Love Is Moons Away

Chaper 8- Spanish is hard

It's been three months since we set out on our journey. Three. I'm starting to loose hope. Shane keeps saying any day now. I don't believe him. Although, my necklace has gotten significantly warmer. It's almost the temperature of my body. But that's taken three months.
After we crossed the Black Sea, we took trains through Romania, Hungary, and Austria, and finally to Czech Republic. That took three weeks, and now we're close to entering month four.
"Earth to Anthia," Shane shouts. I snap out of the phase I was in. Shane's staring at me, waiting for an answer to a question I didn't hear.
"What?" I ask, rubbing the fog from my eyes. He chuckles and muses my hair.
"I asked if you could walk a little more. There is a base here in Czech Republic, and I know Marcello will let us stay." I nod my head, and walk by him.
I feel like a walking corpse. We've walked, rode train, jeeps, and boats from India to Czech Republic. But I have done far more walking than I ever thought I would. I think I've walked enough to never have to walk again. My feet are constantly tired and numb. My legs are even more toned and ripped than ever. They still look like my regular old thighs, but they are hard with muscles.
There are constant bags under my eyes. My hair is frizzy from not being able to buy my good shampoo. I've run out of my shade of makeup and had to buy a different shade of foundation and powder to mask myself. My face is so dried out from the heavy amounts of makeup. My eyes are dry and feel groggy and itchy because of the contacts I have to wear.
But Shane looks fine as always though. His strides are long and joyful. He doesn't have to wear stupid moisture sucking makeup. Our fake faces broke a month ago when it rained so hard I could barely breathe without sucking in water. I roll my eyes at him, when he smiles back at me.
He laughs and slings his arm around my shoulders.
"Come on, the entrance to the base is just around this block. Instead of staying one night, we'll stay three to recuperate our strength," Shane says. I look up, the panic reflecting in my eyes. "Relax. If we keep going like this, you're going to-" I'm giving him a look when he says you're. "We're going to die from exhaustion. Three days aren't going to affect anything, viper."
I tap my leg, so Aspen can hear that he needs to catch up with us. He trots until he's right under my hand allowing me to pet his soft fur.
I nod my head. He's right. Three days won't affect anything at all. We walk around the block, and slide into an alleyway.
Shane looks all around, making sure no one sees us. Then, he lifts the metal plate covering the manhole. He motions for me to climb down.
Gulping, I start to climb down. I'm breathing in and out in and out. I'm claustrophobic, and breathing is my only option right now. I drop down in a crouch, and wait for Shane to join me. First he drops Aspen. He's leaning all the way in, to reach me. I grab Aspen around the middle and let's his weight take me down. I laugh as he licks my face.
Suddenly, the light is extinguished, and I am amazed at what I see.
A tunnel, with with fluorescent light. The walls flow with energy as you touch them, and glow brighter with one touch. The floor is soft, like memory foam.
Shane wraps his arms around me from behind. I smile, tears streaming down my face at such beauty.
"This is what you're suppose to feel like all the time," he whispers. I smile. This is completely different beauty than at home. The village I lived in was small. We had the icicle pillars. And despite it being cold, we had cherry blossom trees that sprinkled the earth, and was always in the ice when they melted, and when they refroze had small sprinkles of petals.
The city wasn't as pretty. It felt to me like it had a permanent layer of dirt that became immortal after the refreezing.
Shane leads me along the tunnels, taking turns here and there. The lighting fades from blue to green, to purple, then lavender, and blue again. I trail my hand across the walls like a little kid at a store. I make hand prints that fade just as fast as I place them. Aspen stays close to me. Even though he's blind, I think he can still see a little. Maybe he colors scare him. I pet him to show him that it's alright, and eventually he warms up.
We stop at a large, beautiful door. It's carved from mahogany wood, in the design of a big maple tree.
Shane knocks on the door in a series of tones. The door swings open, revealing a tall Brazilian man, with sharp features and dark brown eyes, that nearly are black. His mouth is set in a small line. He is wearing a black suit. Though everything about him seems cold, his smile lights up the room.
"Marcello, pleasure to see you again!" Shane boasts. He goes up and pats this man named Marcello on the back.
