A Second Life

As you’d expect, the meal sharing was a bit awkward.

Oh alright.

Dinner was extremely, utterly awkward. Between the spaces of each of us on the table, there was nothing but unfathomable. amount. of undiluted. awkwardness.

Just…awkward.

One, Andrea was seated across Esteban and Natalia. The two were spoon-feeding each other and drinking from a single mug of beer, and for some reason, Andy couldn’t look at them, so she had her neck stretched to the other side of the table, wearing for the first time, the fakest smile I had ever seen. Awkward.

Two, Charlotte and I were seated next to each other, and right across us were Sergio and Elena. He had her seated dangerously close to him that it almost looked like they were sharing a single chair. I saw as Sergio slide his hand across Elena’s back, rested his chin on her shoulder, took a few strands of her hair and played with it, brushing its tips to his own cheek like a paintbrush. Corny. Cheesy. Mushy. Therefore very awkward to watch.

You see, Sergio and I go way back. Back when we weren’t The Shit yet. Back when he had a very ugly nose and I had very bad teeth. We’d been friends for years. So I know this guy. Right smack to the middle of his core, I know him. I know when Sergio was just flirting, I know when he was just trying to be seductive, I know when he was trying to be cute for someone, I know when he finds a girl utterly fugly, and trust me, he makes sure the girl would know, too. And I know when he had really fallen big time.

And this? The look on his eyes when he gazes at her? The way he stroke her forearm with his fingers? THIS. This, people, is Sergio falling big time.

Moments later, Elena looked at my direction. She must have felt me staring. Thus, I pulled my eyes off them quickly, almost establishing a one-second eye contact with her, but I shifted my sights to the ribs on my plate swiftly. Then I just started eating.  

So technically, everyone was trying to acting normal, pretending nothing happened, that everything was fine, and we were all having fun. 

Good idea, I thought. Maybe we could give this whole Elena-is-Lisa-With-Amnesia thing a break and really do what this party was meant to be for. Celebrate the pleasure of Andrea’s company before she returned to Barcelona —- and to the arms of David Villa.

“My full name?” The gold bangles on her wrist clung, making bell-like sounds as she sliced through the ribs. “Natalia Alexandria Fernandez.”  

Seeing that her slender fingers were having a hard time dealing with the meat, Esteban took over and let his manly hands do the cutting. 

“That’s a very long name.” Benzema commented as he popped a cheese cube into his mouth.

“But a beautiful one.” I added. “Fits you.”

Natalia blushed, but thanked me for the compliment. 

And yes, she indeed had forgotten about the bitch-slapping incident she had with Esteban. Otherwise, there would be no blushing like that.

“So, Natalia, where are you from?” Andrea asked as she leaned on her dining chair. So far, no signs and symptoms of jealousy. 

“Malaga, originally. But I work in this city.” she replied.

Andrea raised her eyebrows, as if she was really interested. “Oh? What do you do?”

Natalia smiled at everyone, before answering the question. “I dance. Professionally.”

A DANCER?

A PROFESSIONAL DANCER?

A PROFESSIONAL DANCER.

“You’re a dancer?” Esteban shot her with a wide-eyed look, clearly surprised to find out.

Same thing for me and Benzema, actually. And I think Rosa and Charlotte, too.

And Sergio. The word “dance” could call Sergio’s attention anywhere.

And Elena.

So yeah, everyone was surprised.

“What’s so shocking?” Natalia asked, running her eyes across all of us in the table.

Granero looked at her from head to waist and back. “I didn’t think it was dancing that bequeathed you a slender figure, well-shaped legs, and a very good posture.” 

And there you have it. Mr. Renaissance Man strikes again, I thought. With his flowery words and highfaluting verbs.

“Wait…” Andy shot him a doubtful look. “You didn’t know she was a dancer?”

Uh-oh…Esteban, you didn’t do your research, idiot. You gonna get so busted!

