[POV: Narrator]
"Alright." Andi said, hands on hips in front of the bathroom mirror.
"Towel?" She flung her ready-folded, fuzzy blue and yellow striped towel over her shoulder. "Check."
"Flip-flops?" She looked down, stepping forwards into the bright pink flip-flops she'd set out moments prior. "Check."
"Beach bag?" She yanked the bohemian-style shoulder bag from the bathroom's door hook and flung it onto her free shoulder. Despite calling it a beach bag, she rarely ever took it to an actual beach. "Check."
"Snacks?" She grabbed the items one by one; Putting the chocolate-chip cookies, the ready-salted crackers and the tropical flavoured jelly beans into her 'beach bag' "Check."
"Goggles?" Was her final item on the checklist. She snatched them from the counter, stretching the blue bands and pulling them over her head. Adjusting them, she placed them over her eyes and once again placed her hands on her hips. "Check."
She gave herself a once-over, double checking everything mentally. She knew her idea to bring along her go-to black bathing suit everywhere would prove to be a fantastically-brilliant one, as well as her even better idea to bring the goggles.
"'Complementary morning swim in our hotel's new-and-improved indoor heated pool', here I come." Andi stated dramatically, whipping the bathroom door open and heading for her hotel room's door.
Without missing a beat, she flung the door open, goggles equipped.
This is when her fantastically-brilliant idea didn't seem so fantastically-brilliant.
Stood, inches away from her with an arm frozen and raised in a door-knocking position, was Oscar Piastri. He'd just landed in Baku that morning and had decided to visit Andi (since she was the entire reason he was there) but had anticipated a much more... normal greeting.
Well, in actuality, he hadn't really thought about what would happen once he'd gotten to Baku at all. But, whatever he would've expected definitely was not anywhere close to this.
Andi flinched at the sight of him - which was rather blue, thanks to her goggles' tint - and jumped backwards, gasping, struggling to breathe from shock. Her fuzzy towel subsequently fell from her shoulder, which she immediately grabbed back up again and wrapped around herself, painfully aware of her state.
"What the fuck?!?!" She yelled instinctively, before remembering the hotel's 'quiet in the hallways' policy. She then repeated herself, in a very aggressive yet quieter manner: "What the fuck?!?!"
Oscar, who was still trying to take in what he was seeing, stood stationary out in the hallway, hand still raised.
Andi then clocked that the blue hue she was seeing was not natural, and ripped her goggles from her head. "Oscar." She whisper-yelled through gritted teeth, clutching her towel and holding back the instinct she currently had to take her beach bag from her shoulder and pray that the contents of it were enough to injure a man when she whacked him with it. "Why. The fuck. Are you here."
For a girl who believed she was finally getting a break from everything, who believed for an entire 12 hours she was going to have a peaceful three weeks to herself and who was mere minutes away from enjoying the luxury of a 'Complementary morning swim in our hotel's new-and-improved indoor heated pool', her reaction was very toned down.
But, Oscar wasn't aware of that.
So, when his reply of "Ummm." didn't suffice, he was surprised and slightly offended to be told to 'piss off downstairs and wait at reception'.
The door slamming shut didn't leave him much of an option, either. So he waited. And waited, and waited... and waited... and waited some more... until—
"Oscar!" A voice echoed from across the room, making the boy turn towards it. He then spotted Andi, dressed much differently this time, quickly approaching. Her overall demeanour radiated anger; her eyes furious and her words even more so. "Why're you here?! You're not supposed to be here for another three weeks!" She asked him, anxiously peering around at all angles as she spoke in a hushed - yet still clearly angry - tone.
"I... got an earlier flight?" He tried to come up with something at least half-logical, since even he couldn't find a decent reason as to why he was there.
"Well no shit!" Andi sighed and rubbed her temple, knowing she was inching closer to yelling every time she spoke and needed to calm down. "And how did you even find me, anyway?! I know for a fact that the hotel doesn't release that kind of information to just anyone!"
Oscar could answer this one. "Oh. Your Dad told me." He said, as if that would please Andi. Spoiler alert, it didn't.
"You—" She held back another yell. "You've seen my dad?! You've— You've met my dad. Great! That's great." She flung her arms up in defeat. "Well! That's one thing crossed off of the list then, isn't it!" She smiled and chuckled. Oscar did too, as he thought she was being serious and was genuinely pleased that he'd gotten one hurdle out of the way already. He quickly found out that she wasn't, since her face changed back to its former angry countenance as she snapped: "Jesus christ, Oscar! When I said this would be over soon I didn't mean this soon!" Andi found a seat and sat in it, hunching over with her head in her hands.
A few minutes went by where Andi was silent. Oscar sat in the seat next to her, which was separated from hers with a small table, thankfully, and pondered on what to do. He hadn't expected her to be so annoyed by his presence, but then again he hadn't really expected anything. He wondered if handing her a mint would help, but then deduced that she'd probably whack it straight out of his hand.
After another few minutes of nothing but silence, Oscar figured he should say something, only he had no idea what.
'I'll look for return flights' was a strong contender, however he didn't feel like taking that journey for the second time if he could help it. He'd already lugged his suitcase up to his hotel room - which was in the same hallway as Andi, by the way. But he thought it best to not tell her that until he declared it safe to do so.
He sighed. It's pointless, he thought, rolling his head back and declaring the situation a lost cause. But then he looked down at his wrist, on which was Andi's hair tie that he still hadn't returned. He thought back to the days prior, and about how none of it's events had properly processed in his mind. It had all gone too quickly; so much had happened in the span of so little time that he hadn't had the peace to think. Until now. Until, in the silence of the hotel's reception, Oscar came up with a reason as to why he was there.
"Look," he said, "I know you don't want me here, but I just thought that - and don't get me wrong, I definitely didn't think all this through before I came here, and I'm really sorry that I spoke to your dad before you wanted me to, and—"
"Oscar." Andi mumbled into her hands, still hunched over but nonetheless listening.
"Oh, right. Sorry. I just thought that it would be smart to at least get to know each other before, like, everything starts." He said.
It took a while for Andi to reply, and the anticipation was killing the boy. Before she did, she straightened her back and rubbed her eyes, her face red from where her hands had been squished up against it for so long.
"I suppose..." She trailed off, breathing in deeply. "I suppose that's a good idea." She nodded, slowly accepting the fact she wasn't going to get her three weeks of peace. "We should probably know eachother before we date eachother, I guess. Especially if you find my dad without me knowing again." She slightly dug at him, but Oscar didn't pay attention to that.
"So... you're cool with it?" He asked, wanting to make sure she wasn't pretending again.
"Sure." She shrugged, "I'm cool with it." She got up from the chair. "But, I need ground rules."
"Oh, yeah, sure." Oscar raised from his chair as well, wanting to seem up for whatever she was about to say. However, one thing that his past experiences had proven, was that Andi and lists/plans/rules were never a good mix.
"Because my dad knows you're here, we'll only need to meet in the mornings and evenings since he's away for most of the day. That way, it'll seem like we're getting along well. And, it means you can spend your days doing whatever you want, and I can do whatever I want."
"Okay, yeah. That's fine by me." Oscar accepted the terms.
"Good." Andi replied dryly. Clearly, all the agitated feelings had worn her out. "Now, I'm going for that swim." She stated before turning and walking away from the boy, no good-bye or anything.
Oscar awkwardly stood and watched as she left, trying his best to refrain from shouting:
"Don't forget your goggles!"
But his humour got the best of him.
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