Ainhoa

She placed the bulk of the net coiled in one hand, and, with both hands gripping the weights of the cast-net, she twisted her body and bent her knees, swiveling to toss it with strength surprising for her delicate frame. The net fanned out in a crystalline moon jelly shape to splash in a perfect circle out in the dark part of the lagoon where, presumably, the sardines shoaled. She yanked on the attached rope moments after the net disappeared and tugged it as she walked back to the beach.

She shouted excitedly back at the boys, "Chicos! Ayudadme! Help me!"

She handed the rope to Rick and Manny, and the three of them pulled the net in. When it came into the shallows, flashing silver and black shapes in the net writhed and slapped the sun-sparkled water. Manny yelped and jumped in excitement at the surprising yield. "That is wicked cool!" he hooted.

Ainhoa shuffled the net around and lifted up to cause the fish to tumble in a hopping pile onto the sand.

With her hands on her hips in triumph, she declared, "Sardine for dinner."

Rick and Manny crouched over to study the slippery sardines; their faces twisted in childish awe.

"Who wants to try next?" Ainhoa asked.

Manny raised his hand excitedly. "I'll be your huckleberry!"

She gave him the net and walked with him out into the water while Rick looked on. Manny soaked in the attention as she patiently instructed him how to place the weighted edges of the net in his hands. She grabbed Manny's shoulders to show him how to propel the net forward. Watching her with Manny stirred up a sharp anxiety in Rick's gut. He was enchanted by this girl and was dying for her attention. But he had to share her company with Manny, and Manny was a quite an incorrigible charmer and a flirt while Rick was quiet and shy. Inside he felt a bit like a sullen little kid kicking a can.

Manny always meant well. He constantly acted as an enthusiastic wingman for Rick, but Manny loved attention, and his likeability always drew a crowd like a stars to a black hole. In the end, Rick never really resented him for it. Manny was a good friend, and despite his childish humor and eagerness to please, he only brought good vibes with him.

Ainhoa stepped back and shouted a word of encouragement as Manny wound up like an Olympic shot-putter and shoved the net forward. The net torpedoed into the air and plunked into the water in a wad. Sardines jumped frightfully out of the water to escape the useless net. Ainhoa keeled over in laughter as Manny stood with his chest puffed out at his work. He flexed his biceps, which made Ainhoa laugh harder, before pulling the net in. He tossed Rick the wet clump and said, "Ok hombre, batter up. It's harder than it looks."

"Bueno," Ainhoa said authoritatively as Rick held the net uncertainly in his fists. She motioned for him to mimic her posture and her hands. When he didn't get it quite right, she reached over and grabbed his forearm and touched her other hand to his, indicating to him almost forcefully to match his fingers to hers. She was close enough that her hair blew against his face, and he could smell the coconut suntan lotion on her skin. The fragrance, the radiating warmth, and the feel of her hair caused his skin to tingle, and he felt movement in his loins. He shuffled uncomfortably hoping she didn't notice his arousal.

Ainhoa grasped the net and smoothed it out into tight coils and placed the coils into Rick's left hand. She gently laid the lead-weights of the net into Rick's right hand, which he kept frozen in the shape she had instructed him to hold. When she was finished setting up the net in Rick's hand, she stepped back and showed him how to cast it. He pretended to pay attention, but couldn't ignore the curves of her hips, the way her bikini bottom tapered high onto her waist, the way her waist curved upwards into her bikini top, and a faint outline of her nipples in the sunlight

.

He looked back at Manny, who sat with his feet dug into the sand. Manny gave him a thumbs up for encouragement and he tossed the cast-net, hoping for a good showing. It started to fan out, but then the yoke caught on the rope and the net tumbled into the water half-open. At least it was a better showing than Manny's.

Ainhoa clapped and said, "Good job Rick!"

He pulled the net in and there was one hapless fish in there.

Laughing, Ainhoa shrugged and said, "Oh well. Its better than nothing, eh?"

She grabbed the small fish and tossed it onto the glistening pile.

"Ok, si quieres, you can keep fishing. I will go get a cooler."

She ran back to the bar and collected a Coleman cooler filled an inch deep with ice. Rick and Manny helped her fill it with the fish, and the three of them lugged the cooler back to the palapa bar where Ainhoa promised they would grill some of the fish for dinner.

Kiké, seeing the action on the beach, shuffled down with a renewed glass of his tequila to admire the bounty. He helped Ainhoa set up the grill. Rick and Manny went back to the bungalow to clean up and set their cots.

