Perspectivas
So. This is what I have ben working on yesterday. A hyperlink text called Perspectivas.
One story. Four perspectives.
Basically, after the introduction, you choose a person's PoV, and after each chapter, you can decide if you want to stay with this person's PoV, or change to someone else's PoV via hyperlinks.
This story is written in Spanish, English, and German, so to read all four PoVs, you need to understand all three languages (or use google translate...xD). Each part can stand alone too, though. So, therefore, you've got my two PoV's here, both main characters: Steven and Jaime.
Steven
Chapter 1:
The first thing I notice when I enter the bar is the smell of sweat and alcohol. The second thing I notice that it is far too crowded and loud for my liking. It’s not like I don’t enjoy going out from time to time, be it a night of dancing , drinking, flirting in some bar , or an evening of football and beer with some buddies in a pub, but today I’m not really in the mood for any of that and I only agreed to come along because David’s been bugging me for ages, saying he’s worried that I’m getting a bit lonely and grumpy lately and therefore, as he put it so nicely, I really need to get laid.
So, here we are, sitting at some table in a crowded bar, David keeps pointing out some girls to me and I try my best to nod and smile politely and keep myself from snapping at him. While I do appreciate David’s effort, my love life is really none of his business. There are a few pretty girls, a tall dark-haired girl with long legs, a cute little blonde, but none of them really blows me away.
I get bored quickly and the thought crosses my mind that could just get wasted, that’d surely lighten up my mood a bit (or at least make David’s attempts of spicing up my love life more bearable), when it occurs to me that actually, we don’t have any drinks yet. Perfect. I shout „Ich hol uns mal zwei Bier!“ when David is busy scanning the crowd for more potential flirts, and make a quick getaway.
Chapter 2:
It takes a lot of pushing and shoving to reach the bar, and just when I try to squeeze myself into a free spot close to the counter, someone stumbles and crashes into me, making me lose balance too and trying to grab a hold of the counter I manage to knock over someone’s drink. Great, I think to myself, this keeps getting better and better.........not.
The owner of the spilled drink is already turning towards me with a frown on his face, so I apologize quickly.
„Está bien“, he replies, and the frown quickly turns into a sheepish smile when he adds „....ist gut, nichts passiert!“ in heavily accented German that, for some reason, makes me smile as well.
„¿Eres español?“, I ask him with an accent just as heavy, trying to gather what little Spanish I’ve learned since the beginning of the semester a few weeks ago. He nods, and he is really smiling brightly when he replies. „Sí, soy de Madrid. Y tú, eres austriaco?“
„Inglés“, I say, grinning when I see his surprised expression. „¿Verdad?“ He laughs. It sounds nice. „Qué hace un inglés en Austria?“ It takes a while until I’ve translated the question in my mind, but once I understand it, I can’t help but laugh too. „I could say the same about you! But yeah...“ Hastily I try to throw some words together. „Mis padres, uh.... trabajan aquí en Vienna. Vivo aquí... desde ocho años?“ I’m the one smiling self-consciously now, hoping that what I said was at least halfway correct, but my counterpart keeps smiling and nodding encouragingly, so it can’t be too bad.
„Pues, yo estoy en Viena porque quiero aprender aléman“, he tells me then, speaking slowly so that I am able to understand him easily. „Y antes que me olvide, me llamo Jaime.“ He holds his hand out to me. „ Is nice to meet you.“
I need a moment until I can shake his hand and stutter a sheepish ‚Me llamo Steven’, because.... his. Accent. Is. Simply. Amazing.
I’ve always had a thing for Spanish accents, I’ve always found them somewhat seductive and exotic, but coupled with that smooth but somehow slightly rough voice it makes my heart skip a beat. Well, that and the question ‚What the hell are you thinking, this is a guy you’re talking to!?’
Luckily I am saved from embarrassment and further thoughts by the barman, who eventually notices the spilled drink and comes over to wipe the counter clean and take our orders. Despite his defiant protests, I buy Jaime a drink, and we fall into back into comfortable chatter, telling each other more about ourselves, and I can’t help but notice the way Jaime gestures while he talks (he has such small and fragile hands, I wonder how it’d feel like if I held them.... wait, WHAT?!), the way he bites his lip and frowns when he is looking for the right words (his lips look so soft I can’t help but imagine to... - STEVEN what are you thinking?!?), the way his eyes light up when he talks about his family (I could look into those eyes for the rest of forever... - Okay, what the hell, it’s getting creepy now, why do I notice all these things?!), until all of a sudden there’s a hand on my shoulder and I hear a vaguely familiar voice saying „Steven, was machst du denn hier? Wie geht’s dir?“
Chapter 3:
Somewhat bewildered I spin around and find a small, pretty girl standing there front of me, looking at me expectantly. She does look familiar, but I have no idea where I could have met her before. Thank God she quickly notices that I don’t recognise her, and introduces herself again.
„Ich bin’s, Maria. Wir haben uns in Barcelona kennengelernt. Ya sabes... letzten Sommer!“
...........oh. Yes, now I remember her, and together with that the reason why I didn’t recognise her in the first place, plus the massive hangover straight from hell I’ve had after that night of partying hard.
