¿Qué voy a hacer? Je ne sais pas (ENG)

The teacher

Estimated reading time: about 31 minutes

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vyqiTbzqxXTXyucpNFYsK?si=509c99f2fc9c4adb

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The next morning the three Italians left their hotel, thanking the receptionist and stopping for breakfast at the usual café. The girl at the cashier's desk had by now become almost accustomed to Adelia's presence in the café and greeted her with a familiar smile.

After drinking their morning coffee they went to the station. Adelia felt a feeling similar to anxiety inside her: she wondered if the three Spaniards would really show up or if the previous evening had just been nice words. She would not have blamed them either way, but she had to admit to herself that she would have been hurt.

Her stomach did a somersault when from a distance she first glimpsed Carlos, taller than the other two, who with a duffel bag over his shoulder walked smiling in their direction, followed by the other two. It was Nilde who voiced Adelia's thoughts as if she had read them.

"You really came"

"Of course, did you have doubts?" replied Roberto, placing a quick but firm kiss on her cheek.

He also greeted the other two in the same way but, Adelia noted suspiciously, in a more hurried manner. Carlos also greeted everyone with two kisses on the cheeks, when he stood in front of the girl he mimicked a 'hello' with his mouth. Guzman, on the other hand, only distributed pats on the back.

About an hour later they were on the train to Barcelona. Adelia and Gioele sat next to each other, in front of them respectively Carlos and Guzman. Nilde and Roberto sat in the seats next to those of the two Spaniards. Throughout the journey, the blonde was so busy laughing and joking with her neighbour that she ignored all her friend's attempts at stare-inquisition. Had she missed something?

Carlos intercepted her gaze, touched her foot with his to get her attention and quickly raised his eyebrows with a smirk. Adelia shook her head questioningly but he shrugged, smiling even more. She snorted. Guzman and Gioele were talking about music, finally the curly guy had found someone with the same musical tastes as him and was venting all his desire to chat. Adelia took out her book of the moment and began to read, but the peace was short-lived: Carlos was constantly pestering her, now with a joke, now with a nudge given with his foot, now with his finger.

"Are you bored?" she blurted out suddenly slightly annoyed, but still amused.

"Yes... come on let's do something."

Adelia sighed and closed the book, aware that he would not let her continue.

"Ok, what do you want to do? We're on a train."

"Let's talk, tell me a bit about yourself"

Adelia raised her eyebrows as if to say 'really?' and sighed again: she had nothing interesting to say about herself. She settled herself better on the seat feeling uncomfortable and moved closer to the driver to talk better, resting her arms on the small table that separated them. He did the same. They began to talk about their hobbies: Carlos discovered that she was indeed a great formula 1 fan, but that she had many other passions such as music, in fact she played the guitar and had sung for years in the school choir, art, about which he already knew something from the previous day, and reading. He told her about golf, his other great passion, and billiards. Of the trips he had planned: he travelled the world thanks to his job but never really had time to explore the places he visited. He told her about his large and close-knit family, his dogs, his father who had always guided him in his career without interfering and the fact that Carlos sometimes felt intimidated by his important sporting past, his cousin who was like a brother to him, as well as his manager. He spoke about his family in such a moving way that Adelia's heart melted little by little. After a while, the conversation became so interesting and engaging for both of them that they hardly realised the hours were passing, their companions now chatting happily, now falling asleep, until they reached their destination.