Cecilio barely read half a chapter of his book on the hour and a half of travel that took to get to the mountains before falling asleep on the car seat. Still tired from the party even when he pretended that 3 hours of sleep was enough for him, he found himself taking a nap, falling asleep so deeply that the loud rock music André played didn’t bother him at all.
Because he was unlucky and could never control his mind, he dreamed of Theo once again.
How he wished not to have to go through this, and if he had to, he wanted to honestly dream and see nonsensical sequences including Theo instead of having a perfect recreation of his memories playing as if someone had recorded them. It was like seeing through the eyes of the Cecilio of the past, the one that was madly in love with Theo. This time his dreams took him back to the beginning of summer, and their relationship these past months went from being total strangers to at times commuting to school and work together, sharing lunch every Sunday at the building’s terrace with grandma Amina, Nicole, and her family, even working at times together at the store.
Theo managed to make himself a part of his rather lonely life, and the whole time Cecilio felt that this would last forever. Nothing you could’ve told him at this point would make him believe Theo would be with him only for a year, or that the life that he allowed himself to get used to would lose the sudden light that Theo brought with him, leaving only memories that would simply haunt him for years to come. When looking back on all of this, he wondered what was worse, what his mother did to him as a child, or what Theo did to him when he thought he was finally able to let go of the past.
At this point in his life, Cecilio barely remembered his mother’s face, so Theo ended up winning this round.
But nothing could bother the ecstatic Cecilio of this memory as he took the bags of the only person he could confidently call a friend out of the trunk of a car. Out of a taxi walked a tall young woman, dressed in a yellow panel dress, and fixed her short brown hair, the perfectly cut micro-bangs, and her golden framed round glasses before jumping to hug her best friend. They both walked inside the store, and Cecilio talked louder than usual, almost as to match the natural cheerfulness with which the girl expressed herself, and neither of them could let the smiles on their faces fade away.
This best friend Cecilio hadn’t seen since December was Laura Bruno, they met back in high school and even if she lived currently overseas due to her studies, nothing changed the fact that they were now talking as if they hadn’t been in two different continents until yesterday.
“Are you taller? You look taller! Or is it your hair that changed? I mean you still dress as someone’s grandpa but honestly, that’s what’s charming about you! Ah! I can’t believe I’m here again!”
She practically yelled everything she said with excitement, and Cecilio only laughed and was thankful that the store was empty at that hour so no customer would be looking at the boisterous energy of Laura, who was supposedly jetlagged but couldn’t control herself from asking things and telling things. Laura was naturally chatty, she’d been since they were teens. On the first day of high school, Cecilio happened to pick the seat right behind her, when she turned around and saw he was pulling a volume of Saint Seiya out of his bag she immediately initiated a conversation with him about it, one that Cecilio, who was usually shy, participated in with a gleam in his eyes, and the rest was history.
“I don’t think I've grown, I did cut my hair a little, and thanks for not making fun of my clothes.”
“See? I do pay attention to my surroundings,” she chuckled.
“How long are you staying this time?”
“Probably until August. Damn, I missed the smell of this place!” she took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of cinnamon incense. “What’s with the incense here that smells so much better than the ones I buy somewhere else.”
“Oh, is that I make them with love.”
Neither of them could stay serious for too long or control their laughter, and Laura only pulled the short sleeve of Cecilio’s black buttoned shirt.
“C’mon be serious!”
“I won’t tell you, Lau!”
“Not even to me? Your best friend?!”
“No, because you would post it in that blog of yours then no more secret recipe!”
Before she could retaliate at such an accusation, the door opened and Amina walked in with some company. It was Elliot who held the door open for her and was startled when Laura yelled and ran towards the old lady.
“Amina! Mr. Elliot too! I’m so happy to see you both! Girl, you look so good!”
“And you’re as vivacious as ever,” she said, caressing the pale cheek of the girl. “Did you arrive safely?”
“Yes, I also had lunch already so don’t worry about me!”
“That’s good, and what about you, Cecilio?”
“Same. Are you done with Elliot?”
The gentleman bowed his head at the girl and walked towards Cecilio to leave a small blue envelope he pulled from his light brown jacket, then put on his hand. Cecilio rolled his eyes embarrassed, and tried to give it back, but Elliot ignored this attempt and wished him a good vacation from his semester.
“Fine, thanks for the allowance. Will you be gone too long?”
“A week or two, but I’ll call,” he said before softly ruffling his hair and turning around. “Take care, Amina. I’ll let you know when everything is ready in the hacienda.”
He smiled at Laura and Amina before leaving, a black car and its driver were waiting for him on the street, and when he was gone Cecilio checked what absurd amount of money Elliot had left for him this time. Enough to feed a family of 5 for 2 months at least. Other people would be overjoyed at this, to have someone that cared so much for his well-being that was not even blood-related, but Cecilio could only feel a little flustered at the amount of money he gave him whenever he was around because all of this generosity was for him to have fun. Cecilio didn’t know how to do that so a big part of that money went to his savings. Not using it felt like a waste.
But this time was different because, finally, Laura was back for the summer, and he even had Theo now. Maybe this time the money could’ve gone to good use, and he would enjoy summer like everyone else. Amina and Laura were too occupied catching up, and Cecilio got himself busy with some customers and entertaining his friend whenever he got free. In between the talk and the laughter, both women ignored when the door opened and Theo walked inside the shop, carrying some luggage with his clothes and equipment and wearing only a lose red t-shirt and brown cargo shorts, looking a little tired but still cheerful enough to kiss Amina on the cheek and shyly wave at Cecilio who did the same thing, an exchange that piqued Laura’s interest immediately.