„Ah, Maria! Entschuldigung, ich hab dich gar nicht mehr erkannt! Schön dich zu sehen!“ I can only hope my smile is convincing, because right now it’s definitely not nice to see her. On the other hand, she is distracting me from Jaime, which is, at the moment, quite a good thing, because there’s that funny feeling in my stomach whenever I so much as look at him, and that’s pretty much the last thing I need right now.
„Wieso hast du nicht angerufen?“, she keeps on chattering to resolve the awkward silence. „Also ein Gentleman hätte sich nach einer Nacht wie dieser gemeldet!“
...and this is the point where it all goes to hell. I catch Jaime giving me a strange look. I’m sure he hasn’t understood the whole thing, but apparently he does realise that there was something between María and me. I’m not sure what exactly he’s thinking, but when his gaze shifts from me over to María, it occurs to me that maybe he might be jealous? Maybe he thinks I’m still interested in her? ......Maybe he likes her?
Ouch, that thought hurts a lot more than it actually should. Which brings me back to my feelings (Did I actually just say feelings?! Oh, dear...), which adds confusion to awkwardness and being slightly wounded, which is not good at all...
Thank God I spot David heading over towards us, just at the right moment. I wave and hand him the beer I ordered for him earlier, apologising that it took me so long (after all, I did say I’d get one for him as well, I just got.... distracted....), and introduce him to Jaime and María.
Chapter 4:
The mood is lightening up a bit now, even though there’s still obvious tension in the air, and María starts to chat away again, this time about an innocuous topic, her studies. There’s only so much time of smiling and nodding politely that I can take though, and I start to sneak quick glances at Jaime after a while. After exchanging a few friendly words with David he went back to just sitting there, frowning absentmindedly, giving only monosyllabic answers to María’s attempts to make him participate in the conversation, and radiating an intense aura of I’m-angry-I-don’t-want-to-be-here-leave-me-alone. I wish I knew how to cheer him up again, because I really want to see that smiling, happy, cheerful guy from earlier again, and when I remember his smile and his laugh, the rest of the conversation fades away and I’m alone with my thoughts. By now I’ve figured out that I actually really might have a little crush on him. And I have no idea at all how to deal with that, especially now that I am quite sure he’s in love with María. This evening keeps getting worse and worse, and I’m pretty sure it has hit rock bottom when María catches me looking at Jaime. She looks at me questioningly for a second, and I feel like a little boy who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Damn it. I force myself to pay attention to the conversation and make my thoughts stop wandering to Jaime all the time. Thank God I don’t have to do that for long, as David and María disappear after a few minutes.
Jaime and I are alone now. I guess that’s my chance.
„Hey, look“, I begin. „This night with María. It doesn’t mean anything, neither to me, nor to her...“ „Está bien“, he cuts me off sharply. „You don’t have to explain.“ But after a minute of silence, he looks up at me again, this time apologetically, and smiles sadly. „Is just her“, he says. „She always gets what she wants. Is okay, don’t worry.“
Well, at least the tension is gone now. The only thing that remains is a distinct air of sadness as we sit together and drink in silence.
But of course, just when I was getting comfortable with it, María comes back. She whispers something into my ear and drags me away from where I was sitting until we’re out of earshot of Jaime, and then she starts speaking again in Spanish, too quick for me to understand, and writes a phone number on a small paper. Eventually she realises that I am just staring at her quite dumbfounded and have no idea what the hell she is talking about, and launches another rapid speech, this time in German.
„Hör zu, Steve. Jaime mag dich, okay? Ich weiß es. Aber er ist schüchtern, und wegen der Vorgeschichte zwischen dir und mir haben wir jetzt noch ein zusätzliches Problem. Hier ist seine Nummer, ruf ihn später an!“
Okay. Now I am even more dumbfounded and can only stare at the little sheet with Jaime’s number on it while I try to process what she has just told me. I only get as far as ‚Jaime mag dich, okay?’, because after that the butterflies in my stomach go crazy and I can’t think straight anymore.
Chapter 5:
The first thing I notice again is that María is gone, and I am still staring at the little paper in my hand. Shaking my head to clear up my mind, I turn around and go back to where David is standing alone now.
Still in a bit of a reverie, I take out my mobile phone and begin to type a message... but, like your classical teenie who’s in love for the first time, I can’t find the right words. Or any coherent sentence, actually, I am still too busy trying to process what the hell has actually happened tonight. I fell in love. With a guy. And apparently he likes me too. This shouldn’t feel so good, right? Anyway. Considering just how good it feels, I pull myself together and write him a message.
To: Jaime
13/11/2012, 22:52
„Hey, it’s me, Steven. I’m sorry that this evening didn’t go very well, but I’d really like to see you again, so how about we try again another time, just the two of us? : “
This time I press the ‚Send’-button quickly before I can delete it again. The next few minutes feel like the longest minutes in my entire life, and I can’t keep myself from checking my phone every few seconds until it finally buzzes in my hand.
(1) new message
From: Jaime
13/11/2012, 22:57
„I think is a very good idea. :) call you tommorow!“
I think I’ve never ever grinned like this before, and not only because of the bad (cute) grammar. Maybe this evening wasn’t so bad after all.
„Na, erzähl schon, wem hast du geschrieben? María?“
.....oh. I look up surprised and see David looking at me strangely. Somehow I totally forgot about him.
„Nein, wieso sollte ich María schreiben?“, I answer, somewhat confused.
