Smoke break. || Luis Serra

Smoke Break

The July night was always famous for its warmth. The dark blue sky was filled with particularly bright stars. It was as if space itself was amused with an infinite number of colors, creating transfusion in the sky from blue to purple or from cold green to surprisingly bright blue. In summer, the sky is revealed in new colors, especially if you are far from the city. Let's say it's somewhere in a coniferous forest. You are standing in the middle of the edge, the fir trees looking down at you, giving you a pleasant smell of wet needles from the recent rain. Lifting your head up, you notice how they surround you. But you don't feel any danger. Only peace which is finally allowing you to take a break from the hustle and bustle that has been haunting you since birth. The quiet rustle of short grass, creeping from a light gust of wind, and the singing of cicadas are the only sounds surrounding you. No people, no hooting. Only you and your thoughts. Only you and your calmness.

But it wasn't what surrounded Dolores Delgado. The place she was at was under all this beauty. She was hidden deep underground, in some secret complex of "Umbrella". But she wasn't trying to break out or leave this underground structure. On the contrary, she was calmly filling out another report on the project, which was nearing its end after months of studying, after so many trials, mistakes, and finally success.

She was holding a snow-white mug filled with bitter and already cold coffee. Leaning porcelain to her lips, touches the liquid and slowly slurps the remains of a once hot and invigorating drink. But after so many cups, the former effect of the surge of energy was no longer so catchy. She simply consumed the drink out of old habit, not feeling the difference at all from, say, ordinary water.

Fatigue takes over when a dark-haired girl feels powerless in her leading hand, in which the blue pen no longer holds as tightly as she would like, but on the contrary - relaxed and lazy.

As she gathered her last strength, she rose, taking an almost empty pack of cigarettes. The girl shakes the box automatically and realizes that there is only one cigarette left. With a sigh, she puts the coffee mug on the lab table and leaves the office, leaving everything in its place.

Smoke break time.

She slowly toddles down lonely corridors, coughing bitterly. From the sudden brightness of the white walls, her fist reaches out to the dark, wrinkled in indignation, eyes slowly rubbing. But temporary blindness does not prevent her from reaching a familiar place, from where she already hears a familiar whistle and a cheerful whoop.

"¡Oye, preciosa!" Dolores was greeted by her old friend... Luis Serra.

"Hola, hola," the girl mumbled tiredly, approaching the tall, in her opinion, man, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Me? I was waiting for you. I know how much you like to smoke at night," spanish man joked and lifted the cigarette to his mouth, taking the first deep drag.

Dolores looked at the man with distrust and raised an eyebrow, taking the last cigarette out of the red box. She knew that he was flirting with her again, so you could oftenly see the wariness on her face on another inappropriate flirtation on his part. The guy didn't attract her at all. However, she loved to play with his feelings like a cat with a mouse. She wasn't stupid or naive. She had known all the realities of this world for a long time, which is why there was a straightforwardness in character. Also, the arrogance which she did not allow to come out, except on rare occasions.

Luis exhaled and looked at the girl with a smug grin on his face. It seemed as if it had always been glued to the lips of a young man, creating the image of a "cheeky guy." He couldn't figure out if he liked her, or if it was the circumstances that made him think so. He was sure that his feelings for his dear friend were deep, but was it really so?