It all started when I spotted the rectangular wooden earrings with a turquoise square in the middle at an antique shop. I was actually birthday shopping for a friend, looking for a piece of jewelry to add the to the scarf-thing I had bought for her on clearance at Aldo's. I thought the earrings were funky enough for her but Leo thought a pair of yellow ones hanging above were more her taste. I didn't really like them, plus the wooden ones were priced just right at $13, rounding the total amount spent on those who fall more on the acquaintance side than the friends side just under my $25 limit. I fetched a worker so she could get them out of the glass case and it wasn't until she opened it that I clearly read that they were $31. You see, I had just had a very refreshing margarita for around $5 that apparently made numbers dance in my head. I felt bad for having bothered the girl because I wasn't going to pay that much money for a single item. Hoping to make a purchase still, I asked her for the price on the yellow earrings.
"Fifteen dollars," she said.
Consumed with embarrassment and laziness, I took them. But not before pointing to the wooden ones and telling Leo, "Remember those because I want them for Christmas."
Three days later, Leo made a pit stop at my place. I couldn't add a video to my blog so I asked him to help me. We live five minutes from each other but we never hang out during the week so his visit was a big deal. Such a big deal, as a matter of fact, that he wanted me to clearly state how appreciative I was of him for taking time from his busy schedule to do this for me. But all he got was a standard MP response.
"If you have stuff to do, go do it. I'll manage."
His demand upset me. I don't like to be told what to do. And although, according to the book The 5 Love Languages, he needs to be praised a lot to feel loved, I'm working my way to such demonstrative acts at the speed of a snail. What he didn't know was that I was going to thank him in chicken enchiladas en salsa verde.
Since we were both already a little heated when he arrived, it wasn't a surprise when the discussion we were having turned into an argument. We have different views about parenting and children and he didn't like what I was saying about his role as an uncle versus a buddy. Leo claims that I go against him on purpose so I can simply disagree with him but that isn't true. Except that night. I was growing giddy inside as I watched him get more frustrated but I didn't let it show. When we started going around in circles he said, "We'll just have to agree to disagree." Then he plopped himself on the couch and took out his lethal weapon, the cell phone. I really hate that thing.
A minute later, his phone rang. It was his colleague. Leo left the apartment to retrieve some papers from his car. I stepped away from the kitchen to turn my Gilmore Girls on. When I grabbed the remote from the coffee table, I noticed a squared gray box. I was very confused at first. I couldn't remember if I had left wrapping materials behind. After a second, it hit me that it must have been Leo who had placed it there for me to find. I picked it up and panicked. I panic every time Leo gives me a small jewelry box because I'm afraid I'll respond, "No," to his proposal before thinking about it (I want a house and a nice wedding and we are financially unequipped right now). But the box was the perfect shape for a bracelet, although I hadn't seen any that I liked lately. And that's when it hit me: the antique shop earrings. A big toothy smile appeared on my face when I proved my suspicion right. It was also immediately followed by terrible guilt for having given him a hard time minutes before. To make it up to him, I turned up the ambiance--I opened a bottle of wine and lit up some candles. He had been trying (and succeeding) very hard lately to be romantic and I didn't want to discourage him from continuing to fulfill my love language.
He was still on the phone when he came back so I started washing some dishes to kill time. I was giggling the entire time, wanting to text my friend Sophia and sister Jackie about my great find but I didn't want Leo to catch me mid-message. I controlled myself when I finished and went to see what was holding him up because he had sought privacy in my room. He was now speaking to a different person so I returned to the kitchen to set the table. I was debating how to announce my surprise. Should I blurt it out when he took his first bite? Should I wait until we sat on the couch to watch TV? Or should I pretend not to have noticed anything at all until he handed me the box himself? I hadn't decided what route I was going to take when he emerged from the bedroom.
He was on a new level of upset. The last conversation had hit a nerve and there was no calming him down. I tried to make him see the other side of things but he didn't let me get a word in. So I shut up and let him vent. I mean, that's what we girls need sometimes, a listener. So I listened as I ate the delicious enchiladas I had prepared. At the end of his ramble, he accused me of being incompassionate in a very loud tone a.k.a. yelling. So I kicked him out.
My insides battled over my decision as he walked down those stairs again. I sat at the kitchen table uncharacteristically aware of my breathing. Every exhale was accompanied by a punch and it worsened with the next breath. I didn't know if I should chase after him. I mean, I knew I should but that would mean that he would have won. Won what? I don't know. Maybe making a fool out of me, thus losing the strong and independant image I have created for myself. We had been sufferring pretty frequent highs and lows lately. Maybe this was our last straw, the end of our era, I can take a hint from the stars above. If that is what fate had in store for us, our seperate ways, then I would welcome singlehood. But the punches in my stomach told me otherwise. They said that sitting there and letting him walk away was wrong. Even though I felt sad about what had just happened, my eyes were devoid of tears and I knew I was going to be unable to cry this one out. Then the earrings crossed my mind. They were exactly where he had left them. The innocent inanimate objects would be forever tainted with reminisces of his horrible night if I kept them and I didn't want that at all. So for the first time in my life, I put on my big girl pants, set my pride aside, pushed the chair back, grabbed my keys, and left my apartment. I grabbed the trashbag I had set outside to remind me to throw it away and ran down the stairs. One of my neighbors was smoking outside his place so I tried to be nonchalant, feinging that my heart wasn't pounding in my chest for fear of losing my boyfriend.
