Cayetana is a young filmmaker who believes that she's better alone and enjoying life, all she wants it's to travel all Europe and have fun on film sets, but she didn't know that Barcelona would be the only place where she coundn't scape from having...
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Cayetana's rented room was a mess and all her belongings were strewn about. It had only been three days since she had arrived in Barcelona, but she was so excited about her final destination that she simply let herself live it up. The first thing she did was explore the place and try to meet new people with whom she could work on her latest project, although without success, she hadn't given up and was using the time she had while getting to know the place to start writing and getting inspiration for her next short film.
When she told her friends and family about her plans, everyone thought Cayetana was crazy, so she explained many times and even made a PowerPoint presentation to help explain her idea for the summer. She would spend three months travelling around Europe, two weeks in each place where she would have to write, find a crew, look for filming locations, shoot and edit one short film per country. At first, her parents didn't support her idea, not only had she never travelled alone before, but she also didn't have enough money to support herself in the locations and they were very afraid that something would happen to her. However, Cayetana was already twenty-two, legally an adult and mature enough to make her own mistakes and discover the world on her own. As far as money was concerned, she had wanted to visit Europe for some time, so she was always working double shifts in the restaurant to earn enough money to survive the trip and, of course, once her parents had agreed to the trip, they also contributed financially so that she wouldn't be left destitute. It was also agreed that she would spend her last two weeks in Lisbon with her grandmother and, before returning to her college classes, she would return home.
When she told her best friend, Luiza, about her idea, she loved it and, although Cayetana had invited her, she wouldn't be able to afford such a long and expensive trip while she was working. However, while Cayetana was in Stockholm, Luiza called to give her the best news possible: she would be travelling to Barcelona to spend a week and a half with her, as the fashion and travel magazine and blog she worked for would be covering part of the costs. Cayetana was so happy to have her best friend with her that she changed all her plans in Barcelona, Cayetana starts tidying up her scattered clothes and puts away her labelled hard drives, along with her computer, documents and the small notebooks that helped her in the creative process. In a few hours, Luiza would be joining her, so she needed everything to be ready for her arrival and, as she had promised to pick up her friend from the airport, Cayetana went to take a shower and dressed comfortably in a pair of denim overalls and sun cream on her face. As it was quite hot in Barcelona because it was August, she also decided to take some sunglasses to protect her eyes and to complete her look, she left her hair dyed a striking red loose and curling around her shoulders. When she'd finished getting ready, she left the small, cheap hotel room and took the metro to the airport to wait for Luiza.
While she waited for her friend, Cayetana looked for films to inspire her on her phone and even thought about starting to advance the script she was going to write. The theme she chose for her fifth short film was Coming of Age, she loved this genre of film in which the main character had to grow up to face moments in life when she needed to mature. She could make a gigantic list of films she loved, but she chose three of them to establish what her main inspirations would be: 1999's Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola, Little Women inspired by both 1994's Gillian Armstrong and 2019's Greta Gerwing, and finally, she wanted a touch of magic and witches so she chose to add 1996's The Craft by director Andrew Fleming. Cayetana had a very specific vibe in mind for her short film, witch sisters coming of age and learning to deal with the real world and their own relationship.
Cayetana put her mobile phone away when she saw some people coming out and looked for her friend. Soon, a tall girl with straight black hair came out with a smile that lit up the whole place with her joy. The two girls ran over and hugged each other.
"I can't believe you're really here!" Cayetana said.
"Neither can I! You have no idea what it was like to get through!" Luiza says as her friend hugs her again.
"Thank you for being here, it's going to be incredible." Cayetana hums the last word.
"I'm so excited!" She emphasises. "And we have so much to talk about and catch up on!"
"I know, I know!" Cayetana replies, helping to carry one of Luiza's suitcases. "It's been so long since we've seen each other!"
Although they have been friends for a long time and have known each other since they were little, their annual meetings have started to become more spaced out due to adulthood. Cayetana's grandmother, who lives in Lisbon, is a neighbour and close friend of Luiza's, so when the two of them were little there was always a period when they went to visit their grandparents and they always agreed to go either in winter or summer, they formed a golden friendship and continued to meet up every year. This time, however, Luiza wouldn't be going to Lisbon and would return straight to Brasil after Barcelona.
"I want to hear about everything and everything you've met so far." Luiza says excitedly as they walk towards the exit to the metro.
"And I want to know how my fancy friend who writes for famous magazines and blogs is doing!" Cayetana sings, also excited.
Before Luiza can answer, they both turn around when they hear a male voice calling out to Cayetana, who is confused and surprised, blinking a few times until she recognises the caller.
"Do you know him?" Luiza asks her softly.
"Worse, I do." Cayetana replies in surprise.
Cayetana can't believe her eyes as Loui approaches them, smiles and hugs her when he gets close enough.
"Cayetana! I'm glad I found you here!" Says Loui, the blue-eyed, black-haired Frenchman she met during her time in Paris and who helps her with her film and who, despite being charming, couldn't break Cayetana's rule about not falling in love.
"Hi Loui..." She says awkwardly. "Sorry, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to Australia in a few days."
Smiling, he says, 'I decided to come to Barcelona to meet you before I left! I've been trying to figure out where you were since you left Paris, but two days ago you posted a photo of the La Sagrada Familia Church so I knew you were here and I had to come and see you."
"You... Had to come and see me?" More confused questions.
"Yes!" Loui holds his hands with great affection. "I know we've only been together a short time, but I fell in love and... wanted to spend some more time with you."
Cayetana hears Luiza pretending to cough as she laughs and Cayetana looks desperately at her for help, but her friend just shrugs with a smile on her face, clearly finding the whole situation hilarious.
"Ah... I'm going to spend some time with my friend, Luiza." Cayetana says, coming closer to her friend and letting go of Loui. "We're staying together, so I don't know if we'll be able to spend much time together."
Luiza waves her hand at him and smiles in agreement with everything Cayetana is saying, although confused, Loui also smiles back at them.
"No problem at all! I planned to stay at my friend Ramon's house!"
Loui looks round and introduces the very handsome boy behind him, he has curly dark hair and brown eyes.
"This is my friend Ramon!" Loui says and Ramon nods politely. "I'm going to stay at his place for a couple of days before I go to Australia, but I really wanted to see you."
"Great!" Luiza says quickly. "Why don't we each go home now and then meet for... dinner in the evening?"
Cayetana agrees with her, silently thanking her friend.
"Perfect! I'll book a restaurant and the four of us will go!" Loui says and Cayetana notices that Ramon sighs and rolls his eyes, which makes her laugh softly.
"Deal!" Luiza says.
As they say goodbye, Loui hugs her once more and kisses her cheeks, his friend Ramon just waves his hand and they both leave. Cayetana lets out a sigh of relief and Luiza wraps her arm around both of them as they head off and says with a playful smile on her plump lips:
