The end of dreams

19

           
Silvia sprang to her feet to let Michelle pass and go to say hallo to Mark.
"Long time no see! What are you doing here?" asked the boy, incredulous.
"The same thing you are doing here: we're flying to Cuba" Silvia chimed in. She had stepped in because Michelle was still bewildered on account of that shocking encounter.
"You are..." said Mark, endeavouring to remember her name.
"Silvia. Actually we never introduced ourselves to each other." said the girl, while reaching out her hand.
"I remember you two used to stay in each other's company, I see you haven't fallen out of that habit..."
But the boy soon focused on Michelle again as she was desperately trying to contain her embarassment, though she did not seem to make it.
"What's new? May I sit down here for a moment?" he said, while sitting down on a still vacant seat opposite her.
"Girls, you're pampering yourselves! Gee, this is first class!"
"Oh yeah!" answered Michelle, who was slowly recovering from her shock.
"It's a present from... from..."
"From her uncle, her uncle has bought us these tickets... What a generous man... and what are you going to Cuba for? Tell us the truth, are you going there to see your Cuban girl-friend?" asked Silvia, trying to create a facetious atmosphere.
Michelle held her breath.
"There's no Cuban girl-friend at all! My cuban mummie is more than enough! That woman is so sharp, you can't even imagine... Anyway, I'm going to see my cousin, who lives there, though this is not the official reason why I'm flying to Cuba. For me this journey is no pleasure trip, I would call it a mission" he said, while clearing his throat and playing the earnest man.
"A friend of my mother's, who's actually her current companion, has a liver tumor, poor guy! So they told me to go to Havana in order to obtain a drug which is said to be miraculous in curing cancer. Let's just say I have leapt at this opportunity..." he giggled while he was assuming the expression of a sly dude, just the same expression he had used to wear ten years before.
The girls' blood ran cold.
"How about you, girls? What's the purpose of your trip to Havana? Are you going to stop there or will you just have a layover?"
"We are going to stop in Havana for some days. We hadn't planned this journey but we seized an opportunity... my uncle had already booked the journey but at the last minute he had to give it up. All things considered, one should never refuse a journey to Cuba!" said  Michelle, while laughing. She didn't want to reveal to Mark the real reason for that journey and maybe she had retrieved her perfect lucidity on this very account.
"Your nice uncle never minds the expence! This flight alone must have cost him a packet..."
"Excuse me, you should go to your seat. We're about to take off..." the hostess interrupted their conversation kindly.
"Oh  yes, of course" answered Mark. Then he had a moment of hesitation. "Did you know your eyes are beautiful?" the boy added, while taking a look at some slighty lower parts of her body.
Actually the hostess had beautiful eyes. They were emerald green and their beauty was enhanced by her chocolate color skin. But it was obvious that he was not gazing at her eyes.
"Just take your seat, please" the hostess replied, while looking sideways at him, with a smirk.
"I'll see you later!" said Mark.
He went to his seat and sat down.

"He never gives up playing the smooth operator with all women" whispered Michelle to Silvia, in a huff.
"Oh my God, what a poor figure! He's cruizing the hostess too! I used to nourish a lenient attitude to him in the old high school days but now he sounds ridiculous: how old is he?" asked Silvia.
She had just brought to mind that Mark  was a few years older than both of them.
"He's thirty-two" answered Michelle, without hesitation.
"He's thirty-two and he still behaves like that! Like a teen-ager!"
Then Michelle looked in Silvia's eyes.
"But what a cute-looking guy he is!" she flushed again.
"Not a bit! Come on, come off it, please! He has never been cute-looking, not even as a young boy. Maybe now he looks a little bit more like a cool guy... but he's the usual dimwit!" 
"He's the most charming man in the Universe..." insisted Michelle, while her smile was spreading all over her face.
"He's the greatest womanizer too! Can you remember  poor Martha? How many times did he cheat on her?" said Silvia, trying to bring her friend back to earth.
Michelle kept her dreamy gaze, though.
"Martha had the right punishment for stealing my dream..."
"Stealing what? That girl saved you! You should erect a statue to her! Mark would have treated you in the same way, take it from me."
"It would have been a whole 'nother thing, believe me..."
"But have you seen how he behaved towards the hostess? Can the leopard change his spots? You had a very lucky escape as you didn't have anything to do with him... Because you didn't have anything to do with him, did you?"
"Of course" confirmed Michelle.
"Do you think he never knew anything about your crush for him?"
"No. Unless you spilled the beans and told him!"
"Me? This is the first time I have addressed him!"
"Good. See that he keeps being unaware of it! He can't seem to find me even remotely pretty, considering my condition. He didn't notice me ten years ago..."
"Michelle, you are not pretty, you are beautiful. Don't you see everybody looks at you?" 

"Excuse-me" the hostess interrupted them. "Since the seat opposite you has seemingly remained vacant I can let your friend sit down here if it's okay with you."
"Sure, thanks!" replied Silvia in a flash.
Michelle's heart increased its beats.
"Oh my God, Silvia..."
"Come on, we're going to have fun!"
"Oh, goodness... Silvia... what about my make-up? And my hair?"
"Cool off, you look great!... but how did he manage to convince the hostess?" asked Silvia.
"I don't wanna know..." laughed Michelle.

A few instants later Mark came back to them.