A Love Like Ours

by Micalea Smeltzer

  “Your room key.” She hands over a key—like an actual key. “Your room is on the second floor. Elevator is that way.” She points. “Room two-twenty-six.”

  We nod and say our thanks before heading the way she indicated.

  “This place is amazing,” I comment when we pass a large set of white marble stairs that swirl up through the hotel.

  Ollie looks around in awe too. There’s not much that leaves him speechless, but this place obviously has.

  We find the elevators and push the button. The doors slide open immediately and we step inside. I push the button for level two and the elevator glides up.

  The doors open and we scan the hall, checking the numbers to see which way we need to go.

  We head to our right and around a corner before we find our room.

  My feet are dragging by this point.

  Forget food—a shower and bed sounds better.

  Ollie slides the key in and opens the door to the room.

  The door swings open, revealing the room.

  I gasp. A large king size bed sits in the middle of the room, surrounded by four wooden posts that go all the way up to the ceiling. A set of white French doors leads outside to a private balcony that overlooks the pool. To our right a door leads into the bathroom and I see a huge bathtub sitting in the middle of the room, a walk-in shower, and a door that separates the toilet from it all. Across from the bed is a sitting area and we head there, placing our bags on the couch.

  As soon as I’m rid of my cumbersome luggage, I run and dive onto the bed, bouncing from the impact. My giggles fill the air and I roll over just in time to see Ollie jump on the bed too. It bounces even more from his weight and he throws his arm across my body, pulling me against him. I curl into him, draping my leg over his and placing my hand on his stomach with my head on his chest.

  “We’re here,” I whisper, drawing random designs on his stomach.

  “Yeah, we’re here,” he echoes, and there’s a giddiness to his voice.

  I sit up and smile down at him. “You order room service,” I direct. “And I’m going to go shower.”

  “Why do you get to shower first?” He pretends to pout.

  I pinch his bottom lip between my fingers and he grins when I let go. “Because,” I begin, “I’m the cute one. Duh.”

  He laughs, grabbing his stomach. “Right, how could I forget?” He sits up and smacks a kiss on my lips before standing and heading for the phone in the room. “Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

  I shrug. “As long as it’s food I’ll be happy.”

  I roll off the bed and walk over to my suitcase. I unzip it and rifle through the items until I find my bathroom things. I carry them into the bathroom and close the door behind me. I don’t bother locking it, though. When you’ve lived with someone as long as we have there’s no point. Privacy is no longer a word that applies to us.

  I turn the shower on and the room begins to heat and fill with steam within a minute.

  I remove my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor, and grab my shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. I open the glass door and step into the shower, marveling at the way the pebble stone floor feels beneath my feet.

  I let the hot water beat against my back, uncoiling my tense muscles.

  I tilt my head beneath the water, letting my hair get wet, when Ollie comes bursting into the bathroom.

  I look through the glass in time to see him come skidding into the bathroom and fall when his feet catch on the rug.

  “Ollie?” I bite my lip, trying not to laugh, but it’s freaking funny. “Are you okay?”

  He picks himself up off the floor and doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he holds up two more plane tickets. “Tal—” his voice is shaky “—the flight is for Costa Rica. Not home.”

  “What?” It takes my brain a moment to process his words.

  “Look.” He holds them up against the glass and I wipe away the condensation so I can read the print on the tickets.

  My eyes widen when I realize they do say Costa Rica and not Los Angeles.

  Ollie backs away, grasping the tickets against his chest. I can see he’s overcome with emotion when he presses his closed fist to his mouth.

  “I have to call Liam,” he mumbles, stumbling out of the bathroom.

  I’m in shock that the tickets are for Costa Rica. I haven’t even gotten over the fact that we’re in Peru and now we’re going to Costa Rica too? I’m blown away to be honest. It doesn’t feel real.

  I wash my hair and body and grab a towel from just outside the door, wrapping it around my body. I pad into the hotel room and find Ollie lying sideways on the bed so that his body hangs down to the floor upside down. He holds the tickets out in front of his eyes, like if he stares at them long enough he can convince himself that they’re real.

  “Did you call Liam?” I ask, heading over to my suitcase and rifling through it for a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top.

  “Yep.”

  “And?” I prompt. “What did he say?” I drop the towel and slip on my pajamas.

  Ollie sits up, dropping the tickets down on the bed. His eyes trail my body lazily, starting at my feet and moving up.

  “He said there were five more places we’re going, but he wasn’t telling us where, and that we don’t find out the next destination until we arrive at one. Hence, these tickets waiting here for us.” He picks them up again and taps them against his leg.

  My eyes nearly bug out of my head. “Five more places?”

  He nods. “Including this one.” He holds up the new tickets.

  “How long are we going to be gone?” I ask. “Our jobs … our house—the bills. What is he thinking?”

  Ollie sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “He said he had it covered with both our bosses, that our jobs are waiting for us when we get back, and that he has the bills taken care of. Honestly? I think he’s thought of everything.” He shrugs.

  I take a seat on the edge of the bed, touching my fingers to his knee. “Is he insane, though? This must be costing a fortune. Plane tickets from L.A. to here must’ve been astronomical … and five more places? I don’t even want to think about how much that is. Not to mention lodging and everything else.”

  Ollie presses his lips together and then blows out a breath. “I’m torn between punching him or hugging him for this.” He shakes his head. “I feel guilty that he’s doing this, but at the same time I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity. You, and me, and the whole world at our fingertips. It’s what we’ve always wanted.” He brushes his fingers against my cheek, and when he pulls them away, I bite playfully at them.

  He laughs and grabs my waist, pulling me down onto the bed so I’m lying flat on my back and he’s hovering above me.

  “That was mean.” His blue eyes flick from mine to my lips.

  I shiver. “What are you going to do about it?”

  He grins and lowers, his lips coming dangerously close to mine, so close that if I breathe they’ll touch, but I don’t move.

  Just when I think he’s finally going to kiss me, and my heart’s about to burst, he jerks away and stands, jumping up and down on the bed so my body jerks up and down like a piece of popcorn.

  “You’re such a jerk,” I scold, but I’m laughing so the words don’t have much bite to them.

  I nearly fall off the bed and he stops jumping long enough to help me stand so I can jump with him.

  We both grin from ear to ear. It’s stupid, really, the amount of joy jumping on a bed can bring you.

  A knock on our hotel room door ceases our antics. Laughing, we collapse on the bed and Ollie rolls off to go open the door.

  I’m expecting someone there to scold us for the bed jumping, but instead it’s someone with food. My stomach rumbles at the heavenly scent.

  I need to eat. Stat.

  Ollie lets the man in to place the food on the table, and as quick as he appeared, he’s gone.

  I star
t to head for the table but Ollie shakes his head and carries the food to the bed.

  “We’re on vacation,” he says, and the bed dips with his added weight. “We’re eating in bed.”

  He hands me one plate and he takes the other.

  I grin at what he ordered and raise a brow. “Grilled cheese sandwiches?”

  He shrugs and picks his up, biting into it. “It was the only thing I could read on the menu, okay?” he defends around a mouthful.

  I giggle-snort and take a bite of my sandwich. I try to suppress my moan but it’s pointless. “That’s the best damn grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had,” I tell Ollie.

  He nods in agreement, then pauses, setting down his sandwich. “Is it really, though? Or is it only because we’re so hungry that our brains are tricking us into thinking it’s the best grilled cheese?”

  I take another bite, chew, and swallow. “I don’t care if it’s my brain tricking me or not—all I know is it tastes good and I was about two seconds away from eating my arm.”

  He grabs my arm and playfully bites it. “A little bony,” he comments.

  I snatch my arm from his grasp and take a big bite of sandwich. It doesn’t take us long to finish our sandwiches and fries. I clean up while Ollie takes his turn showering.

  I grab my phone and shoot a quick text to Ari, thanking her and Liam for the trip, because I know she had to have had something to do with this too. Liam’s a guy; he wouldn’t have thought of all this on his own.

  After I send the text, I turn my phone off and climb into bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow my eyes grow heavy. I’ve always been a bubbly, full of energy person, but ever since the accident it hasn’t taken much to exhaust me so today has been beyond draining.

  Despite that, I find myself happy and excited for what’s to come.

  Something tells me this trip is going to change everything.

  I open my eyes and I’m not surprised to find Ollie staring straight at me. He likes to wake me up by staring at me.

  I call it creepy.

  He calls it romantic.

  For now, we’ll agree to disagree.

  “Morning,” he says, tapping his finger against my nose.

  “Morning,” I reply.

  Sunlight streams in through the open windows and I sit up. The sheets pool at my waist.

  “What are we going to do today?”

  Ollie rolls over onto his back and crooks an arm over his head, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Whatever we want.”

  “Machu Picchu?” I ask, bouncing the bed slightly as I crawl toward him. I grasp his arm, pulling it from his face. “Please, please?” I beg.

  He chuckles as his arm falls to the bed. “Sure—where is that from here?” His brows furrow.

  I bite my lip. “Good question.”

  “Also,” he continues, “can we talk about the fact that Picchu sounds like Pikachu? Do you think Machu Picchu is the home of Pokémon?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, humoring him. “I don’t know anything about Pokémon.”

  He rolls over onto his side, propping his head in his hand. “Eh, me either.”

  I grab my phone off the nightstand and turn it on. “I’m going to see what we need to do to get there. No point in asking the front desk. I’m sure they’ll tell us the most expensive way to go.”

  Ollie chuckles and slips from the bed, heading for the bathroom. “That’s true.”

  It doesn’t take me long to figure out what we need to do.

  “It looks like we need to take a flight to Cuzco—”

  Ollie laughs hysterically at this as he comes out of the bathroom with his hair pulled back. “Kuzco, as in the Emperor’s New Groove Kuzco?”

  “No,” I say slowly. “Cuzco as in the city Cuzco.”

  He shrugs. “I guess that makes more sense.”

  “Anyway,” I start again, “it looks like we can get a flight for about seventy dollars each, so that’s not too bad. The bus ride wouldn’t be much cheaper and takes twenty-one hours total to get there versus an hour-and-twenty-minute plane ride.”

  “Plane it is,” he agrees. “What else?”

  “From Cuzco we need to get to Aguas Calientes which is the town at the base of Machu Picchu and it sounds like we’ll have to take a train to do that—and then from there a bus to the actual site of Machu Picchu, and all of that will take a few hours.”

  “Sounds like we’ll need to stay the night, then?”

  “Yeah—should we go ahead and book a hotel?” he asks.

  “Ollie,” I say his name slowly. “This is us.” I run my fingers over the sheets. “We’ll figure it out when it comes time to need to sleep.”

  He chuckles. “I like that plan.”

  “Good.” I slide to the edge of the bed. “Now get ready, we have a plane to catch.”

  He raises a brow. “You already got the tickets?”

  I snort as I stand from the bed. “I bought them before you were finished peeing.”

  He shakes his head. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Hey, I love you and all. But I might kill you if I have to sit beside you on a bus for too long. Basically, I’m saving your life.” I pat his shoulder as I pass.

  I head to my suitcase and grab my clothes, choosing a pair of jean shorts and a simple blue top.

  “Saving my life, huh?” He rubs his jaw, raising a brow when I turn back.

  “Oh yeah.” I nod, laying my clothes on the bed and stripping out of my pajamas so I can change. “You’re kind of hyper—in case you didn’t know,” I joke, “and in a small closed up space for too long … the consequences could be dire.”

  “Uh-huh.” He nods, fighting a smile. “I see.”

  He gets dressed and we pack a change of clothes and other necessities in one duffle bag, figuring one will be easier to keep up with than two. We have a quick breakfast at the hotel, and then we call for a taxi to take us to the airport.

  We end up on a small plane that takes us to Cuzco, so the flight is bumpy and rocky and my stomach is churning by the time we land, but I’m not going to complain because we’re one step closer to our destination.

  We leave that airport and get another taxi to take us to the train station. It turns out not to be that far away, within walking distance, and we both feel stupid for not asking for directions. But then we quickly remember, we don’t speak the language and we’d probably have ended up lost.

  We pay for our train tickets, which end up costing us eighty dollars each for only one way. I find the price ridiculous, but I’m not about to give up on getting to Machu Picchu. That’d be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

  We have three hours to kill before the train leaves, so we head out of the building and into the city.

  Ollie reaches for my hand as we start down the street.

  I lean against his side, smiling. “Did you know that Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire?”

  He glances down at me. “Really? Wow. That’s fucking cool. How’d you know that?”

  I shrug. “I read a book about it. It’s also known for its archeological remains.”

  Ollie stops in the street. “Like dead people?”

  I laugh. “Yes, among other things, like pottery and houses.”

  “Wow,” he says again. “That’s cool.”

  “It’s weird to think how much the world has changed since those people were alive,” I comment. “They’d probably be horrified by the state of the world.” I frown.

  Ollie’s grip on my hand tightens and I know both our minds have gone back to that night. That night that we were once again reminded of the harsh realities of the world.

  “I think they’d be more horrified by selfies,” he jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Selfies?” I crack a grin. “What makes you say that?”

  We start walking again and he purses his lips in thought. “Think about it, they probably never got to clean themselves or brush their hair, so they wouldn’t understa
nd the vainness of some people. Speaking of …” He pulls his phone out and turns the camera on. He sticks his tongue out and I make a peace sign, holding my fingers up to my eye and scrunching my lips.

  He posts the photo and we continue on our exploration.

  We find a cute little soda-shop-looking place and duck inside the narrow building.

  The floors are small black and white tiles and seem to be laid down with no apparent pattern. The walls are painted a bright white and the small counter is bright red with a black counter.

  We order two drinks and pay, carrying our cups outside so we can sit on the sidewalk side by side.

  The sun blazes down on us and it doesn’t take me long to begin to sweat. I push my sunglasses up into my hair, sipping at my warm soda. The whole no ice thing seems too weird to me.

  Someone rides past us on a bicycle with flowers in their basket. One falls out, but they don’t notice and keep going.

  Ollie picks up the white flower and holds it out to me. I lean forward and sniff it, smiling up at him with a giggle.

  “Come here,” he coaxes.

  I lean even closer and he brushes my hair over my shoulder, tucking the stem of the flower behind my ear.

  “Cute.”

  I lean my head on his shoulder and sigh, taking another sip of my soda.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” he comments. “You say I never shut up but the same goes for you,” he jokes, tapping his knee against mine.

  I hold the plastic soda cup loosely between my fingers, watching the liquid slosh back and forth. “Just soaking in the moment.”

  His fingers press against my chin and he lifts my head. “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

  I look away, unable to bare his gaze as it strips me of my barriers. When you’ve known someone as long as we have each other, you know the person better than you know yourself. It becomes impossible to hide things, and that can be both a blessing and a curse.

  I breathe out a heavy sigh. “I want to believe that’s all it is,” I admit.

  “But it’s not?”

  I shake my head, looking away from him. I don’t want to lose control of my emotions right now. Not when we’ve been given such an amazing opportunity and we’re in such an extraordinary place in the world.