Claiming Olivia (3 page)

I nudged Cassidy and jerked my head in his direction.

He looked at us and smiled kindly, “This plane is going to Ibiza. I think you’re at the wrong gate.”

Walking around us, he sat down behind us and dropped his backpack.

“Oh. Ibiza isn’t in Germany?” Cassidy asked in mock confusion as she tried to keep up our charade. I laughed loudly and she grinned at me.

“We lied,” I said turning around to face him. “We’re going to Ibiza. We just don’t exactly know you and don’t hand out our travel plans to strangers.”

“I see,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “I am not offended. I understand completely.”

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.

“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.

“Well, this could be where we part ways, or I could give you a ride to wherever it is you’re staying so that you don’t spend money on these expensive cabs,” Alejo said saddling up beside us.

Cassidy and I exchanged a look.

“Give us a second?” I asked looking up at him.

“Yeah. I’ll go get my car while you decide,” he said as he walked away toward the parking garages.

“Are there any hostels in Ibiza?” I asked her thoughtfully.

She laughed, “Don’t think we can’t take him if he tries anything stupid.”

“True. I mean, I don’t know. He seems pretty nice,”
and damn fine,
“I don’t think he’ll kidnap us and sell us into sex slavery or anything.”

“Something tells me you wouldn’t mind if he did as long as he was the person being your sex master,” she grinned.

“MOVING ON,” I replied, my face turning red.

Alejo pulled up in front of us in a sleek, black sports car. He stepped out and leaned over the top of the car.

“Well?” he asked with a smile.

Cassidy gave me a nudge and I nodded.

“Sure, as long as you can promise that you’re not a crazy killer or anything,” I agreed.

Laughing, he walked around the car and grabbed our bags. Cassidy slid in the backseat and I stood there watching him put our belongings into the trunk. When he lowered it down to lock it and saw me standing there, he winked and smiled at me.

After we hopped into the car and he put it in gear, I could hear Cassidy softly snoring in the backseat.

“Geez, she must’ve had a rough flight from New York,” I said quietly to Alejo.

“Where are you staying?” he asked.

“Oh. Hold on,” I replied as I fumbled with my purse. I unfolded the reservation and found the name of the hotel. “Los Molinos?”

“Okay, I know where that is,” he said changing lanes to get onto the highway.

I glanced over at him as I put the reservation back into my purse. I wanted to make conversation with him but I wasn’t sure what else I could say at that moment.

After a few moments of silence passed, he glanced over at me briefly with a smile.

“How long are you staying here?”

“Seven days, then we were going to do some hopping around Spain for another five days. Madrid, Barcelona.”

“Hm,” he said with a smile.

“So did you ever guess where in the Caribbean we’re from?” I asked turning slightly to face him.

“I have an idea. Of course I will be keeping that to myself until later,” he replied glancing in his side view mirror.

“Later?” I asked swiveling behind us to see the traffic.

“Yes, I was hoping that since you were both so kind to me that I would be able to take you to dinner this evening,” he said as he switched lanes.

“Thanks, but I think we were just going to try to get on Spain time and go to sleep when we got to the hotel,” I replied.

“That’s a shame.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence until we finally reached Los Molinos. Alejo pulled up to the office and I stepped out to check myself and Cassidy in so she could sleep a little longer. Alejo stepped out of the car and followed behind me. I raised an eyebrow at him, which made him smile.

Since you’re following me you can talk for me.

That would solve the problem of how I was going to try talk to the concierge. When we reached the front desk, I handed him the paper and gestured for him to speak to the person behind the desk. Looking down at me his grin appeared and he laughed.

They spoke to each other in rapid Spanish, so it was hard for me to understand exactly what they were saying. I managed to pick out words here and there, but not much. I waited until I heard the words “tarjeta de crédito” before I reached for my wallet to hand her our payment. Alejo put his credit card down instead and pushed mine back toward me.

“Um, that’s almost a thousand dollars you know,” I said pushing his card back at him and giving her mine instead.

Sighing, he reached for my card and put it in his back pocket and handed the confused girl his card again.

“Really?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry, but if I can’t buy you dinner, then I will pay for your stay. I appreciate your kindness as I’ve said,” he said signing the reservation papers.

“You’re a jackass,” I said angrily.

He laughed and slid his card back into his wallet, before reaching into his back pocket for mine. He looked at me for a moment with a grin and held it over his head.

“
Now
I’m a jackass. You can have it back if you can reach it
or
if you agree to dinner with me tonight. Just you and me,” he said dangling it over his head.

I made a couple of unsuccessful jumps. I leaned on him and reached up barely grazing his elbow. I then tried the combination of pushing myself against him and jumping at the same time. Still nothing. So I pulled myself onto the front desk, but he quickly swept me off telling me I was cheating.

“Can I have my card please?” I asked in frustration.

“Will you have dinner with me?” he asked again, the grin on his face getting wider.

“For all you know I could be a crazed serial killer that fled the United States and have been lying about everything this entire time,” I said crossing my arms over my chest.

“Oh? And if you
were
a serial killer, what type of victim did you prefer to kill?” he inquired mischievously with a gleam in his eye.

“The kind that wouldn’t give me my damn credit card back!” I yelled as I jumped up toward it again.

Laughing, he held it higher and shook his head. I knew he wasn’t going to give it back until I said yes, so I finally relented.

“Dinner? I’d love to have dinner with you,” I said in frustration.

“Good,” he replied as he handed my card back to me, “I’ll come back for you around eight tonight and remember, I know what room you are staying in if you try to stand me up,” he said with a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t. So thanks I guess. I didn’t plan on having any extra money on this trip so that was actually really nice of you.”