Chains

Chapter 1

The city of Barcelona embraced the heated rays of the summer sun. People went about their daily lives as if they were immune to the effects of the ball of fire amidst the clear blue sky. I on the other hand was being assaulted by this fiery mass. Heat licked at my sunburned face and coiled its way around my limbs adding to my lethargic state.

"Come on Louisa, we aren't finished showing you the city yet"

As if on instinct, a loud groan escaped my lips as my much needed rest was cut short by a bubbling Shakira. The huge smile she had at the beginning of the tour was undoubtedly still there as she bounced on her flexing feet ,rubbing her hands together. It was obvious that a ton of energy still flowed through her veins as her actions reminded me of a little kid alone in a candy store. I was still confused as to t how she was yet to succumb to the evil powers of the blazing sun.

"Louisa" she said again , emphasizing the last a in my name, "Vamos"

I unintentionally ignored her calls. In this heat, I could barely even formulate a thought much less be as excited as she was about this tour. I didn't even know why she was so excited anyways, she was already so familiar with the city as she's been living here for the past year.

"Can't we finish this tomorrow?" I managed to ask her as beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. Even though my mind was set on enjoying crashing waves with the sand beneath my feet tomorrow, I was willing to sacrifice a day at the beach to get out of this fire pot and into a nice air conditioned room. Shakira pouted, disappointment written all over her face. Normally I would've instantly felt bad, but the heat inside me didn't leave room for much emotion.

After minutes of trying to change my mind, Shakira finally agreed with my decision to discontinue the tour of the city. As we headed back home, I remembered how far away from Shakira's house we were and how excruciatingly long it took us to reach where we were. The only thing that kept my legs moving right now was the thought of the cool air from her fully air conditioned house wrapping around my body.

As we neared her street , I was reluctantly pulled into a store . I was about to scold my sister for delaying our walk home when I realized what the store was exactly.

"Ice cream" I practically yelled out ,causing a few eyes to turn my way. Now it was my turn to act as though I was a child alone in a candy store. Before I knew it , my legs carried me over to the counter where I scanned through all the flavours they had.

I really didn't know which flavour to choose so I turned around to ask Shakira. To my surprise ,she wasn't behind me . My eyes scanned the shop until they landed on the bubbly blond who was engaged in a conversation. My eyes averted to the guy she was talking to. It only took half of a second for our eyes to meet and when they did I quickly regretted it.

I quickly turned back around to face the cashier. I could instantly feel the blood drain from my face, the weight of my lungs increasing with every breath. The thought of having ice cream didn't really appeal to me anymore. My only instinct was to run out. Flee like the heartbroken coward I was.

It has been two years for god's sake. Any normal person would've been over this whole ordeal by now and to be honest I thought I was. But at this moment, my heart was telling me otherwise. All those memories of us came rushing through my mind in the blink of an eye. But I couldn't let these emotions get the best of me. I wouldn't. I quickly ordered the first flavour I laid my eyes on and collected it.

As the chocolate/chili ice cream was handed to me I instantly questioned my decision.

"Trust me , it tastes like heaven"

I glanced behind me to put a face to that voice. To my surprise, my eyes were graced with the presence of a very attractive man. He had the kind of face that made you stop in your tracks. He was probably use to the sudden change in a person's natural expression when they looked his way.

"I'll take you're word for it" I said, moving out of his way so he could order next. I watched as the corners of his mouth curled upwards, exposing his pearly white teeth. I can honestly say that in that moment all memories of Neymar left my mind as i mentally took pictures of the living definition of 'eye candy' before me. I made it my duty to savour every detail of this gorgeous guy as I was pretty sure that I may not see him again while I was in Barcelona.

"Like what you see?" I snapped out of my gaze as i looked into his dark brown orbs. His beautiful smile was now replace by a small smirk.

I raised my my brows at his overly confident question but decided against labeling him as a cocky douchebag with gigantic ego.

"I've seen better" I said, taking my eyes off him as I glanced at Shakira. To my disgust , she was still talking to Neymar whose eyes were set on me. His hazel orbs watched my every move. Now how was I going to escape? Surely if I had attempted to leave i would run the risk of a possible interaction with him as he was standing near the exit.

After a few seconds of internal conflict, I made my way to an empty table for two. I shoved a spoonful of the chocolate/chili into my mouth and to my surprise, my taste buds approved of this concoction. I quickly shoved another spoonful into my mouth sighing with relief as the ice cream cooled down my body. I was halfway through my ice cream when the familiar blond sat in the empty seat before me.

"Which is that?" She asked as she scooped up a spoonful of what seems to me strawberry ice cream .

"Chocolate/ chili" I replied , looking back to the place I last saw her with Neymar. To my relief, he was now gone. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I merely escaped my first interaction with him in the past two years.

"You're lucky I talk a lot " she said, noticing where my attention was. I looked back at her with a quizzical look .

"What do you mean?" I asked , shoving the last spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.
She placed her cup on the table.

"He was heading straight for you , but I stopped him. I guess he was too nice to tell me to buzz off so he endured my pointless conversation"

A huge smile crept it's way on my face as I thanked God for the woman before me.
I owed her big time. I contemplated continuing the tour she was giving me of the city but decided against it since we were already so close to home.

"Thank you so much Shaki! I owe you big time" I said to her, reaching over the table to hug her. She gave me a small giggle and replied that she was only doing her job making my smile grow in size.

We sat there talking about random stuff until we realized that it was now 4:00pm. Disbelief struck me as the reality that we had spent two hours in an ice cream parlor sunk in. We threw away our cups then made our way outside. I was relieved when I felt a gush of cool breeze on my skin. Maybe the walk home wasn't going to be so bad after all.