„Wessen Nummer war das sonst?“
I can only just stop myself from saying something like ‚Jaimes Nummer, natürlich!’. Since not even I have figured out how to deal with this properly, I really don’t want to know how someone else would react to it.
„Ähm....“ I frantically try to come up with a plausible answer. Hello, brain? You there?
„Ach, weißt du, es ist nicht so wichtig.“ ......great. How creative. Of course David knows immediately it’s a lie, but he doesn’t push the issue further and just keeps giving me that weird look. I already start to feel relieved and think I’m off the hook....
„Jaime?“
In shock, my head spins around fast enough to possibly give me whiplash. David stares at me in surprise, and I’m so embarrassed that I just wished I could vanish into thin air... but then he breaks into a huge grin.
„Ja wieso sagst du das nicht gleich. Da sind wir in der falschen Bar. Kein Wunder, dass ich kein Mädchen gefunden hab, das dir gefällt. Aber, ein Freund von mir hat mir mal von einer American Gaybar erzählt. Das nächste Mal schauen wir dann einfach dorthin!“
While David is speaking, my horror turns quickly into relief, and when he finishes, I can’t help but laugh out loud. While I am not sure yet if I am actually gay since this is only the first time I’ve fallen in love with another man, I’m not gonna argue with that now, David’s reaction was already so much better than I had expected. There’s one thing I need to point out though.
„Danke für den Vorschlag, aber ich glaube, ich brauche kein nächstes Mal....“
David klopft mir lachend auf die Schulter. „Na dann, Casanova.... ich hol uns noch ein Bier, und dann erzählst du mir was da zwischen dir und Jaime läuft!"
Jaime:
Capítulo 1:
María me ha persuado a salir con ella. Dice que nunca salgo, solamente estoy en mi piso o en la universidad, y porque ella no puede imaginar que yo podría ser feliz viviendo así como un ermitaño, esta situación tiene que cambiar. Bueno, puede ser que ella tenga razón. Llegué a Viena hace dos meses para aprender y estudiar alemán. Como todavía no hablo la lengua salir y encontrar nueva gente es difícil… además soy muy introvertido y tímido en general, y por eso hacer nuevos amigos ya es bastante difícil sin la barrera lingüística. Sin María, una compañera de la universidad de Madrid que ya había ido a Austria el semestre pasado, estaría completamente solo. Por eso salí con ella finalmente, aunque en este momento estoy lamentando esta decisión internamente. El club donde estamos está lleno de gente y ruidoso y a pesar de los intentos de María de animarme no tengo ganas de bailar, beber, o buscarme un tío guapo para ligar.
Es decir, no tengo ganas hasta que veo a un hombre hermoso, alto y de pelo corto y moreno… pero lo pierdo de vista en el gentío después de unos segundos. Yo suspiro. María está observando a la gente y charlando sin parar desde que hemos llegado, normalmente eso no me molesta nunca, pero hoy no tengo mucha paciencia. Por eso termino de beber mi cerveza rápidamente, y me voy a la barra para coger otra.
Capítulo 2:
Como hay más gente aquí en la barra, me siento un poco mejor. La gente no quiere hablar conmigo todo el tiempo, así que puedo ignorarlos y beber my cerveza en paz… hasta el tío al lado de mí tropieza contra la barra y vuelca mí botella. Suspiro otra vez y torno para ver quien me pagará mi nueva cerveza… y me quedo de piedra. No había esperado eso. El hombre que volcó mi cerveza es el mismo que había visto antes en el gentío. Se disculpa inmediatamente y yo, aún en mi estado de sorpresa, respondo con “Está bien!”, olvidando nuevamente que estoy en Austria y la gente aquí normalmente no habla español… me corrijo rápidamente con una sonrisa avergonzada. “…ist gut, nichts passiert!”, digo en mi alemán limitado. Y después estoy sorprendido otra vez, cuando el hombre me pregunta, en un español que es tan malo como mi alemán, “¿Eres español?”
Ahora estoy sonriendo verdaderamente, en parte porque siempre me gusta encontrar a gente que aprende español, y en parte a causa de su sonrisa orgullosa y enorme.
“Si, soy de Madrid. Y tú, eres austriaco?” Y su respuesta me sorprende por tercera vez en menos de cincos minutos. “¿Inglés, verdad? ¿Que hace un inglés en Austria?” pregunto riendo. Necesita unos momentos, pero también empieza a reír cuando entiende la pregunta.
“I could say the same about you! But yeah…”, hace una pequeña pausa para formar su frase. “Mis padres, uh… trabajan aquí en Vienna. Vivo aquí… ¿desde ochos años?”
Mientras está hablando, sonrío para animarlo. Sé que hablar en una lengua extranjera es difícil, especialmente al inicio, y yo tengo que admirarlo tan seguro consigo mismo que habla con un hablante nativo.
