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I turned off the engine and looked at the small building in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Even in the car I could hear the faint sound of music and the chitter chatter of people. I took a deep breath and gave myself a brief pep talk. OK, you have come so far, you can do it. I checked my makeup in the rear-view mirror. I tried to do some damage control by taking a shower back in the hotel and putting on some light make-up but I guess you could not really hide the fact that I just travelled several thousand miles from Colombia to Texas to… Yeah to do what exactly? Javier, Steve and I grew close whilst in Colombia. I was there as a forensic scientist gathering evidence on the atrocities committed by the drug cartel. There was nothing romantic between Javier and me. He always looked out for me like a big brother. I just desperately missed him. Yes, it was just that, I tried to convince myself.
I finally left the car and made my way over to the big double doors. I hated going into rooms looking for someone but here I was. I stood by the entrance, trying to spot Javier. Please be there, please be there. I knew he was on a wedding, he told me on the phone a few days ago. Once I arrived in his hometown, it was actually quite easy. I only needed to ask around about his where-abouts, everyone seemed to know Javier now. For them, he was some kind of hero. I scanned the crowd, looking for one of Javi’s bright coloured shirts he would always wear in Medellín but there were such a flutter of people talking and dancing I could not spot him. However, I caught the eye of a younger woman across the room who seemed to get that I was at a total loss standing by the entrance looking like a fool and totally out of place. She weaved her way through the crowd and came over to me.
“¡Hola! ¿Te puedo ayudar?”, she addressed me kindly.
“Sí, estoy bus… buscando Javier Peña?” I stammered. My Spanish was bad, maybe it was enough if she understood his name.
“Ah,” she laughed, probably because of me butchering her mother tongue. “No problem,” she switched into English. “Come on. I’ll bring you to him.” Yes! I did not know who she was, but I immediately liked her. I followed her through people dancing and talking until we suddenly stood in front of Javier. He had his back turned towards us, and seemed to intently stare at a blonde woman holding a little boy. I did not recognise him at first in his red flannel shirt. It was an unusual look on him.
“Javi, hay una mujer aquí que quiere verlo.”
He turned around, seeming dazed, “¿Qué?” He looked briefly at the woman before meeting my eyes. “Y/N?!” He said shocked as if he could actually not believe that I was there. Of course, he could not, you dummy. “Hi Javier.”, I answered softly. And lamely. Neither of us moved or said anything.
“So, you two…?” The woman who brought me to Javi had decided not to leave, this must have been too exciting for her. A young woman looking for Javier who was very obviously not from around here. She waited for one of us to elaborate. As Javier was still looking at me with wide shocked eyes that would have done every cartoon character proud, I took it upon me to explain. Without taking my eyes off of him, I gave it a go.
“I’m a ... colleague,” I tried. “We were colleagues in Colombia.” Well done.
The woman looked between Javier and me trying to put the pieces together. “So wait! You just travelled several thousand miles only to see Javi?” ”Elena!”, a man, her husband I assumed, who had appeared at her side, scolded her gently. “What? She did, right?”
I was still looking at Javi but when I heard what she had said, it suddenly hit me like a brick, yes, yes, I did. Fuck. I immediately looked down. Oh wait, she wanted an answer. I briefly looked up at her, giving her a forced smile and nodded. She looked at me in astonishment, “Wow!” She did not say that unkindly, she actually seemed impressed. Until then, one might have interpreted what I did as something totally unsuspicious (not really) but there was no question how she saw it and she drove it home by gently elbowing her husband in the ribs. “Have you ever done something so romantic for me?”
I quickly looked up at Javi who was still staring at me as if he had seen a ghost. He took down Pablo Escobar, why was this making him speechless? I felt the heat creeping up my face. I felt so stupid, what was I thinking? I immediately ducked my head again. Suddenly Javier’s voice was close to me. He had slightly leaned down to me to whisper, “You wanna get out of here?” I felt goosebumps rise up just hearing his voice right there in person, not several thousand miles and a telephone line between us.
“Yeah,” I could only breathe relieved. “Come on then.” I felt his hand on my lower back gently starting to steer me through the crowd. Before we could reach the exit, Javi stopped by a table to put his hand on an older gentleman’s arm. “Be right back, pops.”
The man looked up from eating to look at Javier, “Mmmh, bueno. ¿Algo está mal?”
“No,” Javi replied softly. He swiftly looked at me, which caused his dad to look over his shoulder. Once he spotted me, he turned around, looking rather animated.
“And who is this young lady?” I held out my hand like a good girl and introduced myself. “Hello, sir. I’m Y/N L/N. I worked with Javier in Colombia.”
“She flew all the way just to see him!” Elena who had appeared out of nowhere piped up.
“Is that right? Mmmh." His dad asked more to himself, chuckling. He pulled out a chair to his right motioning me to sit down. I quickly looked over to Javier who was already about to sit down on a chair to his father’s left. Ooookay, well then. I smiled at his dad. “Thank you, sir. That is really kind of you.”
“Now, travelling all that way you must be starving.” What is it with all of these people stressing that I flew all that way just to see Javier? Pfft.
“Oh no, sir. I’m good. I think I’ve intruded too much already. I…”
But Peña senior waved a hand, cutting me off. “¡Tonterías! And enough with this ‘sir’ nonsense.” He gently put his hand on my wrist leaning towards me. “You are our guest and we want to hear all about you and Javi’s adventures in Colombia. He hardly tells us anything!” I interpreted the last sentence to be an implicit jab at Javi. He then turned to an elderly woman nearby, “Mariana, be a dear and bring this young lady here a plate of food.”
Great, I’ve not been here for 5 mins and I already shocked Javi into a catatonic state and got acquainted with his father. Actually, now that he mentioned it, food did not sound too bad. Not bad at all. I was starving. I looked to Javier to see if he is ok with that. He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, taking his beer from the table and taking a swig from it while leaning back in his chair, getting comfortable. I think I might have seen a smirk on his face.