The Nautilus    

  
    The young man walked through the sliding glass doors, and just as he came out she jumped into his arms and kissed him.  She did not notice his hesitation towards her kiss.

“How was your trip, my love?”  she inquired.

“Oh, you know.  The usual.  Beers on the beach with the boys.  The occasional night at the club.”  He said.  “I wish you could have gone with us, sweetheart.”

“I know, honey bunny, but my boss needed me to work extra because of the city events this summer,” was her reply.  “I’ll go next time.   We’ll go alone.”

    They got to the car in the parking lot of the Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico, he loaded his bags and opened the door for her.  As they drove away, he distracted himself by contemplating the airport’s Swiss cheese like architecture in the rearview mirror, she started to converse but he was lost in his thoughts.

    They sat on the patio of El Nautilus on Calle Masaryk in the district of Polanco as the waiter approached them with a bottle of Perrier and a plate of oysters Rockefeller.  “Algo mas para los caballeros?”, the waiter asked the young men.  The waiter was in his senior years and by experience he knew not to judge a book by its cover, these men might have been young and of a simple appearance but they were dinning in his restaurant for a reason.  “No gracias, señor.”

“I can’t believe it.  You two were together for... how many years?  And now it’s all over?  What the hell happened?”

“It just happened.  Seven years.”

“It just happened?  Seven years and it just happened?  You moved out here to be with her, damn’it!  And it just happened?  There’s got to be more to it than that!”

“Alright, you want to know what happened?  I fucked up.”

    The young man grabbed an oyster from the plate and started to season it while his friend sat back in his chair and started to laugh.  The young man slurped from the oyster and swallowed while he served himself some mineral water grinning.  Later he would join his friend in the laugh.

    The young couple lies on her bed in her flat with her two toy dogs at their feet.  She treats her dogs as if they were her children, and the dogs have grown fond of their father.  At first glance, a happy family rests in the bedroom of that flat.

“I can’t explain it.  Ask anybody and they’ll probably say we aren’t even a proper couple.  You can’t even kiss me!  Why wont you kiss me?”

“I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately.”

“Lately?  You haven’t been ‘feeling yourself’ for about nine months!”

“I know, I can’t help it!”

“Nine months!  Do you know what it’s like to be with someone who wont even touch you, who wont kiss you, who will only cuddle and hug you while you sleep and nothing more, for nine months?”

    The dogs left the room long before the discussion started.  They had gotten used to the arguments and they no longer joined in on the discussion.  Now only one of them barked while the other drooped it’s ears and tucked it’s tail between it’s hind legs.

    The young men drank their bloody mary’s with beer, like they were accustomed to in Mexico, with shrimp and clams resting at the bottom of their highball.  They sat in the patio looking out towards the busy boulevard, locals and tourists walking the sidewalk, while one of them enjoyed a cigarette.  The other looked at the menu wondering what it was that he ordered last time, “what are you going to get?”  The young man with the cigarette replied in a nonchalant manner, “I don’t know.  What ever you’re getting.  I’m more interested in hearing this story of yours.” 

“I met a girl in Mazatlan.  We fooled around.  When I got back I noticed some changes.”
  
“What changes?  Changes?”

“When I got back, I started feeling tired all the time.  I also noticed something downstairs.”

“Okay, go on,” he said as he giggled.

“I meant to go have it checked but I never got around to it.  I had work and too many projects going on.  I just couldn’t risk her catching anything because of me.”

“Well of course not!  Why didn’t you get it checked as soon as possible?”
  
“I told you, I was too busy.”

“Something like that deserves the time of day!  So, wait... How long did you wait?”

“I went in to get checked six months after.”

“So you had her waiting for the whole six months?  Not even a kiss?”
“Well, actually it was more like nine months.”

“Nine fucking months?”

“Well, the tests took a while and when I finally got them and found out I didn’t have anything, I still couldn’t do anything with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought that if I did kiss her or do anything to her all of a sudden she would suspect something.”

    The friend could not believe what he heard, and as he laid back into his chair he did not know whether to laugh at his friend or feel sorry for him.  He burst out in laughter and to his surprise the young man also started to laugh.

    The young couple met at a hole-in-the-wall café in the district of Interlomas.  Each arrived separately.  The small and colorful café stood in contrast to the tall and metallic buildings, and while the buildings appealed to the modern eye the café tried to capture the intellectual mind.  It was his favorite place in the neighborhood and he would spend hours drinking his “negro” while he drew the surrounding buildings in his sketch pad.

“I hope you don’t mind, I already ordered our drinks,” he said as she sat down.

“Thanks, but I wasn’t going to drink anything.”

“Well then I’ll tell them to make it to go.”

“In fact, I wasn’t going to stay too long.  I just have something to tell you.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“Well it seems like you do not want me anymore.  You wont kiss me.  All you’ll do is cuddle.  These past days we haven’t even seen each other and I feel like you’re avoiding me.”

“I know, and I wanted to explain everything.  All of a sudden I’ve had all these projects come through...”

“I’ve met someone,” she blurted as he was still talking.

