For anyone who wanted the story to have a happy end.

A knock starts Silvia from her musing. She rises from the bed wondering: 'Papa and Lola already checked on me before going to work. Who could it be? God, I hope he didn't send some of his men to guard me. Opening the door there is nobody so Silvia closes the door.

Another knock.

Silvia turns around and a smile appears on her face as she sees who the person is out of her window. She runs to open it, but her happiness and movement freeze at Pepa's expression: solemn, serious, sad… not at all like the Pepa Silvia loves.

"What's happened?" the redhead asks, worried.

"I'm going away"

"What? How? Silvia splutters.

"I'm going away. I'm leaving the city" Pepa repeats.

Silvia stands aside, but Pepa doesn't move when she says, "Come in."

"Pelirroja," she says as she gently shakes her head.

"Pepa…" Silvia warns her. "Come. In. You can't spring news on me like this and then leave. Come in."

The brunette looks around and then at Silvia. She sighs and enters the room, but remains sitting on the windowsill.

Silvia quietly asks, "Why?"

Pepa looks at her.

"Why are you leaving?"

Still no answer.

"It's...because of what happened…."

She is afraid of asking, 'Does she want to go away because of me?'

"No….yes"

Silvia waits for explanation.

"Princesa…" Pepa searches for the right words. "I'm not ashamed and I don't regret it. I don't regret anything. But now everything's changed. Your father won't let me near you anymore… he is probably implementing a restrictive order against me at this very moment." She chuckles humourlessly, adding, "and I have no motives to stay"

"But what about your…"

"My parents?" Pepa interrupts. "Are you kidding me?" she asks in disbelief.

Silvia hangs her head: she feels guilty. Her father, with all his faults, loves her while Pepa's parents…she can't believe that someone could treat their child like that.

"Where are you going?"

"Sevilla, I think. But maybe I'll go somewhere else…I don't know. Malaga, Barcelona…" Pepa shrugs. She hasn't really thought about it. All she wants is to go away.

"How will you survive?"

"I have some money and I'm of age, so I have access to my bank account and I'll find a job."

They stay in silence for a while, looking at each other.

"Bueno, princesa, I only wanted to say goodbye in person. Now its better that I go, before someone finds me here…"

Silvia can't speak, so Pepa pulls her closer and hugs her tightly, kissing her forehead. "Adios, princesa," and with a jump she is outside.

Silvia follows her until she is out of sight, closing the window and resting her head on the glass. Her eyes wander to the floor while she tries to rationalize what happened when she glimpses a piece of paper. She picks it up and opens it: it's Pepa's.

She sits on the bed and starts reading:

Princesa, if you are reading this it means that I'm unable to talk to you in person.

I don't know if you already know it, if your father announces it to you while doing a happy dance, but I'm going away.

I don't think there are any other ways to say it: I'm leaving and I don't know if I will come back.

The only thing that made my life here bearable was you. Spending time with you was the highlight of my day and now I don't have that anymore.

Your father won't let me near you, and he convinced my parents to not let me stay at Paco's anymore either… and I can't survive a whole summer without you and at home with my parents.

I want to thank you for everything you gave me, your friendship and… I won't dare say love, but affection. If I managed to give you even just half of what you gave me…I can only say that everything I did, I did it with love.

Yes, LOVE. Now I finally can say it. I'm a coward because I didn't tell you sooner, but I love you, Princesa, I'm in love with you.

I was afraid of your answer and that you would have thought that I took advantage of you… Maybe I did, and I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me if I took the only opportunity to make love to the girl I love.

Now I only hope that the love of my life will continue considering me her friend.

Te quiero.

Por siempre, tu Pepa.

P.S. I don't think they will let you, but my coach leaves at 5.30 pm. I'd like to see you for the last time. Besos.

Silvia lets herself fall on the bed; the same bed that witnessed her meetings with Pepa. 'She loves me. Pepa loves ME!' She reads again the letter to make sure she didn't misunderstand. 'The love of her life.' She buries her head in her hands 'God, all the time I talked about guys, about how I wanted her to help me to be ready for my first boyfriend, she was in love with me! She was in love with me and stayed there listening to me. Dios!' She stares at the ceiling, contemplating the heaviness of life without Pepa. 'All the summer without Pepa… stupid! All the summer… all my life!'

Silvia falls asleep while thinking, tired by her sleepless night, the emotional morning, and begins to dream:

An adult Silvia wearing a white coat in a lab.

The same woman wearing a wedding dress: 'A masked party?' Young Silvia unconsciously wonders, 'why am I dressed like a 1800's lady?' At her side a man, dressed for a wedding too. 'But he can't be the husband, can he? He's not even shaved. And what kind of animal licked him? His hair is hideous!'

Adult Silvia standing in a bedroom: The man is naked in the bed and the shower is running. 'Bastard! He cheated on me!'

She is again in the lab, another man is with her, proposing to her 'in front of dead bodies? Is he stupid? Why not in a graveyard? It would be more romantic! Ugh, I think Pepa's sarcasm is rubbing off on me.'

Now she is discussing marriage with a third man: 'He is kind of cute…but what is with men and horrible hair?' He is accusing her of being cold, frigid 'inorgasmo?'

She is in bed, naked. Above her there is someone. Someone tall, very tall, with smooth skin, big hands and 'long hair?' They kiss. "Are you trying to kill me? Dios, I don't think I can take anymore orgasms." Adult Silvia hoarsely whispers. 'ah, ah! Anything that inorgasmo it seems.'

