Carlos hardly came out of bed. Truth was, he wanted to stay in bed all day long. He was in no mood for visitors, but he thought maybe his mother forgot her keys.
His heart skipped a beat when he realized this was not his mother knocking, but Samanta, smiling from ear to ear, shaking a paper bag in front of her face.
“Hello” she said, right before she jumped onto him with a big hug. “A little birdie told me you were feeling bad, so I brought some hotcakes Teresa made.
Although he loved the sight of her smiling face and hearing her musical voice, that morning he did not want to see her. Seeing her hurt a lot. He faked a smile and said hi.
“Hi, Sam. Come in” he answered begrudgingly.
Sam headed straight for the kitchen, ready to plate the food.
“Come on, they'll get cold” she yelled from the kitchen to have Carlos join her. “Your mother? There's some for her, too.”
“She went out early, I don't know where she went” Carlos sounded as though he was complaining.
Samanta came up to her friend, touched his forehead, then his cheeks …
“Oh! You poor thing. You have a fever. I brought you something for that as well” she put her hand in another, smaller, bag and pulled out some pills. “Have you taken any medication yet?” She asked.
Truthfully, Carlos' health was fine. It was his heart that was aching, shattered in a thousand little pieces. He attributed his high temperature to the fact that he had just got out of bed.
»Here, take these” Samanta handed him over two blue pills and a glass of water.
“Samanta, you really shouldn't be doing all this.”
“Shhh… let me take care of you. It's the least I can do for my best friend.”
That word again. “Friend,” it felt as though she had kicked him right in the liver and he could hold a painful face.
»What's wrong, Carlos? Something hurts?” She asked.
Her friend was obviously not alright and she was worried he did not trust her enough to tell her what was going on.
“It's nothing, Sam, no need to worry.”
“Oh, come on! We are best friends, you can tell me anything.
“Anything?” he wondered.
Sam nodded.
“Of course” answered Sam with a smile
“Fine!”
Carlos took a deep breath and hissed it out, he was pensive for a second, contemplating his answer. He looked at Sam and she let her breakfast down to pay attention to him.
«It's now or never».
HE looked in his friend's eyes. Samanta frowned as she noticed her friend acting strange. He only wanted one thing, getting lost in Samanta's lips. He had to bite his lips to hold himself back.
«Calm down, Carlos. No over dramatics».
He reprimanded himself mentally and backed off suddenly.
“Hey! Let's eat. Food's getting cold” he changed the subject.
Samanta crossed her arms and glared at him. She knew Carlos was keeping something from her.
“What the heck is going on?” Barked Samanta.
“Oh, Sam!” He took a deep breath. “I'm just worried about you” he said, rolling his eyes and letting the air out slowly. “Let's eat. I'm starving.”
Samanta was not buying it, she had to let it slip. There would be time to inquire calmly.
Comieron en silencio por unos segundos.
»I don't want you to get hurt” said Carlos out of the blue, breaking the silence. “I love you and…” he paused, savoring those words. «I love you more than you think», he said to himself.
“You're a doll. I love you, too” she got up and hugged him tight once again. “You're always willing to listen to me and help, come what may” she stood away from him. “I have always tried to be the strong independent woman, but somehow I always need to fall back on you, just like this. Opening my heart up to you.”
“You don't even know…” Carlos had to clear his throat, his voice was breaking, “I appreciate the confidence in me and that you can open your heart to me. I will always be there when you need me” he added.
Samanta could not take it anymore and bursted in tears. She felt very stressed with college, her over-protective sister and now Dominik in her life. She felt so many wonderful things for a person she had only just met and that terrified her. It was beyond her how that could be happening.
Carlos opened his eyes completely in awe. If anyone was to be crying right now, it should be him. Now he had to come up and hold his friend. Samanta simply cried her heart out on Carlos' shoulder.
»Sam, you need to be more careful in your decision making” he said, trying to profit from his friend's vulnerability to reprimand her.
“Yes. I know. I'm an idiot. I always fall for the pretty boy, chased by every woman and always turns out to be a tool in the end.”
Carlos shut his eyes close hearing that word among every word Samanta said: “fall.” He felt a freezing chill taking over his whole body. His suspicions had just been confirmed. Samanta had very intense feelings for Dominik.
“How can you fall in love with someone you barely know?” Carlos s backed off from her with a push. “Are you out of your mind?”
Was she out of her mind?
Samanta could not understand how she had all these feelings for Dominik, but, what broke her was her friends reaction. He never judged her
»That's your damn problem” continued Carlos. Samanta opened her eyes in horror. “You go by appearances, and never look beyond that. It was the same thing with Alan. You let the most handsome guy in school dazzle you, the one every girl wanted, the bad guy every bimbo sighed for” there was so much resentment in his words. “Now comes mister “I can screw whomever I want" and you lose your mind over him.”
Samanta felt like she was being slapped without contemplation. She never imagines her friend would treat her like this. Carlos was on the brink of tears, but his anger was even bigger for not being corresponded.
»It's always me who ends up with my shirts stained in mascara when the tools uses you and ditches you in the end. It is me who puts up with your whining and complaining.”
Carlos let it all out and Samanta listened, without saying a single word. She felt as though he was stabbing her heart. The saddest part, he was right. She was stupid for feeling the way she felt for a complete stranger.
“I just wanted…” she tried to talk, but her sobbing stopped her.
“What did you want, Samanta? You wanted me to pat your shoulder and tell you everything is going to be fine?”
“I needed your advice” she managed to say.
“For what? You always end up messing around with the douche-bag you breaks your heart.”
“Alan was a mistake. How long will you and my sister keep bringing him up?”
“Damn it, Sam! Why can't you see it?” Carlos lost his patience.
“See what?” She said. She was very confused.
Carlos stopped on his tracks. Seeing her so fragile, so hurt, with her bloodshot eyes and her congested nose. In his eyes, she looked gorgeous.
“That I… Love you” Carlos whispered. Samanta's jaw fell on the floor. “I love you like a crazy. You're the only one who makes my heart beat this hard. Can't you see it kills me? Seeing how those guys won't ever value you the way I do?” his confession made Sam completely paralyzed. She had no words. She didn't know what to do. “I have no idea when this happened, but I am in love with you” Carlos came up to her and brushed her cheek with his hand, drying the tears running down. He looked straight into her eyes, without a second thought, he locked his lips on hers.
While, for Carlos this was like touching Heaven with his own fingers, Samanta could not seem to find the way to snap out of her shock. She let the kiss last a couple seconds, after a moment, she softly pushed him away.
“I’m sorry” she muttered. “I didn't know. I never imagined. I never wanted to hurt you. I'm so sorry, I… I…I better go… I'm so sorry.”
Sam ran out of Carlos' house and he tried to run after her, but Samanta was fast enough to cross the street and run into her own house, leaving Carlos with his heart on his sleeve.