Again, But Better(77)
“You okay?” Pilot asks quietly.
Great, Pilot can sense my dread.
“Yeah, this is all still freaking me out a little bit,” I whisper.
“Hey.” He puts his hand on my knee. My eyebrows jerk up. “Just a little longer, and we’re going back home.”
I swallow hard. Sentence so unhelpful in quest to ease dread. But hand on knee making heart perform “Swan Lake” across chest cavity. A jolt shakes the plane, vibrating up through our seats as we touch down. Here we go.
6. What a Lovely Night
Babe tugs at my arm, pulling me back as we make our way through the Rome airport. I slow my pace to match hers. We trail a healthy distance behind Pilot and Sahra.
“Shane!” she stage-whispers. “What happened on the plane? I saw you move to the seat next to Pilot. You made someone switch?”
Shit, I forgot I’m not invisible. “Oh, um, yeah, I needed to talk to him.”
“Is something going on between you two?”
“Ah…” I run through potential excuses as to why I would have had to sit next to Pilot: I found out he stole my wallet. I accidentally stole his wallet. I lost my wallet, and I thought he might know where my wallet was.
“Umm…” Maybe he needed a piece of gum. Something with gum? “Gum!”
“Gum?” she repeats skeptically.
“He lost his gum. And I had gum, and he wanted a piece.”
“You made a woman switch seats so you could give Pilot a piece of gum?”
“I, yeah.”
“How did you know he needed gum?”
“I … looked over and saw that he wasn’t chewing any.”
“You didn’t ask me if I’d like gum.”
“Uh—”
“Shane, is something going on between you two?” Babe demands.
I make a split-second decision. “Um, kind of.”
“Oh my god,” she gasps. “Are you serious? Are you like—”
“No! I mean, I don’t know. It’s so new so nothing’s happened yet, but something’s kind of happening, a little,” I ramble. This way, when we need a few moments alone to be mysterious time travelers and look for the dubious button, maybe Babe will more easily give us some space.
She juts her chin forward, eyes doubling in size.
“I, um, I’ll keep you updated. I don’t know what it is yet,” I fumble.
“Please do! Oh Mylanta! This is insane. He has a girlfriend!” she exclaims quietly.
My stomach drops. Crap. I’m too worried about the damn button to remember the girlfriend. Backtrack. “Yeah, no, I’m exaggerating. Nothing’s happened, so don’t worry about it.”
“But something might happen?” she inquires dramatically.
“No, I mean, it’s just a stupid crush I have on him, that’s it. He’s not available. Nothing’s happening.”
“But I think he might also have a thing for you!” she continues. Up ahead, Pilot throws a glance back in our direction.
“Whaaat!” I say dismissively.
“Yeah, I’ve caught him looking at you a bunch of times these past few days.”
Pilot throws another look this way, clearly trying to get my attention.
“Look, he’s doing it right now, Shane!”
“Shhhhh!” I exclaim. Babe chuckles as we power walk to catch up with the other half of our group.
When I’m on his right, Pilot turns to me. “Do you think we have to search the airport?”
“No.” I glance around. “This isn’t Rome; this is the airport,” I answer conclusively. We cannot search an entire airport for a button.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” I echo.
* * *
I grin as our bags thump to the floor of the inn. This room’s just as happy and colorful as I remember.
“Shall we food?” I suggest eagerly.
“Yeah, definitely, but first, I kind of want to explore the Colosseum. We just drove by it. It’s got to be super-close,” Sahra proposes.
“Oh my gosh, let’s! We can get some great pictures,” Babe adds, digging the camera out of her bag.
“You guys go ahead. I’ll meet you out there. I need to make a call,” Pilot says quickly. He plops down onto a bed.
“Okay,” Sahra agrees easily. She looks to Babe and me. “I’m gonna head out and look around. I’ll be right outside.” She picks up her purse and marches out the door.
“You need to make a call?” I shoot Pilot a confused look as I sling my pack off the floor and back onto my shoulder.
“Do we even have service here?” Babe asks.
Pilot raises his eyebrows pointedly. I drop my bag back to the floor.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll stay behind too. You shouldn’t be walking around alone in a foreign city.” Pilot scoffs.
“Maybe we should just all wait, then,” Babe adds. She glances anxiously from me to Pilot and back to the door. I give her an it’s-fine-go-on nod. She doesn’t move.
“It’s fine, go ahead,” I encourage her forcefully. “We’ll be right there.”