2018-12-31: Claire Adifferent new years eve.
How long he’s been standing there, she doesn’t know. Leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed, that quirked little smile on his lips.
“Yayo! I didn’t hear you coming in…”
She turns the volume down on the radio, blushing a bit for indulging in the loud latino pop music as if she was one of the local girls swooning over this artist or that.
“Look, I’ve made some progress with the factors we spoke of last week. I think if we could get…”
“Claire.”
She pauses, her hand only slightly raised with the sheets of calculations to be presented for his view.
“Yes, Yayo?”
“Do you know what day it is today?”
She’s picked up a trickle of spanish, enough to gather from the radio’s hysterical blabbering that it’s new years soon. Maybe… today? He nods, confirms this with a wider smile.
“You need to get ready, Claire. The helicopter leaves in an hour.”
“Ready? But… where..?”
He hasn’t let her leave the compound at all. Not one, single time, no matter how much she pushed it in the beginning. The surprise is all the greater because of this.
“Come on, step outside. I have a present for you.”
She takes his offered arm, curiosity sparking in her eyes. A present? She loves surprises, but of course he knows this.
Outside the lab, in her rooms, Maria is waiting. The old lady seems almost unable to contain herself, and it takes a few seconds more before Claire understands why. There, on her bed… A dress splayed out, catching the light of everything in the room it seems. It’s cream gold silk, she thinks, but it’s really hard to tell since the entire gown is embroidered with tiny pieces of glass. It has to be glass, anyway, surely it can’t be jewels. That would be… No. Above it, an intricate necklace glimmers to match, beads hanging on gold chains in a pattern that makes it look delicate despite its’ size. A single pendant lies next to it, matching of course, for her one ear. High-heeled shoes stand ready beneath the bed, in a color so close to the dress fabric that they must have been made just to be worn with this gown.
She stops, hands going to her mouth involuntarily as she gasps. Beside her, Yayo looks on with a look that is both amused and pleased. “You like it?” “Like it? Yayo, it’s… It’s beautiful! I wouldn’t know how to carry it though, I’m not.. I don’t think I’ve ever worn something as exquisite as this…” She’s by the bed, trailing her fingers along the pieces of glass-jewelry and trying to imagine what she’ll look like, wearing this. “Maria will help you. Hurry on, now. We don’t want to keep your date for the evening waiting.” She spins around, mouth agape. Date? What? Anxiousness grips the insides of her stomach and she has to swallow a lump of fear. “...date?” “You’ll see. Now get ready.”
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Maria, blessed woman, does wonders. In just under an hour, the pale lab-rat is transformed into a star ready for any gala. Not only the dress and jewelry and shoes, but hair and makeup that make her look like a queen. She laughs at her own reflection in the tall mirror, clapping her hands and leaning down to hug the caring woman fiercely. “Maria, you wonderful being! I don’t know how you did it, but… Thank you!” Bring on this date, whoever it may be. Some old sicario probably, an honor for him and should be for her, but likely the most boring drag ever. Well, she’ll make sure to have fun no matter what. This is surely a different new year’s eve…
blink
She takes another sip of the lukewarm beer and looks around, leaning on the standing table that she magically still has to herself despite the busy night. Bored, haunted, annoyed. Well, she’d been determined to have some fun before running again, and this bar must be lowkey enough to avoid the police. The clothes are less fancy than she’d liked, just a black skirt above the knees and a red low cut blouse without sleeves. A slim necklace, just a thread of silver really. Lipstick to match, but judging by the smudge on her glass she’ll need to add to that soon.
“Why the gloomy face?” She looks up, surprised at the sudden intrusion into her sullen thoughts. A man stands there, broad-shouldered with light or maybe even reddish beard, with eyes so piercing that it’s as if he just looked at her and saw her entire history in there. She flashes him a smile, instinctively, hoping she doesn’t look too guilty. Too criminal. “Well, let’s just say I’ve had better new years’. So far, at least.” She nods to the empty space by the table, inviting him to put down his own beer there. “I’m Claire. Nice to meet you, mr..?” “Callum. Hi.”
blink
...than others she’s had. But those don’t matter any more, only this one does. Walking out on the terrace where Yayo and the helicopter are waiting, she feels as if she’s almost floating above the ground. Oh, this is going to be a night to remember!
He kisses her on the cheek when she hugs him, complimenting her looks and putting a cape around her shoulders. The night is warm, as always in Bolivia, but it’s going to be windy up there and she’s grateful. Laughing as his sicarios help her into the seat -those helicopter steps are not made for high heels!- she tries to contain her curiosity about where they’re going. Yayo doesn’t answer anyway, just shakes his head and says that she’ll know soon enough.
