The French doors closed with a thud, trapping the smell of freshly baked bread and coffee coming out of the kitchen; harried footsteps followed.
"Mama, Papa, I'm home!" Maria exclaimed.
"Welcome home, Maria." We missed you! Mrs. Santos hugged her daughter for a while before walking with her to the kitchen table.
"Let's go to the table for breakfast. I'm excited to hear your stories."
"Where's Papa?"
"You know where he is. Go and say hello after we finish eating breakfast. He started working on the car early this morning, so, that means that we can have lunch all to ourselves."
Maria reflected while resting after breakfast, as she returned home from a successful stint as a journalism fellow at the prestigious San Pablo Institute. Her martial arts training will help take her skills to the next level. Master Rafael had adjusted the schedule to accommodate her busy schedule, which was unheard of, but he also imposed high expectations. Everything was going as expected, and in the right order.
I hope I finish the training before I get a call from Dusty for another job. Maria's thoughts turned to her secret life as the best assassin in the business.
Ringgg... The ringing of the phone jolted Maria's senses.
"Hello, Patricia. What's up?"
"Hey, Maria. I heard that you were back. Let's go out for some drinks tonight."
"How on earth did you... I literally just put my luggage down."
"Never mind that. Wendy is in town too. We are meeting up at the Craft Beer. Are you in or not?"
"Of course I will be there. Bye."
"Say hello to Mama G for me. Bye love."
"Patricia says hello, Mama. We're going out tonight with Wendy."
"But you just got back. Aren't you tired?" Mrs. Santos' soft voice was telling her to stay.
"I'm okay, Mama. I will go home after a few drinks; I promise. I have work tomorrow." Mrs. Santos sighed a deep breath but Maria did not budge. "I will go up now to unpack my stuff. I'll say hello to Papa later." Maria hugged and kissed her mother, which brought out a smile on her face.
The two hundred kilometer drive from the San Pablo Institute to Maria's house wasn't enough to keep Maria from having a drink with her friends. She had an important presentation the next day so she had to be back home by midnight to get a full night's rest. Maria worked on her presentation the whole afternoon with the continuous tapping on the keyboard telling anyone within hearing distance: do not disturb, or else!
Done. I need to get dressed. It was already dark but Maria already knew what dress she will wear.
Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! The heavy footsteps going down the staircase was a familiar sound Mr. Santos missed.
"Hi, Papa. Bye. I'm going out with my friends." Maria gave her dad a hug and bade him good bye.
"But you just got here." Mr. Santos' words
"That girl!" Mr. Santos smiled.
Image by Klaus Hausmann from Pixabay
Ugh! Maria's heels broke. Sigh. I might need to change to flat shoes if I'm going to have fun tonight. Maria thought about the rest of the night with her friends as she went back inside.
"Did you change your mind? I'm ordering pizza."
"My heels broke, Papa. I'm going to change to flat shoes."
"Okay. I will order extra potato fritters just in case you decide to stay." Mr. Santos was teasing his daughter.
"It's an omen. You should stay at home with us tonight." Mrs. Santos pleaded jokingly.
"I'm going now, Mama. Bye." She slammed the door shut and walked faster with the new pair of shoes.
Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay
Boom!
Shit! This might be one of those nights. Maria rolled her eyes while thinking about how to handle the situation. "Well, I'm glad I changed into flat shoes and jeans." She said to herself.
The stars were out and the moon shone brightly illuminating the scene for passersby to see. Meanwhile, Maria was able to get the reserve tire and tools out. At she was doing this, an electric car quietly stopped a few meters ahead. A man got out and began walking towards Maria. Fully aware of what's happening, her pupils dilated while her heart began to beat slower. Maria purposely acted like a clumsy girl who didn't know what she was doing.
"Do you need a hand?" A strangely familiar voice rang loudly from afar.
"Yes, thank you!" Maria responded while evaluating the situation and trying hard to remember where she had heard his voice before. The confident steps and chiseled face drew nearer. Maria was now certain that she had met this man before, but she still couldn't pin down exactly where.
"Eric? Is that you?" Maria exclaimed.
"Maria? What a coincidence."
"Yes, it's me. When did you get back from abroad?" Maria's eyes glistened.
"I will tell you all about it later but first let's get this tire replaced." Eric smiled as he took off his sport coat.
Barely 10 minutes had passed and the replacement tires were in place. Maria smiled the whole time as she watched her old friend change the tires on her car.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Mendoza. I appreciate your help."
