Cocaine Princess here.
After leaving the crowded filled beach we went back to the villa to shower, change and rest a little. After my shower I was in my bedroom towel drying my hair when I took notice my laptop wasn't around. I had left it on the nightstand before we left for the beach. While opening the closet and checking the drawers Valentina who was in the bedroom across the hall from me said, 'our lunch is ready.' I wasn't interested in having lunch until I knew where my laptop was. Panic started to set in. This was a repeat feeling of what I felt when I thought I had lost my diary.
'Valentina, have you seen my laptop?' I asked......'Valentina?....' She wasn't answering so I went into her bedroom and found her lying on the bed. 'Valentina?' She didn't move a muscle. I approached her and could tell she was pretending to be asleep. 'I know you're not really sleeping,' I said. 'You were speaking to me less than a minute ago.' Valentina continued to lye still as if she was a possum playing dead. I tickled her a little and that did the trick. I asked her again. 'Valentina where's my laptop?' 'Whose laptop?' she said sitting up. 'My laptop,' I replied. 'Are you sure you brought it with you?' she questioned. 'Because I don't think you did.' 'Yes I brought it with me,' I replied. 'You wanted me to stop blogging, remember?' 'I did? Funny I don't recall having that conversation,' she innocently replied. 'I think you're so sleep deprived that it's causing you to hallucinate.' It was clearly evident she was in one of her mischievous moods. 'Please Valentina, tell me where you hid it.' 'No because you don't need it,' she answered. 'A-ha! So you admit you did hide it?' ' You're here on holiday. I'll give it back to you when you leave,' she said. At that moment we heard Valentina's daddy come home. I turned around and ran out the door and down the stairs. I could hear Valentina's footsteps behind me. I ran to him and said, 'Valentina hid my laptop and won't give it back to me.' Valentina came down the stairs and practically slid across the floor in her mini ankle socks. Pushing aside one of the bodyguards she embraced her daddy along side me and said, 'daddy she doesn't need it. She's here on holidays and should be relaxing and not working.' Looking at her I said, 'I was only going to use it because you said you wanted to take a nap.' 'I only said that because you said you wanted to write a couple of chapters. I feel so bored when you get in your writing mode.' 'When is this mischievous streak of yours going to end?' Valentina's daddy asked her. He kissed her on the forehead and said, 'give her laptop back.' 'Only if she promises not to do any work,' she replied. She then looked at me, 'I haven't see you in awhile.' 'We talk to each other on the phone several times a day,' I reminded her. 'It's not the same thing,' she stated. Over the years I've realized there's no use arguing with her so I just gave in. 'Fine, I promise not to do any work in your presence. You win.' 'Thank you,' she said. 'But you're still not getting your laptop.'
We left for the party in the evening. The weather that night was perfect. Hot and muggy. When we arrived at the villa all the security guards and the guard dogs were in place. Upon entering inside the host and her husband greeted us. The host was a plump woman in her late fifties who is known as the grand dame of the social circuit. [A close friend of my mom's and Valentina's mom] If there's a social event she'll be there front and center either hosting it or organizing it. I was dreading a hug from this woman because of the perfume she wears. I don't know the name of it but its' scent is similar to insect repellent. Kneeling next her was her Doberman which never left her side the entire night. The dog smelled better than she did. As luck would have it she opened her arms and embraced Valentina and I. The two of us just held our breath. When she freed us from her Anaconda-type grip one of the servants took us into the living room. Valentina opened up her Swarovski studded evening clutch bag and took out a little bottle of perfume and said, 'I came prepared.' She sprayed herself and then handed the bottle to me so I too could drown out the smell the host had transferred to us from her hug. It was the type of smell that went up into your nostrils before settling in your sinus bringing pain and making your eyes water. 'For as long as I've known her she's been wearing that bug spray,' stated Valentina. 'Maybe she has a life time supply,' I said. 'Someone needs to send her an anonymous letter that reads, 'you stink! Change your perfume! No wonder her husband has a mistress.' 'Shh,' I said to Valentina. Several other guests had already arrived before we did. The majority of them being business associates of the host's husband who also knew Valentina's daddy. The three brothers from Mexico were there and I was surprised to see them and questioned Valentina about their presence. 'I thought daddy doesn't like them yet he's talking to them.' 'He doesn't like them. Daddy finds them disgusting but unfortunately in the business he's in sometimes he has to deal with low level people,' she explained. 'And the brothers aren't exactly fans of daddy. They think he's too uptight and needs to loosen up a little. But daddy says that's when mistakes begin to happen. 100% isn't good enough for him. Anything over a 100% is. As much as they all despise each other they know they need to get along in order for their businesses to flourish.' It was more of the three brothers behavior and manner Valentina's daddy didn't like and also the way they dressed. 'Daddy wishes they would behave and dress in a more professional manner instead of dressing for the rodeo.' I looked over at them. All three were dressed in cowboy boots made from python skin, belt buckles adorned with jewels and sitting on top of their heads, cowboy hats. Instead of drinking wine they drank beer straight from the bottle and were loud and enthusiastic when they begin toasting each other. Sitting along side with them were their wives including 'B' whom I hadn't seen since the last time Valentina threw a party. 