“Pues, yo estoy en Viena porque quiero aprender alemán.” Intento hablar lentamente para que no tenga problemas con entender lo que yo digo. “Y antes que me olvide, me llamo Jaime.” Estrecho mi mano. “Is nice to meet you”, añado. Se detiene por un momento, pero al fin me da la mano y farfullo “ Me llamo Steven.” Me parece un poco raro, pero el aparecimiento del barman interrumpió este pensamiento, y cuando Steve me compra una nueva cerveza y empezamos a chatear, lo olvido completamente junto con el resto del mundo. Podría escuchar a Steven por horas y días. Me encanta su voz, su risa, su manera directa y sencilla de hablar y , y su sentido de humor es genial. Me he enamorado. Y sus ojos… azul como el cielo, nunca he visto ojos más guapos y fascinantes. Estoy tan absorbido en ellos que me aterro mucho cuando María aparece detrás de mi, y estoy sorprendido todavía más cuando no empieza hablar conmigo, pero con Steven.
Capítulo 3:
Aunque no puedo entender exactamente lo que dice María, es obvio que conoce a Steven, al parecer por un razón que no me gusta nada. De lo que he entendido se habían encontrado en sus vacaciones en Barcelona hace un año, y habían tenido un rollo de una noche…
No sé como sentirme. Tengo que admitirlo, la posibilidad de que yo le guste también siempre ha sido muy pequeño, pero enterarse de que el tío que te gusta tuvo una aventura amorosa con una de tus mejore amigas es terrible. Y como conozco a María, a pesar de ayudarme a encontrar un ligue, si encuentra a un hombre que le gusta, se lo pesca. Además es una mujer muy guapa, y no hay muchos hombres que la rechazarían. No sería la primera vez. Pero es así, y como la gran mayoridad de los hombres que nos gustan es heterosexual, yo pierdo normalmente.
Por suerte, después de unos minutos de silencia embarazosa aparece el amigo de Steven, David, y esto me saca de mis reflexiones.
Capítulo 4:
Me he alegrado antes de tiempo. Los reflexiones vuelven a mí cabeza en poco tiempo y los intentos patéticos de María en hacerme participar en la conversación, y las miradas que se echaban ella y Steven no ayudan mucho. Al contrario, solamente me retraía más a mis pensamientos. Demasiado ruido, demasiada gente, no puedo soportar esto por mucho tiempo…
De repente, la voz de Steven me sacó de mi retraimiento mental. “Hey, look,” empieza hablar. “This night with María. It doesn’t mean anything, neither to me, nor to her…” “Está bien,” le corto rápidamente. “You don’t have to explain.” No quiero explicaciones, especialmente explicaciones como esa, porque no me ayudan nada, no mejoraran nada, porque queda el facto de que, con o sin sentimientos, Steven y María tuvieron sexo, que significa más o menos que Steven no es homosexual, que significa que en cualquier caso yo no tengo ninguna posibilidad con él. Y, aunque María ha desaparecido con David, estoy casi seguro que ella todavía esta interesada en Steven, he visto como se miraban antes. A mí me pareció como una conversación silenciosa.
Mirando Steven, que esta sentado al lado de mí y tiene un aire triste y pensativa, me duele la corazón. Probablemente piensa en María, que está con su amigo y no con él…
“Is just her, is just how she is…” digo con una sonrisa triste, no estoy seguro si esta dirigida a Steven o a mí mismo. “But in the end she always gets what she wants. Is okay, don’t worry.”
Steven me mira con una vista rara (no me sorpresa nada, hablo como un filósofo farolero, puto alcohol), luego suspira, y me da una pequeña sonrisa.
Al menos la tensión ha desaparecido ahora, y estamos sentido juntos, bebiendo en melancólic silencio… hasta que María vuelve y le secuestra. Veo como hablan, y como María da un papel a Steven, probablemente su número… como lo sabía. Solamente me parece raro que, después de hablar con Steven, insiste que nos vayamos porque tiene un examen importante. Es una mentira, yo sé que no tiene exámenes hasta enero, pero es una buena excusa para volver a casa y por eso no digo nada.
Capítulo 5:
Afuera, María empieza a hablar rápida inmediatamente. “Lo siento mucho, al inicio no me dí cuenta de que él te gusta. ¡Lo siento muchísimo!”, dice. “¡Pero esa noche no significó nada para mi, ni para él! ¡Tienes qué creerme!” Necesito unos minutos para entender de que esta hablando. Pero cuando lo realizo, tengo que reprimir un suspiro. Como para mí es claro que no tengo ni posibilidad, es fácil decir “”No te preocupes, María. Él no me gusta.”
Naturalmente, María sabe que es una mentira. “¡Pero tú le gustas, Jaime, lo sé!” responde ella. Y de repente suena mi móvil.
(1) Mensaje Nueva.
De: +43XXX XXX XX XX
13/11/2012, 22:52
“Hey, it’s me, Steven. I’m sorry that this evening didn’t go very well, but I’d really like to see you again, so how about we try again another time, just the two of us? :)”
No puedo creerlo. Es imposible.
“¿Qué pasa?”, pregunta María. No puedo parar de sonreír.
“Steven. Me ha preguntado si quería salir con el otra vez”, respondo. Pero… “¿Le has dado mi número, no?”
María no puede esconder su sonrisa. “¡Y tu has dicho qué él no te gusta, idiota!”, bromea y me abraza.
“Pues… quizás me gusta un poco…” digo.
Mensaje a: Steven
13/11/2012, 22:57
„I think is a very good idea. :) call you tommorow!“
The other two parts, María and David, are written by a colleague from my literature class therefore I will not post them here, but I have posted the link to the whole document above, you can find them there.
Feedback and comments are especially appreciated in this case, as this has been quite a big project and a whole lot of work, so I am really proud of it. :)
Thanks for reading
One story. Four perspectives.
