A/N: Updates are going to be slow for a bit, I've got 2 midterms and a paper coming up. Trust me, I don't like it any better than you do.
Thanks to Mindy, for laughing at Jacob's joke, to Lalage because I was proud of that line too, to Lil and only for jumping in, and to lily, razzle, Jutey, Medicating, Bellita, Chrissy and WaK for hanging in there. Y'all are too great for words.
Renesemee
Monday Night
Fredrick was rather pleased with the interruption and it was obvious why. She was my height but where I was lithe and long-muscled she was voluptuous and strong with full hips and a tapering waist. Where I was pale with brown eyes, her skin was a creamy mocha and she had startlingly emerald, felid eyes. All topped off with a plump red mouth like a maraschino.
But the most beautiful thing about her by far was her timing. I immediately scrambled out of his grasp and he barely reacted to me as he reached for her hand.
"Not you," she spoke in richly-accented English, "her." She turned to me smiling and I didn't hesitate to take her proffered hand and escape into the mob with her.
She placed my palm on her shoulder and winked at Fredrick as she led me away across the crowded floor. Her gait was strange; her thighs were so thickly muscled that she had to cock her hips out to get them around each other as she walked. When we reached the center she put my other hand on her other shoulder and grabbed my waist.
We started off slow with a basic merengue at an easy pace as I adjusted to mimicking her moves. But as I became accustomed to the patterns, the vibration of the bass within my core shifted. It began flowing outward to each of my limbs and I found myself moving in perfect tempo without paying it the slightest conscious attention. Bouncing and shaking when the beat was quick, swaying and rolling when it mellowed.
With my purely classical training I would have never imagined that I would be able to move like this, let alone enjoy it. But it was such a relief to just stop thinking and let my body guide me.
"No pare! Sigue! Sigue! No pare! Sigue! Sigue!"
By the end of the eighth song we were both breathing audibly but we grinned widely at each other whenever our eyes met. She tossed her head flipping her long dark hair and I suddenly realized that we had drawn an audience.
But as soon as I began to feel anxious she twirled me around her and I was sucked back into the beat. We locked gazes and I stared into her completely absorbed, I knew our bodies were performing complicated movements below us but I didn't see any of it. In perfect unison our lips curled into knowing smiles and I felt a connection to her like I never could have imagined existed.
Then she slung me into a deep dip as the song ended and smirked over me eyes alight, only slightly winded. She pulled me back up but kept hold of my hand.
"Let's get something to drink," she leaned in to speak so I could hear her over the cheers.
I nodded and gripped her hand tighter as she drew me up the stairs behind her. Once we reached the bar area she started laughing.
"I saw how that guy was and I had to step in," she smiled as she relinquished her hold on me.
Oh. Just when I thought I had made a friend it turned out that I was a charity case. It didn't matter though, she was my savior and I was forever grateful for it. I gave her a polite smile and thanked her before I turned to leave.
"Wait a second," she stopped me with her arm, "I thought you were buying me a drink to show your gratitude."
"Oh," I recovered slightly chastened, "What would you like?"
"Come on," she smiled and took my hand again to steer me to the counter.
Maya was bent over with laughter, a hand braced against my knee to keep herself upright, her dark lager spilling over in the other. I was in no better shape, clutching my sides trying to catch my breath.
I steadied myself and took another long pull of my wine. It wasn't half bad now that I had grown accustomed to the taste. And the club appeared more and more interesting with each sip. I couldn't remember the story she had just told me but it had been hilarious.
Fuzzily I mused that alcohol wasn't at all like I had pictured it being. It felt so warm and filling as it spread down my throat and through my insides. It awakened my desire for Jake but the longing was muted, covered by all the other pleasant feelings shifting lazily from one moment to the next.
The company was exceedingly enjoyable as well. If I didn't feel so comfortable with her, I might have been disturbed by how attuned we were to each other. I found myself shifting to complement her shifting without even noticing that she had moved. Every time I inexplicably fidgeted I would look up to find she had as well. I didn't even consciously notice when she changed between Spanish and English until I heard myself switch to accommodate it as I answered.
It was like I had known her for years, more years than I had even lived yet. Even though she was constantly touching me I felt none of the creepiness that Fredrick gave off. This girl's energy was familiar and inviting and I found myself leaning into the contact.
"Ah, allí estais." Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
I can feel my good mood crashing as I look up at Fredrick holding his head high like he owns the two of us and am overcome with resentment like I had never felt before. I wasn't really all that familiar with feeling resentful at all.
It gave me a second's pause but Maya jumped right in and told him where to go as she hopped up and grabbed my wrist to pull me along out the door like a child with a toy.
Not that I didn't appreciate it but now it was just going to be all that worse when he cornered me again.
"Where are you staying?" She swung to face me, eyes glittering in the multitude of lights lining the streets.
"Uh, the Marco Polo Inn."
