Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 13

Chelsea avoided Trevor while she waited to collect her luggage. She made her way to the arrivals area where fellow passengers were greeted by family and friends or drivers holding sheets of paper with names written in bold letters. Her eyes scanned the overhead signs in search of directions towards a taxi stand. As she aimed herself in the right direction, Trevor approached from behind and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey! The Metro is this way," he said as he tipped his head to the left.

Chelsea looked at him, then to the signs overhead. She paused for a moment, uncertain if she should continue towards the taxis or follow Trevor into the Metro.

"We're going to the same place; you may as well follow me a bit further. The Metro is fast and easy, plus it's cheaper than taking a taxi," he said.

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"Come on," he replied with a smile. "Are you hungry? Do we need to stop of lunch before heading to the hotel?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied.

"Okay, this way."

She followed him through the airport. Cold and dark Trevor was gone. Replaced. Care-free and happy Trevor led her to the Metro ticket kiosks. She watched as he tapped at the screen, slipped in a credit card, and purchased a ticket. She pulled her credit card out of her wallet and slowly poked at the screen of the neighboring machine.

"You'll probably want to go to the beach, maybe do some sightseeing, when you figure out what you're doing, you can buy single tickets or get a pass for ten trips and save some money. But, you need to buy a single ticket for the rides to and from the airport," Trevor said. "Click here..."

Chelsea followed the directions and waited a few seconds for the ticket to be dispensed.

"That's it. You have to keep that until we get out of the station at the other end," Trevor explained.

Chelsea had never felt so lost and was embarrassed by her lack of what seemed to be basic life skills for Trevor. He noticed and smiled.

"Relax, if you watch some of these people, they'll spend a bunch of time trying to figure it out before they finally ask one of the attendants for help," he said nodding his head towards a man that had been standing at a machine before they arrived and was still no closer to finalizing his ticket purchase.

Along the way to the train platform Trevor explained the system and how to determine which platform was needed for travel in a specific direction. He pointed out the stop they needed to reach for a short walk to the hotel. She had never taken transit before, not even a city bus, so she had no experience to draw from.

"How do you know which line and station we need to get to the hotel?" Chelsea asked as she looked at a map of the Metro system.

"Well, you can locate the hotel on a city map quite easily, then scan the surrounding area for the Metro indicator, then analyze the metro coverage map and determine from there... or you can look on the hotel website where it tells you which stations are nearby," Trevor said with a smile.

"Well, if you want to do it the easy way..." Chelsea said sarcastically.

"Easier gets me to a beer sooner! I also looked at the Metro map on-line a few days ago and figured it out," he said as he pulled a printed map from his backpack.

Chelsea was pleasantly surprised by her own witty remark. It was the type of thing she expected from someone else, anyone else, but not from herself. She would normally formulate such things in her mind but never let them slip out into the real world. Judging from the smile on Trevor's face and his reply, it went over well.