Roads That Cross...

... At Midnight (Part 2)

He tried to avoid her all day. At morning, he barely ate in order to get out of the house as soon as possible, and once in the Roller, he tried to focus on literally anything else. It was almost working, but then Gary announced he was leaving the Roller and leaving her in charge and it was impossible not to think about her anymore.

So here he was, another day and yet another sleepless night. But the reason this time was entirely different.

He kept turning on his bed, the images he had been trying to escape during the day coming to haunt him at night.

He could see Ámbar standing in the kitchen, her see-through gown alluring. He could see her face getting closer, her eyes looking straight into his, her lips moving so close that he could almost feel them.

And that was the worst part— that he could feel them. A whole day had passed and he could still feel her lips against his own, could still remember the smoothness of her skin under his touch, the soft and yet hard way their bodies pushed together.

And the guilt drowned him, because he had told himself he wouldn't fall for her games, because she had a boyfriend, because he had to listen to his friends worrying about what she'd do to them now that she was the manager and they had reasons to...

And most of all, because against everything, he craved to do it again.

It was so stupid, feeling guilty over not feeling guilty enough. But the thing was, he should regret it all, and he should feel horrible for playing with someone else's feelings (even Benicio's), and he should feel terrible about himself. But the thing he actually regretted the most was making out in Luna's kitchen. That was wrong on so many levels. But it was also Ámbar's kitchen and Ámbar... The more he remembered her taste the more he wanted to taste it again. Deep down, all he wanted was to touch her again, everything else be damned, and that was what he felt the guiltiest about.

But he couldn't allow himself to be that selfish and reckless, so he tried to convince himself that he did regret it, that he was an awful person for having done that, and that he was never going to do it again.

His inner battle wasn't letting him rest. He needed to clear his mind and the only way he knew how was playing music. So, he stood up, put on a pair of sandals and went outside, heading for the storage room. Mónica had told them that day that they could use that space to rehearse freely and without bothering anyone with the loud instruments. He walked inside, grabbed his guitar and sat on one of the sofa beds that apparently Luna's parents were arranging for them because there were folded blankets around them.

He started by playing some random chords, trying one after the other until the tune sounded right. Then he tried different speeds and strum patterns before changing to fingerpicking. Without realizing, the melody started to sound familiar...

"That's my song."

Simón's head snapped up at the voice and his heart skipped a beat when he realized it was Ámbar. Somehow, she had managed to enter the storage room, close the door behind her and move in front of him without him realizing it.

"What?"

That was all that he could come up with.

"You're playing my song, "¿Cómo me ves?" It's a nice acoustic version. I like it."

So that was why it sounded familiar. He couldn't believe it; he had come here to avoid thinking about her and then his mind had betrayed him by making him play her song. A song that they had sung together once... but that was a long time ago.

Anyway, he wasn't going to dwell on that because it could push him into dangerous territory, so he focused on the other matter at hand.

"What are you doing here, Ámbar?"