"Fifteen dollars," she said.
Consumed with embarrassment and laziness, I took them. But not before pointing to the wooden ones and telling Leo, "Remember those because I want them for Christmas."
Three days later, Leo made a pit stop at my place. I couldn't add a video to my blog so I asked him to help me. We live five minutes from each other but we never hang out during the week so his visit was a big deal. Such a big deal, as a matter of fact, that he wanted me to clearly state how appreciative I was of him for taking time from his busy schedule to do this for me. But all he got was a standard MP response.
"If you have stuff to do, go do it. I'll manage."
His demand upset me. I don't like to be told what to do. And although, according to the book The 5 Love Languages, he needs to be praised a lot to feel loved, I'm working my way to such demonstrative acts at the speed of a snail. What he didn't know was that I was going to thank him in chicken enchiladas en salsa verde.
Since we were both already a little heated when he arrived, it wasn't a surprise when the discussion we were having turned into an argument. We have different views about parenting and children and he didn't like what I was saying about his role as an uncle versus a buddy. Leo claims that I go against him on purpose so I can simply disagree with him but that isn't true. Except that night. I was growing giddy inside as I watched him get more frustrated but I didn't let it show. When we started going around in circles he said, "We'll just have to agree to disagree." Then he plopped himself on the couch and took out his lethal weapon, the cell phone. I really hate that thing.
A minute later, his phone rang. It was his colleague. Leo left the apartment to retrieve some papers from his car. I stepped away from the kitchen to turn my Gilmore Girls on. When I grabbed the remote from the coffee table, I noticed a squared gray box. I was very confused at first. I couldn't remember if I had left wrapping materials behind. After a second, it hit me that it must have been Leo who had placed it there for me to find. I picked it up and panicked. I panic every time Leo gives me a small jewelry box because I'm afraid I'll respond, "No," to his proposal before thinking about it (I want a house and a nice wedding and we are financially unequipped right now). But the box was the perfect shape for a bracelet, although I hadn't seen any that I liked lately. And that's when it hit me: the antique shop earrings. A big toothy smile appeared on my face when I proved my suspicion right. It was also immediately followed by terrible guilt for having given him a hard time minutes before. To make it up to him, I turned up the ambiance--I opened a bottle of wine and lit up some candles. He had been trying (and succeeding) very hard lately to be romantic and I didn't want to discourage him from continuing to fulfill my love language.
 |
| Leo gave me these mini red roses about a month ago alongside a lovely card. They have outlived the equivalent of four or five bouquets. My man knows how to make it last. |
He was on a new level of upset. The last conversation had hit a nerve and there was no calming him down. I tried to make him see the other side of things but he didn't let me get a word in. So I shut up and let him vent. I mean, that's what we girls need sometimes, a listener. So I listened as I ate the delicious enchiladas I had prepared. At the end of his ramble, he accused me of being incompassionate in a very loud tone a.k.a. yelling. So I kicked him out.
My insides battled over my decision as he walked down those stairs again. I sat at the kitchen table uncharacteristically aware of my breathing. Every exhale was accompanied by a punch and it worsened with the next breath. I didn't know if I should chase after him. I mean, I knew I should but that would mean that he would have won. Won what? I don't know. Maybe making a fool out of me, thus losing the strong and independant image I have created for myself. We had been sufferring pretty frequent highs and lows lately. Maybe this was our last straw, the end of our era, I can take a hint from the stars above. If that is what fate had in store for us, our seperate ways, then I would welcome singlehood. But the punches in my stomach told me otherwise. They said that sitting there and letting him walk away was wrong. Even though I felt sad about what had just happened, my eyes were devoid of tears and I knew I was going to be unable to cry this one out. Then the earrings crossed my mind. They were exactly where he had left them. The innocent inanimate objects would be forever tainted with reminisces of his horrible night if I kept them and I didn't want that at all. So for the first time in my life, I put on my big girl pants, set my pride aside, pushed the chair back, grabbed my keys, and left my apartment. I grabbed the trashbag I had set outside to remind me to throw it away and ran down the stairs. One of my neighbors was smoking outside his place so I tried to be nonchalant, feinging that my heart wasn't pounding in my chest for fear of losing my boyfriend.
"Hi," I said to my neighbor with the fried lungs.
"Hey, how you doin," he replied.
"It's nicer out here than it is in there, isn't it," I said, referring to the summer heat.
As I walked at a normal pace to the trash bin, I noticed that Leo was stuck inside the complex. The gate only opens with a clicker no matter what direction you're going. I let out a sigh of relief and headed towards his car. After I thought I was out of my neighbor's sight, I picked up my pace. I pulled up next to him and said, "Park." I wasn't going to let him think that I had left all of my hard-headedness upstairs. He followed my instructions. I sat in the car and said, "We need to talk because I want those earrings."
* * *
We talked. We agreed that we had both been wrong and had a lot to work on. I asked him to take the earrings back and give them to me again so they wouldn't be associated with that night but he didn't want to.
"They are yours," he said. "I wanted them to put a smile on your face."
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| Los malditos earrings. "Teacher, tus aretes parecen un telefono." |
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| Got the earrings and my man--I win! |
