Incompleto

   Cuando me di cuenta, no estaba. Nunca supe en que momento se fue. Aunque, técnicamente, jamás estuvo ahí. Jamás lo tuve así que no puedo decir que extraño algo que ya no está. A veces pienso que podría adivinar como se siente estar completo, como se siente tenerlo, pero la verdad es que es solo una suposición. Lo más probable es que la sensación sea muy distinta a la que yo conozco, pues cuando no has experimentado o vivido algo, es muy difícil imaginarlo correctamente.

 Casi nunca pienso en ello. No es porque haga un esfuerzo consciente por no hacerlo sino porque simplemente no lo hago. No tengo nada mejor que hacer ni más interesante, pero es de esas cosas en las que uno no piensa pues son hechos y los hechos es muy difícil ponerse a discutirlos. Cuando las cosas son de una manera determinada, no sirve de mucho ponerse a pelear y quejarse. Lo mejor es hacer las paces con esa realidad o, como yo he hecho, no pensar en ello.

 Me ha funcionado bien porque, como no está en mi mente, simplemente no puede hacer daño alguno. Pero de vez en cuando, se me cruza por la mente esa ausencia y me hace sentir de muchas maneras. Un poco tonto porque no entiendo como me puede afectar algo que se me olvida con tanta frecuencia pero también muy sensible. Es difícil tener que confrontar hecho, tener que darse cuenta que las cosas son de una manera y que no van a cambiar, no importa lo que hagas.

 Por eso creo que supongo que prefiero cuando no me acuerdo de nada. No me hace daño de esa manera y es la mejor vía para tratar de aceptar mi problema. No importa si fallo una y otra vez porque ahí seguirá al otro día o en la siguiente ocasión que me acuerde que está ahí. No es algo en lo que pueda fallar por que no cambia nunca, ni para bien ni para mal, así que no tengo porque temer mis enfrentamientos con ello.

 Sucede seguido cuando estoy a punto de dormir o apenas despertando. Son esos minutos en los que estás más alerta o más sensible, en los que te das cuenta que hay algo que falta o que sobra, dependiendo del caso. En esos momentos uno está más consciente de todo lo que lo rodea, sea lo que eso sea. Mi cerebro trabajo a cuatro mil por hora, pensando y pensando, reordenado cosas como si sirviera de algo.

 El cerebro nunca se cansa de intentar, de crear soluciones para problemas que no son tal o evitando los problemas que sí son potencialmente peligrosos. Supongo que eso va a en cada quién y en como nos asumamos frente a las dificultades que se nos pueden presentar en la vida. Obviamente no todos reaccionamos igual frente a los mismos problemas.

 Aquellos que son de esta naturaleza, sin embargo, son siempre más frontales. Como decía antes, son hechos y los hechos son cosas que no cambian o que solo cambian con una voluntad o un acto físicamente increíble. De resto, siempre serán hechos como que el cielo es azul o que las nubes flotan en el aire. Son cosas que son así. ¿Podrían cambiar? Seguramente. Pero no es probable. Así pienso yo en las cosas. Si son fáciles de cambiar o si son simplemente imposibles.

 Detesto escuchar sonidos en la mañana, me saca de quicio. Lo mismo con las luces brillantes. Me parecen casi insultantes cuando no he acabado de despertarme, como ahora. Menos aún cuando trato de escribir sobre algo que me incomoda y sobre lo que la gente no quiere saber. Porque, al fin y al cabo, es algo que no le importa a nadie. Es de esos hechos, como decíamos, que solo me afectan a mi y a nadie más así que no tendría porque confesarlo como si fuera algo trascendental.

 Pero supongo que esa es la cosa con mucho de lo que sentimos y por lo que pasamos, no se trata de si a alguien más le importa sino si a nosotros nos parece relevante en nuestras vidas. A cada uno le parece importante algo distinto. Por lo mismo, no hay nada que sea poco importante o demasiado importante pues las prioridades de cada persona son completamente diferentes. Es como los gustos en colores o en ropa: no importa las diferencias, todo es válido.

