Page 14 of All at Once

“I probably wouldn’t have even told him about you if it were me.” I take that way more personally than I should. He clarifies, “No it’s not like that. Just for the chances that it might turn into shit. I wouldn’t tell anyone until it’s something.”

That seems reasonable. But my unrealistic expectations still make me feel a little let down. “So the fact that he didn’t tell you much doesn’t mean anything then?” I ask, wishing I didn’t sound this insecure, but I don’t know how any of these things work.

“No it doesn’t.” Luca scoffs when he sees my face light up. “Did that make you feel better?”

“Why?” I meet his eyes that look strikingly bluer now that we’re directly in the sun. “Were you lying?”

“No I wasn’t lying,” he says, surprised by my question.

“Then why did you just ask that?” I say.

“Because another stranger’s opinion really holds that much impact on how you feel?” His brows raise. “That’s not the impression of you that I got yesterday.”

So he thought that I’m more confident than I really am.Interesting.

I reason, “You got that impression because you wouldn’t stop overreacting.”

“I’d like to see how you would’ve reacted if you were me,” he challenges.

“I wouldn’t hold a grudge for something so insignificant.”

“I don’t hold grudges,” he replies defensively.

“Yeah, I can tell.”

A second later, Luca looks down at his phone and sighs. “Great.”

“Now what?” I say.

Still focused on his screen, he explains, “No. It’s Sofia. She just texted me saying that she can’t make it anymore.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all Luca’s idea of a joke. “Was she ever going to join us?” I ask. “Or did you just make that up?”

“Excuse me?” He looks up at me, annoyed. “Why on Earth would I do that? That would mean spending more time withyou.”

“I don’t know? To ruin my plans for the day.”

“You had plans for today?” He scoffs. “You just got here.”

“Icould’vehad plans,” I rephrase.

“Fine. You want to read the texts then for yourself?” He hands me his phone, noticeably more frustrated.

I read the screen with pure confusion and then look up at him. “It’s all in Spanish. How am I supposed to understand any of this?”

He narrows his eyes at me, replying with distaste, “Maybe becauseI’m Spanish? And maybe you should have learned some of it before you traveled here expecting us all to understand English.”

Okay. He has a point there.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Luca says, “You’re welcome to go back to the resort if you want.”

“That would mean walking all the way back by myself. I’ll just stay.” When he doesn’t reply and instead just keeps walking, I saywhat I should have asked before we left the resort, “So where are we going?”

“Errands,” Luca answers bluntly.

I match his tone. “I didn’t askwhatwe’re doing. I askedwhere.”

“So you didn’t bother to learn our language but memorized the map of our entire country now?” he mocks, raising a brow at me.

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