reaction. They had spent many separate years and a random reunion like the one they had lived in Geneva did not commit them to anything. After all, everyone had gone on with his life.
- Ok, I'm sorry. You know I like to have things under control - she tried to apologize.
- Yes, I know. But I also know that you have to let you go, once in a while. Do you feel like meeting later?
- Okay.
- Tell me what time you finish and I'll pick you up for your office. I'm sure it won’t be difficult to me find it.
CAPÍTULO 9: CONFLUENCE
No matter how hard she tried, that day she could not concentrate. Adrian had broken all her schemes. The last thing she expected that could happen, it had happened. And he was right, she had behaved like a baby. Instead of being glad to see him, she had been sullen and elusive. She could not understand her own reasons. To be exact, she did not want to see them. She had not even let him explain what he was doing in Pasadena, or how long he was going to stay. And now, she would have to wait until seven to find out.
Eventualities that happens or call it as you prefer, shortly before seven, Lisa went into her office. Sophia could not believe how coincidences happen in life, since it was not usual for Lisa to come over to her office without warning. She had come to see her because she had had a problem with a workmate in her department, whom she had frequent discussions with. And whenever she had any, she went to Sophia to seek consolation, since she considered her to be her best friend and trusted her completely. She was absolutely displeased and kept saying she was upset, that she could not stand him and that he was only in the department because he was the son of a well-known professor of geology.
Sophia could barely hear her words. At any moment, Adrian would come in through the door and then she would have to explain to Lisa who he was, which did not appeal to her because she could get an idea of the interrogation that would come later, possibly the next day when they would see each other again. She hated having to talk about those issues with Lisa, no matter how much she wanted her friend. They were endless conversations in which she began to imagine a thousand things and Sophia always had to be impassive for her to give up.
So it was. The moment came when her conjectures came together with reality and Adrian and Lisa also merged in the same time and space. What Sophia had not expected in any case was Lisa's reaction. As soon as she saw him, she seemed to be ecstatic, as if she were speechless, something unusual in her.
- Lisa, this is my friend Adrian. I don’t know if you remember I told you about him when I came back from Geneva.
- Nice to meet you, Lisa. Especially if you are one of the people who take care of Sophia.
- My pleasure. I didn’t imagine you like this - the geologist said unexpectedly.
- What do you mean? - Adrian asked.
- I don’t know, I suppose, more like the physicists we have at this University - she replied, not sure why she had said that.
- It's still not clear to me what you mean, but in any case, I'll take it as a compliment - Adrian said with a smile, making Lisa blush slightly.
- I still don’t know why you're here, so I can not tell you much more - Sofia said.
- Well I'm here because I wanted to visit my friend and because we’re going to carry out a joint research between the two Universities and I have offered to do liaison. So you're going to see me here for a good season. Now Lisa, if you don’t mind, I'd like to go for dinner with Sophia because I've booked a table and I'd rather not be late
- Oops. Sure. I was leaving. Have a good time.
- I suppose you'll have a car, because we can not walk from here, so I'm at your disposal from this moment - he said to Sophia.
-Yeah, right. Don’t worry about that. You’ll have to tell me the name of the restaurant or the address. I hope it is not far away because tomorrow I have to get up early.
- Quiet. I won’t bother you for too long with my uncomfortable presence.
- I'm sorry, I did not mean that.
- No problem. We already know each other.
It only took about fifteen minutes to arrive. Also, it was quite easy to park in the vicinity of the premises. They dined at a rather small and cozy Italian restaurant. The atmosphere was very relaxed and intimate, which allowed them to talk for a long time with tranquility. Little by little, the tension that Sophia had felt that day had subsided. She sensed a warm feeling of home, like the one you feel when you come home from work, when you pass the threshold that separates the street from your private retreat. She felt good. She felt confident. She felt safe.
- I'm glad to see you're again the girl I knew.
- Why do you say that?
