chapter 2 - broadening horizons

April, 2011.


The day they finally took the plane to Madrid, Roberto could feel the stare of Chloe’s father as sharp as a sword. It gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Convincing Chloe’s parents to let their precious daughter go to Spain with him was a difficult task. At first, they got pretty mad at Chloe, her mother cried a lot while her father didn’t say a word. His scowl looked etched in stone. However, Roberto knew what Chloe’s father was thinking. He was planning on going to the basement, loading one of his hunting rifles and shooting at him point blank.

To Roberto’s peace of mind, Chloe came to the rescue. She dealt with them with the silky touch of her voice. She spent a whole afternoon softening them up, working the magic of her angelic smile on them, until they ended up accepting her decision. While they were clearly not fully supportive of Chloe’s decision, they promised to give Chloe some good money to help her land on her feet.

In Spain, the young couple had settled on a spacious apartment that they had booked previously on the Internet. Furnished with some old furniture that had certainly lowered the price of their new residence, Chloe took the responsibility of decorating the place. As an architect, Roberto had taken some courses in interior design when he’d been pursuing his degree, but he knew Chloe had much better taste than him. It wasn’t even close.

The first weeks went by fast. While Roberto got used to his new job, Chloe focused on their apartment, which she turned upside down in a cozy but stylish way. As Chloe discovered Madrid through the eyes of Roberto, the coupled thrived. She particularly enjoyed when they would walk its streets during those spring midnights. Everything was very fascinating for her, as it all seemed new.

They talked about Chloe’s immediate and future plans. She was still a bit disappointed about the lack of calls she received from her portfolio back in London. Roberto encouraged her to send it over to some Spanish fashion companies, but Chloe didn’t feel up to it. She didn’t know how to speak in Spanish besides “Hola”, “Gracias”, “Paella” and some ‘spicy’ words that Roberto used during sex. “Perrita” or “Putita” didn’t seem like words she could use to guarantee her a job.

Until this moment, Chloe hadn’t had the need to learn her boyfriend’s native language. They always conversed in English. She knew that no Spanish fashion company would hire her until she could understand a bit more of the language. So, in order to fix that, they agreed that the best thing she could do for now was to take some Spanish classes and spend the rest of her time working on improving her portfolio with new designs and creations. It would be like she was taking a sabbatical.

This would give Chloe a bit more time to herself and she was looking forward to this less stressful time in her life. Maybe, during these sabbatical months, she could figure out what she really wanted to do with her life?

A month after their arrival, the apartment was fully decorated, and they decided to celebrate by inviting some of Roberto’s friends over for dinner. Chloe hoped to hit it off with some of them. She knew she could use a friend to go shopping with at the mall whenever Roberto was busy with work. Or better yet, a friend to grab a cup of coffee with and practice her Spanish! All things considered, Chloe was a bit nervous about meeting his friends, but Roberto calmed her down: “Chloe, you are like a croquette, it’s impossible to dislike you”.

“Do you think we have prepared enough food, baby?” asked Chloe.

“We have food for the U.S.A. army, cariño?” answered Roberto.

“Shit! We forgot to buy some diet coke. What if any of your friends want it?”

“Chill. We have beer, wine, tequila AND rum. We are fine, believe.”

“And vodka, remember” she laughed.

“I think you are alone for that bottle”

“Really? Well. That’s gonna be interesting. I bet you are going to have a very buzzed girlfriend at the end of the night”

Chloe looked exuberant in her long yellow sleeveless dress belted around her slim waist. Despite being as slim as she was, she was definitely not shy on the chest. Roberto couldn’t keep his hands off her, and she warmly reciprocated, until the moment right before his friends entered their apartment. In fact, when they greeted their first guests, he still had some bubble pink lipstick on his neck.

Natalia and Paco were the first to arrive. Roberto knew them from high school. They had been together since then and were already making plans to marry. They were a strange fit as a couple, Paco was a very big and fat type of guy, just like a bear, who talked very loudly; and Natalia was very short and shy, who spoked in whispers.

Right after them, Mari Ángeles and Julio showed up. María Ángeles was quite beautiful and had a very round bubble butt. They both looked like they hit the gym quite often as a couple.

The last one to arrive, late as always, was Carla. She came making an impression; it was quite obvious for Chloe that Carla wasn’t a shy girl like Natalia. Carla rapidly became the center of attention with some comments that were spoken far too fast for Chloe to understand.

Carla was super voluptuous. She had the curves of a mountain pass. Weighing around 220 lbs, her BMI would surely say that she was obese; Nevertheless, she had the weight so well distributed that she didn’t look fat. Or, at least, as fat as she was. Chloe caught Roberto staring at her huge boobs, but she couldn’t blame him. They were eye-catching. She was even doing it too.

The night went well for Roberto and his friends. However, not so much for Chloe.

At first, everyone made the effort to speak in English as much as possible so Chloe could understand what they were saying. But, Natalia, Mari Ángeles and Julio’s English was very bad. Their English was almost on par with Chloe’s poor grasp of Spanish. Trying to accommodate everyone, Roberto’s friends eventually settled on speaking Spanish with Roberto and Carla, who spoke the best English, translating for Chloe.

Chloe found the arrangement awkward, as she had to wait a few seconds to laugh at the same jokes as everyone else. It was like she was lagging in some online videogame. As the evening progressed and the alcohol started hitting, bringing its chaos into the stated order, it became more and more difficult for Roberto and Carla to translate for Chloe. Sometimes they were so caught in their own fast paced conversations that they couldn’t translate for her.

Often, despite listening carefully, Chloe didn’t understand more than a few separate words. Yet, Roberto and Carla still did their best to include her when they could. Carla asked her a lot about London and fashion design, but overall, it was just too difficult for Chloe to bridge the big language barrier.

Since she couldn’t talk like she wanted to, Chloe gave her mouth an occupation by focusing on food. Snacking and munching here and there made her feel a great deal less bored. By the time everyone started to leave, Chloe didn’t realize that she’d eaten quite a lot over the course of the night. When the last guest said goodbye, Chloe was drinking her vodka alone on the couch waiting for Roberto to return from the front door.

“So… How you liked them” asked Roberto, sitting right next to her. Giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“They seem cool. I wish I spoke their language so I could understand what they were saying” answered Chloe without looking at him.

“You mad?”

“No” she lied.

“Oh, yes. You are mad.”

“…”

“Oh, cariño. I’m so sorry. I should have paid more attention to you. I tried, but… fuck, after the tequila shots, I was having a difficult time to hold my own. Soy idiota. Perdón, cariño.”

“No more Spanish for today, please”

“Sorry.”

Without another word, Chloe walked over to the fridge and grabbed some ice cream and a very big spoon. For the first time of the night, Roberto could see how bloated she was.

‘Wow’, he thought ‘she really ate tonight’.

She came back to Roberto’s side and poured some vodka into the ice cream before she started eating it right from the container.

‘How is she still hungry?’ He wondered, as he noted how the ice cream made the frowny expression on her face soften.

“I’m really sorry” repeated Roberto.

“I know, baby. Carla and you did your best. It was just too difficult. I’m angrier at myself for not learning the language as fast as I want, than I am at you. After all, you hadn’t seen them in two years. You had a lot to talk about.”

“I don’t deserve you, your grace”.

“I know, my beloved slave. I’m kinda an awesome princess”.

“Is there a way I could make amends for my bad behavior?” said Roberto reaching for her boobs and massaging them with his hands.

“Yes.” Chloe hummed, “But Ice-cream first”.