three cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one egg and a little bit of anise" I say
"Yes I am so proud of you!" She says kissing my cheek, I look over to Sara as she writes down the recipe in her note book. "Got all of that girly?" I say, "Yep!!"
We begin mixing the ingredients together and pre-heating the oven at 350 degrees. When we finished, Sara butters up the donut cake looking mold while I washed the dirty dishes.
We did most of it in silence until Amuma begins talking. "Sooo any new friends you two have made recently?"
"Well, not really, we keep running into Txon and his friends, I also saw Anaitz and Oneka" I add
"Ohh ok ok...and uh, who's Paul?" She asks looking at me while she holds a hand on her hip.
Immediately I freeze up as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over my head. I turn to look at Sara as she stares at me in a confused manner.
"Ohh umm, he's just a guy I met in Amoroto... why?" I say nervously,
"Well while I went out to buy these oranges in the morning, a little birdy told me that some guy named Paul likes Maite 'la Americana' and that means you missy" She nodded
"What!! well uh I can assure you that he's just a random guy I talked to for a bit, also wait I'm confused, who mentioned him to you?"
"Ohh I can't say, but just know that the birdies here love to talk, something happens in this small town and everyone finds out who did what like fire in a forest" She says in an alerting tone.
I look at Sara with widened eyes and press my lips together as I tell Amuma I'm going to the bathroom. Sara follows after me and we meet in the room. I close the door so no one could hear.
"What the fuck, how, who told her, I'm so confused" I say
"I don't know, I never mentioned him...wait maybe it was like his grandma or something" Sara suggested.
"His grandma, he's talking to his grandma about me?! I only ever met him twice" I gestured with two fingers as I paced back and forth in the small passage in the room.
"Should I ask him?"
"Ask him what?"
"If he told his grandma about me?" I say
"Mmm, what terms are you guys on?" Sara asks
"Well, I don't know, we're friends I guess but he kind of made me a bit uncomfortable that day of the pasa calle"
"Why?"
"He just kept getting really close to me and I knew that he wanted to kiss me but I also knew he was a little drunk, ughhh I just don't know if what I felt was caution, like my gut telling me not to give in or if it was a rush"
"What do you mean?"
"It's just that, I don't know if I could trust him, like I don't want to be another one of his girls he gets to have fun with you know? I don't want to get attached especially with me leaving in a few weeks, it just wouldn't work out" I express
"Well why don't we just see what happens, maybe he'll text you and you guys can hangout as friends, if you hit it off then I guess that would be your chance of a summer fling and if not then it's fine, you'll just leave and wont see each other until next year and you know what you don't even have to worry about that because maybe that would be it, it would end there and you wouldn't have to worry about it" Sara says with a genuine expression as she sits on the bed waiting for me to respond.
"Your right...I'll wait for him to text first and then we'll see what happens"
~~
Biting into the warm cake bread as the smell fills my lungs, I felt my worries wash away for a second. Sara and I lay on the bed enjoying the desert as we plan for the Bilbao trip that's coming up in a day.
"Ughh I don't want to leave this place, it's just so...magical" Sara sighs as she stares at the ceiling. I turn my head to look at her as the feeling she feels is something I go through every summer as it has become too familiar.
"Well, in order to come back you have to leave" I add as it is something Mami always tells me when I'm feeling that way.
"True haha"
"And heyy I just know you'll also love Bilbao" I smile promisingly
"Hey, want to go for a walk? and maybe we can run into Ane and Andrea? and maybe we can go watch the sun set from Sanju's roof again ahaha" I suggest trying to make her feel better.
"Yes please" She gleams
~~
We walk down the streets of Lekeitio at 8:32 pm aimlessly while we enjoy the scenery of people just peacefully living their lives. Buying clothes, going for drinks, kids running around, people greeting each other. A town full of life. I guess that's why I've always loved it here, because of it's genuinity and the people that is holds.
"So want to go Visit Ane?" I say
"KK"
We walk down the street and into the market as I see Ane working at the cash register to my left. "Oh heyy thare!!" she greets us
"Hiii, how you doin?" Sara asks
"Fantastic how about you?"
"Amazingg!!" Sara says
"Hey so when do you get off you're shift? It's Sara's last day in Lekeitio and we were wondering if you and Andrea could hangout for one last time?"
"Oh yeaa, well I get off in 20 but I think Andrea is still working until 9:15" Ane admits as she checks out the customer's food.
"Okay sounds good! want to meet at the Eskolape in 20 then?" Sara says
"KK sounds good!" She replies
"Great see you then" I smile as we walk out the door.
In the meantime Sara and I get Ice cream from Lopez and look at different clothing stores.
The time comes where Ane and Andrea both get off their shifts and we all meet up in the eskolape. We walk over to the puerto as we ask for dinner. We order 4 sandwiches, 3 of cheese and ham and one of ham only. Instead of watching the sunset at Sanju's roof top, we decided to watch it at the docs in the same place we decided to jump off the pier.
