Third Chapter: The Milky Way

Hilda placed one final coat of bright fuchsia polish over her nails while she talked on the kitchen telephone. Besides the sound her own voice, only silence was heard in the whole house.

Then, a bone piece hit hard the wood of a table board making a loud sound that echoed in the living room.

"'Capicua'".

"No!" Gio shouted throwing the dominoes tiles he had been holding in his hands against the table, mixing them with the rest. Ignacio Suarez gave him a triumphant smile as a response, while he turned the tiles face up in order to start counting the small black markings that indicated numbers from one to six and wrote the final sum in a piece of paper he had resting on his lap. Gio was his usual companion on Saturday nights, especially since his favorite daughter, Betty, embraced a relationship without future with a man who already had a son with another woman, and now she rarely spent the weekends at home. An issue that, even thought he was firmly against it, he knew that would cause his late wife Rosa to remind him that little pigeons must have the freedom to learn to fly by themselves, so they can learn from their own mistakes. As soon as he finished writing the final score, he drew a line signaling the end of the previous game and prepared another table for the next one. If only life were as simple as that. Gio would have made a perfect son-in-law, he thought, but children didn't exist to satisfy the desires of their parents. They had their own wishes, their own dreams. Yet it was not secret to anybody that he had become very fond of this young man and he already considered him the son he never had. He regarded him as 'familia'.

Gio drank the rest of his beer before talking to the one that was sitting in front of him:

"I just can't relieve we lost for the fifth time. And of Justin who doesn't even know how to count the bones yet!" he pointed at the youngster that tried to shuffle the fifty two bone tiles with only the tip of his fingers as if they made him sick.

"Oh, well. If you want, find a better partner". Betty stood up from her chair a little bit upset and, turning over her heels, walked to the kitchen.

Gio shouted at her lifting the empty bottle: "By the way, would you bring a beer?"

"Come and get it yourself!" Betty answered from the kitchen, causing Ignacio and Justin to exchange knowing looks and laughs. Defeated, Gio had no other choice but to rise from his chair, too.

"Fine, Fine. I'll get it".

Justin took the chance and slithered to the TV tuning one of his favorite shows. In the kitchen, Hilda was still installed in front of the telephone, chatting non-stop and blowing softly, every now and then, over her nails to dry them quickly. Betty opened the fridge, took out a 'flan' from its interior and gave it for Gio to hold while she scrutinized the bottom of the fridge for his beer. Once she found a bottle, she gave it to him taking the flan out of his hands. Gio opened the bottle with a sharp hit from his wrist and the help of the edge of the kitchen worktop. He took a sip while he admired with fascination, as if contemplating a work of art, the way Betty introduced a huge piece of flan inside her mouth.

"Ah! That's my Eater!"

"When are you going to stop calling me that?" she complained still gobbling up the piece of flan.

"What? You don't like it?" he said taking a spoon from the sink and dipping it into the flan that Betty held in front of herself.

"It's horrible".

"It´s delicious!" Gio said tasting the dessert that melt inside his mouth and totally ignoring Betty´s former response. His eyes found that day's newspaper over the kitchen worktop that he was leaning against and entertained his sight with a small printed box offering discount tickets to all Mets versus Yankees programmed games. He sighed and silently complained about how routines and business matters had taken away the time to dedicate himself to old pleasures. He pondered, beating the add with the edge of the spoon, realizing that would be the first year that he wouldn't show not even to one single Mets game.

"Something is wrong?" Betty asked getting close to him trying to see what the news that caught his attention was, and by doing so, several strands of her hair brushed Gio´s unaware lips.

"Nothing" he lied, more due to the surprise to have her so close to his body, being able to inhale her scent in every breath he dared to take, than for trying to hide something from her.

Betty turned her face to him and introduced another piece of flan in her mouth, studying Gio´s facial expression. He slowly moved until he was between her and the newspaper. "The Mets are planning to interchange one of his best players just before the season ends".

