Chapter 7 - Wine and Peppers

“Hey, I think you dropped this.”

Emma was having a drink next to the water fountain outside class, when she felt something being pushed into her hand. She turned to see Max looking sneakily at her.

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, staring at a folded piece of paper somewhat confused.

“You’re welcome,” he said, winking at her. She also thought he had motioned towards outside with his head, but wasn’t sure if he was just leaving on his own in that direction anyway.

Once he had left, she stuffed the piece of paper in the front pocket of her jeans. Not wanting to raise any suspicion, she made her way towards the bathroom and opened it up excitedly.

Meet me outside in 10? Please.

God, what was he up to now? Letting her curiosity and rebelliousness get to the better part of her, she threw the note in the trashcan and headed outside.

She tried to remain calm and pretended as if she was just going outside for a smoke, like so many other students did in between class. She was nervous about this though, the last thing she needed was for Roy to lose his shit again.

She thought back to the other day and how he had reacted after the Econ fiasco. Once they had left Max behind rambling about god knows what, and she had finally gotten some color back in her cheeks once they went around the corner, Roy had grabbed her arm. Hard.

“Don’t fucking play games with me, you hear? I saw him grab your waist and try to make a move on you. I’m not saying I don’t believe YOU. But I definitely have got my eye on him. He obviously wants you and I’m glad you shrugged him off. Not bad having a lil’ extra muscle on your side, huh toots?” he had said, cocking his head as he was eagerly amused at his display of strength and wits.

“I mean, please. Walkie talkie BS. This guy? Pathetic.” Roy had laughed, as he didn’t even notice how hard he had grabbed her and pulled her.

She could only gulp at the time, holding back the tears and disgust, but not for Max. “You’re right, Roy... pathetic,” she had said.

She dismissed the bad memory and trekked ahead, wanting to put the whole thing behind her. When she finally crossed the school exit, she was surprised to see no one was out there. Not even Max. Seriously, what was he up to?

She heard a car lightly honk in front of her and saw that he was in the driver seat of a blue Volvo across the street. Was he crazy? She cautiously made his way towards him, stopping to see if there was anyone watching her.

“Get in,” he said through the half-lowered window.

“You’ve officially lost your mind, Max.”

“Please. I need to talk to you. I promise no funny business.”

“Now? We still have two more classes left for the day.”

“I got word the first one is being cancelled. You really want to hang around here for an hour not doing anything? I promise I’ll have you back here before class ends.”

“I guess not,” she said and made her way towards the passenger side of the car and got in. “This better be important, Max,” she said as she put her seatbelt on.

“Trust me, it is,” he said stepping on the gas and quickly driving away. “I finally figured out what is wrong with us.”

“Us?”

“So the way I see it, we said we would be friends, right? But honestly, since we’ve met, we haven’t really done anything remotely friendly. I don’t think we’ve even had a normal conversation up until now.”

She started thinking about what he was saying and couldn’t disagree with him. “Yeah, to be honest I don’t really know much about you.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t know much about you either so it’s time to change that. I thought taking a little field trip could help. We’ll remove the whole novelty thing and just get over it.”

“So where are we going?” she asked, as she noticed they were heading downtown.

“Mercado de San Miguel. Have you been there before?”

“You mean the market? No, but I hear good things.”

“Great. You’re going to love it.”

“How do you know Madrid so well? I thought you were British.”

“I’m half Spanish. I grew up in between here and London.”

“Oh, well that makes sense now. Where do your parents live?” she asked.

“For the most part here. Just on the outskirts of Madrid. But they travel all the time.”

“What do they do?”

He sighed. “Let’s leave the questions for when we get there. Sound good? We’ll be there in like two minutes anyway.”

“Okay,” she said. Although she thought it was odd he didn’t want to answer that. Sounded simple enough.

Before she realized it, he was parking the car and went to go open the door for her. She hesitated getting out for a moment, she certainly wasn’t used to the gesture. “Don’t worry, doesn’t make it a date,” he said reaching for her hand.