We eat through the sandwiches as we enjoy the sky and the mixtures of blue and purple as they set with pinks and oranges.
"So Sara, what was your favorite thing about Lekeitio?" Andrea asks,
"Well other than meeting the two of you, I'd have to say the culture. It's just so unique and I have never seen anything like it. And honestly that's what I think makes this place so special." She says with such soft words.
I soak in her thoughts as I too understands where she's coming from. Every other place in the world is so caught up with a whole bunch of things and is constantly changing but this place has always been the same...it somehow manages to keep its purity.
Finally the sun is almost completely set when we finish our food. We start walking up the stairs to the doc when I notice how low the water level is. "Hey guys do you want to walk to the island, the water level is low" I say
"Sure! so we could slip on the sea weed in our walk to there" She laughs
"Oh please, just walk slowly and you won't fall again" I remind her
"Ughhh, that was one time and only because the trail was breaking down" She states
"Mmhmmm sureee" I play around
~~
Walking down the trail to the island, I put the flash on my phone on and see all the small crabs moving out of the way as we walk through. We each almost slipped at least once and Ane still managed to restate her thoughts every time.
As we get closer and closer I notice that there was a group of people at the top of the island with flashlights. They were playing music and dancing carefree.
Walking up the stone steps and through the stick filled ground, I start feeling small drops of sweat form on my forehead as we proceed through to the top.
As we finally get there I take a look at the group of people dancing with flashlights when I realized it was a summer camp full of kids.
There was around 50 kids and 4 guides supervising them as they all sang a song in Bask and locking arms with each other.
The girls and I decide to sit on a tree stump as we looked out into the ocean while we cherished the last bit of sun go down into the water.
It grew to be almost pitch black pretty quickly and we decided to head back down with our phone's flashlights.
"Ughh don't those guides know that it's dangerous to bring kids to an island at dark? They're obviously not from this town" Ane remarks
"Girl, that's exactly what we're doing. Ane you're from here" I point out smacking my forehead as I cackle trying not to trip on a tree branch.
"Eyy don't laugh bruh"
"Oh I'm gonna laugh" I say
Ane rolls her eyes with a soft smile. We eventually find our way back to the beach when I turn to look back at the island and notice the camp starting to come down as well.
"what do you want to do right now" Andrea asks as her eyes trail on each of us,
"Mmm want to see if zanga is open?" Ane adds,
"OOoooo yesss that sounds fun!" I say
"Are you saying that because you hope to run into Paul again?" Andrea teases,
"Wha- who told you about that" I say in shock
"Gurlll you really think things like that won't spread around in this little town" Ane smirks,
I stay quiet thinking back to when Amuma asked who he was.
"Woowww you really are from California aren't you"
"Okay okay but bro my grandma somehow found out"
"Whatt, what do you mean?" Andrea asks
"We were baking a bizkotxo when all of a sudden she asks who Paul was" I explain as both Andrea and Ane look at me with an unsurprised look
"What? why are you looking at me like that?" I ask
"In this town, I'm not surprised..." Andrea says
"Es que vamos que los rumores pasan como fuego" Ane adds
"That's exactly what Amuma said"
"Like don't get me wrong, Paul is a nice guy but he's weird" Andrea says
"What do you mean, he doesn't seem weird to me" I express as we continue walking to the bar.
"Well first of all he is obsessed with philosophy and politics like that's all he would talk about in school at least. For god's sake the teacher made him sit down because he was explaining something about E.T.A on the chalkboard" Ane explains as she expresses her annoyance with her hands.
"Well, to me he's sweet, like genuinely...but I don't know because I'm not gonna stay here. I mean I would love to don't get me wrong but I have school in California and I just don't want to get attached."
"Just do what I told you, hangout with him and have fun while your here, by the time your gone you'll have a whole year to get over him" Sara says with a small laugh,
"Maite, don't stress about it too much but just know that people in this town don't really date" Ane confided,
"Ya like it's more of a fling type of town" Andrea adds,
"Mmm I see" I mumble quietly as I look ahead of me to see a wooden sign with large yellow letters that said 'Zanga'.
We walk in as the vibes of drunk people hit me like a wave. It was a small place with a bar where the people would crowd around. They played 'Vaina Loca' on the speakers and I just had to sing along. I held Sara's hand as the four of us chained onto each other until we made it to the bar.
"Que quereis se tomar?" Ane asks
"Ummm un Kali" I say,
"Dos...no tres" Andrea tells Ane
Ane looks at the bartender and orders four kalimotxo's. We wait at the bar and vibe to the music, we get our drinks and sit on 4 empty stools in the back of the bar. I take a sip from my drink as the taste of wine and coca cola fizzed up on my tongue. I look over to see the people dancing with each other on the small dance floor surprised by how many could actually fit there.