"Shane, the pleasure is all mine," he chuckles. Marcello spots me and walks up and kisses my hand. "This must be the lovely Anthia Edwin Rose. I've heard so much about you, and couldn't wait to meet you when Shane phoned me."
I smile, even though I am completely stunned. Him? Excited to meet me? Does he really think I'm that great?
I realize he has said something to me that I have missed.
"I'm sorry what did you say?"
He laughs. "I only said you are even more beautiful than the pictures I've seen!"
This guy is pulling my leg. I look awful. This guy is an ass!
"Shane, Anthia, why don't I show you to your rooms?" We nod as he leads us down endless hallways.
Shane and him are exchanging words while I trail behind. Though Marcello seems uptight, he is actually quite kind.
When we reach the rooms, I take the lavender themed one on the right, and Shane takes the sunflower themed one on the left.
"I hope you like the room, Anthia," Marcello calls as he walks down the hallway.
I enter the room with Aspen, and go to take a shower. I leave Aspen on the bed, knowing he won't damage anything. When I enter the shower, I go to grab the shampoo, and I see something. It has a note.
Shane said you missed your Indian shampoo. Got some for you- Marcello
I squirt the rosy red liquid into my palm and lather it in my hair.
Mmmmmm, cherry blossom.
I hop out of the shower and walk out in my one of my three onesies, the one with a galaxy print.
I find Shane in my bed with Aspen. I plop down next to him. "Why are you in my bed?!" I moan, trying to fight my way under the covers. He laughs and tickles my belly. I slap his hand away.
We lay in bed like this forever. Aspen curled up at my side, and Shane laying a sprawled out. My eyes are starting to droop when Shane kisses my forehead.
"Goodnight, viper." He whispers.
"Night. Love ya," I whisper back. My eyes nearly fly open. I always do that, because I did it with my family and Gray. Should I take it back?!
But the thing is, I do love Shane. He's become my best friend over the past three months. He's held me while I cry, comforted me when I had nightmares. He has become like a brother to me.
I wait for his response.
"Love you, too," he whispers. "Yea, love you too, viper."
I can nearly hear the smile in his voice.
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When I wake in the morning, I shower, even though I just took one last night. I put on my favorite jeans and flannel shirt. Then I braid my hair. I realize the ends are split and nearly frayed.
"Time for a cut, huh, Aspen?" Aspens just pants. I take that as a we.
I grab a pair of metal scissors, and start to cut it. Marcello walks in though. He sees me cutting my hair and opens his hand.
"Let me," he coos. I hand him the scissors and sit down in the vanity chair. He starts to clip my hair. I watch it fall in wet clumps.
"How short do you want?" He asks. I didn't realize how much of a Brazilian accent he had. It makes his English kind of choppy.
"Well it really needs a cut, so..." I think about how short I wanted it right before I left. I decide to do that know. "Eight inches," I decide. That would make the tips go about three inches below my shoulders.
He nods and keeps cutting. The silence is aching, but I don't dare interrupt it. He grabs a blow drier, and dries my hair. It falls in locks around my face.
Then he grabs a huge chunk of hair, and goes to the roots and starts to cut.
Panic seizes me and nearly tackle him, until I notice him pulling the scissors upward. He's thinning it out. He goes away for a minute and returns with a black hankie.
He ties it around me like a blind fold.
"I want to see your face when it's revealed," he whispers.
I hear the scissors clip, and my heart races each time. I feel little wisps of hair fall down my shirt, making me itch all over. His hand run through my hair in the most delicate way possible. I feel him place the scissors down. He unties the blindfold, taking me from the darkness into the light.
I look in the mirror and see a whole new person. A girl who looks less rugged, more defined and beautiful.
"See? Your face is priceless!" He laughs. I smile.
"Thank you, Marcello." He nods, and Shane walks in, and kisses me on my forehead.
"Woah, new hair. I like!" He says, running his hands through my hair. I shake his hands out of my hair.
We all walk to breakfast, and go about our day. Mine is mostly reading and sleeping.l, and cuddling with Aspen.
The next day is the same.
As I lay myself in the bed, though, I feel different. And I'm not sure what it is.
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