“Well, I knew she was into the arts.” he said, redeeming his ignorant self. “She told me that. I just didn’t know she was into dancing, in particular.”

Sergio glanced at Natalia momentarily, but without taking his arms from being wrapped around of Elena’s waist. “Well what kind of dance do you do exactly?”

Please don’t say flamenco. Please don’t say flamenco. Please don’t say flamen—-

“Ballet.” Natalia answered.

A BALLERINA? I heard those dancers are flexible as fuck!

“Nice.” Karim commented. “Black Swan or White Swan?” 

Natalia only laughed lightly, and not as nervously as Esteban did. Then, she rested her elbows on the table with her chin on the back of her palm. “Both, I guess.” she replied rather wittily. “Depends on my mood, really.”

Karim nodded as though to give his approval. ”That is a good answer.”

“Well, that was a good question.” she replied.

Thank God for Natalia and her being such a good sport. Her people skills killed the awkward silence in our table, and she just made a good impression. We didn’t expect that, really. After that rather unforgettable slap she gave Esteban the night they first met, we didn’t even think she’d agree to say yes to Granero’s invitation.

Ah, but if she knew what the purpose of her attendance is tonight, I thought, Esteban’s probably going to get more than just a slap.

Anyhow, so with the awkwardness now a few notches lower than it was a while ago, we were all able to relax in our seats while we ate our dinner. Thankfully, Charlotte had momentarily stopped thinking about her theory, despite of Elena sitting right across her at the table. I guess the ribs I barbecued were that good, that she also hadn’t been giving me the silent, cold treatment since we began eating. She was, I’d say, even a bit clingy tonight, putting her head on my shoulder from time to time, and when I kissed her hair, she didn’t tell me to back it off just because there were people around us.

Yeah. She’d done that several times in the past. Oh, but this is not me complaining. It’s all part of her charm. The whole you-do-what-i-tell-you-to-do attitude she has, it’s badass and i’ve come to love it. Which is why I found her behavior at the dinner table something new. Refreshing, actually. Sweet Charlotte doesn’t happen all the time, you know. So when it does, I cherish the moment.

“Aaaw, you guys are so cute.” Rosa, Karim’s date, she had a teeny tiny voice. I was about to say thank you, but when I turned, I saw her head was tilted to the right, while watching Natalia wipe the side of Esteban’s mouth with her thumb.

And I thought she thought Charlotte and I were cute. Well, sorry for even thinking that. Ugh. 

“How long you been together?” she asked.

At the very instance of the newcomer’s unexpected question, even before one of them answered it, I saw Andrea take the beer mug in front of her and chug it down, bottoms up.

Almost instantly, I moved my eyeballs to look at Karim, but he quickly looked down to his plate with his lips pressed together, trying not to smile.

He saw it, I thought. He saw Andrea’s reaction, too. 

“Um…we…um…” Esteban stuttered. He glanced at Andy for one second before looking back at Rosa again as he swallowed. “We met last week and um…” 

“We met at this hot club.” Natalia jumped in. She looked at Esteban and stroke his cheek with her thumb.“I was with my friends and saw him at the bar, I thought he was cute so I approached him and introduced myself.”

Impressive, I thought. She remembers the first meeting pretty well. I hope she doesn’t remember the slap, though.

“Wow.” Andrea’s voice broke into the air. “How delightfully unique.”  

Out of reflex, I hit my knee on Karim’s, who then was seated right next to me. It was indeed a comment filled with meat. 100% pure lean meat of imported Barcelona jealousy.

Thus, I efforted to get a better, more targeted glimpse of Andy very cautiously from the corner of my eye. She was chugging on her second can of beer, this time skipping the mug filled with ice and downing it straight up.

Natalia flipped her long, wavy hair. I didn’t know but she looked at Andrea a certain way. I can’t describe the face, really. “So how about you, Andrea? Single? Taken? Married? Divorced? How many times?” 

