THIRTY-EIGHT
The Man
I allow myself to enjoy Ares’s hug for five seconds.
Although I know I can’t expect him to change overnight, I think that he should at least try a little harder. It was nice to hear him tell me that he would fight for me, but he followed that up by ignoring me for a whole week. Bad move. It seems like he has trouble using logic, and maybe that’s because he’s never had to use it with girls. Maybe Ares has never had to try in any way with women. One glance from those beautiful eyes, combined with that sexy smile, is more than enough to get any girl, I know. But I’m trying to break out of that pattern.
Ignoring the protests from my heart and my stupid hormones, I step back, pushing him away from me. When my eyes meet his, I can see the confusion swimming in them. This is so hard.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I came to see you.”
“Well, you saw me. I gotta go.” I turn on my heel and start walking back to my friends. Ares grabs my arm, turning me toward him again.
“Hey, wait.” His eyes inspect my face, as if he were analyzing every detail. “You’re mad at me.”
“No.”
“Yes, you are.” He gives me that crooked smile of his. “You look cute when you’re angry.”
I stop breathing for a second. What am I supposed to say to that?
Be strong, Raquel. Think about that time you decided to give up chocolate because it gave you so much acne; it was hard, but you did it.
Ares is chocolate.
—You don’t want acne.
But it’s so delicious.
—Acne hurts!
Arguing with myself and not knowing what to say, I just smile.
“I’m sorry, Witch. It was quite a week.” His smile fades. “Quite a complicated one.”
His playful countenance disappears and is replaced by a sadness that he seems to be struggling to hide. I want to ask him what happened, but I have a feeling he won’t tell me.
“It’s okay, you don’t owe me any explanations. We’re just friends after all.”
Watching his face, I regret the words the moment they come out of my mouth. He looks hurt and that was not my intent, I just wanted to make a joke to ease the tension. Ares licks his lips, as if trying to overlook what I just said.
“Actually, I came looking for you. I want to go out with you today.”
“I already have plans. I’m sorry.”
“With them?” Ares glances behind me.
“Yeah, we’re going to celebrate passing an exam.”
Ares raises an eyebrow. “And you don’t usually pass?”
Not with such a high score as today.
“Hey, it’s not that, it’s just. . . . It’s Friday. You know, we make up any reason to celebrate.”
“Can’t you make up an excuse and come with me?”
“No, you should have asked me in advance.”
“Raquel!” Carlos shouts my name. Ares looks him over, from head to toe.
“Who’s he?”
“A friend. Really, I have to go.” Clinging to my self-control, I give him one last smile and walk away.
I’m about to catch up with my friends when Ares joins me. I give him a strange look. “What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you,” he informs me as if it were a fact. “I’m your ‘friend,’” again he makes those quotation marks with his fingers, “so I may as well be part of a friends’ celebration.”
I narrow my eyes and open my mouth to protest, but Ares steps forward to greet Dani. He introduces himself to Carlos, giving him a firm handshake. Dani gives me a what-the-hell look, and I answer her with a confused shrug.
“Where are we going?” Ares asks, smiling, his charisma on full display. Dani smiles back.
“We thought about going to the café on Main Street.”
“You celebrate with coffee?” he asks, giving us a confused look.
Dani arches an eyebrow. “Yes. Any problem with that?”
He raises his hands. “No, none, but I have alcohol at my house.”
Ha! Trying to take me to your territory, Greek God? Nice try.
“Really?” Carlos asks, his face lighting up.
Ares nods, finding an ally. “Yes, and very good quality.”
Carlos looks at us. “Shall we go?”
Dani and I exchange glances, but she saves the day.
“No, thank you. We prefer coffee.”
Carlos pouts. “But . . .” Dani grabs his arm, digging her nails into it. “Ow! Coffee! Yes, coffee is better.”
Ares looks disappointed. “Well, I guess I’ll have to drink alone with Apolo.”
“Apolo?” Dani looks at him suddenly.
“Yes, he must be so lonely at home.” He puts his hands in his jacket pockets.
Dani hesitates, and I can see that now she really wants to go to Ares’s house. He bought Carlos with alcohol, and Dani with Apolo. I must admit that his moves are good. Dani doesn’t say anything, keeping her eyes on the ground. I know she won’t say she wants to go, because she’ll put our friendship first, as usual. She’s leaving the decision in my hands, and that’s why I love her so much.
Carlos and Dani want to go, and I’ll feel like the bad guy if I say no. Ares knows that. He’s very good at manipulation but not at making things right with me. That’s where his brain fails him.
“All right, let’s go with him.” I surrender.
My house is behind the Hidalgos’. I just have to go with them, wait until they’re comfortable, and then leave. It sounds like an easy plan, but every time I’ve gone to Ares’s house, we’ve ended up in bed together. But there’s something inside me that tells me this time will be different.