He pulled her towards a huge looking building and didn’t miss the fact that he hadn’t let go of her hand. So far, it was seeming more and more like a date to her. She wasn’t going to complain about it though. Didn’t mean they couldn’t have some fun.

They pushed through the doors and she was assaulted by an array of delicious smells and flavors. She immediately noticed the wood-and-iron roof above and the granite floors. Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was filled with locals and tourists alike. They passed by all types of shops from produce to fresh pastas and desserts. Max seemed to know exactly where he was going and made his way through different aisles until they arrived at a tapas joint.

“What would you like?” he asked, as he pulled out two stools for them.

“What do you usually get?”

“A caña, or glass of wine. Whatever you prefer, really.”

“Wine sounds good. Red, I think.”

He smiled and motioned towards the bartender. “Dos copas de vino tinto, tío,” he said. “Y unos pimientos de padrón.”

“I can’t believe I hadn’t heard you speak in Spanish before,” she said a little bit amazed.

“Yeah, well I guess English is more of my main language, but it’s pretty equal for the most part. How’s your Spanish? I’ve heard you say a thing or two,” he said, nudging her.

“Well, I grew up in L.A. so I’m used to hearing it and can understand most things, but I’m terrible at speaking it. Diría que no es muy bueno.”

“No, that’s pretty good. You’re selling yourself short,” he said. The waiter came by with their drinks and a huge plate of roasted green peppers. “You have to try these. They’re my favorite. Just be careful because some turn out to be really spicy.”

“I love spicy,” she said instantly reaching for one. “I eat Mexican food all the time in L.A. It’s the best.”

“You should tell that to my brother’s wife, Mia. She’ll love you for that.”

“She’s Mexican?”

“Half Mexican and American. She’s from New York really. They met at our school a few years back. They live in London now.”

“Really? That’s so cute. Is that why you decided on MBS? Because of your brother?”

“Yeah, for the most part. I’ve been working at a bank in London for the past two years and they’re sponsoring my MBA. Figured it couldn’t hurt to come back to Madrid. My two younger siblings are also here so that works out nicely, too.”

“Wow, that’s really great. Cheers to that,” she said lifting her glass.

“Salud, Emma,” he said clinking his glass with hers.

“Salud,” she repeated.

“So, do you hate my guts yet?” he asked, grabbing one of the peppers and popping it in his mouth.

Hmm, quite the opposite, she thought as her vision unconsciously dropped to his lips. “I already hate your guts from day one,” she joked.

“Okay, good. If we’re lucky, we’ll keep it that way,” he joked back.

“So what do you want to know from me?” she asked. “See if you’ll hate my guts back.”

“Good question. Well, what I really want to know is...what are the names of the rest of the people in our group?”

Emma almost burst out laughing. “You seriously don’t know? Have you been living on the moon? We’re well into the second half of the semester.”

“I only know there’s an Asian guy with a crazy accent and then a blonde Spanish girl who is also Polish or something,” he shrugged.

“Okay, so Asian guy with the crazy accent - that’s Tony and he’s from Korea. Blonde Spanish girl is Cristina, and she’s pretty cool actually. Then there’s Susana from Colombia and Dimitri from Russia. It’s not too complicated, really. How do you even get away with it?”

“I usually just call people ‘hey’ or ‘mate’. It usually works out.”

“You’re crazy, Max,” she said taking a sip of her wine. “Is that all you wanted to know?”

“Not even close. Do you have any siblings?”

“An older brother. Alex. He lives in New York actually.”

“Interesting. What about your parents?”

“My dad lives in southern California. We don’t get along so well...as you probably know,” she said grimacing at the memory.

He looked at her with an apologetic expression on his face. “What about your mom?”

She paused for a moment, then dropped his gaze and looked straight ahead at nothing in particular. “She passed away when I was 14. She had cancer.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that, Em.”

“Yeah. It’s been over ten years now, but I still miss her,” she said sadly. No matter how times she had rehearsed and repeated those lines over the years, her throat always managed to thicken when she uttered them.

