I Amsterdam (Completed)

Chapter 7.5 - Emma

We got bitterballen to fish to fries until what we bought grew faster than what we ate. So, we sat down on a table near a food truck, by a wall sprayed in graffiti. What stood out to me was a bike sprayed like pop-art, with waves growing from the wheels.

"I've got to pay you back for all this food," I remarked. "Gosh, there's a lot I already owe you, and my debt is only growing."

"There's nothing you owe me."

I gave him a smile. No way. I could tell he could see through it, but I did nothing.

"I've never heard you speak Dutch before you spoke with Luce," I mentioned.

He chuckled. "Yeah. She was just asking me how I've been and who you were. 'Cause she's never seen you around before."

"Have you not come here in awhile?" I asked, finishing up the last of my fries.

"I haven't really," he answered.

"But I thought you loved coming here. That you love the poffertjes."

"Yeah, but I guess I was busy." A frown crossed his face.

I stacked the empty bowls of my finished food and threw them into the trash can next to us. "Teach me some Dutch," I suggested, and I crossed my arms on the table.

"Huh?" he stuttered, throwing away his own trash. "What do you want to learn?"

"What about, how do you say hello?"

"Hallo. It's basically the same as in English."

"Well then what about goodbye?"

"Vaarwel."

"Vaarwel?" I repeated.

"Vaarwel," he confirmed. "Like farewell."

"Ok, how do you say please in Dutch?"

"Alsjeblieft."

My eyes widened at how the difficulty jumped from super easy to extremely hard. "Al-what?" I stammered.

He laughed at my confusion. "Als-je-blieft."

"Als-cha-bleeft..." I tried, and saw Brandon trying to hide his smile. "Ugh, I know I screwed up, okay?"

"Hey, it was closer than the last try," he laughed. "Do you wanna take a look at the shops? Since we seem to be done with the food?"

"Sure, why not?"

We walked down the street once more, but this time turning deeper into the stores. The first one we entered grabbed my attention with its clothing. There were caps, hoodies, shirts, and more lining the walls of the store, and the middle contained a stand with delicate ornaments and snow globes. To my left was a small section of the wall dedicated to magnets, and in front of it was a stand of keychains. I normally wouldn't go for keychains compared to clothes, for what purpose do they have? But a certain keychain drew me in.

I fingered it, rubbing my hands across the ridges. It was rectangular with curved edges, accompanied with a silver tone to give it a sparkle.

And inside was a picture of one of Amsterdam's canals. Crossing above it was a bridge adorned with pots of hanging flowers. Trees lined either side into the distance, and behind them were tight-knitted houses. But most importantly, the scene was illuminated by a sunrise.

This is perfect to give to Brandon. But the problem was, I wanted it to be a surprise, which it couldn't be if Brandon was literally five feet away from me. And so I would have to come back to buy it, by myself. I just hoped it would still be there.