A Kiss Across Borders ✔

Four: Take a Chance

My heartbeat slowed down when the train started pulling out of the Monte Carlo Station. As Monaco flew by, Caroline was admiring the rugged Mediterranean Coast, and I was admiring her.

My Ray-Ban aviators helped me steal glances at her while I pretended to look out the window. I wished I could see those blue eyes hiding behind her sunglasses. What's she thinking about as the world flies by?

That thought seemed to make her look away from the window and towards me. It was almost like she heard it somehow. But I kept my head against the window, pretending like I wasn't just looking at her.

"What are you thinking about?" she smiled.

I was about to reply when Liam spoke up.

"My money's on food," he said, "or at least it should be."

No, but it's better than telling her: I was just thinking about how much I love when you smile at me.

"Is that all you think about?" Sofia asked, "we literally just ate."

"What can I say?" Liam shrugged, "I'm a growing boy. And no, it's not the only thing I think about," he smirked.

She blushed and shook her head. Sorry, Sofia, but you kinda walked into that one.

"Well," I sat up, "I was actually thinking about our food plans-"

"You mean how we don't have any besides, eat something in Italy," Liam interrupted, elbowing me in the shoulder.

"Yes, that," I rubbed the back of my head, "so what we should do is look up some restaurants in Ventimiglia, and we can decide which one sounds best and go with that one. Does that work for everyone?"

The collective nods were quickly followed by all of us intently looking at our phones. But hindsight's twenty-twenty and looking back, I probably should have just picked a place and left it at that.

"No," Sofia said to Liam, "I didn't like that one."

"What's wrong with it, babe?" he asked.

She blushed before giving her reason. "I don't know, I saw it when I was looking before, and it gave me a weird vibe-look at this one," she set her phone on the table, "the food looks amazing."

"I saw that one too," Caroline said, "but I don't think it had seating outside."

"Oh," Sofia reached for her phone to have a closer look.

"I'm with Caroline," Liam nodded, "we don't wanna be inside on a day like this. Plus I need to work on my tan."

"What about this one?" I said, setting my phone on the table, "it has a nice sitting area outside with a view of the sea."

"Their menu didn't look good, though," Sofia frowned.

This went on for another five minutes before I realised we weren't getting anywhere.

"Okay," I held up my hand, "new plan. Everybody just pick the restaurant you like best. Liam," I turned to him.

"Yes, sir."

"You still have that notebook in your backpack?"

"Coming right up," he said, unzipping his bag before handing me the notebook and a pen.

"So," I began, "I'll write the restaurants down on strips of paper," I grabbed Liam's hat off his head, "and we'll draw one out of the hat. Whichever one comes out, that's the one we're going with. Deal?"

"I'm game," Liam said.

"That works for me," Caroline nodded.

Sofia rested her chin in her hand, but didn't say anything.