Travel // Shawn Mendes

two

"¡Buenos días, Juliana!"

It's like every single worker here has a radar for my cousin. The moment we both walked into the building, they greeted her like she came over to their houses everyday for a family dinner.

"¡Buenos días! Esta es mi prima, Nora." She says as one of the workers hug her, and they all turn to me.

"Hablas español?" The worker at the counter asks, and at the same time, I say no while Julie says yes.

"Only a little." I tell her, hoping that Julie wouldn't speak on my lie and that the worker would understand me.

"That's okay. What would you all like to eat?" The woman says after laughing, and we both walk over to the counter as I turn quickly to watch the musicians outside, slightly smiling at the children and adults dancing to the song.

After we order, Julie and I both decide to sit outside and eat, since the music was muffled by the windows and door here, and the weather was so great.

"So, why'd you tell Irene you couldn't speak Spanish?" My cousin asks me, and I shrug, taking a bite of my waffle before answering.

"I don't know. It's just that remember what happened at the family gathering? The moment your cousins heard that I could speak Spanish they started talking about all these things and traditions I had no clue about."

"It's a restaurant, chica. What would she speak to you about that you have no understanding of?" Julie points out, and I raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, so just cause we're talking food means that I would automatically understand it? Are you calling me fat, Julie?" I ask jokingly, and she puts both her hands up in surrender, dropping her fork as I take another bite out of my food.

"Ay, no way. But you could have skipped the waffle and gone for a morning salad."

"Mhm, says the girl who got stacked pancakes." I say, and she waves me off as we continue to eat.

"¿Pardon? Señora?" I hear, and turn to see a boy staring at me, around ten years old. Before I can answer him, he speaks again, his voice confident.

"¿Quieres bailar conmigo?"

"Oh- um-" I begin, and before I can kindly reject the boy's invitation to dance with him, Julie accepts it, telling him I would love to dance.

As I wipe my hands on a napkin and stare at Julie with daggers shooting out of my eyes, I see the little boy reach his hand out, and I get up before grabbing his hand and walking to the crowd of people dancing to the music, noticing his parents watching us.

"Como te llamas?" He asks me, and before I answer I watch as a teenage boy takes my seat near my cousin, then talking to Julie with a smile on his face.

I was definitely going to have to question her about that later.

"Nora. ¿Y tú?"

"Ramón." He tells me, and either I was imagining it, or this kid actually said his name flirtatiously.

"Cuántos años tienes tú?" I ask out of curiosity, wondering how close to his age I actually was when I guessed.

"Once." Ramón replies, almost as flirtatiously as it was when he told me his name.

Great. Jen wanted me to meet a cute guy and instead, I'm being hit on by an eleven year old.

"¡Ramón!" I turn to see his mother and father, who were now standing up and looking ready to go.

"Adiós." He tells me, and stops dancing before he tilts his head and kisses my hand.

You have got to be kidding me.

As he walks away, I can't help but smile, proud of myself for not laughing at him, despite how much I wanted to.

"Well, I was planning on asking you to dance too, but after that guy I'm not sure I still have a chance."

I turn around to face who was speaking to me, and freeze when I see him.

He had a light brown kind of hair in the sunlight, and he wore sunglasses so tinted I could see my own reflection in them. I noticed a small scar on his cheek before making eye contact, my head spinning once I did.

I almost asked him if we had met, before stopping myself. Seriously? If I had met this guy I definitely would not forget him. Still, I felt like I was missing an important piece of a picture by not recognizing him.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I would tell you that you might have a chance, but that would just be a lie." I respond, and mentally roll my eyes at myself.

Who do I think I am? The most attention I get from guys is when they're asking me what I would like to order.

"So there's no way I could get a dance?" The guy asks, and as I pretend to think about it, I notice Julie staring at me with her jaw reaching the floor.

"Well, I guess one dance wouldn't hurt. But I have to warm you, Ramón really impressed me with that last dance." I tell him, playfully flirting.

Although this guy looked extremely familiar, chances are he was from here, which meant that next week when I left, I would never see him again, so I might as well flirt as much as I want.

"I'll try my best to change your standards then." He says to me, taking my hands as we begin to dance to the upbeat music.

"So, mind if I know your name?" I ask, curious. Maybe if I got his name it would jog my memory a bit, and get me to remember where I last saw this guy.

He looks amused once I ask, as if he expected me to have a slight clue of who he was, and I hope my face looks red because of the sun. Did I really know him that well?

"But that takes away the fun." He says, and I look at him suspiciously.

"The fun?"

"The mystery. Wouldn't you love to go back home and wonder for days about the guy you danced with?" He asks, and I smile.

"Not really, when I could just get his name. Anyways, I'm Nora." I introduce myself, and I watch his eyebrows raise and a smile start at the corner of his lips, as if he was solving a puzzle just now and found one of the pieces he was searching for.

"Beautiful name." He says, and before I can respond I'm being twirled, then pulled closely to where my back is nearly resting on his chest as the stranger's voice lowers and he speaks close to my ear.

"Fits you perfectly."

High five to me for not having my legs completely turn to jelly just then.

Just then, the song ends, and Julie begins to walk over as the guy lets go of my hands, still behind me.

"Nora!" She says, and before she's beside me I turn, to ask the guy for his name again. However the moment I do, I notice that he was no longer behind me, and must have disappeared without me noticing.

Smiling, I wait for Julie to continue speaking. Although when she comes over, astonished as ever, I feel a confused expression take over my face before my cousin speaks.

"Do you have any idea who you just danced with?"

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WHO COULD THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER BE??? PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS.

ALSO: WHERE SHOULD NORA VISIT!? I'm totally open to hearing where you guys think Nora and her suitcase should travel to next, so comment!