This Love

10

A few days later I'm woken up by someone shaking my shoulders. I groan, "wakey wakey Cal, time to pack we're headed to Bahrain" I shoot up at her words, "what? This wasn't the plan" she shrugs, "live a little, be spontaneous" I run my fingers through my knotted hair before taking my glasses slipping them onto my face. "Hurry up babe we leave in a few hours" I huff but swing my legs off of the bed, my feet meeting the soft carpet as I stand to change and then stuff all of my things into my suitcase.

Once we have all eaten breakfast we organize everything for the flights ahead. "I just don't get why you changed the end of the trip" I explain to Lexi, "change of scenery before we go back to boring Canada" she replies with a smile. I shake my head in amazement, "okay I guess I understand, but Bahrain?" She pulls me into a hug, "too many questions Cal, just accept it and enjoy the surprise" I hug her back and decide to follow her advice. "I'll miss it here" I say when we let go of each other, "same but we have all the pictures to remember this trip" I nod at Lexi who smiles.

——

Hours later we're boarding a flight to Bahrain, thanks in part to Lexi's aunt again. "You're gonna owe her so much for this trip" she shrugs, "worth it" I roll my eyes at her and we go find our seats, which aren't together because of our last minute tickets. I get comfortable with a book in my hands, thankful that I don't get motion sick letting me read in moving environments. I get so engrossed in the novel that I don't realize how much time has passed until the stewardess comes to ask about any beverages or snacks. This gets me to check the time on my phone, my eyes widen when I see that we're going to be landing in a few hours. My next time filler becomes watching movies on the little screen in front of me.

I'm barely awake when we finally land in Dubai. I drag my feet as I carry my bag into the airport, Jill bounds over smiling, "we made it" I amazed at her energy. "How are you this awake? I'm ready to take a nap for 2 days straight" she shrugs before Lexi joins us, "lets go get our bags and then we can go to the hotel" I nod sleepily so we walk over to the luggage carousel. A few minutes of waiting and using our muscles later we can finally leave the airport, where we get into a cab that takes us through the city to our hotel. My eyes widen at all the hustle and bustle of the city, "wow" Lexi leans closer to me, "I know right" I smile feeling more awake as my gaze stays one everything outside the cab. "We definitely did not pack for this weather" I say looking at my friends while tugging my shirt away from my body, "yeahhh we might need to improvise with some scissors" I laugh as the cab pulls up the hotel. The three of us pay and thank the driver before gathering our stuff, walking into the hotel together.

"Omg look over there" I spin to look where Jill is pointing, I'm confused when I don't see anything, "what?" I ask and look back at her, "oops thought I saw something" I look at her while tilting my head. She shrugs at me sheepishly, I shake my head ignoring the random behaviour. Once we check in we get into the elevator to go up to the correct floor. In our shared room I flop onto the nearest bed, I sigh happily hugging the pillows. "Nope we gotta DIY these outfits" I whine as my friends drag me off of the bed towards the table, I unzip my suitcase grabbing the yellow and black shirt that I wore in Melbourne, "you sure you want to cut that shirt?" Lexi asks me, I nod and she hands over the scissors we found. A few minutes later I grin at my work, I hold up the now cropped and sleeveless shirt, "I love it" I mumble before looking over at my friends who are finishing the alterations on their shirts. I decide to go wash off the grime from travelling knowing that we don't have anything planned immediately.

"This is gonna rock" I hear when I get back into the main room. "What's going to rock?" Lexi and Jill snap their heads my way with wide eyes, "just an attraction we're planning to see with you" I nod and continue to towel dry my hair humming softly to the song I had playing while taking a shower. "So when are we going?" I ask as I sit on the bed I claimed earlier in my newly cut shirt and my skinny jeans, "we're going to go in the evening, that's the best time to go" (a/n let's pretend for the sake of this story that it's a night race, I was an idiot and decided to do the research for race times way after writing this part 😬) I lift an eyebrow, "interesting" they nod with smiles on their faces. We fill the time before leaving with a card game since Jill had a deck packed in her suitcase. As we approach the end of a game Lexi suddenly stands, "it's time" she exclaims, I'm surprised by the abrupt finish to our game, "don't you want to finish this?" She shrugs, "I was going to lose anyways" I shrug as well, "fair enough" I reply and stand from my seat to gather my things into the crossbody bag I take with me everywhere. Jill places a hat on my head, making my hands go up to it, "you haven't worn a hat in days and it's freaking me out" I look at her confused but she just turns around walking out of the room, "what's up with her?" Lexi shrugs, "jet lag?" I nod and we follow her out the door.

——

The three of us are squished into a taxi minutes later. "So what is this thing we're going to see?" I ask, "okay so it's a surprise you gotta wear this" I look at my friends with wide eyes seeing the blindfold they're holding up. I shake my head not wanting to, "please Cal, you're reaction will be so much better this way, and it will be way more exciting with the element of surprise" Jill pouts at me knowing that I can never refuse when she does that, "ugh you guys are crazy" I say and snatch the blindfold from Lexi's hand tying it over my glasses clad face. There's a nervous fluttering in my stomach not having any idea what awaits me when I get to take the blindfold off.