See it as a challenge, Raquel.
On the way to Ares’s house, I call my mom to tell her that I’m going to study with Dani at a café. The tension between us has dropped a bit, but I still have to let her know where I am from time to time.
The car smells of him, and, although I try to ignore what his closeness does to me, my body can’t control its reactions. Carlos keeps talking about everything he sees, and Dani rearranges her hair when she thinks no one is looking.
A smiling Apolo comes out and waves at us when we arrive, looking so cute with his messy hair. He’s wearing a loose unbuttoned plaid shirt, revealing a white T-shirt underneath, and jeans.
“Hey, kid,” Carlos greets him. “Do you live here?”
“He’s my brother,” Ares explains.
Claudia, the red-haired maid, comes down the stairs carrying an empty basket.
“Good evening,” she says. We all return the greeting politely.
Ares asks her in a gentle voice, “Claudia, can you make some drinks and take them to the playroom, please?”
Oh no, not the playroom.
Is he doing it on purpose?
I look at him for a second, and his mischievous grin tells me yes.
Dani and Apolo greet each other awkwardly, and I wonder what’s been going on between those two. We all go into the playroom, and it’s much the same as I remember it: the big TV, the different video game consoles, the couch . . . the couch where I lost my virginity.
The passion, the wildness, the sensations. His lips on mine, his hands all over my body, the friction of our naked bodies. Unconsciously, my fingers touch my lips. I miss him, and it’s torture to have him so close while having to keep the distance between us.
“Remembering something?” His voice brings me back to reality, and I lower my hand as fast as I can.
“No.” My eyes search for the others, who are turning on the console and setting everything up while laughing at something Carlos said.
“Don’t lie.” He gets a little closer. “I remember that night when you came in here too.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I feign disinterest and step aside to join the group.
As I pass by him, he takes my arm and stops me.
“Every time I sit on that couch, I remember you: naked, virginal, wet for me.”
I swallow thickly, shaking him off.
“Stop saying such things.”
“Why? Are you afraid you’ll get excited and let me fuck you again?”
I say nothing and walk away from him. Suddenly it’s hot in here.
Virgin of Abs, why do you make it so difficult for me?
“Are you okay, princess?” Carlos asks me when I join the group again. “You’re all red.”
“Princess?” Ares asks, reaching us. Carlos grins like a fool.
“Yes, she is my princess, the owner of this humble heart.”
And that’s how the most uncomfortable minute of the day begins, in silence. Ares tenses up, clenching his jaw. Dani and I look at each other, not knowing what to say. Carlos keeps smiling innocently. Finally, Apolo notices the tension.
“That’s funny, Carlos.”
“Let’s get started.” Dani changes the subject.
Surprisingly, Ares plays along. “Sure, how about if Carlos and I have the first duel?”
Carlos points to Ares and then to himself. “You and me?”
“Yes, but a duel without a prize is no fun.”
“What’s the prize?” Carlos asks excitedly.
“If you win, you can take three original games from my collection.” Ares looks at me, and I expect the worst.
Carlos’s face lights up so quickly. “What if I lose?”
“You call Raquel by her name from now on. No princess or whatever you’re used to calling her.” The coldness in his voice, in his request, again reminds me how icy Ares can be.
Carlos laughs loudly, surprising us all. No one says anything, I don’t think anyone moves. I open my mouth to tell him that he has no right to decide what others call me, but Carlos beats me to it.
“No.”
“What?”
“If it’s like that, then I won’t play.”
Ares stretches his hands. “Are you afraid of losing?”
“No, I’m a very funny person, but what I feel for her is no joke to me.”
Ares clenches his jaw. “What you feel for her?”
“That’s right, and it may not be reciprocated, but at least I have the courage to shout it out to everyone, and I don’t go around manipulating and creating stupid games to get what I want.”
The knuckles on Ares’s clenched fists turn white. Carlos smiles.
“Men fight for what they want openly; children act this way,” he says, pointing to Ares.
Ares holds back, and it seems to be so hard for him. Without a word, he turns around and walks out of the playroom, pulling the door shut behind him. I let out a sigh of relief. Carlos smiles at me as always.
Dani sits on the couch next to us and lets out a long breath. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
Apolo wears an expression that I can’t quite make out. Is he angry? For the first time I can’t read his sweet face.
He turns to Carlos. “You were lucky, you shouldn’t have provoked him like that.”
“I’m not afraid of your brother,” Carlos replies, standing up.
Apolo smiles and it’s not sweet, it’s that cheeky grin the Hidalgos wear when they don’t like something.
“You talk a lot about maturity, but you just provoked someone to make yourself look like the mature one and the victim. Who’s the one playing stupid games? I’ll be right back.”
He leaves through the same door as Ares. Regardless of who’s right, Apolo will always be on Ares’s side. They’re brothers after all.
The enigmatic Hidalgo brothers.