11. See You Again
It’s a sunny, warm day. I stand next to a window, looking at the front lawn filled with burnt grass.All I can think about is calling Elizabeth. Barry is sitting on a chair next to the stereo, making a mix tape for his walkman. He’s got LPs of Dire Straits, U2, The Police and Pink Floys scattered across the floor.
“How about ‘Brothers in Arms’ now. I think the tempo slowed down with ‘Tea in the Sahara’, right?”
“Right.”
I’m not paying any attention to the music. I ask Barry if I can use the phone.
“Who you calling?”
“Elizabeth.”
Barry stands up and puts his hand on my neck, sort of strangling me.
“Now I told you already, Lucas is Elizabeth’s boyfriend. She is not available right now. Plus, I don’t get what you see in the little barrel.”
I shoot a dart eye look at Barry.
“Alright, alright. Sorry. I know I shouldn’t call her that. But you see what I’m saying, right? You need to be focused right now on one thing and one thing only: Miss Mariela. She is the one who’s after you, she is the one that will change your life. She is the one that will make you grow a pair of balls so that you can hit any woman in the world and remove the virgin label from your forehead. We talked about this last night.”
And he’s right about everything. There are two problems, though. One: I still feel deeply in love with Elizabeth. She is not in love with Lucas, I’m sure. She is just trying to help him feel more secure, because she thinks I’m already secure. Well, let me tell you something, Elizabeth. I’m not secure, as a matter of fact I’m probably the most insecure guy in the whole town of San Cristóbal and probably of the whole State of Táchira. I need someone to train me like you’re training that traitor of a friend, Lucas.
“Look, I really need to call her.”
Barry gives me an understanding look.
“We can’t call from here. My mom has a padlock on the phone’s disc. Do you want to head out to the store?”
“Alright.”
We walk out the house and five blocks to the small bodega. The place is full of activity, with people coming in and out the narrow corridor where the counter is. A bulky phone with coin slots on the top sits next to Hector, the bodega’s attendant.
“Hey Barry,” says Hector extending his hand.
“Hi Hector. This is my friend Julio from school. He’s staying with us for a while.”
Hector looks to me, top to bottom.
“Hey little man.”
Even the bodega’s attendant can see right through me.
“We need the phone,” says Barry.
“You go ahead. It takes medios, reales or bolívares.”
Barry picks up the receiver and hands it to me. I dial Elizabeth’s number and insert the medio in the phone, as I hear the ringing tone on the other side. My hand starts to shake and I notice Barry staring at me on one side and Hector on the other side. Two kids come into the store laughing and whooping loudly and I can’t hear if Elizabeth is on the phone.
“Hello? Hello?”
The two kids are cackling and spitting each other darts of chewed up paper.
“Hey,” shouts Hector, “knock it off you two!”
The two guys get silent for a moment and then crack into laughter.
“I swear I don’t know what the future of this country is with the way kids are growing up.”
All this time I’ve been trying to hear if someone is actually talking on the other line. I yell once more on the receiver.
“Hello!”
“Julio, is that you?”
Four words that transport me immediately out of the God forsaken bodega into a small slice of paradise.
“Yes, Elizabeth! I wanted to know how you were doing?”
“Julio, I’m so mad at you! I’ve been calling your home phone number but it rings and rings and rings but no one answers!”
“Yes, I know. We really need to talk.”
“Can you come to my house?”
My heart is racing and finally I feel a glimmer of happiness after the last hard and crazy 24 hours.
“I’ll get on a bus right now.”
“I’ll wait for you, then.”
I hang up. I have no idea how to get to Elizabeth’s, much less if there’s a bus that runs all the way to her neighborhood. But I’ve got to get there now, set the record straight and kick that asshole out of her life.
“You’re going to her house?”
“I need to, pana.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You can come over.”
“Fourth wheel? No man, you, Lucas and Eizabeth will be all cozy in her house.”
Lucas. What if he’s there right now?
