Lara walked through the terminal feeling more nervous than ever. In just a few short moments she would be meeting the man she had been waiting her whole life to meet.
The doubt of whether he would like her clouded her mind as she chewed on her bottom lip. It wasn't every day that something like this happened and she just hoped it would go well. She couldn't afford it not to.
Swept up in her own little world she paid almost no attention to where she was going or to the people around her which in a busy air port is never a good thing to do. And before she knew it she had crashed into someone as she turned a corner sending her falling backwards.
Shutting her eyes she waited for the impact of hitting the ground to come but it never did. Opening her eyes she blinked as she realized that someone was holding her up… looking down at the hands that were resting on her waist saving her from hitting the hard ground below she gulped when she noticed that it was defiantly a man who was holding her up. Large hands led to a pair of tanned strong muscular arms obviously from working out a lot.
Bring her gaze up to his face she realized that he had asked her something while she had been checking him out so blatantly.
"Sorry what?" She could feel her cheeks warming up as she asked feeling completely stupid.
"Are you ok?" He chuckled grinning in amusement as he helped her stand up properly.
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm so sorry I ran into you I wasn't paying attention" She said blushing even deeper "Thank you for catching me"
"Don't worry about it I wasn't watching where I was going either" He said with a bright smile flashing her his perfectly straight white teeth "Its not a problem really"
"Ok well thank you again I guess" The nerves that she had been feeling only minutes ago started to come back stronger than before but this time for a different reason.
"No problem" He said as he bent down to get her fallen bags that she hadn't realized she had dropped. The only one that was still securely over her shoulder was her camera equipment bag. If she had dropped that then she would be in trouble.
"So where to?" He asked as he lifted the bags
"The exit wherever that might be, I'm a bit lost actually" She admitted cursing herself silently knowing her face must be so red right now.
"Your heading in the wrong direction actually" He chuckled obviously finding her embarrassment amusing.
"Oh" She said nervously playing with the ends of her long dark brown hair that reached to her a little over halfway down her back. She was sure it was looking like a tangled mess right now after a sixteen hour flight only something else to add to the long list of embarrassing things she had done in the past five minutes.
"Come on I'll show you the way out, I was on my way anyway" He said still smiling as he began to walk in the direction she had just come from.
"I'm Anthony by the way" He said as she followed him
"I'm Lara. Thanks for this you really didn't have to help me with my bags" She said deciding to smile up at him.
He was tallish probably around 6' 5" or 6' 6" but compared to her measly 5' 5" he towered over her. His skin was tanned whether from the sun or just naturally she didn't know but it suited him and only made him more handsome. If she was honest with herself he was probably one of the most handsome guys she had ever had the pleasure of meeting.
"So where you from? Your accent is defiantly not one I have heard before" He asked obviously curious.
"I'm Australian" She said "I didn't realize I had an accent?"
"Yeah you defiantly do but its cute" He admitted as if it was completely normal to call someone you had just met cute. Well it was for him anyway.
"So are you here for a holiday or what?" He asked as he lead her into another corridor
"Sort of. I am here to meet my father I have a visa to stay for a year and I can become a citizen if I like it here. See how things go I guess" She said smiling up at him.
"Well I hope you stay" He said as they stopped and it wasn't until then that she noticed they were in the entrance foyer. She could feel her cheeks heating up again as he pulled out his phone. He lifted it and snapped a picture of her.
"What's your number?" He asked not even giving her an option to say no as he placed the phone in her hands.
Looking down at the phone she saw a picture of herself and surprisingly it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Punching in her name and number in the section under the photo she handed it back before pulling her own out and doing the same to him.
"I'll call you your going to need at least one friend while your hear" He said as he put his phone away
"Do you need me to carry these somewhere else for you?" He asked gesturing to the bags at their feet as he readjusted his own bag on his shoulder.
"No really its fine thank you for helping me" She insisted as his phone started to ring.
"Sorry hold on one sec" He said as he pulled out his phone and answered the call.
"Hey" He said as he turned slightly to look out the glass windows that made up the walls.