 Pero creo que me estoy alejando un poco del tema y no es que sea algo difícil porque nunca es fácil hablar de uno mismo. Hablo de que hay algo que me falta y siempre me ha hecho sentir incompleto pero solo cuando me pongo a pensar en ello, cuando dejo todo por lo que camino en la vida y estoy vacío mirando a la nada. Es entonces que esa vieja preocupación, esa molestia, entra a mi cerebro.

 En principio, puede pasar cuando uso las manos. En la ducha era frecuente pero ahora me doy cuenta que ya no lo es tanto. Cuando vives poco satisfecho con tu apariencia física, todo es un problema entonces no hay nada que resalte más que lo otro, al menos no con frecuencia. Pero las manos, o mejor dicho la piel, es ese órgano que no puede mentir y que te hace pensar casi de inmediato.

 No por nada se usan las manos para revisar el mismo cuerpo y determinar si hay algo malo en alguna parte o no. Esas mismas manso sirven para explorar otros cuerpos y, al fin del día, sirve para sentir y sentir es lo mejor que tenemos en la vida. Es el sentido más completo, más real, y aquel que nos hace ser nosotros. Si no pudiésemos sentir, nada tendría el más mínimo sentido.

 Lo he investigado varias veces. Nunca he ido a un médico porque creo que no vale la pena. El médico no va a dar una solución de la nada porque no es algo que se solucione así como así. Supongo que por eso se le llama un síndrome y no una enfermedad o una condición. Un síndrome es algo mucho más permanente, algo que no tiene reversa y que es bastante difícil de deshacer. Es cuando la naturaleza ha hecho que ni siquiera los seres humanos pueden o incluso quieren arreglar.

 Creo que lo mío se podría arreglar. Requeriría una operación, o varias, y mucha piel extra. Seguramente cortarían partes de mi trasero o de mi brazo o no sé de donde para tener piel suficiente para recubrir lo nuevo que tendría encima. No puedo ni imaginar lo extraño que eso sería, lo poco natural que podría verse o sentirse. Ni siquiera sé si semejante procedimiento sea posible porque estamos hablando de músculos y los músculos están todos conectados.

 ¿O es que acaso la tecnología ya está tan avanzada que ha logrado conectar musculo y todo lo demás? Si así es, que me anoten para una de esas y para una operación para crecer unos cuantos centímetros. A eso no se le llama síndrome pero sí que es un problema que no tiene solución. Supongo que mucha gente nunca habrá vivido con la sensación de que son muy pequeños a comparación a los demás así que no tienen ni idea de cómo es.

 El punto es, que a veces me he sentido menos hombre, menos deseado, menos querido y menos buscado incluso por el hecho de que a la naturaleza, por alguna razón, no se le dio la gana de completar el trabajo que tantas veces había hecho. No sé cuantas veces pasamos en no sé cuanto millones. El punto es que no es frecuente y menos de la manera en la que está todo pero así es y así son las cosas.

 Siempre he pensado que es como esas armaduras del Imperio Romano, en las que el pecho no estaba cubierto por completo sino solo parcialmente. Caso siempre pienso en eso cuando recuerdo lo que no tengo. Es como si ellos también hubiese tenido el mismo problema y hubiese pensado en esa solución, como si los soldados no debieran salir sin esa protección a la batalla.

 Por alguna razón me falta un musculo pectoral, el derecho. Mi mano y mi brazo son normales así como el resto de los músculos de esa zona. Pero allí faltó algo, algo que no está, que no existe y que tal vez nunca vaya a existir. Algo que me hace poco frecuente en la naturaleza pero también me pone en desventaja en un mundo en constante lucha por lo superficial, por lo físico. Soy un hombre incompleto, al que se le olvida muy seguido.

