Seas Between

Chapter 21

Cloe met Alex at his house just after Katrina's plane was scheduled to take off. "Ready?" Cloe asked as he opened the front door.

"Yeah, are you sure you want to come?"

"Of course!" She smiled.

"Okay then, let's get in the car. You can leave your bike here."

She turned around as the garage door lifted. "Ah, nice car!" Cloe said, crossed her arms and examined it. "Mind I have a look?"

"Uh, well we need to get to the airport."

"She has plenty of flights until she gets here."

"Yeah but we still have to drive to the airport."

"Okay, whatever." Cloe hopped into the passenger's seat and smiled, looking at the dashboard.

Alex got in next to her and started the engine. Alex looked over at Cloe, whose face was lit up over the car. "You like all cars or just this hunk of scrap metal?"

"This car is way better than scrap metal. It's amazing. I do like other cars though. I love cars. I would like to be a mechanic sometime, to work with cars, ya know?"

"Well maybe you can look at the car later but for now, it's time to hit the road."

Alex drove out of the garage and down the lane. He drove to town and pulled into a gas station. He got out of the car and stuck the pump in. He relaxed his posture and looked aimlessly around the street. He was thinking about Katrina. What would she think when she saw Cloe at his side? It's not that he loved her but just if he was in a relationship, which he sure wasn't, then it might affect Katrina.

He didn't even know Cloe. It felt strange for her to be sitting where Katrina sat. He wanted Cloe gone.

He felt the pump stop and he shook it to get the price even. He walked into the store and pulled out his wallet. He took a water bottle from the fridge and put it on the counter. Then, he paid for the gas and water.

"Quite the girl you have in the car." The Spanish man commented.

"Oh she's not my girl. She's just a friend."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about her."

"Okay, but she is just a friend."

"Whatever you say pal. Have a good drive."

"Yeah, see ya around!" Alex waved going out the door and into the car.

Cloe smiled as he started the engine back up. She looked at him though, not the car.

"So Alex, nice name by the way, tell me about yourself." She said with her hands under her chin.

"What do you want to know?" He replied, pulling out onto the highway.

"What do you do, what kind of person are you?" She chirped.

"Well, unemployed... for now and to know what kind of person I am, you can't ask me. You have to ask someone else that knows me, like Katrina or my mom or whatever."

"I'm sure you have hobbies and stuff."

"Guitar, the Lakers, looking into welding, interesting enough?"

"Hmm, what about movies, do you have a favourite?"

"I like the movie 'I, Robot.' It's amazing and great considering it was a decade past."

"It's hard to believe that it is 2015 already."

"Yeah, I know." Alex relocates his past for a moment. He thinks back to his first move, the way he used to grit his teeth when he was upset or panicked and the dreadful night of the elementary talent show. He was seriously nerve-racked. "How much further away is the airport?"

"Probably another half hour. You are really impatient aren't you?"

"Sure, don't let it slow you down."

"So you also rush at things."

"No, I don't procrastinate. There's a difference. You rush when you are out of time."

"My bad, forgive me?"

"Okay?"

"Good, you are also forgiving."

"Are you trying to profile me?"'

"Working on it"

"Why?" Alex asked nervously.

"Because that's what I want to do someday. I'm really interested in psychology."

"I see"

Just as Cloe had said, they pulled into the Barcelona airport in just over a half hour. (They were stuck behind a slow transport truck.)

Cloe dragged her purse out of the car. Alex walked alongside her but yet kept a fair distance. He didn't want to look like there was something other than a gap between them.

Cloe had been slowly making her way closer though. Alex was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

They went towards the arrivals section of the airport and sat in a relaxed restaurant on bar stools, watching for the plane through the window in front of them. Alex got an egg sandwich and a cola to have at his stool. It was nearly noon and he had missed breakfast after all. Then, when he was taking one of his last bites, the large plane extended it's landing gear and rolled along the pavement, stopping in front of them.

"Looks like the plane is here." Cloe said, sipping at a strawberry milkshake.

Alex couldn't help but smile. His smile stretched wider than it had ever stretched before and he felt the happiness bubbling up inside of him. He was just so excited to see her again. He missed he so much.

Cloe sensed that. "Seems like you're pretty excited."

"Of course I am!" Then he realized, he was gritting his teeth again. He felt the momentary relief from it as he talked.

Then the plane started to unload, people from all over filing out and dragging luggage. He saw her, just a bit of her hair but he knew. It had to be her. Alex took his sandwich and ran towards the crowd. He could see her smile now. She was just as excited as him. He saw him, Braden, holding bags next to her also smiling. It became a mess of confusion when Cloe came up and introduced herself.

"Hey, I'm Cloe, Alex's friend."

"And I'm Katrina, Alex's best friend."

"Oooo, you sense that? That is jealousy. Don't worry, we aren't together."

Katrina huffed.

"I'm Alex, I'm sure if you came here with Katrina she must have told you about me?"

"A fair bit," Braden smirked.

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Update! Yay! So folks, I decided to keep writing this chapter for while. I didn't know where to stop so it went in for quite a bit longer than I expected. You deserve it though.
You HAVE been waiting for an update for a while. Anyway, thanks for continuing to read my disaster of a book.

Oh and I'm not going to be updating a lot lately because of midterms and exams.

Emma

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