On Monday they went to the usual Starbucks for breakfast before Brittany's physical therapy appointment. Quinn had insisted on going to it with her, at least for the first time. By the time they had to go to the appointment, there were no signs of the hot stranger.
Brittany got her physical therapy done fast and without any trouble. She was happy that she seemed to be recovering well, that her arm wasn't in any pain, and that her physical therapist had been really nice to her, so she was feeling optimistic.
After a quick lunch they found themselves standing at the front door of the address the lady had texted them the day before. It was on a cobblestone street named Galileo. Recoleta had, since long ago, been the neighborhood where the richest families in Buenos Aires had lived. And the area that they were in, seemed to be particularly old and wealthy.
The place looked like it'd been there for a long time, and was very well kept. It wasn't a tall building, maybe six or seven stories tall. The front door was tall and wide and made from dark wood which had intricate carvings of flowers. Brittany thought it was very pretty, as she ran her fingers along the lines of the carvings. "We are fifteen minutes early, should we ring the bell anyways?" asked Quinn. "I don't know. Is it rude if we do? Isn't it like, "siesta" time?" Brittany asked in return. "Well, siestas are for the old and the idle, I think," answered a deep, raspy voice behind them. Her accent was thick, but melodic. When they turned to see where the voice had come from, they were met with the sight of an impeccably dressed woman carrying a pile of folders in her arms. The woman was short and slim and had perfectly straight, shoulder length, light brown hair. Brittany thought she must have been in her mid-sixties, and that she was a very beautiful, elegant lady.
Her blue eyes looked cordially at the girls; she smiled and said "Well, I'm going to guess that you are the girls who called me yesterday about the rooms" Quinn and Brittany nodded. Then she continued speaking "I realize when we previously spoke that I didn't even give you my name; I'm Nina." Quinn and Brittany smiled at the woman and introduced themselves. "Well, let's go inside" said the older woman as she tried to fish her keys out of her purse.
Nina's apartment covered the ground floor and the first floor of the building. The woman led the two girls past the door and turned the lights on, and then she walked across the room to open the curtains that covered most of the wall. They were standing in a very big living room with a few essential classic style pieces of furniture. In the center of the room there was a chesterfield style leather sofa and armchair set, and a coffee table. In one corner there was a dark wood liquor cabinet. The wall on the opposite side of the front door, had several glass doors that connected with a back patio. The rest of the walls were almost entirely covered in bookshelves filled to the brim with all shapes, colors and sizes of books. There was even a pile of them by the door, which served as a small table where Nina had placed her keys and the folders she'd been carrying. She said, "Well, this is the living room," then she pointed to the girls' right "Through there are the stairs, my study and a bathroom. Let's go." Brittany and Quinn followed her.
The lady took them straight to the upstairs of the apartment; there was a small corridor with five different doors. Only one, the one that was to the left of the stairs, was closed. Nina pointed to the closed one and said "That's my son's room," She then pointed to the right and said, "My room," And then she walked towards the three doors that were opposite them and said, "The one in the middle is obviously the bathroom, and the other two would be the spare rooms, they are pretty similar. Go ahead and take a look."
The room to the left was inundated with light; it had a closet with white doors and a queen sized bed with a white comforter. The one to the right had a bed the same size, a blue comforter a small dresser; also, one of the walls in the room had a big bookshelf crammed with books. Brittany had liked the luminosity of the first room, and Quinn had obviously been standing in front of the bookshelf, looking at the titles on the book spines longer than she had inspected the actual room, so her preference was clear. The girls looked at each other with knowing smiles; they had found a new place.
They soon left the rooms and joined Nina in the corridor the woman made a gesture for them to follow her down the stairs and said "I'll show you the rest". She took them past the stairs, across the living room. She first showed them a dining room with an antique dining table and chairs, in the back were three china cabinets, filled with things which looked like they'd break if one even so much as breathed near them. Nina made an annoyed gesture and explained "I hardly ever use this room, it's becoming more and more like a museum," and she walked to the opposite side of the room. "Okay, there's just the kitchen left," she said as she opened the door to the room. The girls walked in. The kitchen was big, to a side there was a small table with chairs. It was all very standard except that, in the back of the room, leaning against a counter top by the fridge's opened door, and drinking water directly from a very delicate looking crystal jug, was the stranger that Brittany had been so hoping to find.
The girl was barefoot and was only wearing tights and a sports bra. She was sweaty and her chest heaved as she held the jug to her mouth with two hands and took big gulps of water. Just as the first time she'd seen her, Brittany froze, and time froze with her. She ran her eyes down the girl's body, from her dark hair to her toned shoulders, to the shape of her collarbones; from her amazing boobs to her flat stomach and slim waist; from the hint of her hipbones just above the waistband of her tights, to her slender legs and bare feet. The girl was there, in all her olive skinned glory. And Brittany was, once again, sent into sensory overload.
She'd been staring at a single drop of sweat slowly roll down the stranger's uncovered and toned stomach when Nina's voice brought her world back to its regular speed, "Ah, estás acá. No sabía cuándo ibas a llegar," she said, and then turned to the girls, "That wild thing right there is my granddaughter. She's been staying in her uncle's room, so I hope you girls don't mind sharing a bathroom." Only then, the hot and sweaty stranger looked their way, put the jug back in the fridge narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you mean by sharing?" And before Nina could reply, the girl started walking towards them as she spoke again in a forced sweet tone, "Could you blondies wait in the dining room for a second, while I have a world with my grandmother, please?" When Brittany didn't move, the stranger looked her in the eyes. Brittany thought she saw a look of recognition reflected in the other girl's eyes, but it only lasted for a second before the girl looked away. After that brief exchange, Quinn grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her out of the kitchen and into the dining room.
Once she was in the dining room Brittany let out in a whisper "Q, that's her! That's the girl from the Starbucks!" Quinn's eyes went wide "No way! Well, she doesn't seem to be very happy with us," she said. Brittany frowned and said "Maybe she needs some time to process it; she seemed surprised that we were here." Just then, the girls heard the voices of the two women talking in the kitchen.
"You taped a paper to a sign post? Are you insane? That's what the internet is for, you screen people and you weed the weirdos out. It could have been a murderer who answered your ad! You could have had your skull broken with one of those etymology dictionaries you love so much! You know those things are heavy enough. But, of course, you managed to find two angelic blondes on your first try." the girl said, clearly irritated. Then there was Nina's voice "Will you keep your voice down?"
After that there was a while during which they couldn't tell what was being said, until the girl raised her voice again, "I'm telling you, abuelita, having more young women around the house is not a viable substitute for your estrogen replacement pills, and they won't make you any younger either," she said sarcastically. "Do not call me that, and don't be crass, they are perfectly nice young girls" Nina answered.
"Well, you've done a great job of whitewashing your living space. You, lady, are a racist," said the girl cheekily. Nina chuckled and answered, "If I weren't so amused, I'd be offended. You are lucky you are my favorite and the only person in the family with a good head over her shoulders, even if you insist on making poor choices lately, like dropping out of college…" The girl interrupted and said, "Oh, no, we're not having that conversation again…" After that, Brittany and Quinn couldn't hear much of what was being said.
Finally the girl's voice piped up again, "Okay, okay, they can stay, but they are on probation. At the first Miley Cyrus song I hear, they are out of here." Nina let out a small laugh "I'm not even going to pretend to know what you are talking about, Santana."
Santana, Brittany thought. Her name is Santana.
Ah, estás acá. No sabía cuándo ibas a llegar: Oh, you're here. I didn't know when you were going to arrive.