May: I think I was always right that you were adopted (I mean going up the last step) ... like your stupid things never fit into this family.
- Well locate yourself (responds by following me down the hall).
May (I turn around): What located me? Locate you, stupid. How are you going to say I have a bodyguard in front of her?
Oliver: Did you have to guess that that was wrong?
I sigh and head back to my room.
Oliver: You know what happens? Not even your best friend can you trust.
May: Where do you want to go with that?
He stops in front of his room and I look at him.
Oliver: That your life is a sham, May (adds to slam the door in my face).
May: Sure, because yours is a fairy tale, you asshole in love.
I comment wryly, grateful for the reaction Mia had when she found out the truth. He didn't really care as much as I thought, nor was he mocked by the great news. Although the idea that someone else from the faculty finds out about it still terrifies me. That would be a guaranteed humiliation. I just hope my dear friend can keep her mouth shut.
I spend the rest of the day in my room, isolated from the others. Sunday goes more or less the same, adding my cell phone turned off to escape any invitation, since the truth is that I don't feel like doing anything. Every so often I go out to the balcony of my room and lean over the glass panel that prevents me from falling, looking out at the large garden, the marble fountain and the trellis that separates our house from the rest of the neighborhood. Samuel is always around. You could say that if I stay home, you have no obligation other than to wear your suit and attend work. Chat with the doorman, every so often he takes out his pile of photocopies, which I imagine are from the university, he sits in the car seat and reads them or he just walks with his hands in his pockets and a frown around the place, showing a face of concentration.
On Monday morning I leave the house without having breakfast. He waits for me outside, this time wearing a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt. I ignore him during the trip, avoiding looking him in the eye. When I arrive, he opens the door for me and I am already several steps away when I hear his voice for the first time that day.
- Am I staying or am I going like Friday?
May: Go away, I'll call you later and come (I answer without even turning around).
The morning was fatal, like those times when nothing turns out the way you expect and you fail in everything you want to do, which only makes you feel discouraged, starting with the bad relationship with the teachers, who seem to have accumulated a bag of anger to Throwing it in your face, until you get to the cafeteria last and see that the line is so long that it makes you lose your appetite.
After college we headed to Starbucks, which is just a few blocks away and we've been there for over an hour when my cell phone vibrates on the table.
Mine: Is it him?
May: It's mom.
Mine: Are you not going to attend?
May: No.
Mine: Did something happen or ...
May (interrupt): We argued the other day and we didn't speak again.
Mine: It could be something important.
May: Don't start.
The phone rings for a while longer and is silent. Minutes later, it rumbled again. I turn it off.
Mine: Is Samuel coming?
May: Yes. Are you calling for me? I go to the bathroom and come.
I stand up and she reaches out to take my cell phone.
May: NO (scream taking it before).
Mine: What?
May: Call it yours.
Mine: Are you going to re-invent to your mom that you ran out of battery? (Asks laughing).
May: You call.
She laughs and I leave after drawing Samuel's number on his phone screen.
Mine: He's outside (he says when I come back).
May: What is that boy flash?
Mine: You are a turtle in the bathroom.
We left the place and it didn't take long for me to recognize the black Mercedes on the sidewalk in front. Samuel, after leaving Mia at his house, goes to mine, taking the opportunity to look at me from time to time, while I am concentrating on the streets that are drawn in the window. I feel his gaze on me, but I pretend he doesn't notice. I don't even know why. Upon arrival, he does the same as always: he opens the door with a smile on his lips, without showing his teeth. At the height of the circumstances and after treating him so badly days ago, I do not refuse to think that he is pretending and actually hating me or something like that.
The first thing I do after closing the door behind me is head to the kitchen and have a cold drink. The heat of the day left me exhausted. It surprises me not to see Luisa anywhere. I go up and verify that it is not there either. Not her, not my mother. Oliver usually leaves college at the same time as me and then goes to work with my father. His absence is common, but Mom's is unintelligible.
I throw my backpack around in the corner of my room and head to the bathroom to take a shower. I leave long minutes later with a towel tied to my body and drops of water sliding on it, due to my wet hair. I see something white that stands out on the purple fabric that covers my bed. As I get closer I can see that it is a piece of paper, which I did not notice before due to how distracted I always am. It is not just a piece of paper, but there is also something written on top of it. It looks like a letter and claims to be from my mother.