Pills of love

M(e)n in the middle (part 2)

"Frida, are you ready?".

Frida closed her eyes to avoid screaming for his umpteenth call and instead continued fixing the clips on her hair to prevent them from falling in front of her eyes. Then, she took her golden curls and put them in her ears, giving herself one last look in the bathroom mirror.

"Frida, seriously, we're a lifetime late" Benny said, entering the room through the glass door.

She looked at him through the oval mirror and then took her lipstick "Coming from the man who until yesterday found leaving the room at 8 scandalous, it's truly a paradox".

He sighed and put his hands on his hips "Are you going to be so nice all day? No, just for the record, you know?".

"Problems with that?".

"To tell you the truth, yes" he answered dryly, taking a few steps towards her "How many times do I have to tell you that I couldn't say no? And I don't see the absurdity about killing two birds with one stone!".

She turned to him angrily "Two birds with one stone!? Benny! This morning was for us and us alone! Not for an entire army of people who are only dedicated to carousing and saying really cheesy jokes!".

"They're your friends too, I'd like to remind you!" he told her exasperatedly, walking back into the bedroom, shaking his head.

"But that's not even the problem!" she continued to say, following him "We came here to unplug, to enjoy some time together, not to find ourselves among others again".

Benny turned to her with a confused look "Why are you making this situation seem like the others are some kind of threat?".

"That's not what I mean..." she replied in a lower tone, shaking her head and picking up her fleece vest from the armchair in the corner.

"So what? I get it, okay? You're mad".

"I'm not mad. I'm... disappointed" she said in an almost defeated tone, taking her gloves from the nearby cabinet.

"Disappointed? No less" he snorted, putting on his sunglasses "And by what?".

Frida sighed and shook her head, already tired "Nothing, Benny. Forget it" and headed for the door, grabbing her sunglasses too.

She had time to leave the door of their room open, when he reached her and grabbed her hand "I won't forget anything, what are you disappointed by?" he told her, almost hissing in her ear, lowering his voice now that they were out of the comfort of their room.

Frida took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly "By today, you, who can't tear yourself away from friends, the fact that I don't do anything right and you didn't even want to come here..." she spoke quickly, putting on her glasses with one hand to darken her eyes which suddenly felt moist.

They arrived at the elevators and found one already there and empty. They immediately got in and Benny closed the doors, pressing the button for the ground floor. When they were alone in the privacy of the cabin, he turned to her at the opposite side and placed his hands on the handrail, on either side of her. Caging her there.

Benny lowered his head to be able to look her in the eyes "I'll tell you this one last time: I'm okay here. I'm more than okay to be here with you. I'm not so happy to have to share our time with them, despite what you may think".

He saw her following his every movement, but without saying a word.

"And I'm pissed off more than you that we've been arguing since last night and that this morning we haven't stopped yet. You know I don't like it at all" he told her seriously, a few centimeters from her face "So now let's calm down, let's take a deep breath and enjoy this day as much as we can".