"¿Dónde?" She led me to a corner and hailed a taxi. "Vamos a consigue sus cosas."
"¿Qué dijo?" I asked confused.
"That place is a dump, I have plenty of room." She turned to the driver, "Llévenos al Marco Polo."
We parted in the lobby of the hostel; she went to collect my bag while I checked out. It wasn't until she was out of sight with my key and room number that it crossed my mind that I really didn't know this girl at all. She might have gotten me drunk so she could take advantage of me, she could be taking everything right now; not just my clothes but my money and papers. Without them I could never go home on my own. I'd be stuck here.
Even through the fog of intoxication this was a grounding thought. But as I rushed to finish the paperwork so I could go check she rounded the corner with my bag slung over her shoulder and smiling. I took it from her, running my hand over the pocket and felt guilty as the edges of the fat envelope poked through to my fingers.
When she looped arms with me to lead me back to the cab I felt instantly better as her warmth returned to my side. It put me completely at ease again. It reminded me of Jake, of when we could touch casually like this, before there was any awkwardness.
"El Nido Del Cóndor," she directed the cabbie, "por favor."
It was a spectacularly beautiful resort, rich brown paneled wood spilling red, orange, and yellow light onto the mirrored lake and striking a warm contrast to the dark of the evening. The hotel was built into the side of the hill and as I stood in the chill of the night waiting for her to pay the driver I was dumbstruck by how many stars I could see dotting the inky sky above where the resort towered into it. It was so unbelievably clear that it was like seeing the heavens for the very first time. I felt like I was peering into the Milky Way from the infinity of time.
There was a lifting in my chest, a ballooning of excitement and possibility. The sensual experience of this town was overwhelming and it kept catching me off-guard and sweeping me up into the enchantment of it all.
My glass and a half of wine was already starting to metabolize but the wonderful comfort of it remained, nestled contently in my chest. I hadn't felt this at peace since before I found out about mother and Jake. And, as Maya took my hand to lead me inside, it didn't even make me wince to think of that, to think of them.
Her "junior suite" was at least twice the size that my room had been. The ceiling came to a peak high above and there was a huge window overlooking the lake. In front of it were several chairs and a moderately sized television. A cozy stone fireplace was nestled in the far corner and separated the bedroom from the kitchenette.
Topped off with a king size bed, it was easily accommodations for two people. Maya tossed her shoes off and flopped face down onto the comforter sighing in satisfaction.
"Those heels were not made for walking," she mumbled before rolling herself up in the blanket. She gave me a toothy smile from within her cocoon. "Sientate."
I was still taking in the room; it was easily in the 200 a night range even though it was the off-season. If one were to examine the situation, just given the obvious traits, then logically she should be more worried about me robbing her. Unless that's how she was paying for the room in the first place; her and Fred in on it together, icing tourists like in that slasher movie Jake got me.
"So," I made a big show of looking around, "you rich or something?" I had told her I was a traveling student and it seemed to be well within that role to remark on such a thing, especially given that she had seen my tiny room at the hostel.
"I am now," she said sitting up but looking down. "I came into money when my mama died. I have been traveling ever since."
"Oh," if I hadn't felt so bad for her I might have been embarrassed. I couldn't imagine losing one of my parents and I found myself taking selfish solace in their immortality.
"It has been a while now, almost a year," her gaze grew reminiscent, "I have just been moving slowly south from our home in La Venta. I haven't been in the house since she died, I just left. My mother was from Colombia and she told me many times the story of her journey from there."
She lit up a hand-rolled flavored cigarette; it had a fruity fragrance fused with the spicy scent of the tobacco. Then she took a few big puffs to get it going and scooted to one side of the bed motioning for me to join her. After bringing it up I felt bad not to, so I went. But the smoke gave me an odd headache as I listened to her melodic voice.
"My mother was born in the rainforest, she was una indígena. She was a very clever girl but Tukano women do not have equality. The men have all the power. Only men can participate in the rituals. My mother wanted to see the sacred visions too but they told her it was not the way for a girl to behave and they made her sit in the back of la maloca with the other women when they had their ceremonies."
"But then one night she had a vision in her sleep. A jaguar spirit, a yoshi, came to her in her sleep and he told her he could grant her wishes if she would follow him to his lair. He told her she would be a yai, a shaman, if she trusted him. He promised he would teach her to make ayahuasca, the sacred drink. When he ran, she followed him. For a long time they ran and then finally the jaguar ran up a tree and lay down. Where his tail hung off of the branch it turned into the Fruit of Knowledge and when she ate it she knew where his treasure was."
"The next day she was gathering roots in the forest and saw a jaguar eating the sacred vine, the gahpí. They watched each other until he was done and when he turned and walked away she followed. He led her north for many days until one day when she awoke he was gone. He had brought her to the edge of the forest."
"She just kept going in the same direction until she came to a small Colombian town where she got work cleaning for very little. But she saved all her money and when she had enough she went north again. For many months she did that, working until she had enough to move to the next town."
"But when she reached Costa Rica she could go no further. There was a very bloody civil war in Nicaragua and the borders were too dangerous. No one would take her across. She swept the floors in a bar by a port on the Pacific and saved and saved but no matter how much she had, no one would help her."
"Then one day a captain came to the bar and he was very handsome. He said he would take her in his shrimp boat past Nicaragua, up the coast to El Salvador. They spent many days on the ocean before he left her in San Salvador to continue on her journey."
"When she crossed into Guatemala, she came to a forest of trees and hanging from every branch was the tail of the jaguar, a fuzzy yellow pod filled with fruit. She ran to the edge of the woods and there in the distance she saw a cave. When she looked inside there were carvings of the Jaguar. It was an ancient Mayan site of worship and it was full of golden statues and totems. It was a huge archaeological find, men came from all over to study it."
She smiled at me a little shyly, "That is why she named me Maya when she settled in Mexico and found out she was pregnant with me. To thank the spirits that brought her freedom and riches and a daughter."
I didn't know what to say to that but I could see she felt exposed and was looking for reassurance, so I pet her hand and smiled back. Immediately her face brightened and she squealed before jumping off the bed.
"I almost forgot," she fairly skipped to the kitchenette and came back baring chocolate, "I was down on calle Mitre ayer. You have to try the dark."
She pulled out a dull knife and cut herself off a chunk before offering me a piece. It was positively sinful; so rich and velvety that it was like eating chocolate for the first time. We sat like that awhile, giggling with sugar highs and tipsiness, whittling the candy bar away between us.
"¡Ay!"
I didn't even have to look up, I could smell the blood.
It mingled seductively with the aroma of chocolate in the air like the Sword of Damocles. My throat burned and I was assaulted with sensations of her physiology; her breathing, her heart rate, her scent. I felt like I could taste her on the air like a snake would.
And then I was tasting her. My hand had struck out of its own accord and brought her finger to my mouth. Not only did her energy remind me of Jake, but now her flavor as well. I thought of the last time I had drunk of him, feeling the warmth spread through me like wine.
"Whoa," she snatched her hand back, "I like you but not like that. I did not mean to confuse you."
I didn't know which to feel worse about, drinking her blood or her thinking I was hitting on her. I burned with mortification but she grabbed my arm before I could extract myself from the bed.
"It is not a big deal," she soothed me, "lots of people make that mistake." She grinned and stuck out her tongue revealing a silver ball piercing. "I am just one of those girls," she winked theatrically and covered her mouth as she giggled impishly.
I forced a nervous laugh but she had already moved on.
"So ever since she died," she said taking another mouthful of chocolate, "I have been traveling south, I wanted to follow her footsteps back to where she came from, to see the places from her stories."
She swallowed and then sighed deeply, "But I did not stop when I reached the Rio Vaupes. I felt like I was still had not found her so I kept moving downward through the Amazon."
She turned straight-faced to me, "There are legends about the monsters there, diablos. I saw some things that I do not think I will ever be sure what they were." Her whole quad moved as she flexed her leg. "It was quite an adventure," she smiled enigmatically.
"And now here I am in Patagonia and soon I will be out of land. And Antarctica is too cold." She emphasized the point by grabbing my hand and miming a shiver.
"Did your mother ever become a yai?"
I felt something very strange run through my stomach and she retracted her hand to scratch the back of her head with it.
"Uh, a little bit maybe," she seemed to be groping for words, "It is a different culture in Mexico, they have curanderos and it is not the same thing really. The women healers are more like midwives."
Very unhappily she continued, "That is why she never spent any of her money on herself, it was all to send me to the best schools so I could be whatever I wanted to be." Her face started to cave at the corners, "But I just do not know what that is." The last was barely a whisper, "And I still miss her very much."
I couldn't help it, I hugged her. But I thought about Leah the whole time, remembering the same scene with her, just waiting for Maya to shove me off.
We embraced in silence for a long beat and then Maya asked, "Was she your girlfriend?"
"What?"
"That naked girl, la puta."
Endnote: "I had the taste of blood and chocolate in my mouth, the one as hateful as the other." Hermann Hesse
Now with multimedia, check profile for links.
No pare!- Don't stop!
Sigue!- Get it!
allí estais -there you are
¿Dónde?- Where?
Vamos a consigue sus cosas – Let's go get your things
¿Qué dijo?- What did you say?
Llévenos al Marco Polo- Take us to the Marco Polo
El Nido Del Cóndor – The Nest of the Condor
por favor - please
Sientate - Sit
una indígena – an Indian (Native American)
la maloca – (this is a Tukano word) a long house, a communal living building
calle Mitre ayer – Mitre Street yesterday
