Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Veintiocho

Eleanor was moving along with the music while reading Bibi's story. She printed the entire document so she could mark and write notes on the paper (yes, she almost had to sell her kidney for it, but it was for a great result). Bibi was a great writer, her text was easy and pleasant to read, ideal for a romance. The story was about how two backpackers met each other, and had a great time, but had different routes planned. Eleanor was reading through it like crazy; she started this morning and it was almost 15:00 when she arrived at the last couple of chapters. A smile came to her face when her eyes glided over the words. She noticed how Bibi ended up using one of her tips: what do they want, and how can I ensure they can't get it?

What Eleanor was gonna do now, felt very teacher-a-like, but she had to do this. She marked the paragraph and grabbed a different pen, writing on the side: very good idea, I like!!! She was guessing that it would be alright in the end, in the story.

The music she was listening to, was from a Dutch radio station. Goldband was Eleanor's go-to band of this year and she just had to sing along with them whenever she heard them. "De zuster die komt dichterbij, dit moet een delirium zijn, Want die zuster, dat ben jij," she sang along with their hit song 'Noodgeval'. "Dit is een noodgeval! Waar blijft die fucking ambulance? Waar blijft die fucking ambulance? Dit is..." The music stopped playing, however, Eleanor didn't stop singing. "...een noodgeval!" She took a breath to sing the next sentence, but then she realised there was no music anymore. A laugh left her mouth and she shook her head. "Debiel," she mumbled, saying she was an idiot. Eleanor grabbed her phone; Carlos was calling her. She accepted the call. "Hey," she smiled.

"Hola," he said. "You sound extremely excited," he noticed.

"Yeah, just had an idiotic moment with myself," she smirked.

"Oh." It was silence. "I thought you were excited that I called."

The heat raised to Eleanor's cheeks. "Also. I am, also."

Carlos chuckled. "I'm just kidding," he said. "But good to know anyway."

She bit her lip and looked embarrassedly at her notes. It had been a couple of days since they saw each other. And five days after the attempt on stealing Dutch cheese - Eleanor kept making jokes about it (which wasn't probably the best decision to do). "Yeh," she mumbled.

"Anyway, how are you?" Carlos asked while smirking, he loved to tease her.

"I'm fine. My head doesn't hurt anymore, so that's great," she responded and smiled. "You?"

"That's amazing news, Ellis. And I'm fine as well. But I called you to ask something. There's football tonight. I don't know if you watch it, but it's El Clásico: Real Madrid - FC Barcelona. I thought I would ask you to come over and watch it," he said. "Only if you have time and if you want to."

"I usually only watch when Oranje has a match, but it sounds fun! I'd love to."

"Ah, right, great. It is at my parents' place."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "Oh."

"What?"

"So, I'm gonna meet your parents?"

"Yes? Only if you want to, of course. But I think it's the right moment," Carlos mentioned. "But only if you feel comfortable with it."

"Yeah, yeah, it's good to know, so I can prepare myself for it," she muttered while her heart skipped a beat. Meeting his parents was a thing. "Put on some makeup and stuff."

"It's not a big thing, it's something casual," he reminded her.

"Yes, but they are your parents, Carlos," she reminded him.