- Because now, at last, we can have a typical conversation between two friends. You won’t deny me that you first received me as if I were a fool.
- I'm sorry, believe me. I don’t know what happened to me.
- It’s okay. Although you haven’t yet let me explain that if I have taken this job it’s for the simple reason that you are here. I wanted to make a getaway and what better place than in one in which you are.
- What do you mean you wanted to make a getaway?
- You can get an idea: another relationship that didn’t go well.
- Did you leave her at the end?
- Yes, even if you refused to give me your advice. To be perfectly honest, when I asked, I had already made the decision. I just needed to know what you thought about it, because, despite so much time apart, I still value your opinion very much. Basically, I think that since I came back from Geneva, things started to go wrong. In the end, we extended the agony too much and now we can not even see each other.
- I’m sorry.
- Don’t worry. It’s the right decision. So you're going to have me here for a long time. And if I like this place and they offer me something here, I don’t rule out staying.
- Are you serious?
- Of course! I have you, I don’t have to start from scratch.
I do not remember exactly how you call this. I mean when you insist on hiding your feelings. Is it fear? Is it insecurity? I'm sorry, but I'm not good at interpreting your code and, sometimes I misunderstand it. In this particular case, the pure reality is that none dared to reveal anything relative to their care and restlessness, to what had passed through their minds in the last months since they suddenly appeared in a small corner of the planet. Adrian tried to suggest something, but he could not say anything openly. He used puzzles and insinuations to which Sophia, hermetic as she used to be in matters of the heart, refused to answer if she had no empirical evidence to show him with complete certainty that he felt the same as she did, which she refused to acknowledge.
When they finished dinner, Sophia drove him to his hotel, which was not too far from her house. Before saying good-bye, Adrian made her promise to help him to find some rental apartment in the next few days, as he did not want to spend several weeks in a hotel. And he did not know either how long he was going to stay there. It all depended on how things evolved. Therefore, he argued that he needed a space to be able to call his own, however temporary it might be.
Without much else to add, they said goodbye until the next day.
CAPÍTULO 10: BEWILDERMENT
Once again, one night staying up almost all the time. First, because it had cost her much more than she expected to sleep. Secondly, because every time she did, she would wake up again and again, visibly restless, until, overcome by the almost unbearable state of sleep that did not allow her to rest as she wanted, she decided to get up and devote her time to something more productive. However, her brain, so accustomed to concentrating for a long time on a particular task without allowing any distraction, now it again resisted to focus on nothing specific.
Adrian's presence had once again disturbed her. In spite of her terrible reaction when she found him so unexpectedly in the university hallway, she could not deny that it made her indescribably happy his presence there. Now, at last as adults, they would see ea
ch other daily and no one knew what fate had prepared for them. Well, no one, not me. I've always known.
She got to work early, just as she liked to do. When she was starting to organize the day, Lisa showed up, who could not wait until coffee time to begin her interrogation. For some reason, her visit did not surprise Sophia at all.
- Lisa, I don’t have time for this now. You know I love my routines and I need order in my job. This is what we call scientific rigor.
- Are you kidding? You expect me to wait until mid-morning to find out what has happened to the handsome brunette.
- You're always the same. Sometimes I think you're fifteen. In fact, I think when I was fifteen years old I did not have such nonsense in my head.
- I don’t know why I'm not surprised - Lisa said sarcastically -. So?
- So what?
- What do you think? Tell me what happened, and don’t leave a single detail, not the least.
- We've been friends since we were kids and that's it. There is absolutely nothing else to tell. We have grown up together. For me it's like my brother. I could never think of anything else between us - she lied, deliberately hiding her emotions.
- Are you totally serious?
- Yeah!
- Are not you aware of how handsome and interesting your friend is?
- I don’t know what you mean. I still see him the same scrawny child I knew.
- Are you telling me the whole truth? Or is it that you don’t have eyes in the face?
- Of course I'm telling you the