Live While We're Young

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day, Charlotte found her grandmother’s address book while she was out at a meeting and got the number of her cousin Isabel. She called her and arranged a lunch date for later that day. She had never met Isabel before, but she had a feeling that they would be pretty similar.

Joaquin had said that this ninth cousin had schemed her way out of an arranged marriage. Charlotte had defended herself, saying that that was exactly what she was doing. Joaquin had told her that she was nowhere near Isabel's level, and that her grandmother expected this much fight.

Charlotte took public transportation to Isabel's house, so as to not alert her grandmother to her plans. If she were to ask the limo driver, her grandmother would be alerted before she was past the wrought iron gates.

She struggled to count out her bus fare, argued with the driver, and sat down into a stinky, sticky seat in a cloud of rapid Spanish. Charlotte held the paper map of the stops in her hands the entire time, her thumbs leaving sweat marks. She was a little nervous to meet Isabel, apprehensive at what she might be like.

The bus took stopped in front of a run down strip mall.  She stepped off into the sidewalk, already sweating buckets from the heavy air. The bus drove away, leaving a trail of exhaust fumes. Across the street was a large block of flats.

She sighed in relief when she stepped into the air conditioned building. Maybe the limo wouldn’t have been so bad. She could have paid the driver to keep a secret, and have looked half presentable to meet her cousin.

Isabel lived on the fourth floor, and there was no elevator. She was huffing and puffing when she knocked on the door of 4F.

“Quién es?” Footsteps, followed by a dog barking came nearer. “Jaguar! NO!” Nails scratched at the door, and was pried open. Charlotte was greeted with a slobbery hug.

“Oh, good. I was hoping you would be home. I was unsure if I should call ahead.”

“You are Charlotte, no?”

“Yes. How..?”

“Oh, Margarita is always sending my letters with pictures of you, promising that I’ll regret my decisions when you are successfully married and whatnot. But come on in.”

“Thanks. I came to ask you how you avoided your arranged marriage. From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty brutal.”

“Is Joaquin working there now?”

“Yes, he’s the bellboy. You know him?”

“His mother used to work as a maid at the mansion. She was a single mother, and couldn’t afford daycare, so she would sneak him in and me or one of your cousins would babysit him. She was beautiful, I assume Joaquin is quite the looker.”

“Not too shabby,” Charlotte said with a laugh. “But what do you mean, ‘used to’?”

“She passed away a few years ago. Margarita decided to play charitable and took him in. I doubt he’s appreciative of her generosity.”

“He didn’t seem too unhappy. He helped me find you, which leads me back to the marriage thing.”

“Oh, sorry. I have a habit of getting off topic. Well, I was weak until the night before the wedding. My husband to be...exposed himself as a total creep, to say the least. I needed out. Margarita was appalled that I would make up such a story. I was hardly a legal adult then, and this 30-year-old man was harassing me. She refused to call it off, and I had to resort to trickery and deception, which is how she got me there in the first place.”

“What did you do to get him to back off?”

“Well, I convinced him that I was a lesbian, basically. The only good thing about him was that he supported gay rights, so he backed right off, scolding my grandmother for trying to change a predisposition. He walked right out of the marriage. She could not stand having her pride stomped on like that. She was so furious, I’ve been written out of her will.”

“And you’re living here, across from a strip mall. With a dog named jaguar,” Charlotte glanced down at the panting dog by her feet. He recognized her leg and licked the length of her leg.

“But I’m content. I’m in a real relationship now, with a great guy. We’re happy together. I have a job that I love; I could never have been a housewife. I’ve got Jaguar here, I found him begging for scraps behind my favorite restaurant,” she reminisced, patting the canine on the head fondly.

“Wow. That sounds great. Do you think you could help me, get me out of this? I see you happy, and all our other cousins unhappy. I don’t want that.”

“Well, she won’t be humiliated by the gay thing again, so we’ll need a better way. I think I have just the idea.”

*********************************************

When Charlotte returned to the mansion, there was an idea brewing in her head, and she had high hopes for her future. The first item on her to-do list was to contact at least 1/5 of One Direction. Isabel had suggested she use Joaquin for this deception, but she agreed that national superstars would probably work better to convince Margarita that she didn’t need a husband to live a good life.

Charlotte took out her phone and took a deep breath. She hadn’t spoken to any of the boys in 48 hours, but it felt like so much longer. She missed them. She dialed a number and hit send.

“Hello?”