ASMTD Ch. 07

June 18

"Is that seriously all you have?" Kate asks through bloodshot eyes, looking at the backpack. Last day in Dublin and baby girl went hard.

"It wouldn't be backpacking if I had more, would it?"

The morning is cold and unsurprisingly wet, the sun barely breaking through the dense clouds. Half our group is already downstairs checking out, talking about how it all passed too soon. I'm the only one continuing the adventure, traveling alone through Europe.

I go through two polar state: heart pounding excitement and crippling fear. Currently the former is winning out, but I have no doubt the latter will return.

It does as I check my watch and see that I officially have less than four hours until my flight. Will the bus be on time? How long will it take the bus to get from the airport? Will the flight be delayed because of the crappy weather?

I stride outside, needing fresh air. It's only sprinkling, the drops tickling my nose. Descending the steps, I lean on the wrought iron gate and sigh.

"Morning, Rai."

Startled, I jump, placing a hand to my breast. Leo stands on the sidewalk in faded jeans and a grey pullover, massive safety orange backpack resting on his shoulders. Dude looks hungover as fuck. "Late night partying?"

He shakes his head. "Bought some spirits, but as I understand, you can't put those in your carry on."

"So finish them off?"

"Or let them go to waste?" He laughs and rubs his eyes.

"Leo, what are you doing here?"

"Traveling to Belgium on the . . ." he whips out his phone and scrolls for the information. "11:15AM flight to Brussels. I assume that's the one you're on."

"And how'd you figure that out?"

"I texted Em and asked. She said it was either that one or the 7:20AM flight, but I couldn't see you on that."

"Em?" That heifer.

"I'm coming with you, Rai."

"Oh no, you're not."

My eyes stray to the door. If someone comes out and sees him what will I say? Leo is just passing by with a backpack at nine in the morning for no reason. And we just happen to be on the same flight. No big.

"Stalk much?"

"Pysyvät kaukainen, much?"

I wait for him to translate or say something else. Finally, he sighs and scratches his head. "If you really don't want me to go, I won't."

I was—am—so ready to say goodbye. Because this moment won't last. It's not in the nature of our relationship. Different nationalities, different ethnicities, different ages, different lives. I already time stamped our Best Used By date. Yet here he is, making promises both of us know he couldn't keep.

But I'm 22, watch way too many rom-coms and still have Dirty Dancing on VHS. Launching myself at Leo, I let pragmatism and common sense pool at my feet. These are my mistake years, my risk taking years. "Don't go. Don't leave if you don't have to. Come with me."

***

The bus ride is less than fun, filled with worrisome stares from my teachers, some posturing from the guys in the group, and wonder and excitement from the ladies. Questions hit Leo and me at a mile per second as we sit, side by side, his arm tossed casually around my shoulder and my hand on his thigh.

"Is he going on the whole trip with you?" Kate asks from across us. She's looking at me like I've grown another head and started speaking Dutch.

"That's the plan," Leo replies smoothly, before turning back to his conversation with Ivan and James. They're discussing James Joyce, interjecting tidbits about the writing program we're all apart of back in the states. He already knows about it since I told him, but he listens politely anyway.

"He says so," I tell my friend with a roll of my eyes, "But we'll see. For right now he's just following me to Brussel."

Kate mouths, When did this happen?

What? I mouth back.

She gestures to the both of us. You alone with him for like three weeks backpacking? She makes a face. Are you sure he's safe?

With me? I'm not that crazy.

You know what I mean.

Who knows. I shrug, and draw Leo's attention back to me. He smiles before kissing the top of my head and returning to his conversation.

Kate's eyes widen and she nudges Em to get her attention, but Kate is already fully enrapted in my little soap opera. After all, she's the one who helped the ball get rolling. You can't elope. I have to be at the wedding.

I give her a look.

Okay, okay. Em holds he hands up even as a smile tugs at the corners of your lips. But you gotta name your first born after me. It's only fair.

I give her another look and this one sends he into a stomach-clenching laughing fit. Before Kate or Em can say another word, the airport comes into view and Zayne and Joanna tell us to get our things. The bus comes to a stop far too fast and we all shuffle off, entering the airport as a wave.

Em and Kate are the first ones to wrap me in a hug, wishing me good luck and telling me to be safe while shooting looks at Leo.

"You know my uncle's a SEAL," Em stage whispers, cocking an eyebrow at Leo. "He can have anyone you want killed and make it look like an accident."

"Em," Kate begins, "he'll just make Leo disappear. There's no crime if there's no body."

The two smile maniacally as I wrap them in a hug. We sway side to side, nearly tipping each other over before we pull apart. Kate's eyes drift over my shoulder to the Ye Olde Irish Pub complete with cobbled stones and the recorded song of authentic music. "One last legal pint. Do you mind Joanna?"

The director's face pulls into a frown before she shrugs. "Last time. If anyone wants a drink, get it now."

The rest of the group leaves, but Zora, Em, and Ivan stay behind. "Sure you're okay? I mean, I know I sort of causes this, but I didn't really expect-" Em asks after a minute.

Punching her arm, I slap on my brightest smile. "Dude, it's me. No worries. If doing New York by myself didn't scare the living daylights out of me, Europe's going to be a piece of cake."

"True," she nods sagely before pulling me in for a final fierce hug.

Ivan and Zora nod there head at me when Em finally steps aware. If they were any warmer I'd be in hell. My eye roll is suppressed by sheer force of will as Joanna and Zayne approach and shake my hand. "It was great having you in class, Raiqah." She still butchers the hell out of my name with her "rake-a," but I grin and bear it.

Zayne is more warm with a firm handshake and a kiss on either side of my cheeks. His words come in fluent, beautiful Arabic, "I wish you safe travels, my dear."

"Thank you, professor. Same to you. Hopefully they'll have some interesting movies on the plane."

"I'm more interested in what documentaries they have." Shooting Leo a wary look, he adds, "But please be careful, Raiqah. I don't want to wake up one day and hear that anything bad has happened."

"I will... try to make sure that doesn't happen."

His smile is indulgent at best as he moves away to gather the students at the bar. Eventually, the others come back, Kate swaying a bit with a lopsided grin on her face. After another round of quick hugs and farewells, they leave for their own terminal. I wave to them before they disappear from view.

The reality of my situation sinks in a moment later. Three weeks alone with a man I've only known on and off for that same amount of time. Smart.

"Having doubts?" Leo asks, placing a hand at the small of my back and navigating us to the Aer Lingus check in kiosks.

I laugh, but it's too high and strained. "Oh, yeah. But it's fine. They'll pass."

***

"Excuse me, we've arrived," a soft voice says, pulling me out of my sleep. I blink up at the flight attendant as he smiles. "Bonjour. Hello. We've arrived in Brussels. Can you wake your partner?"

I push up only to realize I'm pushing on something—er, someone. No, someone's something. Snatching my hand away, I shoot a mortified glance at the flight attendant before shaking Leo. "We're here. Wake your ass up."

Leo mumbles something in Finnish, before opening his mouth and letting out a jaw-cracking yawn. He stretches as much as he can in the seat, muscles shaking.

While he slowly wakes, I leap up and rummage through the overhead bin for my duffel and backpack. I find his and put it on the seat. "I'm so sorry about this," I mumble to the flight attendant the whole time, feeling like an idiot, still remembering Leo's warmth.

After what feels like an eternity, we make it off the flight and through the airport to the train. "Where's your hotel?" I ask, settling into a seat on the train with my duffell between my legs and my backpack on my lap.

"Didn't plan that far ahead. Figured I could . . . What's the word? Nukkua.We were just doing it."

I blush and whisper, "Fuck?"

His eyes widen and he laughs loudly. "No, no. On the plane."

"Sleep?"

"Yeah, I could sleep with you." His voice drops, "We could fuck too."

I ignore the second part and address the first, "I selected an all girl's room. Not sure if they even have space."

Leo leans back into the seat, closing his eyes. "You didn't make this trip easy for me, kultaseni."

I don't respond. Instead, I keep a look out for our stop. Following the directions I screenshot on my phone, we take another train and a bus to the Auberge des 3 Fontaines hostel. I learn something new on the way: Leo speaks French.

"So how many languages do you know?" I ask casually as we walk into what looks like a giant recreation center.

"Six. Though I'm only fluent in three of them."

I miss a step, but recover fast. Leo uses rapid fire French with the receptionist and before I know it we're walking up a flight of stairs with two key cards and he's explaining that we have a room to ourselves but the bathrooms we share.

After we walk across a cat walk and up two more flights we arrive at a white door in a sterile blue hallway that looks more like a hospital than a hostel. The room is sparse, two ikea style beds, closets, and desks. The walls are white, and the blue tile from the hallway carries into the room.

"Cozy," I murmur, throwing my bag on the desk to the right. Leo follows suit with the opposite side, but after a moment he begins to rearrange furniture, namely putting the two beds together.

I watch him, not offering an ounce of help. "I don't think that's going to work."

"If it doesn't work, we get a new hostel."

"Because sleeping apart one night is the end of the world?"

"Two," he corrects, flopping back on the bed. "And yes, it is."

He pats the newly formed double bed that looks about as inviting as sheets on cardboard. I sit and lean back against one pillow. "So."

"So."

"Hungry?"