Weird woods

   The majestic tree, various meters tall, fell to the ground causing a tremor. Only animals realized what had happened, as there were no people in the vicinity. The tree had fallen because it was rotten from the inside and couldn’t hold any longer. It started breaking from the roots up and finally, one very clear morning, it fell causing various birds to fly away scared. The movement on the ground caused by the tree was felt everywhere in the woods and the animals knew exactly what had happened.

 In time, the tree got covered in moss and, when time came for people to arrive to the region, they couldn’t conclude how much time it had passed since that tree had fallen. The explorers loved that forest because it was relatively easier to go through than any jungle in the other end of the world or maybe a very far away forest, locate in the middle of many mountains or something like that.

 The explorers discovered some new flowers and plants and also new bugs, which wasn’t something difficult in such conditions. The place was very humid and animals were all over the place, even among a think haze that covered the entire forest. The team of explorers installed a small camp in a clearing and decided to stay there for more time than anticipated because the forest showed promise and they wanted to bring back lots of new data. It would help them tremendously at work.

 The following day to them arriving, the haze had grown thicker and the trees seemed to be much more numerous, they seemed to be everywhere. Not that the forest didn’t have lots of trees but it just seemed like many more had grown overnight. The leader of the team decided to do maps of the area in order to be able to explore it more efficiently. He spent the whole day doing drawings of the area around their camp.

 During the night, it was difficult to see anything and not even flashlights seemed to penetrate the darkness of the forest. Strangely, it was a very quiet place after dark and that made them a little bit uneasy. It wasn’t very common to find a forest where no bugs or small mammals made sounds or cries of any type. It made their nights even more alone, more filled with tension and insecurities.

 They were already planning to go back to the city, even if they had decided days ago to stay a full month in the forest. The plans had not changed but it was good to talk about what they were going to do afterwards. They were only five people but they all felt a little strange in that place, in that situation. The forest had something about it that they couldn’t explain and it didn’t really made them feel good. That night, it was difficult for them to sleep.

 The next day, it was as if the volume had been raised again. However, when they decided to use the maps their leader had done to explore the forest, they realized they were useless. The trees were not where the map said they were and now there were also big boulders covered in moss a little bit everywhere and they covered large paths inside the forest, making it very difficult to walk around and explore. Something was very wrong with that place but they couldn’t really say what.

 Ignoring the problem with the maps, they decided the best thing was to tie a red rope around their waists and tie the other end to another person who stayed in the camp. As they were five, that limited the number of people going to explore to two at a time. It was efficient at all because other two had to stay there, sitting, making sure the rope worked in order for their partners to come back.

 The fifth person would normally go around the camping site, without walking away, and check the place they had decided to settle in. As it was a natural clearing, it was very strange to see one and there must have been reasons for that. So it fell on the responsibility of one person to investigate why that space was a clearing and what type of bugs and plants grew there. That second day was very productive in that sense. Yet, it wasn’t much of a secret that they all wanted to go back home.

 But the job comes first and they needed to finish what they had started. That second night, they wrote down everything they had seen. The absence of sound in the night also became a thing inside the large tent were they did everything. They started to talk less and less, only writing and making very soft sounds. They hadn’t realized it until the moment they left the forest some days later.

 The third day, the forest again changed its configuration or that’s what it seemed. The most frequent bugs had also changed from one day to the other. The first day there were common worms and then the second there were blue caterpillars. On the third, there were large groups of butterflies that would for large groups on trees and on top large bushes that weren’t there before.

 Humidity was another thing that changed every single died. The third time was the one their knees and elbows hurt the most. It was almost as if they had transported to an actual jungle except for the fact that the weather was not that hot. It was just how humid it was and how tired everyone felt after working for so many hours in those conditions.

 The fourth day the most frequent bug they could find was beetles. And they were not only black but also green and blue and several other amazing colors. Some of them the ability to fly and it was frankly very scary to see them do that. The bushes had grown in number and several boulders that had cut off paths had disappeared or so it seemed. Everything was different each time and it was very challenging to get used to all that. But no one complained because that was their job.

