La Tienda (Joel Pimentel)

20

My mother pulls me in for a hug, "ten cuidado nena. Let me know when you land." She pulls away, "and you take care of her okay?"

Joel nods, "of course."

We were at the airport all ready to hit the road. Laura walks over to me, "have fun and-and keep an eye on Chris for me."

I smile, "claro que si chica." She smiles and pulls me in for a hug.

"We really need to get going" Joel says, checking the time on his phone. "Right right.. well go have fun" my mom says, waving us off.

Joel grabs my hand and we walk inside the airport. We check in and go through security, which took forever.

Once we're finally at the gate we let out a sigh, "I can't believe Renato trusted us to fly by ourselves" I say.

Joel looks over at me, "yo tampoco.. but you're way more responsible than I am so that's probably why."

I laugh, "that is true." He sticks his tongue out at me. "You said it not me" I say before repeating his action.

From the corner of my eye I spot two girls staring at us with nervous looks on their faces. "Joel I think those are some fans of yours" I say, nodding in their direction.

Joel follows my eyes and smiles when he sees them. He waves them over.

They jog over to us, "oh my gosh" one says.

"I-I'm Alyssa" she says, "and this is my friend Clara."

Clara is frozen, probably in shock. "Hi how are you guys?' he asks.

"I'm great.. this is the best day of my life" Alyssa gushes. Since Clara still hasn't said anything Joel begins having a side convo with Alyssa.

"Clara hun" I say, placing my hand on her arm. She looks over at me, "o-oh hi."

"Hey, I'm Anitta" I reply, laughing. "I'm so anxious right now I-I can't even talk to him" she says.

"It's okay I know what it's like dealing with anxiety, Joel isn't scary at all trust me. Just take a deep breath and make this a good memory" I say, rubbing her arm.

She visibly relaxes, "ok-okay thank you.. you're his girlfriend right?"

Man do these fans work fast. I nod, "I am." She smiles, "you're very nice.. he's lucky to have you."

"And I'm lucky to have him.. now go girl" I say, pushing her closer to Joel.

"HI" she yells rather loudly. Joel jumps at the sound, "hey, how are you?"

Clara and Alyssa continue having a conversation with Joel so I decide to look through my phone.

"Babe can you take a picture for us?" I hear Joel ask. I look up and nod, "claro."

I take the phone from Alyssa's hand, "ready? 1..2..3."

The two girls squeal after it's taken. "Thank you so much" they say.

They hug us both and then leave.

"They were nice" Joel says with a big smile on his face. "They were.. uh is it okay if I told them I was your girlfriend? Clara asked and I sai-"

He cuts me off, "I'm glad you did. I want the whole world to know that I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world."

Heat rushes to my cheeks, "you flatter me." "Not flattery, la verdad" he replies.

I smile widely, "you're great you know that?"
He smirks, "I'd like to think so."

"Flight to 430 to Puerto Rico is now boarding rows 10-20" someone says over the loudspeaker.