What the fuck? How did tension build up so quickly between them??!! Did I miss anything!?, I thought. And then I remembered the reason why Natalia slapped Esteban, in the first place. It was because he called her “Andrea” in the middle of foreplay.

Natalia knew she had competition tonight, I finally concluded. Oh man, shit’s gon hit the fan.

And as expected, Andy’s eyes widened at Natalia’s question. She set her drink down at the table quite restlessly and looked at Granero in the eyes. “Taken.” she said proudly. Then she turned to Natalia. “With David Villa, FC Barcelona. If you’re into football…”

“Oh my gosh, yeah! That’s you!” Karim’s date suddenly exclaimed, as if she’d just discovered gold in Andrea’s face. “I’ve seen you in the news before, I think, or the newspaper, but yeah, that’s you! The girlfriend!”

Andy smiled at her and shrugged. “Yep. That’s me alright.” 

“Barcelona?”  Natalia voiced out as if wondering. “All the fine men are in Madrid, sweetie.” She forked a small piece of the rib and fed it to Esteban. “Aren’t they, amor?” 

AMOR?! Esteban Granero, what the hell did you tell this woman? Amor? Seriously?

“Ooops” Natalia giggled flirtatiously. ”Sorry…” she put her fork down after she obviously un-accidentally got generous amounts of sauce to the side of Esteban’s mouth.

Oh, this woman, I thought. Naughty-naughty.

I was about to look back to my plate to continue eating, but just as I was about to pull my gaze away from them, I saw Natalia lean over him. She held Esteban’s chin with her long-nailed hands —- and to all our shock, she stuck out her tongue, and licked the sauce off from the side of his mouth shamelessly.

Yes.

Her tongue.

Tip of her tongue.

Shamelessly.

Karim coughed up and almost drowned himself in the beer he was drinking. Rosa rubbed his back immediately, while her own jaw dangled. She, too, was caught in surprise by Natalia’s bold move.

And it wasn’t any different for me and my wife. I heard Charlotte gasp as she also watched, but I put my hand on her thigh and squeezed a bit, signaling for her to hold back her reaction or don’t let it out too much. Thank God she got the message.

Sergio and Elena, on the other hand, don’t mind them. They were busy whispering sweet nothings to each other, their hands exploring God knows what. 

Anyway, so after I regained my composure, from that utterly unexpected —- and unique display of affection, I subtly turned my head to look at what I was really interested to see: Andrea’s reaction to Natalia’s tongue.

Oh man. Esteban, I’d hate to say this, but this Operation-Jealousy-Andy mission of yours might actually do you more worse than good, I thought, as I looked at Andrea’s reaction. And you too, Karim, for coming up with this plan in the first place.

She looked pissed. Really, really pissed. She was practically red in the face!

 “Um…” she abruptly stood up, her chair almost tumbling behind her. She stepped out of her seat and turned to us. “Excuse me for a moment. I…I forgot I need to make an important phone call.” 

With that, she stormed out of the backyard and into the house, slamming the french doors violently behind her. Now we may be spacey at times, but we weren’t numb. It was obvious she wasn’t going to make a phone call. And it was also obvious she was upset.

More than jealous, she was upset.

Charlotte gestured to get up, as though to follow her, but I gently pulled her back to her seat. Then, I looked over at Esteban, who then had also just turned to look at me and Karim. And with a slight nod from me and Benzema, Granero turned to his clingy date. “I need to…um, use the john. I’ll be right back.” he said, excusing himself from the table.

He grabbed something from the table, then headed inside.

As soon as he disappeared from sight, I put my arm around Charlotte’s shoulder and turned my head to Esteban’s abandoned date, who now sat solo in a table filled with pairs. 

“So, Natalia…” I began, while Karim grabbed a can of Cruz Campo from the iced bucket on the table and handed it to her. “More beer?”

To be continued…