"Thanks for taking me to the airport, Erik." Eliza says.
I smile and nod. "Of course, liebe." I look around the airport trying to see if I can find this 'Jason' guy. Eliza didn't give an excellent description of him, though. All she said was, 'He's tall and has light brown hair. Oh! And he likes the color green, so he might be wearing a green shirt.'
Lots of help, right?
"Did his plane even land yet?" Getting tired of looking at all the guys wearing a green shirt, I decide to ask an important question.
She bites her lip, looking at me and then laughs nervously. "Haha, uh, yeah, I don't know."
My eyes widen and I look at her. "Eliza! How are we supposed to be looking for Jason if we don't even know if his plane landed yet?" She shrugs. "Stay here and keep looking, I'll go ask."
She crosses her arms. "Why can't I go ask?"
I copy her move and give her smirk. "Because you don't speak German, and yes, they speak English, but I have no idea how Jason looks like just in case he's already here."
She opens her mouth to protest but then closes it. "Yeah, you're right."
"Of course I am. Now stay."
I walk towards a desk labeled 'information.' I walk behind a man and wait for my turn. I get called up and I walk forward.
The lady smiles at me and I smile back. "Entschuldigen Sie, aber wissen Sie, ob sich das Flugzeug aus Charlottesville, Virginia gelandet ist?" (Excuse me, but do you know if the airplane from Charlottesville, Virginia has landed?)
She nods. "Einen Moment bitte." (One moment, please.)
She begins to type on the computer and clicks on something. She looks up at me and shakes her head. "Nein, tut mir leid, aber es kam nicht. Es wird in 30 Minuten landen." (No, I'm sorry, but it did not. It will land in 30 minutes.)
I nod. "Danke." I walk back towards Eliza who is talking to some guy. It can't be Jason because, one, he doesn't have light brown hair, two, he's not wearing green like Eliza suggested, and three, Jason's flight hasn't landed. I make my way over to her and put on a serious face.
"Oh, um, thanks but no. I can't, I have to pick up my cousin from the airport." I hear Eliza say.
The guy moves his hand on her face and moves a strand of hair away. Eliza doesn't flinch or move away. "Oh, come on, Liza. One date. A beautiful girl like you deserves to see around."
Judging by his English accent, he's British. I feel my blood boil.
"My name is Eliza, not Liza." She says in a small voice.
I decide to speak up and I put my arm around her waist. "I'm back, babe."
Eliza looks at me and I give her a small glare. The British guy looks at me, if looks could kill...
"And who are you?" He asks me.
"Me? Oh, nobody, just Eliza's husband, that's all." I say.
"Husband? Liz-I mean Eliza, never mentioned she was married."
"I know, I heard. But I'm here now, so leave my wife alone." I have no idea why, but when I said 'my wife,' my heart jumped. Stupid, right?
He puts his hands up in surrender and walks away. I release my grip on Eliza and look at her. "His flight should be landing soon."
She nods. "Listen, Erik-"
I shake my head. "It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong, anyway."
She gives me smile and hugs me. "Still, I'm sorry. And thank you for saving me."
I hug her back. "It's fine, liebe."
"So, his plane lands soon, huh?"
I let go of the hug and nod my head. "Yes. The lady said it should land in 30 minutes."
She glares at me, half smiling. "The lady?"
I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. "Yes, the lady."
"Was she pretty? Was she flirting? Or worse, were you flirting?"
"Are you joking?" I roll my eyes.
"Maybe." She pokes my cheeks and walks away.
Oh, she's something else. I smile to myself and follow her to wherever she's going.
"Flug C12 aus Charlottesville, Virginia hat gerade gelandet. Bitte gehen Sie zu Gate 12." (Flight C12 from Charlottesville, Virginia has just landed. Please go to gate 12.)
I catch up to Eliza and tell her that Jason's flight just landed. We head over to gate 12 and wait along with the other people. Eliza looks around nervously and I grab her hand in mine, giving it a little squeeze.
"It's going to be fine, meine Liebe (my love)." I say to her.
She shakes her head and looks at me. "I hope so. I'm just scared as to what he's going to tell me about my father. He's pretty dangerous, Erik."
I don't understand why he's dangerous, but I stopped myself from asking her. Did he kill people? Abuse Eliza's mom? Or did he abuse the both of them?
