Pandora's box

“They’ll love you, don’t you worry anymore. You look dazzling with this light pink dress. You're dressed to kill!” As we walk hand in hand towards our destination, I can’t keep my eyes away from her. She knows how I love the way those summer dresses look on her slender body. As the elevator door closes, she simply puts her arms around my neck to lure me into her territory. She's one of those girls that have a tender, caring smile, capable of melting the strongest of your resolves. She’s got what it takes to tumble down walls unapologetically.

Right in the middle of a long and heavily anticipated kiss, doors open wide and without saying a word, we walk towards our destination. As we moved forward, I can see from the corner of my eye that she is nervous, when she faces a stressful situation, she tends to touch her hair with rapid down-swipes.

“You look lovely dear, believe me, lovely.”

Down the hall, apartment 2063 door is slightly open. Faint music could be heard from inside the premises. To my surprise, as my finger release the bottom of the adjacent doorbell, a familiar face greets us. “Anthony, You’re finally here. My longtime friend! Forget the hand shake…” Opening his arms, a wide, brotherly hug is his way of showing his content. “Alright, this is Amanda, Amanda, this is Diego.”

“My pleasure Amanda, please don’t be a stranger, make yourselves at home. Baby, Anthony is here.”

Moving towards us with her devilish walk comes Liz, a well-proportioned brunette with caramel- colored eyes and the whitest teeth you have ever seen. I feel her warm hands running down my cheeks to finally hug me with tender care. “Anthony, I’m so glad you’re here again.” With a kiss in my cheek she pulls her face and body away from me. “You must be Amanda, I got a question for you, how did you manage to take him out of the house? We got more than a year trying but it’s almost impossible. Between gym, work and his master, there’s no hope.” Amanda turns her head towards me and simply gives me a confident, shy smile.

Is better for me to change the topic. I'm thinking that here’s no need to dive deep into my daily struggles as a Mechanical Engineer pursuing a Masters in Thermal fluid Science.

“Well, all I can say is, lovely place you got here, the total opposite of what we used to have back in college.”

By the look on Diego's face, I can see that my comment made him look a bit uncomfortable. Our apartment was a cesspit. Empty cans at large, an intrusive and nauseous stench of unwashed bed sheets that hit you as soon as you open the door. Not even the strong nicotine scent of a myriad cigarette buds could cope with that.

“Take a seat, let’s do what we do best, be the kings of our kingdoms.”

I can see that Liz took Amanda and sat side by side on the other couch. The best I can do is to simply relax and enjoy this evening with my long lost friend. Diego cannot hide his excitement, after almost two years away, we finally get the chance to see each other. I manage to survive college with this maniac that took me almost to the brink of a mental collapse. For him, it was all about getting wasted and pick up girls. I cannot say it was not fun, it surely was! But tiresome if you really want to move forward and get out of college as soon as possible.

“Alright, like in the good old days, are we ready?”

He stands right in front of me with a brand new bottle of a low-quality distilled spirit, those that rest on the lower shelve in a convenient store. He takes the lead and drinks first. Looking straight into my eyes handles me the bottle and awaits for my impressions.

As soon as I taste it, memories of my college days start to hit one by one like punches from an amateur boxer with little to no order. With the bitter aftertaste going up and down my throat, I’m thinking about how horrible this liquor is, do people actually like this awful drink? Terrible idea, but now is too late.

Liz, watching this squalid display of manhood looks at Amanda and with a polite, “let them do their macho thing, follow me.” Amanda simply agrees with a nod and stood up. Alright, me and him again, am I back in college?

“So, Anthony, for how long have you been seeing this girl?”

“Well, more or less 6 weeks, she’s cool.” With a broad smile Diego adds, “We’re grown-ups now, look at me, more than a year with Liz, life is changing my friend. Life wants me to change, my girlfriend wants me to change too, what are we doing wrong? Nothing, I guess that’s just how things are going to be from now on.”

