“So was I right? Is Ibiza pretty?”
“I would say so,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve lived there since I was about 17 years old and I like it very much.”
I nodded. I was very excited about our final destination but there was something about Alejo that I just couldn’t shake. How was it possible that he had boarded the plane in O’Hare when I did, possibly sat next to me on the flight, and I hadn’t noticed?
“Do you have plans in Ibiza?” he asked.
“No not really. I didn’t have much time to think of what I wanted to plan out insofar as seeing things, so I didn’t. I left that up to Cassidy, so I guess I’ll have to ask her if she’s got anything planned. I mean even if we don’t have anything planned, it’s not like it would suck you know? I mean we are in Spain after all.”
He grinned, “I have a question for you Olivia.”
“Liv. Or Livie is fine,” I replied.
“Okay Liv,” he said his grin growing wider, “Earlier when you said that Spain in a way is your home ... where are your roots then?”
“The Caribbean for both Cassidy and I.”
“I should have guessed,” he said with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned an arm over the back of the chair. I looked toward the bustling people going by and saw Cassidy walking toward us.
“Did you fall in?” I asked with a grin.
“Oh my God, you should have seen the line. I thought I was going to die,” she replied. “Everyone’s standing up to get in line. I guess we should too.”
I looked around and indeed saw that there was a line forming so I got up and grabbed my bags. I stood behind Cassidy and Alejo stood behind me. When we approached the attendant I tried my best to tell her that I would prefer to sit with Cass if at all possible.
“Um... Si es posible .... Ah... um.... nos gustaría ... sentarnos juntas..,” I struggled.
She looked amused and I heard Alejo chuckle behind me which caused me to blush furiously. Cassidy patted me on the shoulder and shook her head in mock sorrow. It wasn’t my fault that my Spanish started to fade over the years; at least I tried.
“Never mind,” I grumbled taking my taking my ticket and walking in embarrassment down the corridor into the plane. I looked at the seat numbers before I found mine and plopped down wondering what possessed me to even try to speak Spanish when she most likely knew how to speak English
anyway.
Cassidy grinned as she sat next to me and settled in. She gave me the don’t feel bad for trying look and closed her eyes. I could only imagine how tired she was so I just watched the people boarding the plane. The flight attendants walked through after the door was sealed and for a moment I felt kind of bummed because I never saw Alejo go by. Maybe he decided not to go to Ibiza for now after all.
Oh well.
While the attendants began to give us instructions in Spanish, I looked out the window. I understood most of it but I’m pretty sure the flight protocols weren’t much different than America so I tuned them out. After a few moments, they began to walk down the aisle and I felt a hand reach around the side and tap me. I turned slightly and looked through the slit of chairs and saw Alejo smiling at me.
“You might want to put Cassidy’s seatbelt on for her since she is sleeping,” he said.
I nodded and leaned over and strapped her in feeling oddly happy that not only was he on the flight, he just so happened to be sitting behind us too. I looked up and saw an attendant smiling at me patiently as I strapped my belt on as well before she moved on to check the other passengers.
I leaned back toward him, “How long does this flight take?”
“Less than an hour,” he replied as he lifted the shutter on his window.
I turned back around without responding and closed my eyes. It wouldn’t be long enough for a nap, which wasn’t my intention at the moment. I had just realized that I hadn’t had the chance to take Dramamine so I knew the chances of getting sick were going to be pretty high.
And we’re off, I thought as I grit my teeth and left my brain on the tarmac, so to speak.
The flight was peaceful and went by in a flash. Cassidy had slept quietly next to me and Alejo kept to himself. Once we landed and were walking down the corridor I felt the excitement fluttering through me again. After almost 15 hours, we had finally reached our destination.
We were in Ibiza.
We hauled our bags out behind us as we stepped out of the airport and looked around happily. It was a beautiful summer day in Ibiza so we had obviously traveled around the right time of year.