#15:

"Are you going back to your house?"
After giving us the weather news, Lizet left and I headed for one of the many snack areas for a smoothie, Matt hot on my heels.
"Yes. I'll collect my things and leave this afternoon."
"I could take you back...if you wanted." he whispered.
My stomach dropped, since we had practically slept together, my body reacted strangely every time I was around him.
"It isn´t necessary."
I saw him take out his phone and dial a number, within seconds my cell phone, which was in my jeans pocket , started ringing and I glanced at him, crossing my arms over my chest defensively.
"Don't get angry. Save my number in your contacts and text me if anything happens."
"Is it madatory?" I replied mockingly.
"Is not. Of course not. But it would give me some peace of mind to know that you're okay."
"Hey, Rosy!"
Yunior was running towards us.
"Have you heard? We are in the cyclone alarm phase."
"Yes, Lisy already told us."
"God! With so much studying I didn't even know when we were in the informative phase."
"Neither did I."
"Well…I'll leave you guys," Matt interrupted, his annoyance evident. He approached me, whispering in my ear.- call me or text me, don't be so mean to me, Rosario."
Having said this, he took advantage of the proximity to give me a loud kiss on the cheek and leave. For my part, I was stunned.
"Wow, wow...I didn't know you and Matt got along so well," Yunior commented sarcastically.
I took a few deep breaths.
"We don't, but the twins have been acting weird around me lately."
We set off, in the direction of the dorms, Yunior remained silent while I bit my nails, removing the little black paint that I still had on them.
"If I were you, I'd be careful. You have never been a saint of the Montalvos´devotion and there are people who say... - my friend lowered the tone of his voice, approaching me and whispering under his breath. -... that they both groped with Amalia."
"Really?" I yelled.
"Yes."
I couldn´t believe it. Matt and Amalia? It couldn't be…but then I remembered Mildred's cryptic words.
*You are a Ramona vulture, a vulture that feeds on the leftovers of others.*
And I thought it might be true. In recent times everything was very shady. People were no longer satisfied with having a relationship, they wanted to experience exotic… things. My stomach clenched in disgust just thinking about it.
"I think they even had threesomes."- Yunior commented and I felt bile rise to my throat.
Returning home gave me a bittersweet feeling. I had been so afraid of coming back a complete failure that the happiness I experienced was indescribable. My mother kept asking me if I was okay all the time. I clung to it and sighed in relief for the first time in months.
00000
The wind was howling, the rain was pouring down, it was two in the morning, and Hurricane Craig was rolling over the Midwest, leaving behind an unmistakable trail of destruction. And I stayed on my bed, under my fluffy quilt, listening to the pattering of the heavy rain as it fell. I was awake, while my mom and my younger sister snored like a couple of blessed ones, I looked at the ceiling and thought nonsense.
The electricity supply had been interrupted for hours, due to a fault or as a precaution? I never knew. The fact is that fortunately it was not infernally hot but I felt so strange that I could not fall asleep.
Two weeks passed without electricity, two horrible and terrible weeks. I won't go into details because remembering it makes me want to cry.
The power line wasn´t the only thing that was affected, telephone communications were also interrupted. Brigades of linemen were seen everywhere, eager to restore both services as quickly as possible. So, we celebrated a lot at home when the fan was finally resurrected, we had missed it, greatly.
I found out about the return of mobile telephony when on Friday of the third week, at around three in the morning, my infernal gadget began to beep with its characteristic tone. I took it sulking and looked at the screen, grunting when I realized it was an unknown number.
If it's a wrong call … they're going to hear me! I thought. But I also considered that it could be a call from the university.
"Hello?" I whispered in my most cordial and feigned tone.
The person on the other end of the receiver snorted.
"Apparently you didn't save my number."
"Huh?" I stammered lost.
"It's Matt. You didn't save my number!"
I moved the cell phone away from my ear and looked at the screen, startled. Then, steeling myself, I put the headset back on.
"…scared. I had no way of knowing about you. I've been ringing you for days but it turned me off or out of coverage area. You are well? And your family? Was your house flooded? Lost the roof? What…?
"Hey, hey, stop! A cyclone just passed over us, obviously I had no coverage. You are hysterical. Find a nylon bag and breathe into it, okay?"
"It's not funny, Rosario," he protested.
I made a face.
"We're ok. My house wasn´t flooded and the roof is where it alwayswass... now, let me sleep!" -I barked.
He hissed in my ear again.
"This is what I get for worrying about you. You're always this sharp with me. No matter how hard I try, you always..."
"Matt, I'm curt because it's three in the morning and you're being crazy!"
Silence reigned for a few seconds, I thought the call had been disconnected.
"Have you thought about studying together?" he insisted.
I sighed tired. I just wanted to hang up and go back to sleep.
"Yes I've thinked about it. And yes, I have decided that I should improve my grades. So see you on Monday. By the way… how did it go for you? Please tell me that the cyclone took your brother."
"No, it didn't, thankfully. We are all alive and kicking."
"Pity. Well…it's been a complete displeasure talking to you, so… bye! "- I hung up, snuggling under the duvet and falling into a coma once more, but grimacing at what I had just agreed to do, at that time, I had no idea of the great consequences that decision would face me.