Samanta ran to the front door to open it, otherwise, Carlos would knock it down. It was almost 6p.m. and she was fixing dinner for herself and her sister Teresa. Now she had to set up another seat at the table, because, if she was sure of something it was that Carlos loved her mac & cheese.
“Come in, come in. Hurry. I left the stove on and the macaroni is almost ready. You know I love them…”
“Al dente” her friend concluded as he closed the door behind himself. “Tell me, I'm all ears. How'd it go?”
“Great!” Sam replied from the kitchen. “I answered every question. I think I'll get well over the 2000 point mark.”
“So… UCLA?” Carlos mentioned and Samanta noticed a certain tone of mockery in his words.
“You know it's my most… realistic choice” she said.
“Right, right. That and the fact that some poor peasants must resign to go to some University a few thousand miles from home.”
“Only you could ever think of going to Utah for college” his friend reminded him.
“Whatever. I didn't come to talk about myself. Tell me. Did you make it in time?”
“Yes. Right on the nick of time” said Sam, putting some dishes on the dinner table. “Although, something really weird happened before.”
Carlos took his place at the dinner table, watching Samanta come and go from the kitchen to the table, bringing cups, dishes and bowls with food.
“Oh, yeah? What happened, though?”
“On my way out of the airport, I ran into the strangest guy.”
“How do you mean strange?”
“I don't know how to say it. I couldn't even quite see him, but the moment we were apologizing to each other over our clumsiness of not looking where we were going, a bunch of girls and paparazzi showed up…”
“A celebrity?” Carlos had his eyes open in awe, fighting back his urge to grab a bun from the basket on the table.
Samanta shrugged.
“What part of I didn't see him did you not understand?”
“Alright! No need to be so harsh.”
“Sam?” A voice came from the main door. “I'm home!” Teresa announcing herself, Samanta's older sister.
“We're over here, Tere!” the younger sister indicated her. “Come. I just served dinner.”
“You got her all measured out, girl!” Carlos joked.
Samanta laughed in silence, her friend was right. at 6 o'clock her sister came home. During this past year, she was in charge of making dinner. Teresa worked all day as a social worker and she always came back hungry and exhausted. It was the least she could do for her sister, who was a second mother to her.
“Oh! Carlos!” Teresa greeted.
“What's up, Tere? How was work?” He politely inquired.
Teresa shut her eyes tight and huffed.
“I wish I could say fine, but I'd be lying. I got a sad case and eight year old little guy. His father died a month ago at a band war and his mother is a crackhead. I was tempted to fill out the adoption papers.”
“Why don't you?” Sam asked. “It'd be nice to have a nephew.”
“I could help you out with that” Carlos joked, “but Teresa won't open her heart to me.”
“Shut up, Carlos! You could be my son” Teresa reprimanded him.
“But, I'm not” he rebutted, winking.
“Samanta, when will you give this kid a chance?” Her sister mocked him. “So he would stop wasting grown women's time.”
“You two will be the end of me” he rose his finger accusingly. “One for not loving me back” he looked at Samanta, “and the other one 'cuz she won't admit she's mad about me” and he looked at Teresa.
“Oh my God! You got me. You're right. I don't even know what to do with all this passion I have burning for you” said Teresa taunting him.
This was the typical evening at the Andrade sisters' home. Laughter, jokes and anecdotes while enjoying some nice homemade meal.
The sun was rising as a new day began. Sam got out of bed, showered, got ready and had some breakfast before she left for work. For some strange reason, she could not stop thinking of the strange encounter from the day before. What she could not understand was why she felt like she knew this man from somewhere, even when she could not remember where? She showed up to the airport and smiled as she reminisced of what had went on in her mind. Today seemed as though it would be much hastier than the day before, since, in one day the much anticipated World Cup would begin. People from all over the world were coming and going. She walked into the cafeteria and prepared herself for a long day at work. That day she had to do a double shift, making up for the time she took for her SATs the day before. Gordon was thoughtful, but also strict when it came to work. It would be a boring morning since her friend would come in until past noon. She would have to deal with costumers w
«This is insane. This is insane.» Dominik kept saying to himself. He was supposed to be practicing in just a couple hours, but he decided to escape from his hotel to go to the airport. He could not sleep well thinking of that girl. That feeling of necessity he had never felt before forced him to reprimand himself after such foolish behavior. None the less, he kept his intention of looking for her. He had a feeling he could find her there. Why not? He just knew it. He was only following his instincts.«She could have just been passing by. Like me», he questioned once more this crazy idea taking over his mind. «I'll just give her back her iPod. That's it», he said to himself, like this would keep him from feeling like less of a fool from what he was doing.The probabilities of finding her in a place packed with people every day were minimal, but there he was, taking a cab, on his way to the LAX in Los Angeles.He got out of the
Both hearts beat strongly. Samanta couldn't help blushing and Dominik noticed, which put a big smile upon his face.“It's you” he mumbled and shook his head strongly. “Do you work here?”The girl nodded.Dominik came up to the bar again and looked both ways, luckily there were no other costumers waiting in line.“Don't worry” she said. “I won't walk into you gain, don't be scared” she broke a smirk. “Sorry about yesterday, I really am” Sam stuttered the words out.“No. Don't even mention it. I was distracted. I didn't even see you” He shrugged. “I was…” Dominik held himself when he noticed was he was about to say.«I was looking for you? Really, Dominik? Could you try not to sound like a total stalker?». His conscience snapped.Samanta frowned noticing this man across the bar from her was doing all these weird gestures.»Uhmmm, I…” he mumbled.“SAMMY!”A voice made Sam turn away suddenly in the opposite direction. She could see her boss on the other side of the store grimacing at her.
