Nodding, I turned myself back around and opened a book I had brought with me for the plane ride. I reread the first sentence about ten times before I sighed in frustration and turned back around to look at him again.
“Why were you in Chicago?” I asked.
He pulled out his ear buds and smiled, “I’m sorry I missed that.”
“Chicago? You had to have gotten on the plane at O’Hare. What brought you to Chicago?”
“I’m trying to visit all the major cities in America,” he replied with a shrug. “I thought I would start with Chicago.”
“Really? That’s pretty cool. I’ve never thought of that. I’ve been to Chicago maybe once or twice and I’ve been to New York City a bunch of times. I used to live an hour and a half away from there,” I said.
“What’s it like? That’s going to be my next trip when I go back to America next month,” he said as he leaned forward in interest.
“Oh I don’t know how to explain New York,” I said honestly with a laugh. “It’s pretty huge. There’s a shit ton of people all over the place. Um, you should see Grand Central Station when you go. It’s really pretty. Try to remember to look up when you’re in there.”
He smiled and nodded.
“So, Olivia, why are you and Cassidy going to Ibiza?” he asked.
“A few reasons. First, it’s pretty. I like pretty.” He grinned. “Second, it’s kind of home in a long lost descendant kind of way. Not Ibiza specifically, just Spain. Third, I’ve never left the country before. Not to another country anyway, and we thought, why not Spain? But yeah, it’s pretty,” I said again causing him and Cassidy to laugh.
“You’re such a mess,” she said as she shook her head and went back to her phone.
“Do you have nicknames?” he asked.
“Cass,” she responded.
“Liv or Livie,” I said, “What about you?”
“Alejo,” he replied.
Cassidy put her phone away and stood up, “I’m going to head to the bathroom. Check your phone Olivia, I sent you that thing you were asking for when I was in New York.”
What thing?
I leaned over and grabbed my purse and searched for my phone. When I found it, I pressed the button on top to bring it to life. I put it in my lap while I waited for it to start.
“So do you live in Spain?” I asked glancing down as the first power screen flashed on.
“Yes, I was born there,” he said.
“Whereabouts?”
Screen number two. Almost there.
“Ibiza.”
I looked up at him, “Seriously?”
Nodding with a smile on his face I watched the corners of his eyes crinkle and had to fight the shiver that went through me at that moment.
My God, you’re beautiful.
“A-ha!” I said as the phone sat idly in my lap. I pulled down the top screen and saw a message from Cassidy. I tapped it open and had to do everything in my power to burst out laughing.
YOU KNOW THE SAFE WORD. APPLE BANK.
I put the phone away still giggling and turned my attention back to Alejo.