"You are most welcome, Ms. Santos. Changing the tires made me really hungry. Have you had dinner already?"
"I'm afraid I already have something tonight, but can I take a rain check on that? Give me your phone. Sorry." Maria rang her cellphone, hung up, and quickly got on her way.
"Not a problem. I am happy to help. Another time then?" Eric made a sad face and pouted playfully while Maria walked away. In his mind, he was thinking, Was this four-eyes chubs? I can't believe it. She's a hottie! Stop it, Eric.
Was that goofy Eric? Wow. He's blossomed into a hunk. What am I thinking? Stop it, Maria. Maria's thoughts were all over the place after that chance encounter.
Image by Kirill Averianov from Pixabay
Hey, Eric. Maria here. Sorry for running off earlier. Thanks again for helping me out. I'm now with my friends. Talk to you soon.
Maria sent a text message to Eric as she joined her friends. I hope he doesn't think that I'm ungrateful. Maria sighed.
"Hey, Maria. Nice of you to join us. Aren't we supposed to meet here ninety minutes ago?" Patricia was holding up her arms as if she had a watch.
"Sorry ladies. My car had a flat tire, but I have a juicy story to tell if you will forgive me for being late." Wendy and Patricia noticed Maria's eyes sparkling, looked at each other, and nodded their heads together. This paved the way for an interesting conversation while the three friends happily chatted the night away.
"You are both drunk. Let's go home now." Maria wanted to go home after a few hours.
"It's not yet even midnight, Maria. Let's have another round, Wendy!" Patricia shouted over the music. "I'm going to the ladies room."
"Bartender, give us another round!" Wendy ordered loudly.
Her slow progress and uneven steps showed that Patricia was drunk as a skunk. She bumped, and hastily apologized, to tables, chairs, and even the divider for smashing into them.
"Almost there..." Patricia said aloud.
Pak! Crash! The shattering of glass on the floor could be heard even with the loud music.
"Sorry." Patricia promptly apologized like clockwork and continued trudging towards the ladies room.
"Hey! Come back here." The drunken man was fuming after he was drenched in whiskey by the loud and obnoxious lady making her way towards the ladies room. "You will pay for this you little bitch!"
Maria was watching her intoxicated friend bump and knock things over. She could read the lips and the body language of the dude Patricia got wet with his drink, and it wasn't looking good. Maria immediately got up and started to walk towards the direction of the ladies room as soon as wet whisky dude began to insult and shout at her friend. Maria's demeanor turned serious. Her autonomic system flipped into fight mode. As she was about to pounce on her target, a guy came out of the men's toilet and put himself in-between Patricia and the whisky dude.
"Do we have a problem here?"
Whisky dude did not answer. Instead, he threw a sucker punch that missed. The guy stepped back to avoid the punch and countered with a leg sweep. He then quickly mounted whisky dude followed by a perfectly executed armbar.
"I give up! I give up! What's wrong with you, man?" Whisky dude was now retreating with his tail in between his legs.
"Personally, I would have gone for an Ezekiel choke but it might ruin your sport jacket. Anyway, thanks for protecting my friend. Did you follow me here, Eric?" Maria helped her friend up.
"Hmmm... It seems that you now owe me two dinners." Eric was grinning wide. His drinking buddies now standing beside them.
"This was the goofy friend who helped you with your flat tire? He's definitely a hunk. Why were you hiding him from us, Maria." Patricia blurted out without thinking.
"So, she's four-eyes? The girl you helped earlier with a flat tire? She isn't even wearing eye glasses now and is definitely not a fatty." Eric's friends said in chorus.
Image by Mynor Bejarano from Pixabay
After explaining everything, everyone was now having a fun time teasing Maria and Eric. It was already past midnight and Maria had to go home. What started out as a crappy evening turned into a happy and promising reunion with an old friend. Maria and Eric's smile looked like they had won the Super Lotto three times in a row and their friends could feel the romantic tension between them. They had a few more drinks before going home.
Maria was still smiling as she parked her car on the driveway. She got out and immediately felt that something was wrong. Her body tensed and all senses were now amplified.
"It's just me, Mara. We have work." Dusty came out from the shadows and handed over their next assignment. He left as quietly as he could.
Things just got more complicated, but I have made my decision. Maria sighed a long deep breath and got in the house while contemplating on her situation and the goal moving forward.