After exchanging numbers and making a group chat, the boys agreed to meet us at four the next day. They were going to surprise us with a day full of fun. We would try all the best food Barcelona had to offer, along with another secret adventure.
When we arrived back to the hotel, Tina was clearly the most excited. She was recently single and wanted male attention. I wanted a guy to stop turning me down. But guess which person got what they wanted? At this point, telling this story is going to make me spontaneously combust so I’m going to sidetrack for a second.
Intermission: Operation Third Wheel
Some people never have to go through this, while others, namely me, learned what it meant to be a third wheel very early in life. I’ve been a third wheel as long as I can remember. Back when I was ten and Conner was doing his rounds, seems about the very start. I didn’t put a label to what I was until about age seventeen, when all my friends started to get boyfriends or girlfriends and I would hang out with them.
Being a third wheel means a lot of things, mostly that you’re single as heck. But, if you find yourself third-wheeling with the right couple, it’s actually kind of fun. Or maybe I’m just trying to make myself feel better. You can be the judge.
Anyway, if you have never been a third wheel, you can skip this part because you won’t relate. If you have, tell me it’s not fun to annoy the perfect couple in your presence, and make things way more awkward then they need to be. This might be another just me thing, but I love third-wheeling. I get to unleash my inner mischief. I may sound like a terrible person but what’s really terrible is the friend, who thinks it’s acceptable to be all mushy gushy with their mate, when you’re standing very alone on the other side of them or banished to the backseat of the car.
But like I said, it’s not all bad: take Carol for example. She has been with her boyfriend for a very long time and I’ve third wheeled more than a few times with them, even if they didn’t realize it, but they were very lowkey with the love show to the point where I didn’t feel the constant need to put on a blindfold. But alas, maybe I’m lucky enough in that department. If you aren’t so lucky, tip the scales ever so slightly so you can have a little more fun. Now, don’t go crazy and try to break up the couple because that’s just cruel. But be as annoying as you like. It’s like being the child of newlywed parents—especially if they are in the honeymoon phase. They are so focused on each other that they don’t even notice when you act like a fool and spill your entire soda in the back seat of the car.
Sorry, Carol.
2 hunks & a chump
Age 25
Ricardo: Part Two
We met the boys in the lobby of our rinky-dink hotel, which was the hotel’s best feature. It had three crystal chandeliers that dropped from the vaulted ceiling and the light bounced off crimson walls that sat over black marble countertops. The front desk had four candelabras as the center piece and an array of black roses in a vase on the tables in the lounge area. The sofas were brushed silver and gold, apparently antiques, and guest were not allowed to have drinks or food near them. Ricky and Dominic were sitting in the love seat with their arms draped over the back.
I don’t know what’s in the water in Barcelona, but Cary needs to drink it because he was sitting crisscross on the floor drinking a red bull. Casual.
Tina was one step away from literally bouncing off the walls. She did the pee-pee dance and ran up behind Ricky and covered his eyes purring, “Guess who?”
First thought that goes through my head is, there is no way he will know it’s her, we just met yesterday, and she changes her voice every two minutes. But she continually surprises me, and he guesses who it is, as well as the perfume she’s wearing. This was an eminent red flag, because what normal guy knows the exact perfume a girl is wearing? They usually couldn’t care less. But of course, I’m a fool for adventure and brushed it off.
Dominic stood up, somehow looking fresh-pressed, like a fan offset stage was blowing his hair so it tousled loosely around his shoulders and clasped his hands together. “Okay amigas. I hope you’re ready for a day full of fun. First on the list is the Gorg de la Malatosca, outside the town of Saint de Les Abadesses, which is about an hour and a half from here.”
Ricky took over, “Yeah and we have two cars, one that fits four and Cary can fit him and one other person.”
