It is a love story... a long, old love story...I was 17. She, only 14.
I had just arrived in Rio, completely lost, excluded and a laughing stock for many.
She had a wild bushy mane, metallic smile (I will never forget the day she took off those braces!) and a fiery personality to match.
I was glad just to be there, living "on my own" in the "big city".
She was pissed off and scared that I was gonna come and swish Apple away in my arms (Apple = the guy she was into and also an old friend of mine).
But nothing like that happened. Instead, I fell over a complete jerk and she was there all along to go through it with me - both the good times and the bad. She was honest to the point it hurt but healed at the same time. I'll never forget when she told me: "Christy, I don't know how to tell you this but he just isn't as into you as he should be. I mean, you have done all you could and yet you continually tell me you feel used. There are so many other guys after you to the point that you could hand pick any of them, but instead you insist on this one guy...and I mean, like...c’mon, he has crooked teeth and they are SO crooked!!!"I got over "Crooked Teeth" and she got bored of Apple. And life went on...
My "next guy" was "The Drummer". He was the hottest guy in town, the new guy, and the best part is that this time he was the one falling over me! She would stand on my veranda gazing at the both of us making out on the pool and would later tell me that she thought we were perfect for each other. Well, time proved her wrong but it still felt real good knowing that instead of her coveting my "Drummer" she was genuinely happy for me because I was happy myself.
Then it was her turn...he happened to be our neighbour. I thought he was cute but a bit too childish. With time we created a close friendship - the three of us. And in our friendship, something more than just a friendship began between the two of them. I can't say I was too happy for her when she told me her decision to date "Cherub". It just didn't feel right. But then again, I wanted to be there for her and have her joys as joys in my life too so I swallowed and accepted. Until today I know I did right. She more than knew how to make her own decisions and soon made the right one in dumping Cherub a few months later.
If there was something that we were both real good at was getting in trouble - and I mean like, REAL good!!! But with time our little heads developed a bit and we started learning how to be troublesome without getting in trouble. Yes, I won't say that it didn't take time and experience to learn the tricks of the trade, but gladly with time we ended being pretty good at it!But the real reason I am here reminiscing our past is because just a week ago it was her Birthday. I now live far, far away in Fortaleza and she lives in Rio. I thought of all the wonderful things I could give her as a present and with that started looking at the past and all the birthdays we spent together:
The first one was her 14th Bday... it was my first day in Rio and she phoned to talk to her mother. I picked up the phone and even never having met her or said a word to her in my life, gave her a cheery: "Happy Birthday!" (She later told me this meant the world to her as nothing was done that year for her Birthday since we were moving houses and everyone was too caught up in that task to remember her special day).
The next one was my Birthday. Going back to "Crooked Teeth" guy... I was in the middle of "o maior love" (at least in my head!) and here it was, my Bday and all I wanted was to do something special with him so that it could be a "Birthday to Remember" (aiii que romanticooou...). But...I was literally broke and didn't have a cent to my name. She remembered though and took me, Crooked Teeth and three more friends (one of them being Apple) to the movies - and paid for ALL of us (yes, we were all broke teenagers!). Despite her generous gesture I completely left her on her own and went to a special corner far, far away from her and my other friends so I could have my "moment" with Crooked Teeth and make sure that my 18th Birthday would be one I would never forget. And until today this "oh so special day" is printed in my mind - not because of the "moment" I spent with Crooked Teeth but yes because of the little incident that happened in the middle of my long-awaited "moment". Crooked Teeth: - Are you enjoying the movie?
Me: Um, hum... *gazing in his eyes and leaning closer towards him*Tummy turns. Goose bumps all over. Head spins. Extra saliva in my mouth. Contraction of the diaphragm muscle. Abdominal muscles tightening. Contents of the stomach propelled up and out. I forced my mouth shut and swallowed all that thick, guey paste back in. I ran out the Cinema's doors, shoved my head into the first container I saw: a large black trash can - and there I threw up violently while the guard just stood by me and watched like as if that was a normal occurrence. Even though I washed my mouth thoroughly and started chewing some gum it didn't change the fact that our "moment" didn't progress the slightest from where it last was.
Inside the bus and on the way home I once again puked out the window 'God knows what' that was inside my tummy and had made me so sick that night. But as I lay in bed that night I didn't think about my "lost moment" with Crooked Teeth, or the view of the bottom of that black trash can - but I did think about the kind deed my friend had done for me and the personal sacrifice she made to see me happy.
