"Ok, thank you." I agreed.
I passed him my unlocked phone.
He quickly punched in his details and held out the phone for me to take back, just as my fingertips brushed the phone he pulled it back towards him.
"Oh wait!" His goofy attitude returning, he pointed the phone at his face and contorted it into the stupidest face he could. I couldn't help but smile, even with his tongue out and his face all scrunched up you could tell he was a very attractive guy. The camera noise snapped me back as he thrust the phone into my hand.
I glanced at the contact page and there it was.
Sexy Coach.
His picture sat just beneath it. I looked up and he was sat grinning like he'd pulled the best prank ever.
"Sexy? Is that how they pronounce 'annoying' in Icelandic?" I smirked.
He pulled on that hurt puppy dog look.
"Can't I be annoying and sexy?" He looked deep into my eyes.
"I don't know, I'll let you know if it happens at the same time."
I shrugged as I stood up with a chuckle.
He cut the light-hearted atmosphere as he grabbed my hand. My heart felt like it stopped beating for a second.
He looked up at me, his eyes now taking on a seriousness that was extremely jarring.
"Just be careful out there ok? Let me know if you need me."
I nodded, smiled and walked out of the door into the blizzard that was raging outside. I stood stationary. I felt heavy from his words. I know it's a safe country, why is he so worried about me?
I shook it off and headed back towards Harpa. I wanted to explore it properly and take some photos too.
The snow was falling heavily, the flakes large and soft making it difficult to see. I trusted my instincts and carried on. I was hoping I was still on the path and not the road, considering everything was blanketed in white, it made it hard to tell. A car drove by with plenty of space between us, I sighed in relief.
The boats bobbing to my left meant I was heading in the right direction, see I knew I could manage! It was actually quite nice having some peace and quiet. I stopped now and again to take photos, most unsuccessful, just blurs of white.
Harpa's beautiful glass body came into view, my excitement seemed to help alleviate the cold. I entered the lobby and was surprised how large it felt. My body confused by the warmth of the building when I could still see the snow squall outside. I walked around taking photos of the interior and found my way up some stairs to try and get better views across the harbour. The snow was working against me. As I stood trying to find clearing in the snow long enough to snap a photo it just stopped. Stillness. I was amazed.
"If you don't like Icelandic weather, just wait five minutes." I heard from behind me, a woman talking to her friend. I'd seen the quote on mugs and T-shirt's in the gift shops but didn't expect it to ring so true.
I left Harpa and made my way towards the indoor market, the walk shouldn't have taken any longer than maybe five minutes but the strong wind and snow made it feel like a long battle. I was glad to finally reach the market. The loud chatter of people was a nice change to the deafening wind I had endured outside. There were people selling their old pieces of junk, I'm sure it would be someone's treasure, people selling handmade Icelandic jumpers and many food stalls. Some of the food stalls held some questionable looking chunks I assumed to be meat, a strong smell floating around these particular tables didn't make me feel like tasting their samples. I saw some people trying it and their reactions, ranging from coughing to almost throwing up made me very happy with my decision to skip the tasting session.
Across the way I saw Coach speaking with a vendor. His face plastered with that large smile as he talked and laughed with them. I found myself staring at him, unable to blink or look away, my face mirroring his smile. My foot stepped forward, as if my body was magnetically drawn in his direction. I looked down at my foot as if it had betrayed me. I had no reason to go in that direction and I'd only just told Coach I was going solo. Imagine how crazy I would be if I approached him now!