The brats I called my friends volunteered themselves to ride with the twins quicker than I could finish processing the fact that one of us would have to ride with Cary alone for the next hour or so. I tried to give them my death stare, but they were too infixed on running behind the twins to the car. They quite literally dropped me like a hot sack. Cary finally stood up and looked at me, “Okay love, that means you’re with me. I’m sorry, what did you say your name was again?”
I looked at him with guffaw and said, “It’s Waverly, and yours?” Of course I knew it, but I wanted him to think that I didn’t care enough to remember as he obviously didn’t.
He caught onto my act and just smiled and turned to walk toward his vehicle. When we exited the hotel doors, he passed all the cars and trucks in the parking lot and approached a shiny steel death machine with black patented leather and flames along the side, with two helmets hanging off the handlebars. I just about passed out. Under the circumstances, I was basically digging my own grave. “There’s no way I’m riding this. First of all, I barely know you, and for all I know, you could take traffic laws as a mere suggestion. I did not sign up for this.”
Cary was already revving the engine. He looked up, “Listen, doll, I promise you won’t die. I’ve been a seasoned rider since I was twelve, and I was basically born on one.” He gave me a dazzling smile and I’ll admit he actually looked kind of cute. Hey, at least he wore a helmet. Some knuckleheads think it makes them look dumb. I’d rather look dumb than dead.
Cary put on a leather jacket that he had in the tail bag, and he had the whole edgy look going for him. He held out the second helmet and waited patiently while I contemplated how much I valued my life. After about three more minutes of deciding, I finally took it and strapped it on, tight enough to cut out any circulation that might reach my brain and tell me to get off that thing as soon as possible. Cary reached back gently and wrapped my arms around him, kicking up the kickstand before revving the engine again, and peeled out of the parking lot.
He was cautious as promised, which I appreciated. We passed by Carol, Tina, and the twins in a dark blue mini cooper. It was slow enough for me to see both my friends waving and winking at me with the windows rolled down. They were also making loud kissing noises. Cary looked in his rearview at them, laughed, and yelled over the wind, “Your friends are quite the characters.” My cheeks colored, and I focused my gaze at the rose emblem on the back of his leather jacket. I made a mental note to kill them later.
Cary seemed to know where he was going and was also a tour guide along the way. The rest of the group followed close behind us the entire way and kept the windows down, so we could hear them singing terribly to every song on the radio, in English and Spanish. I was very close to losing it, but Cary distracted me by pointing out various landmarks as we passed.
“See that there to your left? That’s an old mill that was turned into a school back in the 1800’s, they went from harnessing wind to teaching primary kids their ABC’s.” As we passed by, I got to see some little kids in plaid uniforms run to the monkey bars, they looked so happy.
After about thirty minutes of Cary being my own personal tour guide, we hit the motorway which was pretty much just the sky, asphalt, and other cars. The group was still behind us and failed to let up on their annoying singing. Now, I don’t expect profession, but it was like they were doing it on purpose. Or maybe they just didn’t realize that they sounded like four harrowing cats who just got electrocuted. A little later, we finally made it to our destination, the Gorg de la Malatosca or the Gorg, for short. This waterfall was unlike anything I’d ever seen, the water was crystal clear, an
d the rocks were smooth and looked sculpted behind the waterfall face.
It was surrounded by lush greenery and although it was a tourist attraction, we were the only ones there. The boys were ready. They all started to strip down to their swim trunks and ran like wild animals to the water. Ricky did a back flip, Dominic did a dive, and Cary did a belly flop respectfully.
Us girls have more common sense and set up a picnic area with the supplies the twins had in the trunk of the mini cooper. Then we took off our cover ups, put them in our bags nicely and sprayed on some sunblock. Then and only then did we run like wild animals and jump into the water.
We stayed in the water for so long, just splashing each other, trying tricks off the rocks and learning new things about each other, until finally we had turned to prunes and got out for a lunch break. Ricky and Dominic were perfect gentlemen for Carol and Tina. They handed them their towels and cleared a spot for them on the crowded picnic blanket before sitting down. Cary sat down and grabbed an apple, completely clueless. Now, I’m not trying to assume anything, but it seemed as if I was the only one who didn’t get royal treatment. I stared holes into the back of Cary's head, but he didn’t get the memo, so I gave up and ate my sandwich.