"Bro, that Ainhoa..." Manny said as he threw out a billowing sheet onto his cot.

"Yeah, she's something else," Rick agreed. Manny held Rick's shoulder, and shook him lightly as he said, "I think she digs you. This is your chance, bro! I want to see you slay tonight!"

Rick peeled Manny's hands off his shoulders and said, "I'm not gonna slay tonight dude. She's not that type of girl. And she's not interested in me, in case you haven't noticed."

Manny shrugged and said, "Whatever dude. I just wanna see you pop your cherry."

"Whatever happens, happens. But again, this ain't the girl. Besides, she's probably got a guy," Rick rebutted.

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade," Manny said with an air of authority.

Rick raised his eyebrow at him.

"Saw it on a poster once," Manny said. He snapped his fingers. "I know, bring your guitar bro. That chick will be all over you."

"Fine," Rick conceded. "I'll bring the guitar."

When they headed back down, the sun had disappeared behind the mountain. A slow, aromatic smoke rose from the palapa, which illuminated in the night with yellow lights. There were other people inside the palapa, sitting at the bar counter - a gringo couple, red-faced and elderly with plastic tumblers in their hands and faded cotton t-shirts on their sun-stretched backs. Ainhoa was at the bar counter talking to them animatedly in Spanish.

Kiké had the half-barrel grill set up just outside the bar on the sand. The grill sizzled with the dripping oil from the largest sardines that Ainhoa had managed to catch just an hour or so earlier, and it filled the bar with a noticeable haze. Kiké poured olive oil vivaciously onto the already crispy-brown and lemon slice adorned skins of the fish. Speakers played American classic rock tunes with a crackling energy.

"Buenos tardes caballeros," Kiké called out to them enthusiastically. "You came just in time for the feast."

Rick and Manny waved at Kiké, then waved at the gringo couple at the bar, and they waved back jovially with their red faces. Ainhoa waved from behind the bar counter and beckoned the boys to come sit at the bar. When they sat, she put out two shots of tequila in front of them.

"On the house," she said.

She put out a plate with limes and salt. "If you need," she said with a shrug and poured a shot for herself.

Manny poured the salt on the back of his hand, saying, "I need." Rick chose to forego the salt and lime.

"Salud," Ainhoa said and held her shot glass in the center. Rick and Manny joined their shot glasses with hers and the three of them in unison tossed their heads back to shoot the tequila.

The elderly gringo man, observing, gruffly commented to Manny, "I can never drink it straight. It ain't for me."

With a sour look on his face, Manny wheezed, "yeah me neither."

He turned to Ainhoa and said, "Cerveza por favor. To wash it down."

After he got his beer, Manny asked the couple, "so y'all come here often?"

The woman, in a clear bubbly voice said, "we've been coming for the past ten years." She tapped her chin. "Ten years, ain't that right, Mark?"

"About ten years, hun," Mark confirmed.

"Ten years ago, we retired and started living down here permanently," the woman finished.

"Wow. That. Is awesome," Manny expressed. His face often exaggerated the emotions, almost comically, but he always meant it genuinely.

"We're one of the few all-timers down here. Most of the others are snowbirds. They're only down here when the weather up North gets to be too damn cold. We're the smart ones. By the way, I'm Shelley, and this grump next to me is my husband, Mark."

"Hullo," Mark said and raised his tumbler without looking.

Shelley asked, "and what are you young boys down here for?"

"Surfing," Rick said. The couple looked at him strangely. He explained, "But we're only here at Lupita's for the night. Tomorrow, we're heading down south and..." he glanced to Ainhoa, who smiled at him, "...over to the Pacific coast. We're doing a road trip."

"Aahh! That sounds marvelous," Shelley exclaimed, jumping in her seat.

Behind them, Kiké wistfully sang, "Youth. A divine treasure," as he carefully lifted the sardines off the grill and onto a plastic platter.

"Ain't that the truth," Mark remarked, sipping with a flick of his wrist.

"When I was young, I used to do the same trip," Kiké said. "But in my day, the roads weren't paved. It used to take hours just to make it to Gonzaga. And to get to La Paz, or Cabo San Lucas... I don't know how we did it, but we did. Many times, actually."

"The roads are paved all the way down to Cabo now, so you boy shouldn't have any trouble," Kiké added, with a distant saudade note in his salty voice, speaking as if the safety and convenience of a paved road took away from the adventure of the peninsula that it once provided. He brought over the steaming plate of sardines, which he served with cilantro and garlic garnish and thick crackers. "Buen Provecho," he said.