    The young man sat staring at her.  She stared back expecting him to say something, and after a while of silence she grinned, one corner of her mouth in palsy.  As she shifted her stare to the wooden floor, he shifted his stare to the dark pool in his cup focusing on the tiny moon that danced on the surface.
    The entrée arrived, and the young man started to eat.  His friend didn’t touch his silverware.  Instead he reached over for his bloody mary and drank it all as if trying to quench his thirst with water.  “Otro Klamatito, por favor,” he said as he raised the highball with ice signaling another.  “Esto se esta poniendo bueno.”  He smiled at his friend, shook his head, and laughed.

“I can’t believe it.  At least she had the balls to tell you.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m not saying anything...  I just meant, at least she had the cojones to end it.  That is what you wanted to happen, wasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?  Why are you saying I wanted it to end?”

“Well, it’s obvious why she left you.  You could have done something about it, and yet you did nothing.”
  
“I already told you why I didn’t do anything.  I was afraid she would suspect something!”

“Oh, that’s bullshit and you know it!  You know that she wanted it bad, she wouldn’t have cared.”

“You’re probably right.  That’s probably all she needed.”

“You know I’m right!  And evidently, the other man knew what she needed.”

“That’s low,” the young man said with a mouth full of lobster.

“It’s not fucking rocket science.  It’s nine months.  Women need it just as much as we do.  Besides, to them that’s the whole point of being in a relationship.”

    They looked at each other and chuckled.  The young man knew his friend was right, and that’s why he would let him pick up the tab without offering to pay for it himself.  He was not as obtuse as he appeared to be.  His friend, on the other hand, wouldn’t mind paying for their lunch after hearing his friends misfortunes.  Even though he would make fun of his friend’s lack of tact with women, he still was an admirable friend.  Even then, however, he did not hesitate to ask what had become of the broad, “so how is she doing today?  Or should I ask, who is she doing today?”

“Asshole.”

“What?  I couldn’t help it.”

“It turns out she’s not dating the guy.”

“Go figure,” he burst out laughing.

“Keep it up and I won’t tell you anything else.  It gets better.”

“I don’t think it can get any better than it already is,” he said while he laughed and hit the table with his first so the plates and silverware rattled.

    The people at the other tables turned to look with alarmed faces.  The friend did not notice this but the young man did and he blushed, and knowing he could not do anything to keep his friend from laughing hysterically he started to laugh himself.  After a while, and with tears in his eyes, the friend ceased from laughing, “alright, let’s hear it.”

    The young man drove her car as they made way to the airport.  It was a quick drive, a pleasant drive, rush hour was not due for another half hour or so.  As he went over a mental list of what he planned on taking, making sure he did not forget anything, she kept on talking about Jorge, a co-worker of hers.  The name did not stick and neither did much of anything that she said, and suddenly he remembered what he had forgotten.  “Los condones!”  He wasn’t sure if he had said it out loud and as turned to look at her with a blank face she said, “are you even paying attention to me?”

“Yes, honey!  Of course I am, but I’m driving.  I need to pay attention to the road as well.”

“Good.  Anyway, he told our boss that I was a terrific asset to the company and that he wanted me on the team for the upcoming business trip to Los Cabos.”

“That’s fantastic, honey!  Congratulations!  So does that mean you’re getting a raise?”

“Well, I don’t know.  Either way, it will be a great learning opportunity.  He’s got experience and so much charisma.”

“He sure does sound like he’s on top of things.”

    They got on the over pass and for the whole mile the young man couldn’t believe he had forgotten them.  What if she found them?  How would he explain.  She was the one who took care of things.  As he ran over a script of what he would tell her in case she found them, she kept on talking about her co-worker and he was so consumed by his worries that he never thought much about how often she talked about this Jorge from work.  As the airport neared he started to feel at ease, he finally remembered he had left them at his own place.  They said good by at the drop-off, “I hope you don’t get stuck in traffic on your way back.  I love you, honey.”

    The friend paid the bill, as expected.  He wasn’t laughing anymore.  The young man was still contemplating.  The awkwardness fell in between them like a fawn being expelled from a doe.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  The realization of what had happened was disgusting, and yet it was something that couldn’t be helped.  It had to come out.  Life depended on it.  The friend looked to the street, “She didn’t leave you because she didn’t want you anymore.  She left you because you didn’t want her anymore.”  The young man was at a loss of words.

“Think about it.  If you really wanted her you would have done something about your little mishap ASAP.  No one is too busy to take care of shit like that.  Forget about denying her sex for nine months, how the hell could you deny yourself some sweet apple pie for nine months?  It was sabotage.  You wanted to end it.”

“You could be right, but I really was scared I would pass something on to her.”

“O, I don’t doubt that, my friend, but nine fucking months?  That was just your excuse so you could cut loose from that bitch.”

“Hey, now... I still care for her.  I’d rather you not talk like that.”

“Okay, forgive me.  I still think this was your best move yet.  I think your better off without her.  She was starting to mold you in a very unpleasing way.  Besides, I get my wingman back!  What could be better than that?”

    The young looked at the change left from the bill.  He reached in his pocket and left some more monedas on the table, “Good service.”  As they stood up, they noticed two girls staring at them as they walked pass the black railing that fenced the patio.  They grabbed their highballs from the table and drank what was left, “Salud, compadre!”  The chase was on.