{"id":5022,"date":"2021-11-03T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=5022"},"modified":"2021-10-30T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T13:30:45","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/11\/03\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-77\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 77"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Adventures of Maite and Kepa is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A couple of hours later, long after the sun had set and the night sky had filled with stars, they pulled into Javi\u2019s driveway in Santa Barbara. Kepa had woken up just as Maite had pulled the car onto Javi\u2019s street, the speedbumps jostling him awake. As they pulled in, the front door of the house burst open, and a figure silhouted by the bright lights from inside came rushing out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKepa!\u201d cried a voice as the figure reached the car. As Kepa opened his door, the man nearly pulled him out. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s good to see you too, Javi!\u201d They squeezed each other in a bear hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKaixo,\u201d said Maite as she approached them from the other side of the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJavi, you remember Maite, don\u2019t you?\u201d asked Kepa as he pulled her in, his arm around her waist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course!\u201d exclaimed Javi. \u201cI have to admit, I always thought you were the prettiest girl in the Basque Country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite blushed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe still is,\u201d added Kepa with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite blushed even stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyways,\u201d said Javi, \u201cLet\u2019s get you inside. Are you hungry? Do you need anything to eat before we head out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite winked at Kepa. \u201cWhat did I tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa just shrugged. \u201cI got that power nap in, I can go all night if I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javi laughed. \u201cWe don\u2019t do gau pasa very often here. I was just thinking a beer or two at the nearby pub to catch up. I figured you might need some rest after that drive. The real fun will be tomorrow. My girlfriend will join us for dinner and some dancing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGirlfriend?\u201d asked Kepa incredulously. \u201cYou? Shy little Javi?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Javi as he lifted their suitcases out of the car. \u201cI have grown up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javi led them into the house. In the light of the room, Maite got a better view of Javi. He had changed from the scrawny kid she remembered from his visits to the Basque Country. He had certainly grown into his body, the muscles on his arms and chest rippling as he carried the three suitcases. He clearly worked out. A lot. But his t-shirt said something Maite couldn\u2019t quite make out about Hogwarts, which told her that he still had some of that geeky nerd inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javi carried their suitcases to a room in the back. \u201cI hope this meets your expectations,\u201d he said as he set the suitcases down at the foot of the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room wasn\u2019t big, but there was a queen bed nicely made up with nightstands and bottles of water on either side. A large ikurrina was hanging from one wall and on the other sat a flat screen television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooks perfect to me!\u201d said Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBai,\u201d added Maite. \u201cEskerrik asko!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEz horregatik,\u201d said Javi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite plopped down onto the bed with a dramatic fall. \u201cHave fun you two. Gabon!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d asked Javi. \u201cAren\u2019t you coming with us?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite looked up at the two of them. \u201cI\u2019ve been driving all night. I think I\u2019ll crash and rejuvenate for tomorrow. Besides, I imagine you two have a lot of catching up to do, especially since you both have girlfriends now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Kepa\u2019s turn to blush. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of hours later, long after the sun had set and the night sky had filled with stars, they pulled into Javi\u2019s driveway in Santa Barbara. Kepa had woken up just as Maite had pulled the car onto Javi\u2019s street, the speedbumps jostling him awake. As they pulled in, the front door of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1j0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5023,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5022\/revisions\/5023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}