Page 16

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Luca

“Your brother?” I asked, puzzled, as Juri sat down next to me.

“Not blood-related,” he sighed, rubbing his face. “We grew up in the same house.”

“Is he okay?” I asked, casting a concerned glance over his shoulder at this long-haired guy who somehow didn’t fit with the other three guys.

“His mother passed away last week,” Juri replied quietly.

“He’s probably drinking away the pain.”

“Hm,” Juri grunted, clearly avoiding looking back again.

I found it sweet how he cared about this guy.

It showed a side of him I wouldn’t have expected.

I knew he shielded himself with a tough exterior, but the fact that this Noé softened him …

He even apologized for being a bit distracted and for coercing me into that tequila shot.

I told him it was no problem, yet I felt a pang as if I had just lied to his face.

Where Juri had previously given me his full attention, I now shared it with this rocker.

And I had to admit: I didn’t like it at all.

Fuck! Am I jealous?

I tried to steer the conversation back and figured it would be easiest if I picked up where he left off. Stupidly, my phone battery died just when the opportunity arose to steer the conversation to something more personal.

“Where did you grow up?” I asked nonchalantly, taking a sip of beer.

“Oh … uh … not far from here. But … anyway … and you?”

Seriously?

“I … uh … well … near the zoo. Nothing special.” I tried to make the words sound as casual as possible, but I doubted I succeeded.

I was a lousy actor. But even growing up on the rich and fancy hills of Zürichberg hadn’t stopped my schoolmates from bullying me.

For a while, I even blamed my parents for everything, but now there was peace regarding that matter again.

“I would have liked to grow up a bit outside,” Juri said, thoughtfully eyeing the bottles behind the bar. “Not that it wasn’t cool here, but my home was suffocating.”

“Do you have siblings? I mean … blood-related siblings?”

“No, do you?”

“A brother,” I replied. “But we’re not particularly close.”

“Why’s that?”

“We’re very different,” I answered. “He’s studying at HSG in St. Gallen.”

Juri laughed. “Oh yeah, I think that says it all.”

His carefree demeanor from earlier hadn’t returned yet, but I was glad he laughed and at least relaxed a bit.

But our conversation had stalled. And all because of him!

I thought, shooting a poisonous glance at that wannabe rockstar.

Juri seemed completely distracted. And the way he twirled his beer between his hands, tapped his foot, and played with his lip piercing, he had no intention of confiding in me about what was going on inside him.

Since he didn’t even look at me anymore, I took the opportunity to study the scar on his neck.

It started about two inches below his ear and disappeared under his black sweater.

I lacked the imagination to figure out how that thing could have happened.

“Hey! What’s this about?” someone yelled out of nowhere.

A guy dragged Noé outside onto the street, followed by one of the guys from his table—I think his name was Pascal. And before I knew it, Juri stormed after them.

What is going on?

Our drinks were already paid for and both glasses were almost empty, so I grabbed my jacket and followed Juri outside.

What I found there surprised me. Indeed, Juri was beating up the guy who had dragged Noé onto the street.

Completely beside himself, he punched him to the ground with a right hook and doubled with a left.

From a distance, I could see that he hadn’t received professional training, but he didn’t shy away from the fight and finished the guy off. While Pascal helped Noé back on his feet, I sprinted toward Juri.

“That’s enough!” I said, pulling him off the guy.

For a moment, he seemed disoriented, but he quickly regained his composure. He gave the half-unconscious guy another kick in the stomach and turned to Noé. As absent as Juri seemed, he had heard Pascal suggest to Noé to go to sleep.

“I’ll take care of him,” he said. “Can you bring me his backpack?”

“Of course,” Pascal replied and disappeared inside.

“I told you to contact me if anything happened. You seem to be suffering from memory loss.” Juri’s voice was so loving and gentle that he surprised me once again.

“You said you were at Romero’s,” Noé mumbled.

“So what? It’s better than what you have.”

“What about your guy?”

Yeah, man! What about me? With a quizzical expression, I glanced at Juri, only to be met with an apologetic look.

“Sorry, really, but I have to take him home.”

“You’re just leaving me here? We had …”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Dumbfounded, I watched as he grabbed the backpack and made sure Noé didn’t stumble over his own feet. He draped an arm over his shoulder, and they were off.

What the fuck?

For a while, I was unsure what to make of this abrupt ending. Only when Juri and Noé turned the corner did I realize that he was serious. I followed the two through the narrow streets. When they stopped, I stayed in the shadows and watched as Juri lovingly embraced Noé.

What the hell …? Is that guy crying?

His mother passed away last week , I immediately reminded myself.

The two continued on their way. I kept enough distance so they wouldn’t notice me. Not far from the bar, in a small side street, they disappeared into a building. My jaw dropped when I saw the sign.

Erotic World?

Juri … lives here?

Hesitantly, I approached the mailboxes. Indeed, out of eight, only three were labeled.

Erotic World

R. Rodriguez

J. Vinzens

Really?

At first, I didn’t know what to do. But when I remembered that I still didn’t have Juri’s phone number, I instinctively pulled the door open.

The evening had been too nice to end like this.

There was something between us, and I was sure Juri had felt it too.

I didn’t even care that I was entering a brothel—for the first time in my life.

Shit, and the guy with the cool name really lives in a brothel? Juri Vinzens. That must be him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said he was taking Noé home. And no label had an N .