As Carol, Tina, and I were starting to discover, the boys had a sense of humor. Ricky gave these hilarious impressions of different tourists he came across, and his band manager. He even stood up and did their walk. He had it down to the way they would gesture and their mannerisms. Meanwhile, Dominic continued to prove himself the more illustrious twin and spoke with passion about all things Spain. He made the city of Barcelona sound even more beautiful than it looked, if that’s even possible. And Cary, well Cary was just there. He spoke when spoken to and didn’t really try hard to be included in the conversation. It was almost as if he was above it all.
The dynamic between the three was enthralling. I couldn’t help but be even more drawn to Cary. Not in so much a romantic way, but more a desire to break his hard exterior. I know, I know, it was just over twenty-four hours since we’d met these guys and I was willing to jump through hoops if it meant getting to learn about the mysterious creature that was Cary. Which should have been an indicator that things were about to go so very wrong.
Tina would flirt with a vase & it’d still smile at her
Age 25
Franky Risible
After more fun at the waterfall, it got a little too late to do anything else, so the boys took us back to the hotel. The ride home was freezing, and Cary let me wear his leather jacket. Leather is the most unhelpful, insulating material I’ve come across. It’s thin and has no stretch room. When it’s hot outside, leather is like a cloth oven. When it’s cold, leather is no more than a napkin on your back, I was just as cold as before, but more uncomfortable. The arms of the jacket hit a little past my elbows and kept rubbing. They were in danger of cutting off my circulation. But it was the thought that counted. After we arrived at the hotel, they said their goodbyes and said that they would pick us up again the next day for breakfast and the secret adventure. The day after, we would be boarding the plane back home.
When we got back to the room, Tina rushed to shower first and Carol spent the next half hour telling me about how awesome the guys were and what fun it was singing with them in the mini cooper. She then proceeded to Facetime her boyfriend and tell him the same thing for another half hour. It was quite irritating, but I let her have her happiness. I’ll admit it was a fun time and I was anxiously anticipating the next day. If only naive me had realized that all this was for a fact too good to be true. I woke with a start around 6 a.m. and looked around, confused. That’s when I realized that the ring I always wore was gone.
It was a little gold ring I got for my sixteenth birthday, it had an amethyst in the middle of ivory vines that wrapped around the perimeter of the ring. I only took it off when I got in the water, or before showering, but then I put it back on before going to sleep without fault. It was weird not seeing it on my finger because there was a line of lighter skin where it lay. Like a phantom limb, that ring was a part of me, and I was very determined to back track. I tried to remember when I had last seen it, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember if I had taken it off at the waterfall. I flipped the room upside down as quietly as possible because I didn’t want to wake the girls and used the flashlight on my phone, shining everywhere I thought it could be. But it was nowhere to be found.
Eventually, I decided to give up and retreated back to bed and would try to search again in the morning. At around ten, we got a wake up call from the boys saying they were in the lobby waiting for us. We had missed our alarm. We had to rush to get ready. During all the fuss, I completely forgot to look for my ring again. We ran down to meet them. As we approached them, they started to laugh.
Carol hit Ricky on the arm. “Dude, why are you guys laughing, is there something on my face? If so, tell me and stop being goofballs.” At this point, Dominic was trying to cover his laugh with his hand. Terrible job at that. Cary was shaking his head softly with a set smirk. Ricky was doubled over and kept clutching his stomach. Tina looked mortified.
Carol looked like she was going to choke him out when he finally got ahold of his bearings and spit out, “You guys didn’t look in the mirror, did you?”
