Chapter 20 - Facing Fear

Mia looked across the auditorium. It was a full house! It definitely seemed like more than 100 people were in the room. The first group was called to present, and Mia felt that for once lady luck was on her side that it hadn’t been her group. They would be the third to present, at least that bought her a little bit of extra time.

The first group walked up to the podium and she was surprised to see it was a complete train wreck. The presenters were obviously hungover, seemed so disoriented, were lost behind the podium not knowing where to stand, and kept looking at each other all confused. It didn’t look like they had prepared at all. Although she felt a tinge of guilt, it certainly made her feel better about her own presentation. At least they were prepared.

The second group went on and she thought it was pretty decent. That was until one of the presenters pronounced the word skyscrapers the wrong way. He kept on pronouncing it like ‘sky crappers’ and she couldn’t help but giggle. English was definitely not his strong suit. What’s more, why hadn’t anyone corrected him?

The presentation ended and she felt her nerves instantly start to creep up. She was about to stand, when the judges announced a short break before the next presentation. Phew!

She went out to the hallway to serve herself a cup of coffee. She had already had coffee during breakfast, but felt like she could use the extra jolt of caffeine in her system. She poured herself a cup and noticed that her hand was slightly shaking.

“Hey Mia, are you presenting?”

She turned around to see the last person she ever imagined would be speaking to her at that moment. Leo. Unexpectedly, he had a friendly expression.

“Uh yeah…I’m actually up next,” she managed to say.

“Nerviosa?”

“Shaking in my boots.”

Leo chuckled. “C’mon you’ll be fine. Especially after those last two presentations, the bar is pretty low. I mean did you hear that guy talking about sky crappers? I kept on picturing actual people crapping from the sky and falling all over the place. And then a random piece of crap landing in some dude’s eyeball for no reason.”

Mia almost rolled over laughing. “Gross! Yeah, that was pretty unreal. I think I might have a slight advantage over that.”

“See? You’ll do great. Just picture the crowd naked and stand in front of the podium. You’ll command more presence that way. Plus, you’ll be able to show off that nice purple dress of yours.”

Mia looked down at her dress. Why was she always wearing purple? The dress was more of a violet color but still. She peeked up back at Leo. “Yeah I guess if Justin Bieber can pull it off, so can I.”

“He’s got nothing on you. Good luck up there, not that you need it. Those five minutes will be over before you even realize it.” He smiled and walked away.

Mia instantly felt better after their short conversation and when the judges announced the break was over, she confidently walked up to the podium to meet Antonio and Ana.

The audience settled down and Antonio stepped forward. He had decided to wear a traditional silk Chinese suit to the presentation. Mia couldn’t believe it when she had first seen him at breakfast, but then again it was Antonio. He had explained it was part of the smoke and mirrors act, that he was Argentine and it was part of his nature. She decided it couldn’t hurt, maybe they would get brownie points for it.

Antonio made a quick remark about his outfit and instantly drew laughter from the crowd. He then got to business and delivered his part of the presentation effortlessly.

Once he finished, Mia felt the room still in front of her. Her senses inexplicably heightened and she could suddenly hear the rustling of papers, someone clearing their throat in the back, her own breathing felt like it was the loudest sound in the auditorium.

She suddenly blanked and couldn’t remember the words of her presentation. She looked out towards the crowd and Leo settled into her view. What had he said, picture the crowd naked? All she could conjure up was a naked image of him, specifically picturing him in nothing but his briefs in the shower. God, not helping.

Leo smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up together with a nod of approval. The gesture put her at ease. Okay, Mia focus. You can do this.

She looked back at her first slide and the words began rushing through. After that initial moment of panic, the rest of her presentation was spotless. And just like Leo had said, it was over before she even knew it. She had done it. She hadn’t let her teammates down. A sense of relief washed over and she stood smiling as Ana delivered the last part of the presentation to a tee.

The audience clapped loudly once Ana finished, and the Q&A began. The judges asked three questions and to all of them Ana instantly fired back a clever response. It was like they were throwing curve balls at her and each time she hit it out of the ballpark. The judges nodded in approval and thanked them for the presentation.

Mia sat back down in a complete daze and barely paid attention to the rest of the presentations. Instead she became lost in her own thoughts. For one of the first times ever, she felt a sense of pride. Even though she constantly doubted her actions, she had managed to prove to herself what she was capable of. She had put her abilities to the test, and she had pulled through. That had to be worth something. And she wouldn’t have been able to do it without Leo.

Her thoughts drifted to him. He had helped and encouraged her yet again, despite everything. He hadn’t cared about their conversation from the day before, he had put her feelings first. He had been completely selfless, just like the way he usually acted. He was a saint compared to her.

She hadn’t acted that way towards him. Not even close. Instead, she had been a coward. She had been scared, too afraid of moving on with her life. Even when happiness was staring right back at her, she had missed the call. So what if it was too soon? There are no rules for this type of thing, it just happens, most of the time when you least expect it.

Oh God. What have I done, she thought. How could she have ever pushed away this amazing and gorgeous person who also cared about her deeply? It was all a massive mistake.

