You Came to Me

11. Leda

Published: July 5th, 2021.

Word Count: 2,849

Madrid. October, 1975.

It was mid afternoon on the same Friday that I left Amelia alone in the bar and I was laying on the couch waiting for Maria to find me, of course I was only thinking about Amelia. I'm starting to forget what I normally think about since it seems like she's the only thing in my brain. Luckily, Maria's loud entrance through the doors halted the fantasy I was daydreaming about. 

- "Hi." I said as I sat up on the couch.

- "I've brought some of the alcohol for tomorrow." She said while hurrying to the kitchen with the heavy bags filled with glass bottles.

- "Stealing from the King's again?" I teased.

- "I own the place, so no."

Maria sat the bags on the kitchen floor and began to empty them.

- "What else do we have to get?" I asked as I helped put the bottles in the cabinet.

- "Decorations, drinks, food, and candy for the kids so they don't annoy us."

When we had put the last of the alcohol away, got our things, and left.

We went into practically every market in the Plaza. Maria, of course, ended up getting a billion things irrelevant from what we needed. I started to notice that she was less talkative than she normally is. She appeared somewhat distance, as if something wouldn't leave her mind.

- "Are you okay?" I asked while we were walking to our next store, our hands red from the weight of the bags we were carrying.

- "I'm fine." She said with a smile.

We stopped at El Asturiano to put away majority of the shopping in preparation for tomorrow. Our abuelo forced us to have a bite to eat with him and of course we couldn't turn him down. When we finished, we headed back to the house with the few bags we had left to put away.

When we had finally reached the front door after we finished our shopping tour of la Plaza de los Frutos, we hoisted up the stairs with our heavy bags and I fiddled with my purse to get my keys out to unlock the door. Like how we left, we entered into an empty house. Catalina and Ciriaco were at their respective after school playdates, my parents and abuelo were at work, and Manolin and Marisol were out doing God knows what.

- "Were six bags of Haribo enough?" I asked as I held up a bag for her to see before I put it away.

- "You're the one who eats all of them other than the green ones." She said laughing.

- "You're going to make Catalina and Ciriaco dizzy with all the candy you've bought for them." I told her.

- "Good, that way they can fall into a sugar coma and we won't have to entertain them." 

When I had finally finished putting the remainder of the shopping away, I went over to the couch.

- "Ahh." I sighed with my eyes closed as I fell into relaxation.

- "I haven't heard a thank you yet." Maria said as she sat next to me.

- "For what?" I scoffed, opening my eyes to look at her.

- "For me asking Amelia to come to mamá and papá's party."

- "Why would I thank you for making me look like a fool?"

- "Because I got her to come, and you like her."

My heart stopped respiratory actions at this sentence. My nervous system came out of hiding. My legs went numb. I felt like was dying a painful death.