Speed By • DANIEL GILLIES

62 | call

The call was on speaker phone. Both Julie and Gia were talking at the same time of the things they could do in Kyoto. At the other end of the line, Daniel had his laptop out. He had done some research about the city. He wanted to go to some touristy places while still talking to locals and getting recommendations from there.

"Ladies, ladies," Daniel tried to quiet them down. They stopped for a few seconds, stopping to listen. "How about we do one thing that each of you wants? We book the most touristy places before hand just in case they are all booked."

"Okay, that's a good plan," Julie agreed.

"I'm booking the hotel. We agreed on that one, right?" Gia asked. Daniel clicked on the tab again that had the hotel's information.

"Uh, huh. It looks great. Seven days and seven nights," he said. He heard Gia clicking at the other end of the line. 

"It's processing the credit card information," she said. "Julie, send me the link to what you want to do again."

Julie did as told, a notification popping in Gia's computer seconds later. They went on like this for the next three hours, Gia and Julie discussing options and booking things. Daniel on the other hand, told them all about how they should rent a bike when they got there and explore the city.

To which Gia said, "I can't ride a bike."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"It's mom well kept secret," Julie nodded her again.

Daniel couldn't help but snort. "You carry a gun everyday and help people in trouble. But you can't ride a bike?"

"What can I say? I was busier doing other things," Gia said. Julie rolled her eyes, making kissing noises with her lips. Gia stopped her, nudging her shoulder slightly to get her to stop. 

"It's alright, I'll teach you how," Daniel said, referring back to the bike.

"I'm a little too afraid of falling and getting some scrapes," she admitted. Julie rolled her eyes again and Daniel couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well, obviously I've gotten hurt at work before. But imagine coming back to work after the vacation. Someone sees the bruises and asks me what I was up to in Kyoto. Oh yeah, I say, I was just riding a bike."

"I'll catch you, don't worry," he told her.

Gia smiled. Julie let out a loud groan. "Y'all are gross. I'm going to sleep."

Daniel was feeling tired too but he stayed on the line until Gia went to sleep two hours later.