"So you are also fanatic of ´La Pelota´?"

Still leaning against the worktop, he got a little bit closer to her and, lifting an eyebrow, he offered her one of his loveliest grins. "I love all types of sports, especially if they require certain degree of physical effort".

"I can figure as much. Especially if by physical effort you mean pressing the button of the remote control. It's interesting, Gio, to meet an athlete that doesn't need to lift from his chair to exercise".

Gio leaned away from her and took another sip from his bottle of beer.

"Well", Betty continued, "on my part, I am not half as fanatic as you. But my mother and I used to love the Yankees". Gio almost choke by the way she said that.

"The Yankees?! You have to be kidding me! Are you trying to tell me that your favorite baseball team are the Yankees?" he said making a gesture with his hands as if he was about to strangle her. "And you insist on going against me!"

Betty laughed still chewing a mouthful of flan. She looked extremely cute, almost like a naughty little girl. It was the first time that he saw her like that.

"Fine!" Gio conceded walking away from the kitchen worktop and to the direction of the sink where he placed the spoon he had been holding in his hand. "This is a free country. But I can't believe you caused such a commotion over that Juventus poster when the Yankees have almost the same uniform design. The truth…"

Betty stopped paying attention to Gio, fearing another of his long and endless lectures and seized the chance to revise the newspaper that he left over the countertop. She noticed pieces of flan over one of the sports section´s adds but she couldn't find any article about the said Mets player. She jumped as she felt a warmth breath against the fragile skin of her left ear.

"So, how do you want me to call you, then?"

Somewhat annoyed at him for having startled her and, turning to face him, she responded vehemently:

"Bet-ty-Sua-rez", she emphasized each syllable with a movement of the spoon in front of Gio's face as if teaching the alphabet to an illiterate.

"Nah!" Gio said moving his head and thinking for a moment "That won't do".

"Gio!" Ignacio's voice came from the living room "We have ran out of 'frentes'. How about a 'mano' between you and me?"

"Right away!" he answered the call for game and then turned to Betty who was still entertained with the 'flan'. "How about… 'linda'?"

"Who´s Linda?"

"You, you are 'linda'" he said giving her a wink and returning back to the dominoes' table.

At that very instant Hilda hanged up the phone and approached Betty who had been following Gio with her eyes, unable to understand the joke.

"You are so silly, Betty!" Hilda elbowed her. "'Linda' means 'cute' in spanish".

Betty swallowed the mouthful of flan in one gulp and didn't spoke a single word. For an unknown reason, she felt a slight tickling in her left ear, she had lost appetite and the air in the kitchen suddenly started turning scorching hot. At least she made sure to delay her return to the living room until she verified that she had recovered from strange crimson tint that suddenly invaded her face.

—0—

Half past eight in the evening. It was usual for her to leave the office with Henry after work, one of the many advantages of working at the same building. But that night he was in Tucson, his hometown, resolving one of the many inconvenient related to bring a child into the world. She looked around: most of the shops of the lobby were still closed. 'Gio's deli' was most likely closed as well, she thought. Generally, Gio left an hour and a half hour before her. She walked towards the main door ready to call a cab when, to her own surprise, she distinguished a familiar figure carrying a couple of boxes on the way to the exit.

"Gio!" she shouted until she caught up with him. "How strange that you are still here. Are on your way home?"

Gio turned around still carrying his load in order to take a better look of she who ran to his side.

"Sure, come with me. I'll give you a ride", he turned his back to her. "Grab the keys of the van, will you?"

The keys were chained to the belt loop of his worn out jeans, hanging over his right back pocket.

"Be careful of what you touch back there or I'll charge you".