"Do you know when you'll be leaving?" I ask. I don't know why I asked, but I take it back. I don't want Eliza to leave. I want her to stay here with me and Kathrin in Germany. We can be our own little family.
The thought of her going to back to the United States scares me. We'll be thousands of miles away from each other for who knows how long.
Eliza shakes her head and gives me a small smile. "No, I don't. It would've been in a week and a half, but now that my mom is here and Jason is here, too, I don't know anymore. I'll probably just call the university and tell them that I won't be attending, or I'll have to go to a different state if I do go back." She takes my other hand and laces it with hers. "Why? Are you tired of seeing my face everyday when you wake up?"
I'm shocked at what she asks me that I begin to stutter. "W-what? N-no! I'd never get tired of seeing your face first thing in the morning every day. I'd actually love it." I wink and smirk.
She rolls her eyes, but leans in for a kiss. I kiss her and pull away after a few seconds.
"I'm still confused as to why I'm dating you?" She says.
Wait, what? "Excuse me?" I say with clear confusion on my face mixed with a little bit of hurt.
She notices and shakes her head fast. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant to say that I don't know why you'd pick a girl like me. I mean, you're Erik Durm, the Erik Durm. How'd I get so lucky?"
I smile. "You captured my attention, Eliza. And that's something that many girls don't do, but you did. Since I saw you in that club that night, I was attracted to you and I don't know how or why, but I was. And now you're my girlfriend, you're my everything and I ask myself why you chose me. Yeah, I'm the Erik Durm, as you put it, but that has never really been in my favor. I'm just known as the guy who kicks a ball around for a living, who might be good to some, but to others, he's not. And girls are just with me for money and fame, of course I agreed to the contract with Claire, but the rest are the same. And you aren't." I pull her into a hug and I whisper to her, "And I'm the lucky one."
She looks up at me, and I see tears in her eyes. I smile and wipe them away, giving her a quick kiss. We stare at each other for a while and then she puts her head on my chest, hugging me while we're waiting for the people to open the gates.
"I'm surprised people aren't giving us weird looks for saying all that in an airport." Eliza mumbles in my chest.
I laugh and nod, "I know." I see the gate open and people starting to walk out. I nudge Eliza a little and she lets go of me.
"Light brown hair and probably a green shirt, right?" I smirk.
She lightly punches me. "Shut up. I know I didn't give you the best description of him."
I laugh and look at the people walking out of the gate. I feel Eliza nudge me and I look at her.
"That's him." She points to a guy with light brown hair, check, but he's a wearing a blue shirt.. Ooh, out of luck. Just kidding.
"Jason!" Eliza waves her hands and Jason notices. He walks over to us and hugs Eliza.
"Baby cousin!" Jason says.
"Don't ruin the moment, Jasey."
I just stand there, smiling, probably looking awkward.
They pull away and Eliza grabs Jason's hand, pulling him closer to me. "Jason, this is my boyfriend, Erik Durm. Erik, this is my cousin, Jason Belkin."
I shake his hand. "Nice to meet you, Jason."
He nods in awe. "Y-yeah, nice to meet you too, Erik." He turns to Eliza. "You're dating Erik Durm?"
She smiles and shrugs. "Yeah. It's not a big deal."
I smile. Jason's eyes widen. "Not a big deal?! Eli, you have posters of him in your room. You've dreamt of meeting him, and now you're dating him! It's a big deal."
"I know it is, but I have to act calm. I can't let Erik know that I'm a fan."
"I already know, babe. But good try." I say.
Eliza kisses my cheek. "Of course you knew."
Jason smiles but then he frowns. "Eliza, I think we're in danger here."
"What?" Eliza says. She grips my hand and I pull her closer to me.
"Your dad, I, uh, I think he saw me at the airport back in Charlottesville."
*****
I'm super late on the update, I apologize. I don't have a great excuse as to why, but I'll try harder to update more frequently.
Here's this chapter in Erik's point of view. Let me know what you thought of it.. Any feedback helps me more than you know. So comment your favorite part, your least favorite, where I made a mistake so I can fix it (especially with the German because I'm NOT fluent in German.. I used Google translate), and what you think I can improve on. If you have a suggestion for the next chapter, you can also tell me.
Any questions? You can contact me via Wattpad!
-M