Surprises from the East

Chapter 1

Surprises from the East

Giulia

New Jersey. September 2019. 25 degrees.

The only thing I craved more than a cold drink was an air conditioner that night. We didn't have air conditioning. It broke in the last blackout on our street. Some friends called me out and I looked at my watch. It was Sunday, still 5 pm. Well, it was better than just facing the noise of the spinning fan producing a hot wind all night. Plus the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears even with all the wind from the fan. I finally accepted the invitation because I wanted to celebrate my new job, so I told my parents that I was going out. I went back to my room after hearing some worried recommendations from my parents and started to get ready. I looked through the closet of clothes and nothing suited me. I decided and gave up on several dresses until an almost burgundy red one caught my eye. I didn't like that dress very much, I didn't like red so much, but I had tried everything in the closet and nothing I liked on my body as much as that one. I needed to lose a little weight, to listen to my sister Grace's voice of common sense. I was 1.68 tall and weighed 79 kilos. That was way more than I should have been. She talked and talked, but she liked my curves. I had curves, unlike her, who was bordering on neurosis with so many diets. I fixed my messy hair, which reached the middle of my back, put on my makeup and grabbed my purse to wait for my friends to come to Jersey to pick me up. It was cooler outside.

I waited outside the building, under the watchful eyes of the old ladies with nothing to do, more commonly called "building surveillance cameras. They were far more efficient than the cameras themselves and the doorman. Irony. What did they expect from women my age? I wanted to go out, live life, it was already a huge shame to be 26 and still living with my parents because I had no financial independence. How could I, being just a translator, have financial independence? We struggled, I was aware of this. My family was not wealthy at all. My father ran his bakery on our street and my mother was a housewife, without much education. I studied Turkish Language with difficulty because of the expensive language books, but there I was, graduated and now employed. I was a little tense, of course. Starting to work the next day in an engineering firm with international contacts was daunting. I had trained hard in the various languages I had learned, I am passionate about languages, but the reality was very different from the courses. I just wanted to be lucky enough to work as a tour guide and visit the whole world. I looked at the moon that was already high in the sky and shook myself, even in the moonlight I was sweating. Visiting the world... I really deserved a sabbatical year!

I saw that Brenda's car stopped right in front of my building and I walked quickly to meet them. I could still hear the meddlesome doorman's jokes.

- You look beautiful, Miss Giulia.

- Oh thank you so much, Peter. - I almost growled like a pit bull. What a nosy man.

I got into Brenda's car, where Amanda was also. The car smelled a little strange. I looked at the two of them intently sitting in the back seat.

- Did someone smoke marijuana inside the car? - I asked them both.

- It's the smell of my perfume, Jasmine! - Amanda lied with a laugh.

I knew she didn't. Amanda was too fond of a transgression and I feared being caught with the two of them by the police in the car carrying narcotics. Which would be quite plausible. Except that it was very difficult in New Jersey for the police to stop a car with only well-dressed women in it, so I believed I was safe.

- Where are we going today? I didn't even tell you, I start work tomorrow!

- Look at her! We have to celebrate, today you're going to have sex!

- Have sex?! Why?

Brenda started the car in the direction of some nightclub I didn't know yet. We had made friends in college, but Amanda came with Brenda in the friendship package. We were not that close. Amanda was a rather snobbish woman for whom everything revolved around sex. If I got a job, I should get laid, if I passed a test, I should get laid. Me of all people, the virgin! Brenda just enjoyed the stories that Amanda told, without agreeing or disagreeing, just enjoying the company. I was still a virgin at the age of 26, a fact. I hadn't felt a strong connection to a man to offer my body to until then. They could call me whatever they wanted, frigid, old-fashioned, dumb. I was a bit of all of that and yet I felt proud of myself.

- Let's go to the All Inn in Manhattan! - Brenda said loudly. - It must be full of foreigners there today!

That was Brenda's great joy, chasing foreigners. She dreamed of a marriage abroad and leaving US, for no reason. Amanda, on the other hand, only cared about sex and the fun of drugs. As for me, Giulia, I was the romantic of the trio. I was always getting into express dating until I stopped caring and believing in men. I was simply exhausted from telling my whole life story to a stranger every time I started a new flirtation. It was always the same, telling my whole life only to hear him say that he wanted a serious fling, but that deep down it was just about getting me into bed and as I always suspected, they would disappear by enchantment. I started skipping the "telling all my life" part for the part about torturing myself by watching romantic movies. I would avoid pretending to believe the little stories and I would get rid of the disenchantment of real life.

- Where is your job, girlfriend? - Brenda was curious.

- Ipanema. An engineering firm that works with professionals from all over the world.

- You're going to meet outsiders! - she shouted looking at me through the rearview mirror.

- Yeah, right.

- If you have any cats or very rich old men, introduce me.

I let out a loud laugh.

- How am I going to do that, Gi?

- I don't know.

We continued talking animatedly until the nightclub in Barra. The traffic was free at that time of the night and as we approached the noble district of Rio, the whole environment changed. When I jumped out of the car, the air changed too. It was cold because it was so close to the sea. As soon as we jumped out, I felt the coolness of the sea breeze. Much better than being at home, with a weak fan that barely helped me on those terribly hot Rio nights. Brenda parked the car near the nightclub, since it was not safe for three women to leave a nightclub so late at night and walk blocks away to access the car. I heard the deafening noise of loud music already outside. We stood in a short line, were searched by a lady, who groped us from top to bottom and voila, we were inside the All Inn.

The electronic music was almost deafening to my ears, so used to only the audio language classes. I could not be frivolous with my thoughts; like Brenda, I too enjoyed meeting foreigners. However, I met very few of them due to my intense language study.

Brenda pulled us into a corner of the club, a slightly cozier corner, which was right next to the bar. They wanted to get drunk, not me. I knew well the risks of the night for a woman and preferred to be sober to dance and have fun. I adjusted the neckline of my dress, which was quite deep. Brenda and Amanda got up to go dancing. The lights almost blinded me, I was unaccustomed to these places. I felt a mixture of smells in the air, various perfumes, the smell of drinks and beer. I decided to get up and go to the bar to order a soda. As I approached the bar I realized that there were many people there. This made me sure that it would take a long time to get a soda. I shouted for the bartender, but nothing made him look in my direction. He was serving a lot of people at the same time.

- I just want a Coke! Oh, shit!

Suddenly I heard next to me a deep voice shouting.

- Coke! A Coke, please!

The voice was so loud and resounding that it seemed to almost destroy my eardrums. The barman immediately looked in the direction of the high-pitched voice and seemed to come towards me. Oh great, he's going to serve the man next to me, and he might as well serve me too, if I'm lucky. The bartender went to the freezer and reached out for a Coke, then brought the can toward me.

- Sir, one too, please!

- Oh, no! This one is for you!

I heard that Portuguese accent that made me curious to turn in the direction of the voice. There beside me, standing with the can of soda in his hand, was a tall man with a thinning beard, curly hair down to his neck, a deep dark brown gaze, and one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen in my life.