She scoffed while she carefully unchained the set of keys from his waist and walked before him taking care of all the obstacles on their way to the garage. She opened the back door of the van for him and then seated on her usual place in the front of the vehicle, then reached the opposite door and opened the lock so Gio could enter. As she did that, she felt for the first time against the palm of her hand the rough texture of the beaded cushion that Gio used on top of the driver's seat. It felt harsh to the touch and, without being completely aware of it, she found herself rubbing her hands against the cushion while the little beads rotated in their axis responding to the friction of her fingers.

Gio finished organizing the items at the back of the van. Closed the back door and, as he approached the driver's door he realized that, amidst the shadows and the faint dim-light of the evening, Betty was fiddling with the seat's cushion. He amused himself by watching her get distracted over such a simple thing. Somehow the whole scene reminded him of the kitten Nella got for her sixth birthday. He finally opened the door.

"Those little wooden beads, aren't they a little bit uncomfortable?"

He laughed out loud.

"What? You mean to my cute little butt?!" Betty hit the seat with her palm in frustration, as if she was punishing it instead of Gio. She thought that there wasn't a way to keep a decent conversation with that man when he was in the mood to annoy her. Gio continued:

"Well, this wooden pad is really comfortable, now that you are asking me". He passed his hands over the cushion and, as he did that, he ended up meeting Betty's fingers in the dark. She quickly moved away her hand pretending to entertain herself in turning up the van's upper interior light. Gio, ignoring her gesture, continued. "Especially in long rides and, when it's hot, it keeps my parts fresh and ventilated", he said signaling his crotch.

Betty felt the blood fill her whole face and, quickly looked away, complaining:

"Too much information…"

Gio ignored her again and patted his chest proudly.

"You know, Giovanni Rossi is a very considerate man and I am especially kind to please my tushie". His face lightened up. "Want to give it a try?"

"What?! No!" she yelled. Gio was crossing the line.

Oh, yes you do!

"I didn't mean my tushie". He laughed highly amused. "I meant the cushion. Do you want to drive?"

Betty glanced at the set of keys he was showing but she just moved uncomfortably in her own seat and admitted:

"I don't know how to drive".

Gio then, entered the van, seated in the driver's seat and added quite sincerely with a resolute tone:

"You'll learn. I'll teach you one of these days" he turned and gave her that look he was used to when he said something he considered clever, from the corner of his eyes through his thick eyelashes and half smiling.

She didn't answer him immediately and, though she felt a little bit consternated, she couldn't deny that she was pleased by the offer: Gio was good at teaching and she knew how much he enjoyed, or rather bragged, schooling others the things he knew. She didn't even have to ask, he was already prone to help her. Though it was hopeless to try to refuse the offer of that stubborn man, he would bug her until she agreed. Same old Gio, she thought. The part of Betty that she didn't knew that existed, felt secretly happy of the special treatment she received from him, even though most of the times she didn't even asked him to. But there was also another part of her who knew that it wasn't right to accept it. No, it couldn't be right, she thought. However…

"All right, Gio. When you have any free time you teach me. I promise to be a good student", she diverted her attention to the back of the van, escaping those cursed smiling eyes that looked at her, surely thinking about something dirty to tell her in response. She quickly noticed the dark fake wood interior that covered some of the walls of the van when it was not decorated by traces of broken isolation material that sprung from every corner. Betty couldn't fully understand how come Gio insisted in calling vehicle that big piece of junk. But, she bit her tongue restraining herself of making any scathing commentary and made a huge effort to find something pleasing to indulge him. "Well, it's very useful that you have a van. Look at all that space. You could do almost anything with it".

"Yeah, you're right", he conceded, "almost anything. You know, I got it for a good price, it's in perfect state and it's comfortable, too. You can even park it at a nice dark spot, grab a blanket and a bottle of wine and with good company you could enjoying a warm night of passion and light some sparks in the dark".

She turned at this comment and faced that naughty look of his eyes and his meaty lips that uncovered that white candid smile. He was obviously trying to make a joke but she wasn't amused by it, on the contrary, her own imagination betrayed her and she started to play in her mind things that she didn't want or dared to imagine. She felt the blood fill her cheeks and tried to quickly escape his gaze, hiding her blushed faced from his stare.

"Ew… Gio", she pretended to be disgusted. "You transport food there. Talk about sanitary!"

"Just kidding".

No, you weren't.

"Come on, Betty!" He said in a conciliatory manner. "You seriously need to loosen up a bit".

"And you are especially insufferable tonight".

He turned off the light and turned on the engine.

The radio played a romantic ballad that gave Betty chills. It was the first time that they were alone together so late at night. As she started to be self-conscious on that fact she felt more uncomfortable. After some time sitting in silence, she understood that she had the responsibility to try to make conversation.

"You know what, Gio? Maybe I should take you seriously, and learn a thing or two from you".

"Finally? So, you want to try the blanket idea?" he interrupted sounding extremely excited.

"Oh! Stop trying to be funny! I am serious".

"Okay. Okay. Please continue. I'll put on my poker face just for you".

"What I am trying to say is that I should make my own plan. I won't be in my twenties for ever and, look at you, you are done for life. It's so nice to know that someone has already fulfilled his dreams. You have everything you want and you are not even thirty".

"Do I, really?" he said surprisingly annoyed. "And what exactly are those 'dreams' that I have achieved?"

She was surprised of that sudden outburst.

"Well… you are a sandwich maker, and you own your own deli place, don't you?"

"A 'deli'. How grand! I just started my next five year plan and everyone is already proud of the little I have achieved. Pat me on the head and let's celebrate. Yay!" He raised his arm to the skies and let them drop heavily on the steering wheel in visible frustration. "So you think that's all a guy like me can get from life, don't you? That it's all I have ever wanted. That I am not smart enough to achieve higher goals, eh?"

Betty turned to look at him as the lights of the opposite vehicles flashed over his face revealing his angry features like she never had seen before. She didn't dare to say a word. He continued speaking looking straight to the road.

"Just because I own a sandwich deli people start assuming that I dreamed of becoming a sandwich chef all my life. That's the best I can milk from life, a guy like me".

"Hey, Gio. I didn't mean…"

"Well, let me tell you, Betty Suarez", he interrupted her, "you might not believe it but I am not a 'sandwich maker'. I am an entrepreneur. I have many plans and goals to achieve. This is just a stepping stone: my first project. I want to manage several successful businesses and I'll make them grow like pancakes".

Pancakes? That sounds like a chef way of thinking to me.

"My family is in the food business. So it was only logical that I had to start in what I know best. That's all".

Betty reflected for a minute as she saw him getting so worked up. She was a little bit concerned by his anger. Gio was rarely that angry and so sudden. He let go so much in his words. Something about it reminded her of herself and her constant struggle against society, against her family precepts and what the world expected of her. She understood he wasn't arguing with her but with somebody else, with the other people and their social prejudices. That outburst only showed what he must have been keeping inside his heart for a long time.

He took a deep breath and released it heavily from his lungs. He combed his hair with the left hand and then let it hold in his forehead for a while, resting his elbow in the door. Those words were for his father, not for Betty. He didn't know what had overcome of him that made him expose himself to her in such way. He was unfairly putting a burden into a stranger and felt honestly embarrassed by all that nonsense he just said to her. He unwillingly ended up showing one of his weak flanks.

"I am sorry. Just… don't call me 'the sandwich guy', okay?"

"All right, all right", she conceded, happy to meet the Gio she knew of old. "I won't call you that anymore…" He had such a stern look on his face that she couldn't help but tease him. "I promise, sandwich guy".

Gio turned to her and those metal covered teeth that smiled at him. He laughed. He had been behaving as a fool in front of her.

"I'm sorry. Honestly. My problem is not with you".

She put her hand in his lap.

"I know. I understand you. But you have to do something with that character of yours".

He felt a jolt of warm overcome his whole body as a reaction to the touch of her hand. He gulped and let out a nervous smile trying to keep his composure.

"And you have to do something with that hand of yours or you're going to make us have an accident".

Betty pulled her hand away as quick as if she had been stung by an insect and shouted in frustration:

"You'll never change, Giovanni Rossi!"

They parked in front of Betty's house and as she tried to descend the van she tripped and felt flat in the sidewalk. Gio joined her as quickly as he could and picked her up from the floor lifting her by the arm. She brushed up her skirt with a quick movement and checked that she had no serious injuries. She looked at Gio standing in front of her visibly worried.

"I am not a child, Gio. I can take care of myself".

"Sure you can", he told her and, grabbing her by the arm, offered to accompany to the door.

He held her by the elbow all the time he walked the front stairs of the entrance. With every step a second of being alone with her withered slowly. He stopped at the door, his fingers still clinging to her without the slightest intention to let her go.

"Betty, you surely know that…" He paused and for a brief instant he considered to take that chance. But seeing the expression of interest in her face made him waver and all he ended up saying was "you know you can count with me… for anything".

He let her go from his hands. It didn't matter how close they seemed to be, there was always something that separated them, something impenetrable that pulled them apart the one from the other. In the beginning he believed it was just the fact that she wasn't alone, that it was the existence of that other guy who didn't deserve of her and will soon disappear from her life. At least there were hopes to fight for, he used to believe. But one small obstacle turned into another and another one, that grew with time and were latent every time they were together, threatening him and reminding him of the mistake he made by keeping his feelings in secret for such a long time. When it was that such a small problem grew into a galaxy of stars and planets, a bottomless abyss? There was always something or someone between them: a gesture, an argument, a situation that prevented him to get close to her, and he wanted so much to get closer to her. Something inside of him whispered to him that she wanted to do the same. But this time he let the chance escape from his fingers and hid his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Thank you, Gio", she said as she patted his shoulder in a friendly manner and started looking for the keys inside her purse.

He felt ashamed for being such a coward. He, the overconfident Giovanni Rossi, was afraid to let his heart in the open to that woman! He quickly turned away and waved goodbye. He entered the van, hit the gas and, without even waiting for her to enter the house, he left in a hurry from that place, upset, in anger with the world, the stars, the night and everything that existed, even himself and his damned cowardice.

"Perhaps I should tell her and get over with all this… thing", he started speaking to himself or maybe to the van who never answered him back but was always ready to listening without complaining. "But… What for? Why now? I didn't do it before. And she… she doesn't need me. Damn it!" He hit the steering wheel angrily. He knew he was getting too attached to her. Too close for his own good. He was making a fool of himself and that girl was to blame. Or maybe he should blame himself for being unable to control his own feelings. He knew he didn't need all that drama especially at that crucial moment in his life. But he really enjoyed her company. He was becoming addicted to her. To see her every moment he could, to see her smile was his own personal drug.

The following evening and in spite of his own judgment, he managed to make himself believe that he really needed to install the new cappuccino machine that was resting for days at a corner in his deli. Surprisingly, for his conscious self, that simple task took him two hours more than expected. It was already dark and all the other businesses were close when he finally saw her, through the glass, the mismatched colors of her dress at the lobby. He smiled, grabbed the keys from the usual spot and, locked the door of the Deli. As he turned around at the direction where Betty was standing, something made him stop short and freeze his steps: a shadow emerged from the elevators and joined her. Henry. After kissing her and lock her in an embrace, he escorted her to the main door of the building. She seemed so happy enjoying the moment and he heard her candid laugh in the arms of that man, his rival. No, the boyfriend she had chosen for herself. Their steps died echoing in the lobby, so lost in their selves that they didn't even noticed his presence standing there, watching them in silence.

What were you thinking? She already has someone.

Gio clenched the keys in his hands and backing over his own steps, walked slowly to the opposite exit to the parking lot.

———

Next Chapter: Altair and Vega