Benito

Cayetana had not changed one bit, her temper was still the same. One thing I had loved so much about her was her independency. Since I didn't want the situation to escalate, I sighed in defeat and handed the tequila back to her. "Anyway, congratulations on the engagement." I then said, hoping it would ease the tension between us a little bit. "Thanks." she mumbled and took another sip. I was anything but happy about her marrying some random dude called Oliver but I had no right to be jealous since I had been the one that let her go. As I wanted to say something, her phone started going off in her purse. He frowned even more, when she looked at the screen. "Can you take it Luís, please?" she said and handed it over to her brother who took it and walked a little bit down the street. For two minutes, I watched her take sip after sip. The bottle was almost half empty, when she finally put it back into the car. Luís came back to us with a concerned look on his face. "Honestly, don't marry him." he just told his sister. Bernie, Bysael and I exchanged some looks. It gave me hope that her own brother was against the marriage, after all, I still wanted to reconnect with her. Cayetana closed the car door and turned around to look at Luís, she was now visibly drunk. "Why not?" she slurred. "I don't understand why you said yes. He's such a control freak." Luís said, then handed her her phone back. Immediately, I started hating this guy even more. It would've been her downfall to marry him. The way he had went off on her on the phone just a few hours earlier had told me everything I had needed to know. 

Cayetana was absolutely wasted and it showed when she tried to convince the four of us to go down to the beach. She had not talked to me directly ever since I had congratulated her but at least she wasn't as tensed up anymore. Bernie and Bysael were the ones she communicated with the most. "You guys remember when we went skinny dipping over there?" Luís asked as we followed his sister down to the water. "That was a funny night!" Cayetana exclaimed in front of us. Bysael who was walking in front of me and shot me a look. "When did you guys do this?" he asked confused. "I was 14, Cayetana was 12, Bernie was 11 and Luís was 10, I think." I responded, thinking about that night. Bernie's friends from school had made him do it and after he had told us, we had all gone to support him. "Oh..." Bysael gave back. He had been six at the time, so of course, he hadn't been with us. As we continued walking down the stairs to the beach, I kept thinking about all the times we had met up just to relax at that very spot. "Didn't we celebrate Bernie's sweet 16 here as well?" Luís asked and turned to smile at the three of us. "I remember that too. Some dude started a fight with a bunch of teenagers, it was hilarious." Cayetana yelled from the front. A smile spread across my face, she was warming up to us again. I was surprised at how fast she was still able to walk down the stairs, given that she was wasted. As we reached the shore, she immediately started running towards the water. I saw her heels somewhere in the sand when I slowly followed the rest of our group. "Are you guys coming?" I heard her yell. She was holding her dress up, so she could go into the water. "I don't think that's a good idea, nena!" Luís yelled, picking up the pace, so he could stop her. My little brothers both followed him while I stopped and watched in amusement as they chased Cayetana down the beach. I had missed moments like this with her. She had always been the one to do spontaneous stuff and that was one of the reasons why I had loved her. "Be careful!" I yelled as they had caught her before she could walk into the water. Luís was carrying her over his shoulder. As my brothers and him stopped in front of me, Cayetana brushed her hair out of her face. The bun she had worn had opened on its own and caused her almost black hair to cover her face. "You're still playing the role of the big brother." she mumbled looking at me with a smile. I returned the smile and I swear I could see the spark she had had as a teenager come back. "I am the oldest." I told her and watched Luís carefully let her down. She was stumbling and so I immediately reached my hand out to support stabilise her. I had butterflies in my stomach when I touched her soft skin. "We'll get some water." Bernie informed me and grabbed both Luís and Bysael by their upper arms to drag them with him. Bysael shot him a confused look. "Necesitan hablar." (They need to talk.) he mumbled towards him. I watched as the three of them walked up the stairs. "You might be the oldest but you're definitely not the wisest." Cayetana slurred, causing me to look back at her. Giggling, she let herself fall onto the sandy ground. I sighed and sat down next to her. "Tienes razón, soy un tonto." (You're right, I'm a fool.) I responded and looked into the darkness of the ocean. "But I have to say that I missed nights like this a lot." she then mumbled and looked at me. I couldn't help but smile at that. "I missed it too." I gave back. While we were waiting for my brothers and Luís to come back, we were talking about what life had brought us within the decade we hadn't talked. I told her about the music and all the crazy things I had experienced. "I always said you'd win a Grammy." she mumbled happily. She indeed had always said that and I had never believed it but it somehow had always given me faith. "Hey, can I ask you something?" she started, scooting closer to me. I glanced at her from the side. Her appearance had barely changed. The cute little nose looked like it did a decade before, her long lashes were just the same and her dimples hadn't changed one bit. "Of course, anything." I responded and waited. "Why did you not try and talk to me sooner?" she wanted to know. This was a question I had feared all night but I was going to be honest with her this time. "I honestly thought you hated me and when you guys moved, you changed your number. I did try to talk to you through Bernie and Bysael's instagram accounts but you didn't even answer them." I told her and sighed. "I did hate you in the beginning." she said and turned her head towards me. "Rightfully so." I agreed. "However, I missed you as my best friend more than as my ex." she then continued and started giggling. As I was about to say something, we heard our brothers come back. I turned my head to look at them and found them with a bottle of water, some snacks and a blanket in their hands. All three of them sat down across from us. For the first time in a decade I felt genuinely happy, surrounded by everyone I deeply cared about.