The Sirens of Calypso- Chapter 21- He Could Mean Everything

            Juan Paulo’s jaw dropped at the sight of the lead siren on his doorstep. His relaxed smile, as always, was quick to replace it. “Talia, hey…”
            She was ravishing in red from her shoulders to her ankles, the rhinestones in her bodice sparkling like stars, but her brown hair was slightly unkempt as if she’d run all the way here from a performance. Her voice ragged with nerves, she gasped, “Are you here alone?”
            “Yeah, I am.” He pushed the door against the wall, skepticism skewing his eyebrows. “What’s going on? You have a show…”
            Talia’s lips and tongue forced the remainder of that sentence back down Juan Paulo’s throat. She walked into him, swiftly closing the door behind her, and slammed his body against the wall. She deepened the kiss, drawing his tongue into her mouth.
            His hand caressed her cheek, holding fast for five long seconds, before prying her face from his. “I’m sorry, but what brought this on?”
            “I kept thinking about what you said. How you’d wait for me for as long as it took. It was a big distraction for me tonight. I hate when my focus is not on my dancing where it should be, but I am a professional so no one noticed anything wrong.” She dropped her hands to her sides.
            “I’m sorry, Talia. I didn’t think…” Her raised eyebrow brought his apology to a grinding halt. “Right, sorry…”
            Her hands clenched and loosened several times as she collected her thoughts. Taking another deep breath, she resumed, “Tourists come out to see us to have a good time. But you and Javier, you see us as people and have been nothing but gracious to us. I want to see if this leads somewhere—a place I never thought I’d be able to go.”
            “What place would that be?” He asked with a combination of seriousness and warmth in his eyes. His smile, meanwhile, abandoned ship when his heart started skipping.
            Instead of revealing more than she already had, Talia leaned back in. Juan Paulo wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body next to his. Their tongues met, massaging one another before migrating into each other’s mouths.
            Tentatively, Juan Paulo moved one hand upward and rubbed it across her breast. Talia broke away to release a pleasure moan stuck in her throat. Eyes closed, she took his other hand and positioned it on the underside of her thigh, moving it down and up again. Vanessa’s advice came back to Juan Paulo as he put two and two together.
            “Do you want to go to bed?” He whispered in her ear.
            “Juan Paulo,” her face crinkled, “I’m not…”
            “No, I mean, wouldn’t you be more comfortable on the bed if we’re going to do this?” To reinforce his point, he maneuvered his hand under her skirt and over her lacy thong. His middle finger pressed the strap against her skin.
            Again, she moaned and her knees gave for a quick moment before she responded, “I will follow your lead.” She took his free hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Her grip tightened as he led her down the narrow hallway through the open door on the right, determined to stay on her feet between the light headedness and butterflies.
            Grabbing her hips, he sat her down on the edge of the bed. As he knelt on the ground, she observed the lack of decoration and plainness of the walls. “Why is it so empty in here?”
            “Well, it’s a spare room Javi never used and I’m only here for the summer. Besides, my tastes are very simple—at least they were until I met you. You make me crazy, but that’s why I like you so much.” He kissed her lips a couple times before returning to the task at hand.
            *** One last time, Juan Paulo’s eyes flickered at Talia’s as if asking permission to proceed. She exhaled and nodded. While her smile was calm and understated, inside, her nerves were on fire. *** Her fingers grasped the bed frame even harder ***
            Talia moaned so loud, she could have woken the neighbors. Panting, she wiped the sweat from her brow and helped Juan Paulo back into the light. Grabbing him by the cheeks, she leaned in for one final kiss before reopening her eyes. Instead of his reassuring smile, she found concern and knit eyebrows. She looked at him quizzically, but before she could jump to conclusions, he traced the line of one of her tears back up to her eye. “Are you all right?”
            She nodded rapidly. “Yes. In fact, I don’t think I’ve felt better.”