"Oh, that looks incredible!" Shelley said, and kissed Kiké on the cheek, making a loud 'muah' sound. "Un beso for the chef."

"Thank Ainhi and these boys for the fish," Kiké said.

Manny retorted, "Nah, that was alllll her. Well, Rick got one."

"Yeah, probably shoulda just tossed it back in, to be honest," Rick said.

Mark mused, "sardines comin' in like this... the big corvina and yellowtail oughta be right behind."

"Yeah eh," Kiké said. "which is why I'm shocked... just shocked that you haven't taken me out on that shiny new boat of yours."

Shelley laughed a piercing, golden laugh, and Mark chuckled sheepishly.

"Oh Kiké, you tell him!" Shelley said. She leaned over to the boys and whispered, "that boat is Mark's little baby. He cleans it and stares at it all day, but that's about all he does. Drives me bonkers."

Mark guffawed. "It is my little baby. I don't want to take her out just yet. I'm waiting for the real big ones."

Kiké turned to Rick and said, "ask him what he named his boat."

Shelley laughed again.

Rick smiled and with a little chuckle, interrogated Mark as Kiké instructed.

"Shelley 2.0," Mark said with a toothy square-mouthed grin.

Shelley shook her head and lamented, "she's everything I couldn't give him I guess."

"Oh, honey," Mark cooed. He made a kissy face and pulled Shelley to him, "You're my number one. Nothing can replace my number one." He kissed her all over her face, and she yanked her face away from him, laughing excitedly and kicking her feet.

"Awww, isn't that sweet," Manny said.

Rick glanced at Ainhoa and caught her gazing at him. She quickly averted her eyes down to the glassware she had occupied herself with washing and looked back up at Rick with her tongue in her cheek.

Manny turned his attention to Kiké and said, "if you don't mind me asking, what's Lupita up to, these days?"

Curling his bottom lip, and while he intently prepared himself a morsel of the grilled sardine, he answered, "Lupita's mother needed her in Spain. So, she went back."

Manny nodded. Rick spotted a heated scowl flash across Ainhoa's face. There seemed to be a little more to the story.

Manny was about to ask another question, but Shelley, spotting the guitar at Rick's feet, shouted, "oh! Who plays the guitar?"

Manny pointed with both hands to Rick. Shelley, with her hands clasped together in a begging manner, said, "oh please play a song, will you?"

"Yeah sure," Rick said enthusiastically, picking up the guitar. Ainhoa turned off the bar music, revealing the startling and disorienting sounds of nature around them - the crashing waves from the other side of the sand bar and the singing crickets. He slowly strummed a chord on the guitar and asked the watching crowd, "any requests?"

Playing the guitar was one of Rick's strong suits. And he was a halfway decent singer to boot. Now he had an opportunity to put his talent to good use - to impress the hell out of Ainhoa.

"Oh, you play your favorite," Shelley said.

"Hmm, ok." Rick thought strategically about a good song to play, as his fingers automatically strummed generic chord patterns.

Manny yelled out, "Freebird!"

Ignoring Manny, Rick cleared his throat and started a chord progression of song he thought would impress Ainhoa. He played and sang 'Champagne Supernova' by Oasis. Shelley clapped and bobbed her head and hummed along in slurred karaoke enthusiasm.

How many special people change?

How many lives are living strange?

Where were you while we were getting high?

Slowly walking down the hall

Faster than a cannonball

Where were you while we were getting high?

Someday you will find me

Caught beneath the landslide

In a champagne supernova in the sky...

Everybody clapped and cheered when he finished. Rick made sure to see if Ainhoa was impressed and was pleased to see that she had been watching enjoyably.

Shelley then turned to Ainhoa and said, "Ainhita, now you play us a song!"

Ainhoa shook her head vigorously with a blush and scrunched into her bar counter.

Shelley asked Rick if Ainhoa could play a song on his guitar, which Rick answered, "Of course. She needs to play one now."

Shelley pleaded to her again, and Kiké said, in a fatherly way, "Hey Ainhoa, play me that song I love." He turned to Rick and Manny and said, "she has a good ear for the music, unlike her old man."

Ainhoa gave him a 'shucks dad' look and Rick put the guitar on the bar and slid it over to her. She sighed and said, "ok. One."

She grabbed the guitar by the neck and took it out to the center of the palapa, and slid a bar stool along the floor with her for her to sit on. She sat with her feet propped up and leaned the guitar on a knee and strummed once, twisting the knobs at the head of the guitar and twisting her head with a focused ear towards the resonating sounds, fine-tuning the instrument to her satisfaction.

