Translation of Love - By Alice Montalvo-Tribue Page 0,13
are you in town for?” Why am I asking him that? It’s not like I even care.
“Don’t know. A day or two maybe.”
We finish dinner and I’m thankful when we get back in the car. I know that this is all gonna be over soon. I can go back to my life and forget about Victor. He’ll be gone soon enough; I just have to make it through a car ride home.
“Thank you for dinner, it was really great. I had a good time.”
“I’m glad, but it’s not over yet, the night is still young.”
What the hell! I agreed to dinner, nothing else. “What do you mean? Where are we going?” I wonder if he can see the panic in my eyes.
“You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise?”
“Yup.”
“Can you at least give me a hint?”
“You’re gonna let the kid in you out for a little while.”
“That’s a horrible hint!”
He laughs. “Trust me, it’ll be fun.” I want to tell him that I don’t trust him. That I don’t trust anyone with the exception of my family and Jordan, but I don’t because, strangely, I sort of do trust him. That’s what scares me most of all.
A few minutes later, we pull up to a building that looks like an old, abandoned warehouse. The parking lot is full of cars and there are a few people standing outside of the building smoking cigarettes.
“What is this place?”
“How long have you lived around here and you don’t know what this is?”
“Forever! Now what is this place!”
“It’s a roller skating rink. I thought it might be fun.”
“Ummm… I don’t roller skate.”
“Hmmm, I was hoping you’d say that!”
“Why?”
“Gives me an excuse to hold your hand.”
“Clearly, you don’t need an excuse for that.” I say sarcastically.
He throws his head back and laughs. Even his laugh is beautiful and I like that I’m the one who has made him do it.
“Well, at least now I have a valid reason to do it.” I roll my eyes but I give him a smile too. He grabs my hand and pulls me into the building.
“Come on, smartass, let’s go have some fun.”
Looking around, I’m shocked to find that we aren’t the only adults here. I guess roller skating is a popular pastime around here. After we are both fitted with a pair of roller skates, he grabs my hand and starts to pull me into the rink. I resist his attempt and pull him back.
“Oh my God, let’s not do this,” I say shaking my head.
“Come on,” he says through a chuckle, “you’ll be fine.”
“This doesn’t bode well for my accident free day.”
“I won’t let you fall, I promise. And if you do, I’m sure I’ll go down with you.”
“Damn right!”
“Okay, but you can’t be this tense! You have to loosen up a little.” I take a breath and relax my limbs.
“Much better. Now just hold on to me. We’ll go slow, okay?”
“Okay.”
He pulls me into the rink and makes sure that I’m steady before slowly going around the rink. True to his word, he keeps hold of me and goes slow. So slow, in fact, that little children are passing by us but I don’t care. I’m just concentrating on staying upright.
“How ya doin?” he asks, his lip twitched up in a half smile.
“I’m still standing.”
“Are you having fun yet?”
I nod and I can’t help but smile at him because the truth of the matter is I am having fun. I can’t remember the last time someone has challenged me, even with something as trivial as roller-skating. It feels good to let loose and enjoy myself for a little while without the pressure of keeping all of my emotions at bay. Victor spins me around and I actually laugh. Me, letting out a real, uninhibited laugh. Normally, I only show honest pieces of myself to Dad, Gavin and Jordan. I allow them to see the lighter side of me, when I’m happy or silly but I never show them the sadness. The parts of me that are broken. I reserve that for myself at night when I’m alone with my thoughts and sleep evades me. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know those parts of me exist. I’m sure they wish I’d open up to them even more than I normally do. Even still, they are the only ones that get any part of me that’s real. Everyone else gets the me that is reserved. They get the me that watches her surroundings carefully and only shows the emotions