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Choosing a bar for the place of you 30th birthday is unusual, but this is exactly where Ida found herself on this Friday evening. Her friend from work wanted a big but casual party with all of her friends somewhere where they could talk and drink but god forbid anyone dances. And so she was talking with a few of her friends, thankfully none of them drunk. Yet.
“Yeah, ok, but think about it. Cities just drifting in space. Not on any planet, just in some kind of bubble or something just whirling through space.” Luke’s face was an interesting mix of fascinated and stupid.
“Luke, are you thinking maybe of big ships with people living on them?” Clarissa asked not unkindly. She was Luke’s friend for years now and had the most experience with his ridiculous ideas.
“No, you don’t understand. No ships, just normal old-fashioned cities with gardens and skyscrapers but in space! And who’s a genius now?” He looked so pleased with himself, Ida really wanted to go one by one through all the ways in which it was a terrible idea.
“Ok, genius but what they would build the buildings on if there’s nothing beneath them? How would they not drift apart?” she joined the conversation thinking that she needed more than a beer if she was to match Luke’s level of … creativity.
“Alright, I don’t have everything figured out yet. Huh, maybe they could, like, tie them together?” This was going to be a long evening. Ida was just about to answer him when she saw Ana, the birthday lady coming to them.
That’s when she noticed the person she was bringing with her.
“Amaya…?” Ida stood still. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There stood a woman she hadn’t seen for 10 years. A woman she still loved after all these years. And Amaya looked just as shocked before she leaped for her, her arms looping behind her neck. Amaya’s body colliding with hers and almost sending them both to the floor.
“Oh my god, Ida” Amaya whispered into her shoulder after a minute. “I missed you so much, you have no idea.”
“I think I do” She whispered right back tightening her arms around Amaya’s waist. They just breathed each other in for a moment.
“It’s so stupid, you even smell the same”.
“I smell the same?” Ida asked incredulous.
“You do. You use different shampoo and have some perfume on, but underneath that, you smell the same.” Amaya sighed happily. “Always wanted to just bottle your smell and bathe in it or something. Like the guy from Perfume. You know, the one that was killing all these girls.” She said with her head (and nose) still in the crook of Ida’s neck.
“You haven’t changed one bit” Ida laughed a bit wetly. That’s when Amaya moved back, her hand migrating to the side of her neck.
“Oh I did, but this didn’t. Not for me.” Amaya said looking at her, tears tracks on her cheeks glistening.
Ida wanted to say that she was surprised, but really, nothing could be less surprising as she felt exactly the same. She kissed the woman in her arms not caring about all the people around them. They kissed for the first time in 10 years but it was as if no time has passed at all.
When they broke apart they didn’t move far from each other, just rested their foreheads together for a moment to catch their breath and take it all in. Somewhere deep down both of them were still shocked, this was the last thing they expected to happen today.
“I think we have to face the people around us finally”
“Yeah, I’m quite sure at least half of them are filming us so we should probably put a stop to it at some point” Amaya smiled as she said it, but they still broke their embrace and turned towards their friends. The two women didn’t separate completely, Ida still had an arm around Amaya’s waist and she decided, then and there, that she would never let her go. Never again.
“Guys, seriously? Quit filming this already. Actually, who gave you permission to do it?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Her friends started to put their phones away. At least most of them did.
“You’ll be thankful we did, you’ll see, you ungrateful bastard” muttered Clarissa under her breath.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” asked Ana with a huge smile on her face voicing probably everyone’s question.
“Well, this is Amaya, my girlfriend.” She hesitated and looked at Amaya. “Ex-girlfriend actually but.”
“Nope, definitely a girlfriend.” She answered with a blinding smile.
“Ok, I think I didn’t ask this question clearly. What’s going on? What girlfriend!” Ida looked around at her friends most of which looked surprised and confused, but also as if they had the time of their lives. They definitely liked gossip too much, the whole city is going to know about this in a few hours. She looked down at Amaya asking her silently to answer them. But Amaya only shook her head.
“These are your friends, I don’t even know most of these people, so sorry but you’re the one that has to talk with them” her shit-eating grin was infuriating. God, she missed this.
“Amaya and I met during university and we dated for 2 years, but then my mom got ill and we had to move. We were moving around quite a bit after that and well, it wasn’t a time during which everyone had a mobile phone. We tried to keep up with our new phone numbers and addresses, but we lost touch at some point. The last time we saw each other was 10 years ago.”
“Ha! I always say that I know what I’m doing” Ana shouted excitedly and completely incomprehensibly. Ida looked at Amaya for help.
“She dragged me here to meet you” She smirked. “Said we could talk about ‘superheroes or some shit because you are a huge nerd’ so nothing new.”
“Oh did she?” She glared at Ana who looked very satisfied with herself and well. She had a good reason for that. “Anyway, do you want to get away from these smug people who will no doubt upload all the videos on the internet by tomorrow morning?”
“And miss the rest of the party? No way, now I’m genuinely curious what’s going to happen next”.
“You think something can beat this? What, another girlfriend from your past? Two maybe?”
“Maybe, maybe, at this point, I wouldn’t even be that surprised” Everyone laughed, and yeah it was funny but the possessive part of her that Ida hadn’t seen in years reared its head.
“Nope, no, now we’re definitely going home. No past girlfriends welcome, not now, not ever, thank you very much. Don’t even think that I’m ever letting you go.” She tightened her arms around Amaya at that and huh, when did her other arm move around her?
“Is this a proposal?” Amaya asked with laughter.
“Eh, not yet. But don’t think that you’re ever getting rid of me. You’re gonna be 90 and you’ll have to listen to me complain that everything was better back when we were young and I ache all over now but then hear me say in the next breath that I hope we can make it together to be a 100 years old so.” She started to shrug but froze when Amaya kissed her on the cheek.
“Ok, I’ll take it.” She looked at Ida lovingly hoping she could look at her like that every day for the rest of her life. Actually, knowing that she would.