[ twenty two ]
When James left, I waited for Toni to emerge from the locker room.
He was out in the hallway with me minutes later, with a smile on his face as he pulled me into his embrace. "I'm so happy they gave you the job." He said, resting his chin on top of my head. I wrapped my arms around his waist, but said nothing. I feared that if I spoke, my voice would crack and Toni would know I was upset.
I wanted to keep James as far from my relationship with Toni as possible. I knew it would be difficult, but it needed to be done.
We walked out to the parking lot and he suggested we could take his car.
Toni took me to a nice restaurant in the city, and James was not seen following us like he had done at the university restaurant. My eyes scanned our surroundings, searching for James, and part of me was disappointed that he wasn't around. It meant he was serious in dissolving what was left of our relationship.
My mind thought of the future. There was no doubt I would still be seeing James. With my job at Real Madrid's public relations team, we would be seeing each other everyday. We would be seeing each other and never speaking. At least at my job with the team it would be easy to ignore him, or easy to distract myself. There would be players to interview and things to do, and Toni would be there too. James and I wouldn't even have to be around each other unless it were absolutely necessary.
Back home at Colombia things would be more difficult.
Our parents were good friends. Without a doubt, we would continue seeing each other on birthdays and other important holidays.
My life was forever entwined with James'.
Toni seemed to catch on fairly quickly that I wasn't in a good mood. But it was very obvious when I said nothing on the way there, and still nothing as we sat down to eat. "What did he do to you now?" He asked with a sigh. By now, he knew to assume that it was James who could make me feel this bad.
"Nothing." I lied with a shake of my head.
"You're a bad liar." He pointed out.
I bit my lip for a moment, hesitating. "James said we shouldn't speak to each other anymore."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Toni asked.
"It is." I agreed with him. "But it still hurts. James has been there for me my whole life when it has mattered most. Knowing that he will no longer be there is something I never thought would be a possibility."
Taking my hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze, he told me, "I know its not the same, you and I didn't grow up together, but you can't count on me from now on."
I cracked a smile. "Thank you, Toni."
-
That night, I was in my bedroom sat on my bed. Toni had long gone to sleep. I had noticed he was the kind of person who went sleep rather early because he was very tired. There were always bags under his eyes and it was because the players in Real Madrid worked much too hard. The reason was that they didn't want to lose and did everything possible to be prepared for a match.
I had been at Toni's house for two days already and thought it was as good a time as any to get my things out of my luggage. Pushing myself off the mattress, I went to grab my luggage out of the closet and set it down on the bed. My hand opened it to grab my things. I folded all my clothes neatly first and placed in in the drawers. At the bottom were various little things like my shampoo, toothbrush, and other things.
Everything was set neatly in its place until there was one last thing waiting for me. It was a photo album I had filled with good moments in my life.
On the first page, there was a picture of me with my parents when I was born. Over the next couple of pages were pictures of James and I when we were children. He was there at all my birthday parties, I was at all of his, at my first communion, every christmas, and even my quinceanera party. I paused on the page from that day for a few moments.
The memories from that day were vivid in my mind.
-
James had been in South Korea for the U17 World Cup. He was the pride of our town, even as a sixteen year old boy, and he would be representing our country at the world level. We were all happy for him when he got the call, though I knew I would miss him terribly and that there was a chance he wouldn't be able to come to my quinceañera celebration.
Before he left for the world cup, I told him he would be my chambelán de honor, my main escort, as a traditional quince party required. The birthday girl had seven maids and seven escorts, each representing a year of her life that had gone by. The main escort was mostly there to look good and accompany the birthday girl. James had been more than happy when I picked him, but was unable to do it because of the world cup. Still, I told him that even though he wouldn't be there, I wouldn't be replacing him. There was no way to replace James. He was too important to be replaced so easily.
From morning to afternoon, various things happen that kept me distracted. I woke up as the sun was rising to have my hair and make-up done. When I got back home, I had just enough time to change into my dress and we headed off for the religious ceremony.
My maids and escorts got into a limo with me and we were taken to a park with a beautiful lake full of swans for pictures. From there we all went to the venue where we helped set up the tables and chairs while my parents and James' parents finished decorating.
Most of the day after was a blur. I must have greeted over a hundred people and taken pictures with countless family members until the sun went down and it was time to do other traditional ceremonies. But my parents took my to the center of the dancefloor and had me sit in a chair, claiming they had a surprise for me.
A screen came down from the ceiling and a projector pulled up an image of James. I brought my face in my hands with excitement.
When they pressed 'play', I could see James could barely contain his smile. "Hola, Ari. I'm so sorry I can't be there in person. You know how much I wanted to." He said, his last words a bit saddened. "I know its not the same, but when I get back, I'll take you out wherever you want. Te quiero, bonita." As the frame faded and the video ended, I felt a tap on my shoulder that startled me.
I turned just as everyone started cheering and I nearly fell off my chair in surprise. "James! You came." I could barely speak through all the emotions I was feeling.
With some difficulty because of my dress, I got back on my feet and pulled him into my arms, the tears almost instantly spilled out of my eyes. "We were booted out of the competition early." He confessed, his words slightly muffled by my hair. "But just the same I would have done everything to try to be here tonight."
We pulled away after a couple of minutes and I took a look at him. He was wearing his national team training uniform. He must have gotten off the plane and rushed over here. "It means a lot to me that you're here." I sniffed.
"Anything for you, Ari." Gesturing to his clothes, he added, "I'm going to change into something more presentable for the main escort and then how about you grant me your first official dance as a woman. No longer a girl."
I nodded and he rushed off.
-
My eyes watered at the sight of the pictures of my quince party.
Days like that would never return.
-
no author's note today bc im gonna go watch a movie in the student lounge with my friends. i hope you enjoy the chap! i love you.
-clary xx