----------
Words wouldn’t have been enough to describe it, anyway. It’s a palacio nestled into the crevices of an impossibly beautiful natural reserve, lush vegetation in a multitude of greens cradling it against the cliffs where a waterfall cascades down into a pool of almost luminescent turquoise water. Submerged spotlights give it an extra hue of radiance. Music reverberates up through the canyon, enough to reach them as the helicopter swerves in to land. She can hardly breathe, this paradise seems too fine for such simple things as oxygen.
She’s glad for Yayo’s arm to lean on as he leads her into the extravagant New Years party. It seems everyone knows him there, she can feel him tensing up while greeting some and relaxing with others. He introduces her too, of course, to those of notice. She gets to meet those she’s only heard the names of before; El Cardenal, El Muro, La Reina de la Belleza, La Plaga… They have the shifty eyes of those who know to survive, and they treat her quite differently. Some scare her to the bone, others make her squirm from warmth as they shower her in compliments. Yayo doesn’t spare his, either, loudly proclaiming her skills as a chemist, how proud he is of her and what she’s done for him. When they’ve reached the end of the tour, her cheeks are practically on fire from blushing and laughing. It’s lovely. All of it!
In the end, there’s only one left to greet. She’s heard his name whispered in the hallways, and though she can’t see Yayo’s sicarios in the crowd any longer, she knows they would tremble if they were to stand in her place now. Yayo approaches the one who is above him with respect, no trembling, and she can but follow. El Sueño is terrifying in his own right, facial tattoos or no. But he’s courteous despite scrutinizing her with those predatory eyes of his, and after some exchanged pleasantries they’re free to go. “Well done, Claire. Now, let’s go find your date, shall we?”
The date! She’d forgotten all about that, but now the butterflies surge up en masse again and she snatches a frosted glass of sparkling champagne from the silver tray carried by. She doesn’t quite down its contents in one go, she does know how to behave at a luxurious party like this, but it would have been nice. And still not enough to stifle the nervosity.
She doesn’t recognize him until he turns around, made aware of their presence by Yayo’s tap on his shoulder. And then it’s enough to make her forget how to speak for a little while, since her confused brain has to piece together this striking, stunning figure with the crumpled front page of some teen magazine that Maria had gotten from one of her granddaughters. He’s in his telltale red suit jacket, his braided hair immaculately oiled and the shadow of a beard trimmed just so around his mouth and chin. And then he smiles down at her, and Yayo let’s go of her arm, and she has to behave like a grown woman again.
“You must be Claire? What a pleasure to meet you!” He leans over to kiss the back of her fingers, and a giggle escapes her lips. A giggle? How ridiculous she must seem! Was there something more in that champagne? She couldn’t care less. “I’m Marcelo Rios. But you probably know me as El Chido.” “Yes, I.. It’s very nice to meet you, mr Rios! May I call you that? Or should I say El Chido?” She’s babbling, stupid. But he laughs, and so does Yayo, and all is well then. “Tonight, you may call me Marcelo. Tell me, Claire, do you dance?”
----------
Outside the lab, in her rooms, Maria is waiting. The old lady seems almost unable to contain herself, and it takes a few seconds more before Claire understands why. There, on her bed… A dress splayed out, catching the light of everything in the room it seems. It’s cream gold silk, she thinks, but it’s really hard to tell since the entire gown is embroidered with tiny pieces of glass. It has to be glass, anyway, surely it can’t be jewels. That would be… No. Above it, an intricate necklace glimmers to match, beads hanging on gold chains in a pattern that makes it look delicate despite its’ size. A single pendant lies next to it, matching of course, for her one ear. High-heeled shoes stand ready beneath the bed, in a color so close to the dress fabric that they must have been made just to be worn with this gown.
She stops, hands going to her mouth involuntarily as she gasps. Beside her, Yayo looks on with a look that is both amused and pleased. “You like it?” “Like it? Yayo, it’s… It’s beautiful! I wouldn’t know how to carry it though, I’m not.. I don’t think I’ve ever worn something as exquisite as this…” She’s by the bed, trailing her fingers along the pieces of glass-jewelry and trying to imagine what she’ll look like, wearing this. “Maria will help you. Hurry on, now. We don’t want to keep your date for the evening waiting.” She spins around, mouth agape. Date? What? Anxiousness grips the insides of her stomach and she has to swallow a lump of fear. “...date?” “You’ll see. Now get ready.”
