My new friend, who I'd only met about 2 minutes before, tapped me on the shoulder with a smile. She told me in a bright tone,
"Hey, Danny thinks you're hot."
I looked at her, confusion written all over my face. I was standing in a group of about 14 American students in the streets of Oviedo, Spain in the bar district. Drink in hand, she forced me around her to point at a blushing, dark haired boy standing four people away.
"That's Danny." She said.
I smiled at him, and turned away quickly, feeling very embarrassed. Danny was gorgeous, with tanned skin, a beautiful smile and great fashion sense. I didn't say a word to him because I was too afraid that I would scare him away. Instead, I awkwardly sipped my vokda limon and turned around to my brother and Leonel who were chatting away about something. Leonel noticed me turn around and asked me drunkenly,
"Am I speaking English?"
I nodded and laughed and assured him that yes, he was indeed speaking English or I wouldn't understand him. I shyly turned my head around to peek at Danny again and caught him smiling at one of the other american guys. He looked over at me right at the same time, and his smile got bigger. I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks so I timidly smiled back and turned around so he wouldn't see the redness in my cheeks.
Someone from the group announced that now was the time to get our butts into one of the Discotecas and get our free shots. I moved along with everyone else, not really noticing where I was going or who I was walking with. Leonel was holding onto my shoulder, supporting himself and I made sure he didn't trip on the uneven cobblestone street. After a couple of staggering steps, another arm came around on the other side of Leonel and helped me to hold him up. I looked over and immediately looked down when I noticed Danny holding up Leonel's other arm. Danny looked at me and smiled.
"You know, he has no tolerance. He just started drinking three weeks ago."
I raised my eyebrows, shocked. "Really?" I asked.
Danny nodded. "He's a youngin', he's only 18."
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "I'm not the youngest one here!"
"How old are you?"
"19." I smiled. "And you?"
Danny laughed. "I don't know if I should disclose that."
"So you're old?" I asked, laughing.
"We'll go with that." He agreed with a chuckle.
Leonel stumbled at that moment, and we both had to stop him from completely falling over. The rest of the short 3 minute walk was consumed by concentrating on Leonel and making sure he didn't kill himself. When we arrived at the discoteca, it was pretty much deserted. But it was small, so we filled the place up when we walked in.
"GUYS!" Someone yelled over the roaring dance music inside the club. "Come get the free shots!!"
My brother motioned to me from the bar, and pointed to one of the shots. I nodded, and made my way over, leaving Leonel on the floor. He'd gotten steadier since coming inside the club.
After taking the shot, I made my way out onto the tiny dance floor. I talked with some of the other students, and finally ended up by Danny.
"You know," I started, nearly having to shout over the pounding bass. "We never actually got formally introduced. I'm Tia." I held out my hand.
"Danny." He took my offered hand and shook it.
I smiled, and we both proceeded to get knocked over by some of the drunker students dancing in the cramped space. A few minutes later, I pulled out my camera and asked my brother to take a picture of Danny and I. After the picture, the group started moving out towards the door, obviously wanting to move on to another discoteca. Danny and I walked down the street together again, this time not really needing to hold Leonel up. The next club was only a few shops over, and was nearly as deserted as the first one. But, like with the last one, our group filled up the dance floor immediately.
I danced with Danny a little, and we talked about our futures and things like that. In that conversation, I managed to get his age out of him. He told me he was 23, and I was shocked. He was only a little taller than me and completely clean shaven. He told me to feel his jaw, proving his point that he couldn't grow facial hair. We talked for almost an hour on the dance floor, and finally, when everyone started to leave, we followed suit, walking side by side.
Everyone began heading back towards a main road where they could hail a taxi to take them back to the residencia where the students had been living for the last 5 weeks. Only my brother, Danny, Leonel, and a few other students and I walked back the way we had come. Since I was the only one staying in a hotel close to where we were at, I decided against getting a taxi. My brother was heading back with me, but I didn't want the night to end. I knew I'd probably never see Danny again after this night. But he had told me that he was going to Barcelona for the next 5 days, the same time that I would be there. I had a hope in my heart that I'd see him again there.
We came to an intersection and I started to go one way while everyone else headed for the taxis. I didn't want to say goodbye, but I knew I had to. I told Danny that we had to go out in Barcelona, and he agreed, telling me to have my brother contact him once we were there.
And I watched him walk away, down around the corner and out of my sight. I sighed, and felt a bit of longing creep up into my heart. I sincerely hoped that I would see him again, although a voice in the back of my mind told me that it most likely wouldn't happen.
I kept my hopes up until the second to last night we were in Barcelona. We'd met up with some of the students there too, and no one had been able to get a hold of Danny since the first night. Since I knew I wouldn't be going out my last night, I was holding on to one last hope that Danny would show up for the last night we were going out. But the time came to meet our friends, and no Danny. No one had heard from him, so we decided to just let it go. And with that, I knew my last chance of ever seeing him again was out the window. After all, he was almost done with school and obviously wasn't all that interested since he never contacted any of us to go out, knowing that I would be there too.
But there was still a lingering feeling in the back of my mind, a wish so to speak. That some kind of miracle would happen and that I would get to see him again. I listened to that wish for the longest time, and I'm still holding onto it.
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