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“S
weetheart, I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you yesterday, at last, the meeting turned endless. Come back today and we’ll drink something. Love you.”
No, mom... I don’t want to go to the firm...
I read the message while I pick up all my tools after the press conference. Luckily, Carlos, cameraman, returned from his pause and today he is the responsible to send everything to redaction. I have done enough with the set of notes I sent while the attourney was speaking.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come and drink some?” Carlos asks me while he hangs the camera until his car.
While he walks, one of the new female reporters looks at his ass shamelessly. These girls... Well, Carlos is very cute. He always wears modern clothes, torned jeans, squared t-shirts and a messy black hair. But I am not in the edge when tattoo arms break my nerves. Besides, he is twenty four and I don’t date babies at all. I look at the same direction that girl does. Ok, I have to say he has a great ass...
“I can’t Carlos...” I quickly look at his face before he notices where I had my eyes the previous seconds. “I’ll go to see my parents, maybe I’ll do meet them today finally.”
“As you wish” he shrugs his shoulders “but some day you’ll have to come and drink some beers with us.”
I smiled at him as a courtesy. Some people remain insisting endlessly when you say no to their request, I can’t stand that.
“I promess”.
“Then, are you going to the law firm? Get in the car, I’ll take you there”.
He leaves me right in the entrance of the building. I kiss him good bye in both cheeks and get down of the car, get up the sidewalk and closed the car door gently. And when I turned I crashed against Jorge.
“Jorge...”
I am not sure if my voice sounds embarrassed or surprised.
“Laura...”
He is standing there in front of me and I almost embeded myself in his chest. He touches his chest with his hand to try to calm the impact pain and, he is not in a good mood I can tell for his angry face. We have never been this close, literally, and this contact raises my entire body hair instead of hurting me.
“I am sorry, I didn’t see you. I...”
“Don’t worry, it should be the love.”
Love? How?
“Love...?” I ask with a low voice.
He moves his head to point Carlo’s car which is going far as the semaphore changes again.
“You say it for Carlos? He is only a co-worker, tha’s it.”
He noticed I came here with Carlos and he thought I was dating him?
“Apologize, I figured that...”
He babbling words trying to rid of the situation and his bad mood seems to change to some relaxed visage, without going far from his regular serenity. This is the first time I see him disoriented like out of place. Jorge, nervous... and he remain as handsome as usual or even more.
“Nothing happens” I smile at him. He clears his throat and stands straight. “I will look after my mother, she told me to come here today.”
“Your mother” he looks disappointed. Is he or it seems to me? “I can join you if you want, I was going up right now.”
“Very well, let’s go.”
We got inside the main hall of the building together. We said hi to Conchi, the receptionist. That lady has worked for so long in this company that I believe she works here since before I was born. She is in her sixties –and when I say sixties I mean the whole package– completely white hair, short style, a little teased, and wears enormous clothes to cover her large body. She has always been nice to me so, I treat her the same manner but staying distant because, I know for sure that she likes to dig in your life to discover your secrets and report it to half Salamanca city. And I am too quiet to her taste, I know, but there’s nothing else she can do but stands the not very communicative daughter of her chiefs.
My hills clacs all over the entrance hall. Well, at least today I am better dressed than yesterday. This suit doesn’t remark my curvs completely, and I wouldn’t like to do it, but it looks good on me. Black color is a great support, right?
Jorge looks at my shoes briefly and walks to the elevator. I know he always uses the stairs, is just one level, but he is that gentlemanlike: he watches me in hills and prevents me to go up a single step.
We both took the elevator, just the two of us. He clears his throat again and touches his tie like if he was nervous. If we keep in silence, I think that Jorge will be able to hear how hard my heart beats.
“Was everything fine with your paperwork yesterday?” he finally asks me, like if that was school paperwork instead of my work as an adult.
I always feel myself so childish next to Jorge...
“Yes, I had plenty of time to send everything well done. Thanks again for your help.”
I turn to smile at him. Is that a part smile? Jorge knows how to smile? Why do I feel like I’m suddenly in a déjà vu? That part smile... There is something, I don’t know what it is but it remainds me something...
“It was nothing, anytime you know you can...” and the damn elevator doors opened.
I damn because I don’t live in New York and I can’t get up the ninety eight floor. He allows me to pass before him of course, showing me the right way so I won’t get lost after leaving the elevator. In that moment, someone gets inside the elevator and greets me while he passes by. I turn to greet in return and I realize Jorge was looking at me up and down! He watches my surprise face when I caught him and makes his walk faster, like if he remembered he had something urgent to do.
“Jorge, my friend, didn’t you just say that you were leaving?” he was told by the same person who greeted me, making Jorge stuck in the place.
“Yes, that’s true but, I forgot something... if you excuse me I have to go to my office” and looking towards me, he lowers his sight and says good bye. “Laura, it was a pleasure to see you again.”
Me and that man looked at each other in a surprised gesture for an instant and, after Jorge walked inside his office in a rushed, the man laughed as the elevator closed.
I stood there for a moment trying to understand what did just happen. The crashed, the awkward moment in the elevator, the up and down look, that sudden tension... If we were talking about another man and no Jorge, I would be sure of what could be happening but, you don’t imagine how proud he is. It is impossible he is having second thoughts about me, that is why I choose to believe what he said, he forgot something at his office and he was hurried to leave.
“Little Laura” I hear somebody calls me interrupting my reasoning.
Is Fer, the beau of the law firm. A guy of my age, tall and muscle, he doesn’t look like the rest of lawyers that I know although, it might be because he is still an intern. He wears his blonde hair a bit longer than usual and, to be honest, he has some eye-catching blue eyes.