Basically, after the introduction, you choose a person's PoV, and after each chapter, you can decide if you want to stay with this person's PoV, or change to someone else's PoV via hyperlinks.
This story is written in Spanish, English, and German, so to read all four PoVs, you need to understand all three languages (or use google translate...xD). Each part can stand alone too, though. So, therefore, you've got my two PoV's here, both main characters: Steven and Jaime.
Steven
Chapter 1:
The first thing I notice when I enter the bar is the smell of sweat and alcohol. The second thing I notice that it is far too crowded and loud for my liking. It’s not like I don’t enjoy going out from time to time, be it a night of dancing , drinking, flirting in some bar , or an evening of football and beer with some buddies in a pub, but today I’m not really in the mood for any of that and I only agreed to come along because David’s been bugging me for ages, saying he’s worried that I’m getting a bit lonely and grumpy lately and therefore, as he put it so nicely, I really need to get laid.
So, here we are, sitting at some table in a crowded bar, David keeps pointing out some girls to me and I try my best to nod and smile politely and keep myself from snapping at him. While I do appreciate David’s effort, my love life is really none of his business. There are a few pretty girls, a tall dark-haired girl with long legs, a cute little blonde, but none of them really blows me away.
I get bored quickly and the thought crosses my mind that could just get wasted, that’d surely lighten up my mood a bit (or at least make David’s attempts of spicing up my love life more bearable), when it occurs to me that actually, we don’t have any drinks yet. Perfect. I shout „Ich hol uns mal zwei Bier!“ when David is busy scanning the crowd for more potential flirts, and make a quick getaway.
Chapter 2:
It takes a lot of pushing and shoving to reach the bar, and just when I try to squeeze myself into a free spot close to the counter, someone stumbles and crashes into me, making me lose balance too and trying to grab a hold of the counter I manage to knock over someone’s drink. Great, I think to myself, this keeps getting better and better.........not.
The owner of the spilled drink is already turning towards me with a frown on his face, so I apologize quickly.
„Está bien“, he replies, and the frown quickly turns into a sheepish smile when he adds „....ist gut, nichts passiert!“ in heavily accented German that, for some reason, makes me smile as well.
„¿Eres español?“, I ask him with an accent just as heavy, trying to gather what little Spanish I’ve learned since the beginning of the semester a few weeks ago. He nods, and he is really smiling brightly when he replies. „Sí, soy de Madrid. Y tú, eres austriaco?“
„Inglés“, I say, grinning when I see his surprised expression. „¿Verdad?“ He laughs. It sounds nice. „Qué hace un inglés en Austria?“ It takes a while until I’ve translated the question in my mind, but once I understand it, I can’t help but laugh too. „I could say the same about you! But yeah...“ Hastily I try to throw some words together. „Mis padres, uh.... trabajan aquí en Vienna. Vivo aquí... desde ocho años?“ I’m the one smiling self-consciously now, hoping that what I said was at least halfway correct, but my counterpart keeps smiling and nodding encouragingly, so it can’t be too bad.
„Pues, yo estoy en Viena porque quiero aprender aléman“, he tells me then, speaking slowly so that I am able to understand him easily. „Y antes que me olvide, me llamo Jaime.“ He holds his hand out to me. „ Is nice to meet you.“
I need a moment until I can shake his hand and stutter a sheepish ‚Me llamo Steven’, because.... his. Accent. Is. Simply. Amazing.
I’ve always had a thing for Spanish accents, I’ve always found them somewhat seductive and exotic, but coupled with that smooth but somehow slightly rough voice it makes my heart skip a beat. Well, that and the question ‚What the hell are you thinking, this is a guy you’re talking to!?’
Luckily I am saved from embarrassment and further thoughts by the barman, who eventually notices the spilled drink and comes over to wipe the counter clean and take our orders. Despite his defiant protests, I buy Jaime a drink, and we fall into back into comfortable chatter, telling each other more about ourselves, and I can’t help but notice the way Jaime gestures while he talks (he has such small and fragile hands, I wonder how it’d feel like if I held them.... wait, WHAT?!), the way he bites his lip and frowns when he is looking for the right words (his lips look so soft I can’t help but imagine to... - STEVEN what are you thinking?!?), the way his eyes light up when he talks about his family (I could look into those eyes for the rest of forever... - Okay, what the hell, it’s getting creepy now, why do I notice all these things?!), until all of a sudden there’s a hand on my shoulder and I hear a vaguely familiar voice saying „Steven, was machst du denn hier? Wie geht’s dir?“
Chapter 3:
Somewhat bewildered I spin around and find a small, pretty girl standing there front of me, looking at me expectantly. She does look familiar, but I have no idea where I could have met her before. Thank God she quickly notices that I don’t recognise her, and introduces herself again.
„Ich bin’s, Maria. Wir haben uns in Barcelona kennengelernt. Ya sabes... letzten Sommer!“
...........oh. Yes, now I remember her, and together with that the reason why I didn’t recognise her in the first place, plus the massive hangover straight from hell I’ve had after that night of partying hard.
