The next morning, I had sat in bed beating myself up for even making the trip out here; I don't know what I was planning to happen. Bree and I had grown apart, not to mention we hadn't even seen each other in all those years. I fumbled through the sheets to find my phone; I now realized that Amy, my girlfriend is probably going out of her mind. I had forgotten to text her yesterday when I landed.
20 missed calls, 20 voicemail messages and 50 text messages, mostly saying
"Call Me, NOW!!!"
"Shit!!" I called her right away. The phone rang once; when she answered I knew I was in for it.
"Hello, Aless? Baby what in the world, are you trying to give me a heart attack or something. Do you know how scared I was trying to figure out if you were dead or alive or worst." She said sounding as if she knew for sure I was taken by aliens or something and she would never see me again. I could hear her Honduran accent coming out and it started to turn me on. I loved it when she spoke Spanish to me, even if I only knew basic High School Spanish. Amy is five feet three and stood just right below my five foot five. I loved being taller than her, even if it was an inch or less.
"Baby, I'm sorry I totally forgot to call you when I got in. I was so tired I just went to bed and I guess I over slept." I lied; hopefully she wouldn't smell my bullshit. " Wait, what could be worse than being dead?"
"Shut up, you know what I mean. You don't know how much you scared me crazy, don't do that again. Do you know what goes through a girl's mind when it's been over 24 hours from when she was supposed to get a phone call? I knew I should have called off work and went with you. What's so amazing about a carnival anyway, they have them here all the time."
"Baby, this is a different type of carnival" I smiled at how cute she sounded being worried. "I think I'll be heading back home early anyways, I'm feeling a little home sick and I know you're going crazy over there. I really miss you." All of last night ran through my head and I couldn't stand being here anymore.
"Yay! You're right I am going crazy." She sounded happy; it made me feel good again. "But, I think you should stay there actually." I was so puzzled, she was just happy to have me come back and now she wants me to stay?
"Huh? I thought you missed me?"
"Don't be silly, of course I miss you you're my everything, but if you come back now before you get to enjoy yourself I'll feel guilty knowing I deprived you of that happiness. Plus, you spent all that money, neither of us should let our feelings get in the way of you having fun... But, JUST REMEMBER TO CALL ME, BONEHEAD!" I smiled knowing she was right, regardless of why I came here I was going to enjoy being here, with or without Bree.
"Ok I guess, well I have 3 more days after today and I'll be counting them all down until I see you again, beautiful."
"That's all I ask" I could tell she was happy and just talking to her for those few minutes made me feel better about life. At least I knew I had something good to go home to. "Ok baby, I have to go, not everybody is on vacation remember, I have work." Amy was a nurse at the hospital a few miles away from our apartment and had been working there for over 5 years. She was great at her job and everybody knew it. I like to think that's one of the things that stood out about her and made me want to get to know her. "I'll call you again when I get off so please be by the phone this time."
"Will do my love!" *Muahz* I gave her kisses through the phone to send her off to work.
"Thank you! Here is some for you *muahz muahz*. I love you sweetheart; I'll talk to you later."
"I love you too" we hung up and I was now ready to get on with my day, definitely not stuck in this hotel room. I searched my suitcase for the perfect outfit, I was going to explore all that Spain had to offer me, and Carnival wasn't until tomorrow, so I had time to get to know this foreign country while I still could. It wasn't often that I got a chance to break away from work. I worked at the hospital where Amy worked, that's how we met over 3 years ago. When I transferred to California from Florida she took me all over and made me feel like home again. Ever since then she was my best friend, not just my girlfriend.
On my way out the door, I asked guest relations of places that might be a good to start on my adventure, the guy at the desk pointed me to a wall full of brochures of amazing things to experience in Madrid. I decided to take one of each and see where the day took me. With brochures in hand I walked down the strip to a nice little restaurant that seemed to serve authentic Spanish food. I took a seat outside at one of the smaller tabled and thumbed through the brochures one by one to determine an itinerary for my day.
"Good Morning, my name is Elizabeth. What can I start you off with to drink?" I looked up and there was a beautiful dark-haired waitress with the most welcoming smile id seen all day.
"Oh, umm... I think I will have some orange juice with a small glass of water please." I smiled back at her assuring her that her amazing smile didn't go unnoticed.
