It was a sunny morning with clear skies. Elaine was up early that Saturday to go spend the weekend with her friend Dani in a small apartment near the sea that Elaine's parents owned. Her only concern was that she had been so tired the night before that she had been persuaded to agree to let Dani invite a friend she had just met at work to spend the weekend with them.
As she dressed in old shorts and a t-shirt, she thought about how she had let herself be convinced. And she thought the only good thing was that if they had company, Dani wouldn't insist on going out for drinks that night. Dani loved going out, and Elaine wasn't in the mood to go out and talk to strangers; she just wanted to rest and recharge her batteries. Maybe they wouldn't even go to the beach, a dip in the pool and lie in the sun with a book is what she wanted, and lay in a hammock on the small balcony and gaze at the sea.
In the last few months, she had been facing some changes. She had ended a relationship that had lasted a couple of years with a guy she had started to go out with within her last year in college, and she was in a stage of not wanting to get too complicated. Her job at an engineering project company kept her frequently traveling to another city where the company was building a cryogenic complex; she was on the project control team. She liked the work but not so much her wage, so her priority at that moment was to get into a master's program in finance and then change jobs.
She thought that hopefully, Dani's friend wouldn't turn out to be a pain in the ass, and she wouldn't have to talk to him much more than in the car, then Dani would be entertained, and she would be buried in a novel enjoying the sea breeze. Elaine was a friendly girl but a bit introverted. Sometimes a bit serious, she could be pretty quiet and reserved with strangers.
After putting a couple of bikinis, a few changes of clothes, and a book in her bag, Elaine went out and picked up Dani in her car.
Dani pointed her to the address she needed to pick up her friend Carl. He was waiting for them in the sideway in front of the building, having a cup of coffee. When he got in the car, he held out his hand to Elaine and smiled. She thought Carl had a beautiful smile, and to her surprise, she realized she liked the touch of his hand as they greeted each other.
The talk in the car began to turn around movies; Carl was a filmmaker, and he had just arrived a few months ago from studying film in Havana. After a bit of chatting when they took the highway that would lead them to the beach, Elaine turned on the radio to listen to some music. Carl asked her if she wanted to listen to a CD he had with him with old songs of Caetano Veloso, she said yes, and the first song that played in the car's player was O Leãozinho, a song she had always loved.
As Elaine had expected, they did not go to the sea but watched it chatting and listening to music from the small balcony. Carl knew from the first moment how to make her laugh.
And the three of them, Carl, Dani, and Elaine spent the weekend between dips in the pool, chats, and lots of laughter.
Sunday afternoon, when it was time to pack up and head back to the city, Elaine realized she hadn't even taken the novel she had brought to read out of her bag.
That day, they said goodbye with the promise that maybe they would go again to the beach some other time. But that same week, Carl called Elaine and asked her out on a date.
The husband and I few weeks after we start dating - photo by Celia BendelacTwenty-five years later, Carl and Elaine ("fictitious" names), with ups and downs, but more ups than downs, are still together. And even though sometimes Carl can get on her nerves a little bit, he still makes her laugh every day.
This is my entry for this week's Weekend Engagement topic, Your First Time. Option six - Tell us about the first time you met your current partner. Thanks Galen, for another week of a great topic to share some good memories.
Thanks for reading!
The leading picture is a sunset in Playa Zaragoza, Margarita Island
January 7, 2022