May - The fight.
It all started over something silly. Laura had casually mentioned that she'd sent in her application for Erasmus in Amsterdam. For next year.
"When were you going to tell me?" asked Marcos.
They were at Laura's apartment. They'd met up to study but now the books were forgotten on the table.
"I'm telling you now."
"No, you're just dropping it on me like it's nothing. Like it's not important."
"It is important, that's why I sent it."
"And what about me? Where do I fit into your plans?"
Laura looked at him with irritation.
"You have your own life too. I'm not going to stop doing things because of you."
"I'm not asking you to stop doing things. I'm asking you to include me in your decisions."
"Why? So you can tell me not to go? So I'll change my plans for you?"
"No. So we can talk about it. So we can decide together."
"There's nothing to decide. It's my career. My future."
Marcos got up from the sofa.
"And what am I? A pastime?"
"Don't say stupid things."
"Then act like this matters. Like I matter."
Laura also stood up.
"Of course you matter. But I'm not going to give up my dreams for anyone. Not even for you."
"Nobody's asking you to give up anything."
"Oh no? Because it sounds exactly like that."
"It sounds like I want you to take me into account. That's different."
"It sounds like you want to control me."
"Control?" Marcos laughed without humor. "If there's anyone impossible to control here, it's you."
"And that's a problem?"
"Yes! Sometimes it is. Because you go through life like you don't need anyone. Like I don't matter at all."
"That's not fair."
"Isn't it? Then tell me, Laura, when were you planning to talk to me about this? When you were already on the plane?"
Laura felt tears building up but she wasn't going to cry. Not in front of him.
"Maybe this was a mistake," she said quietly.
Marcos froze.
"What?"
"Us. Maybe it was a mistake. We're too different."
"Don't say that."
"Why not? It's true. It was never going to work."
"Laura..."
"Leave. Please. I don't want to be with you ever again."
"I'm not leaving like this."
"Marcos, go."
He looked at her for a long moment. Waiting for her to say something else. To take it back. But Laura kept her gaze fixed on the floor.
"Fine," Marcos finally said. "If that's what you want. You're never going to see me or be with me again."
He grabbed his backpack and left the apartment. The door slammed shut.
Laura collapsed on the sofa and finally cried.
June to November - The silence.
They didn't talk all summer. Marcos went to Barcelona and Laura stayed in Madrid, working at the law firm and feeling miserable.
Inés tried to intervene several times.
"You're both being ridiculous," she told Laura. "You're both dying to talk."
"Well, let him talk first."
"God, you're so stubborn."
When second year started in September, they saw each other at the faculty. They passed each other in the hallways. They coincided in some classes. They ignored each other mutually with impressive dedication.
Laura started dating a third-year guy. His name was Javier, he studied Economics, was tall as a lamppost and incredibly boring. But he was kind, sent her sweet messages, and always said yes to everything.
Marcos started dating a girl from his Commercial Law class. Her name was Lucía, she was short, always wore heels, and talked nonstop about things Marcos didn't give a shit about. But she smiled a lot and didn't argue with him and that was a relief.
Neither was happy. They both knew it. Neither admitted it.
December - New Year's Eve in Puerta del Sol.
Laura didn't want to go to Sol. She hated crowds, hated the countdown surrounded by drunks, hated everything about New Year's Eve.
But Javier had insisted.
"It's going to be fun," he'd said with that good boy smile that painfully reminded Laura of someone else.
So there she was, at 11:57 PM, in Puerta del Sol, crushed by hundreds of people, in a dress that itched and shoes that were killing her feet.
Javier had his arm around her shoulders. He was too tall. Laura had to tilt her neck at an uncomfortable angle.
"Are you excited?" he asked.
"Very much," Laura lied.
And then she saw him. On the other side of the plaza, a few meters away. Marcos.
He was wearing a dark coat Laura had never seen. His hair a little longer. And a short girl in heels clinging to his arm.
Their eyes met. It was like getting punched in the stomach.
Marcos said something to Lucía and started walking toward Laura. She did the same, as if there were a magnet pulling them both.
They met halfway, three minutes before the countdown according to the giant clock in the plaza.
"Hi," said Marcos.
"Hi."
"I just wanted to ask you how Inés is doing after breaking up with Dani for good."
"So-so, but she'll get over it. And how is he?"
"Very good. Much better than before, or so he says. Is he your boyfriend?" asked Marcos, nodding toward Javier.
Uncomfortable silence. Behind them, Javier and Lucía waited, confused.
"Yes. Is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes."
More silence. Two and a half minutes.
"She seems very... tall," said Marcos. "Do you think you could bring him to my house to change a light bulb? No strings attached, huh?"
Laura almost laughed.
"Since when do you like giraffes?"
