“But she is coming, right?” Dani stared intently at Joey.
“She is.” Joey sighed. “She’s alright, actually.”
“High praise, coming from you,” said Dani. “I can’t remember the last time you expressed any positive emotions about anyone who wasn’t me or Carmen.”
“That’s not fair, I love Pedro,” Joey protested.
“That took months!” laughed Dani.
“Maybe I just take a while to warm up,” said Joey.
“I think that’s fair. So, now that you have decided Vanessa is ‘alright’, as you say, do you have any other thoughts?” Dani pressed her foot gently against Joey’s.
“Other than that it’s good to have an extra pair of hands in the kitchen, nope,” Joey lied. She remembered how uncomfortable she’d felt the morning after the night on the balcony. She’d woken hours before she usually would have, playing the events of the previous evening over and over in her head. And remembering more specifically, how the evening had made her feel. The following morning she’d found she had no idea how to talk to Vanessa at first. She felt an odd sense of embarrassment after what had happened – and how she had responded after Vanessa had left her apartment. She feared her neighbour would be able to see right through her, to the desire that had overwhelmed her in that moment. And part of her felt ashamed of the way in which she’d imagined Vanessa.
“Hiya,” Vanessa’s voice roused Joey from her conflicting thoughts. Her long limbs seemed as fluid as the summer dress she wore as she strode towards Joey and Dani.
“Hey,” said Dani, then asked her how she was in Spanish. When Vanessa answered fluently, she showered her insuperlatives. Meanwhile Joey rested one ankle on the opposite thigh and gave her a quiet round of applause.
Vanessa bowed, and they all laughed.
“Well how lucky am I? I have the best two tour guides in Barcelona,” she said once she was upright again.
“Don’t get ahead of yourselves. We could be terrible,” said Joey.
“Oh be quiet, you,” scolded Dani. “We are absolutely the best.” She stood and ushered Joey to follow.
“Ok, I’m coming.” Joey got to her feet and put her bag across her shoulders. “And be warned, Vanessa, we have a bit of a climb on our hands. We’re going up there.” She pointed up the hill to the palatial building at its peak.
Vanessa looked up. “Wow. It looks pretty epic.”
“It is,” said Dani, “but you have to work for it. Come on, the first set of steps is here.”
The trio began their ascent up the hill, which had been designed with platforms and water features at several levels. Halfway up they paused to take a breath.
“You weren’t kidding about the climb,” said Vanessa, wiping the perspiration from her brow.
“Here.” Joey passed her a bottle of water from her bag.
“Thanks,” said Vanessa. “I should have thought of that.” She took a couple of gulps before handing the bottle back.
Joey brought the bottle to her own lips, acutely aware that it had just touched Vanessa’s. But if the same thought was on Vanessa’s mind, she didn’t show it.
They carried on up, coming to the final stage where there was an escalator. “I’ve never seen one of these outside before,” said Vanessa. “But it’s perfectly timed. My legs have turned to jelly.”
Joey immediately looked at Vanessa’s legs, reflecting thatthey looked pretty good to her. She said nothing. She knew she was in dangerous territory here.
They reached the plaza at the top of the hill, where the grand museum stood in all its pillared glory.
“It looks like a king or queen should live here,” said Vanessa, looking up, her mouth open in amazement.
“It was built in 1929,” Joey told her.
“It looks like it’s older, based on the design,” said Vanessa.
“Yeah, based on the Spanish Renaissance style,” Joey explained.
“You put me to shame, Joey,” said Dani. “I never even think about that stuff. You really could be a tour guide.” She laughed. “I just know it has interesting art and a good restaurant.”
