Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Catorce

"I did not expect this when you said you were renovating a house," Bibi mumbled and looked around. "It feels like Chateau Meiland, but cooler. Less hysterical and dramatic. Do you also yell when something falls?" Bibi twirled around in the empty living area.

"Hè, doe nou niet zo vervelend!" Eleanor told Bibi not to be annoying. "Ah, it's crazy how he won the hearts of every Dutch-speaking person by just buying a chateau, renovating it and filming the process."

"Shit, El, you should've done the same. Damn it, such a shame."

Eleanor shrugged. "Not gonna lie, that would have been boring."

"And not gonna lie, I like the new format of the Meilandjes buying a new house, but it will never top the Chateau area," Bibi breathed. "Did you also name this house?"

"La Casa de las Flores."

Bibi nodded and walked outside. "Because of the flowers outside," she said and looked around. "I imagined it to be... It's so big. It's like a block with windows, and the roof is like a French house. But with the Dutch layout."

"Yeah, but for real, I don't understand all those different rooms. The kitchen was a room; we had a family room, a dining room, a living room... I don't see the point of it, but perhaps that's because I'm Dutch and a type of house they don't know here. It's not even translatable. A rijtjeshuis. Ten houses in a row, against each other." Eleanor sat down at the door opening, looking at the garden, facing a warm air breeze. "So we decided to open everything up, besides a study room, the foyer and a few other things."

"As you should. It looks already so amazing, so open. The bathrooms look amazing; I'm sure the kitchen will look beautiful too." Bibi couldn't stop talking about the house going to be a dream house. The house was still stripped. Once the kitchen was placed, they would start painting the downstairs walls. Tomorrow, Sunday, they would begin with painting the rooms upstairs. "You have to give a housewarming when it's finished. If you sell it, rent it, or put it up for Airbnb, you need to show your house." She was standing in front of Eleanor. Bibi aggressively grabbed her phone from her pocket when her phone made a noise, and she squeezed her eyebrows. "Not now." She put her phone away.

Eleanor raised her eyebrows. "Good to know how you will act when I call, and you don't want to speak to me," she snorted and shook her head.

Bibi froze. "No, no, this is different."

"That is what they all say."

"No, this is really different," Bibi breathed, annoyed, and sat beside Eleanor. "I know this guy, and he wants to be FWB, but now... I can't look at him the same anymore."

"FWB?"

"Friends with benefits."

How could I not know that? "Ah, yeah, I see," Eleanor mumbled and felt the heat rise to her cheeks. "Did he just ask it or what?" She looked down and sucked on her lip.

"When we were drunk, I mentioned I had that before, and now he thinks it was a silent hind to start it with him. But I just can't have sex with him. Sometimes you meet someone, and you know and feel that it is not it," Bibi explained and sighed. "He's one of them. He's way too romantic, and that is not how FWB works. Not in my eyes, at least."

Eleanor swallowed hard. "How often were you in a relationship like that?"

"Twice."

"How was that? Is it like the movie?"

Bibi laughed. "God, no. At least, not in mine. And it isn't like I made the rules, but there are unspoken rules for FWB. You can, of course, romanticise it, but... No."