Maria
Around twenty minutes later Maria parked her car by the beach and walked along the sand to where Howie was sitting. It was around 10pm and the beach was empty. The sky was a gorgeous purply colour and the ocean looked almost black. She sat next to Howie and gazed up at the sky.
“I love it when it’s that colour.”
He looked at her with a smile. “Me too. Hi Maria. Thanks for coming.”
She shrugged and handed him his phone. “I needed my phone back too.”
“Of course.” He handed her hers and they both put them in their pockets. “I like the beach best when it’s empty like this.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ll go.” She started to stand up but he put a hand on her bare arm. The touch made her shiver slightly.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” He removed his hand and smiled. “Let me re-phrase. I like the beach when there’s only two people on it. Better?”
Maria laughed. “Ok.”
They sat in silence, staring out at the ocean for a while. Then she shivered – this time because of a chilly breeze. Howie looked at her. “Let’s go find someplace warmer.”
They stood up and started walking. Maria glanced across at Howie. “You don’t have to hang around to be polite.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Ok, just I wouldn’t be offended or anything…”
“I know. It’d be nice to just talk to you Maria.” He looked at me cautiously. “Unless… You’re kinda tryin’ to tell me you want to escape?”
She shook her head with a laugh. ”I guess we’re both just paranoid.”
He grinned. “I guess we are.”
They reached her car and she gestured towards it. “This is mine.”
“Mine is parked just down there.” He gestured towards a distinctive purple corvette. “How abouts you follow me?”
She agreed, knowing it’d be kinda hard to lose a car that colour and they both climbed into their cars. She stayed pretty close behind him all the way. At a stoplight, her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.” Maria smiled to herself – he had become a ‘me’ already. “Would it be too weird if I took you to my place? It’s just I think most restaurants would be closed right now and I could cook us somethin’. That’s if you’re hungry? I mean, I am but…”
“Howie, relax. That sounds good.”
“Yeah? Great.” He was silent for a while. “Don’t you just hate stop lights?”
She laughed. “Yeah. They should put entertainment on.”
He laughed. “Yeah, like a band or something.”
“Maybe you should suggest that to the other guys.”
“A stop light tour? Cool.” He laughed. “Coming soon to a light near you.”
“I’d pay to see that,” she said with a giggle.
“You might be the only one.”
“Oh c’mon! You’re the BACKSTREET BOYS. People’d pay to see you playing in a dumpster.” The lights changed to green as he laughed at her comment. “And we’re moving again.”
“Yup,” he said. “Thankfully. I was about to go all Michael Douglas.”
“I saw that film!” Maria exclaimed. “Where he goes psycho after getting stuck in a traffic jam and starts shooting up the place?”
“Yup, that’s the one. AJ made me watch it last week.”
“Didn’t you like it?”
“It was ok. More an AJ film though.”
She laughed. “What else is an AJ film?”
“Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Godfather Trilogy, Heat…”
“So basically anything violent?”
“Yup, that’s AJ.”
“What’s a Howie film then?”
“You’re gonna laugh.”
“I won’t. Promise.”
“Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory is one of my favourites.”
“Oompa Loompa,” Maria laughed lightly. “No, it’s good.”
“See! You laughed. I like a lot of stuff really. I saw Captain Corelli’s Mandolin last week and it was great.”
“I read the book.”
“Jeez, you’re one of those book types?”
“What’s that?”
“Y’know, you read the books and hate the film versions.”
“Close,” she laughed. “Nah, I’m not that bad. I want to see the Mandolin film.”
“Totally worth it. Oh, here we are – my place. What do ya think?”
Maria stared out of the car window at the huge white building in front of her. “Uh, it’s BIG… Tell me you don’t live in ALL of it?!”
He laughed. “No, it’s an apartment block. But my family owns it. I have a place on the sixth floor.”
She sighed. “That was me sighing in relief.”
He laughed again. “Ok, well… Time to do the talkin’ face to face.” He clicked off the phone and she put hers away.
Maria climbed out of the car and joined him at the door. They walked inside and caught an elevator up to the sixth floor. Howie’s place was number 608 and they headed inside. Maria stopped to stare at the apartment’s layout. It was open plan, with a huge lounge leading into a kitchen area and a bedroom area on the other side. Right in front of her were the doors to a balcony. She headed towards them and looked out over the balcony. The view was breathtaking – the beach, the ocean and palm trees. Howie joined her and smiled at the expression on her face.
