Burning Up

Band-Aid

Within an hour of us getting back to our dorm and Prince whisking Nadia away on their date, I'd managed to make a lot of progress and my room was starting to look transformed. What had been my empty closet was now filled with neatly arranged clothes and my bed covered with crisp white sheets and a few soft cushions. I'd moved my desk from next to the door to underneath one of the large windows opposite it and my bed was now tucked into the corner, pushed up against the wall with its headboard underneath the window. I'd kept the decorations minimal but had hung fairy lights across the large bare wall that stood between my closet and the windows. The layout was now almost identical to Nadia's and the dorm looked much more like the ones I'd seen in films as a kid.

Whilst my walls still stood bare, I loved that Nadia's were littered with photos and I couldn't resist wandering over to her side of the room and kneeling on her bed to get a closer look. It made me laugh to see a record of many of our cringy phases, as well as childhood pictures and an unlimited number of drunk friends posing for photos, I'm sure they don't remember taking. I smiled as my eyes flickered over to one of her and Prince when they'd first met in 10th grade, she was learning into him and had her lips placed against his cheek as he grinned into the camera. It really had been love at first sight, and I'd be lying if I said there wasn't part of me that wished I could experience the same thing.

Glancing at the clock, I realised that it was closer to seven than I had thought. I jumped up off the bed and headed over to my closet. I'd changed into a comfortable pair of sweats and an old tank top to decorate and so stripped off quickly before wiggling into the same shorts from earlier.

As I was tugging on my fitted grey V-neck, I felt my thoughts drift back to Iago. There was something about him that intrigued me; that moment of connection, where our eyes would meet and that closed off demeanour that Nadia had described would disappear just for a second. Realistically it was probably just his seductive gaze, but the angelic part of me refused to believe that I could be that vain. It's not like I was a stranger to sexual attraction, or sex for that matter, but something about the way he looked at me made me want to know him beyond just physically.

I spent the next several minutes checking myself out in Nadia's standing mirror. I'd kept the same minimal makeup and put my hair back out of my face to make sure that wouldn't end up in someone's dinner, there were slight bags under my eyes from the previous night's adventure, but I hoped that in the low light of the restaurant, no one would notice.

Satisfied with my appearance, I pulled on my pair of worn in white air forces, grabbed my keys and headed out the door.

When I reached the doors of 'La Caleta' I felt my nerves grow. The warm august breeze had followed me from the dorm and was now curling around my bare legs and a dusky orange colour was starting to settle in the sky. I could see through the windows that it was teeming with people.

I held my breath as I pushed open the heavy doors, taken aback when I was hit by a wave of noise. It was a stark contrast to the quiet but upbeat vibe of earlier in the day, and what had been a sparsely filled room had now been transformed into a sea of colours, with people speaking animatedly over the soft jazz music. It was just the type of environment I was used to, and I knew instantly that coming here had been a good decision.

"Mila! Welcome. Come with me." I was greeted by Valeria, who took me warmly by the arm and led me through the restaurant, smiling and chatting briefly to customers as we passed them. "This is the back room." She said as we approached a small door at the back of the restaurant. Upon entering I noted that wasn't much larger than your average utility room. There were three grey lockers pressed against the back wall, with a few highchairs, presumable for customers with kids, stacked to the right of them. There were several other items placed neatly in a pile on the left, ranging from kitchen roll to ketchup sachets.