I saw her in Paris

Hangovers

Meanwhile, in Dayane's kitchen, Helena prepared caipirinhas and exchanged warm messages with Ray.

"Hola chica, did you hit your friend?"

"Yes, it worked, thanks."

"can I see you tomorrow?"

"Yes at the end of the afternoon. Anything I'll let you know"

"Okay, get ready!"

"For what?"

"I'll catch you."

Helena laughed:

"ok, good night. Besitos mi amor"

"Alright, sleep well and dream with me mi hermosa! Te quiero mucho!"

And she returned, all daring with the caipirinhas, to the company of her friends. She was happy. It didn't even look like she had cried during the day.

— What a delay, Lena. Did you go back to Brazil to buy the lemons?

— I couldn't find the sugar jar... — She tried to hide it. Samantha and Dayane exchanged a knowing look, but didn't say anything: — ...but the drinks were there.

— Can we know the reason for so much joy?

— Yes, the reason is that I'm with my best friends in the city - light! And a toast to the three of us, because we are beautiful, powerful and warriors!

— Long vie à la France!

— Friends forever!

And they spent all night celebrating and singing one of Edith Piaf's biggest hits, Non Je Ne Regrette Rien.

*

The next day (actually the same day, as the three spent the night celebrating their friendship), the three best friends went to have breakfast in the kitchen... or at least they tried, for they were all hung over and staggering on top of each other.

— I'm happy because I have a meeting only after lunch. I couldn't bear to talk to anyone this morning... Helena grumbled with a headache.

— It's your fault! Who ordered him to gorge himself on caiprinha wine, knowing he had to work the next day? — Dayane also raged with a headache.

— Can you two stop yelling? — Samantha fought with the two, also with a headache.

— It's the banana p*****t that's roaring here... — Helena said pointing to Dayane, remembering the erotic scene experienced by her and her boyfriend, journalist Mitchel Junqueira. She looked at the two of them in disbelief. Samantha laughed at Helena's rude comment, even with a headache. But when they saw that their friend didn't like it, they tried to redeem themselves.

— Sorry Day, I shouldn't have said that...especially since it must have been a very important moment for you.

— It's true, we're sorry, but... it's just that it was really weird seeing you do it. You practically had two bananas, one in your mouth and one in yours...

— Samantha, stop! — Helena scolded her before she said any more nonsense.

— Alright... — They looked at each other in silence, until she said: — Aren't you going to ask me anything?

— About what? — one of them asked.

— About yesterday?

Helena and Samantha looked at each other, wondering what she wanted to talk about, whether it was about the night with her boyfriend or the video.

— Depends on what you want to talk about... — Samantha said: — If it's about your night, we hope you feel free to talk about it.

They knew how difficult it was for Dayane. Her first time was horrible and since then she couldn't and didn't want to get involved with anyone else.

— Now if you're going to talk about this f*****g video, forget it!" — Helena declared bitterly: — I've had a migraine since the day I saw that damn f*******: post and made it worse by that gossipy journalist who had to bring it all up again. I'm still going to have a stroke from so many headaches. Sorry again Day, I know it's your boyfriend, but I'm sick of all this bitching!

Samantha and Dayane knew that Helena was hurt not exactly by the journalist, but with all the confusion created by Luiz's betrayal.

— Well, it was a little of both I was going to say. But if you don't want to...

— Tell us about your night. — She asked Samantha to break the tension of the moment: — since it's to talk, let it be a good thing.

— Is this serious? — the two asked.

— Yea. You see, Day spent years trapped in the past. And finally she broke free, even with that guy...she managed to awaken her inner goddess.

Helena laughed with the face that Samantha made, referring to her friend's boyfriend, but agreed with what she said. Those were your grandmother's wise words.

Dayane started to tell about how her night with the journalist was, how he was super kind and understanding with her. At no time did she advance the signal without her consent. On the contrary, she always respected his time and his wishes. And just like her, he also had complexes about her body.

— I said there were certain things about me he might not like and...

— You can stop there. — Helena interrupted her: — what is this story that there are "things about you that he won't like"?

— Well... — She embarrassed herself to reply: — You know I've been skinny since I was a kid. And we always hear that a man likes a woman who has somewhere to get her.

Helena and Samantha looked at her and then looked at each other. Despite understanding their friend's drama, they disagreed with her statement. Well, it wasn't her fault, it was sexist society's fault. As a teenager, while friends of hers sported generous curves, she had skinny arms and legs, her body profile was almost straight... at school, she was bullied for being too thin.

— For starters, it's okay to be very thin. Unless it's a disease and it's not your case. Stop putting yourself down right now! — as always, Samantha had to tell Dayane some good truths: — you are beautiful in your own way. Your body wasn't made for any man to take. And if your boyfriend can't handle it, then the problem is with him, not with you.

Despite thinking that Samantha was a little harsh with Dayane, Helena agreed with her friend. She knew deep down that she just wanted to help.

— Sam is right Day, you are beautiful, both in appearance and in soul. And your boyfriend should consider himself lucky to be with you.

The same luck that i***t Luiz had and threw it in the trash... but that's not the case now. Helena asked Dayane to continue her narrative, which at that moment was much more interesting:

— When I talked about myself, he said we would have a problem, because he also had things I wouldn't want to see. Then he took off his shirt to show me his scars.

— What were those marks?

— As he's said before, he's an investigative journalist and he's always taking risks investigating scams, factions and crimes... and when he's unlucky enough to be discovered, he's shot, stabbed and tortured. That red eye, for example, was the result of a punch he took from a radioactive material smuggler.

— You weren't scared?

— At first yes... but I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone and my inner goddess made me see that underneath that pile of scars, there was a wonderful man who wanted to make me happy. I felt it the whole time we were together... feeling like the most beautiful woman in the world, until the moment he blew it by telling me about that b***h's video.

Helena and Samantha were proud of their friend. However, they were sad that she had fallen out with her boyfriend, even more so after the romantic night she had with him. Even though it wasn't her fault, she apologized for her mistake.

— It's not your fault Day. And let's admit it's not his either. We were going to find out anyway. So don't be mad at him. — Helena, as upset as she is, still found the courage to advise her friend.

— Lena's right, it's not you who owes us an apology... but that bastard Luiz. Wow, it even made me want to throw up ... — Samantha made a face of disgust when she said his name. She must have remembered that she had once dated him and the fact that she had a hangover still helped. Helena couldn't blame her, because she felt the same way: — ...but back to the subject, did everything go well between you two? Like, did you use condoms?

— Oh oui...but at the moment he didn't have any in his pocket and I'm not used to having them around the house either...so I took one of his things...hope you don't get mad." — Dayane explained a little awkwardly. She is not one to go through other people's things and also knows how much Samantha hates having her belongings being rummaged through. But since it was for a good cause, she nodded.

— Ok...hope you didn't use the berry flavor, it's my favorite flavor...

— Actually, that's exactly what I got. Sorry... how was I supposed to know I was your favorite? Do you think I would remember that detail right away or wait for you to come in from the street to ask?

Seeing the expression that Samantha made when hearing Dayane say that she got just her favorite flavor, Helena burst out laughing even with a headache. And seeing that it wasn't worth fighting over bullshit, she just congratulated her friend on the initiative:

— Well, the important thing is that you conquered your fears. And we're very proud of you, aren't we Le?

— Truth and happiness to you, because you are beautiful, powerful and a warrior.

— Merci mon cher amis. (Thank you my dear friends.)