“How was the countryside?” asked Cecilio. “This time you spend more time than usual.”
“It was good at the start, then we spent two full days with no electricity, and the mosquitos got in enamored with me,” he said as he scratched an itch in the back of his left leg, “Other than that, I got amazing pictures and I’m still in love with this country.”
“Only someone like you could,” he said with a tiny smile, and Laura cleared her throat to get his attention. “Ah! I’m sorry. Theo, remember that friend I told you about?”
“The artist? The one that made the cool paintings in your apartment?” he looked at Laura with excitement in his eyes.
“That would be me. So you’re Theo… I’ve heard a lot about you!”
“Only good things, I hope,” he blushed and avoided looking at Cecilio. “I’m glad to finally meet you, whenever I’m able to get Cecilio to talk about himself, your name pops up a lot.”
“Because he’s shy and needs someone as cool as me to spice things up a little. We were quite the respectable duo back in high school! Whatever he told you about it, believe me, I was never at fault!”
“He told me about the fabric paint incident of your last year at school. Sorry, I’m taking his side.”
Cecilio snickered while crossing his arms behind the counter, and Laura rolled her eyes in his direction, annoyed at such a terrible memory.
“Well you better hear my side of the story, because I never put that paint there, and the sewing club was just pointing at anyone that—!
Amina clapped her hands, forcing out a smile because it’s been years since she heard the same recount of events, either in front of the principal or every time Laura came to visit before getting shipped off to university by her parents. She had enough of it.
“Theo! What about that new bookstore that you were supposed to write a review on?” she asked.
Laura accepted it was time to shut up and reclined against the counter, accepting the grape lollipop Cecilio handed her, and like that she forgot about the unjust accusations of her teenage years. Theo quickly looked at Amina and then at Cecilio, who was distracted while chatting and laughing with Laura, and it felt like these small glimpses of the person Cecilio was that he'd managed to catch shone brightly when he was with a friend. He understood that Amina gave him the chance he’d been waiting for the last month.
“The one that’s also a café in the center? I returned early from my trip to cover the opening!”
“Wait, The bell? You got invitations to the inauguration?” asked Cecilio, trying to control the excitement in his voice.
“Press invitations, since a really popular author that’s friends with the owner, is going to be there, and it looks like this will turn into a really popular spot in the future so I got sent to cover it.”
Cecilio seemed tranquil, but he pulled the back of Laura’s dress to get her attention and murmured something in her ear. She was completely shocked, to the point she was silent until she found the strength to yell.
“Alfonso Riviera is going to be there?!”
“That’s the author!” exclaimed Theo.
“That’s one of Cecilio’s favorites since I’ve known him! Are you going?” asked Laura and Cecilio couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face.
“Don’t think so. It’s tomorrow and when I went to the center earlier I already saw people in line just to see the guy… And the store looked kind of cool too,” he muttered, struggling to not show how disappointed he felt.
When Theo slid a press pass on the counter, Cecilio couldn’t understand what the card said, he read it twice before looking up and Theo and that charming smile he always had on. Laura gasped and took the press pass to the event in her hands.
“Are you rubbing it on my face or inviting me?” he asked in disbelief of what he was seeing.
“The second one, Cecilio. Of course, I'm inviting you. Can’t you show a little bit of excitement ever?”
“Dude! This could even allow you to meet the guy! Talk to him and stuff!” yelled Laura, and that made a glint of excitement appear in Cecilio’s eyes.
Theo adored it, even if it was the bare minimum, he simply enjoyed how Cecilio couldn’t keep being stoic forever. He liked it even more when he was the cause for it.
“I’m... Tomorrow I had plans with Lau and-”
“Don’t dare use me for this when we are having lunch together! This is at 9 P.M you can go!”
Cecilio’s eyes widened in her direction, but Laura was never one for subtleties, and everything he was worried about ever since she said she was visiting was coming true. Laura was, either knowing it or not, siding with Theo. Laura handed him the press badge, and the shop went silent while all eyes were on Cecilio, but the ones that burned into him the most were Theo’s, with that kind but still eager gaze as he waited for any type of answer.
“Are you sure about it? Won’t you get in trouble for inviting me?”
“Not if you behave and pretend you’re taking notes,” he smiled.
“That’s rich coming from someone younger… Fine, thanks for this Theo. I really wanted to go.”
“Nice so it’s a date! See you later!”
Theo left the store smiling, and he went through that door so fast that Cecilio didn’t have time to process what he just heard, it wasn’t until Amina failed in containing her laughter that he, in a flustered state, tried to explain that Theo probably didn’t mean as in a romantic date. Something that Cecilio couldn’t confirm nor deny because he still didn’t understand himself what Theo wanted from him
“Oh, definitely, he’s into you,” exclaimed Laura, laughing with Amina and enjoying the bad attempt Cecilio did to control the situation. “From how you described him I didn’t know what to expect since you’re harsh on people, but you were right in something! He is bold!”
“Better go and iron a good shirt, it says that it’s a semi-formal event,” continued Amina, who felt some weight being lifted from her shoulders when she saw what she’d been planning all along worked out in the end.
“I’ll help you pick it!”
Laura jumped off the counter and went up the stairs into the apartment, not caring for Cecilio’s yells as to what would she do with her luggage or that he was doubting if he would even go, yet still thinking about which one of his sweaters was in a better condition to go out with Theo the next day.
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