'Please don't go asking her any questions about the affair she's having,' I said to Valentina. 'I know some of the kinky things Padre has her do are hard to stomach but I only ask questions for you, for your book,' she replied. 'I have more than enough information,' I said back. 'Don't you want to know if Padre has invented any new games?' 'Not really,' I told her. 'I'll find out anyways later on,' she said. Looking around it didn't seem so much of an Easter dinner as it was a meeting of the bosses. I noticed one individual whom I had never seen before but only heard of. 'It has to be him,' I thought to myself, the fat, balding Panamanian. Any time Valentina speaks about him she does by referring to him as the fat, balding Panamanian. He was fat and he was balding but I didn't know if he was Panamanian so I asked Valentina. 'That's him,' she confirmed, 'the fat, balding Panamanian.' He had a plate full of appetizers he was thoroughly enjoying. 'Look at him,' said Valentina. 'He's not eating his food, he's inhaling it.' He really was because in a matter of minutes the food had vanished and what seemed to be one large gulp he finished his drink. Holding his wine glass in the air he signaled the waiter for a refill. This time he didn't gulp it down. Another dinner guest had arrived. A beautiful young woman who was smiling and walking towards the Panamanian. She was tall and thin with short black hair and Cleopatra style bangs. I assumed it was his daughter until she jumped into his laps and gave him a long, hard kiss. Valentina filled me in on her identity. 'That's wife number 4,' she stated. 'Wife number 4? What happened to wife numbers 1,2 and 3?' I asked. 'Divorce, divorce, divorce,' she answered. 'Any kids?' 'Just one from wife number one. A son, Gilligan.' 'That's Gilligan's dad?!' Valentina nodded and explained. 'His first marriage was the longest lasting over twenty years. Marriages two and three lasted under five years. He's been with number four for just over a year. And she's almost two years younger than her stepson.' I was still reeling over the fact Gilligan's dad is the fat, balding Panamanian. 'Wow, so that's Gilligan's step mom,' I said. 'Wonder what he's planning on getting her for Mother's Day?' I then asked her another question. 'Why is Gilligan's office in Switzerland?' 'The law firm he works for has several branch offices. I don't know whether he chose to work there or if he was sent there,' Valentina answered. 'And what does his dad do?' 'I don't know much about him,' she said. 'He owns a couple of real estate companies unless those are a front for something else. Daddy and him go a long ways back.' The waiter placed another tray of appetizers in front of him. It really was gross watching him eat but it was just one of those things where you couldn't help but stare. At one point wife number 4 was feeding him and I was afraid he would swallow her whole hand. 'He has so much money you'd think he'd get a hair transplant and some liposuction,' commented Valentina. 'Obviously he doesn't think he needs too if he can get a woman like her to fall in love with him,' I said back. 'You think she married Gilligan's dad for love? She married him because all she sees when she looks at him are dollar signs that cover up his fatness. Millions and millions of them, ka-ching baby!' I was about to say something but Valentina didn't give me a chance because she knew what I was going to say- and she was right. 'And don't go telling me love is blind.' She then paused for a second and said, 'maybe it is blind. How else do you explain someone who looks like her falling for a fat slob like him?' 'Because when we're in love we don't see with our eyes, we feel and see with our hearts,' I replied. Valentina smiled at me. 'God you're such a romantic, believing in soul mates and how each of us are destined to fall in love with that certain one person courtesy of Cupid. You've been saying and believing in that for the longest time.' 'You think it's foolish of me to believe in that?' She nodded her head no and said, 'don't ever say that. It's not foolish. It's beautiful.' 'I just wish I knew what number I am on Cupid's list or at least be given an approximate date on when he plans on shooting his arrow,' I said. 'Maybe Cupid's already struck your Prince-in-waiting and he's agonizing and waiting for you. Isn't it possible for Cupid to have struck him first and when you see him that's when Cupid will strike you?' 'I never thought of that. It's a possibility,' I replied. 'So then maybe your Prince-in-waiting does know you or at least knows of your existence,' she then said. I still often wonder if he and I have been in the exact same place at the exact same time like in a restaurant. I'm sitting inside and he's sitting on the balcony and we're unaware of the others' presence but feeling an overwhelming sensation of love but can't explain why? Or if I enter a building just as he's exiting but we're looking in the opposite direction and again that feeling of love begins to flood our veins. Our pulses begin to race uncontrollably and our hearts are pounding so loud we think it's going to rip open and explode while trying to find a reason why we feel this way unaware that our soul mate is just a heartbeat away. I rested my head back and closed my eyes trying to remember the last time I felt that way. Where was I and what was I doing?.........Valentina broke my concentration. 'Oh my God, she said. 'Look what the damn cat dragged in.' I opened my eyes and replied with a facial expression that said 'huh?' She gestured with her eyes for me to turn around. So I did. Senor Bling had arrived to the dinner. Things were just getting started and it was only cocktail hour.
XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess
