"I have to warn you, my friend's sense of humor is…sarcastic" he smiled. "well my friend Nicole is sarcasm's queen, so I'm sure I can manage". He knocked on the door. A tall guy, skinny guy with curly hair opened the door. "hola negro, ya te iba a llamar". He had a warm smile. "This is Kate", he introduced us. "Hi I'm tomeu" he held out his hand. "nice to meet you", I grinned. I was surprised to see so many people there. They were laughing and eating, and just having a good time. I felt a bit out of place, and I began missing my friends back home.
Rafael grabbed by waist and led me into the room. "they don't bite" he assured me. The look on my face must have been priceless because he laughed and offered to stay with me until I felt comfortable. "You want something to eat? Or something to drink", he offered. " no, no...you think we can go out on the balcony for a while?", I asked him with a sad puppy face. "yea ok".
We sat out on the balcony. It was a nice night, not too cold for winter. " you've been kind of quiet since we got here" he said while he raised his eyebrow. "uhmm yea well I was just thinking about things back home. Your friends seem nice though". "Can I ask you something?", he sat down next to me. "you haven't been here in years, why did you decide to come all of a sudden?". He took me by surprise. Again my face must have been priceless because he said I didn't have to answer if I didn't want to. "well New York was really hectic, and I just wanted to take a break from everything.", I explained. "did you leave somebody behind?", he kept asking. "yes, and no. I broke up…my boyfriend thought we needed a break". It wasn't easy saying that. "I'm sorry", he looked at the floor. "no, it's fine. Just then Tomeu opened the door to the balcony. "negro we're leaving to AHA, you're coming?", he tucked his head out the door. "si, si, we're going".
"I left by bag in the living room", I realised. "ok I'll go get the car, meet me downstairs". I was looking for my bag, when a girl tapped my shoulder. "hola, you came here with Rafael didn't you?" she asked. " yes...I did", I was hesitant to answer. I wasn't sure why she was asking. "you know he has a girlfriend?" she asked as she eyed me up and down. "no, I didn't, I'll be sure to remind him though thanks!", I smiled sarcasticly , I found my bag and walked away. I had no idea who this girl was, and I didn't really care.
We drove for about10 minutes before I decided to break the awkard silence. "so who's your girlfriend?", I asked him. He must have been shocked because he nearly drove into the sidewalk. " well...you see...uhhhh...novia is such a strong word", he didn't know how to explain himself. Ten minutes later he answered, "there's this girl, it's not serious. I mean I'm a guy, and she's there, and I'm a guy you know, a guy, and I do guy things", he was hyperventilating. Obviously he wasn't ready for commitment. He couldn't even say the word girlfriend. "whoa ok, slow down. It's not that serious". It was funny seeing freak out over a simple question. After his little episode, it was back to awkard silence.