Fuck buddies (4 page)

The first two weeks of July,
Roberto’s restaurant closed for vacation. July 15 the jamboree of the city
would start and then they couldn’t allow themselves to be on vacation. For
seven days, Roberto went to the North with his family. They visited some
relatives they had in Asturias. But the second Tuesday, Sara received a message
from Roberto in which he suggested going to the beach the next day. She
accepted immediately.

The previous week she had hung out
with Susana, swimming in the public pool and going for a walk during the evenings.
But her friend had left to visit a cousin and she wouldn’t return until a few
days later and since she was gone, Sara hadn’t had many things to do. Besides,
she wanted to be with Roberto again. She would lie if she said she hadn’t
missed him the week he was gone, when she had to resign herself with looking
but not touching the statuesque bodies she saw in the public pool. It’s when
one is single when one discovers that every attractive man in the world already
has a girlfriend. But luckily she had Roberto, her friend with benefits.

Wednesday, Sara dressed with a
beach look, filled a cooler with food and drinks, and went to the beach with
Roberto.

“Wow, you’re tanned!” She
flattered him as soon as she got into the car.

“I’ve walked outdoors a lot this
week. There are some advantages when you don’t have to work indoors all day.”
He said, visibly happy.

Pop-rock music sounded during
their entire journey to the coast.

“This is a natural park” Sara read
the description on a sign next to the road which Roberto had taken a second
before. “Why are we coming to a natural park?”

“You won’t see me in an
overcrowded beach full of seaweed. You’re gonna to love this place.”

He was driving on a dirt road and
the surroundings seemed the perfect set of a horror movie taking place in the
middle of the dessert. Surprisingly, when they crossed a hill, the skyline
turned into water. The sea! They parked at some distance from the beach, in an
area where there were some trees that made some shelter from the sun. Without
picking up their things, they approached the coast to see the beach and the
sea.

“It’s almost empty!” said Sara,
marveled. She used to go to crowded beaches. In front of them, they could see a
long beach of fine white sand with only six sun umbrellas. “Are there
jellyfishes or something?”

“Not at all! But have you seen the
road that leads here? Many people prefer better accesses and different beaches,
with a lot of people, beach bars, and so on. Come on, let’s get sunscreen and
eat something before getting into the water.”

“What about stomach cramp?”

“Bah, that doesn’t exist. We’ll
get into the water slowly and we’ll be fine.”

Roberto bathed Sara’s back and
legs with sunscreen and rubbed her bottom too.

“I think I don’t need protection
there, huh? But if you want to go on with the massage, I’m okay with it.”

“Why do you think you won’t need
sunscreen on your little and pretty ass?”

“My bikini is tiny, but not that
much.”

“What would you say if I told you
that we’re going to go to a nudist beach? Would you be shocked?”

She turned and looked at him.

“People on the beach aren’t
naked.”

Roberto smiled and took something
from the trunk. He showed Sara a net with flippers, diving goggles and
snorkels.

“We’re going somewhere
snorkeling?”

“You look scared but you don’t
have to be afraid, not with that strong and hot body you have. But I’ll follow
you. If you’re gorgeous with the shorts you use for running, with the bikini—”

She snatched the flippers and hit
him with them.

“You could have come sexier” she
attacked him. “A floral swimsuit— Gosh!”

“If you were me, you would have
come with white boxers that show through, huh?”

“You want to take me to a nudist
beach. What’s the difference between a swimsuit that shows through and
nothing?” Suddenly she had an idea and she half-closed her eyes, thinking. “Men—”

“What?”

“Without swimsuit, it hangs,
right?”

“The penis? No, it levitates.”

“Go to hell! What I mean is— it
has to be a weird spectacle.”

“Have you never seen one hanging?”

“In documentaries of indigenous
tribes of Africa or the Amazon. In real life they have always been greeting
me.”

“Come on, I’ll explain you how the
snorkel works.”

“Put it in your mouth and breath.
How difficult!”

But the snorkels that Roberto had
brought weren’t those which one can easily find in a 99-cents store. They had a
water exit that allowed diving deep in the water without worrying if the
snorkel filled with water. Once on the surface, she would only have to blow and
the water would leave easily, allowing her to keep on diving. And the flippers were
quite complicated. She had to enter the sea backwards because otherwise her new
frog feet would make her fall.

The experience was absolutely
incredible. The sea was calm and the water was clear so they were able to move
forward following the coastline. They enjoyed diving close to the reefs and
shoals. There were animals of every size and color. Sara even saw a sea horses family
and a giant red starfish. Just to be safe, they didn’t approach the coastline
when there were stone walls: undercurrents could make them hit against them.

Roberto tapped her feet once and
when she turned, she realized that he had a camera in his hands. He took a
photo of her under that crystalline water.

Suddenly, when Sara’s ankles
already felt sore, Roberto told her with gestures to approach the shore. When
they arrived to a zone where the water didn’t cover them, Sara took off the
flippers and stood on the sand. She also took off the diving goggles and he
imitated her, smiling.

“What’s up, Flipper?”

“It was amazing!”

They had ended up at a little
beach which could only be reached from the sea, so it was empty. They sat on
the shore, with the water licking their feet and legs. He took from his
swimsuit pocket a pair of juices and gave one to Sara. While they were drinking,
she asked:

“What’s all this, scuba diver?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you have all the equipment
for snorkeling and even an underwater camera? You’re full of surprises.”