"Oh ok… hang on a sec Ian" He said taking the phone away from his ear slightly and turning back to her "Your sure you don't need a lift somewhere?"
"No its fine really I'll just get a taxi" She said as she reached for her luggage.
"What no, come on I'll give you a lift really its no problem" He said shaking his head at her suggestion "Cabs cost an arm and a leg to get back to town this far out. Where are you going?"
Usually she would have insisted she was fine and that she didn't need help but ever since she had asked for help off her Dad she found herself accepting help more and more when it was offered to her.
So the next thing she knew she was accepting his offer but not before she insisted on giving them fuel money and then he was carrying her bags once again out into the parking lot where a bright blue car was waiting for them.
When they got closer to the car another guy got out of the car she assumed that this was Ian who Anthony had been talking to on the phone. He
"Ian this is Lara. Lara this is my roommate Ian" Anthony introduced them and despite the slightly confused look on Ian's face he was warm and welcoming as he smiled brightly upon hearing her accent and offered to help with her bags.
"So where to?" Ian asked as she buckled her seatbelt in the back up
Anthony rattled off the address she had told him earlier to Ian as they pulled out of the car park.
"Oh that's not to far from our place" Ian said but she paid no attention to their friendly conversation that they were trying to include her in because the nerves she had been feeling this whole time were starting to turn into a panic attack.
On top of the fact that she was going to meet her father in the next thirty minutes or so on top of the fact that they were now driving on what to her was the wrong side of the road was freaking her out more than she had thought it would.
Every sharp turn they made just felt wrong and scared her she was just waiting for them to crash.
"Hey Lara you ok?" Anthony asked as he turned around in his seat to look at her.
Her usually tanned skin must have looked ghostly because he instructed Ian to stop the car straight after seeing her face. As Ian pulled over Anthony was already undoing his seatbelt so he could get out and get into the back seat with her.
As they started driving again Anthony reached over to take her hand in his giving it a tight squeeze.
"What's wrong?" He asked quietly so Ian couldn't hear
"We are on the wrong side of the road" She gulped shutting her eyes once again as they turned a sharp corner again.
She could feel him staring at her but it didn't last long before his gaze turned back to the front.
"Dude she is from Australia drive a bit slower she isn't used to driving on this side of the road" He instructed feeling stupid as he gave her hand another squeeze that she returned.
"Thanks… Its not only that though" She admitted, "This is the first time I will have ever met my Dad… I'm nervous"
"He will love you" He insisted as he lent over unhooked her seatbelt quickly and sliding pulling her into the middle seat before hooking her back in.
Usually having basically a total stranger show her so much affection would weird her out but with Anthony it seemed kind of natural and right. So she let him pull her into his arms giving her the much needed comfort they both knew she needed.
"I know we just met but I know that he would be stupid not to love you" He said quietly as he played with her hair.
"Thanks Anthony" She whispered into his chest feeling better now that the car was going slower and she couldn't actually see outside anymore as well as the fact that she had a pair of strong arms wrapped around her.
It was another twenty minutes before they pulled up outside the address she had given them. They both helped her with her bags Ian giving her a friendly smile apologizing for driving to fast and telling her he hoped he saw her again soon before he got back in the car. Anthony however helped her take her bags up to the front porch.
"You sure you're going to be alright doing this alone?" He asked as he looked down at her
"Honestly no but I think I need to do this alone. Thank you for everything and I'll come up with something to repay you with for the lift seeing as you wouldn't take my money" She said
"Don't worry about it" He said "Repay me by calling me tonight just so I know your ok"
"Ok" She nodded before she did something unexpected she threw her arms around him in a tight hug that thankfully he returned.
"I'm glad I met you" She whispered as they pulled apart lingering for longer than necessary.
"Same here" He said as he smiled before saying goodbye and walking back towards the car. She watched them drive off before she turned back to the door in front of her.
The house was flash looking much flasher than anything she was used to but not wanting to be standing out in the heat any longer she lifted her hand and knocked on the hard wood.
When the door opened she was greeted by a man that was the splitting image of her simply a male version.
"Hi Dad" She said brightly after seeing his aged face light up upon realizing who she was.