"OK, I will be right back with your drinks, please take some time to go over the menu." I couldn't figure out what I wanted so I decided to go with the obvious American choice, Pancakes. Elizabeth was on her way back and she still had that glowing smile on her face. She placed my fresh squeeze orange juice and water down in from of me and was careful not to spill any in the process.
"Did you decide what you want to have to breakfast yet?" I looked up at her and met her smile with mine.
"Nope, but what do you recommend?" I said, trying to buy more time with that smile.
"I like to have the Torrijas which is almost like French toast with some jam. It's my favorite thing ever since I was a little girl." She lit up as if every memory of having Torrijas came flooding back.
"That sounds nice; I think I might try those. I was going to go with pancakes but something about you makes me feel this would be 100 times better." She blushed as she scribbled on her note pad.
"Anything else for you?"
"Yes actually, please don't think I'm weird by saying this but when do you get off? I was planning on doing a little sightseeing today, but I would love it if someone that knows the areas as well as can show me the right way to have fun around here would be open to be my tour guide." With both hand clasped begging with my eyes. She smiled looking away almost to avoid making eye contact.
"I get off in a little over an hour. After that I have to go home to change really quick, but...yes I will be your tour guide.
"AWESOME! Well take my number and call me when you're ready." I scribble my number down on her notebook and after flashing me another smile she was back in the kitchen placing my order. I sat there still going through the brochure trying to figure out what path we would decide on. I arranged the brochures in order of what I really wanted to do to what I least wanted to do, but still wanted to do overall. Some time had passed, and Elizabeth was right back out still wearing her smile with my order.
"Wow, this looks amazing." She brought me a plate of food I thought I would never be able to finish. I took my time eating to kill time until she would be off work after deciding to just wait for her here. The first bite made me realize just how amazing Spain was; it had tasted better than anything I had ever eaten. I might have been exaggerating but it was pretty amazing. My decision to bring Elizabeth along with me was even more solid now. I had finished everything on my plate and I was feeling stuffed, I had no regrets. I sat back for a while to let my food digest.
*clears throat* I looked up and it was Elizabeth. "Uh, you ok?" she said as she laughed at me for eating too much.
"Yes, I'm good" I smiled as I sat up. Elizabeth handed me the bill.
"I talked to my boss and she says I can get going once I'm finished up here with you." I went into my pocket and took out my debit card and gave it to her with enough cash for a reasonable tip. She was still laughing at me as she cleared my mess and went back inside. A couple minutes go by and she came out with her things "Here ya go!" she handed me my card and receipt, I took it and put it in my wallet as we walked off.
"Ok, so my apartment is about 15 minutes from here, so we can do whatever you want after I change." I smirked and turned to her.
"Whatever I want?" She looked at me and rolled her eyes playfully.
"I mean the sightseeing." Without even noticing how far we had walked after engaging in conversation, we were at her apartment. "Do you want to come up?" I looked at her and smiled.
"Yea, sure! This is a part of sightseeing right?" We get up to the second floor and she rumbles in her purse for the keys, she opened the door and I could definitely tell a girl lived here. It was small apartment but still big enough for one person. It was filled with pink and purple decorations and a big, pink, fluffy pillows on the couch.
"Welcome!" She gestured for me to come in. "Hey, I just noticed, I never got your name." I looked at her and we both started laughing.
"It's Aless, actually its Alessandra but most people just call me Aless.
"Alessandra, that's a really pretty name. I like it."
"Thanks, it was my grandmother name as well."
"Even more of a reason to like it." She started to walk to her bedroom "I'll be right back, I shouldn't be very long."
"OK!" I sat down on the couch where I saw a photo album on one of the cushions, I picked it up to look through it while I waited, I hope she didn't mind.
"Hey, what do you have there?" I looked up at her and she had changed into a beautiful floral above the knee dress, her hair had been done with silky curls that made me think of Amy.
"Oh, sorry I was just looking through some of your picture. I hope you don't mind. I'll put it back."
"No, wait!" She stopped me as I was closing the photo album. "We can look at it together, I haven't opened this old thing in years" She sat right next to me and leaned in to look at the pictures as I opened up the book. She smelled like vanilla and honey and it made me smile.
"What?"
