“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” she muttered under her breath before stretching her arms above her head and letting out a big yawn.
“Try no sleep,” I said. “I can’t wait to get to the hotel and crash.”
She looked appalled at the thought.
“You can’t go straight to bed. You have to stay up at least a few hours so you’re not completely jet-lagged.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’m telling you, you’ll regret it. You better take a power nap on the next flight.”
Only one more short flight to Santorini and I’d be able to put some much-needed distance between Lila and me. I felt guilty about giving her the brunt of my bad personality, but it couldn’t be helped. Soon, Oliver’s smiling face would be between us, and I could just sit back in silence. Which was my preferred strategy when it came to socializing.
The plane pulled into the gate and the fasten-seatbelt sign flickered off. I moved into the aisle and opened the overhead compartment before pulling Lila’s suitcase out and setting it on the ground, followed by my own bag.
“Such a gentleman,” she said.
I knew there was sarcasm layered into that comment. How could there not be? No one in their right mind would refer to me as a gentleman; making sure Lila never had to carry her suitcase wouldn’t suddenly grant me the title.
She was likely just as eager to be done with me as her only travel companion as I was. In fact, she was probably a lot more excited. The thought made me feel guilty and a little frustrated. I didn’t want to ruin this trip for her by always being in a shitty mood.
Why couldn’t I just be excited, for once in my life?
The feeling simmered deep in my gut, but I couldn’t bring myself to let it boil to the surface. Excitement had always felt like a weakness to me. Maybe it had been getting bullied by those little assholes in school. Or maybe it was just the way I was always meant to be.
Growing up, we couldn’t even afford to drive to the closest theme park in Ohio, let alone fly somewhere. I hadn’t even been on an airplane until I turned nineteen and Oliver and I had moved out to Colorado.
My ability to suffocate any emotion that even resembled enthusiasm frustrated Oliver quite a bit. But he let me be me. He must’ve understood, at least on some level, why I was the way that I was. He had seen me get relentlessly bullied when we were too young to do anything about it, watched as any little spirit I’d had slowly iced over. He’d stood by me through everything. Sometimes I felt guilty for not having any real friends aside from him, like I was asking too much. Sure, I was friendly with the other artists at my shop, but we didn’t connect outside of tattooing. Letting people in, it seemed, had become impossible for me.
“Do you think there’s Wi-Fi here?” Lila held up her phone as we exited the plane.
“You didn’t spring for the international plan?” We emerged out of the loading bridge. The gate at the Munich airport was packed with people, and every seat was taken.
“I’m too cheap,” she said.
“Isn’t it only, like, ten dollars?” I asked, even though I hadn’t bothered to do it either. If anything, I was looking forward to being less available for the next few days.
She continued to click through the settings on her phone. I grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to me to keep her from walking straight into a pole.
“Can you watch where you’re going?”
“Shit, sorry.” She finally looked up. “I was trying to get ahold of Charlie.”
“Charlie is still going to be there after we get to the next gate.”
“You’re right.” She offered me an apologetic smile and slipped her phone back into her belt bag. “I just want to let her know we made it to Munich.”
Our next flight boarded in an hour, and while I forced myself to remain calm, I wouldn’t be able to truly relax until we physically sat down at the next gate.
“I’m sure they already have a driver ready to come pick us up,” I said. “It’s not like she needs a play by play.”
“I still want to update her.” An information desk sat in the center of the terminal. Lila pointed to it. “Let’s ask about the Wi-Fi there.”
“Lila,” I snapped. Her eyes widened and she halted in her tracks. I sucked in some air to steady my voice. “We need to get to our next gate.”
She eyed me up and down. “You’re stressed.” She looked pleased with herself for arriving at that conclusion.
“I’m not stressed. But I didn’t fly halfway across the world only to miss my connecting flight.” I knew I sounded exasperated, but I didn’t care.