“Actually, it’s my brother and her
girlfriend’s equipment, but I love to snorkel here. And I would say you have
also had a lot of fun.”

“Of course! I’ve loved it!”

They looked at the sea that spread
in front of them. For a while, they were quiet, but then she said:

“You could have any girl, you
know?”

“What?”

“You’re a good guy who does nice
things, like taking me to a viewpoint in the middle of the night to make love
to me under the stars, or bringing me to a cove of a natural park. You can have
any girl in the world and even so you lose your time doing these things for me.
Why?”

“What makes you think I don’t want
to win you?” he asked seriously and for an instant Sara felt a knot in the pit
of her stomach, but then a mocking smile appeared in his face.

“No, seriously. You’re the kind of
man any girl would fall in love with.”

“Any girl like you” he corrected.

“What do you mean?”

“You have said that the other night
we made love under the stars. Other girls would say that I took them in a dark
night to a godforsaken place to fuck on a hard rock. And today— how many girls
would have complained about all the time we have been snorkeling? Many, trust
me! We’ve come quite far. Many girls would have preferred to stay on the beach
sunbathing.”

“You’ve been dating posh girls,
right?”

He shrugged, looking at the
horizon. A few minutes passed until Roberto asked:

“If you like the things I do, why
I’m not wining you?”

“You want to win me? You should
remember that the contract—“

“Answer my question.”

Sara looked at him, annoyed, and
then turned to stare at the sea. Almost a minute went by and Roberto thought
she wouldn’t answer, but suddenly:

“I don’t believe in love.”

“Why?”

“What a stupid question. Because I
don’t.”

Roberto knew it was a delicate
topic, but anyway he insisted:

“So you have just told me that any
girl would fall in love with me and now you’re telling me that you don’t
believe in love. That doesn’t make much sense.”

“Love is just an illusion.”

“Love is, at least, a chemical
reaction of our system. It exists even if we can’t measure nor see it.”

“Love isn’t a chemical reaction”
she looked at him, defiant. “Desire is a chemical reaction. Crushes are maybe a
chemical reaction too. But love— love is nothing because it doesn’t really
exist. We think it does, that’s all.”

“What did Juan to you? I know you
didn’t use to think like that.”

He had been direct and Sara felt
furious instantly.

“
And what
business is it of yours?”

She tried to
stand up but Roberto grabbed her and forced her to lay back on the sand. He lay
down partially on top of her, blocking her movements.

“Leave me
alone! You’re not my boyfriend.”

“No, I’m
your friend with benefits and that’s exactly what I’m doing: being your friend
and benefiting from your hot and sexy body” he said, rubbing their bodies with
a feline smile. Then he stopped and said: “Tell me about it, you’ll feel better.”

Sara tried
to get rid of him but he was too big. Eventually, she grumbled something and
stood still. He didn’t give up and waited. He wasn’t sure that his strategy
would work and felt really happy when she whispered:

“When we
broke up, he told me that he didn’t remember having loved me ever.”

“You told me
that when you two broke up, you didn’t love him neither” he said, also in a low
voice.

“I know, but
at least I remember when I loved him, the years when we were happy. And now he
tells me that it was all a lie, that he never loved me. The bastard told me
that during the two months he had been seeing another, he had felt more things
that with me in ten years. How he dares!?”

“He’s an
asshole.”

“Thinking it
was just an illusion of mine—” her eyes were filling with tears.

“No, no, no, don’t cry.
Not for him. It wasn’t an illusion nor a lie.
If he doesn’t remember what he felt for you, he can go to hell. At least, you
enjoyed ten years of happiness.”

“Of
happiness and of horrible moments when I would have killed him, when I felt
like a shit. Years of crying. And all for an illusion.”

“We all
suffer in a relationship. There are good and bad moments” he said, brushing
aside a lock of hair. “Each one decides what to remember. He decided to remember
only the bad things, or worse, to remember nothing. I hope you’re smarter.”

“I hate it.”

“Love?”

“And Juan.”

“Well, you
can hate your ex if you want, you won’t be the first. But I like the other
part. If you hate love it means it exists.”

She frowned
and her expression made Roberto laugh. With his finger, he touched her nose and
released her. He sat on the sand, looking at the sea once again, and Sara,
although she was free now, remained lying back on the sand.

“And what’s
your excuse?” She asked suddenly. “If you believe in love, why aren’t you
looking for it? Why haven’t you brought the future love of your life to this
wonderful beach?”

“I’m not
looking for it because I already found it” he made a dramatic pause
unconsciously. “I wasn’t loved in return.”

“Are you sure about that? Maybe if
you insist, you soften her heart.”

Sara saw that he shrugged and
shook his head. His love was a hard nut.

“Well, look on the bright side, if
she didn’t return your love, she couldn’t be the love of your life.”

“Maybe you’re right” Roberto said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

They were quiet for a long time,
each one immersed in their own thoughts. Suddenly, Roberto felt  one of Sara’s
fingers making circles on his back. He turned to look at her and saw that she
had taken off her bikini. He smiled, full of life all of a sudden.

“Right now I’m having an amazing
chemical reaction.”

Sara laughed and embraced him,
caressing his back. It would be the first time she had sex on the beach,
feeling the water at her feet and the sun bathing her body. It didn’t take long
for Roberto to be ready to give her pleasure, although first he took a condom
from his pocket.