“Okay, okay. Fine.” She chuckled before looking up at the signs that lined the ceiling, all pointing travelers in the correct direction. “That way,” she said definitively, pointing down one of the long, wide halls.
Without waiting for me, Lila set off with surprising speed, lugging her suitcase behind her. Maybe it was her small stature, but she easily dodged people walking in the opposite direction. I quickened my pace to keep up with her, not wanting to risk losing her in the crowd. When I finally caught up, I grabbed her forearm lightly as she made another rapid turn.
She halted and looked back at me. I dropped her arm.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to lose you.”
A hint of a smile tugged at her lips before she continued leading us to the gate, this time at a moderately slower pace. Even though she tried to stop on two separate occasions to get a snack and a magazine, I only allowed her to deviate from our mission once the gate was in sight. By the time we got settled in seats, we only had fifteen minutes until boarding.
“Okay, screw it. I’m just going to pay for the international plan. It’s only a few days.” Lila clicked around on her phone. “I’m going to text Charlie.”
“Fine, whatever,” I said, picking up the book that I had stolen from her on the plane, and thumbing to the chapter I was on.
“You’re notactuallyreading that, are you?” She lowered her phone and stared at me, eyes wide with disbelief.
I hadn’t meant to read it, but I had felt self-conscious about drawing with Lila right next to me, and movies usually failed to capture my interest. So, I’d read her book. Two friends forced to fake date because of some bizarre stipulation in a will. Then, they arrive at a hotel and—of course—there’s only one bed. It was cheesy, and a total cliché. And yet I hadn’t been able to stop myself from turning each page, desperate to know how two people with such seemingly different personalities were going to make it work.
“So what if I am?”
She leaned back in the worn leather seat and set her phone on her stomach. “I never thought I’d see Harrison Porter reading a romance novel.” The carbonation of her soda made an audible fizzing sound as she twisted open the plastic bottle and took a sip.
My full name danced easily off her lips. “You know my last name?”
“Obviously. We’ve known each other for a year.” She arched an eyebrow. “Do you not know mine?”
My mind sifted through every scrap of information I’d picked up about Lila since we’d met, but honestly, it wasn’t much. Maybe that was why I had kept reading this book. I wanted to understand what she saw in it, get a glimpse into her mind.
She might wear her emotions on her sleeves, but that only made her more of an enigma to me. How could she be so comfortable being herself?
“I don’t,” I admitted after a second. “I’m sorry.” The apology came easily this time, and I hoped she could see it in my eyes. Asking people questions wasn’t one of my strong suits. But now, as I caught a glimpse of the disappointment flash across her face before she masked it, I felt a twinge of regret.
“It’s Cornell.”
“Got it,” I said.
Lila Cornell.I knew without a doubt it was committed to my memory now.
She threw me a half-smile before resuming scrolling on her phone. Nearby, people began crowding around the gate agent, passports in hand, even though boarding hadn’t started yet. As impatient as I was, I never understood that. Being first in line didn’t get you there faster.
I patted my back pocket to ensure my passport was still securely in its place before pulling out my phone from the pocket of my hoodie. Lila’s phone chimed with incoming messages, and I briefly considered powering mine on. But we’d be boarding any minute. The only people who might have called me while we were in flight were Oliver or my parents, and both could wait until we were in Greece.
Instead, I watched Lila as her eyes danced across the screen. Her pink cheeks grew noticeably paler as she brought her other hand to her phone and started typing furiously.
“Are you okay?” I asked, sitting up. She looked like she might pass out right there on the dirty airport carpet.
“No,” she whispered. “What? There’s no way.”
The phone fell out of her shaky hands and slid between the cracks in the seats. “Shit!” she hissed, scrambling to see where it fell.
“What’s going on?” I demanded, sliding my arm between us and retrieving her phone. “You’re freaking me out.” She snatched her phone back before standing and pacing back and forth in front of me.
“This can’t be happening.”
I stood and gripped her shoulders, gently but firmly, forcing her to meet my gaze. “Lila. What the hell is going on? What happened?” She was starting to freak me out. I had never seen her lose her cool like this.
She froze for a moment, her breath catching, before turning the phone in my direction. All I saw was a blur of messages, but I wasn’t close enough to actually read them.
“They’re in Fiji.” Her voice came out like a shocked whisper.
