Twelve thousand words about you

Chapter 4: Best invested money ever

We walked through the streets and got to a pedestrian street full of shops and restaurants. We talked about lots of things. We laughed. We bonded. I had lots of fun and I really felt like I had made new friends. Not like when you meet someone, you have a good time with them but then forget all about them after a while and go back to the 'I know them, but not really friends' category. 
They stopped right in front of Burger King and turned to go in. We complained.
-I don't feel like having burger king today. Can't we go to a real restaurant? - Mia complained.
-But here you can get a massive burger and fries for, what, 10 pounds max?
-Let's get Italian. - I suggested enthusiastically.
-Yes! That place two locals away from here. - Lea said.
-Well, it's three against two, so Italian wins. 
-But if you really want to get burger king, we can wait and afterwards we'll go to to the Italian. - I said seeing they were about to complain.
-Nah, it's fine. Let's go check out that place you're talking 'bout.

We got to the Italian restaurant and waited at the door, hoping there would be a table for all five of us. A waiter lead us to a table in the corner of the restaurant. He left and reappeared with five menus we could order from. We ordered pizza to share and waited for it to come. 
-Did you guys notice that the waiter kind of lead us to table away from everybody else? As if we were going to cause any trouble. - Marc said leaning forward and with a smirk on his face.
I shook my head slightly, smiling and rolling my eyes at the same time. 
-I think it might be because we actually look like a group of annoying teenagers that will most likely disturb their clients. - I said with a drop of sarcasm.

The waiter came with our pizzas and no one really said anything. After all, we had just met each other and if we spoke  even when we ate, we were going to end caught up in an awkward silence.
-I must say, - Marc started still chewing his food - these are the best 10 pounds I've invested in my entire life.
-Absolutely. - Alex added.
-And you guys didn't want to come here. - we said laughing.

-Do you practice any sport? Or used to. - I asked them after we had finished eating.
-Well now we both play football. - Alex answered.
-Yes. Although I used to practice handball when I was younger. Eventually people started dropping out and there weren't enough players in my small hometown to make an actual team. So I switched to football instead. Now we just play for fun, but I guess I'll give it up at some point.
-Handball? Okay. That's a bit different I guess. I just think it's weird that you're from Ireland. Neither of you have an accent. - I said.
-Thanks. I guess. We're just used to speaking with people from different places and traveling so I guess we have a rather neutral accent. 
-What do you do? - Alex asked this time.
-I play basketball. Used to play football but switched when I was around twelve. - Mia said.
-I play volleyball. I used to do gymnastics when I was younger.
-I do track and field. Athletics. I started the year I turned twelve as well. I did ballet before that. - I answered. I had gone to ballet classes since I could remember. But along with the negative changes in my life back them, positive ones had to come along. I fell in love with running. 
No one was sure about what to say. So we said we should go for a walk. We went out into the street and I felt the breeze of the night sweep by. We sat down on a bench and Marc decided to look up questions to make to each other. As he read them out loud, I smiled to myself, realizing that Lea and I had used those same questions a few weeks back because we were bored.
I asked him to hold his phone and read out loud the questions myself. I saw one and smiled.
-What do you want to be when you grow up? - I asked and added - Although I guess we have kind of already grown up.
I looked up from the phone, looking mainly at Marc and Alex, because Lea and Mia I already kind of knew. Seeing nobody was answering, Marc went first.
-I am not quite sure what I want to do with my life. I'm studying to get a sorts degree. But I'm not sure that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. I always thought I'd figure it out eventually, but here I am.
-Same here, not really sure what will happen but it will all sort its way out, one way or another. 
We kept with the questions for a while. It could be from 'What would you take with you if you were stranded on an island?' to 'Do you prefer cats or dogs?', or even 'Which three wishes would you ask the genie of the lamp?'. It was fun hearing ourselves answer.

We exchanged numbers and talked about meeting in a few days, since they weren't going to stay for a long time.  We went home and I lay down on my bed, thinking about the crazy day I'd had. If anyone would have told me earlier that morning that I was going to end my day having dinner with two strangers I would have never believed them. 
I thought about my new friends. Alex had been a bit quieter after we had left the swimming pool. Marc, on the contrary, seemed a little more outgoing, but maybe it was just because of the sudden change on Alex's behavior. I had talked to Mia and Lea about it on our way home. We were all three surprised by that. It wasn't like Marc had been shy in the swimming pool, but Alex talked and jumped way more than Marc. But when we left and started walking to the main street, Alex seemed very silent and walked ahead of us. I kind of felt we had left him a bit out at that point, but I didn't really know what to do either. At least he ended up joining and laughing with us when we went for a walk.

My whirlwind of thoughts got abruptly interrupted by a notification from my phone. I sat up on my bed and reached over to my bedside table to grab my phone. I unlocked it and saw a message from Marc. I got a bit surprised. I opened it to see what it said.
>Did you get home safely?
I smiled.
>Yes. What about you?
>Me too
I didn't quite know what to answer.
>Glad to hear that
I switched off my phone feeling a bit of excitement starting to grow inside of me. Two minutes later I got another text.
>Is there any chance I could get your ig?
I felt as if my heart stopped. I hadn't really thought about that. I had my old account and my new one. I didn't know which one was more embarrassing, but the old one was part of my past.
>_.noraa
Not even a minute later I got an Instagram notification from _._maarcc_._ that was a following request. I hesitated for a few seconds until I accepted it and followed back. His account was public. 
He sent a picture a few seconds later, and we started a chain of pictures, the ones that you can only see once. We talked a bit. I told him I was going to bed and that I would answer him the next day. But I told my friends about it first. 
>Mia, Lea, guess what
>What????? 
>Tell us
>Marc and I started talking
>What? How?
> On ig or DMs?
>At first through dm's but then we switched to ig
>I knew it
  He has a thing for you
>There is no doubt
>I don't know
   Didn't you hear how many girls his been with and how many his talked to?
   I don't even know how I feel about it
>Nora
   Darling
   He is HOT and he LIKES YOU
>I don't know, I have to think about it
>There is nothing to think about
   You spend the time he has left here together and when he goes back to Ireland you forget all         about him
My fingers stopped typing. It hit me. He didn't even live in the same country as I did. The small hope that was pressed in the back of my head disappeared as I realized that that guy was never going to be mine. First of all, because he didn't really like me. He had probably talked to a hundred other girls on his trip. Second of all, because he lived in another freaking country.
>Nora?
>You still there?
>Yeah, still here
  I'll think about it, though I thinks it's best if I forget all about him
>As you wish, but I think you should give it a try
>I think the same as Mia, but only if you want
>We can talk about it tomorrow
   Goodnight
>Sleep well
>Sweet dreams
The thing was, I didn't know what I wanted.