That Spanish Tutor (BxB)

CAPÍTULO 5

This day is turning nightmare for me. After seeing Mikel, and literally burping in front of his face, I was so embarrassed I had to lower down my face in embarrassment. I would very much like the ground to open up and swallow me whole just to save myself and the little dignity I had for myself. But it's all gone.

Mikel, turned out, that he's a nice player. He casually laughed it off and invited me to join them. I also met his friends and his ex-girlfriend, Sofía. A really beautiful lady with dark hair, who's wearing a brown headband, and the little mole she has on her right cheek near her nose makes her beauty stand out. I have no idea why they have remained friends despite the fact that they are exes. Isn't that awkward?

Of course, due to embarrassment, I declined his offer and stated that I had to do something else. And now, I'm in the house practically doing nothing other than watch little Pablo watch Spanish cartoons that I don't have interest watching.

Luisa is cleaning the kitchen after preparing a meal called croquetas for little Pablo, which he hasn't finished. His eyes are too focused on what's going on the television, his lips set in a thin line, but his cheeks are puffed. I pinch his cheek and he looks at me for a while before the cartoon takes his attention back.

I quickly run upstairs to get the most basic Spanish book and begin reading a bit while casually glancing at little Pablo, who's beginning to giggle as he watches.

My eyes skim over the rules and the conjugation patterns again, and the headache is starting to come through. I take a deep breath, pick a few verbs that I've learned this morning: bailar, which means to dance, cantar, which means to sing, and jugar, which means to play.

"You're studying," Mikel says and I jerk from my seat. He chuckles. Pablo joins him.

"You're here," I say the most obvious thing. "I thought you were with your friends?"

"I was," Mikel greets Luisa and little Pablo. Mikel asks for a high five, which Pablo accepts willingly and happily and he goes back to watching. "But they have to go somewhere, want to spend time with her because Sofía is going away. Very far from Tarifa."

"So they don't want you there?" I ask him.

"No, I mean, yes, no, I think?" he laughs, his eyes crinkling a bit as he stares at me with amusement in his eyes. "Sofía want to spend time with them a bit, and soon, me. She want me to speak to her alone."

"If you're speaking about someone in a third person," I tell him. Mikel leans in closer, sitting beside little Pablo who is too invested in his cartoon, "you use the 3rd person as well for the verbs. So that would be wants. She wants to spend time with them."

"Got it," Mikel nods a bit happily.

"Why'd you break up?" I ask him and immediately scold myself.

Mikel and I have not really gotten to the point where we're super close, where he would tell me stuff, and I would tell him stuff, and we'd both tell each other stuff that nobody even knows. We may have done outrageous thing where we let go of ourselves by the beach two days ago, but we're not comfortable with each other yet. I mean, we're not in the we-are-friends stage yet.

To my surprise, Mikel answers. "She wants"–and he makes sure he says it correctly, and I have to laugh a bit–"to study in Madrid, and she has big plans for herself, and I'm not in her plans. Because I just... I just want to stay here in Tarifa and care for my abuelita. She doesn't like that I don't have plans for myself. I have no idea yet."