"He's not a giraffe, Marcos. He's a person."
"How tall is he? Twice my height?"
"He's two meters tall, Marcos."
Silence again. He looked into her eyes, but didn't dare tell her how beautiful she looked that night.
"And what about her, does she use stilts?" Laura pointed at Lucía and her stiletto heels.
"They're heels. Women wear them."
"I don't wear them."
"You're different."
"Clearly. It shows."
Two minutes.
"He seems nice," said Marcos without any conviction.
"He is. He's very nice. And kind. And he considers my feelings."
"Sounds boring. But he's got a receding hairline, in two years completely bald."
"He's not boring."
"Of course he is. He looks like a family man who reads the newspaper on Sundays."
Laura had to bite her lip not to smile.
"She seems... chatty. Does she work as a saleswoman at some fish or fruit market?"
"She is. She talks about everything. She knows all the subjects, even knows the nicknames of the fans of Madrid's football teams."
"Do you like them like that, chatterboxes?"
"I'm getting used to it."
"Fake and a liar."
"I'm not lying."
"I always know when you're lying. You pull on your earlobe."
Marcos realized his hand was on his ear and immediately lowered it.
"You don't know me anymore."
"I know you better than anyone."
One and a half minutes.
The people around them started preparing their grapes. The atmosphere was euphoric. Marcos and Laura looked at each other as if they were alone in the plaza.
"Are you happy?" asked Marcos suddenly.
Laura took a while to respond.
"I'm... fine."
"That's not the same thing."
"And you? Are you happy?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't even believe that yourself."
One minute.
"You cut your hair," Marcos observed. "You look much better like this. I've wanted to tell you for a long time but I thought if I approached you, you'd turn away."
"Three months ago. I'm polite, I wouldn't turn away."
"It looks good on you."
"Thanks."
"Though I liked it better long."
"It's not your problem anymore."
"No. It's not anymore. It's something I won't forget."
Thirty seconds. People started shouting the countdown.
"Laura..."
"Yes?"
"Do you remember this place? The first time that..."
"I remember everything, Marcos."
Twenty seconds.
"Me too."
Fifteen seconds.
The screens showed the clock. People shouted numbers.
"TEN!"
Marcos didn't move. Neither did Laura.
"NINE!"
"I should go back to Javier," said Laura, but didn't move.
"EIGHT!"
"And I should go to Lucía," said Marcos, but didn't move.
"SEVEN!"
"But I don't want to," Laura whispered.
"SIX!"
"Me neither," Marcos whispered.
"FIVE!"
"This is crazy."
"FOUR!"
"It always was."
"THREE!"
"I hate you."
"TWO!"
"I hate you too."
"ONE!"
The bells started. People ate grapes, kissed their partners, shouted "Happy New Year!" Marcos and Laura kept looking at each other.
When the last bell finished, when the noise reached its peak and then started to drop, Marcos finally spoke.
"What wish did you make?"
Laura felt tears in her eyes. Tears of rage, frustration, relief, everything she'd felt in the last six months.
"I want to be with you," she said.
Marcos closed the distance between them and kissed her. It wasn't a soft kiss. It was desperate, urgent, full of all the months of silence and pain. Laura dropped the grapes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Behind them, Javier and Lucía exchanged confused looks.
When they separated, they were both crying and laughing at the same time.
"You're impossible," said Marcos.
"You too."
"We're not going to work."
"Probably not."
"We're still completely different."
"Completely."
"But I don't care."
Laura kissed him again.
"Me neither."
"What do we do about...?" Marcos nodded toward where Javier and Lucía were.
"Right now I don't care. You've turned me into a selfish person. I wasn't like this before."
"I don't care either. I think we're bad people."
They stayed embraced in the middle of Sol, while Madrid celebrated around them, while hundreds of people toasted and kissed and started the new year.
"Happy New Year, water dog," Marcos whispered against her hair.
"Happy New Year, fake good boy face."
"Do you think we can try again?"
"I think we have to try again."
"Even though everything's against us?"
"Especially because of that."
Marcos held her tighter.
"I love you," he said, and it was the first time he'd said it out loud.
Laura felt that warmth in her chest, that warmth she'd tried to ignore for months.
"I love you too. Even though you're a Barça fan and listen to pretentious indie and prefer the beach to the mountains."
"And I love you even though you're a Real Madrid fan and listen to predictable punk and are the most stubborn person I've ever met."
"See? We're doomed."
"Completely doomed."
But neither let go of the other. And when they finally started walking, leaving behind the plaza, Javier, Lucía, and everything that had been wrong, they were holding hands.
Madrid sparkled with fireworks. The new year had just begun. And Laura and Marcos, against all odds, were going to try again.
Because sometimes, the best stories are the ones that make no sense at all.