This is the eighteenth story.
This is the story of Catalina.
I was in my mid-20s, it was summer, I was between steady jobs, and I was supporting myself by driving for Uber. A lot. I was putting an insane amount of miles on my car, coming home absolutely exhausted, but I was meeting a lot of people, hearing a lot of unique stories, and I felt like I was really living. It's very easy in Los Angeles, too easy, to settle into isolation. But I was out there among the people, witnessing the breadth of the human experience, and my soul was on fire.
I was also having a lot of sex.
I listened for the signals and was respectful, didn't talk if the passenger wasn't up for it, didn't impose myself on anyone or make anyone feel uncomfortable. But if I'd had a great conversation with a woman, and the rapport was good and comfortable, I'd offer my number at the end and we'd see what happened. I'd drive a sexy blonde in a pencil skirt home from her law firm, and we'd meet up for martinis later in the week. I'd take a gorgeous brunette in jeans out to a bar on a Friday night, and I'd meet up with her later at the club. I'd pick up a beautiful redhead at 4 in the morning with her drunk and high friends, and when we arrived at her house she'd invite me inside.
And often I'd pick up a tourist, and if the vibes were good, I'd offer to show them the city.
That's how I met Catalina.
I'm waiting outside a hostel in Santa Monica, at midday on a Saturday, close to the Promenade, so the streets are absolutely swarming. I'm stopped in a red zone, drumming my fingers on the wheel, hoping this girl comes out sooner rather than later and I don't have to explain myself to a traffic cop. Then my back passenger door opens, I whip around, and I'm looking at one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen.
She's South American but I don't know from what country. She's in her early twenties, has olive skin, beautiful wide eyes, full lips. Her hair is dark and curly, currently pulled back in a loose bun, but a few strands have escaped and hang jauntily around her face. She's wearing a peasant crop top, of white cotton, over small breasts. I can see a beautiful flat midriff beneath the hem of her top and above the waistband of high-waisted light blue jeans, which curve out over a prodigious ass and hips before tapering down some of the longest legs I've ever seen. Her entire being conveys health and a life well-lived.
"Jack?" she said, her voice tinted with a Latin accent.
"Catalina?"
"Yes."
She smiled, a Julia Roberts-wide grin, and threw a large backpack across my back seat and clambered in after it.
"Where you headed?" I said, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
"Hollywood and Highland?"
Classic. An absolutely awful part of town that every tourist feels the need to go to. But on the plus side, it was a very long drive away from where we currently were, meaning we had a lot of time to get to know each other.
"You got it," I said, and I pointed my way east.
We drove in silence for a minute, me glancing at her in the rearview mirror every so often, watching her look out the window with a dreamy smile on her face. Then her eyes met mine in the mirror and we held it for a split second and then both smiled.
"Where're you from?" I said.
"Colombia," she said, rounding the middle O gorgeously.
"First time in L.A.?"
"Yep!"
"How long are you here?"
"A few days, and then I go to Vegas!" she said, beaming.
"Vegas! How fun."
"Yes. Have you been?"
I was falling head over heels for the Latin lilt in her speech, the way she said the words combined with the slight hitch in stringing them together.
"Yes," I said, "a few times. It's wild."
"'Wild'! I like that."
"Yeah? Big fan of wild?" I gave her a sly side-eye in the mirror.
"Yes," she said, nodding emphatically.
"Did you come to L.A. alone?"
"Yes."
Her expression clouded over ever so slightly. I wondered if there was more to that story, some unfortunate reason she was here by herself. I persisted.
"Were you meant to come with somebody?"
She didn't speak at first, kept her gaze out the window, her brow furrowing slightly, before she leaned forward toward the gap between the front seats, her eyes forward.
"I had a boyfriend. We broke up a few months ago. I almost didn't come. But then I decided to come."
She leaned back and threw on, tried to throw on, a breezy smile.
"I'm so sorry," I said, shooting her my most empathetic glance in the mirror. "But I'm glad you still came."
"Me too."
"How's that hostel?"
"It was nice," she said. "But I'm not going back."
"Where are you staying tonight?"
She shrugged and smiled, carefree again.
"I don't know!"
"You don't know!" I echoed playfully.
"I don't know! I'm gonna play it..." she searched for the end of the phrase.
"By ear?"
"Yes!"
We'd gotten on the 10 and were heading east. It was a relatively clear day, but the mountains to the north were still smudgy with haze.
"I love your courage," I said. "I don't think I'd be that brave."
She shook her head. "I'm not brave."
"You're being spontaneous. In a new city, in a foreign country. That's brave."
She blushed ever so lightly, but kept shaking her head. "No. No, no, no."
"Yes. Yes, yes, yes."
She didn't respond, just kept looking out the window, but now seemingly with a more concerted effort to seem more interested in what was outside the car than what was in it.
After a minute or two of silence, she asked:
"Where do you live?"
"Close to where we're going."
"Hollywood?"
"-Ish."
"Huh?"
"Close to there, yeah."
"Is it a nice area?"
"It has its charms." I gave her a sly, knowing grin in the mirror.
"Everyone says you have to go to Hollywood and Highland."
"I think you have to go once, and then never go again."