It was after half an hour that he decided to excuse himself from the table that he shared with Emilio. He darted to the outside of the four-star hotel to get some fresh air. The air was cold and chilly as it had been since he first arrived in the country though summer was having a sneak peek now and then through the hours of the cold Saturday midday. Dressed in a blue official shirt and well-fitting classy brown trousers, and black official shoes with a pair of sunglasses resting on his sideways brushed hair, Lance looked like a tourist. He just hoped that he wouldn't run into thugs who always assumed that people in shorts were the tourists. Lucky for him, he had no shorts on, and neither did Emilio, his driver, who was accompanying him all the way showing him the different locations of the large metropolitan city.
"You done or what?" Emilio asked as he approached him by their car outside the hotel. "Been waiting for you for over ten minutes in there. Beautiful country isn't it?" Emilio said with a small grin on his face.
"So much to see, yet so little time to stay here. Wish I could stay more than I want. Beautiful country, filled with beautiful strangers. "
"You talking about the ladies or what? That training lady has already had you going loco?"
"July… Julie? You're talking about her?"
"Her name is Julia." Emilio seamed in. "She already done something to you yet?" He flickered his eyebrows at Lance playfully.
"Ha!" Lance laughed. "Very funny. Freaking Mexicans."
"Aah… she did do something to you." Emilio smirked.
"Wait, why am I telling you this?" Lance asked brushing his hair sideways once again. This new hairstyle made him look more menacingly attractive. I dare you not to look at me when you pass near me dear ladies kinda look.
"Whoa!" His latter chattered and mumbled some words in Spanish. "She asked you for a dip? Didn't she?" Lance shrugged, but he already looked guilty from how his eyes were squinted in embarrassment. "And what did you tell her?"
"Come on, let's go to Elena's place. I have to see her."
"You said no?" Emilio retorted. Lance maintained silence. "You said NO?" He asked in disbelief and chuckled. His little chuckle turned into a guffawing moment for him.
"I have a girlfriend Emilio, and I love her very much…"
"Ah, come on… Elena's too far from you. You can have your fun and she'll never find out. She's just like all the women here after all."
"Elena's not that type. The types that you're talking of." Lance told him as he entered the car.
Emilio went to the driver's side, entered, put on the safety belt, and started the engine. "She has the same thing like all women do, right? That makes her a woman as all there are in the entire wide world."
"Careful now sir," Lance's voice turned to a cold sneer, "you might be my friend but I'm still your boss. And you will not talk of her like that, okay?"
"Hmm… someone's angry," Emilio muttered as they found the way to the road.
"The things I've done to be with her," Lance said softly, eyes locked onto the files in his hand. "She's not like other girls." He paused. "She's Elena Stenfield. That's what's different about her. And that's why she's worth fighting for."
"Aye, papi," Emilio said as he drove around, having gotten the warning.
The journey out of the Central Business District was pretty a hefty one, with the slow traffic jam contributing to their slow mileage. Cars and people were everywhere, walking around minding their things. It must have taken about fifty minutes for the two to be on the outskirts of the city as they headed to Valle de Bravo.
The traffic cleared with every passing minute as the car made its way out of the city and as further and further it went away from the city the faster the more the miles they reduced from their destination. Mexican music played on the stereo of the car, as Emilio sang along, humming rhythmically every once in a while. The road ahead was clear as both could see, with the opposite lane's cars zooming past them as fast as sound perhaps. Lance checked the speed at which Emilio was driving and he gasped for an instant. They were on sixty miles per hour. No wonder the vehicles outside seemed to be zooming past them. Lance thought. But he couldn't blame Emilio. After all, the road ahead was pretty clear.
Emilio was so lost in his music and locking his eyes on the road ahead that he couldn't notice a black SUV overtaking them at speed from behind. And when he did, it was too late to steer the vehicle away from its immediate danger. The larger vehicle in comparison to theirs rammed into their side at the gashing speed of light-years as everything happened so fast for their minds to even register what was going on. One moment the car was skidding to the steep bank of the road and another moment it was swirling clockwise as Emilio struggled to get back the control. He turned the steering wheel around and around and around in a bid to gain back balance. Everything happened so fast. Swivel and swivel. Step on the brakes. Pull of the emergency brake. The car tilted a little bit as it stood on its two left wheels for a second, before toppling over. Like a sandwich's entities, the roof of the car was caught between man and road. Grinding and friction sparks decorated the black tarmac as the car skidded off the road.
Then it stopped.
Lance breathed heavily as he felt his body resting on his head, same as Emilio, in the upside-down position they were in. Emilio had a small bruise on his broad forehead, while Lance had a small cut on the root of his hair. His heartbeat increased in pace and his breathing couldn't match up with the intense moment. Gasping and groaning, they looked around for what had just knocked them down. Silence. It was pin-drop silent. The only loud thing here was the loud beating of their hearts.
BADUM! BADUM! BADUM!
SCREECH!!! VROOOM!! They heard. And then they heard the vehicle ram into them once again, with a lot of force this time and it drove the yellow car to the bank of the road. The two held onto their dear lives. Hearts in mouth, they toppled over the grassy meadow and they turned three more times before they felt the car slam on what appeared to be a boulder on Lance's side of the car, and its wheels faced the blue cold sky when it came to a stop. The engine died and silence overtook the scene once again. Lance groaned in further pain and when he opened his eyes, he saw Emilio struggling to break free of the safety belt he had put on. He noticed the cuts on his biceps and the blood on his blue shirt. He felt his head-banging loudly, a headache rooted deep inside him.