“Okay.” Both of us with our shoes in hand leave the room, closing the door carefully behind us. “Now, can you explain to me what’s going on?”
Dani shakes her head. “I’ll explain on the way. Be quiet. There are a lot of people sleeping in these rooms.”
The hallway is long, with doors on both sides. I want to protest, but Dani starts walking in front of me. My eyes land on the back of her costume top and I see the label. Is it on backward?
Oh, oh, beginner’s mistake.
“Dani, did you have sex last night?”
“Shhh!” She covers my mouth and pushes me against the wall.
“Oh my God, you fucked Apolo,” I whisper, because this is gold.
“Raquel!”
“Deny it!”
Dani opens her mouth to say something and closes it again. I can’t contain my surprise.
“By the Virgin of Abs, you did!”
“First of all, that virgin doesn’t exist.” Dani furrows her brows. “And secondly, shut your mouth, Raquel. Don’t say another word.”
“Oh, I didn’t expect that,” I say, amused.
Dani grabs my arm. “Walk. Don’t make this walk of shame any worse than it already is,” she says.
“What?”
Dani rolls her eyes.
“The walk of shame. You know, the day after you fuck someone you shouldn’t. There’s a movie and everything.”
I let out a chuckle. “I knew it! I told you I gave you a month to fall for him!”
Dani gives me a murderous look.
“Get moving. It’s nine o’clock, and your mom is off her shift today at eleven.”
“Oh shit, you should have started there.”
We head down the hallway when we hear a door handle turn.
“Oh shit, shit, shit,” Dani mumbles, and we walk back and forth without knowing what to do, bumping into each other several times. Finally, we freeze and see Samy coming out of one of the rooms very carefully, with her heels in her hands as well, and her attitude very much the same as ours.
Don’t tell me that . . .
Samy sees us and freezes for a second, waving with her free hand. We approach, and Dani takes her by the hand so we can run away together.
“No one judges anyone,” Dani says.
When we get downstairs, we find Andrea. Yes, Gregory’s I-don’t-know-what is carefully opening the door.
“Are you kidding me?” she asks. Dani, Samy, and I share a look and smile.
“This has to be the most popular walk of shame ever,” I say.
Samy laughs. We leave the house, stopping in the garden, and Samy checks her phone. It’s dead.
“Can anyone call a taxi?”
Andrea smiles at us.
“I brought my car. I can drive all of you.”
It’s a very nice car, cutesy and small. Samy gets in the passenger seat and Dani and I get in the back. Andrea starts the conversation.
“Don’t you find this situation kind of weird?”
Samy nods. “Too much, I would say.”
“I’m sorry,” I interject, unable to help myself. “But I think we’re all curious to know with whom . . .”
Dani agrees.
“No one judges anyone. Let’s say the names.”
“Gregory,” Andrea says with a laugh.
Samy blushes.
“Marco.”
“What?” I say, surprised. “I didn’t expect that.”
Samy sighs in response. “Neither did I.”
Andrea narrows her eyes. “Is no one surprised by my revelation? Was it that obvious?”
“Yes,” we all say at the same time.
“Ouch,” Andrea pouts.
“You’re obvious, too, Raquel. Ares, who else?”
I stick out my tongue at her, and she sees me in the rearview mirror and gives me the finger. The fact that we found ourselves in such an embarrassing, vulnerable situation has created a nice atmosphere of trust between us.
Samy turns slightly toward the back seat.
“And you, Dani?”
Dani lowers her head and, with her dignity in tatters, whispers, “Apolo.”
“What?” Samy and Andrea’s screams make me grimace.
I touch my forehead. “No screaming. Hangover. Remember?”
Andrea stops at a red light.
“I didn’t expect that.”
“I know, I fucked someone younger than me,” Dani says, running her hand over her face. Andrea looks at her like she’s crazy.
“No, not because of that, but because I didn’t know you knew each other so well.”
Samy nods.
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling bad about your age, Daniela,” Samy says. The guilt on Dani’s face is obvious. “Apolo is much more mature than a lot of guys our age.”
I’m glad that Samy thinks like me.
“That’s what I told her,” I say. “She’s paranoid about it, and what people will say.”
Samy gives her a comforting smile and reaches out to squeeze Dani’s hand.
“Don’t give yourself a hard time, Daniela. Okay?”
Andrea crosses the main avenue.
“I’m sorry to interrupt the romance, but do you mind if I stop by the pharmacy? My head is killing me, I need something for the pain.”
“I need a Gatorade to hydrate,” Samy whispers.
“Did you lose a lot of fluids last night?” Dani jokes, and we all grimace.
“Dani!”
Andrea parks her car at the pharmacy, and we let out a long sigh. I have a feeling this is the beginning of new friendships. After all, there is no better way to start a bond of trust than by hydrating and dealing with one of the worst hangovers of our lives.
FORTY-FIVE
The Used Ones
- ARES -
Waking up and stretching my arm across an empty bed is not what I expected. With my head spinning, I get up, staggering to the bathroom, and look around. Nothing. I notice Raquel’s clothes are nowhere to be found, and I realize she’s gone.
Did the witch use me and leave?
I can’t believe it. This goes on the long list of first times with Raquel. No girl has ever disappeared the next morning after a night of sex. That’s always been my role.
She keeps stealing my thunder.
But why did she leave? I didn’t do anything wrong last night, did I? I run my hand over my face, remembering everything we did last night. God, that qualifies as the best sex I’ve ever had in my life. This woman drives me crazy. I grin like a fool, while assessing the only clothes I have: the Greek god costume. Ah, I don’t think so, there’s no way I’m going out like this. I look for clothes in the closet of the guest room. Since this is Marco’s place and he’s used to us staying here from time to time, there are usually extra clothes for the guests.
After changing into shorts and a white sweatshirt, I walk downstairs to the living room, where I am confronted with a scene that looks like something out of The Hangover.
Gregory is lying on the couch, with an ice pack on his forehead. Apolo is sitting on the floor with his back against the bottom of the couch and a bucket next to him, looking pale. Marco sits on the couch with an ice pack on his . . .
Marco is the first to notice me.
“Don’t even say it.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“What the fuck?”
“I’m dying.” Gregory grunts. My eyes are still on Marco.
“What happened to you?”
Marco rolls his eyes.
“What part of ‘don’t even say it’ didn’t you understand? Just forget it.”
“It’s hard to forget that when you’re holding an ice pack over your penis.”
Apolo snorts. “Why are you so raw, Ares?”
I sit at the end of the couch, at Gregory’s feet, and look at Marco again.
“Did you break it?”
Marco gives me a murderous look.
“No, just . . . I think I have friction burns.”
I let out a laugh.
“Shit, bro, and I thought I had a wild night.”
Gregory laughs with me.
“Me, too, but no, it seems that Marco was fucked like an old TV.”
Gregory and I jump in at the same time: “With no control.”
Marco presses his lips together.
“Ha-ha, so funny.”
Apolo chuckles.
“That was a good one.”
Apolo and I go home and walk straight into the kitchen, still weak and dizzy. We need fluids, food, and a good shower. Apolo collapses at the kitchen table, his cheek resting there. I just grab two energy drinks from the fridge and set them on the table, sitting on the other side. I know Apolo did his thing last night, and I’m curious. He notices me staring at him.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I said nothing.”
“You’re thinking about it.”
I take a sip of my drink.