Aka. "Destination Anywhere", "The Boy and Girl from County Bavaria"... After a very intense year in Würzburg (Germany), I'm back in Salamanca. I probably won't have that many experiences to write, but there's always an excuse to post a new entry!

23.

She was a very cerebral person. Believing in intuition or vibrations wasn't her style. However, since she woke up on that day, she knew there was something wrong. Yet she couldn't tell what it was. Her rational side told her not to think about it. Being negative attracts problems, her mother used to tell her when she was little. So she just shrugged it off. As she kissed her boyfriend goodbye before he went to work, she acted naturally. Neither did she show her troubled state of mind when she met one of her best friends for a walk or while she had lunch with her flatmate, who was having a day off. At the end of the day, though, Johanna Settels would find out that intuition shouldn't be underestimated...

The sight of her roommate crying her eyes out to some soap opera made her grin. Sharon seemed to busy watching TV to notice that she had just arrived, so she made her way to the couch silently and sat down beside her.
"I can't believe you're watching this!"
Apparently, the brunette wasn't expecting that. Flora's comment stole a scream from her and made her give a start. That, in turn, prompted the giantess to guffaw a lot harder.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" she apologized with a huge smile.
"Jerk, you scared me!" Sharon complained, yet her lips were slightly curled up.
"Yes, because now I know your secret" Flo teased "It's your last week of holidays. Shouldn't you be doing something fun instead of sitting in front of the TV while Heartache Avenue is on?"
"I don't usually watch it" Sharon blushed "Just an episode every now and then when there's nothing better to do."
"Yeah, right, that's what everyone says. My sister was quite fond of it, too. I personally think it's really boring and anything but realistic."
"Well, there are some really cute scenes sometimes. Plus some good-looking girls."
"Ah, now you're talking!" Flo winked, pointing at the TV "The one in lime green is pretty hot."
"Ew, Sandy?" the Dutch girl grimaced "She's a total bitch. She hired a mafia guy to kill her own father and then slept with him."
"Thank god you didn't watch it too often!" she giggled "I'm not into soaps. My life is already exciting enough, thanks very much."
Sharon half-smiled. There was hardly any trace of tears on her face. Teasingly, she poked the other woman's shoulder.
"Oh yes? Rescued many people from a building on fire on the way from work?"
"Hilarious! Nah, work is pretty quiet, actually."
"What do you actually do, if I may ask?" the brunette bit her lip, embarrassed not to even know exactly what her friend and roommate's job was.
"Didn't I tell you? I'm a nurse in an old people's home" the taller girl explained.
"Oh" the other woman winced "Must be an annoying job."
"No, not at all! I really like it. Old people can be really nice if you know how to treat them. I like hearing their stories and so on. It's fun. Besides, some of them are so lonely that you end up becoming a second family to them. It breaks my heart so much to see that their blood relatives don't even call them..."
A smile took over her roommate's lips upon hearing those words. In some way, she could relate to that. She wasn't close to any old people, but she knew that feeling. When she was a little girl who lived in the countryside, she used to rescue wounded animals she found on the street and took care of them until they recovered. It was cute to see that Flo, in spite of her tough appearance, was that compassionate and tender.
"Wow, from being a club dancer to working with old people... who knew!" Sharon exclaimed.
"There were some more things in between" Flo corrected "I had to do an internship in a mental hospital for two months."
"Ouch!"
"Yeah. I was probably the only one who applied for that place. I thought it would be exciting and it could be a nice way to do something for the good of the community. Then I regretted it. We interns often had to do the dirtiest jobs. Sometimes I even feared for my own life!"
"Oh, god! Hope nothing bad happened..."
"Well, apart from some minor wounds from time to time, I think I made it out unharmed. Then, when I finished my studies, I got a job in a hospital, which is where I've spent the past..." she calculated "Sixteen months, maybe? In any case, I really loved being there, but like everything, it gets kind of boring after so long... I needed to try something different."
"I see" Sharon nodded "All that sounds way more fun than what I do."
"Hey, I'm sure being a secretary is nice, too."
"Not really. I mean, it's good if you're lazy like me. You don't have to do much apart from typing stuff up. But it's really mechanical."
"Yeah, I understand" Flo agreed "I'd need more action than that."
"Don't worry, I compensate for that with my love life" the brunette joked "I bet you could write a great soap opera about me."
"No, dear, I'm sure I win at that."
"How comes? Have you ever married someone secretly?"
"Hell, no!" the giantess giggled "Once I proposed to someone though. She broke up with me right after."
"Awww, I'm so sorry!" pouting, Sharon rubbed her friend's arm.
Flo smiled at the tender, friendly gesture. She tucked some strands of brown hair behind her ears and shrugged.
"It's ok. She was a bit weird, anyway."
"I never proposed to someone. Once I was about to get married though."
"Really?" the taller girl wanted to know.
"Yeah. I had been dating that guy for six months and we thought it would be fun to travel to Vegas and get married."
"What happened then?"
"We chickened out in the last minute" the Dutch girl chuckled "Oh well... at least we had a fun night at the casino."
"Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. You know what? Something else very soap-like that often happens to me is ending up being someone's other."
"You mean like... someone's secret lover?"
"Yeah, exactly that" Flo nodded "I have quite a collection of girls who were bored of their boyfriends and wanted to experiment around, bisexual married women who desperately needed a lick, lesbians who wanted to make their girlfriends jealous..."
Sharon couldn't help but feel identified with the last type she mentioned. As a pang of guilt pierced her, she bit her lip. Oblivious to that, Flora continued her speech.
"Isn't it sad how much we complicate our lives? We're so obsessed with finding someone worthy that we miss lots of good opportunities while we're busy chasing people we should stay away from."
"So true!" the brown-eyed beauty agreed "You end up wanting to say: Screw you all! I'm giving up on love and sex forever!"
"Yeah. And the hilarious thing about it is that when you finally decide that being alone is alright... bang! Someone turns up and sweeps you off your feet!"