„Ah, Maria! Entschuldigung, ich hab dich gar nicht mehr erkannt! Schön dich zu sehen!“ I can only hope my smile is convincing, because right now it’s definitely not nice to see her. On the other hand, she is distracting me from Jaime, which is, at the moment, quite a good thing, because there’s that funny feeling in my stomach whenever I so much as look at him, and that’s pretty much the last thing I need right now.
„Wieso hast du nicht angerufen?“, she keeps on chattering to resolve the awkward silence. „Also ein Gentleman hätte sich nach einer Nacht wie dieser gemeldet!“
...and this is the point where it all goes to hell. I catch Jaime giving me a strange look. I’m sure he hasn’t understood the whole thing, but apparently he does realise that there was something between María and me. I’m not sure what exactly he’s thinking, but when his gaze shifts from me over to María, it occurs to me that maybe he might be jealous? Maybe he thinks I’m still interested in her? ......Maybe he likes her?
Ouch, that thought hurts a lot more than it actually should. Which brings me back to my feelings (Did I actually just say feelings?! Oh, dear...), which adds confusion to awkwardness and being slightly wounded, which is not good at all...
Thank God I spot David heading over towards us, just at the right moment. I wave and hand him the beer I ordered for him earlier, apologising that it took me so long (after all, I did say I’d get one for him as well, I just got.... distracted....), and introduce him to Jaime and María.
Chapter 4:
The mood is lightening up a bit now, even though there’s still obvious tension in the air, and María starts to chat away again, this time about an innocuous topic, her studies. There’s only so much time of smiling and nodding politely that I can take though, and I start to sneak quick glances at Jaime after a while. After exchanging a few friendly words with David he went back to just sitting there, frowning absentmindedly, giving only monosyllabic answers to María’s attempts to make him participate in the conversation, and radiating an intense aura of I’m-angry-I-don’t-want-to-be-here-leave-me-alone. I wish I knew how to cheer him up again, because I really want to see that smiling, happy, cheerful guy from earlier again, and when I remember his smile and his laugh, the rest of the conversation fades away and I’m alone with my thoughts. By now I’ve figured out that I actually really might have a little crush on him. And I have no idea at all how to deal with that, especially now that I am quite sure he’s in love with María. This evening keeps getting worse and worse, and I’m pretty sure it has hit rock bottom when María catches me looking at Jaime. She looks at me questioningly for a second, and I feel like a little boy who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Damn it. I force myself to pay attention to the conversation and make my thoughts stop wandering to Jaime all the time. Thank God I don’t have to do that for long, as David and María disappear after a few minutes.
Jaime and I are alone now. I guess that’s my chance.
„Hey, look“, I begin. „This night with María. It doesn’t mean anything, neither to me, nor to her...“ „Está bien“, he cuts me off sharply. „You don’t have to explain.“ But after a minute of silence, he looks up at me again, this time apologetically, and smiles sadly. „Is just her“, he says. „She always gets what she wants. Is okay, don’t worry.“
Well, at least the tension is gone now. The only thing that remains is a distinct air of sadness as we sit together and drink in silence.
But of course, just when I was getting comfortable with it, María comes back. She whispers something into my ear and drags me away from where I was sitting until we’re out of earshot of Jaime, and then she starts speaking again in Spanish, too quick for me to understand, and writes a phone number on a small paper. Eventually she realises that I am just staring at her quite dumbfounded and have no idea what the hell she is talking about, and launches another rapid speech, this time in German.
„Hör zu, Steve. Jaime mag dich, okay? Ich weiß es. Aber er ist schüchtern, und wegen der Vorgeschichte zwischen dir und mir haben wir jetzt noch ein zusätzliches Problem. Hier ist seine Nummer, ruf ihn später an!“
Okay. Now I am even more dumbfounded and can only stare at the little sheet with Jaime’s number on it while I try to process what she has just told me. I only get as far as ‚Jaime mag dich, okay?’, because after that the butterflies in my stomach go crazy and I can’t think straight anymore.
Chapter 5:
The first thing I notice again is that María is gone, and I am still staring at the little paper in my hand. Shaking my head to clear up my mind, I turn around and go back to where David is standing alone now.
Still in a bit of a reverie, I take out my mobile phone and begin to type a message... but, like your classical teenie who’s in love for the first time, I can’t find the right words. Or any coherent sentence, actually, I am still too busy trying to process what the hell has actually happened tonight. I fell in love. With a guy. And apparently he likes me too. This shouldn’t feel so good, right? Anyway. Considering just how good it feels, I pull myself together and write him a message.
To: Jaime
13/11/2012, 22:52
„Hey, it’s me, Steven. I’m sorry that this evening didn’t go very well, but I’d really like to see you again, so how about we try again another time, just the two of us? : “
This time I press the ‚Send’-button quickly before I can delete it again. The next few minutes feel like the longest minutes in my entire life, and I can’t keep myself from checking my phone every few seconds until it finally buzzes in my hand.
(1) new message
From: Jaime
13/11/2012, 22:57
„I think is a very good idea. :) call you tommorow!“
I think I’ve never ever grinned like this before, and not only because of the bad (cute) grammar. Maybe this evening wasn’t so bad after all.
„Na, erzähl schon, wem hast du geschrieben? María?“
.....oh. I look up surprised and see David looking at me strangely. Somehow I totally forgot about him.
„Nein, wieso sollte ich María schreiben?“, I answer, somewhat confused.
