Grapes Upside Down

6. Coca-Cola

~Madisen~

Noah leans in after a moment of pause, pecking my cheek like a timid hummingbird sipping honeysuckle. It's all a bit awkward, Americans interacting with each other as imposter Chileans, speaking stilted Spanish and exchanging stiff kisses.

"Gracias," I whisper, attempting to convey my sincere gratitude through eye contact. He realized I couldn't handle an extension of tonight's outing and requested that Edgar bring me home before they went to McDonald's. Noah may be a touch shy, but he is steady as a rock; I have the impression he is always going to have my back.

Juliana directs a parting sentence my direction that shoots through my brain like ice water with no specific meaning.

Vacillating between faking comprehension or asking for clarification for the five-hundredth time tonight, I opt instead for a blank, deer-in-the-headlights stare.

My oversensitive state interprets her reaction as a condescending sneer.

"Espero verte pronto," she enunciates, like a mother repeating instructions to a small child with passive aggressive patience.

"¡Oh! Mi también. ¡Yo también!" I correct, tears of frustration threatening to surface as I butcher the simplest phrase in the Spanish language.

The moment they leave, regretful FOMO washes over me as I stand paralyzed in the living room. Set to explode with a dozen popcorn kernels of sizzling emotion, I text Noah on impulse:

I feel like such an idiot! It's as if I don't know any Spanish. Is it just me??

Adding several face palm emojis, I await his response as three dots on his end appear immediately.

Nope, not just you. Same. You're not an idiot. The accent here is really hard to understand, plus all the slang. Give yourself a break.

God, he's nice. I inhale a deep breath and release some of my tension along with it.

My phone pings with another text, but this time it's from Clara.

Madisen!!!

She fills the following text with about seventeen sobbing emojis. This message then flashes onto my screen in English:

I just slipped in a DEAD RAT!!!!!!!

Snorting back the cackles that so badly want to blast out from my throat, I choke on my own saliva. I rush to my bedroom and shut the door to avoid disturbing the Mendezes any more than I already have.

QUE???

I plop down onto the floor, leaning against my bed with my legs bent into triangles. As I'm about to text Clara again, my phone buzzes with her incoming call.

"Fui a tomar un vino con Lana y Evie." She launches into her tale, bypassing any greetings, voice quivering with horror and hilarity. "Hay un bar súper bonito cerca de mi casa."

She switches to English halfway through:

"Crossing the intersection on the way home, my left foot went slip-sliding, like, an entire meter—ice skating style. I made the grave mistake of glancing back, only to discover I had tromped over a giant dead rat!"

The final word is pronounced with breathless disgust, as if she is on the verge of either fainting or dissolving into hysterical giggles. I do the latter, attempting to mute the noise with a palm pressed firmly across my lips.

"Oh my God, Clara."

She makes dramatic whimpering noises.

"¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to Chile, I guess. Crap, me tengo que ir. My host mom is in the hall; she's gonna scold me for breaking curfew on the first night!"