The World is a Caper!

Some people have a very sceptical way of seeing life. If I was one of those, I’d start this saying that “It was just another ordinary sunny Thursday at the beach...”, but I’m not sceptic at all. I think everything happens for a reason and there are so many things we just can’t explain... Besides, I live in Rio de Janeiro, the “wonderful”(as it’s known) and misterious city, so it couldn’t possibly be JUST an ordinary day. So I guess I have to start it in another way:

It was ONE OF THOSE days, in Rio. Yes, a day when something HUGE was about to happen. I just didn’t know it yet. Summer is always a time for unexplainable things to happen. A time for deep passions to come up. A time for people to let all those deep feelings show. Time for summerfling! But again, I didn’t know it yet. I was VERY sceptic that day, actually. Sceptic and hopeless. I had been really down for over a month, and I thought I had already had my share of fun for that summer. But as it was a beautiful sunny Thursday, and it was a holiday, I decided to go to the beach with my friends. I thought it could cheer me up a BIT. Just a bit. If I only knew...



Ipanema beach is one of the most amazing places ever. Whoever knows that beach, agrees with me. An amazing view, extremely beautiful people and of course, lots of tourists from everywhere in this world. I was just getting started with my foreigner’s addiction, and I swear that I DIDN’T KNOW IT YET. The beach was quite packed but we didn’t have a hard time finding a spot in the sand. There’s always a blank space, among the crowd. And it was exactly the place where we were supposed to be that day. We sat, asked for some coconut water, and started talking, random subjects.

I blinked, and he was there. So suddenly, I didn’t even see him coming. I watched him from a distance, a glimpse of heaven I guess I can say. He was sitting not too far from us, with 2 or 3 other friends. I can’t really tell because I was completely caught by the vision of that man. I thought he had seen me too, for my son was running after the pigeons and everybody around was laughing at it. It was quite impossible NOT seeing us there. Anyway. Of course that my friends, when they noticed those guys around, made fun at me, saying that we were sitting in the perfect spot. Yeah, they were so right. And one of them said:

- Hey, you gotta go talk to him then.

But what was I supposed to say? I knew I’d have only one chance to talk to that stranger. One chance. After all, he was a foreigner and would probably be leaving soon. What were the chances of seeing him again? How the hell would I run into the same guy twice, without knowing anything about him – where he was staying, what kind of places he liked to go to... Etc, etc, etc. I could tell he wasn’t going to make any moves – foreigners are way more... POLITE, than brazilian guys. And much more discreet, as well. And everytime our eyes crossed each other’s, he would look the other way, kinda shy maybe, but still intrigued, as I was.

- Hey girls, maybe he is not even interested!
- Haha, allright, and I am Santa Claus!!!
- Oh, shut up...

And there we were, trying to come up with some approach-plan.

- He is definitly an european...
- Haha, he is definitely your TYPE, that is!
- Yeah, you bet! – I murmured, lost in my thoughts.
- GO TALK TO HIM, make something up!!!
- I wonder where he is from... I bet he is from London, haha. Wow, such blue eyes, fit body, damn! I definitely have to talk to this guy, but HOW??? I mean, what if he leaves tomorrow and I never even find out what his name is!!!

He was standing up, as he picked up a cigarrete and a white lighter.

- A-ha! Go ask for that lighter NOW!
- No way geeks, we’ve been smoking here for hours, don’t you think he knows we have a lighter anyway?
- DO IT, YOU ASS!
- Noooooooooope!

My mobile bipped. It was a message from Jørgen, the viking, saying that he was in front of Caesar Park Hotel, along with Arild and Knut – the guys from the other post.

- I’ll go talk to the guys, I haven’t seen them for some time, I miss them.
- CHICKEN!!! Hahaha!
- Yeah, that’s me. Be right back, girls. Are you coming, Gui?
- No mom, I wanna stay here playing with Nicole.
- Ok, mommy will be back in a few minutes then.

So I went to meet the norwegians, and stood there for a little while. It was when one of the girls came with Gui, he was looking for me and she was bored saying that we should leave the beach and go home. I told her that no way I would just leave like that, that I wanted to watch the sunset, that we weren’t there for too long anyway, blablablah, but she was really annoying. I should have said “leave then! I’m staying!”, but I’m an ass when it comes to those things. We were in my car and I didn’t wanna tell her to pick a bus back home. What a geek. I should have done that.

- You’ll see him again, tomorrow night at the club. Trust me.
- Yeah, right. AS IF!!!

I was so pissed off. My one and only chance, gone with the wind. Whatever, I decided to shut my mouth, go home and try not to think about it anymore. But it was hard not to. Since Lars had left, I was really down thinking about him and I didn’t really feel like meeting anyone, you know? But life has it’s interesting way of making things happen wheh they’re supposed to. Friday night stroke. Me and the girls, as always, were heading NOVA LOUNGE. That was THE place on Friday nights. And we were the biggest VIP guests that club ever had. We wouldn’t go ANYWHERE without cheking it out first. So, once again, there we were. There was always a favourit spot inside that we would stay at. On the left side of the dancing room, right next to the steps to the other floors. We got there and after 5 minutes of “looking around”, guess who showed up.