When she looked back at him, Max’s eyes had widened and were flashing with heartfelt sympathy. Sometimes it was seeing people’s reactions that she feared the most because it made it hurt even more. It caused her to relive the shock and pain all over again, even if it was just for a moment. That is why she usually avoided telling people whenever she could. But with Max she felt like she could trust him.

Max fidgeted with his wine glass, turning it around in circles by the stem. He had barely touched it so far. “I keep asking you the wrong questions. No wonder you hate me,” he said trying to switch the mood. “Um…so what were you doing in L.A. before you came here?”

“I worked at a digital marketing agency. Was an account manager there.”

“That sounds pretty awesome.”

“It was. I had the suckiest boss from hell, though. Kind of made it an easy decision to come here instead.”

“I didn’t think I would ever say this to anyone...but I’m glad you had a sucky boss.”

She smiled at him. “Anything else?”

“What’s your middle name?”

“Marie. What’s yours?”

“I don’t have one,” he answered.

“So what is Max short for?”

He hesitated for a moment before answering. “Maximiliano.”

“Really? That’s so cool.”

“You think? My parents kind of went through an Italian phase when naming us, although I got the Spanish spelling for my name. Either way, I got a lot of shit about it growing up.”

“Of course. You have to embrace it, Maximiliano,” she said testing it out.

“I guess it only sounds nice when you say it,” he said.

“So what are your brother’s names?”

“Leonardo, but he goes by Leo. Then the twins are Nicolas and Sofia.... they’re much younger though so they didn’t get the brunt of it.”

“Twins, nice. You all have amazing names. Your parents did a great job.”

“Thanks, I guess. You’re totally sidetracking me though. It was my turn to ask the questions.”

“Right. Sorry. Please, proceed.”

“Do you only like really built men? You know, half titanium, half centaur...”

Wow. She wasn’t expecting that question at all. “What would make you think that?” she asked coyly.

“Just a hunch,” he shrugged.

She sighed. “The answer is no. I don’t purposely go after a certain type of guy.”

“So you’re saying I have a chance.”

She gasped at him. “I definitely did not say that.”

“How did he get so big, anyway?”

“He played ice hockey. Wayne Gretsky was his idol growing up.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have big muscles,” he said flexing out his arms.

“Max! It’s not about the muscles, okay?” she said laughing. “Besides, you’re fine in that department. Trust me.”

“So you’ve been checking me out, huh?”

“Okay, I’m officially putting a veto on this topic,” she said. “What about you, what’s your type tough guy?” she said trying to reverse the conversation.

“That’s easy. Brown hair, green eyes, sassy personality...”

Holy shit, he was being way too direct. Going up to full gear now. “Max. I don’t think...” she stopped and shook her head, lost for words. She reached for a pepper to try to clear her mind. Damn, this one was hot.

“Oh wait, I wasn’t talking about you if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said grinning.

“Really? Do I have an identical twin sister I haven’t heard about?”

“There are lots of girls that fit that description, Em. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he said trying to act completely serious.

“Okay, Mr. Cheeky. So who is this mystery person you’re talking about?” she asked, emphasizing the word mystery.

Max suddenly looked at his watch. “Will you look at that? Time to go. Check please!”

“How convenient for you,” she said smirking.

“I said I would get you back in time, so that means we gotta go.” He threw a few bills on the bar, and then stood up. He grabbed her hand again like it was the most natural thing in the world, and led her back outside.

“Thanks for taking me out,” Emma said as they drove back to school. “I think I needed that.”

“My pleasure, Em. We should do it again sometime.”

“Maybe if it’s more of a group activity? I think that would be better.”

“Okay, I’ll get the Korean guy to be our chaperone. He can put us in place if we get out of line,” Max said smirking.

“Um...I really don’t think Tony would be up for that. Besides, he would only be putting you in place,” she laughed.

“We obviously wouldn’t tell him. Just say it’s a group outing or something. Plus, I’m sure he doesn’t have too many friends.”

“Why don’t you just invite our entire group while you’re at it? The four of them could probably fit in the back of your car. They can follow us around all day while we do dinner and a movie,” she joked.

“Now you’re talking, sweetheart.”