“Great view huh?”
“Just a bit!” She laughed. “I guess you picked the best view.”
“Of course. Gotta have SOME perks.” He turned away from the view and faced her. “So, what can I make for ya?”
“Uh, anything. I’ll eat most anything.”
“Are you real hungry?” She shook her head and he headed into the kitchen, Maria following. “Me neither. How ‘bout tortilla chips and dip?”
“Sounds great,” she said. “Can I do something?”
“Nup. I got it covered – pull open a bag of chips and unscrew the dip lid.” Maria laughed and sat down as he did what he said. He brought it over to a table between the couches and sat opposite her. They both started eating. “So Maria, which part of England are you from?”
“I was born in Stourbridge but moved to London about two years ago.”
“Stourbridge? I don’t know it.”
“It’s a small place near Birmingham.”
“Oh, I know Birmingham. We’ve played there a few times.”
“I know. You stayed in Stourbridge.”
“We did?” He looked confused. “How do you know?”
“The Copthorne hotel,” she explained. “I used to work there and all the screaming fans outside were kinda hard to miss.”
“Oops,” he laughed. “Hope we didn’t cause TOO much trouble.”
“Nup, we were used to it.”
“Did we ever meet there?” he studied her face intently as he asked.
“Nup, not that I remember.”
“Oh, ok. Why the move to Florida then?”
She shrugged. “Fancied a change. The usual.”
“Do you like it here?”
“Oh yeah! Sun, sea, sand… What’s not to like?!” He chuckled and she settled back into the couch. “So, how long have you lived in Florida?”
“All my life. I was born in Orlando.”
“A lucky native huh?”
“Yup,” he grinned at her. “But my family are from Puerto Rico.”
“Oh!” she smiled. “Mi familia es espanol.”
“I THOUGHT you might be! You look latina.”
“I do?” she asked sarcastically. “What gave it away? The black hair?” Maria flicked her long tousled hair back exaggeratedly. “The dark eyes?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him and he laughed. “Or, was it the dark skin?”
“The legs actually,” he chuckled.
She raised an eyebrow, “A legs man huh?”
“All the way!” he said proudly.
“Ugh, un macho tipico!” She rolled her eyes and reached for another chip as he laughed.
“Tu conocer ello!”
“I do,” she grinned and dipped the chip before taking a bite. “Mmm…”
“You should try my mom’s tortillas.”
“Any time!” Maria laughed. “I never turn down good Spanish food.”
“Me neither,” Howie grinned. “Do your parents miss Spain?”
“Yeah but they go back a lot. I think they’ll retire there. They moved to England 23 years ago when I was a few months old.”
“Do you feel English or Spanish?”
“Hm, hard question,” she thought for a while before answering. “Spanish I guess. I’ve been brought up in that culture.” She looked at him. “How about you?”
“Puerto Rican, definitely. For the same reason.”
“Do you go there a lot?”
“Oh when I can. I have a place out there,” he smiled happily. “It’s like my retreat almost.”
“Wow,” she sighed. “I’d love to visit Puerto Rico some day.”
“Oh you’d love it. Hey, next time I go…” he didn’t complete the invitation and Maria took it as a hint to check her watch and stand up.
“I better go already. It’s past 1am.”
“Already?!” Howie laughed and stood up. “I enjoyed meeting you Maria.”
“You too Howie,” they walked over to the door. “And thanks for the food.”
“No problem.”
“Bye Howie,” she smiled at him and headed down the corridor to the elevators. She pressed the call button and heard Howie close the door behind her. She sighed quietly. She was confused. She had really liked being with Howie and thought that maybe he felt the same way… But obviously not. He had just let her walk out of his apartment and out of his life. The elevator doors opened just as Maria heard a noise behind her.
“Maria!”
She turned around to see Howie walking towards her. She felt a little shiver go racing through her body and tried hard not to show it. “Hey,” she said casually.
“I…uh… Maybe we could do this again? Some time?”
She smiled, “I’d like that Howie.” She searched through her bag and produced a business card. “That has all my contacts on.”
“Thanks,” he took it. “I’ll call you.”
“Ok. Well, bye Howie,” she stepped into the elevator just as the doors closed.
Next...
Back To Fiction