"Starving. But very tired."

"Me too." I think for a second. "Vending machine dinner?"

He sits up and balances his head on his fist. "You read my mind."

"Do you need to work first or something?"

"No. This is our time. Now let's go eat."

A blush creeps up my neck. Out of everything he's said the spending time together is what makes me blush. "Bossy."

"You wouldn't like me any other way."

We pull together our loose change and raid a few vending machine before climbing back into bed, popping open my laptop, and looking for a movie on Netflix. It doesn't take us nearly as long as I think it should, and before I know it we're watching a French rom-com about a typist and her boss winning typing competitions and falling in love. We make it 15 minutes into the movie before we run out of food. Halfway through, we run out of energy and fall asleep.

The last thing I remember is the actress posing as her boss's fiancee at Christmas dinner and Leo wrapping his arm around my waist and nipping my neck.

June 19

We wake up way too late, way too hungry, and way too horny. But we have our priorities in order. Leo settles between my legs, my ankles on his shoulders, his mouth on my clit, and proceeds to very slowly lick and suck and nibble. I come twice before he's finished.

Popping a messy head and wet mouth up from between my legs, the man gives me a lopsided grin. I return it as I reach for his dick. It's hard, pre-come making my fingers slippery as I pump him. "We doing this or what?"

"Rai—jumalauta! Let me get on a condom."

I release him long enough for him to climb off the bed, fish out a string, rip one off and roll it down his cock. He's hot and hard and completely mine for this moment. My fingers trail down my stomach to my clit and I stroke myself as I watch him groan and grunt and fight to fit himself into the plastic. God, he's big and sexy and—

My eyes roll shut as I push two fingers inside.

Sex in romance novels and on TV has nothing on the real shit. It isn't finessed and sexy. God, it's messy and uncoordinated as hell and fun. So much fun.

"Don't you dare come," Leo growls, finally figuring out that I'm not a patient woman.

I push harder, reach for my nipples and tug until I gasp and bite my lip. He's right there. Hands on my hips, teeth on my other nipple, forcing my fingers out with his cock. But they don't go far. Slipping up, I pinch my clit and tumble into another orgasm, clenching down hard.

"Such a filthy girl."

"Woman," I correct.

"Mine," he returns.

He gives up the pretense of going slow and slams home, pushing my hips into the bed. I'm split open further than I've ever been and he doesn't give a shit, just pushes me more until I don't think I can ever break because he should have broken me by now.

I rear up and bite deep into his shoulder as he digs his nails into my thigh. Blood coats my tongue as he comes, mixing with the sweat and horribly bad morning breath and amazing orgrasms we've had.

"You make me forget myself," Leo says, leveraging himself off me.

"That just means I've done a good job."

I hop out of bed and rummage through my backpack. Pulling out a throw-on dress and wrapping a towel around myself, I grab my toiletry bag and head to the bathroom. Leo wanders in as I move to a shower stall. Looks filter across his face. Do I go into the shower with her? Would that be weird?

To make sure he doesn't get any ideas I lock the stall door, but not before I whip off my towel and give him an eye full.

***

Brussels is beautiful and chaotic. We hit up waffle stands, stop in bars for beer, and sneak onto a city tour in French that Leo helpfully translates for me. We follow them to a chocolate factory and buy way too many truffles and candies. Around eight we stop and eat at a hole in the wall burger joint where we meet a pair of Aussies. Four drinks later, we end up at a nightclub dancing to a beat that I swear hasn't changed in two hours.

"Enjoying yourself?" Leo yells behind me, grinding his dick into my ass. He's been hard for at least half an hour and I wonder when he's going to do something about it.

"Yeah!" I shout back, that one word slurred to hell. Laughing, I let the music take me again, and before I know it the music's taken him too.

The Aussie's come back, stumbling drunk with their clothes skewed. They speak in English, but I have no clue what they're saying. Doesn't even matter. I laugh and nod.

One of the guys, Len, leans forward and places his hand on my thigh. My eyes fly open to see Leo cracking Len's fingers back and growling something dangerously close to "Touch her and I'll fucking kill you."

The night club doesn't seem so fun anymore, and the cool Aussies don't seem so safe. I grab Leo's hand, wave bye to the men, and leave. We catch a cab back to the hostel, but Leo doesn't say anything. I think he's fuming, but honestly I'm a little too drunk to care.

"Rai," he says when we climb from the cab and walk to our hostel.

"Mm-hmm?"

"We're taking a shower when we get inside. You smell like those assholes. "

I giggle. My you're-way-too-drunk cue. "Then what? You gonna screw your scent into me?"

He responds against my ear, palm covering my breast, and I have no clue how he got so close without me noticing. "I'm going to try."