It’s not a flashy outfit.
But she feels beautiful. Very beautiful.
And, above all, she feels natural.
She’s eager to get out, to breathe something other than the tense silence of her apartment or the intense focus of hours spent in front of the computer. The translation of the manuscript is already more than halfway done, and for the first time since she arrived in the city, she’s decided to give herself a real break. A night without work. Without uncomfortable thoughts. Without memories that sneak in uninvited and take her breath away.
“You look very pensive,” says Ariadna, glancing at her sideways as they walk side by side.
Rebeca smiles slightly, a small gesture that doesn’t quite light up her entire face.
“I’m trying to memorize the way so I can find my way back on my own if I get lost,” Rebeca jokes.
Ariadna bursts out laughing, a genuine, hearty laugh.
“Don’t worry, this is Santander, not a jungle. Although, knowing you, you’d be capable of getting lost in your own doorway.”
Rebeca raises an eyebrow and feigns indignation.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of with a map. Or without one.”
Ariadna shakes her head, amused, and gives her a gentle nudge with her shoulder.
“Well, you’d better learn fast, because I plan on taking you out and about a lot. You’re not going to spend the nextfew months cooped up translating other people’s impossible romances.”
Rebeca falls silent.
A fleeting memory flashes through her mind of the times she’s run into Martina in the building’s entrance over the last few days. It’s always been brief and, above all, with Julia present. A cheerful greeting. A few short words. Nothing more. The rush to get to work…
“Hi, Rebeca, everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s perfect. How about you guys?”
“Wonderful. Maybe you should come over some other night.”
Then came the silence, accompanied by a palpable awkwardness, along with that perfume she wears that drives me crazy, she thinks.
Rebeca shakes her head, as if that simple gesture could banish those thoughts.
“Not tonight. I’m not going to let myself think about that.”
“Look,” Ariadna says suddenly, nodding toward the door. “There they are.”
In front of the door to the place where they’ve agreed to meet, a small group of women is chatting animatedly under the light of a blue neon sign advertising the bar’s name: *La Marea*. The place isn’t exclusively a gay bar, but it’s well-known enough within the community that many women go there naturally, without having to explain themselves to anyone.
Ariadna raises her arms.
“Hey! Over here, girls!”
The three women turn their heads at the same time. One of them raises a hand and responds enthusiastically.
When Rebeca approaches Ariadna, she begins to make the introductions.
“Girls, this is Rebeca,” she says with a mischievous smile. “Our new headache.”
Rebeca lets out a small laugh, somewhat nervously.
“Nice to meet you,” she says. “I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you.”
