All Around Us

Chapter Sixteen

"I've never been on a plane before," Christian told me. I looked at him, quite surprised and started to say "But your family..." but stopped myself, "is rich." he finished for me. I shook my head, "No Christian... they're always travelling so how come you've never been on a plane?"

He swallowed thickly. "My grandma died in this thing," he said, causing me to immediately regret asking. "If it wasn't for you, I would have never considered getting in here because I am actually terrified of planes." He confessed.

I was silent for a moment, but then slowly slipped my hand into his comfortingly and said "This isn't much, but I hope it will help somehow." He looked down at our hands and then at me, and smiled warmly. "You're the best, Liss." I simply smiled back and gave his hand a quick squeeze.

We talked for about an hour after lift-off and both fell asleep eventually. Many hours later, the flight attendants came and woke us up because it was almost time to land so we had to fasten our seatbelts and be alert.

When the plane landed, Christian and I got our backpacks ready then joined the line in aisle as passengers de-boarded. We didn't have to worry about baggage collection since the only luggage we had on us were our backpacks which contained our phones and their accessories, our passports and other important documents, as well as a few changes of clothes.

Christian had assured me that everything else would be taken care of... and though I wasn't sure how, I simply went with it.

Christian had _everything_ planned out. He took me to many beautiful places, and the whole time he and I were fooling around and acting like the kids we used to be. I was really having fun with him and couldn't wait for the surprise place he promised to take me to later.

At some point it occurred to me that there was no way we could have been doing this without any money on us... so I asked Christian how this was all happening. He simply flipped out an international credit card and explained that his dad had given it to him on his 18th birthday to make up for not having made it to the party.

Something about the way he told me made me realise that he was a little uncomfortable about telling me this so I decided not to ask further. When evening came, Christian took me to this _beautiful_ botanical garden. I marvelled at all the wonderful flowers and how beautiful they looked as the sun began to set.

I found a bench and sat on it, admiring the slowly darkening silhouettes of a pretty patch of rose bushes in front of me. Christian then came and sat next to me. I could feel him watching me and couldn't help the fiery blush that painted my face as I did my best not to look back at him.

"Why're you looking at me like that, Christy?" I asked him suddenly, giving in to the urge to look at him too. The golden rays of the setting sun illuminated his light grey eyes and made them appear a soft, pale gold. I couldn't look away, and the longer I stared into his eyes, the more I wanted this moment to last forever.

"You're beautiful, Liss." He murmured softly as he gently rubbed his thumb against my cheek, never breaking his gaze. My heart fluttered and it felt like it had grown wings and was threatening to fly out of me at any moment. I sighed with content and closed my eyes, leaning into his touch.

"Christian, this place is beautiful..." I said dreamily, feeling content. He chuckled softly, "Did you know that a hospital once stood on this plot of land?" I sat up and looked at him, bewildered. "Woah, I'd have never guessed." He smiled, a knowing glimmer in his eyes.

"That hospital Liss... was the very hospital your mother was born in." I slowly brought my gaze to him and soon felt the familiar prickle of tears starting behind my eyes. He'd brought me all the way here to show me where my mother was born. He'd done all of this for me... is this what love looked like? I didn't know what to say, and overcome by emotions I pulled him into a hug and murmured a soft "thank you" as the tears began to fall.

We sat together and watched the rest of the sunset in comfortable silence. When it got dark, Christian took me to the hotel where we were supposed to stay together for the duration of this trip. I was surprised to find that the hotel was called Lisa Hotel... wow. He'd definitely thought this one through.

We checked in and were led to our room. Upon entering we realised that there was only one bed...

Oh.

Christian immediately stopped the hotel attendant before she could leave, and asked if we could get an exchange room for the same price but with two beds instead of one. "Sorry sir, but this is the only room left. We're all booked." she told him apologetically.

He opened his mouth to make more of a fuss but I cut him off and told the attendant that it was alright and that we would make a plan. Christian looked at me incredulously, obviously expecting me to explain when the attendant was gone.

"What did you do that for?" He whined, already looking stressed. I laughed easily and said "Christy it's no big deal... I can sleep on the floor or something." He looked at me like I was crazy and said "No way, I'm not letting you do that- let _me_ sleep on the floor."

I waved off his attempted chivalry. I knew he didn't want to sleep on the floor at all but was trying to be a gentleman. "We can just share the bed." I eventually offered.

Christian looked like he was about to faint. Then guessing his thoughts I immediately added "Don't worry, nothing will happen as long as we keep a pillow barricade between us." He looked incredibly doubtful but after much reassuring eventually agreed.

The pillow barricade did not work... and just as feared, nature took it's course that night.