N/A

A Story by Tutu

This is only a brief first chapter or a short story, I'm not sure yet, I'm new to writing and so, exploring all the possibilities. Might not be romance, where will this story take us!

Ted looked at his phone with hatred, the thing was making a horrible noise vibrating against the wooden side table next to his bed. He sighed and grabbed it, freezing in mid-motion as he read the name on the screen: Henrietta.

They hadn't spoken since October, why would she be call-, freezing in mid-thought as memories from last night flooded his mind. He had called her. Damn vodka, he thought sourly, feeling the pounding on the back of his head and the usual queasy feeling in his stomach.

He sat up on the bed and threw the phone to one side as he felt yet another source of pain. His back was screaming. He touched it softly and felt the sunburn very vividly. He sighed again, some nice vacation he was getting.

The phone started vibrating again, he thought it would be impossible to ignore for much longer, after all, it had been him who had called her first. But not like this, no; he decided he was done making a fool of himself.

Ignoring all his pains, he got up and walked to the bathroom, good thing he always traveled with a first aid kit, two Alka-Seltzers and he'd be feeling much better soon enough. After a cold shower that helped him wake up, he checked his phone again: 3 missed calls and it was only 9 am, he should still be in bed. He got dressed in some nice clothes Henrietta had picked for him (damn her impeccable fashion sense) and went down in search of breakfast, or at least some caffeine to eliminate the rest of the queasiness.

Good thing this was not a family hotel or he would have to put up with kids so early in his morning, Henrietta didn't like children, so he had chosen this hotel for their honeymoon. Finally, she had done something nice for him. He found a table away from the bright windows, the sun was his enemy this morning, and asked for some coffee on his not-too-terrible Spanish, Henrietta had signed them up for some lessons, that woman always needed to know everything. He closed his eyes, enough of her for now, this was his much-needed vacation, his time for himself. He was feeling a little more cheerful when he heard a chair scrape next to him.

"Who do we have here? Buenos días Sr. Rumba." said a heavily accented voice. Confused, he opened his eyes and looked at the brown-skinned man sitting next to him. He ordered some café y dos ensaladas de fruta to the waitress who was diligently waiting next to their table, Ted hadn't even noticed her approach. The man turned to him and smiled broadly "You look terrible this morning," he said, and then his facial expression changed as he added "¿Qué? You don't remember me?"

Ted's confusion had been growing by the second, but now he could feel a small blush creep on his face. Latinos were very friendly, but this went beyond a store clerk he bought something from. He started to reply when he noticed his unknown friend was trying hard not to laugh.

"It's ok," he said biting his lips hard afterward to not let the laugh free. "It's ok."

Ted looked at him intently, he hated the fact that a stranger was laughing silently at him, on his face. His phone started vibrating again, he hadn't even realized he brought it with him. They both looked at it at the same time and the stranger said: "Man, I told you not to call her."

Ted's anger was starting to flow when he remembered, he met this brown-skinned man and told him all about him, his sorrows, his pains, everything! Oh, now he was feeling embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I know we met last night, but I cannot remember your name...?"

"Andrés, and it's ok, as you gringos say, you were wasted last night." Then, pointing at the phone he added, "Are you gonna get that?"

"No, not yet."

"Good choice bro, better let her wait. You still sound the way you look."

The waitress arrived with the coffee and two bowls of fruit salad that actually looked very fresh. Ted looked at Andrés and he pushed one towards him.

"You should probably eat something, you really did have a lot to drink. How much do you remember from last night?"

"Nada," Ted replied, smiling, still not touching the fruit salad. "I know I told you a lot of things, I know I called her, but that's pretty much it."

"So, you don't remember the naked dancing episode, I see..."

"Wait, WHAT! I danced naked?!"

"Pfft, it's ok, relax, I'm just pulling your hairs. You didn't dance... naked at least. And you did seem to get along well with some pretty lady."

"Still bad, I can't dance. Pretty sure I looked ridiculous. And I can't remember any pretty lady."

"You should check your phone, you took some pictures to post on Instagram and make your ex jealous."

Ted immediately grabbed the phone and opened the gallery. There they were, all the pictures he didn't remember taking. There were some with Andrés and other unknown people, some girls, and then he found dazzling white teeth against brown skin and big dark brown eyes smiling at him. Pretty was an understatement, she wasn't even brown, she was golden, with really dark brown hair and those big eyes, pretty standard for Latinos, but something about her was incredibly attractive and soft and beautiful. He was in the next picture too, and he looked terrible. He closed his eyes again, trying to remember her, but it seemed impossible, if it weren't for the pictures, we would have been sure it never happened.

The waitress came back with more coffee. The phone started vibrating again and Ted opened his eyes. For a second he thought he must still be drunk and panicked, those brown eyes were looking back at him.

"Well, good morning to you, Ted," she said in a soft, mocking voice.

© 2017 Tutu

Author's Note

I got this little challenge from Facebook: Write the opening paragraphs of a story using these words: October, telephone, vodka, sunburnt, Henrietta.
Please, be honest.

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Reviews

Kathy Van Kurin

Tutu,
"N/A"
You wrote this from a five word challenge? It is interesting how this story has eneough context, character development and even location to be able to build an understandable tale-story.
You would like honesty, as noted in author's note. I think it is wonderful and interesting. It may need a little development or editing here and there but from what I can see you have a good mind for this type of thing.
Keep up the amazing work!
Kathy