11:11

Forty-Six

Juan and I go on like that for the next hour and a half, asking each other questions that ranged from silly and stupid to deep and emotional. I learned that Juan went through a stage of really bad depression when his career was just taking off, that his secret talent is burping out the alphabet—which I was slightly disgusted by—and that he has a whole farm full of goats, chickens, horses, and pigs just a few miles from his house. The more I learned about him, the more I fell for him, which scares me a lot.

"Come eat, Cami." I'm laying alone at one of the pool chairs getting a tan when Juan plops down next to me. "Why are you all alone? My friends really wanted to get to know you better." Juan has at least ten friends over at the moment and it's all just a bit too much for me right now.

I shrug, taking off my sunglasses so that I can look him in the eyes. "Your friends kinda intimidate me."

His eyes widen. "You? Intimidated?! Yeah, no. Those two words don't go in the same sentence." he shakes his head. "Why do they intimidate you?"

"I don't know...You all just seem really close. I want them to like me. I just can't figure out how to get in there and start a conversation." I sit up next to him. "I don't think I know how to start."

He pats my thigh. "Come on, its fine."

I sigh, standing up. "Fine, I guess I'll go be social." he chuckles, putting his hand on the small of my back as he leads me into the house where all of his friends are already patiently waiting for us at his huge dinner table.

"La comida huele rica, Juan." laughs out one of Juan's friends. Jennifer, I think is her name.

"I agree. It smells so good in here, Juan." I nod, taking a seat next to him.

"Do you prefer we speak English or Spanish?" asks the girl.

"I speak both." I shrug. "Whichever is fine."

A guy speaks up. "We'll do English. God knows we all need to work on our English a little bit more." he chuckles, as does everybody else including Juan. "I'm Alex, by the way."

I smile. "Okay, English it is."

They all go around the table to introduce themselves, which I think is a cute gesture. They're all actually really chill and nice.

After lunch, we all head into Juan's theatre room and watch a couple of movies. A movie and a half in, Alex stands up. "I'm gonna go use your restroom, I'll be right back."

"Mmhm. Go ahead." Juan answers back, not paying much attention to him.

About fifteen minutes later he comes back, and stands in front of the screen. "I think I'm gonna head out, Juan. I'm pretty tired from the long day, you know?"

Juan turns his attention to him. "Are you sure?"

"Mmhm."

"Okay...well have a safe drive home." Juan says slowly.

"It was nice meeting you, Camila." he gives me and everybody else a quick goodbye before storming off.

We finish the movie and everybody else eventually leaves too. "It's still really early. You up for some ice cream or something? The cleaning ladies should be here soon, I don't really like being in their way when they're here." Juan asks once everyone has left.

"You have cleaning ladies?!" I ask in shock.

He chuckles, nodding. "You think I can manage to keep this place this clean while traveling the world?" he nudges me impatiently. "Si o no?"

I check the time, it's only 7:30. "Yeah, sure. Just let me go change into something more comfortable."

***

"So what did you think of my friends?" asks Juan, taking a giant lick of his ice cream cone.

"They were nice. Chill." I nod.

"That's good. I think they really liked you." he grins. "But then again, you're a very likable person."

I'm about to thank him for the compliment when he gets a phone call. "It's the cleaning ladies, I'll be right back, it's really loud in here." he stands up and walks outside of the little ice cream shop. He's right, it's surprisingly very full and loud in here.

I sit on my phone for a few minutes before the door swings open. "Let's go." the seriousness in Juan's eyes makes me go cold.

"Is something wrong?" I ask nervously.

"Let's go. Now Camila." he turns around, not waiting for me to answer him. On the way out, he throws his cone in the trash can. I give mine one last pathetic lick before also throwing it away.

He rushes to his car, barely waiting for me  to get in before he storms off. I'm too scared of what his reaction will be if I ask what's wrong again, so I just sit quietly. He's breathing hard, his jaw is tight, his knuckles white from how hard he's squeezing the steering wheel. What should have been an at least forty-five minute drive is a thirty minute one as we pull up to his house. He unbuckles himself, swings the door open without waiting for me, and jogs into the house.

"Oh god." I whisper out, slowly walking up to the house. When I walk in, the cleaning ladies are walking behind Juan, up the stairs. I stand for a minute, debating whether or not I should follow them before deciding to just fuck it and see what's the reasoning to his change in mood.

I've barely made it up to the top of his endless amount of stairs when Juan is storming back out of his room. "Hijo de puta" he shouts, he rushes past me and in a matter of seconds he's left the house again and the only thing that can be heard is his car zooming off into the distance.