Capítulo 3: Girl Talk

Natalia

After a full day of classes and working 4 hours I am exhausted. I can't wait to get to my dorm, take a warm shower and relax a little bit.

I sit on the bus and lean my head on the window, closing my eyes for a few minutes. My stomach growls. I am hungry and ready for dinner!

My cell phone vibrates inside my pants' pocket and I pull it out. A laugh escapes my lips as I see the name that's flashing on the screen. I saved Alexander's number under "Señor Misterio". I just think he has a mysterious vibe, so I named him that on my contacts. He sends me a text that says "Are we meeting tonight?"

Instead of replying, I simply call him... and he takes some time to answer. "Hello?" He says, sounding terrified because I called him instead of texting him back. "Hey. I don't think I can make it tonight. Besides, us meeting in that coffee shop would be cheating."

He breathes in and I hear him rearranging himself, maybe switching spots.

"You're right. It says here", I hear him flipping through pages, "we have to follow our normal activities. So I suppose we have to take turns. One day we can do what I normally do on that day and the other day we can follow your routine." I laugh and he asks me why I am laughing. "Because this is going to be super awkward for you. I could never picture someone like you in the kind of places I go to."

He stays silent for a couple of seconds.

"What are you doing right now?" Alexander asks. I look through the window and say "arriving on campus. I took the bus. I just got off from work, so now I'm heading to my dorm. I will take a shower, eat dinner and do my homework. What about you?"

"I'm doing homework right now. I came home, worked out for an hour, took a shower and had dinner with my family." I sigh, as I stand up to wait in line with the students who are getting off the bus as soon as it stops. "Lucky you!" I say with a little bit of resentment.

"Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game", Alexander says to me and he sounds so strange talking like that. The comment makes me laugh. "I suppose…" I tell him as I get off the bus and start walking towards the dorms.

"So, listen", he says... "I get coffee every morning on campus, at that same coffee shop you went to today. Let's meet there tomorrow, earlier, of course." I think about it and ask him "How early? Do you want to do an hour or should we cut it in half and continue later during the day?"

I wait for him to think and give me an answer.

"Let's do a whole hour. Can you be there at 7 am?"

Jeez! That's super early! What the heck is he thinking? I will have to get up at 5:30 am... I analyze the time and my morning routine. Well, I don't have to make coffee and I guess I don't need to shower in the morning after my long shower tonight. I can get up at 6 am and still make it on time to meet him if I choose my outfit tonight too.

"Okay", I finally answer, "but I must warn you…I'm not a morning person, so I am not very pleasant at that time." Alexander laughs and says "Why am I not surprised?" Why am I not surprised he is sarcastic?

"Alright, I will see you there", he says.

After that, Alexander doesn't know what else to say to me. We both struggle to say something without sounding awkward, so we end the conversation with me saying good night. "Good night, Natalia", he says back, after struggling for words.

I think this meet up tomorrow is going to be so awkward!

When I get to my dorm, I am surprised to see my dorm mate already here. Wow, she's early today. Taylor is a party girl. She has lots of friends and she barely spends any time here. She's cool. We like each other. We became good friends (she's actually my best friend), so that makes it easy living with each other.

"Hi Taylor! Hey, are you going to use the bathroom?" I ask her. She greets me and says "no, go ahead."

I put my backpack down and walk to my small dresser to take a nightgown, my underwear and my towel to the bathroom, to take a warm shower.

When I come out of the bathroom, I find Taylor sitting in her bed, crying.

"Taylor, what's wrong?" I quickly sit next to her. "Tito dumped me", she says, sobbing. That idiot! I never liked him! "What happened?" I ask her, and she tells me everything.

After listening to her for 15 minutes my stomach growls and I realize I am starving now. I tell Taylor to give me a few minutes to order a pizza so I can finally eat something. After ordering the pizza, we continue the break up story. I hug her and give her some good advice.

Thirty minutes pass and the pizza is here. 'Let's eat, Taylor!"

While eating she asks me about my day and I tell her how badly it went. I am actually glad that my awful day brings some amusement and laughter to her. I rather have Taylor make fun of my day than seeing her crying over that idiot who dumped her.

"Tell me about him", Taylor says with excitement.

"Ugh, girl, don't look so enthusiastic!" I say, throwing a pillow at her. Taylor laughs and teases me with Alexander Bailey. "He's a rich guy who I have nothing in common with." Taylor stares at me and smirks.

"Hmm, okay, but how is he, is he hot?" I spit some of my water and take a break from my pizza while I think about what to say next. I tilt my head remembering the snob.

"Well, he is handsome, tall, with an athletic body, black short hair, light skinned, black eyes and he wears glasses." Taylor smiles and I take a bite of my slice of pizza.

"Is he Latino, Black, White, Asian, Indian, Arabian?" Taylor keeps on going, suggesting more racial options. I laugh and say "I don't know. He looks Asian, but he also looks White." Taylor studies me and says "well, he sounds cute and this whole assignment sounds like trouble." I nod and smile, agreeing with her.

After finishing eating, I put on my headphones to work on my homework. Taylor lays down and stays on her phone, probably on social media. I don't have any social media, I don't like it.

When I finish my homework, I brush my teeth and get ready to go to bed. It is late already, almost 11 pm. Then, I remember I must pick my outfit now to cut the time of getting ready tomorrow morning.

I start getting my stuff together and suddenly Taylor says "I found him!" I turn to look at her, "Found who?" She stands up and comes to me. "Well, I think I found him, your partner, Alexander Bailey. He's all over the media. His stepfather is running for mayor. Is this him?" She asks, showing me pictures of him on her phone.

"Yes", I answer, without being able to take my eyes off the pictures. "Girl, he is fine!" Taylor moves her eyebrows up and down and I tell her to shut up, with a grin on my face. "Ooh, you're in trouble!" She teases. "Well, he is super serious, and rude, and controlling, and... I don't know what else, but I'm going to find out tomorrow. Also, I don't think he would be interested in someone like me."

"Nat, what are you talking about? You are hot, okay! Almost every guy who gets to know you develops some type of crush on you. Plus, you are smart, funny, talented, hardworking and a bit weird."

We both laugh at that.

"You need to give yourself some more credit, girl. Okay? You are as good as any of these rich bitches up in here, including me!" I laugh some more and tease her. "Especially you!" She gasps at my comment, pretending to be offended and pushes me.

I pull her in a hug. "Taylor, I don't think I could have ever survived in this school without you." She hugs me tightly and says "yes, you could, I just make it fun." She's right, but I truly appreciate her company. She's like family to me.

Taylor walks back to her bed and lays down.

"Tay?" I say, as I finish planning my outfit for tomorrow. "Yeah?" "Please, don't show me anything else about Alexander. I'm not supposed to look him up on any type of social media. Those are the rules of our assignment."

Taylor lets out a sarcastic chuckle. "Pss... Okay! Yeah, like people are actually going to follow those rules. I bet he already looked you up!" Maybe she's right... Well, good luck to him finding me. "Good night, Tay", I say to her, as I turn off the light and get in bed. "Good night, Nat."

While laying in bed I can't stop wondering about Alexander, and the pictures Taylor showed me flash through my mind. When I close my eyes, as I fall asleep, I see his intense black eyes looking back at me and his nervous smile... And I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can get to know the mysterious guy.