The club had some lights, but they were
always turning around and changing into other colors. It was very difficult to
see anyone and friends had to grab hands to move at the same time if they
didn’t want to get lost. Melissa and Valeria did exactly that as they walked
towards the bathroom they had seen earlier. It was Melissa who wanted to go
there, Valeria had just come as a companion, or as the type of protection women
like to have when going to the bathroom. As the bathroom was practically an
only stall, Valeria had to wait outside where she checked her phone. She wasn’t
expecting any calls or messages but she checked anyway. The truth was that she
was very bored in that place. The music, the noise, the people, the lights, the
smoke… All of that just wasn’t for her.
But apparently she was the only one who
thought that in that place. Not very far from where she was standing, there was
a women dancing like she could not stop. She had several people around her but
as she danced to a Lady Gaga song, she came close to many of the guys and
danced with them for some seconds. Maybe they couldn’t realize it, with the
alcohol and everything, but she didn’t look nearly as sexy as she probably
thought she was. Valeria kept looking and realized that the girl that was
dancing was not a beauty queen but she was beautiful and had a nice body. Maybe
she had worked on it so much that she just wanted to show it to the world. It
was nice to see how much confidence a single person could have.
Melissa came out of the bathroom and, once
more, they had to go through almost the entire place to get to their table,
where both their boyfriends and some more friends were drinking and trying to
chat over the sound of the music. Valeria sat down by her boyfriend and he
greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him. Valeria knew that he
realized how much she didn’t like these kinds of places and that it she had
only become because of her friend. After all, Melissa was turning twenty-six
years old and they wanted to celebrate properly. Her friend did like the place
and was practically dancing and singing all the time they were there. It would
have been very rude and silly to say no to the invitation.
Valeria’s boyfriend decided to take her to the
dance floor and dance slow to the song that was been played, never mind that
the rhythm of the song was substantially different. But they didn’t care, as
the real intention was to be separated from the rest and just be there, the two
of them, sharing one more moment in their lives. The truth was that William,
Valeria’s boyfriend, was a pretty serious guy. He knew what he wanted of life
and, actually, he was getting there already, before he turned thirty. He was
already making tons of money in a business he had invented with his father, had
managed to make Valeria his girlfriend, which was pretty difficult, and was a
hopeless romantic that any woman would love nearby.
He was about to make one of those romantic
moves when the music was cut off and, through speakers, people were advised to
evacuate the club as there was a small fire in the kitchen and they wanted to
prevent any accidents. People began to move towards the exit and, a few minutes
afterwards, they were all outside. The fire was apparently not really serious
but the night had been cut short. Melissa was sad because it was the
celebration of her birthday, so her boyfriend came near William and talked to
him. Valeria didn’t hear, as she was hugging her friend who was cold and sad.
The boys came by and told them they could continue the party in William’s
apartment. Valeria looked at her boyfriend and he blinked at her. Secretly, she
didn’t like when he tried to hard.
All the way to his apartment, Valeria kept
thinking that the only reason he was doing all of this was because he felt he
had to impress her, even as she had already impressed her many times, in bad
ways and good. He could be so impulsive sometimes and, as she had thought
before, he tried to hard. It was as he didn’t realized that Valeria already
cared deeply for him. Why did he keep trying to make her commit to something
more serious? Wasn’t it serious enough to be there with here in her best
friend’s birthday party? And now they were going to his place. Valeria
sometimes felt that she needed some time away from him and his ways.
William’s place was simply huge, for any young
men owning an apartment of their own. Or even for any man owning something like
that. It had a Jacuzzi in the main bedroom and a big living room with a terrace
besides it. They could take some air at any time or just smoke a bit, not that
William did those things. For such a young guy, he was very well balanced. They
all sat down on the couches, as William invited them to check out his wine
cellar, where he also had other types of liquor. Their friends chose vodka and
whisky. Melissa, who was already very drunk, turned up the music and started
dancing in the funniest way possible. Her boyfriend was pleases with the
situation and everyone celebrated her for it.
Valeria had grabbed a cup of wine and sipped
it slowly. Alcohol didn’t affect her that much and she knew how to drink, not
like her best friend. She had to dance with her from a moment, when they did a
hilarious choreography to a popular song that was the rage all over the place.
Everyone laughed and cheered to them and Valeria was happy to see Melissa
happy. After all, they knew each other since they had been in kindergarten and
had not been too far from each other since. Melissa proposed to use a karaoke
system William had and they had fun with it for hours, laughing and singing and
just having a great time. It was a such a perfect moment that no one dared to
disrupt it.
Later that night, William told everyone that
they could stay there for the night if they wanted. They could arrange
something in the morning for breakfast and then everyone could go home. They
all agreed and in no time people were laying snoring in the sofas, which
happened to be very comfortable. Melissa and his boyfriend took the guest room.
Valeria was not thrilled about this because her friend was really drunk and her
boyfriend was not the sharpest tool in the shed. She didn’t want her to do
stupid things while drunk but, then again, she was an adult and if she went to
that room with him, it was his decision. Anyway, she was going to be next door
if anything happened.
Obviously, Valeria had to share the bed with
William. She had done it several times in the past as they had been dating for
over a year and she had spent a good amount of that time in his apartment. But
that night, she wasn’t really looking forward any type of “fun” or sexy time.
Sex was just not on her mind and she hoped she didn’t have to tell him. They
dressed up for bed and lay down together, William hugging her from behind. They
talked for some minutes until he fell asleep. But Valeria just couldn’t do it.
She felt very hot for some reason, so she decided to slide out of bed in order
to go the bathroom. There, she stared at the mirror for several minutes until
she realized she wasn’t really doing anything.
What she was thinking was making her very
uncomfortable but she had to be honest with herself and acknowledge that she
felt she didn’t love William anymore. She even wondered if she had ever loved
him truthfully. Valeria certainly thought so, but now that she saw what kind of
person he was, she had to be honest and say that it wasn’t the kind of person
she thought he was. It wasn’t about finding prince charming or anyone like
that. Actually, Will was kind of a charming prince but maybe it wasn’t meant
for her. Se hated herself for thinking such a thing. She washed her faced and
dried it slowly, breathing heavily, as if she had been out for a run or
something. She was just to worried by her thoughts.
She went back to bed and lay there besides him
but just didn’t sleep. They all had a great time during breakfast, everyone a
little bit hung-over but very grateful to William that had proven to be a great
host. They all thanked him before leaving and, as Valeria hugger her best
friend goodbye, Melissa asked her if William had done anything unexpected. This
confused Valeria but then her friend’s boyfriend took her out and just said goodbye.
Valeria cleaned up the plates and everything else, as William decided to take a
shower. Then, as she washed the plates, she realized what she was doing and
just dropped one of the plates to the floor. She looked towards the room but
she could only hear the sound of water.
As she picked up the pieces, something clicked
on her head. She left what she was doing and ran towards the bedroom. She then
looked for the jacket William had been wearing and looked in every pocket but
found nothing. She looked in his pants, his shirt drawer, among his underwear
and sock. Nothing. Was she going insane? Then, she realized the water had stop running
a while a go and he was standing there, on the doorframe, naked. And he had a
little case in his hands. Valeria suddenly had no air in her lungs and just
collapsed. That should buy her some time.