In the meantime, Liz and Amanda are chatting on the balcony, from where I’m sitting, I can see Amanda’s back against the balcony window. Little by little I fell more at ease than when me got here until something changed everything. A familiar herbal scent comes drifting from the balcony. “How come? Amanda does not smoke. Well, must be Liz, wait a minute, Amanda is actually smoking too, I wonder…”

“Chill Brother, do you want some?” Diego is looking at me again with his devilish eyes, he knows my answer, he is just playing games with me once more. “You need to relax, stop being the same old you. Enough of those lame polo shirts, books about the meaning of it all and nerdy music. There’s a world full of possibilities out there, dare to embrace what’s coming.”

He stands up and heads to the balcony, “Ladies, are we ready? Let’s go to the bar.”

The bar is called "The Blackbird," located not more than a block away from their building. I can see that Liz and Amanda got along just fine, the night looks promising. The bar is kind of packed, maybe 20 or more people were standing right at the entrance. Diego went ahead and starts a conversation with the doorman. In the middle of the sidewalk Liz turns her head and adds, “Don’t’ worry, Diego is doing the Diego thing. You know him Anthony, he knows everyone, everyone knows him.”

No line, no wait, is less than 2 minutes I’m crossing the door and we have a table waiting for us right next to the entrance. Well, we had no chairs, it was one of those small tables for people to place their drinks and chat standing up. Diego adds, “That’s one of the advantages of living on the belly bottom of South Miami, I simply love Brickell. Next to my building I can find whatever I want, believe me, whatever I want my dear friend.”

As the night goes along, I can see that Amanda and Liz are more and more into each other. That's a good thing right? That was the whole point of this get together. Amanda has been great for my wellbeing, thanks to her I’m a bit more social, more open to new experiences. What I like about her is the fact that she is a healthy person, always pushing me to join in her crazy jogs and endless training sessions at the gym. I got to say that it was shocking to see her with a joint in her hands, well, I guess that you never really know the person you’re with.

She is looking at me right now, am I thinking out loud? Nahh, the music is really loud. It’s even difficult for me to hear my inner dialog. “Are you ok babe? Your friends are great. Liz is such a beauty, thanks for taking the time and have some fun tonight.” With a gentle kiss on my lips, Amanda gives me a hint of what’s coming later. Drinks and laughs abound, she is right, I need some kind of fun. “Anthony, cheers mate.” A merry Diego raises his beer as a token of appreciation for being here with them once more.

“Babe, would you do something for me?” I got to say that her question intrigues me, “Sure babe, tell me.” She is looking for something in her purse and whispers in my ear, “Babe, take this, let’s go wild tonight. Believe me, this thing is out of this world. Let me see you go places with this.”

In disbelieve I began to babble, “Honey, you know that’s not my scene, I’m not into that kind of stuff and I got to say I’m surprised you’re into this.” With dark huge pupils she stares right at me and replies, “do it for me babe, it’s going to be ok.” Between kisses and laughs, the small piece of paper is no longer on her hands. No time for regrets, let’s see what the future might bring.

It has been a while, maybe whatever she gave me is not that strong. I’m feeling good, girls are dancing, the place is packed. Where is Diego? What was he wearing? Ohh yes, this music is good, Amanda loves this song, “Amanda, babe, your song. Dance with me, this is great.” As we glide through the crowd; on my feet, a pale green with soft mingles of orange floor incite us to leave our inhibitions behind.

Moving shadows all around me, but this are not shadows, these are waves. Waves of nameless faces, is a sea of faces. Like driftwood, we floated away with the tide, I feel safe again, “Diego, this is great, I miss you brother. This is so great, I can’t contain my excitement, I feel like shouting.” The crispy sound of trance music got deep into my skull, rattling, beating, glowing. It must be what she gave me. Even though my eyelids are closed, I can still see lights, dancing lights, beautiful lights, lovely lights. I feel so alive.

Suddenly Amanda’s soft voice interrupts my chain of thoughts. “Babe, I think we should go, the uber driver is almost here. Hold my hand.” I can feel her blood going back and forth from just her tight grip. She's not letting me go, there’s too much people all around us. Everybody is wet, I can smell the scent of sweat coming from every direction. “Babe, look at them, drops are falling, just like rain, just like rain.”

In no time we’re on our way, it feels good to leave all that madness behind. Her embrace feels so comforting. The texture of her arms not that much, when I stroke down is soft, like polished marble, my hand glides with little to no effort. But when I try to move my hand on the opposite direction, is like rough wood. It has spikes, unpleasant spikes that erode the surface of my palms. I can’t stoke up, always down. Out of the windshield, we’re moving towards an infinite row of lights that guide us towards our destination.