----------
Maria, blessed woman, does wonders. In just under an hour, the pale lab-rat is transformed into a star ready for any gala. Not only the dress and jewelry and shoes, but hair and makeup that make her look like a queen. She laughs at her own reflection in the tall mirror, clapping her hands and leaning down to hug the caring woman fiercely. “Maria, you wonderful being! I don’t know how you did it, but… Thank you!” Bring on this date, whoever it may be. Some old sicario probably, an honor for him and should be for her, but likely the most boring drag ever. Well, she’ll make sure to have fun no matter what. This is surely a different new year’s eve…
blink
She takes another sip of the lukewarm beer and looks around, leaning on the standing table that she magically still has to herself despite the busy night. Bored, haunted, annoyed. Well, she’d been determined to have some fun before running again, and this bar must be lowkey enough to avoid the police. The clothes are less fancy than she’d liked, just a black skirt above the knees and a red low cut blouse without sleeves. A slim necklace, just a thread of silver really. Lipstick to match, but judging by the smudge on her glass she’ll need to add to that soon.
“Why the gloomy face?” She looks up, surprised at the sudden intrusion into her sullen thoughts. A man stands there, broad-shouldered with light or maybe even reddish beard, with eyes so piercing that it’s as if he just looked at her and saw her entire history in there. She flashes him a smile, instinctively, hoping she doesn’t look too guilty. Too criminal. “Well, let’s just say I’ve had better new years’. So far, at least.” She nods to the empty space by the table, inviting him to put down his own beer there. “I’m Claire. Nice to meet you, mr..?” “Callum. Hi.”
blink
...than others she’s had. But those don’t matter any more, only this one does. Walking out on the terrace where Yayo and the helicopter are waiting, she feels as if she’s almost floating above the ground. Oh, this is going to be a night to remember!
He kisses her on the cheek when she hugs him, complimenting her looks and putting a cape around her shoulders. The night is warm, as always in Bolivia, but it’s going to be windy up there and she’s grateful. Laughing as his sicarios help her into the seat -those helicopter steps are not made for high heels!- she tries to contain her curiosity about where they’re going. Yayo doesn’t answer anyway, just shakes his head and says that she’ll know soon enough.
----------
Words wouldn’t have been enough to describe it, anyway. It’s a palacio nestled into the crevices of an impossibly beautiful natural reserve, lush vegetation in a multitude of greens cradling it against the cliffs where a waterfall cascades down into a pool of almost luminescent turquoise water. Submerged spotlights give it an extra hue of radiance. Music reverberates up through the canyon, enough to reach them as the helicopter swerves in to land. She can hardly breathe, this paradise seems too fine for such simple things as oxygen.
She’s glad for Yayo’s arm to lean on as he leads her into the extravagant New Years party. It seems everyone knows him there, she can feel him tensing up while greeting some and relaxing with others. He introduces her too, of course, to those of notice. She gets to meet those she’s only heard the names of before; El Cardenal, El Muro, La Reina de la Belleza, La Plaga… They have the shifty eyes of those who know to survive, and they treat her quite differently. Some scare her to the bone, others make her squirm from warmth as they shower her in compliments. Yayo doesn’t spare his, either, loudly proclaiming her skills as a chemist, how proud he is of her and what she’s done for him. When they’ve reached the end of the tour, her cheeks are practically on fire from blushing and laughing. It’s lovely. All of it!
In the end, there’s only one left to greet. She’s heard his name whispered in the hallways, and though she can’t see Yayo’s sicarios in the crowd any longer, she knows they would tremble if they were to stand in her place now. Yayo approaches the one who is above him with respect, no trembling, and she can but follow. El Sueño is terrifying in his own right, facial tattoos or no. But he’s courteous despite scrutinizing her with those predatory eyes of his, and after some exchanged pleasantries they’re free to go. “Well done, Claire. Now, let’s go find your date, shall we?”
The date! She’d forgotten all about that, but now the butterflies surge up en masse again and she snatches a frosted glass of sparkling champagne from the silver tray carried by. She doesn’t quite down its contents in one go, she does know how to behave at a luxurious party like this, but it would have been nice. And still not enough to stifle the nervosity.
She doesn’t recognize him until he turns around, made aware of their presence by Yayo’s tap on his shoulder. And then it’s enough to make her forget how to speak for a little while, since her confused brain has to piece together this striking, stunning figure with the crumpled front page of some teen magazine that Maria had gotten from one of her granddaughters. He’s in his telltale red suit jacket, his braided hair immaculately oiled and the shadow of a beard trimmed just so around his mouth and chin. And then he smiles down at her, and Yayo let’s go of her arm, and she has to behave like a grown woman again.
“You must be Claire? What a pleasure to meet you!” He leans over to kiss the back of her fingers, and a giggle escapes her lips. A giggle? How ridiculous she must seem! Was there something more in that champagne? She couldn’t care less. “I’m Marcelo Rios. But you probably know me as El Chido.” “Yes, I.. It’s very nice to meet you, mr Rios! May I call you that? Or should I say El Chido?” She’s babbling, stupid. But he laughs, and so does Yayo, and all is well then. “Tonight, you may call me Marcelo. Tell me, Claire, do you dance?”
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