Infatuation
R E P R I V E
“Hey,” he greeted her as he watched her approach him. He was standing under the giant palm tree that shadowed the hotel’s main entrance, where they’d agreed to meet.
Joselyn looked stunning, he thought. She had had trouble finding what to wear, not having her entire wardrobe at her grandmother’s house. In the end, she had settled on a simple stripy dress that accented her waist, she always found it her greatest feat. It had also been quite a task to sneak out without Ana noticing, but she managed to crawl out of the window from the guest room.
Harry looked dashing as well, sporting a loose blouse and simple, black skinny jeans. He didn’t even need to try, Joselyn thought, his eyes alone were more than enough beauty. She didn’t know what exactly to expect from this night, and it made her a little nervous. However, believing that Harry was a decent, respectful guy, she decided to show.
“Hey yourself.” She greeted happily. “Ready to spill this dramatic story of yours?” She heard him sigh. They were making the way up the stairs to his room.
“Not really, but I think I’ll feel better afterwards.” He kept his head down, the memories hitting him hard. He didn’t want to lose control of his emotions just yet.
“That bad?”
“Yeah…”
After a couple of drinks, they were talking more comfortably. Joselyn was laying on his bed, face down, with a third drink in one hand and her head resting on the other, as she listened to Harry and answered his questions promptly. He was sat on a chair in front of her. He had asked her a lot of things, from what she was planning to study, to what her dream was. She told him everything he wanted to know. She explained how she was supposed to be at college already, but her grandmother’s health was more important now than her education. She explained how she was staying with her grandmother for a month, as her hired caretaker was taking a well-deserved vacation, and Ana was a nightmare to work with. She’d spoken about her pastimes, most of which she shared with Harry, he was also into video games, reading and dancing. He’d told her about himself also, surprising her when he told her he was 8 years older than her. He didn’t look a day older than 20. He studied accounting and was to take over his father’s small accounting business one day. Also, he had another 2 weeks until he had to go. He’d said a lot about himself, but he still hadn’t explained the thing that made Joselyn the most curious.
“So why is it you came here?” She asked eagerly, she couldn’t contain her interest any longer.
Harry took a sip of his drink before answering, “I came to meet my girlfriend.” He spoke in a low, sad voice. Joselyn was going to say something, but decided to not interrupt. “We met online, you see, a few months ago. Of course, I should have listened to everyone’s warning about long distance relationships. Look where I am now; alone and miserable.”
“You’re not alone, Harry. I know we just met, but I’ll definitely try my best to make the rest of your days here less painful,” she told him sincerely. She could see the pain in his eyes, how the sparkle that was in them a few minutes ago had disappeared, replaced by tears that she could tell he was trying his hardest not to let fall. “What happened?”
He downed the rest of his drink before continuing. “We spent the first couple of days together, happily. Probably the happiest days of my life. I can’t even tell you how in love with her I was. Am. Everything about her, the sound of her voice, her laugh, her quirky remarks and comebacks, how kind she was towards me. When we met, all I could think about was how much lovelier she was in person, how I loved even more the way her lips made the words come out, the shape of them when she’d laugh, the way she squinted her eyes while doing so. Her expression while she typed on her phone. Even the way her fingers moved captivated me. Every little detail that I couldn’t see before. I could just admire how wonderful it was putting it all together. Imagining her face when it was me she was typing to, her lips moving when we would call each other and I couldn’t see her face. And then also all the new things I’d never seen before, how she walked, how her hips swayed every time she took a step, how wonderful it was to have her look at me in the eyes and being able to tell her I loved her and kiss her afterwards. Even the way she ate, how funnily she held her fork, how she constantly flips her hair. It was wonderful to finally be able to learn all these details of the person you love that you don’t even think about normally.” He went quiet then, remembering how breathtaking every movement she made was as he first entered her.