If there was something Dominik loved, that was feeling sweat running down his forehead and his body. Also, the feeling of his own heart beating frantically.He ran and ran. He loved running. It was the most special time of the day, he could connect with his own thoughts and that afternoon, that one afternoon, he had something on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about it, actually, her.«What the fuck is this?», he asked himself after the fifth failed attempt to stop thinking of Samanta. He could not quite grasp how it was possible for some girl whom he only met twice to keep him so upset. He would close his eyes, and there she was, smiling at him.“One more lap and we'll call it a day. You can go rest, boys” Ewald said, raising his voice.Almost two hours went by since practice began and each one of the coaches did their part. It was time to wrap up and run a few laps around the stadium. It was the day before the opening match and the coach didn't want to push his men too hard, jus
Her shift was finally over and she was drained. Fridays were overwhelming. She made a hand gesture for Carlos, letting him know she'd be expecting him at their wardrobe, but he was not off yet.“Overtime” he mouthed to her with a stern look.Sam nodded and went to pick up her stuff. On her way out, she came near her friend.“How long are you staying?” She asked.“Don't know, Gordon asked me to help so…”“Fine. I'll wait.”“You don't have to, Sam.”Samanta checked her watch and realized it was almost 5pm and remembered her sister was having dinner at a friend's house, so Sam didn't have to make dinner.“Teresa's not coming for dinner tonight, I can wait a couple hours. I can use them to catch up on my reading” She said showing him her copy of “A Thousand Miles up the Nile” by Amelia B. Edwards.Carlos smiled and nodded.“Alright. I'm off at 7. Will you wait?”Samanta responded with an ear to ear smile.She walked away from her work place, sat on a metallic bench and proceeded to catch
Mixed feelings were whirling around Dominik's chest as he walked up to a bunch of taxis. For the first time ever, he felt powerless, like he'd rather be someone else. He wanted to stay a little bit longer, talk to Samanta, get to know a little more of Carlos, he thought he was actually a good guy. Right at that time, we wished he was normal, like any other person walking by, being able to go out for a walk whenever he felt like it without feeling like the whole world was watching.“Need a ride, gentleman?” A brown-skinned, chubby man with a bushy beard asked.Dominik nodded, adjusting his hood with his hands and making sure his shades covered his eyes. The driver soon opened the back door to let him in. He jumped into the cab immediately, not even taking the time to look at the man offering to drive him for only few dollars.“Where to, sir?” the driver asked as he boarded the vehicle.“To the JW Marriott” Dominik answered, keeping his head down, avoiding risk of being spotted through
The first thing he did as he left the room was to let out a long sigh, shut his eyes tight to hold back the longing, that almost superhuman longing to yell it to his face, to tell Dominik how he felt.He had loved him since childhood, and he had to live in the shadow of a friendship where he had to conform to a hug or a "well done, buddy." It was so frustrating and he was about to burst, but he could not dare leave. Thinking of not seeing him at all, simply terrifying. He would have to keep conforming to the brotherly love the man that made him lose his breath had to offer.«It won't be long, Friedrich», he said to himself, trying to find courage.He decided he would come out after the World Cup was over, let whatever had to happen, happen. If he was not corresponded, at least he had been brave enough to say it. His only hope was to keep their friendship after telling him. Now, if Dominik gave signs of feeling something more than friendship, that would be a completely different story.
The day started earlier than normal for Dominik. The sky was still dark when the 6'4" German went out for a short run around his hotel. Linkin Park was blaring in his ear buds while sweat poured down his brow. Music and adrenaline were Dominik's favorite combination.He could not get that beautiful smile out of his mind for a second. Suddenly, something else joined that thought in his mind. The crazy idea of inviting Samanta to one of the games. Most definitely Carlos, Samanta's friend would love that, but his publicist, Friedrich, might dismiss his idea completely, especially since he had only seen this girl a couple times. It was not sensible.Approximately at 10am, Dominik was ready to board the bus with his team. The inaugural game had been scheduled at 2pm, but before, there would be a huge opening show, due in just a couple minutes, so everybody had to be at the stadium a few hours before the game, a matter of protocols.“Ready?” Ewald, the team coach, asked with a look of compl