somewhere || George Russell

forty-seven

March 15, 2020
Miami, Florida

"Vamos a vivir al máximo, la vida es corta y tu eres un regalo," Laurel and Iray sang-yelled to the beat of CNCO.

The lounge at the Maracay was filled with people, mostly teenage girls who wanted to come see five Latin American guys singing and executing great choreographies on stage. Is like K-pop guys, Latin version.

"¿qué tal si nos besamos suave y nos vamos de viaje hacia el infinito?" they continued with the song.

The concert finally came to an end, and both girls ran out of the lounge before the fans would run into in the stage to try and greet the CNCO guys.

"This was so good," Laurel admitted with a smile, wrapping one arm around her sister's waist.

"Let's just hope you don't wake up with laryngitis tomorrow," Iray teased.

Laurel pouted. "Don't jinx me, please," she shook her head. "That would just be so annoying, and my producer would regret giving me permission to come here."

"Girls," Alejandro ran into his two daughters. "I have a surprise for you, please let's go to my office."

Laurel and Iray frowned at first. What would it be? Then, they just shrugged and followed his dad to his office. Iray's thought is that they will probably meet CNCO. That would just be a perfect closing for a hectic Sunday.

The three people arrived at Alejandro's office. He stood in front of the closed door with a big smile, leaving his daughters in a big doubt of what it might be. Laurel was just wanting to know about it, it's so annoying to not know.

"Okay, please, stay calm, okay?" Alejandro asked.

Iray grew a bigger smile on her face. No doubt, CNCO it is. Oh, God, so exciting.

"Come on, dad, just let us in," Laurel rolled her eyes and put her hand on the doorknob to finally push away the one thing that was separating them from the hallway and the surprise. A stupid door.

She pushed the door and her jaw dropped. Literally dropped.

"What is it?" Iray excitedly said and peeked into the office. Her eyes widened. Oh, dear God.

"Glo...Glo..." Laurel stammered, staring at the tiny woman in front of her. "Gloria Estefan," she hesitantly said, not being able to believe that the Gloria Estefan was right in front of her eyes.

She was a tiny woman, tinier than Laurel, so thin and small. Her face was covered with a perfect make up and her hair had slight waves, and she was smiling at the two girls. She looked so perfect.

"My brother is named after your husband," Iray blurted out.

That awkward comment made Laurel react and noticed that the real, actual Gloria Estefan was right in front of her. Gloria Estefan, three times Grammy Award winner, was standing right there, with a big smile on her face. They really had to be pinched to believe it.

"I met Gloria a couple of weeks ago at her restaurant Estefan Kitchen here in Miami," Alejandro talked, noticing that his daughters were completely silent and unable to articulate a single word. "Gloria, these are my girls, Laurel and Iray."

"Is so nice to finally meet you," the small, tiny woman -that, just to make clear, has won three Grammy Awards- approached the girls. Gloria shook Laurel's hand, and then Iray's. The twins were just so astonished. Is this real life?

"Hi," Laurel finally said. Yeah, that's not a great greeting if you are meeting your biggest idol in life. "What- what..."

"Let's have a seat," the woman suggested. The four people went to the small couches on the office and sat down. "Like your dad said, we met at Estefan Kitchen, my restaurant," she widely smiled. "We started to have a very comfortable chat, and I found out about his family. Then he was unable to stop talking about his little star, that one being you," Gloria looked at Laurel.