 The fourth night, they shared a nice meal but didn’t say a word at all. They just had been compelled to share a moment with each other but they respected the forest so much they didn’t want to speak and then ruin the whole harmony that was going on. Also, they really didn’t feel as they could actually talk in a normal register. It fell difficult to talk, to scream even. Many of them secretly tried but it was as if nature had taken hold of their vocal chord for the moment and it wouldn’t let them go.

 Late that night, there was absolute silence until a single sound disturbed the whole moment: something had fallen very nearby, making the ground shake severely. Every member of the group woke up instantly and they all headed outside to check everything out with their flashlights. But it was useless. The haze was thick as always and nothing could be really seen beyond it. So the all went back inside but would barely sleep.

 The fifth day was their last. They were planning in walking to the edge of the forest until it was close to nightfall and then just walk to the place were they had entered the forest. Their cars were there as well as the people that took care of the national park were the forest was located. It was very far from the clearing they had chosen to stay in but if they started early, they could reach it easily by dawn.

 They looked for the fallen tree, the one they had heard the night before, but they never found it. Everything in the forest was calm and no tree appeared to have fallen. Humidity was not the same as the other days. It was almost exactly the opposite. The wind that blew through the tall trees was very dry, making their skins feel strange. They walked without stopping all day, not even for food. They hadn’t discussed it but no one was going to stay behind doing any more exploring. They had to leave.

 The walk lasted for several hours and they begun to be very worried about being able to come out of there. The park’s entrance was nowhere near them, the forest had shifted again. They walked to different directions for hours until, with the last lights of the day, they found what seemed like another clearing. Had they come back to the same spot again? No. There was a license plate in the ground. And beneath it, metal on the ground.

Pastelería

   El primer bocado era un pastelito pequeño. Tenía una base de galleta y el relleno era de crema de limón con naranja con un algo de espuma de adorno que era merengue hecho a mano. Esteban mordió la mitad y lo masticó lentamente, tratando de no dejar caer migas encima de la cama. Hizo un sonido que denotaba placer y entonces le alcanzó la mitad del pastelito a Diego, que lo miraba atentamente para saber cuál era su opinión. Diego dejó la mitad del pastelito en el plato que tenían al lado y esperó la respuesta.

-       Delicioso. – dijo Esteban.

 Diego sonrió ampliamente y le explicó que había demorado mucho tiempo buscando la receta ideal para la galleta, para que no fuera demasiado dura pero tampoco insípida. Esteban le dijo que lo había logrado pues el pastelito tenía mucho sabor y era algo que se podía ver comiendo todos los días. Lo dijo mirando directo a los ojos de Diego. Se miraron un momento antes de compartir un beso.

 Diego le puso una mano en el hombro a Esteban. Tenía un anillo en su dedo anular, algo muy rudimentario, liso, sin ningún tipo de joya o de marca. Esteban tenía uno exactamente igual. Los dos se separaron del beso y decidieron que era hora de levantarse definitivamente de la cama. Estaban sin ropa y era ya bastante tarde para no estar haciendo nada. El plato, que Diego puso en la mesa de noche, tenía varios pedazos de otros postres.

 Esteban se puso de pie primero pero entonces Diego lo tomó de la mano y lo jaló hacia sí mismo. Esteban casi se cae pero logró poner la rodilla en la cama para evitarlo. Tenía una rodilla a cada lado de Diego y se le quedó mirando como esperando una respuesta a esa acción. Diego le preguntó que le habían parecido, con toda honestidad, los postres que habían estado comiendo. Esteban le respondió que estaban muy ricos y que él único que no le había gustado era el de kiwi, un sabor que a él personalmente le desagradaba, pero no por eso estaba mal hecho.

 El pastelero, que venía trabajando hacía mucho tiempo para elaborar una lista de productos que pudiese vender a varios proveedores, lo abrazó, poniendo su cara sobre la panza de Esteban y dándole suaves besos. La verdad era que estaba muy nervioso pues se había metido en lo de la pastelería hacía muy poco y todavía no sabía como iba a resultar.

 Esteban lo tomó de la mano y lo llevó hasta el baño. Se metieron a la ducha juntos y compartieron allí un rato largo que aprovecharon para dejar de pensar en todo lo que había afuera de la ducha. La idea era solo estar los dos. Hubo muchos besos y mucho tacto pero la verdad era que Diego estaba distraído.

 Cuando salieron de la ducha, él se cambió primero de ropa y salió disparado al supermercado. No le dijo a su novio qué iba a hacer o porqué, solo tenía que seguir intentando para ver que podía inventarse. Al otro día debía presentar sus productos a una compañía que organizaba eventos de variada naturaleza. La idea era convencerlos de que sus postres eran los mejores para poner en bodas, bautizos, cumpleaños y hasta velorios. Ya había encontrado dos personas que lo ayudarían a hacer los pedidos completos y una cocina grande donde hacerlos.

 Mientras miraba cada producto en el supermercado, pensando las posibilidad que tenía, Esteban se quedó en casa. Se vistió con cualquier cosa y se puso a revisar su correo del trabajo en el portátil. Fue entonces cuando sonó el teléfono y era uno de los amigos de Diego. Fue entonces que Esteban se dio cuenta que su novio no había llevado el teléfono móvil con él al supermercado. Tuvo que tomar el mensaje, uno no muy agradable.

 Apenas llegó Diego tuvo que decirle, pues era mejor resolver los problemas apenas se presentaban y no después, no dejar pasar el tiempo. Uno de los amigos que iba a ayudar con la manufactura de los postres, había decidido retirarse del proyecto pues había tenido un problema con su trabajo y no podría usar tiempo extra para dedicarlo a otra cosa. Debía estar enfocado en su trabajo entonces no habría como ayudar.

 Diego lo llamó y habló con él por un buen rato pero al final se dio cuenta que no había manera de convencerlo. Solo tenía un ayudante y la cocina y eso podría no ser suficiente. Esteban lo animó diciendo que, tal vez, las primeras ordenes no serían tan grandes. Pero Diego le recordó que muchas veces eran para bodas y las bodas podían tener cientos de invitados, al menos así eran las que la compañía en cuestión organizaba.

 Esteban estaba seguro de que podría arreglárselas, al menos mientras empezaba. Además no era algo que comenzara al otro día. Tendría un poco de tiempo para conseguir más y seguro habría alguien con tantas personas sin empleo. El problema era el sueldo pues Diego no tenía como pagar uno de entrada pero Esteban lo convenció de que debía buscar alguien nuevo y no complicarse antes de intentar solucionar las cosas.

 Para distraerlo, Esteban preguntó que había en las bolsas que había dejado en el mostrador de la cocina. Uno a uno, sacó varios productos. Algunos eran comunes y corrientes como canela y azúcar pero otros no eran lo más usual como pitahayas, clavo de olor y unas frutas asiáticas que venían en una lata. Diego respondió que necesitaba inspiración y nuevos ingredientes podrían ayudar.

 Se veía preocupado y triste. No parecía ser solo por el hecho de que alguien se hubiese retirado de su empresa. Era algo más pero no hablaba de ello ni decía nada respecto a lo que le preocupaba. Esteban ya lo había notado en la ducha y ahora lo notaba en la pequeña sala del apartamento que compartían hacía menos de un año. Se le acercó a Diego mientras ordenaba sus ingredientes y le tomó la mano sin decir nada. Él dejó de mover las manos y entonces abrazó fuerte a Esteban sin decir nada.

 Cuando lo soltó, Esteban había sentido algo de lo que su prometido sentía. Había sido un abrazo extraño, como si al tocarse se hubiesen pasado lo que sentían y lo que pensaban. Era algo muy raro pero a la vez se sentía bien, aunque pesado. Esteban se limpió los ojos humedecidos y le dijo a su novio que debían empezar a cocinar pronto si querían que les alcanzara el día. Habían dormido mucho y ya eran casi las tres de la tarde.

 Diego sonrío. Esteban había entendido que necesitaba ayuda a pesar de que el no había sido capaz de decirlo a viva voz. En las siguientes dos horas la pequeña cocina se convirtió en un laboratorio con varios platos y recipientes llenos de cremas y espumas y diferentes tipos de dulces que irían en copa de galleta que se horneaban, bandeja tras bandeja, en el horno de la pareja. Prefirieron no pensar en el recibo del gas por el momento. Cruzarían ese puente cuando llegasen a él.

 Pasadas las cinco de la tarde, viendo que ya iban a terminar, Esteban pidió una pizza que llegó justo cuando estaban terminando de adornar los últimos pastelitos. Esteban la abrió de golpe en el sofá e inhaló el delicioso olor del pepperoni mezclado con las aceitunas. Le dijo a Diego que se sentara a comer y él obedeció, pero no sin antes mirar sus pequeñas creaciones. Había bandejas y bandejas con pastelitos de varios sabores e incluso había tratado de hacer panes pequeños con frutas exóticas y otros inventos.

 Estaba bastante contento con lo que veía y, sobre todo, porque había dado lo mejor de sí para inventar algo que a la gente le pudiese gustar y que pudiesen comprar cuando quisieran. Su sueño era tener una pastelería propia pero tenía que ahorrar primero para cumplir ese sueño. La mitad de su vida había estado perdido en cuanto a sus deseos para el futuro, por lo que tener a Esteban y a la pastelería, era casi un sueño hecho realidad para él.

 Se sentó en el sofá y tomó una porción de pizza. Esteban ya había comenzado. Al comienzo solo comieron, estaban hambrientos. Pero cada cierto tiempo compartían una sonrisa. Cuando empezaron a hablar de nuevo, se dieron cuenta de lo felices que estaban con sus vidas pues, a pesar de las complicaciones, eran lo que siempre habían querido.

A Woman

   She knew she looked good. Better than that. She looked perfect, sexy and very attractive in any way possible. She had tried several bikinis earlier to know which one would make her look better in that deck chair she was going to be laying in. She finally went with one with lots of colors that looked kind of small on hair. It was just an optical illusion but it worked just as she had hoped. When she descended to the swimming pool area, at least five men turned their heads towards her. That was the proof she needed.

 She chose a deck chair in the middle of the area and just took off her sandals and purse and lay there for a few minutes. Then, trying to seem distracted or simply too sexy to care, she grabbed her purse and took out a small yellow bottle. She applied that sunscreen all over her body, slowly and touching very single centimeter she could reach. She was sure that man men were looking at her doing what she was doing and she tried not to think of them.

 When she finished, after what appeared to be an eternity, she put the bottle away. However, she grabbed another one from the purse, a brown one that was a special oily solution to get tanned faster. She sprayed it all over and spent even more time with it. She couldn’t really look at all the guy watching her but she knew they were there, almost salivating at the though of her just being there. When she was done, she lay done in a perfect pose and just tried to enjoy the sun.

 Minutes later, a waiter from the bar came to her and told her someone had sent her a drink. She covered her eyes and asked who had sent what. The waiter pointed to a man in the bar area, not far from there. He was very hairy and had only his trunks on. He wasn’t very handsome but he wasn’t an ugly man either. But the thing was, it wasn’t the one she was hoping for. Anyway, she accepted the drink and waived at the man.

 The drink was really delicious, filled with fruit juice and little alcohol. She drank almost half of it because of the sun but then she saw someone else coming her way, and it wasn’t a waiter. It was a very tall individual. He was visibly not from around there, very tall and with a well taken care of body. He was very sexy. But he wasn’t the guy she was hoping for. Not him or the guy in the bar.

 When he got to her, the tall guy complimented her and asked her if she could be invited to a drink and she said that it could happen but that she wasn’t interested in knowing anyone at the moment. The man felt visibly sad when she said that but he ordered another drink for her anyway. It was a piña colada, which she enjoyed a lot. And she enjoyed even more when he walked away, a bit annoyed.