*      *     *

            Upon returning home, Vanessa’s stride skidded to a halt. A strange man was pacing in front of their building like a wild cat guarding his territory. His sculpted physique was visible through his tight white shirt and his well-defined biceps were crossed before his chest. She’d never met him in person, but based off secondhand accounts from Alejandro, she knew this had to be Talia’s most prolific client. His silhouette was intimidating, but she remained calm. “Rodrigo? What are you doing here? Did Talia call you?”
            “Yeah,” he faced her, his stance otherwise unchanged, “a week ago. But I haven’t been able to reach her phone all night. Where is she?”
            She could only shrug. “Talia left before our set ended. I assumed she was meeting you and didn’t want to say a word about it.”
            “Well,” he lifted his right arm to check his shiny gold watch, “I haven’t got all night. So tell her when you see her that she owes me. I cancelled all of my plans tonight for her and it’s too late now to reschedule.”
            “Fine, I’ll tell her.” Vanessa held her ground, crossing her arms as well. He averted his gaze as he stomped past. Before he got too far, she called after him, “Oh, by the way, show some respect. Talia has given herself to you more times than I care to count. One missed appointment is not reprehensible.”
            “Respect?” He spat. “She gives fucks for a living. How can anyone respect that?”
            Vanessa waited patiently for him to leave before shutting herself inside. She groaned, “Ugh! When Alejandro said he didn’t like this guy, I thought it was just the usual jealousy, but he is downright unpleasant.”
            But as Vanessa prepared to turn in for the night, ditching her dress for her newest set of black lingerie, she started getting really worried. If Talia hadn’t left to see with Rodrigo, where was she? Talia never met her clients on their turf because she insisted on controlling every detail of her transactions. If she was meeting with their bosses, she would have said so. And Talia was the one siren who knew how to take care of herself while walking the streets at night. However unlikely it was that something bad happened to her, Vanessa realized there was only one other option. “There is no way…” She scoffed at herself as she threw the covers over her head.
            Not a moment later, the door slowly creaked open and a pair of whispers, one male and one female, materialized. Vanessa tiptoed out of bed and pressed her ear to the door jamb.
            Juan Paulo held the door open for Talia as she stepped inside. Her heels dangled from her left hand. “Thank you for seeing me home, Juan Paulo. You didn’t need to…”
            “I know.” He caressed her cheek. “But it was the right thing to do. And you were a little emotional back there, so I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
            “I don’t know why I am like this when I am with you.” Instead of responding verbally, he leaned in and let his lips do the talking for him. Her arm automatically wrapped around his neck and brought him in closer. Her tongue entered and tangled with his for a few seconds before breaking away. “I’m sorry. I really want to, but I can’t do this again tonight.”
            “That’s okay.” He stepped away. “Whatever pace you want to go from here is fine by me.”
            “Thank you, but it isn’t just that. Vanessa is a light sleeper and I don’t want to wake her. If she found out about this…”
            “You don’t have to explain. I get it. Whatever this is between us, you don’t want anyone to know yet.”
            “Exactly. Now if you will excuse me…”
            “Oh right. I’ll let you go, then.” He leaned in once more, this time for a peck on the cheek. “Good night, Talia.”
            “Good night, Juan Paulo.” The door creaked shut behind him. She sighed, “I should get that door fixed if we are going to keep doing this.” But upon hearing a soft “ahem” from the other side of the room, she knew it was already too late. “Not a word, Vanessa.”
            She stood up straight after spending the past few minutes leaning in the doorway. “I was just going to say Rodrigo came here looking for you. He wasn’t happy you kept him waiting.”
            “Damn, I knew I forgot something.” She turned around and started rummaging through her purse. “This rendezvous with Juan Paulo was very last minute and I lost track of time. I will call him and apologize.”
            Vanessa crossed the room and braced her shoulder. “Right now, you should get some rest.”
            Her shoulders went slack. “Of course. It has been a long night.” Without speaking another word, Talia slinked off to her bedroom and shut the door. All the while, Vanessa couldn’t help but notice the secretive smile that lit her face in a way she’d never seen in her friend before.

***

The chapter title comes from the song "Say it Right."
I still remember where I was when I heard this Nelly Furtado song for the first time. It was during college and I went on a day trip as part of a bird-watching club that didn't last more than maybe a week. This was among many songs on the radio that day and I'd played it at least twice in the weeks since.
You know how you'll flip through the radio, come across a song you like and get annoyed when you find out it's almost over? That was this song for me until I finally bought the album it's on. It took a few years until this story came out of those songs but after that, the rest was history.