I ascended the stairs with hesitation, the sounds of activity seeping from behind the assorted doors I passed. There was no elevator, so I continued upward. Voices drifted to my ears once I reached the third floor, prompting me to halt and linger in anticipation.

“He’ll pay eventually,” I heard Juri, clearly annoyed.

“If you don’t have money, you can pay me another way,” the man spoke with a Spanish accent and sounded sleazy.

“No, I’m not gonna screw you, and I’m not gonna let you screw me,” Noé slurred. “I don’t do that kind of thing.”

“Oh, Guapo, we both know you’re not a saint. And we both know what you do.”

“But I don’t do it for money.”

“No, you do it for a warm bed. Isn’t that right? Your false pride is out of place here.”

Juri let out an annoyed tone. “How much do you want? Here! A hundred should be enough for now. And now leave us alone, Romero.”

“Rest well, Guapo,” said Romero. A door creaked open.

“Come on.”

As I leaned my head forward and peeked up into the fourth floor, I noticed Juri disappearing into the apartment with Noé.

He left the door open. Hesitantly, I climbed a few more steps.

I felt like I was doing something forbidden, when Juri suddenly appeared again in the doorway.

He was about to close it when our eyes met.

What was happening in the few seconds in Juri’s darkly made-up eyes overwhelmed me. But in an instant, he crossed the upper landing and pushed me back into the third floor.

“Damn it, what are you doing here?” he hissed, grabbing me by the collar. “Why are you following me?”

My body reacted to the attack all by itself, grabbing Juri’s wrist, twisting it behind his back, and slamming him against the wall with his chest.

“What the …?” Juri gasped.

I realized too late what I was doing, but I let go of him and stepped back. “I’m sorry, that … was reflex.”

He spun around and massaged his wrist. “What the hell was that? Following me here and acting like Van Damme? Who are you? A stalker or what?”

“You just left me standing there!” I retorted accusingly, and I was surprised at how offended I sounded. That wasn’t like me at all. “You could have at least given me your number.”

“You have no idea what’s going on here! Just go before you get into trouble.”

“This house is open. So I can come and go as I please. Maybe I’m a customer.” I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. My heart was racing, and I regretted almost every word I spoke. And yet I couldn’t leave.

“Shh,” he hissed, pushing me back against the wall and pressing his hand over my mouth. With a meaningful look, he gestured upwards. “My landlord is an asshole. It’s better if you never meet him.”

At that moment I didn’t care about anything. Being so close to Juri, his hand over my mouth, his body against mine … My heart skipped a beat, I was paralyzed and melting inside.

In Juri’s face, something happened. He felt it too, I was sure.

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. Then, hesitantly, he removed his hand from my mouth.

But it took a moment for him to move away from me and create distance between us again.

He seemed somewhat distressed, which made me feel sorry for him.

I forced a smile and tried to lighten the mood.

“You really live here?”

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” he said. “My dear drunk friend has no place to stay, so he’s glad I have this place. He’d be lucky to afford something like this at all. So don’t act like a snob.” The words were harsh, but his voice sounded sad and a little ashamed.

“I … I didn’t mean to!” Shit! Did he see through me? “I … I just wanted to …” Deep breath! “You were enjoying yourself tonight too, weren’t you?”

With a soft grunt, he nodded, as if admitting this was incredibly difficult.

“I just want us to meet again. That’s all.”

“So I can inspire you?”

I couldn’t deny it. Standing here in the stairwell of a brothel ignited fireworks in my brain. The dark corridors of my own back rooms lit up so brightly that I felt confident I would soon organize my ideas and develop a concept. The fact that Juri also lived here was the wild card on top.

Overwhelmed, I could hardly believe that Juri lived in such conditions and was even grateful for it. Yet my heart fluttered, and I longed for more touches from him.

“You’re truly much more than just an inspiration,” I whispered. “You’d better give me your number, because now I know where you live, and I’m sure you don’t want me suddenly showing up here.”

“Promise me you won’t do that.”

I smiled because the fear in his eyes made me happy. “Then give me your number.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Your battery is dead.”

“That’s okay. You can still call me.”

Reluctantly, he pulled out his phone. “I’ll block you if you harass me. And I’m not one of those who always text back right away.”

“Got it. Call me. And as soon as I have power again, I’ll text you a confirmation.”

“Number?”

I gave him my number and waited until he nodded and put his phone away.

“See you tomorrow?” I asked. Tomorrow was Wednesday, and I was working at the Gothic Party.

“Hardly,” he said, nodding upwards. “My bro needs me right now.” Juri hesitated, but then a gentle smile spread across his face. “You have my number now.”

My heart melted. The guy was just adorable. “You owe me an explanation,” I teased.

“But not today,” he replied and walked up the stairs.

As he closed the door, our eyes met once more, then he disappeared inside and locked it. I smiled and counted my intrusion here as a complete success. I had Juri’s number, now knew where he lived, and even knew his last name.

Fuck! I’m a stalker!

Or am I into the guy?

Doesn’t matter! This is all about my film project.

It would be absurd to think he could be into me.

All I wanted now was to go home and sit behind my laptop. Sleep was out of the question. I had so many ideas in my head that I wanted to write them down. And even though I was sure Juri had much more in his arsenal, this was enough to spark and grow my back room project.

I already saw the movie in my mind’s eye.

Where on earth can I find an actor who looks like him?