„Wessen Nummer war das sonst?“
I can only just stop myself from saying something like ‚Jaimes Nummer, natürlich!’. Since not even I have figured out how to deal with this properly, I really don’t want to know how someone else would react to it.
„Ähm....“ I frantically try to come up with a plausible answer. Hello, brain? You there?
„Ach, weißt du, es ist nicht so wichtig.“ ......great. How creative. Of course David knows immediately it’s a lie, but he doesn’t push the issue further and just keeps giving me that weird look. I already start to feel relieved and think I’m off the hook....
„Jaime?“
In shock, my head spins around fast enough to possibly give me whiplash. David stares at me in surprise, and I’m so embarrassed that I just wished I could vanish into thin air... but then he breaks into a huge grin.
„Ja wieso sagst du das nicht gleich. Da sind wir in der falschen Bar. Kein Wunder, dass ich kein Mädchen gefunden hab, das dir gefällt. Aber, ein Freund von mir hat mir mal von einer American Gaybar erzählt. Das nächste Mal schauen wir dann einfach dorthin!“
While David is speaking, my horror turns quickly into relief, and when he finishes, I can’t help but laugh out loud. While I am not sure yet if I am actually gay since this is only the first time I’ve fallen in love with another man, I’m not gonna argue with that now, David’s reaction was already so much better than I had expected. There’s one thing I need to point out though.
„Danke für den Vorschlag, aber ich glaube, ich brauche kein nächstes Mal....“
David klopft mir lachend auf die Schulter. „Na dann, Casanova.... ich hol uns noch ein Bier, und dann erzählst du mir was da zwischen dir und Jaime läuft!"
Jaime:
Capítulo 1:
María me ha persuado a salir con ella. Dice que nunca salgo, solamente estoy en mi piso o en la universidad, y porque ella no puede imaginar que yo podría ser feliz viviendo así como un ermitaño, esta situación tiene que cambiar. Bueno, puede ser que ella tenga razón. Llegué a Viena hace dos meses para aprender y estudiar alemán. Como todavía no hablo la lengua salir y encontrar nueva gente es difícil… además soy muy introvertido y tímido en general, y por eso hacer nuevos amigos ya es bastante difícil sin la barrera lingüística. Sin María, una compañera de la universidad de Madrid que ya había ido a Austria el semestre pasado, estaría completamente solo. Por eso salí con ella finalmente, aunque en este momento estoy lamentando esta decisión internamente. El club donde estamos está lleno de gente y ruidoso y a pesar de los intentos de María de animarme no tengo ganas de bailar, beber, o buscarme un tío guapo para ligar.
Es decir, no tengo ganas hasta que veo a un hombre hermoso, alto y de pelo corto y moreno… pero lo pierdo de vista en el gentío después de unos segundos. Yo suspiro. María está observando a la gente y charlando sin parar desde que hemos llegado, normalmente eso no me molesta nunca, pero hoy no tengo mucha paciencia. Por eso termino de beber mi cerveza rápidamente, y me voy a la barra para coger otra.
Capítulo 2:
Como hay más gente aquí en la barra, me siento un poco mejor. La gente no quiere hablar conmigo todo el tiempo, así que puedo ignorarlos y beber my cerveza en paz… hasta el tío al lado de mí tropieza contra la barra y vuelca mí botella. Suspiro otra vez y torno para ver quien me pagará mi nueva cerveza… y me quedo de piedra. No había esperado eso. El hombre que volcó mi cerveza es el mismo que había visto antes en el gentío. Se disculpa inmediatamente y yo, aún en mi estado de sorpresa, respondo con “Está bien!”, olvidando nuevamente que estoy en Austria y la gente aquí normalmente no habla español… me corrijo rápidamente con una sonrisa avergonzada. “…ist gut, nichts passiert!”, digo en mi alemán limitado. Y después estoy sorprendido otra vez, cuando el hombre me pregunta, en un español que es tan malo como mi alemán, “¿Eres español?”
Ahora estoy sonriendo verdaderamente, en parte porque siempre me gusta encontrar a gente que aprende español, y en parte a causa de su sonrisa orgullosa y enorme.
“Si, soy de Madrid. Y tú, eres austriaco?” Y su respuesta me sorprende por tercera vez en menos de cincos minutos. “¿Inglés, verdad? ¿Que hace un inglés en Austria?” pregunto riendo. Necesita unos momentos, pero también empieza a reír cuando entiende la pregunta.
“I could say the same about you! But yeah…”, hace una pequeña pausa para formar su frase. “Mis padres, uh… trabajan aquí en Vienna. Vivo aquí… ¿desde ochos años?”
Mientras está hablando, sonrío para animarlo. Sé que hablar en una lengua extranjera es difícil, especialmente al inicio, y yo tengo que admirarlo tan seguro consigo mismo que habla con un hablante nativo.
“Pues, yo estoy en Viena porque quiero aprender alemán.” Intento hablar lentamente para que no tenga problemas con entender lo que yo digo. “Y antes que me olvide, me llamo Jaime.” Estrecho mi mano. “Is nice to meet you”, añado. Se detiene por un momento, pero al fin me da la mano y farfullo “ Me llamo Steven.” Me parece un poco raro, pero el aparecimiento del barman interrumpió este pensamiento, y cuando Steve me compra una nueva cerveza y empezamos a chatear, lo olvido completamente junto con el resto del mundo. Podría escuchar a Steven por horas y días. Me encanta su voz, su risa, su manera directa y sencilla de hablar y , y su sentido de humor es genial. Me he enamorado. Y sus ojos… azul como el cielo, nunca he visto ojos más guapos y fascinantes. Estoy tan absorbido en ellos que me aterro mucho cuando María aparece detrás de mi, y estoy sorprendido todavía más cuando no empieza hablar conmigo, pero con Steven.
