Not enough (Fermín López)

Chapter 10

Even though Lorena spent the weekends at her parents, there was one weekend she got to stay in her dorm: carnival weekend. It wasn't that she managed to convince her parents to let her go out, she just said she was going to. The situation at home was worse than ever and Fermín played on Friday, so he got to attend the university party with her. She wouldn't have gone otherwise.

She finished brushing her hair and putting it into two ponytails. And then she looked at herself in the mirror. Lorena was very happy with the way she looked. Not that she had anyone to impress but she could impress herself. When she heard a knock on her door, she knew it was her "date" picking her up.

"A pirate? Really?"

"It was the only thing I could find so last minute. Do I look good?"

Lorena thought he did, but teasing him was funnier. "It's alright".

"And what about you...", he said, looking her up and down. "A cheerleader?"

"I always wanted to dress as one".

"Why didn't you?"

"My parents are...strict".

Fermín took that as yet another clue to work out what was fully going on. But he couldn't ask more questions without her changing the subject. And they were about to go to a party so it wasn't the moment for those conversations.

"Well, you look good. Are you ready to go?"

"One sec", she told him, finding her perfume and spraying some on her neck and wrists. "Now I'm ready".

Fermín planned on maybe drinking so he didn't want to drive to the party and they called an Uber instead. And soon they got to where the party was being held. It was weird to see everyone at a more casual event, rather than just going to class. And he could tell Lorena wasn't too comfortable.

"Why is Gavi calling me?", he said, looking at his phone. "He never calls. It must be serious. Are you ok staying here alone for a couple of minutes?"

"Of course, go see what he needs".

Lorena saw Fermín leave and looked around before picking up her phone to make herself look busy. But some people didn't take the hint.

"What are you wearing?", asked Adrián, sneering.

"A costume?"

"Can that even be called a costume? There's barely any fabric on it".

"Then it's a good thing I don't care about your opinion about it".

"You don't care about me but of course you'll wear that for him".

"What are you on about?", she sighed.

"Football players like trashy girls so he'll turn you into one".

"You're so lame, Adrián. So lame".

"How have you changed so much?"

"I haven't changed", she told him. "I'm myself. I'm more myself than I've ever been. But you didn't allow me to be myself before so you would think I've changed. I just keep better company nowadays".

Lorena noticed Fermín walking towards her and moved away from Adrián.

"Was he annoying you?"

"Nah, just casually calling me a slut because you can see my legs".

"What? I'm going to talk to him...".

"No, you'll only make it worse, Fermín. Was Gavi ok?"

"Yeah, just...it was some random stuff. I won't bore you with his love life".

"Ok", she laughed. "Let's get something to drink. I want a drink but nothing strong".

"I shouldn't really drink so maybe we can share one?"

"Sounds good. Let's see what we can order".

Lorena taking Fermín's hand while walking had become a bit of a habit. She barely realised she was doing it.

Once they had their drink, they sat down with Pilar, the student Lorena sometimes studied with, and her friend group. They didn't know them well, but they were still nicer than their classmates.

"We should go dance, guys! The night is young!", screamed one of Pilar's friends and everyone cheered.

"Do you want to dance?", asked Fermín when Lorena was standing up from her seat.

"I'm a cheerleader! Of course I want to dance".

When they reached the dancefloor, the music was quite upbeat and the whole group was mostly jumping around. But then, the music changed to slower and sexier songs. Fermín noticed an arm around his shoulder and turned to see it was Pilar who was by his side.

"I so wish I had someone sexy to dance with right now, lucky you", she said before leaving.

"Lucky you", laughed Lorena.

"I think she meant you're the lucky one, Lorena", said Fermín, raising an eyebrow.

"Pilar isn't interested in someone like you".

"A football player?"

"A man. So she meant you are lucky to have someone sexy like me to dance with right now", said Lorena slowly while she approached Fermín to dance with him.

"Pilar isn't wrong".

Dancing so close to each other plus the little edge that drink gave her made Lorena move even closer to Fermín until their bodies were touching while they danced. Their faces were very close too and it felt like the whole club had gone silent.

"I'm going to kiss you", said Lorena.

"Is Adrián looking at us?"

"Yes".

But that was a lie and Fermín could tell. Lorena didn't even know where Adrián was. She just wanted to kiss Fermín. She had to kiss him. It wasn't a revelation to her that she was attracted to Fermín but they were playing a very dangerous game on that dancefloor. So she needed to kiss him before she went mad from being so close to him and not doing anything about it.

The kiss was different to their previous ones because this one was fully real. It was passionate, not calculated. They weren't thinking about Adrián or anyone watching them. They just thought about how much they wanted that kiss.

"Still looking?", asked Fermín, staring at Lorena's lips while he tried to catch his breath.

"Sure".

Fermín chuckled before kissing Lorena again. Ever since he got to her dorm and saw her little costume, he had been imagining something like this. Hoping for something like this. He assumed it wasn't going to happen but was very glad to have been so wrong.

"You know, I thought it was just American football players that got to kiss pretty cheerleaders".

"Why should they get all the fun?"

"Agreed".

He noticed Lorena's hands going under his shirt and up his back and thought he was going to lose his mind. But when he really did was when he saw the way she looked at him. Her eyes showed how much she wanted him and it was the final confirmation he needed to try and go further in their make-out session. Fermín started to kiss Lorena's neck and felt her grip on his back tighten. He could smell the perfume she sprayed on before leaving, the sweet vanilla notes clearer now he was so close to her. Sweet like her kisses. Sweet like Lorena.

Someone bumped into them, breaking the spell for a second and Fermín cleared his throat.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else before they throw us out for public indecency".

Lorena laughed but nodded, taking his hand and leading them outside.