All of a sudden I feel a familiar presence pop up to my left. Right before I was going to turn my head to see who it was, they kissed my cheek. Then I met with those icey blue eyes just staring at me with a warm smile.
I couldn't help but smile as he wrapped an arm around me. I look over to the girls just staring at us and looking away when I make eye contact with them. I laugh when he whispers in my ear "Do you want to go dance?" He says with a bright smile as he grabs my hand and guides me to the dance floor not breaking eye contact once.
As we step foot on the dance floor, he spins me right when the music ends and salsa starts playing. I don't know how to dance salsa so I get nervous but he must've noticed because he pulled me in closer and whispers "just follow my lead".
With the rhythm of the music I begin to lose track of what my feet are doing and just let myself loose into his control. His hand on my waist guiding me throughout the dance, every touch sending chills to my spine. A couple bump into us while dancing, I turn my head and see Sara dancing with Txon. I instantly smile as I notice both of their excitement of being in each other's presence.
At the end of the song Paul spins me once more and dips me. I get scared that he might drop me but held me firmly until I was able to gain my balance again.
He looks at me with sparkling eyes and a soft smile.
"Want to go outside?" He asks,
"Sure" I reply
I tell Sara where I'm going so that she doesn't worry and followed Paul out of the door. "Where do you want to go?" I say in a teasing manner,
"To the stars" He plays along. For a second I sense some hesitation from him until he gets the courage to hold my hand. Our fingers intertwine and I look at him. I let go of his hand and start skipping ahead in the small tiled street.
"W-where are you going?" He says smiling,
"To the starts" I reply as my pace picks up into a small jog, he follows behind and tries to catch up to me. At this point I'm running aimlessly and when I stop I notice we've ran all the way to the center of the plaza. We were alone and I look up to see the cathedral dimly lit by the moon. I try to catch my breath when suddenly I feel two strong arms wrap around from behind me.
"Heyyy" I say,
"Oh hello there" he replies,
I turn to face him as he towers over me and smile effortlessly. It was a smile I haven't had in a while. It was genuine. I take both his hands as we begin to slow dance in the middle of the empty plaza. He spins me and dips me, when our eyes meet I knew that he wanted to kiss me and although I also wanted to give in, I knew that I wanted something proper. He began to lean in when I spun myself out of it and laid on the ground.
"What are you doing Maite" He says laughing,
"Watching the stars" I say,
"Well then I hope you don't mind me joining you" he replies,
"Not at all Paul come lay with me" I say patting the ground beside me.
He lays down next to me as the two of us lay in silence as we dose off mesmerized with the beauty that the stars held. "Ahh they are so pretty aren't they" I express,
"Well I'd better describe them as beautiful" he says staring at the side of my face. I turn to him when he leans in for what I think is a kiss. But was utterly surprised when he kissed my forehead instead of my lips.
"Abahahaha Oh I love that" I say
"Oh really? why so?" he asks with soft eyes.
"Well I don't know exactly but I like it" I say
"Ok good to know" He replies smiling,
We both stand up and he puts his arm around my shoulders as we walk back to Zanga to meet up with Sara.
~~
We arrive back at Zanga where I see Sara talking with Txon outside of the bar
I pull out my phone to check the time and realize it was 5 am and suddenly remember that we are leaving to Bilbao in 3 hours.
"Shit, Sara it's 5, we needed to be home 3 hours ago" I say freaking out
"Oh fuck, your right" She says turning towards Txon as the two of them stare at each other with sad eyes. They hug goodbye for a few seconds while I hug Paul goodbye. We then quickly speed walk back home and make sure we opened the door slowly preventing any loud noises. We walk in the house and quietly lock the door. We take our shoes off to walk back to our room hoping no one is hearing the wooden tiles crackle beneath us. We finally make our way into the room and set our stuff down on the beds. For the next 3 hours we didn't sleep. Sara was scrolling though Tik Tok and removing her makeup while I did the same and wrote the events that occurred in the past day in my journal.
"Oooo are you journaling about Paullll" Sara teased in a whispered voice,
"MMhmmmm and if I were you I would be writing about what went down between Txon and you" I say smirking,
"Ohh pleaseee, that was nothing" She adds,
"Certainly didn't seem like nothing when you struggled to say goodbye" I note smiling,
"Wha- tha- that was nothing"
"Mmmhmmm you keep telling yourself that sweetheart but everyone with properly working eyes could see what you claim as being nothing, as something completely different" I chuckle
"Hushhhh you keep writing your little story on Paul" she smiled while rolling her eyes.
After I finished writing I tried to get some sleep even if it was an hour which wasn't hard to do considering how sleep deprived I was from the past few days.
What felt like 5 minuets of sleep must've already been an hour because Amuma pulled the sheets off of Sara and I waking the death inside of me.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I certainly did. Keep up with the next few chapters if you want to keep reading about Maite's adventures in Lekeitio with Sara!!