 Apparently her work at the pool wasn’t good enough for the man she wanted. She knew his room had a view towards the pool area and she also knew that he had spent the last few days in that same place, swimming a bit or drinking with some of his buddies. She needed him to look at her for a while and then she would have him under him spell or at least that was the idea.  She decided to sit down on her chair and only cover her face with the hat she had brought from her room.

 Her legs were positioned in such a way; she knew it was too irresistible not to, at least, say something. She had very long logs and very beautiful hair that she had dyed blonde just before arriving at the hotel. She had to do it several times until she was satisfied with the results. She wanted to look as sexy as she could and attention would be guaranteed if she looked different from what men would expect.

 So her skin was pretty tanned but she had a long head of blonde hair arranged in a straight ponytail. She had tried several ways to put her hair and she had decided on the ponytail because it was simply and it had worked for her many times before. She needed to lure that guy into the people, into her hands, and the only way to do it was to use every single asset she had on her body.

 She worked out daily. Sometimes it was running and some other it was lifting light weights and dancing and using all the machines in the gym she went too. She was very dedicated and could focus on her body every single moment she was in there and it showed. No one told her what to do or how to do it, she had learned how to do a good routine by doing stuff every single day since had been the current person she was.

 Taken care of herself was also very interesting. She got to do a series of diets and it was interesting how many things she didn’t know about eating properly or even about what things she could eat besides what she had eaten all of her life. Changing those habits was very important for the new her and she had to be very careful with the things she brought to eat and drink. She had forbid herself from drinking but she had ignored that rule in the pool because she needed to succeed.

 She changed the position of her legs and looked around. No sign of the man and she was getting inpatient. She grabbed her phone and browsed through the pictures there. She had one of the guys she wanted: it had been taken during breakfast the day before. He hadn’t even noticed her right then but it was only because she hadn’t tried her best to look great. But now, things were different. He couldn’t resist.

 When she heard a group of men laughing, she instantly moved her head towards them. They were two guys; two jocks typed playing cards in a table not very far. They were too young to be his buddies. She looked away exactly when she felt they were going to look at her. And when they did, it was almost as if she could feel her eyes on her bodies. It was quite uncomfortable but she just pretended not to have seen them. She had her sunglasses on and that could help her deflect some unwanted attention.

 But apparently, not well enough. One of the young men came towards her and just stood there like a lamp, blocking her sunlight. She knew she couldn’t ignore him so she faked a smile and asked him to move because of the sun. It was obvious he hadn’t even realized what he was doing. He jumped to the side as if he had being burned or something and kept smiling towards her.

 Finally, he told her she was a pretty lady that needed a man to take care of her. She only told him he was sweet but that she was a bit busy with her tanning right now. The jock appeared to understand that it was a very important thing, so he apologized and vowed to come back in a few moments when she would be less busy. He moved away still looking at her, almost tripping into the pool. She would have laughed but not in that moment.

 Because right then, she saw him. He was walking slowly by the other side of the pool. He wasn’t very tall and his skin was very white for a person that had been in that hotel for at least three days. His body wasn’t the best one on the area but that wasn’t what she was after. She regained her best pose and moved her legs and arms as naturally as she cool. Through her sunglasses, she saw him taking a chair across her.

 It was obvious he had noticed her. Their game lasted a few more minutes, with her doing all the poses she knew and him just trying not to look. But he finally did and realized they couldn’t avoid each other anymore. They couldn’t ignore what they knew. So he walked to the other side of the pool, close to her. And she sat down with her legs down in the deck chair, not trying to be sexy anymore.

 The man sat by her and told her the weather was nice. She moved her legs aside, putting them near his legs. She got a bit closer and said: “It could get nicer”. She also said something else to his ear, which made him smile. They both stood up and walked away together from the pool. She had achieved her goal. Agent 37 was closer than ever to her objective and nothing was going to stop her.