Passages in French language are underlined.
First thing on Monday morning, the grandmother called the pool cleaning service.
*Good morning, Rony, it is Naberrie. I dropped a flower pot in the pool, can you send Anakin, please?*
*Sorry Mrs. Naberrie, Anakin doesn't work today, but I could send him first thing tomorrow. This messes up our deployment plan a bit...but we'll do it for you, Mrs. Naberrie. When should he come?*
*As early as possible.*
*Okay, then at 9:00 am, Mrs. Naberrie.*
*Yes, 9:00 am. Thank you Rony, bye.*
"So Padmé, Anakin comes tomorrow at nine."
"Oh, then I can't use the pool today." She feigned regret.
"You can do something else…like go on a shopping tour, buy a new bikini….."
"Grand-Mère ! You know I don't do anything like that."
"That's right, mon cher. You shouldn't play with visual charms, not that you don't have any, but with your noble nature. You are my gold, Padmé."
"I love you Grand-Mère." She hugged her grandmother and kissed her several times.
"I love you even more."
"I would like to ask you something, if you would give me an honest answer."
"I promise."
"Do you love me more than Sola?"
"I knew this question would come at some point...but no. It's just that Sola never felt the need to cuddle with me, to show her love so intensely, and I never wanted to push her. She's always been a bit of a rebel. You are completely different. If you love someone, you show it, and if you don't like someone, you show it as well." Grandmother laughed and Padmé knew it was the truth.
In the early afternoon she drove her little BMW M3 convertible towards Rodeo Dr, where the most upscale shops are lined up, intending to buy something to wear, OK. not just something. The summer was in full swing, and it lasted longer in California than in Boston, where she had lived for the last five years. Boston was more beautiful than L.A., she remembered, even without a long summer. Autumn was beautiful in New England, something like that you could not find in L.A.
She bought a few dresses, pants, shirts, sandals and was almost afraid to think how her father would react to the monthly Master Card billing. Didn't he recently talk about increasing the limit? It'll be fine, she thought and grinned.
At 6:00 pm that late afternoon she met Dormé, Sabé and Rabe. They all worked at different law firms in downtown, so they were able to quickly meet up with Padmé at 208 Rodeo to have a bite to eat.
"Tell me, Missy, have you seen your poster boy again?" Dormé wanted to know.
"Not yet, but he will come tomorrow. I tripped over a flower pot, and it fell into the pool."
"Good idea Missy."
"What?"
"Throwing the flower pot into the pool only to make him come and clean it."
"How did you get to that?"
"That's exactly what I would do and since you're as smart as me, that's just what you did. True?"
"So yes, damn Dormé."
"Then why are you trying? We've been friends since we stopped wearing diapers, we tell each other everything."
"It makes me feel uncomfortable."
"What makes you uncomfortable?" Rabé started asking the questions, "That you fell in love at first sight like a teenager? This is nothing but normal, it can happen to anyone."
"I'm not in love."
"Padmé, don't fool us, and especially not yourself. We all know your so-called boyfriends, you never behaved like that with anyone. Sooner or later, the right person will come along, and you have to admit that."
"It's too early...and he's younger than me, Rabé."
"Shit….how much younger?"
"A year."
"A year? That's nothing at all, piddling. We all saw that he was interested, very interested, OK. it could be that he's just a hunter, you never know, but it really looked different. He didn't grab your ass while dancing and pull you close, he held you in his arms and kissed your hair and when he said goodbye...Padmé, Cupid's arrow hit him."
"Do you really think so?" Padmé smiled contentedly, she could always rely on the judgment of her friends. "But he's a little hesitant."
"Maybe he doesn't want to rush things, or that's just his nature. He definitely has his reasons."
"Could he perhaps have a girlfriend, what do you think, Sabé?" Padmé asked Sabé who hadn't said anything until then.
"He's so devilishly handsome, it would be a miracle if he didn't have a girlfriend, but you'll have to find out."
"My grandmother said that too."
And so, the conversation continued, they almost only discussed Anakin.
"Something else Missy, how many nice things have you bought…. spent half your father's fortune, huh?"
"Yes, I'm supposed to dress nice when I go out with Rush Clovis."
"When you mention his name, I remember I have to take the garbage can out, this evening." Then everyone laughed like teenagers, so people turned around to see what was going on. "If you go out with him, I will cancel my friendship with you."
"Me too." Dormé said."
"Just like me." Rabé agreed.
"My grandmother says he is conceited, egotistical, selfish, scheming and manipulative."
"Wise old lady, she has total insight," said Sabé. "You don't need anyone like him. With your hand in the crook of his elbow, he just wants to polish up his tarnished image. Don't you remember the scandal with the arms industry lobbyists anymore? Forgotten everything?….To your detriment?"
"True, but I'm just trying to do as much as I can for my father."
"I just can't imagine your father wanting you by his side. To me, Clovis is a criminal, I'm sorry to say it so clearly, but precisely because he was not convicted, he believes he was in the right and will do the same thing again. Forget him Padmé...and besides, he chases every skirt, he's a cheater of the first order."
"Actually, I know all of this, I'm just trying to suppress it."
And it continued until it was almost eight o'clock, then they said goodbye until the next meet-up, somewhere in a bar, lounge or nightclub. This was the life of upper-class girls.
