the Devil and the Sea

56| Trapped?

Vincent asks about my relationship with Ricky. I tell him Ricky once watched me look at the stars. He asked if I wanted him to get a star from the sky for me. I laughed and said it would never happen.

At our next meeting, Ricky brought me an incredibly beautiful chain with five stars. He said that he flew into space over the weekend and chose the brightest stars for me and made this chain out of them.

Remembering this, my cheeks begin to burn, it was so romantic and so childishly simple.

I tell him how we sat in the company of Lewis and Adriana, and they said cute nicknames that they call each other. Of course, Adriana asked what Ricky and I called each other. We simultaneously blurted out the word "Beast." Yes, that's what Ricky and I used to call each other. Ricky called me that because he knew everything, the worst side of me. I called him that, just because.

Vincent laughs.

"Why beast?" he asks.

"When Ricky and I talked as friends, I shared a lot with him and he said that I was a beast. Of course, this was always said in jest, albeit to the point. So this nickname stuck. And I called him that because he used girls."

I am silent. I like the nickname "devil" that Vincent gave me much more.

I told him that Ricky treated me like some kind of higher being. It doesn't matter that this was only the first year. Then I tormented him, and now he takes me for an abuser. And I don't blame him.

Vincent, on the other hand, says that he is not at all close to his girlfriend, that they live more like neighbors than as a couple.

"Why is that?" I ask.

"She is always at work, at school or with friends, I am at school or with friends. We rarely spend time together. I am not so interested in her."

"Have you spoken to her recently...?"

I remember him on the hill saying that he was going to have sex with her on the phone, but to ask about it is to give myself away.

"Since I came here, we phoned only a couple of times. Yes, we practically did not speak".

Vincent smiles broadly, apparently waiting for the next question.

"You were often on a call with someone!"

"Most often these were fake calls, I was talking to myself, or with a friend."

My jaw drops at this confession.

"Why did you do it? Are you crazy?" I look at him with wide eyes.

That's how I managed to run into a moron.

"I wanted to annoy you."

What?

"Why?"

"I don't know, I wanted to make you jealous. You were hanging out with Ricky all the time, I wanted to show that I have a relationship too."

I chuckle indulgently as he smiles at my reaction.

"You are truly a moron."

I won't say what he did.

"So what?" Vincent hugs me tighter.

"What what?"

"Did I succeed?" he asks and strokes my hair.

"No!" I say proudly and Vincent smirks.

"Not ever?"

"Maybe you did it once...when you fought with her. Did you really speak to her that day?"