It was still a little unnerving to me, the idea of being all alone in Barcelona. Okay, I knew our family friend, who lived about two hours from town center. But he and his family were my last resort, really, for if anything went terribly wrong. It was exciting, though, for the most part. Two months living in Spain, the country I’ve been in love with for the longest time.

Today, I have breakfast (tomato on toast, with olive oil) and then decide to go to that nice park I’d noticed the other day. It was a Sunday; I had plenty of time. Actually, seeing as I hadn’t found a job just yet, it didn’t really matter what day of the week it was.

What job, you might be wondering? Well, considering I’m only nearly in my tertiary studies, the best I could do, probably, is English tutoring. I’ve done it before, since I was 16, in various countries during my summers. I suppose the name of my current university doesn’t hurt, nor the fact that I’m an English major.

Anyway, I’d left an application with our family friend - Jose - who has quite good connections here in Barcelona. He’d promised he would get back to me before next week. So, until then…

My phone rang, startling me out of my thoughts. Pausing in my walk down to the park, I pulled my phone out and answered, fighting the urge to open with ‘Hello?’
“Hola, it’s Jose, que tal Cati?”
I smiled. Speak of the devil. “Muy bien! Y tu?”
“Fenomenal. Listen, I’ve got you someone to tutor.”
“Oh - thank you so much, Jose!”
“De nada. Let me say, though, that you’re going to thank me a lot - very much - later on…”
I cocked my head, puzzled. “Oh.” I could hear him grinning, like the friendly uncle figure he’d always been.
“Yeah. Where are you, by the way?”
“I was just walking from my flat.” I told him the name of the park.
“Perfect,” he said, without further explanation. “Well, until later. Bye!”
“Wait! How do I…what about the details…?”
“I’ll let you know soon,” he promised, and so we hung up.
Right. Well.

It was a balmy day. The sun was warm, but the wind cooler, which is my favourite kind of weather. I sat down at a bench and watched the street contentedly for a while, soaking in the fact that I was in Barcelona.

About five minutes later, I was reading a novel. In Spanish. If you could call what I was doing reading. My Spanish seriously needs work; speaking and listening’s about the only stuff I can sort of do.
“Hola,” came a voice, and I looked up, blinking at a woman who was smiling in a friendly way at me.
“Hola,” I replied. She asked if she could join me on the bench. It was a nice area of town, so why the heck not, I decided. “You are Cati, yes?” she began. I’d just opened my mouth in incredulity when she continued, “Jose said you’d be here! You’re going to be tutoring my husband in English.”
“Oh, right!” I grinned at her, now. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you! I had no idea you would be here.”
“We live around here. Your Spanish is very good.”
“Thanks, I…it’s still quite hard though.”
She laughed. “Are you free? Would you like to go meet your tutee and, uh, his kids?”
“That’d be great.”

I’d been planning to ask her her name when I got in the car, but she had to take a business call. It sounded like she ran a catering business, from what I heard. I was quite sure I wasn’t being abducted by a criminal, since she’d known all of Jose’s arrangements and I doubted whether criminals ran catering companies. Unless she was a phenomenal actress and the phone call was fake. I was just getting worried though when she pulled to the side of a beautiful, wealthy looking residential road and announced our arrival.

She looked vaguely familiar, I thought, looking at her. As though I ought to know who she is. But it didn’t come to mind. Weird. “Um, how can I call you?” I asked. Her eyes widened. “I’m so sorry I forgot to say! How silly of me. My name is Patricia, Patricia Gonzalez.”

Okay, that name was reaaaally familiar. I frowned, thinking about it, as I followed her into the house. Patricia sat me down on the sofa, and a little girl in a red dress, maybe around five, toddled into the room. Patricia gathered her up and kissed her cheek, explaining to me, “This is Zaida, she’s the older of our two daughters.”

And of course then, it all clicked into place. Slammed, I should say.
Well, fuck.

My mouth had somehow become entirely dry, my heart was in my throat and skipping maybe five beats in a row and oh my god she was calling out now: “David, come and meet Cati! She’s a lovely girl.”
How could Jose do this to me? How was I supposed to teach one of the people I admired most on the entire plant, for god’s sake?

He came into the living room, then. He was wearing a yellow shirt over dark jeans. And a smile, a smile I’d only seen in pictures before, and was overwhelming now I was seeing it in real life. “Hola,” he said, that friendly smile on his face, his hand outstretched. I had somehow stood up, and somehow took his hand. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, which didn’t really help my already strained nervous system. I was probably blushing like an idiot.
“H-hola,” I stammered. “I had no idea…it was going to…you…I mean, I think you’re fantastic. Oh God, this is embarrassing.” Patricia, I noticed gratefully, had left the room briefly. I looked back at David, who had sat down on the couch beside me and patted it, gesturing that I should do the same. His eyes were beautiful and brown and I really, really shouldn’t stare…
“Thank you,” he nodded. “It’s not embarrassing. Don’t worry.”
I had managed to regain some measure of calm, surprisingly quickly, I thought. Oh well. This was good. “Thanks,” I mumbled. “It’s really nice to meet you.”
He smiled. “And you, Cati. Ok, I’ve been learning some English and my wife thought maybe I should practice speaking it more. Before I become an old man and can’t learn anything. But…I suck…so I hope you’ll bear with me.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “We’ll go at whatever pace you want.”
Well, fuck, that sounded wrong. I hope he didn’t notice. (Did I mention I find this man insanely attractive?)
David smirked a little. Okay, so he had. Dammit. I looked away, feeling myself blush again.

Well, life here was going to be fucking amazing.