[Mellisond] Short Stories

Una Lady Como Tú

{Song - Una Lady Como Tú by Manuel Turizo}

     Mateo waited anxiously watching the numbers slowly count down. Once the figure above the door hit four, his heart caught in his throat, and he had to swallow it back down.

     With the sound of a ding, the elevator stopped and created an opening. Delores, dressed neatly in a business suit with a bag hanging off her shoulder, was slowly revealed to him. Her eyes traveled up to meet his, and she instantly smiled.

     "Morning," she said stepping onto the elevator.

     "Good morning." Mateo had to settle his voice while speaking. He continued to face forward and tried to act casual, as if his heart wasn't beating out of his chest. "How are you?"

     "I'm ok. My TV has been giving me grief lately," Delores said sighing.

     "What's wrong?"

     "I don't know; it just decided to stop working all of sudden. What about you? Do you have any weekend plans?"

     "I'm having a party," Mateo answered eagerly.

     "A party, hmm." Delores smirked and shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. "What's the occasion?"

     "It's Friday," he said with a grin. Delores giggled and it made Mateo's heart skip a beat. He quickly cleared his throat and said, "Nothing big, just a couple of friends. You're invited, if you want to stop by."

     In Mateo's head he was pleading for her to say she'd come. But Delores's smile flattened out, and she gripped tighter on the strap of her bag. ". . .I shouldn't," she said looking down at her heels.

     Mateo quickly realized his blunder and started to sweat. "Leonard won't be there," he rushed to say. "He's busy with some project of his."

     Delores thought back to her last couple of weekends realizing that all she had done lately was bring work home and fuss with her TV. ". . .Sure," she said.

     "Really?"

     "Yeah, why not," Delores said shrugging her shoulders and smiling. "I can go for a party." The elevator opened up at the underground parking level, and Mateo waited for Delores to step out first. "I'll see you there," she said placing her hand on his arm before walking out of the elevator and toward her car.

     "Yeah, I'll- I'll see you too." The elevator started to close, and Mateo quickly hopped out. He watched Delores's frame walking away from him before taking a deep breath and heading to his car.

.

.

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     Mateo rushed home from work feeling overly giddy. He tried to set everything up in his apartment so that it was absolutely perfect; nothing could be out of place. He cleaned and cleaned till people started to show up and the counters were practically shining.

     As friends and co-workers started to take up space, he slowly became self-conscious about the size of his apartment. He had always been aware of how small it was, but he lived alone, so it never truly bothered him. But now he was wishing that his place was a little more impressive.

     Each time the doorbell sounded, he pictured Delores waiting in the hallway. He eventually lost count of how many he opened the door for that weren't Delores. Everyone else was talking or messing around, but Mateo couldn't get his mind off of the bell.