I’d had enough. I got in his face and said, “Do you not realize how rude that sounds? We missed our alarm, rushed to get ready, came down all excited to see you guys, and haven’t complained about the fact that we don’t even know what you have planned today. You didn’t let us prepare and now you’re laughing in our face about our appearance!”
Finally, I think they got it and each boy took one of us by the shoulders and guided us to the big, oval mirror in the hall of the lobby that led to the public restrooms. After the sight, all six of us burst into a fit of laughter. Carol’s shirt was inside out, and she had dry toothpaste on her chin. Tina had her shoes on the wrong feet and mascara misplaced above her eyebrow. I had pulled on my shorts that I thought was a skirt, with both legs in one leg hole and my button up was buttoned, skipping every other buttonhole. In short, we all looked like a mess.
We rushed to the ladies’ room to fix ourselves, and when we came out, the boys gave a whistle and gave us compliments. Cary even told me he liked my hair. I had braided it the night before, so it was crimped and down to my shoulders. And on that notion, all was forgiven.
Riding arrangements were the same, but I was content with Cary, he obeyed traffic laws and made sure I was comfortable. We arrived at a café for churros sprinkled with sugar that we dunked in hot chocolate. It was very delicious, and the boys lured us into a false sense of security before telling us the secret activity they had been planning. We would be SKYDIVING. Do I look like I’m trying jump out of a plane and have my parachute fail so that I splat on the earth below me?
Don’t answer that because I will. NO.
It took them a lot of convincing to get me to come along because I was very tempted to return to the hotel and get some rest before the flight the next day. Tina, who is very much afraid of heights, was the one to convince me. As I was giving one hundred and one reasons why skydiving was a terrible idea, she pulled me aside and listened to me with empathy before giving her argument.
“Okay, Waverly, I know that skydiving is dangerous, but anything can be dangerous. Driving a car is one of the most dangerous things to do, but that doesn’t stop anyone. You can be afraid of the world but what good does that do?”
I cut her off, “I understand where you’re coming from, but skydiving is something daredevils do, and I value my life enough not to try something so stupid.”
“I understand that, but it only scares you because you assume the worst. I’m not saying it’s something everyone should try. Also, at the end of the day you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But wouldn’t it be cool to try something new that will make you see the world a little differently?”
I’ll admit that girl was good a
t convincing me and before I knew it, we were geared up and in a plane. As the plane soared over the Spanish landscape, the sights were phenomenal. We passed over vast plains and sandy coastlines. There were these purple blurbs of lavender fields taking over the landscape as we flew further from the main city.
The world seemed to stretch on forever. Land and sky met, making our airplane seem like nothing more than a tiny blimp. It all made the prospect of skydiving way more tenable. That said, I rebuffed jumping solo—knowing myself, I would surely freeze up when it came time to pull the tab that opens the chute, so Cary agreed to ride with me. The height difference made it a little difficult, but our instructor was able to make it work.
Speaking of our instructor, her name was Janelle and she was anomalous. Her curly hair was dyed lime green and she had a piercing on her cheek, but that wasn’t what I questioned. What had me the most freaked out was the fact that she was running the entire skydiving business by herself and had to put the plane on auto pilot to tend to the group. Still not that big of a deal, until she declared she would be jumping before us to “increase our motivation to get off the plane.” I still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it only got worse. While she was strapping us in, I noticed the condition of our flying uniforms. All the metal clasps were rusted and seemed like a second away from breaking. The suits had patches where holes must have been. When we inquired the condition of the very things we were trusting our lives with, and how often they were replaced, she said she replaced them when they broke. So, I accepted my death.
Cary and I jumped last because I was a tad milksop, but we did it and we landed mostly smoothly. That’s all I remember because my eyes were closed until Cary yelled, “Land Ho!” Now, in case you forgot, after all of us jumped, there was absolutely no one on the plane, or so we thought. I looked up and it was gone. I turned to the rest of the group after taking the chute and Cary off my back, with a bewildered, “Where’s the plane, did it crash?”
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