Finding Célia

Chapter 1

Célia stretched her hand out of the open window and let her slender fingers dance in the cool wind. She stared out and gazed at the rolling fields, trying her best to distract herself from their current predicament. Valerie, on the other hand, was laser-focused on the road ahead and gripped the wheel of the car with such animosity to the point that her knuckles were beginning to turn blue. She was fuming, and understandably so. She had spent countless nights planning this life-changing trip in excruciating detail, only for the airline to throw all of her hard work down the drain by flying to the wrong destination.

The original plan was a two-week girls' trip to Cancun, where they could spend their days indulging in tropical drinks, going to nightclubs, and lounging around on the beach. However, Célia's decision to book a flight from a skeezy airline landed them in Sinaloa, an entirely different state which was over a thousand miles away from Cancun. The airline also refused to reimburse them or any of their fellow passengers, and all they got for their trouble was a voucher for two free nights at a nearby hotel.

Valerie was incredibly livid, but she knew she couldn't blame Célia. They were both knee-deep in student loan debt, so that sketchy flight was the best they could afford. To make matters worse, Célia had been dealing with her ex-boyfriend, Pablo, stalking and harassing her, so she wasn't exactly in the right headspace to look through flight options one-by-one. So, they were stuck in Sinaloa for at least two days, but Valerie took a deep breath, loosened her grip on the wheel, and tried her best to make light of the situation.

"Okay, I'm obviously pissed that we're not in Cancun, and I'm sure you are too. But, I want to look at the bright side of things."

"So do I. Listen, I'm really sorry the whole mix-up happened with the flight... Pablo just kept bugging me and I-"

"Hey, it's okay. I understand. We're going to make the most of this trip and His Ugly Ass Who Shall Not Be Named won't even cross your mind."

Célia sighed gratefully and tried to shrug the influx of memories with Pablo from her mind.

"Yeah. Let's just have fun!"

"Your destination is on the right."

The robotic voice of the navigation interrupted their conversation. Valerie pulled into the parking lot of a generic airport hotel, and the two were glad they could finally stretch their legs and relax after such a stressful arrival. After checking in and redeeming their voucher, they hauled their luggage up to their room and started the nefarious task of unpacking. Thankfully, they both packed light and didn't have much to organize. The two listened to music as they hung up their clothes, but a growl emanating from Valerie's stomach stopped them.

"Damn, I'm starving. Do me a favor and look up some nearby restaurants!"

Célia did as she was told and proceeded to scroll through a bunch of food options.

"Let's just get takeout, Val. It's already dark outside and I'm way too tired to go out and eat." She filtered through more and more restaurants until she settled on a decent-looking taco place.

"Do tacos sound good?"

"Tacos sound bomb right about now. Also, it's already nighttime. The sun was barely setting when we got to the hotel." She looked outside of the window and witnessed the last sliver of sun disappear underneath the horizon. Night had fallen, and she stared at their surroundings. It was nothing special. A plethora of cars zoomed past on the highway and the nearby airport was still bustling.

"How does Gabriela's Taqueria sound? It's literally 5 minutes from the hotel. I could just go and grab some for us really quick."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to go alone."