CHRISTOPHER
I wake to the sound of seagulls fighting, and I frown as I lean up onto my elbows.
Where the fuck am I?
I try to focus my eyes as I look around. The beach is full of power walkers doing their morning exercise.
What fucking time is it?
I shuffle around in my pockets and find my phone: 7:22 a. m.
Shit.
Hayden had to be at work by eight. I was going to walk her to work. I stand and look at the people sleeping on the sand around me. There must be at least ten of them.
What a crazy night.
Then I remember. Oh no . . . I have to work a twelve-hour shift in the gift shop today. I’m as seedy as fuck. What was I thinking, even going out?
One minute we were having harmless shots of tequila; next minute I’m waking up on a beach.
I begin to walk off the beach. “Where are you going?” a girl asks.
My eyes roam over her as she lies on the sand. A vague memory of her sitting on my shoulders floats through my mind. Hmm . . . did that happen?
“Home. Bye.”
I dial Hayden’s number as I begin to walk. No answer.
“Fuck.”
I walk faster. I call her again.
No answer.
I hurry as fast as I can back to the hostel, and just as I approach it, she comes down the front steps.
“Grumps,” I call.
Her face falls when she sees me. “Hi.” She turns and begins to walk up the street, and I jog to catch up with her.
“I’ll walk you to work.”
“No need,” she replies. “I’m fine.”
“I came back to-”
She cuts me off. “I’m fine, Christopher.”
“What’s up your ass?” I frown.
“Nothing,” she snaps as she walks faster.
I nearly have to run to catch up with her. “You really are living up to your name today.”
Her eyes nearly bulge from their sockets. “Go home . . . or back under the rock you just crawled out of.”
I frown. What?
She’s pissed at me.
We walk in silence for a while, her rushing and me half running to keep up with her. “Did something happen?” I ask her. “Have you had a blowup with one of the girls or something?”
“Oh my god . . .” She rolls her eyes. “Please go away. I am not in the mood for your player crap today.”
I stop on the spot. Huh?
Player crap . . .
The fuck is she talking about now?
A bus pulls up, and she climbs aboard. The doors shut in my face, and I watch it pull away.
Well, that was weird.
She really is fucking grumpy today. I turn and walk back to the hostel and into the room. Everyone is still half-asleep.
“Hey.” I flop down onto my bed.
“What the hell happened to you last night?” Bernadette asks.
“Too many things.” I sigh. I look over at her. “Is Hayden okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“She’s in the worst mood of all time.”
“No, she isn’t.” She shrugs. “Why do you say that?”
“She just seemed pissed at me, that’s all.”
“Oh.” She thinks for a moment. “Probably because of the girl you were with last night.”
“I wasn’t with a girl last night.”
“Yes, you were. We saw you.”
Horror dawns.
“I was with a girl . . . in front of Hayden?”
“Uh-huh. You walked down the street with her on your shoulders.”
“Oh . . .” I think for a moment. “But Hayden doesn’t like me like that.”
Bernadette raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”
“I mean . . .” I frown as I contemplate the answer. “Pretty sure.”
“Men are so stupid.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re all over her all the time, man,” Basil says with his eyes still shut.
“Because we’re friends,” I splutter in my defense. “She’s not into me like that.”
Bernadette rolls her eyes and drags the pillow over her head. “This is why there’s no hanky-panky with roommates, you fucking idiot.”
“I’m not getting any hanky-panky,” I snap.
“Spooning is hanky-panky.”
I begin to hear my heartbeat in my ears, and I stand in outrage. I don’t have to lie here and take this. “In what universe is spooning hanky-panky?”
“All universes,” Bernadette snaps.
“Women are fucking crazy.” I march out the door and then remember a very important piece of information. I put my head back around the corner. “Trust me, hanky-panky with me feels a lot better than fucking spooning.” I storm into the bathroom. I can’t sleep until I have a shower, so this suits me just fine.
I wash my body with vigor as I mutter to myself.
“She’s the one who didn’t want to kiss me . . . not the other way around. So don’t cry when you see me with someone else.”
Ugh, I’m infuriated.
“What does she fucking expect?” I scrub my skin until it’s nearly raw. “I need sex; she doesn’t. What does she want . . . me to be a fucking priest now?” I keep scrubbing. “And I didn’t even sleep with that girl anyway, for fuck’s sake . . . but if I did, who cares? Not me, that’s for sure.” I wash my hair. “I should march back to the beach and give it to that girl right there on the sand to prove a point.”
I keep washing myself.
“Hayden fucking Whitmore . . . the nun. How dare she be angry with me for being fucking normal.” The more I think about this, the more infuriated I get.
I get out of the shower and wrap my towel around my waist while I shave. I can’t believe I have to go to a fucking fun park gift shop today for twelve hours.
I squeeze the tube of toothpaste, and it gets stuck so I squeeze harder, and it spurts out and goes everywhere.
“Fuck’s sake,” I bark. “I don’t have time for this shit today.” I grab some paper towels and wipe up the mess. I pull on my clothes and walk out of the bathroom to see Eduardo standing by my bedroom door.
His face lights up when he sees me. “Hello, Mr. Christo.”
“Hello.” I force a smile.
“I came to see what you need of me today.”
“Nothing, buddy.” I tap him on the shoulder. “Go home.”
His face falls. “I was . . .” He stops himself and twists his fingers together as if nervous.
“What is it?”
“Could I please look at the phone for a minute? Just . . . quickly?”
“Oh . . .” I shrug. “Yeah, sure. Come in.” I open my bedroom door, and he looks around at everyone sleeping. I go to the drawer underneath my bed and take the phone out. It’s still in its box, and I pass it over to him.
He studies the box and turns it over and looks at the bottom of it.
“Sit down, buddy,” I say. “Take it out of the box and play with it. I’m going to try and have a quick sleep. I don’t start until eleven. That’s Hazy’s bed there. Sit against it if you want.”
He smiles and slumps down onto the floor. He excitedly opens the box and begins to look at everything in great detail.
I lie in bed and smile to myself as I watch him. This kid is the coolest thing in Spain.