It was almost dinner time. Marco wouldn't be back until the next day, but Cristina was probably getting home soon. So Johanna decided to start making something for the two of them. Turning the TV off, she stood up from the couch, ready to head for the kitchen. She had barely taken two steps when a sharp pain forced her to hold her breath. It reminded her of the feeling she often had during her period.
Don't worry - it's just natural; she thought to herself. It was probably just the baby moving. She still wasn't used to that. Ignoring it, she opened the fridge and got a few ingredients out. Salad was a must. Now that she couldn't go jogging or spend as much time in the gym as she would have liked, at least she had to eat healthy if she wanted to stay in shape. Cristina would probably approve of her food choice, anyway.
Humming a simple melody, she started cutting some tomato slices, nibbling from time to time. A minute had gone by when she felt it again, this time a little more intense, like a contraction. She couldn't possibly be having the baby at that moment, she thought. It was only the seventeenth week. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on cooking, putting the chopped vegetables on a plate and adding more ingredients. However, the pain seemed to grow stronger every minute. Johanna looked down and her whole body froze. She was bleeding. And on top of that, she was starting to feel strangely dizzy and tired, as though she was going to fall...

"I love how you're always so optimistic" Sharon played with her fingers "I wish I could, too."
"It's easier than you think" Flo flashed her an encouraging smile "See, I believe in karma. Life cannot be cruel to you if you're a good person."
"Well, that's easy for you to say! You surely are a good person!"
"Aren't you?"
"Let's say I have my doubts" the brunette sighed.
Giving her a compassionate look, Flora took her hand and caressed it.
"We all make mistakes, you know? Even when our intentions are good. Plus I know for a fact that you're a good girl."
"Then you know more than I do" Sharon chuckled.
"Please, that's easy to see. If you regret the things you've done, it's because deep down you didn't mean to" she stared at her friend through her charming blue eyes "A sweet girl like you can't possibly be evil, not even when she tries to."
"Shut up, you're way sweeter than me!"
Their friendly conversation suddenly seemed to be taking a flirtatious turn. Both girls looked each other in the eyes and, for the first time in quite a long time, a tingle of passion touched them on the inside. Unable to resist that enchantment, their faces got closer and closer, as though hypnotized. In the silence, they could almost hear their breaths and their strong heartbeats as their lips met in a warm kiss.
An annoying noise ruined the magic. The telephone was ringing. Cursing it on the inside, Sharon gave her friend an apologetic smile before sliding back to the other side of the couch, where the phone rested on a small table.
"I should probably get that."
Wondering who could be calling at that time, Flora nodded understandingly. She slouched on the opposite side of the couch, sighing deep down as she watched her friend answer it. Hopefully it would end soon so they could pick it up where they left off. Nevertheless, the way her friend's expression changed, brought a worried frown to her face.
"I'll be there in a few. Thanks for calling!" she heard Sharon say before hanging up.
"What happened?" the giantess asked.
Sharon turned to face her, her eyes starting to water.
"It's Johanna. She's in hospital."