"Sam," Carly repeated with exasperation in her voice, "Do you really expect Ms. Briggs not to notice you're skipping the whole day?"
"YES!" Sam repeated for the eighth time that morning, "Just stick to the plan and everything will be ok."
Carly sighed apprehensively. "Fine. Well, have fun on your date today!"
"Thanks," Sam said, as she and carly headed down to the lobby to meet Freddie and Rico.
After he left, Sam had called Rico later that night to tell him the plan they had come up with. Sam would stay in the lobby while Ms Briggs Called attendance, and then sneak off with Rico instead of boarding the bus for their daily activities. Rico met Sam and Carly with hugs at the lobby, and put his arm around Sam as Ms Briggs recited attendance. As soon as attendance was clear, Ms Briggs Directed everyone towards the bus, and in the commotion, Sam and Rico snuck out of view and hid behind a Decorative Plant. As soon as all the students had left, Sam and Rico watched through the glass doors of the hotel as the bus pulled out of the parking lot and into the busy streets of Barcelona.
"So," Sam asked with a sly grin on her face, "where will you be taking me today?"
Rico Smirked at her and said, "Out." They giggled and held hands as Rico led Sam through the parking lot to his car. He owned a metallic canyon red Lotus Elise with an Automatic Convertible Hard-top. Sam and Rico both headed towards the Right side of the car, until Sam realized that the passenger seat was on the other side! She blushed a little as Rico looked at her suspiciously, and she mumbled something about "not being used to cars" as she made her way around the back to the left side of the car. Sam flinched a little as she contorted and squeezed herself into the passenger seat of the tiny, European car. Rico arched an eyebrow at her and said, unassumingly, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Sam said falsely, "Nothing. I'm really excited!"
"Awesome," Rico said, as he turned on the car and peeled out of the hotel parking lot onto the left side of the street, which got on Sam's nerves significantly until she realized everyone was doing it, remembering that in Europe people drove on the opposite side of the road.
"You're awfully quiet today," Rico said inquiringly to Sam.
"Sorry," She said with a tone of embarrassment in her voice, "I'm just trying to get used to… like… everything is really different here," she finished lamely. "So where exactly ARE we going?" She said, trying to make up for her lack of anything interesting to say.
"To a downtown café," Rico said, "That will change your life. You like red meat, right?"
"More than anything!" Sam said, perking up instantly. "How did you know?"
"Lucky Guess," Rico responded smoothly. His coy smile shifted to a warmer one and said, "I know you're going to love this place." And before Sam knew it, they had pulled up to the café, which was located on the second floor of the building they arrived at. Rico led Sam through the doorway and up an elevator to a huge room with windows everywhere, an enormous glass ceiling, and cast iron tables with soft-looking high chairs. The hostess greeted them in Spanish, and Sam heard Rico say something she didn't understand, but caught the last word of the sentence, which was ventana.
The hostess said something along the lines of "muy bien, por aqui," and led them to a table at the far end of the room. Their table was the highest in the room, and Sam had to climb a little to get up onto her seat. Before she could wonder aloud why everything was so tall, however, she was struck by the gorgeous view out their Sparklingly Clear window. She could see all of Barcelona, with its skyscrapers; it's intersections in the roadways, the countless cars driving along the streets, and the countless Terracotta houses. For a few seconds, Sam just stared out the window, awestruck, until Rico said softly: "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yea," was all Sam could muster, still staring at the seemingly endless sun-drenched scenery. After a few seconds more, Sam made an effort to wrench her head away from the view and focus on Rico. As she looked at him, she saw that he had already picked up his menu and began browsing. Sam did the same, only to find that she could not read any of the menu, for it was mostly in Spanish, and some of it in another unrecognizable language, which looked somewhat like Italian.
"Hey, umm…" Sam started to speak. "Is there any way I can get this in English?"
"Ay!" Rico looked up from his menu with a slightly shocked expression on his face, "I forgot that you guys aren't good with Spanish! Sorry, they only print the menu in Spanish and Catalan." Rico paused for a second, looking apologetic. "If you want, I could order for you?" He suggested.
Sam smiled. "That would be wonderful," she said, and put down her menu and Rico did the same. "Do you know what you want to drink?" he asked her.
"Umm… do they have peppy cola here?"
Rico paused for a second. "They only have diet peppy cola… is that ok?"
"Yea, it's fine," Sam said.
"Awesome," Rico said, pushing their menus to the side of the table. "So Sam… let's talk about you."
"Ok," Sam said in a tone of voice a bit softer than usual.
"So… you and Freddie…"
"Yea?" what about him?"
"I just wonder about you two. You guys are friends, clearly, but…you treat him like he is a dishrag?"
"Well…" Sam looked down for a second as her pitch dropped. "I mean, yea, that pretty much sums it up. He's a nice kid and everything, but, I don't know, I just… feel the need."
"Where does it come from?" Rico said, leaning forward and gazing intently into her eyes. "What?" Sam asked defensively. "The need," Rico replied calmly. "Where does it come from?"
"I, I… I can't explain it!" Sam shot back. She was not at all angry with Rico, but for some reason beyond her understanding her voice had shot up angrily. Before she could continue, however, their waitress came over to them and said something Sam did not follow. Before she could say anything, however, Rico gave her a short speech, which Sam also could not understand, although she caught the words "Peppy Cola" in there somewhere, and Rico handed the waitress both their menus.
Sam looked at Rico with interest. "What did you order for me?" Rico gave her his coyest smile yet and said, "It's a surprise. Why so soon to change the topic?" Sam looked out the window and sighed. "Idk," she responded, "he just…" Sam sighed, unable to finish her thoughts. "They way that he… UGH" Sam said, completely lost for words.
"Having second thoughts?" Rico asked her softly, abandoning the coyness for a soft, intimate, almost condescending but not in a rude way tone that you might hear from a psychologist.