Nervously and embarrassingly, she stated, "this song is by a Spanish composer, Albéniz , and is called Asturias." Then, when the right condition of silence was met, she commenced with a delicate and rapid crescendo into a song that Rick had never thought his beat-up guitar could possibly produce. He immediately felt embarrassed thinking that his chord-popping songs might have impressed Ainhoa, who was now deep in another world. Her eyes were shut in stern reverie as she leaned in, melded in song and spirit with the curves of the guitar body. Her fingers ran effortlessly in a fluid but firm flamenco dance across the strings and the song resonated assertively against the background ocean waves and the cricket chirps, sounding like a tempest of ceaseless wind-swept rain and murmuring distant rolls of thunder, washing out the world with a restless, haunted melody. Rick began to believe it was a melody of Ainhoa's life. Only that could explain the profound magic that came from the strings.

The small crowd was quietly hypnotized by her fiery siren song and not a word was spoken as she played. And not a word was spoken when she finished, until Shelley, the first to come out of her trance leaned into Rick to murmur,

"Ainhi here has been playing since she was just a chiquita. Back then, you could barely see her face over the top of the guitar."

"So you've known her for a while, huh?" Rick said, eyeing Ainhoa lustfully.

"Since she was eight or so. She has grown into such a beautiful young lady," Shelley said, on the verge of tears.

Ainhoa stood and curtsied as they all clapped and cheered. Though Manny shouted, "Encore! Encore!", she said, with a sideways cutting motion of her hand, "that's it! Terminado!"

She handed Rick the guitar with a gracious nod and went back to her station behind the bar.

Rick played a few more upbeat and simple sing along tunes with the guitar, and when the sardines were finished, and the moon had risen in the clear starry sky and Mark could barely sit without passing into a snoring snooze with his plastic tumbler tilting in his hand, Shelley escorted him drunkenly back to their house along the beach. Kiké yawned and kissed Ainhoa on the cheek and instructed her in Spanish to lock the place up and to turn the lights off, then shuffled off towards his bungalow.

"Geez... old people," Manny exclaimed exasperatingly. He tapped his watch. "It's not even ten."

"Well, they like sleep," Rick said. "Let 'em sleep."

"They were fun to hang out with though, yeah?"

"Yeah bro, what a life they got here. I wouldn't mind retiring to a place like this when I'm that age."

Manny shrugged and replied, "Nah, I'd get too bored with this."

Ainhoa sucked her teeth at him. "Hey, it's my home!" she retorted.

"Ooh... my bad... what I meant to say was... it's way too um... it's not... like LA is my kind of town, you know: polluted, traffic, rude people everywhere, rent through the roof. I'm all about that life. This is too much nature. Too peaceful. Too pristine. Too much... too much of all that, you know?"

Rick chuckled at his recovery attempt. But Ainhoa looked at him skeptically.

With his arms crossed behind his head and swiveling on his stool, Manny shifted gears and asked, "so Ainhoa, you got a significant other?"

She gave him a confused look.

He explained, "you know, like a boyfriend - un novio."

"In the past. We stopped when he left for university," she said.

"Gotcha. Not about that long-distance game, eh?"

With thin lips, Ainhoa nodded.

"and you?" she asked.

Manny said, "well... its complicated."

Rick rolled his eyes and retorted, "With Manny, everything is complicated."

Manny snorted with laughter and said, "well, you see, I have this thing with this girl. But she too... too... blasé. Is that the right word? Anyways, I don't know how to deal with it."

"I see," Ainhoa said.

Without being prodded, Manny continued, "she's a beautiful chica, but she wants me to put down roots or something. Not for me. I'm a free spirit you know?"

"What's her name?" Ainhoa asked.

"Jennifer. Jen."

"And for how long are you with Jen?"

"A little bit of time."

Rick butted in, "they've been dating since the tenth grade."

"Something like that," Manny muttered into his bottle.

"Awww...," Ainhoa sounded. Her eyes fluttered. "So, then what? Are you not happy?"

"I like her, a lot. But... She's a Filipina. So, you know she wants to get married someday soon, maybe after graduation. Have a lot of children. Probably go be a nurse or something. And we'll end up spending our whole life in LA. She reminds me too much of my mother to be honest."

"That doesn't sound like a bad life. And it sounds like Jen makes you happy," Ainhoa said as a matter of fact. Manny shrugged. "Sure...," he answered.

"But we don't want the same thing."

"Have you talked about it?" Ainhoa asked.