Spanish lessons

2. Packing out

Check-in at Heathrow was done pretty quick. The small group of seven students went through security without any problems, only Mrs. Fletcher had forgotten to put her hand lotion and sanitizer into the required plastic bags. This little incident cost them almost 10 minutes, since the elderly woman apologized extensively to the TSA officer who didn't really seem to care (that stuff happened at least five times a day) and just wanted to get on with the small queue of people waiting to get their carry-on bags checked.

Charlotte didn't even notice the little chaos Mrs. Fletcher had caused, her mind had already wandered off to palm trees, striped umbrellas for rent on packed beaches and plates full of paella (the real stuff, not the deep-freeze one she sometimes bought at the supermarket to get a bit of spanish feeling while studying).

Settling into her seat (she got lucky when they drew lots as to see who gets to sit in the two window seats), she pulled out her Kindle and her headphones, preparing herself for the 2-hour-flight to Barcelona El Prat. Putting her Spotify playlist she made for this trip on shuffle, 'Barcelona' by Ed Sheeran started to play. Charlotte looked out the window into the still dark british sky and her heart skipped a beat or two thinking about seeing the ocean soon and just getting away for a few days.

She loved her life in Brighton, doing the stuff she likes, going to university, studying and working on the weekends to cover for her expenses, and it's not like there is no beach in Brighton, there is a lot of it. But the North Sea is quite cold even in the summer and the beach is mostly pebbles, so warm salt water and actual sand is a nice change.

The sun started to rise slowly as they were leaving the British Isle and the nose of the small plane began to reach for the european continent at its north coast. It was when they flew over Dunkirk that the lack of sleep and the early hour got the better of Charlotte, despite her excitement. She fell into a light slumber, a content smile on her lips.

"Dear passengers, we are arriving at Barcelona El Prat in about 30 minutes and will now start with the descent. Please fasten your seatbelts."

The announcement of the cabin crew woke Charlotte up from her sleep. The soft sounds of Peach Pit's song 'Peach Pit' reached her ears, immediately calming her heartbeat that was shaken up a bit by the noise of the announcement. Quickly, she checked on her stuff and her looks: her Kindle was laying atop of her lap unused, her french braid a bit disheveled from the short nap. She loosened up the braid and pulled her hair up in a half bun. Packing away the ebook-reader, her gaze flickered to the left where the window was.

The sun had fully risen and the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea contrasted with the pastel colors of the city and the beach and the dark green of the surrounding mountains.

***

Upon arriving at Motel One Barcelona-Ciutadella, Mrs. Fletcher gave out the timetable for the trip, a city map and public transport tickets as well as the key cards for the hotel rooms. Charlotte was put together with Emily, a fellow student that since the trip was announced had not stopped talking about how she would be out and about all the time, so Charlotte didn't worry too much about her own plans being disturbed by her roommate.

A quick look on the schedule told Charlotte the rest of the day was free apart from dinner together in the hotel restaurant at 8 pm. She took her small suitcase and followed Emily to the 3rd floor. Charlotte had just set down her suitcase and handbag when Emily was already out again, shouting something about hot spanish boys at the beach and 'see you later C'.

Within 20 minutes of arriving at the hotel, Charlotte had unpacked her small suitcase, inspected the hotel room for any unwanted visitors, upon seeing none put on her turquoise bathing suit, grabbed her ebook-reader, hat and sunglasses and went to search for the way to the rooftop lounge and pool area.

***

Since it was a Wednesday just before lunch, most of the loungers around the pool were empty. Charlotte chose a spot at the top of the pool where she could oversee the whole area.

In comparison to the chilly heat on the North Sea coast, Barcelona was burning. Two seconds after setting down her stuff on one of the comfortable loungers, Charlotte dove into the pool. The feeling of the water on her heated skin sent a rush of endorphines through her veins.

A loud splash brought her down from her high and back into reality, and the presence of other guests. As Charlotte came up from her dive, she saw a little girl nearby struggling to keep her head above water. With two quick strokes, she had reached the child and lifted her out of the water. Charlotte had just placed her down and made sure the girl was okay and slowly starting to breathe normal again when she heard footsteps approaching rapidly.

"Oh god, thank you so much for saving her! I just wanted to go for a quick wee, but I really shouldn't have left her alone here. I'm Harry."

The first thing that appeared in Charlotte's sight when she lifted her gaze from the child was a hand. Quite a beautiful one, she noted mentally. Telling from the long fingers and overall size (and slowly it also came back to her she had already heard the voice the hand must belong to), a male one. The little upside down cross tattoo between thumb and index finger caused a stir somewhere in her stomach, but Charlotte couldn't place her finger on it.