The journey to the airport was a very silent one. The three of us had known that this day was coming. We had always known it would. As part of the Spanish Language element to my course I had to spend the first two terms of an academic year at the University of Córdoba in Spain. I had let myself be persuade by a fellow student on the same course to spend the summer in Córdoba getting to know not only the city, but Spain as well. I had never been abroad before, international travel and living was a very new, and rather frightening prospect.
We met Vivian, my fellow student, at the airport. I was relying on her to guide me through the ins and outs of air travel. Si and Sandy came in with me, handed over my suitcase and my rucksack. With tears in their eyes and a cascade of tears running down my face the three of us hugged and kissed and hugged more, offering promises of letters and postcards. There was no email back then. Finally we broke away from each other and I walked off with Vivian.
"My God!" said Viv. "That was a heart rending goodbye. Which one is your boyfriend again?"
"Oh they both are." I replied wiping my face with a tissue. Not giving a single thought to how that sounded.
"No, I mean boyfriend as in lover. Not just boy-friend."
"Yes, I know, they both are!"
"Ah! OK." was all she said, but I could feel her incredulity in that short sentence.
Luggage was checked-in and boarding cards issued. We waited drinking coffee until the Madrid flight was called. The next few hours seemed to pass with me in a bit of a daze. After our landing in Madrid and a taxi ride we finally arrived at the railway station for our train on to Córdoba. Viv´s Spanish was way more fluent than mine, she had no difficulty understanding the Spanish, nor they understanding her. I asked why she was doing this time in Córdoba when she spoke the language so well. She said that she never passed up an opportunity to go to Spain. Fair enough.
By the time we reached the hostel (hostal) where we were staying it felt like we had been traveling for days. I was exhausted, travel stained, dusty and in need of a shower, some food and a long sleep. It would be my first night in bed on my own for a very long time. It was usually the three of us together, or occasionally just two of us if one of the guys had gone away for some reason. After showering and changing Viv and I went out to find a cheap bar in which to eat and drink.
Our hostel was in the old town, very near the Mezquita, in an area called La Judería. Although touristy it was very cheap once a few streets back from the tourist places. The street where our hostal was situated was so narrow the taxi driver could only pull up a distance away and give us directions. Now of course we would just get out our smartphones and let it guide us. My first impressions were.... Oh my God! it´s so hot!
.... The food is very good, and
.... Aren't the drinks cheap!
While eating and drinking Viv had struck up a conversation with some Spaniards of our own age. She grilled them exhaustively about where the cheap places were, what the nightlife was like etc. They were a really good crowd and invited us to go with them to a disco. We were both alas just too tired. International travel had already cramped my spirit of fun. Under any other circumstances we would have gone on with them and drank and danced until dawn. But not tonight.
As Viv and I walked the short distance back to our hostal she began to question me about my relationship with Si and Sandy. I knew she had been biting her tongue until now. I guess the drink had loosened her tongue and her curiosity.
"So you and your blokes, how does that work? I mean, what do you do, go out with one of them for a week then go out with the other, or what?".
I too felt my tongue loosen and I told her that we were a threesome, we lived together, ate together, slept together and yes! We did have sex together.
"Fuck the fuck off, Tess! You mean to tell me you lot have a threeway every night? You lucky lucky bitch, I hate you!" We burst out laughing. I was rather glad that she was not appalled or shocked. I did not mention that Si and Sandy would get it on together as part of our romps in bed, I thought it might be just too much for her. Anyway, that was strictly our business.
The following night we met some of the people we had been talking to the previous night. As the bar was closing they invited us to go along to a club with them. It seemed that the discos and clubs only really open once the bars had shut. As we were walking along I began to talk to one guy. His name was Paco and he was a student too, although he also had to work in his parents grocery store during the holidays and in the evenings. He was very charming and very amusing. Once in the club we drank some more, in fact a lot more, and danced and danced. Paco and I danced quite a lot together. As night became morning I began to fade a little and I told Viv that I was going to head off back to the hostal and I would see her in the morning, or later that morning as it was gone 2am.
I had only walked a very short distance when I heard someone hurrying up behind me, I turned to see Paco. He came up to me and said he would walk me home as it was late, and although normally very safe it would be best if he did. We walked along together laughing and enjoying the relative coolness of the night air. It was not very cool really, but after the atmosphere of the club it was a welcome change.
As we were nearing my hostal I felt Paco slip his hand in mine. I looked at him and saw a wonderfully white smile on his dark face. he had long very wavy black hair, very dark eyes. Among this his smile shone out like a beacon in the night. Finally we stopped outside the door to the hostal. I fumbled in my bag for the keys (no night porter in a Spanish hostal). Paco then put his hand on the side of my face, lifting it slightly and gave me a very tender kiss on my cheek. We then looked into each others eyes and he kissed me once again, this time on my mouth. He put one hand behind my back and and pulled me closer to him, his kiss becoming more firm. I could feel the heat from his body against mine, his lips tasted rather salty. I felt a familiar tingle that told me I was enjoying his attention. He pulled me tighter into him and I wrapped my arms around him as we began to kiss with ever growing need. He then pushed my hair back over my shoulder and kissed my neck. I felt a shiver of excitement as he kissed and nibbled the nape of my neck. I felt his hand softly cup one of my breasts. His touch was electrifying through my thin blouse and lacy bra.