The Bday I remember the most though was her last Bday.
25th of November: A sunny, bright and beautiful day. I nonchantly asked her if she wouldn't mind going out with me to "do posto" (fundraising campaign for our volunteer work = long hours in the sun, talking to tens of people, smiling till your cheekbones ache and so on...). She didn't protest, didn't complain. She accepted (I can't say it was very gladly though...) and off we went. We talked normally in the bus and we dropped off at the very same bus stop we'd get off at every time we'd go do our weekly volunteer campaign work (trick to cut down suspicions). There she was, like a brave little soldier with her completely unsuspecting smile. 
Her naive little smile turned into the most shocked face I've ever seen. She continued repeating over and over: "Are you serious? We aren't going to 'do posto'? You gotta be kidding me! OMG Chris, OMG!!!" She hugged me over and over again in complete disbelief.
We spent that whole day in the sweaty and dirty roads of one of our favorite neighborhoods: Taquara. She choose a simple present (I was still poor and broke but had saved up
during months for the occasion) and we went to McDonalds where we both got a large milkshake and talked for hours about our two years spent together, the many experiences we'd gone through together and all our very best memories. And of course, there always was the deep talks too... the "what do you want to do in your life?", "What were the best things that happened this year?", "What things would you do differently if you could do it all over again?", "What moments this year would you re-live if you could choose?", "What awaits us in the future?" questions. As always, there was always that special hour or two for discussing the profound meanings of life. I had brought a camera and batteries but the camera decided to fail on us but we still ended capturing all those moments in our mind and heart. At end the day we walked for about a kilometer to the bus stop and not only did the bus decide to take forever to arrive but it also started pouring cats and dogs... by the time we entered the bus we could have very well been getting out of our daily shower. As the day came to an end we knew that the day couldn't have been better.
But that wasn't the end of it... we still wanted to go out and commemorate - partying was a big thing in our head and a total "MUST DO!” We tried talking her mother into letting us go out: with friends, without friends; to a disco, club, bar - anything!!! But to no avail. We even thought about going secretly anyways but quickly gave up of the idea as it just seemed too complicated and frustrating. So we opted for Plan B.
Plan B was to go to a friend's apartment building, call over another friend or two and from there go to a close-by bar or restaurant for a nice dinner and some drinks and cool conversation. Plan B turned out to be a TOTAL flop. Both friends were gone and drunk before we even stepped out of the apartment and since the apartment was small and stuffy (for the amount of people in consideration) me and Dan stayed in the condominium’s playground lying on top of my beach sarong, sucking on ice-cream and mulling over life (or more like, murmuring how our plans turned out to be a complete fail, hah!) We even swore to have seen an angel in the starry sky that night - or who knows, maybe we weren't too far behind in our friends' drunken state as well...and so we will never know about that "angel" (though until today we talk about it). We woke up the next day, lying in that playground, the sun burning our skin and the doorman staring disappointedly at the sight he saw in front of him.
Dan, in her usual "let-it-be-and-let-it-go" way had already given up and forgotten on the "commemorate/celebrate my birthday plans" - but I far from had... As usual I still had Plan C up my sleeve...After almost two weeks of preparation, saving up money, convincing others to pitch in "na vaquinha" and organizing it down to a T, the "big day" finally arrived. It was a normal and ordinary weekday (a Wednesday if I am correct) and she had gone out with her sisters and a friend to her weekly music class. Together with another friend, we cleaned, cooked, decorated, tidied up and left everything perfect for her arrival. Friends (I just invited her very closest friends) started arriving here and there and helping out as much as they could to prepare everything in time for the big surprise.
Even though my creative idea of sticking condoms on the wall to form the No. 16 was cut in half, the surprise party was a true surprise - something she had never even suspected of.
Three words to describe the party: sweet, simple and a success!!!
And so, with all of this remembering, it came to me in a flash: it never was about the gift, but it was ALWAYS about the experience. And so, even though this year I wasn't able to be there to take her out Bday shopping, partying, bake her a cake or even organize a "Sweet Seventeen Birthday Party" I can tell her how I hope that this experience of going back and remembering it all can be just as special as all the other ones we shared over her past Birthdays. 
And of course, here is a little space just for her: Dan, you have no idea how much you mean to me and how I wish you the best - and only the VERY best - the world can offer you in this New Year of your life...that this love story doesn't end here - and that hopefully, it doesn't ever end but continues on for many, many more birthdays to come. *Tig Lig*
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário