Blake
-Anthony, who is Ruben?
I sit down next to him. I take advantage of the fact that everyone is on break and we are plugging in cables to get the information I need.
-Did he tell you about him?
-Something like this.
-What did he say?
-Little.
-They dated for a couple of years. He was her first man, you know what I mean... -I get it and I choke. My hives do too. She adored him. Or adored him. I hope it's in the past. Remembering it makes me sick to my stomach. The jerk cheated on her with every crazy woman he came across.
-Are you still seeing him?
-I hope not. At least I didn't find him at home again.
-Was he your friend?
-Me, Rubén's friend? If I could have, I would have drowned him in grandma To?i's vase. As always in these cases, the poor thing found out last. The wretch was very careful that neither the girls nor I knew anything about the horns he was wearing.
-Lovers forgive everything. Even the horns.
Knowing that she's crazy about this bad-ass guy eats me up inside. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Although I have no rights to her past, the hives rise from arms to fists.
-No way. She didn't know about his lies. When she proved that the gossip was real, she gave him the kick of the century. She suffered, I won't deny it, she even went on sleeping with him a couple of times more, but it wasn't the same. If I see him again I'll smash his little muscles against the floor. After Ruben my poor Sofi never got seriously interested in any other guy again. I think she's a little afraid of giving herself away and getting hurt.
I have no right.
I have no right to kill that scum.
I have no right to want to cut it into small pieces and stomp on it until it disappears.
I have no right, but alas, how I want to.
-We are all proud of her. The problem with Sofia is that sometimes...
-Sometimes...?
I feel like a child who has been given a piece of candy only to have it taken away.
-It's your privacy. I can't and I shouldn't, though... -though ? - What I can tell you is that if she meets that bastard again, she'll think twice about approaching her.
-Did you give him a good right? -I pat him on the shoulder. If it had been me I would have sent him straight to the morgue.
-From boxing class.
I smile until I think of her. A fact that has become painfully habitual the month I've been living in her house. From the moment I wake up until I go to bed, and even in my dreams, Sofia is the center of gravity in which I orbit lately. Everything goes through her. My head is a dizzy comet. I've never thought about any girl as much as I do about her.
-I can imagine how angry he was.
-She yelled at me until I was deaf with that spiel about how she doesn't need to be defended, how she can take care of herself and I don't know what else. She stopped talking to me for a whole weekend. I had a terrible time for the first few hours. Luckily for me, Elvira's advice and her cakes helped in the absolution process.
-Sofia is very important to you.
The four of them have found in friendship the bonds of protection that keep them whole. I understand this perfectly. When I lost my parents I went from teenager to father of a little girl. Mariam became the only obligation that kept me alive. Loneliness desperately gropes for a point of rescue. Siblings, love, hate are the raft you cling to so you don't sink. Mariam's little hands held me until I stepped on solid ground. In her case the raft was called friends.
-Sofi is beautiful in the dark and in the sun. She fights for what she believes in until her nails break from holding on. She is fun, joyful and tumultuous. Her madness is a hurricane that never stops. If you try to stay away you only get to suffer because you need her -Anthony caresses the keyboard-. Neither Rubén nor Juan de los Pinos will ever separate us. She is my family," he comments with his gaze lost at the girls' table.
Across the booth, smiling, she points to the clock. Anthony speeds up to put on his headphones and start the program.
-And you say that this Ruben and she studied together?
-Interested in the competition?
Anthony has left sentimentality behind to cling once again to the rogue smile that identifies him.
-Don't talk nonsense.
-I am not the one who is desperate to know.
-I'm not desperate. It's simple... curiosity.
-Of course, what else could it be? Rubén studied at the same school as us, but one grade higher than mine.
Anthony turns up the music. I take advantage of the distraction to open the browser on my cell phone. A school, a couple of links, and the magic of the Internet kicks in. Instagram profile. Face in the first photo. Body and tattoos in the fourth. I don't understand what he could see in this idiot.
The girls and Anthony run the program with ample professionalism. I carelessly toss the phone on the table.
He was her first man...
Remembering Anthony's words peeled my insides raw. The thought of that prick entering his body is sickeningly unbearable.