Summer in our bones ✓

6 | noches de verano

"You look hot."

"What?"

"I said you look hot, in that suit," he sounds nonchalant as ever, like the words he is speaking don't cause an absolute hurricane in my stomach.

I know he is openly gay and I'm not against it, it just that I've never met a gay guy before, not one who would tell me something straight forward like this. I try to open my mouth and say something, anything, but then he speaks again as he turns into another street. "I mean, it's pretty hot outside and you seem like you're sweating in that suit, do you want me to switch the air conditioning on?"

"Oh." If I wasn't sweating before I'm definitely going to combust right this moment. "Y-yeah, if it's not a problem," I manage somehow while tugging nervously at the tight knot of my tie.

After that there's silence. I'm uncomfortable in this small, confined space with him, especially after I almost made a fool of myself. And yes, maybe I wanted him to be attracted to me and say those words in a different context so I decide to keep my mouth shut for the entire half-hour ride because I don't know what to do with that realization. But when I suspect that the car is headed in the opposite direction from the house, I have to protest.

"Where are we going?"

"Just for a ride, relax."

"Don't tell me to relax. I saw you drinking."

"I only had one glass of champagne. Oh my god, London boy, you need to chill a bit, you're so uptight. Come on, it's your last night, let me show you a good time. Let me show you the real Valencia. You'll never wanna leave again."

He quickly takes his eyes off the road and wiggles his perfect eyebrows at me, like he's challenging me. Like he knows that I already struggle with not being as the cool kids. Because popular, mummy's boys like him who are always given everything on a silver platter, always bully poor kids like me who try to earn honestly in life by hard work.

"You're so arrogant and stubborn and I don't think it's possible to have a good time with a person that annoys me as much as you do."

Valencia is just a smear of colours behind the windshield as Nico grins, wide, blinding, self-assured. And not bothered by my outburst, at all. He looks like he already knows something about me that I don't know. "Oh, we're so gonna have fun."

When we finally stop, it is in front of magnificent avant-garde architecture buildings that sit in vast shallow pool of water, all of them spectacular on its own. There's one that resembles a giant eye, and with the reflection from the pool it creates the illusion of the eye as a whole.

Nico leads us into an underground space. In front of the door, there's a man, a security guard and Nico approaches him and talks to him in Spanish after which he lets us in without even checking ID's.

We're inside the nightclub and it's heaving as we walk through the crowd, Nico leading the way and smiling at people as they pass and say hello. It's colourful, extravagant and I feel out of place but Nico fits right in as we reach the curved, sleek bar and he leans over it to shake hands with a bartender. They talk briefly, occasionally giving me a side glance, the bartender finally nods and Nico walks around the bar, ending up on the other side. He folds the sleeves of his crisp dress shirt before effortlessly starting to pour different drinks in a shaker. Heads turn and I wonder if it's because they all know him or because of his unreal beauty. But it's like he doesn't see anyone else in this place, just focused on his task. When the cocktails are done he smiles at me as he places the cocktail in front of me, and stirs his own with a straw looking at me like he wants to read my mind. And it's different than before, he's different.