- OH MY GOD! A, look there! The guy from the beach yesterday, fuck shit, I can’t believe this!
- See????? Didn’t I tell you that you would see him again?
- Hell yes, but how would I fucking believe it?
- Hahaha... Now you GO THERE AND ASK FOR HIS FREAKING LIGHTER!
- HA! Of COURSE I will! Gimme that stupid cigarrete!

He was there at the bar, all by himself, checking out the people dancing. I grabbed the cigarrete from A’s hand, and went to his direction, full of confidence. But as we came closer, I just could’t do it. I suck when it comes to making moves. I just can’t do it! But I’m not stupid either, I couldn’t miss my second chance and besides, I’m good at pretending. Haha. So I went to the bar, stood right next to him and asked the waiter for a lighter. Once I knew the foreigner wouldn’t understand what I said in portuguese, I made sure I showed the waiter the cigarrete, and made a move with my other hand, showing that I meant a lighter. It was all I needed. He came to talk to me right away:

- Do you need a lighter?
- Oh, yes please. (like duh!)

And he tried to take it out of his pocket, as the waiter came with ANOTHER lighter. I didn’t want to tell the waiter “Thanks, I don’t need it anymore”, beacuse it would look rude from me, so I picked the waiter’s lighter, used it, and gave it back to him. It was when the gringo there finally gave me HIS lighter.

- Oh... I see you already got one.
- Well yes, I’m sorry. The waiter looked all over for a lighter for me, I thought it was not fair to... Well, thank you so much, anyway....
- Neh, it’s ok...
- ...
- ...



We stood there, side by side, as 2 geeks that really wanted to talk to each other but just didn’t know how to do it. He was facing the crowd. I was facing the bar, in the oposit way. And we both turned our heads at the same time.

- ... (him, smiling, blushing)
- ... (me, smiling, blushing even more)

And we turned away. But it didn’t take us 5 seconds to look at each other again.

- ... (him, really smiling)
- ... (me, really really smiling)
- Hi! :)
- Haha. Hi... – and I looked down to the floor, not knowing exactly what to do.
- What’s your name?
- My name’s B.
- Where are you from?
- Me? Here. Carioca.
- Here? Really? You don’t sound brazilian at all.
- Oh, well. Thanks. I’ve studied english for a long time and I’ve lived in the US... And you, what is YOUR name?
- Alan.
- Oh. Alan. Where are you from, Alan?
- Ireland.
- IRELAND??? Wow.
- Yeah but I live in London.
- I see...

And that went on for a loooooooooong time. And I couldn’t possibly ask for anything else at that time. We smoked some cigarretes, had a few drinks (caipirinha, more specifically), and he turned to me and said:

- Ok, you GOTTA go dance with me! – and grabbed me by the hand.
- Well sure, let’s go for it!

That was SO cute. I felt like I was back to those days in Idaho, when I was 15 and there were those balls at school, where the guys would come to us in a geeky/cute way and would say “hey, do you wanna dance with me?”, you know? But I was in heaven by then, and not just having another vision of paradise, probably because of the sun melting my brain like I felt at the beach the day before. Nooooope. That was REAL. My fairy-tale was coming true. And I could hardly believe that man in front of me. He was... Wow.

And again, like in a movie, we were dancing and he was getting closer, holding my hands and we couldn’t stop looking into each other’s eyes... And he kissed me. Why do I always feel like my feet are up in the air when it comes to such things? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh it was so nice... So Jørgen and Knut got there at the club, I introduced Alan to them and to the girls, and we all had a blast that night. And it was so nice, the 3 of us – me, S and B – were with our sweethearts and we looked just like one big happy family hahaha. Cute cute cute. It’s weird how we connect to some people as if we knew them for yeeeeears... Anyway. After the night was over, I went to Guanabara with Alan for some pizza time, and then, like the good girl that I (sometimes) am, I drove him to his hotel.

- Wow, I had such an amazing time.
- I did too, it was really nice meeting you, Alan.
- Can I see you again?
- Well, sure... That’d be nice. (huge smile, of course)
- Can I call you tomorrow? I REALLY wanna see you again. I actually want to spend the rest of my time here with you. Every second, until I have to go.
- Yes, sure you can call me...
- My friends are leaving tomorrow, and I’ll be here by myself. I’d really like to see you... I’ll call you when I wake up, so that we can schedule something... Maybe go to the beach?
- Yeah, cool. Call me tomorrow.

And we kissed goodnight. It was around 4 in the morning and I drove home like if I was flying hiiiiiiiiigh in the sky, haha.
Now you ask me if I slept that night... I wouldn’t even know what to answer...

Coming up: what happened next...