Page 10 of Paved in Venom

She gives me another big smile and grabs my hand. “You have to let me treat you to lunch.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’ll just grab something quick from this cafe.” I point to the small shop on the corner. It’s not the cutest place around, but at least the sign out front lists the specials in English.

“No way,” Adriana says with a laugh. “I can’t let you do that. You need to eat somewhere authentic. This place is a tourist trap with shit food that’s way overpriced.”

She seems genuinely excited to have lunch with me, and I can’t help but catch on to her enthusiasm. “Okay,” I say, returning her smile. “I’d love to have lunch with you.”

She hails us a taxi and tells him something in rapid Romanian before turning back to me. “So when did you get here?”

“Just a couple of hours ago. I didn’t want to give in to jet lag, so I thought I’d grab some lunch, maybe hit a museum.”

She claps her hands as her whole face lights up with excitement. “This is perfect,” she squeals. “I can show you around, show you all the fun places that you’ll never find in the travel guides.”

“You really don’t have to do all this, Adriana.”

She waves away my concern with perfectly manicured, bright-red nails. “I would love to do this, and it’ll give me a chance to practice my English. You’d really be doing me a huge favor by agreeing to this.”

I have a feeling that she might feel sorry for me and is trying to be nice to the pathetic tourist she found on the street. I’m guessing Adriana brings home a lot of stray cats. Instead of telling her no like I would normally do, I decide to embrace the adventurous gene that must surely be buried inside me somewhere and give her a smile.

“That would be amazing. I’d love to see the real Romania.”

She beams at me and gives my hand another squeeze. When the cab stops in front of what looks like a castle out of a fairytale, she gets out and motions for me to follow. I stare up at the gorgeous building, feeling completely out of place when I look down at the jeans and T-shirt I’m wearing. My fingers immediately start tapping against my jeans like my thighs are a keyboard, a nervous habit I’ve had since I was a kid. My fingers run through a few notes of Chopin while I nervously bite my bottom lip.

“Is there a dress code?” I ask, looking around at the men in suits and the women who look like they just stepped off the damn runway.

“Don’t worry about it,” Adriana says, giving me an encouraging smile. “You look great.”

After a really long flight and very little sleep, I know that I most definitely do not look great, but I follow her inside, not at all surprised when we’re quickly ushered to a table for two near a large window that overlooks a beautifully manicured garden. Adriana has a way of getting things done. Maybe it’s the gorgeous face or the killer body, or maybe it’s the whole I won’t take no for an answer aura that surrounds her. Whatever it is, it gets shit done.

When the waiter brings us a bottle of wine, I gladly take the glass he pours me. The next two hours seem to fly by. We laugh and talk and eat way too much, and by the time the second bottle of wine comes out, I feel like I’ve told her my entire life story. I’m surprised I didn’t put her to sleep with it.

“So you really went to an all-girls Catholic school and then you decided to do the same for college?”

I laugh at the baffled expression on her face. “I did. It was important to my parents, and I really didn’t care.”

“But what about boys? You must have a boyfriend back home waiting for you.”

I take another drink to try and stifle my humiliation. “No, no boyfriend.”

Her brown eyes widen in shock. “Like ever?”

When she sees my mortified look, she shakes her head and says, “I’m sorry. I’m way too nosy. I’m just surprised because you’re so pretty. I thought for sure they’d be lining up to date you.”

I laugh at how absurd the image is. I was always the friend that guys came to so they could try and get me to hook them up with the other girls in my class. I was the go-between girl. Once I realized that’s who I was, I just sort of embraced it. I orchestrated a lot of dates between the local high school and our private Catholic school. I should’ve been charging money. I would’ve made a killing. When I started college, I was so used to being invisible that I didn’t bother coming out of my shell. Now, I feel like I’m kind of stuck with it. I have no idea how to become visible when I’ve spent so long hiding in the shadows.

“We’re going out tonight,” Adriana says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

She smiles and takes a ladylike sip of her wine while I down the rest of mine like an afternoon alcoholic. “I’m taking you out tonight. There’s this amazing club that you have to see.”

“I’m not much of a club person,” I try and warn her.

“You’re in a new country, Simona. It’s time to reinvent yourself.” She waves for the check and hands the waiter her card when he quickly walks over. “It’s time to let loose.”

I think about what she’s said, deciding that if I’m going to risk humiliating myself, why not do it in a foreign country that I’ll probably never return to? I’ll never see any of these people again. I can go out, dance embarrassingly bad, maybe drink a little too much, maybe even flirt a bit, and then I’ll leave. It’s the perfect opportunity to be bold with very little fear of repercussions.

“Okay,” I tell her.

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