Then the unknown person drags her eyes away from her lover and turns her head, so as to look directly at young Silvia. "Princesa, it's a question of partner. You need the right one," the woman states. She looks like Silvia always imagined Pepa would look as an adult.

Silvia wakes up with a start. She looks around: what a nightmare! 'Well, except the last part…'

She closes her eyes again, remembering the sensation of their naked bodies together; Pepa's skin under her hands. 'Dios, I'm so lucky to have her not only in my dreams'

Then the reality crashes her like an anchor dropping into the sea: Pepa is leaving. She won't have her anymore. Pepa is leaving without knowing how she feels.

"What feelings?" a voice in her head asks.

"That I love her." Silvia answers, not even aware that she is talking aloud.

"I think she knows that," another voice, seeming different from the previous one, answers.

"Not that I really love her," Silvia repeats.

"Like, in love with her?"

"Don't be stupid, she can't be in love with a girl!"

"Why not? She admitted a long time ago that her feelings for Pepa were more than friendship and she didn't seem happy with men". The two voices start bickering.

"It was a dream!"

"Yeah, and even in her dreams she is happy with Pepa and miserable with everyone else. What does that say to you?"

"Shut up!" Silvia yells. Her voice echoes in the empty house. She sits up and hugs her knees.

ooooo

"What are you doing here?" Pepa looks at Silvia, surprised. She didn't expect to see her there, not after she already said goodbye. And how did she know the place and the time?

Silvia stands up and straightens her clothes.

"I'm coming with you."

Pepa almost chokes on her cigarette. "What?"

"I'm coming with you to… wherever you are going"

"Are you joking?" Pepa asks incredulously after recovering her breath.

"No." Silvia's assurance disappears as she tucks her hair behind her ear. "You don't want…" she hangs her head, staring at her feet.

"Princesa…" Pepa puts her hands on Silvia's shoulder. "Look at me." She waits until the redhead raises her head. "I'd love for you to come with me. I would be the happiest person on the planet." Silvia starts to smile but stops as Pepa continues. "But I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"I won't regret it."

"Silvia…" Pepa tries to make the redhead understand.

"Pepa." Silvia says, using the same tone. " I decided and you know that when I put something in my head I'm very stubborn."

The brunette chuckles: "I know that very well." Then she returns serious, asking "Are you sure?"

"You know me. I don't act without thinking beforehand, but when I decide something I stick to my decision. And the only thing I did without thinking… well, it brought me the best thing of my life." Silvia smiles at Pepa. "So, wherever I thought about it or not, yes, I'm sure."

"Pelirroja, what about your father? My parents won't care, they'll probably be happy…but he, he loves you more than his own life"

Silvia takes Pepa's face in her hands. "Pepa, do you know who I love more than my own life?"

Pepa shakes her head, staring at Silvia with big eyes.

"You. Pepa, I love you. I'm in love with you. Te quiero," she states before kissing her.

"Are you-"

"Oh, will you stop doubting me?" Silvia interrupts, exasperated.

"I was saying 'are you ready?'" Pepa smirks. "Did you bring something or…"

Silvia rolls her eyes, not believing her, but answers anyway. "Yes, over there are my bags, I took all the money I found and I have a bank account as well. And I left a letter." Silvia stops, words stuck in her throat, thinking about her dad's reaction when he'll find it.

Papa,

lo siento, lo siento muchissimo!

I never wanted to disappoint and hurt you like I know I did yesterday and like I'm doing now.

I don't know if you already know…seeing how much they care about her, I don't think they even notice it, but Pepa is leaving Madrid.

When you read this letter, she will be gone and me with her.

I'm not joking. I've no intention to let the best thing of my life go. And no, she didn't force me. She didn't force me to run away with her (actually, she didn't even ask me, I decided it). Just like she didn't force me to kiss her yesterday. I did it. I started it. If there is some fault, it's only mine.

I know you don't understand.

You see Pepa like a despotenciada, a descerebrata…I see her like my best friend, who holds me tight when I cry because I miss mum or for whatever reason.

You see her like the girl who almost failed at school every year. I see the girl who doesn't study but is so intelligent that she always manages to get marks high enough to pass.

You see her like the girl who often skips lessons and has the nerve to show up at school at the coming out. I see her like my best friend who always comes to pick me up and carry my pack.

You think that when she doesn't return home at night, she's probably whoring herself around and that she likes to make adults crazy. I know that 90% of the time her parents and Paco don't even know that she is not at home. I know that she doesn't return there because she is sick of her parents' fights and I know because she was with me.

For you, she always gets into fights without reasons, but she always did it for me; to protect and defend me.

I know that you don't understand; that you think she corrupted me, but it's not true.

I love her. It's not misguided feelings. I tried to convince myself that what I was feeling for her was only friendship, but I was lying to myself. I hurt myself and her because I was afraid.

But thinking about my life without her…I can't. I can't imagine it. She IS my life.

My love for Pepa is not a childish crush. We're the same age you were when you married mum; the same age Lola fell in love with Paco.

You probably won't accept this, but Pepa is the love of my life.

Please, don't try to find us. I leave with the hope that one day you'll accept us. But if confronted, if you find us and make me choose, I'd choose her. It would kill me, but I'll always choose her. So I ask you, as one last favour:

PLEASE DON'T TRY TO FIND US.

Lo siento.

I love you.

tu hija, Silvia.

Pepa hugs her without saying anything: she can't know how it is, leaving a loving family behind to begin a new life in another city without the certainty that accompanies you all your life.

In that moment Pepa silently swears to herself and to Silvia that she will do everything to make her happy; to show her that she made the right choice and to give her everything she may need, at any cost.

Thank you for reading