The grandmother was waiting for her and offered her the same thing she ate: steamed vegetables with rice.
"No thanks, Grand-Mère, I'll have a banana later. I'll show you what I bought." And then she took every single item out of the shopping bags and showed her grandmother.
"And this is for you, Grand-Mère." She gave her a beautiful pashmina shawl. "This is for the late summer evenings when you sit on the terrace."
"So beautiful, thank you, mon cher."
She sat with her grandmother on the terrace for a while and told her what else she had seen, what she could buy and about meeting her friends.
"So, we share the same opinion about Rush Clovis. I just can't figure out why your father is so blinded by him."
"He sent himself very well, he is a good actor."
"Then you won't think of it."
"No, don't worry. I just don't know how can I manage not to disappoint my father."
"You shouldn't take that into consideration, we don't live in the Middle Ages. This is your life, and you should choose your own happiness."
"Tell me, Grand-Mère, what was it like when you were young, how did you meet Grand-Père?"
Then the grandmother told her the whole story; how they fell in love and how she waited until he finished the study.
"Then Grand-Père was the lucky one that you wanted to wait for him."
"If you love someone, it's worth waiting. What are a few years compared to decades that you spend with the one you love."
Padmé took a shower and went to bed relatively early. She wanted to read, but somehow this book didn't want to be read, her thoughts kept wandering elsewhere. Anakin.
She is going to see him again tomorrow and was nervous. Why? She actually wanted to make the first step if he doesn't do. What does she do when she is rejected? Try again, stick with it, don't give up?
With such thoughts in her head, she fell asleep at last.
When she woke up it was 6:00 am, the sun had just risen. No, it's too early to get up, she turned around, picked up her iPhone, set the alarm at 8:00 am and fell asleep again.
When the alarm went off again, it seemed like she had fallen asleep five minutes ago, but she had to get up. She put her Bermuda-jeans on and a white T-shirt with the print The love is… on her feet, white mules with a medium heel. Her hair was open, only pinned up at the sides with hair combs. She had applied very little make-up.
"Bonjour, Grand-Mère. "You always go to bed so late and get up early, when do you even sleep?"
"Bonjour, mon cher. Old people sleep little, actually less and less. Are you hungry?"
"I'll take a croissant and coffee with a lot of milk, just stay sitting."
She sat down on the terrace with her grandmother and they enjoyed a small breakfast.
Promptly at 9:00 am, the doorbell rang.
"Do you want to open it, mon cher?"
"Yes, I do."
With determination, she went to the door and opened it. He stood there in his Bermuda-jeans and white T-shirt, just like the first day.
"Hi Padmé."
"Hi Anakin."
"Everything OK. ?"
"Uh...yes...except the pool, of course."
"Yes, sure, I'll start right away…I know where the things are."
He led the way, she followed him. Behind the pool was a small shed, which you couldn't see because of tall cypress trees. There were located things for cleaning the pool, as well as lawn mowers and other equipment.
He took everything he needed and placed it next to the pool. She watched.
"I have to get the flower pot out first."
Anakin took off his t-shirt and then his Bermuda-jeans. He was wearing relatively short, tight-fitting swimming trunks, and Padmé stared and stared. There was nothing about him that could be better, he was perfection itself.
He noticed she couldn't take her eyes of him. "Is there something about me, is there something wrong?"
"Wrong? No, you're perfect."
"Am I, really?" he grinned cheekily.
"Yes, you are, and you know it."
He jumped into the pool and dived under to get the flower pot. She stood too close to the edge and got splattered, not much, but enough to make her shirt stick to her.
Anakin reappeared and placed the pot with the rest of what was left in it on the edge. Padmé looked down at her wet shirt, and then she looked at Anakin.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..."
The T-shirt stuck to her and the outline of her breasts could be clearly seen splashed with cold water. He swallowed hard.
"I'm...sorry." He stuttered.
"I'm going to change." And left.
He looked around, wondering how the flower pot got into the pool, it was usually somewhere else. Funny. Funny or intentional?
She quickly came back in a dry T-shirt with the same inscription: The love is… .
Leaving the inscription aloud, he asked her, "What means love to you, Padmé?"
"You mean the shirt?"
"No, I mean, what does love mean to you?"
"I still have to figure out."
He didn't know whether he should keep asking questions until he got the answer he wanted to hear or not, but he decided to change the subject. "Um…how did that happen to the flower pot?"
"I tripped over it, and then it fell into the pool."
Anakin looked at where the flower pot was placed.
"You have a good kick, you should play soccer."
She looked at the floor, new that he saw right through her. "What are you doing this evening, Anakin?"
"I work as a pool boy until 6:00 pm, and then I get ready for the next job. From 8:00 pm to 2:00 am, I work as a barkeeper in a lounge."
"And what are you doing tomorrow?"
"I work as a car mechanic all day and fall into bed half-dead in the evening."
"Are there days when you don't work?"
"I'm free on Sundays until 4:00 pm, then I go to Watto, and we do the office work together."
"Who is Watto?"
"The garage owner I work for."
"Anakin….uh…do you have a girlfriend?"
"No, I'm single...and you, do you have a boyfriend?"
"I am single too."
She sat down on one of the loungers and watched him working. Sporadically, he looked over and smiled.
When he was finished, he said goodbye until Thursday the week after next.
He didn't ask for a date again.
.
Best regards from Germany