Eliza went to her room and made a bee line for the shower.
"I need a cold one," she thought, "I can't believe I almost kissed him there, in front of everyone! What the hell was I thinking?"
She got dressed, got her camera and the map they had gotten at the reception upon check in and left, ready for her adventure.
She walked for hours, taking beautiful photographs and doing a little shopping here and there...
She fell in love with a cute little dress that she intended to wear that night for dinner, determined that if Eric wanted to play, she wasn't going to put the toys away.
"No," she thought, "you'll be putting them on display, as a matter of fact," and she left the store smiling with anticipation.
By the time she realized her map was gone, it was already getting dark, and she had no clue whatsoever of where she was. She had lost track of time behind the lens and in the shops, and wandered off the main roads... For a minute she panicked, not knowing how to get back to the hotel or which way to walk so, at least, she wouldn't keep getting further away from it... She felt like she was going to cry, and that's when her phone went off...
"Eliza, where in Heaven's name are you? We were supposed to have dinner together, remember?" Eric sounded furious on the other end of the line.
She could imagine him, waiting for her in the lobby, getting more anxious with every minute -"no, second!", she corrected herself- that went by... he really hated to have to wait!
"I'm..." her voice trembled and she had to take a deep breath so she wouldn't start crying, "I'm lost..." she sighed into her mobile phone.
"What? Where?" he sounded incredulous.
"Which part of lost do you have trouble processing, Eric? If I knew where I was, I wouldn't be lost now, would I?" she snapped, and silently thanked God that he couldn't see the tears in her eyes.
"Ok, ok... I'm sorry! I'm... Tell me what do you see around you... Are there any signs with street names on them or something?" he asked, "And how could you leave without a map? Or the address to the hotel? You know better than this, woman!".
She looked around, in her shock when she realized just how lost she was, she hadn't thought of looking for street names...
"Nothing," she sighed, "but there's a banks across the street from where I'm standing... I'm sending you a picture of it," and she hung up.
After a few minutes of waiting, she heard the phone ring again.
"They told me where it is, don't move, I'm coming to get you!"
He was there within half an hour, he looked pissed off, but still incredibly handsome in a light blue summer sweater and sand colored slacks. He walked up to her, took her bags and, without so much as a glance at her, he said:
"Let's go, I'm hungry!"
And so they started walking back towards the hotel.
She would have felt guilty, or put down maybe, by the whole episode, had he not been grinning the most radiant smile when she risked a side glance at him... So, without remorse, she just walked by his side wearing the tiniest smile.
"We drop your stuff and go to eat," he declared.
"No," she wasn't in the mood to go out for dinner anymore, she just wanted to order room service and sulk, "I'm not going for dinner, sorry. I need a bath and to put my feet up... Make it up to you tomorrow?"
He followed her out of the elevator and into her room, left her bags on the sofa and told her:
"Very well, I'm getting us room service then... The food and myself will be here in half an hour, that's all you get..."
And he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
***To be continued***