“Hello Fer, what’s up?” I answer to be polite not because I care, in fact.
“What are you doing around?”
He kisses both of my cheeks and shows his perfect smile at my presence. Fer was so different from Jorge. Why can’t Jorge be like that?
“I was waiting for my mother, she told me to come here today but...” and I look around to see if I find her somewhere.
Yes, Fer is good looking and nice but; I don’t feel attracted to him. There’s something about him that doesn’t match.
“Your mother was meeting some clients that arrived a moment ago. I can help you with whatever you need if you want.”
Fer approaches to me so much. I instinctively step backwards and crash something. Someone actually: it is Jorge again.
Shit, what’s wrong with me today?
I notice my face burning when he looks at me directly to my eyes. Second time we collapse today, in a literal sense.
“Jorge... forgive me, I didn’t know you were there...” I try to excuse the second hit I give him today.
He limitates to frown his face and I can’t decide if he is holding himself from laughing about me or, if he is really upset. Then, I see he is looking at Fer very serious. It seems Fer is the real reason why he is not comfortable.
“Fernando, I can handle this, thank you very much”.
“Handle what Jorge?” Fer answered in a challenging tone.
What’s going on here?
“Go to work with the logging companies documents” and with a gesture of his head, Jorge shows Fer the room they use as a library.
“Didn’t Angel assign that to you a moment ago?”
Let me explain something else: Angel is my father; he is Jorge’s inmediate superior and Fer’s as well of course. But that seems to be absolutely meaningless to the last one.
“I just talked to him, I have a major assignment” and he points again the library with his head, more intense this time, not to mention he was blowing his head up.
I know Fer is his intern but, Jorge has been polite with everybody all the time. Not gentle precisely, but polite... Fer looks at him surprised for an instant. I think he analyzed the situation and rathered not to challenge his boss or the superior of his boss so; he turned and walked to the library with a little friendly face.
Jorge watches Fer walking away from us a couple of seconds more and, he focus his attention on me again, something that enchants me in a manner I can’t describe.
“Laura, I told your parents you were here”
His voice sounds sweet now, or sweeter considering how rigid he was directing to Fer.
“Ah...”
I am convinced that the less expected day Jorge will wonder if I studied journalism for real, considering that much babbling.
“They said they can’t meet you right now but, your father asked me a favor” he keeps quiet for a moment like deciding if he should say this or not. “He wants me, while they finish; to explain you some basical law concepts for your work”.
So embarrasing. I’m gonna kill my father... I know he has good intentions although, I believe he also does it to quit all my tease questioning. It is true that I make them questions all the time since I have this job. But asking Jorge to waste his time by teaching me like if we were at school is just too much.
“Jorge, no I am sorry. You probably have something more important to do. I’ll talk to my father and...”
“I have nothing else to do” he interrupts me “besides, legally paperwork is something I can’t stand. In that sense, if you want to come into my office we can wait for your parents there while we talk.”
We stood there for a moment. Jorge looks at me wondering why I don’t move. Histerical pharalysis might be called. Yes, I enjoyed reading Freud during college, everybody has their own hobby. I finally breathe as deep and as discret as I can and followed him to his office.
The first thing I can tell is that Claudia and Noelia’s picture is not there yet. Why do I get happy? This is foolish, it was because of the redecoration, he told me yesterday. I imagine Jorge during the weekend looking in his house for hundreds of pictures of them to decide which one is the best to show in his office and, to hit my nose with them next time I visit his office. Another silly thing that crosses my mind of course, because that would mean that Jorge thinks about me over a second along his free time, something that is completely dismissed since the beginning. But that would be very nice, even if that were only to revenge my indiscretion for yesterday about his private life...
Bravo Laura, you just completely lost your mind in a portion of second...
Jorge leaves the door open to be able to see if my parents go out and starts giving me a basical master class of fundamental concepts and legal terms I used to listen in an overview during family dinner years ago, suddenly, a strident but familiar voice sounds behind us.
“Jorge, what did you...?”
He raises his head to see who got inside his office. I turn and see Sandra, she is one labour law attourney of the company, she is wearing a super short and super expensive suit with a half mille high hills. She and her curvs watch us from the door with her dark green eyes, while she swings her hip and uses her hand to brush her straight brown hair that falls over her shoulders. She repulses me; she is always running after Jorge. And it’s true; I have nothing with him but, make me nauseas the way she talks to him, always touching him with any excuse.
Jorge shows no reaction and answers distant.
“Yes Sandra?”
“Nothing, I thought you were working with the logging companies... Hello Laura” she is being hypocrite. No, she doesn’t like me either but, I am the chiefs’ daughter and she has to pretend. I raise my head to greet in return. I don’t even bother on wasting saliva with such... such... I better keep quiet.
“I was. Angel asked me to help Laura with some issues from her work so; I assigned the logging companies to Fernando”.
“These journalists... they finish college saying criminal complaint”.
I know she tries to make a bad joke pointing the mistake most journalists use to do. Although, I know I have never been very interested about law, I think I’m aware of that at least. I open my mouth to say some outrageous insult but, Jorge spoke before I did.
“I think the daughter of your bosses has the capacity enough to have learnt that when she was ten. And now, if you excuse us” He made a gesture with his head to ask her to leave “We are a little busy.”
Jorge stopped paying attention to Sandra in that moment. Sandra looks disoriented and runs out to disappear without saying good bye. Some laugh escapes out of my mouth and, even though I try to dissimulate it by coughing, Jorge notices the laugh, and I see he is trying to hide the part smile that has been drawn at his lips for watching me laugh.