What is even more impressive is the sound of the 4 cylinder engine that propel us, with my eyes closed, I can clearly hear each piston being pushed over and over again, two and four go up, one and three go down. Piston two and four go up, piston one and three go down. It all happens thanks to a single spark, the spark that ignites, burns, and pushes the piston all along the cylinder. A four-stroke engine is a work of art. Intake, compression, combustion, exhaust; is an endless loop that pushes us forward.

"Babe, can you hear it? it's a beautiful mechanical symphony. If I close my eyes, I can hear the oil pump working. "

The wait for the elevator seems endless. It comforts me that Amanda is here, I feel loved, cared, respected. She is like a beam of white, pure light. How magnificent and exquisite she looks under the bright lights of the almost sterile lobby. She takes my hand and together we entered the elevator leaving the scent of our pheromones as the only trace of our late-night escapade. As the door began to close my surroundings expanded immediately. The four sides of mirrors created a boundless space around me. I feel like floating on air. “Dear, this is too much, help me, HELP ME! My head is about to explode.”

Tenderly she puts her hands around my face and whispers. “Just look down, is an elevator babe”, she puts her hand on my face and fragile, like a baby in his mother’s arms, I let my defenses go and sobs.

Safe again, home at last. Feels so good to take my shoes off and walk barefoot on the cold kitchen floor. Amanda is giving me no quarter; her kisses are dragging me from every contour towards the couch. With my hands I can feel the tightness of her skin, how heat radiates from within her inner self. Kissing her is just sublime, as soon as our lips touched, electricity travels through my myelinated neurons at more than 200 miles per hour. The overwhelming display of emotions divert my bravado. Our bodies are close to melt into one another without constrain, this feeling goes beyond trust, beyond lust.

This is simply beautiful; I can hear her heartbeat race against mine. Resting on the couch feels so good, the synthetic white fabric seems wet, like a bath sponge. Is a pleasant feeling, I’m sure that this is what resting on a cloud must be like.

In the middle of this sensory mayhem with my woman on top of me, I can see her spotless splendor. She looks humongous from my point of view, almost like a sphinx erected between my chest and my belly bottom.

Without too much effort she engulfs me with her legs. Again this feeling of melting into each other’s arms starts to reappear. Between kisses, again I can hear her heartbeat loud and clear, her blood rushing down her veins. This is the most intense experience I’ve ever had.

“Babe, choke me, do it dear, choke me.”

Without hesitation, my fingers start to appear one by one around her neck. She opens her mouth and a lustful moan is all I hear. I’ve never heard her moan like that before. It was sharp, pure and filthy at the same time. Our gaze meet, but this time is different. She smiles with delight, I can see her resting on green grass, with a lovely flowery sundress under the unforgiving Florida sun. We had a blast the last time we went to the Florida Keys; we need to go again to watch the sunset at Mallory square. I remember the street performer playing Peter Frampton's version of “Baby I love your way.” He was sitting with his guitar on his lap, wearing some dirty old jeans, tie dye shirt and a dark blue beanie on his head. The place was so evocative; it was like music floated around us looking for a place to land, notes and chords at full mercy of the wind.

Tightening my grip, another moan could be heard. Scratching my back she invited me to keep on going, it was like dancing to an inaudible tribal ritual. The more my grip tightened, the louder her moans. Images keep flashing by, her soft, immaculate skin, the texture of the salty Key West dock, the sound of her quirky laugh. But something is changing, she feels limp, cold and pale under me.

Effortlessly I manage to release myself from her legs, she seems lifeless, cold. She's nothing like Amanda, her hair does not glow anymore. Her eyes are empty looking into the void.

"I need to wash my face; this is not real, this is not real! Again my mind is playing tricks on me."

The sound of water going down the drain upsets me. It's too loud and intrusive. “What am I seeing right in front of me? Am I the one in the mirror? Am I looking at my reflection or is my reflection the one that looks at me?” This is too confusing; I need to focus. I know, my dad uses to say, when you shave you start anew. That’s it, I need a shave to eradicate the problem. “I’m going to lather you up good Anthony, believe me! Really good.”