Work was coming along very well and I started to make friends. One day a few of the older guys invited me out. We went to the Dominican and Colombian district of the city called Cuatro Caminos (Four Paths). If Madrid had a ghetto, then this was it. Dominicans are just as dark as black people and I could sense the illegal activity in the area. We went to a bar/restaurant where I was introduced to 3 girls. I can only remember the long-legged, model-like, Puerto Rican/Spanish girl that spoke English with a strange aurora of danger about her.
Her name was Maria...
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| Maria |
We drank, danced, and laughed. The girls asked if we would like to come back to an apartment and hang out. We agreed. The apartment was small and cramped. We sat and listened to Spanish music. That's when Maria pulled out the marijuana. I was in the military and I hadn't done drugs in almost 3 years, but that was largely due to me not being around it. She rolled a joint, handed it to me, and said, "Toma!" (Take it!). I took it, inhaled, and felt a sensation that I hadn't felt since I was a teenager. She smiled a smile at me that seemed to hint more intentions.
Maria then said that she wanted to go back out but not to Cuatro Camino. No one else wanted to go out, so I saw an opportunity. "We can go to Lokua in Principe Pio," I heard myself say. She agreed. Maria and I got into her car and I had the ride of my life. She raced down the narrow streets of Madrid with no care, blasting Daddy Yankee, honking, and screaming at other people the entire way. Thank God Spanish cars have seat belts.
We arrived at the club and it was closed (as it always is on Friday's. hehehe). As we are standing there, she turned to me and asked casually in a foreign accent, "Where do you live?"
"Three blocks up the street."
"Vamos..."
We arrive at the hotel and we drifted through the lobby high, drunk, and lustful the entire way to the room. She walks in and looks around with one quick glance and tells me to turn on some music. Luckily I had some popular Spanish music on my laptop thanks to another friend.
Her name was Tiffanie...
She pushed me on the bed and as she was towering above, she began to strip. And when she was down to only her bra and panties, the lamplight reflected on her long, perfect, slender figure. I can see she works out.
I awoke to her face that next morning. It was picture perfect, even as she slept. My head was pounding and I was trying to shake off the weariness that comes with marijuana withdrawal. That's when I came back to reality.
Why did you smoke weed last night you fool? What if you're drug-tested? Why did you go home with her? She is obviously no good for me. What about ......
In that moment Maria woke up as if she could hear my thoughts. She looked at me, smiled and said a word that made me forget about everything else once again,
"Ven" (Come).
Her name was Maria.
Weeks later, I closed on my 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in Principe Pio and moved in. Tiffanie helped me. We went to the store and bought all the cleaning products and household goods that I would need. She is a good girl. Tiffanie lived in a town called Fuenlabrada which was an hour bus ride outside of Madrid, Spain. So when she came over, it was usually for the night and I never complained.
When I would awake in the morning, I would let her sleep in and when I returned home all the dishes were washed, my bed was made, and everything was organized. One night while strolling through the park she says to me, "Te quiero Gavin." In English, I respond, "I love you too". And I did love her. She was always there for me. It was always fun talking to her because, even though we didn't know all the right words, we never had problems understanding each other. Between Spanish class and Tiffanie, I could already speak a couple hundred words and I could handle myself in many situations where Spanish was involved.
But I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted. I was 21 years old, in a foreign country, and beautiful women were practically throwing themselves at the exotic Americans. It's only a matter of time before I'm tempted yet again. I could never bring her back to America without marrying her; and when it came to marriage, I could only think of the last thing my father said to me before I left home.
Don't get married and don't have any kids.
But I didn't want her to go. I just wanted to see other women too. So I did what many men before me have done and continue to do. I lied to her, and felt terrible every single time. She doesn't deserve that.
Maria and I saw each other sparingly. She came to my apartment a few times and we would smoke and drink and lie together. She was everything Tiffanie wasn't. Where Tiffanie was good and had values, Maria was dangerous and was morally bankrupt. Where Tiffanie would cook and clean, Maria would prefer to not to play house and provoke me into the bedroom. Where Tiffanie was obviously safer and good for me, Maria was dangerous and could cost me a lot. It wasn't love that I felt for Maria, it was lust.
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| Maria |
One Saturday night Tiffanie and Ronald Shuler were at my apartment. Ronald and I were to go out to 7 story club called Kapital. Tiffanie was going to go home. Then I hear someone ringing from the street to buzz them in. I went to go see who it was.
Shit.
I went downstairs.
"What are you doing here Maria?", I asked her annoyingly.
"What? You no love me no more? We go to Kapital and I want see you."
"You can't just show up without calling. You have to go."
"I have to go, do I? Esta muchacho. I want to use the bathroom."
What could I say? If I said no, then she would be more suspicious than she already is. If I said yes, then Tiffanie might see her.
Shit.
Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too. I do have a bathroom in the first part of the apartment, and as long as she doesn't walk into the living room, Tiffanie shouldn't see her.
"Ok come on."
We exited the elevator and I opened the door to my apartment. The bathroom was the 2nd door on the right and I stood by it to instruct Maria to use that one. She brushed by me and I was helpless to stop her from entering the living room. She walked in, made direct eye contact with Tiffanie, turned around without a word, and exited the apartment without using the bathroom.
She tricked me.
Tiffanie jumped up, grabbed her coat, and walked to the door as it closed. She looked through the peep hole and asked when were we leaving for the club. Great, now she is coming too. I can't say that we aren't going now, or else she would know that something was up. FML...
Ronald, Tiffanie, and I arrived at Kapital. It was large enough, and I convinced myself that we could avoid Maria. This club is the largest club in Madrid. Capable of reaching a capacity of 6,000 people. Each floor had a different genre of music. Techno on the ground floor, Pop on the second, Karaoke on the third, Reggaeton on the 5th, Hip-hop on the 6th, and a hooka lounge/VIP area on the top floor. We went the hip-hop floor and so far, I saw no sign of Maria.
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| Club Kapital (Madrid, Spain) |
While dancing and drinking, that is when I spotted Maria in the corner with her posse.
OMG this isn't happening.
They came directly to me with Tiffanie grinding on me. All the girls exchanged looks and Maria elegantly states, "You're not going to introduce us". I did and tried to grab Tiffanie to take her elsewhere. She shook my hand off and began speaking to Maria in Spanish. They were speaking so fast that I couldn't follow what they were saying. This isn't good.
After 5 minutes of conversing, Tiffanie looked at me and grabbed my hand to go to the dance floor. Maybe Maria kept her cool and didn't say anything. Tiffanie and I were dancing as Maria came up behind me. She started to run her and hand up my back. I swatted it away grateful that Tiffanie had her backside to me. Maria started fidgeting with my belt loop and I turned to her and said, "Stop It!" She kissed me full in the mouth. I pulled away terrified simultaneously wiping red lipstick from my mouth. She said, "You no like threesome?"
This bitch is crazy.
I grabbed Tiffanie and tried to walk out. She noticed Maria for the first time and they spoke again. I still couldn't understand, but Tiffanie turned to me and said, "VIP". God why is this happening to me.
VIP was the last place I wanted to be. There you could sit and talk with the music low on luxurious white furniture while smoking flavored tobacco from a over-sized Hookah . It was a nightmare.
In VIP the girls talked as if they were life-long friends. Laughing, smiling, and hugging as I sat there chugging Johnny Walker red label likes it's going out of stock. Maybe if I don't say anything, they will forget I'm here. Maria flashed me a smile and pulled out her phone as to give Tiffanie her phone number. NO! I jumped up and said it was time to go. Tiffanie and I left that instant. Ronald would be ok on his own. He did leave me at the Starbucks that day anyway.
Once home, Tiffanie and I undressed and laid in the bed. As I reached to turn the lamp off, she whispered my name.
"Gavin"
"Si mi amor"
She said that she wasn't stupid. Maria told her everything. She said that Maria said that we met when I lived at the hotel and that she had been to this apartment (there was something about how she said this apartment that I'll never forget). I had no response. She said that she understood. That I was young, in a new place, and I couldn't help myself. She wasn't mad. She asked me not to lie to her because she knows when I'm lying. I agreed in a fashion not unlike a scolded child.
"Me amas todavia?" (Do you still love me?) I asked her.
"Claro que si baby. Tu eres mi novio y soy tu novia para siempre" (Of course I do baby. You are my boyfriend and I am your girlfriend forever).
She fell asleep in my arms that night.
I saw Maria the next day at the famous Retiro Park in Madrid. It was 300 acres big and hundreds of years ago, it was where the Spanish Royal family would take their retreats from the woes of life. I felt this place was perfect for retreating from my woe.
I told her how I didn't like how she had been acting and someone could have gotten seriously hurt. She said that I was a big boy and that I knew exactly what I was doing. I had no one to blame but myself.
She had a point.
Desperate to end this conversation, I told her that I wasn't leaving Tiffanie and that I couldn't see her anymore.
Maria then moved extremely close to me, in a seductive manner, and kissed me right on my lips. When we broke away, she whispered, "Your loss" and vanished. I stood there wondering if I made the right decision.
The Maria Experience was over for now. Somehow I managed to keep the one girl that was more important. What I did was wrong and she still stuck by me. I can't make her feel that away again. She is all I need.
So what if I lost the dangerous, unpredictable girl. I still had the girl of my dreams and even through the language barrier she understood me more than I the English-speaking boriqua ever could. If she was upset about the other girl, she never expressed it to me. We continued along our relationship despite our encounter with temptation and deception.
Her name was Maria.