Joselyn was speechless, she couldn’t think of a single word to say to him that would comfort him. She understood his pain. It amazed her how beautifully he spoke about this girl, how attentive to detail he was, and how well he could express his feelings. His teas had started falling now, and he wanted to continue talking, but couldn’t find the strength to do so. Joselyn still couldn’t find the right words, so instead she got up from the bed and went to him with a hug. He didn’t hug her back for a while, but eventually he couldn’t contain his emotions any longer, so he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly as he cried onto her shoulder.
Joselyn tightened her grip around Harry and stroked his hair soothingly, giving him all the time he needed to calm down. After a few minutes, his hold on her loosened, but he kept his hands on her waist and she kept hers on his shoulders. She remained there, standing between his legs, as he continued his story.
“We were at her mother’s house. I was introduced to her family that day. I noticed her family, her mother particularly, give me strange looks, but I didn’t think anything of it. After a while, some guy walks in, looks at me up and down, and starts yelling at my girlfriend and her mum, and then at me. I stood between him and them, to protect them, but then something he said made my girlfriend cry, and then, he spoke directly to me, in English. Turns out that was her boyfriend, her real boyfriend.”
“What?” Joselyn was angry now, “what do you mean ‘real boyfriend’?”
“She was only dating me for money, apparently her and her boyfriend had agreed, but in the end, he had grown insecure and jealous, after she told him we’d slept together and she’d loved it.” He looked away from her face as he said this, he felt ashamed of it.
“Harry, who the fuck is that bitch?” Joselyn blared, she was fuming with anger now. She knew the girl who’d done that to Harry, she just needed confirmation.
“Her name is Layla…”
“That bitch! What a fucking whore!” Joselyn stormed out the door to go yell at Layla. She didn’t even know Harry and she already felt overprotective of him. She hated when people used others, having firsthand experience with that herself. She was going to find that bitch and murder her, or so she planned, anyway. Harry managed to grab her arm to stop her.
“Joselyn, darling, calm down please,” he begged her while grabbing her other arm to keep her from running away.
“I’m going to murder that whore!”
“Honey, calm down, it’s okay. Thank you, really, but it’s okay,” he pleaded, looking her in the eyes and holding both of her hands now. “I’m okay now, don’t worry about it.”
“Harry, you don’t understand! You’re not even the first one she plays with! She had a son with an old ass man who’s like 60, who she bedded just to find an easy way to money!”
“She has a son?!”
“Had, she gave him up for adoption when her scheme didn’t work out. And that boyfriend of hers, Luis, he’s also a sniveling little piece of crap! At least let me go yell at her or something!” She was beyond furious, so furious in fact that her eyes started to water.
“Why are you crying, Joselyn?” he asked her kindly, tenderly wiping away a stray tear that had escaped her eyes.
“Because that asshole of a boyfriend of hers used me once!” She was yelling now, purely out of anger, right in the middle of the lobby. Everyone around was staring at their interaction, probably seeing them as a fighting couple. “I hate that they keep getting away with this…”
“Just – Let’s go back to my room. Have another drink. A toast, even. It’ll help. Okay?”
“I’ll just yell at her tomorrow, I guess. Okay.”
“I’m sorry,” Joselyn said quietly. They were back in his room, horribly drunk, at 3 a.m. Both lay on his bed now, giving each other respectful space, the empty whiskey bottle resting between them.
“What are you sorry for?” He wondered, tracing the patterns on his bed sheets with his finger.
“You went through hell only a couple days ago and here I am making drama about my stupid ex.”
Harry chuckled, “it worked out, we helped each other. Look at us now!”
“What, lonely, miserable AND drunk? I don’t see the improvement.” Joselyn said jokingly.
“Everything but lonely, Joselyn. We have each other,” he assured her with a smile.
“Yeah, for two weeks,” she was starting to feel sad that he was going to be gone so soon. She hoped they’d keep communicating forever, no matter where they were. She liked the friendship that had come out of these two days.
“Well, we’ll just have to make the most of these couple of weeks.”
“And how do you plan to do that, sir?”
“Let’s just say you’ll have to keep sneaking out a lot.”
