Share
CHAPTER 21
Related chapters
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 22
OLIVIA.A fucking long line at the bank, Thursday and at the worst time. Pathetic.I don't think I hate anyone, and I think I hate a a few things in the world, but one of those is going to the bank.The only advantage of the day and being confined to such torture is that the building is close to my job. So, any escape is possible. And even if I can do it, the hours and days are worth gold to me.I'd one check in my hand, "the" check, the same one my boss had given me as a "birthday bonus", an amount of money that I'm still assimilating and makes me smile every time I remember that day. Not because of the bonus, but the whole story and the memories surrounding it: the outing with my superior, his girlfriend, and his friend. They wanted to set me up that night, although they denied it over and over again. Then, I ran into Carl at that restaurant, left the dinner by taking off with him, and spent a great night sleeping with that man... I shudder and hiss with the memory of him because I
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 23
CARL.My work is usually too competitive and tiring. I always say and think that and I always complain and try to be understood or understand for myself why I am still in this.I used to put my weekends aside to dedicate them to nothing, to disconnect, as I often said to the mother of my son when I went out with her, something too repetitive, but for some while things were no longer like that.I wasn't alone that night. And my friend kept talking while I did not stop thinking.What is that woman doing? I asked myself.I would take the cell phone to write to Olivia (the woman), but I could no longer invite her to dinner that night. That Friday already seemed out of place because I hadn't planned to see her.I leaned in again and swallowed some of the whiskey I was sharing with one of my former clients."That nephew you're talking about now, is he the same guy you told me about before?" I asked, because, in some way, I was listening to what he was saying."That is correct. He's the one
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 24
NANCY.I love to watch, I'm a born observer. Some people call this "voyeuristic", but I don't want to mess with terms like this.My taste for observation began years ago. Just from that moment, I saw myself as someone fortunate since I was fully aware about reality of my family owning several places in Maracaibo City, especially places dedicated to public attention. I knew since I was a child that we had properties, especially restaurants, in various parts of the city, but it was only when I grew up that I understood the magnitude of it. The place where I was: La Napolitana, is a restaurant owned by my grandparents, which by succession it fell to me to manage after my parents did.After my thirtieth birthday, I became one of the owners and managers of the restaurant, one of those people who is always there to make everything run smoothly, trying to achieve perfection in its operation. But I learned early that not everything is perfect on that.It's from there, from one of my favorite
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 25
OLIVIA.A beautiful, feminine voice to my right caught my attention, I hadn't realized how crowded the place had become. At times, a simple whisper is heard there. And at others, no one was paying attention.The one who spoke to me was a beautiful woman and she was standing next to me in a confident manner. I looked sideways wondering if it was me she was talking to, but more to understand if I was the only one feeling nervous that night. I needed to relax."I don't know," I answered with an absurd grimace and a comedic shrug. It was the first time I saw her, I had ever seen her in my life.She emitted a somewhat knowing smile, right about something."May I sit next to you?" she asked.I was dumbfounded."Uh... Yeah, sure." I pointed to the chair in front.She did it.The maître came over and treated her with wonderful camaraderie.«She's a regular», I thought.I didn't want it to happen, but I felt a little jealous. I could be as regular as she was, I went every Friday, accompanied b
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 26
CARL.I was upset. Damn, I was boiling up!"Carl!""No.""Wait a minute...""No!"We’re on our way to my car, but I stopped on the sidewalk to face her."I don't know what the hell you were doing in the restaurant, but it wasn't a good idea. At all!""Why?" she challenged me. "Because you knew that woman was going to be there?""Don't fuck me now, Olivia. Please." I look around searching for divine providence to get me out of my own tantrum."¿Why do you say that? Can't a woman dine for herself?""For God's sake, Olivia, are you serious? You know how is this, you're so smart. And you don't know that woman at all, you don't know hardly anyone there at all, for heaven's sake. What were you pretending to do being alone in that place? Why the hell did you let her sit at your table?! It's just... fuck!""What's the problem? Why isn't it a good idea for a simple woman to go there for dinner on a random night?""Simple woman? Simple woman?! Have you seen yourself in a mirror, Olivia? Have yo
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 27
CARL.Until you lose what you want... A phrase that adults in our family always tell you when you grow up and mature in life, and perhaps we do not realize when it has served us little or much during the whole journey.When Olivia threw all that inside my car in the middle of a strange night, in front of her apartment, I too realized her intentions, which made me feel desperate."Nancy is La Napolitana's owner's daughter," I began to explain. "She has always wanted me to manage the accounts of her business, which of course, is separate from the restaurant. I refused because I know who she is, and what she does, and since then, she has always been annoyed by my refusals."Silence. I was still feeling overwhelmed, but at the same time equanimous enough to analyze well my discomfort with everything that was happening.After doing my mental scrutiny and making sure once again that it was not something carried away for the moment after understanding what I wanted in the middle of the silen
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 28
OLIVIA.Carl went crazy, but I understand.Carl Malaver is mad, unhinged from asking me to move in with him.I know it. I sense it.And I, from the bottom of my heart, wish to say yes.If he ever asks me, since I don't think he'd love to feel that way for much longer. Besides, life itself has taught me that sometimes, rushing, only leads to tiredness and the worst of them is the emotional one, the same tiredness that sometimes carries disappointment in its hands. And being disappointed, and so soon, is not good.That's why I'm still living in my little apartment, the one I can afford even with my salary, getting ready to go to work, after having spent wonderful days with him, with me... I must clear my throat. Next to my boyfriend. Yes, my boyfriend! How great it sounds and how terrifying it feels at the same time.Riding the bus to work early one Monday morning, I had time to think about what would happen that Friday. I could also regret that we had already met on another day of the
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 29
OLIVIA.I stopped dead in my tracks, not sure what to do for a couple of seconds, maybe more.My hands tingled. Carl was at La Napolitana!«But what's going on today?», I asked myself.We stared at each other. He with some strange impression on his face, dumbfounded almost, in the middle of noon inside that beautiful and emblematic restaurant, realizing that I had just entered... accompanied.I don't know what face I could have made, I don't think I felt it. I had to relax. I wasn't committing any crime, keeping calm and sanity was paramount. But how to do it, when the gentleman who fascinates me, the owner of my emotions (the weak, treacherous, and compromised ones), the day and night emotions, was eating me with his eyes and not exactly in a good way? I looked at my companion and decided to take the bull by the horns."Alonso, could you wait for me at the table, please? I'm going to say hello to Carl...""And who is Carl? Is he that Carl?"I looked at him completely to give a proper
Latest chapter