At that moment, Mia realized she had to make it right again. But how? There was only one way to find out.

*****

After the presentations ended, they had a final lunch at South Beauty, one of the best-known Chinese restaurants in town. They had the rest of the day free to do as they wish and would be leaving back to Madrid bright and early the next morning.

Mia didn’t want to leave. She wanted just a few more days. She thought about the group of people that had decided to push back their return flight and take a mini-trip to Beijing afterwards. When she first heard about it a month ago, she dismissed the idea as she thought it was irresponsible to miss three days of class, but at the moment it didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.

She finished lunch and noticed Leo was about to head out of the restaurant with Omar and a few other guys. It’s now or never, she thought. She discretely stopped him at the doorway.

“Hey Leo, I wanted to thank you for earlier.”

He turned around to look at her with a surprised expression on his face. “Don’t mention it. You guys really rocked it back there.”

“Yeah, but your advice really helped. I couldn’t have done it without you,” Mia confessed.

“Believe me, it was all you babe. You should be proud of yourself. Anyway, I gotta catch up with the guys. I guess… I’ll see you around.” Leo started walking out the door.

Mia hesitated for a moment. “Do you want to hang out?” she blurted out behind him.

Leo gave a half turn and looked back. “Pardon?”

“I…was wondering if maybe you wanted to go around for a bit?” She looked at him shyly behind her thick lashes.

He walked back to her and studied her momentarily. Just as she was about to backpedal her suggestion, he reached down and grabbed her hand. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Mia smiled and they exited the restaurant together. She had been bold enough to put herself out there and it seemed to work.

“So where would like you to go?” Leo asked.

She hoped they would be able to start off with something simple. Back to basics. “I was thinking of doing a little street shopping. But I have to confess I’m really bad at bargaining.”

“Well you’ve certainly come to the right place then.”

They got into a taxi and went to Nanjing Road, one of the world’s busiest shopping streets. Mia wasn’t one for buying counterfeit items, but it seemed like it was a way of life in Shanghai. People said it was as much a part of the tourist experience as anything else.

Seeing Leo bargain was hilarious. Whenever a vendor would quote a price, he would immediately respond by saying ni pa ti, ni pa mi, meaning the price wasn’t good for either of them. He kept on saying it until they would eventually drop the price, usually by as much as 70%. Mia was surprised most vendors knew Spanish and for them it was better to negotiate that way because the prices ended up being lower. Nothing like ripping a rich American off, or Brit for that matter.

Mia ended up getting a fake Marc Jacobs bag and a Louis Vuitton wallet. But her favorite purchase had been some Chinese silk robes she had gotten for her Mom, sister, and herself in different colors. Leo bought two Patek watches, one being for his brother.

“You know they’re probably going to stop working in a few weeks right?” Mia pointed out.

“Yeah, most likely. But when in Shanghai…” His voice trailed off.

“I have to say I was very impressed by your bargaining skills. My mom is usually the one doing all the bargaining when we travel. She’s pretty good at it too. She always tries to play the poor Mexican card. It’s pretty funny because they obviously don’t believe her but still end up lowering the prices.”

“She sounds pretty awesome,” Leo said.

“Yeah, she really is.” Mia felt a bit of nostalgia at that statement. It was the combination of feeling distant from her family, and the ease in which she could speak to Leo about it. God, she had missed having that connection with him.

Leo seemed to notice the change of emotions coursing through her face. “Do you want to go grab a drink? There’s this really nice bar at the Hyatt we could go to.”

“I would love that actually.”

Mia and Leo walked into Cloud Nine. It was a bar on the 87th floor of the Hyatt Hotel and had 360-degree views of the city. It was one of the highest bars in the world, and they had even taken two separate elevators to get there.

They took a seat at the sky lounge and Mia took a moment to appreciate the spectacular view. She stared down at the streets below, but only for a moment since she immediately felt a heavy sense of vertigo. They were so high up!

They ordered some cocktails, Mia a Lemon Drop and Leo a Dry Martini.

“So have you figured out what you’re going to do for the last term yet?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, I’m heading back to New York to do an internship or possibly find a job already. I spoke to some of my professors and they all recommended I should go back. I asked Davis and he was literally like, run! The unemployment in Madrid is too high and the opportunities in New York are much better for me. I don’t necessarily want to go back already, but I think it’s the best thing for my career right now. What about yourself?” Mia asked.

“I’m going to London also for an internship, pretty much for the same reasons. It’s just a shame what’s happening to the Spanish economy.”

“I just can’t believe the year is almost over. I feel like I didn’t take enough advantage of the experience, until the end that is. Now I know why most people get two-year degrees. It just goes by too quickly.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not over yet. You still have some time left. It might not be enough, but it’s still there.” Leo smiled but there was a hint of sadness behind his eyes. “The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” he quoted with a sideways grin.

Mia wasn’t sure what they were talking about anymore. Was he referring to the school year or to them? It was clear a relationship between them wasn’t possible anymore. They would be going separate ways. But the emotions still hung between them and Mia desperately wanted to tell him how she felt. She just didn’t know how.