Disco Balls and Plane Tickets
Chapter 8
Melissa: “Hey, Melissa. Hold on a sec. I got something for ya,” Spencer grabbed my arm before I could run to the next car, where our cabin was. Something? For me? I was puzzled. What did he mean? Rachel and I followed the guys back to their cabin. When we got there, Spencer rummaged through his hunter green backpack withdrawing a medium sized square book. He handed it to me. “I found it back in Nice and thought of you,” he told me. I ran my fingers over the cover of the book, Gothic Cathedral and Castles. I couldn’t believe it. How sweet. “Omg! That’s so sweet, Spence. You didn’t have to, really.” He laughed as I gave him a hug, “it’s nothing, really. I just remembered how fascinated you were with those Cathedrals and thought you’d like it.” “I still think it’s sweet, at least let me pay ya back,” I told him. He refused to allow it, “after all, no one deserves it more.” “Thank you.” Rachel looked at her watch and nudged me. “Well, we’ll see you guys later. Thank you so much, Spence. Bye, Bob,” I followed Rachel to the door. “Anytime, bye guys,” Spencer told us. “Bye, tell Heather I said hey,” Bob yelled from behind him. “Sure thing, see ya!” We hobbled back to our cabin singing random songs while swaying from wall to wall, thanks to the train’s jerky movement, as I clutched onto my new book. We pulled down the extra bed and got ready for some shuteye. “I can’t believe he got you that book,” Rachel fluffed her pillow. “I know it’s so sweet. Got any toothpaste?” “Yep,” she showed me the tube. “Thank you,” I beamed. “No prob. It was sweet, but I think Spence has a teeny crush on you. Really, Melissa. Why do you think he’d just do something for you like that outta the blue.” Spence didn’t like me like that surely, right? At least I hoped not. “No way. Me and Spence go way back. He’s my best guy friend. I could never see him like that. Besides, I have Taylor, who I love very much. He was just trying to be nice.” “Whatever you say, Lissa. Just make sure he knows about Taylor,” she got into bed and pulled the covers around her neck. “Even if he doesn’t know about Taylor, I wouldn’t let anything happen,” I switched out the light and felt around for my bed. “Ok, goodnight,” Rachel mumbled. “Sweet Dreams.” Sunlight filled the tiny train cabin as we got dressed and moved about our tiny living space packing. “Rise and Shine!” The two of us burst into Heather and Lillie’s cabin expecting to find two sleeping girls. The room was empty with the exception of the two large bags and two smaller backpacks. “They’ve disappeared, oh no,” I joked. “They can’t be up already,” Rachel was also in a bit of shock. We stood for a moment in total disbelief before heading into the packed dinning car for breakfast and scooting into a booth with Heather and Lillie. “What took ya’ll so long,” Heather asked as I took a seat next to her. Rachel rolled her eyes, “Nothing, just in shock that ya’ll finally realized there was a world outside of your hotel room…or train cabin…whatever.” We laughed. “So what’s up,” Lillie started. “Well, not much. Melissa got a book from Spencer last night. I think he has a little crush on her,” she giggled. Their eyes widened, “really?” “Not, not really. He was just being sweet. Oh, Heather, Bob wanted me to tell you he said hi,” I defended myself. “Aw…,” Heather beamed. She had had a crush on Bob for a long time. “Melissa, what’s so bad about Spence? He’s really hot and he’s a total sweetie,” Lillie chimed in. “There’s nothing wrong with him, but I’ve got a boyfriend that I love more than anything and I don’t like Spencer like that.” Heather sighed, “I wish Spencer had a crush on me.” I rolled my eyes; she was just boy crazy period. Breakfast ended and we reached Venice, heaving our heavy bags into the busy depot below. Mr. Anderson explained the schedule and we boarded the bus heading towards our hotel. Three days in Venice, including today. Our performance, instead of being the last day was to be tonight, but we already knew that. It was in the itinerary we received a long time ago. We tottered in a line upstairs to prepare for another packed house.
Chapter 9