"Nothing, you smell real nice though." "She blushed once again. I looked to the book and we started going through the pages as she pointed to each person and told me who they were. We sat there and just enjoyed each other's company as we went down her family tree. I found out that her dad who lived an hour away with her mom is a Mechanic who loved to work on cars and had his own garage, three of them in fact. She was raised with a decent amount of money, but she wants to make it on her own. Her mom is a Pediatrician, so it meant she wasn't allowed much junk food, and slightly disliked her mom for if back then but when she got older she understood why she did it. Her Grandparents who were both now gone had been her escape when she was feeling overwhelmed. Apparently, her grandmother always knew how to make her feel better even if she didn't know what was going on specifically. I could tell how she talked about them that she missed them a lot. "They seem like very nice people, I know they were happy to have a granddaughter like you. It must have made them really happy that you would run to them and made them feel needed." She looked up at me and smiled then placed her head on my shoulders
"Thank you, Aless" We got to the end of the book and I now felt like I'd known her for years.
"Alright, it's about that time. You promised me fun, now it's time for you to deliver oh great one." I said as I pulled her up off the couch.
"Ok, prepare to be amazed, I hope you can handle all of the extremeness that is about to happen today." We gathered our things and went out the door as Elizabeth closed it behind us. We got downstairs and were now back on the streets. "Left? or right?" I looked at her.
"Haha are you serious?" she looked at me with a serious face.
"Yeah! Left, or right?" I looked left then right.
"Right I guess" I said while I pointed in the direction that we were about to begin our adventure.
"Awesome, I was hoping you would pick right" I smiled as we headed right. Just as soon as we were on our way to whatever laid before us my phone vibrated.
"Hey, I know you're still upset about last night, but Jenny wants to know if we're still on for today." It was Bree, I was still pissed off and I didn't want to respond. I knew Jenny would question why I blew them off after not being able to hang yesterday, so I replied.
"Sure, I'm out with a friend right now so ill text you when I'm not busy"
"Who's that, your girlfriend? Assuming that you're a lesbian anyway. I got that vibe from you at the restaurant." I looked up at her a chuckled.
"No, that's not my girlfriend, but she used to be. We're just friends now." She looked relieved "But, my girlfriend is back home in California"
"Oh, that's nice" she seemed disappointed but if I was going to stick to my plan of being content with the girl I was with then I would have to let her know I was taken from the start.
"So, do you have a girlfriend? Assuming that you're a lesbian as well." We both laughed a bit.
"No to the girlfriend, yes to lesbian."
"That nice, what are the odds? My second day here and I find one of my own kind." She continued to laugh.
"You're really weird you know that?" I looked at her and tried to seem appalled
"Me?" I questioned. "It takes one to know one my good lady"
"There you go again with the weird. I might be weird but at least my weird is better than you're weird." She teased.
"Haha, how can one weird be better than another weird? Isn't weird just weird?" For a minute I thought I stumped her with that question.
"Nope, because my weird isn't like any other type of weird, it's just...amazing." I smiled at how ridiculous that had sounded.
"I've never heard such bullshit in my life"
"It's ok if you don't believe me, but you'll see. The day has just begun."
Elizabeth was able to take me to some really nice places, we went on a little hike, a bike ride on a beautiful trail through a garden, to the museum; and on our way, there saw a few historic sites and few other adventurous places and activities. All in all, I could say we had a pretty great day and her job as my tour guide was fulfilled.
"Hey, you want to go grab an early dinner" I looked at Elizabeth waiting for a response
"I was just about to ask you that, there is a really amazing place just a few blocks away I wanted to take you to it to make an already perfect day a little more awesome."
"Sounds good to me" We kept walking and in about 15 minutes the restaurant was still nowhere in sight.
"There she is" I looked around for a restaurant and I couldn't see one anywhere and I got a lot confused.
"Where?" still confused I stopped and looked at Elizabeth.
"Right there" She point at a really nice house about 3 houses down.
"That's not a restaurant" I said with a little bit of uncertainty.
"According to whom?" She said as she began up the steps. It was a typical Madrid type house, it was beautiful. I followed her closely still so very confused. She rang the doorbell and a familiar face opened the door, it was a face I had seen in the photo album we were looking at just hours earlier. It was her mom.