Capítulo 3:
Aunque no puedo entender exactamente lo que dice María, es obvio que conoce a Steven, al parecer por un razón que no me gusta nada. De lo que he entendido se habían encontrado en sus vacaciones en Barcelona hace un año, y habían tenido un rollo de una noche…
No sé como sentirme. Tengo que admitirlo, la posibilidad de que yo le guste también siempre ha sido muy pequeño, pero enterarse de que el tío que te gusta tuvo una aventura amorosa con una de tus mejore amigas es terrible. Y como conozco a María, a pesar de ayudarme a encontrar un ligue, si encuentra a un hombre que le gusta, se lo pesca. Además es una mujer muy guapa, y no hay muchos hombres que la rechazarían. No sería la primera vez. Pero es así, y como la gran mayoridad de los hombres que nos gustan es heterosexual, yo pierdo normalmente.
Por suerte, después de unos minutos de silencia embarazosa aparece el amigo de Steven, David, y esto me saca de mis reflexiones.
Capítulo 4:
Me he alegrado antes de tiempo. Los reflexiones vuelven a mí cabeza en poco tiempo y los intentos patéticos de María en hacerme participar en la conversación, y las miradas que se echaban ella y Steven no ayudan mucho. Al contrario, solamente me retraía más a mis pensamientos. Demasiado ruido, demasiada gente, no puedo soportar esto por mucho tiempo…
De repente, la voz de Steven me sacó de mi retraimiento mental. “Hey, look,” empieza hablar. “This night with María. It doesn’t mean anything, neither to me, nor to her…” “Está bien,” le corto rápidamente. “You don’t have to explain.” No quiero explicaciones, especialmente explicaciones como esa, porque no me ayudan nada, no mejoraran nada, porque queda el facto de que, con o sin sentimientos, Steven y María tuvieron sexo, que significa más o menos que Steven no es homosexual, que significa que en cualquier caso yo no tengo ninguna posibilidad con él. Y, aunque María ha desaparecido con David, estoy casi seguro que ella todavía esta interesada en Steven, he visto como se miraban antes. A mí me pareció como una conversación silenciosa.
Mirando Steven, que esta sentado al lado de mí y tiene un aire triste y pensativa, me duele la corazón. Probablemente piensa en María, que está con su amigo y no con él…
“Is just her, is just how she is…” digo con una sonrisa triste, no estoy seguro si esta dirigida a Steven o a mí mismo. “But in the end she always gets what she wants. Is okay, don’t worry.”
Steven me mira con una vista rara (no me sorpresa nada, hablo como un filósofo farolero, puto alcohol), luego suspira, y me da una pequeña sonrisa.
Al menos la tensión ha desaparecido ahora, y estamos sentido juntos, bebiendo en melancólic silencio… hasta que María vuelve y le secuestra. Veo como hablan, y como María da un papel a Steven, probablemente su número… como lo sabía. Solamente me parece raro que, después de hablar con Steven, insiste que nos vayamos porque tiene un examen importante. Es una mentira, yo sé que no tiene exámenes hasta enero, pero es una buena excusa para volver a casa y por eso no digo nada.
Capítulo 5:
Afuera, María empieza a hablar rápida inmediatamente. “Lo siento mucho, al inicio no me dí cuenta de que él te gusta. ¡Lo siento muchísimo!”, dice. “¡Pero esa noche no significó nada para mi, ni para él! ¡Tienes qué creerme!” Necesito unos minutos para entender de que esta hablando. Pero cuando lo realizo, tengo que reprimir un suspiro. Como para mí es claro que no tengo ni posibilidad, es fácil decir “”No te preocupes, María. Él no me gusta.”
Naturalmente, María sabe que es una mentira. “¡Pero tú le gustas, Jaime, lo sé!” responde ella. Y de repente suena mi móvil.
(1) Mensaje Nueva.
De: +43XXX XXX XX XX
13/11/2012, 22:52
“Hey, it’s me, Steven. I’m sorry that this evening didn’t go very well, but I’d really like to see you again, so how about we try again another time, just the two of us? :)”
No puedo creerlo. Es imposible.
“¿Qué pasa?”, pregunta María. No puedo parar de sonreír.
“Steven. Me ha preguntado si quería salir con el otra vez”, respondo. Pero… “¿Le has dado mi número, no?”
María no puede esconder su sonrisa. “¡Y tu has dicho qué él no te gusta, idiota!”, bromea y me abraza.
“Pues… quizás me gusta un poco…” digo.
Mensaje a: Steven
13/11/2012, 22:57
„I think is a very good idea. :) call you tommorow!“
The other two parts, María and David, are written by a colleague from my literature class therefore I will not post them here, but I have posted the link to the whole document above, you can find them there.
Feedback and comments are especially appreciated in this case, as this has been quite a big project and a whole lot of work, so I am really proud of it. :)
Thanks for reading