Chapter 17: Exploring Barcelona - Missy

This chapter is narrated from Missy's point of view.

I woke up on Monday morning quite refreshed from going to bed fairly early the previous evening. We'd retired at just past 10 PM, and I found myself waking up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in just enough time to throw on my bathrobe, pad onto the balcony of our suite, and see the sunrise. It was a sublime sight. Not a cloud was in the sky, and most of the sky was a dark navy blue. A few stars were still visible directly above us, and the first hints of orange, purple, and red had just begun to form at the very edge of the horizon. Gradually the colors began to give way to yellow, and I could just see the leading edge of a yellow orb rising over the edge of the earth when Dave stepped out onto the patio and wordlessly handed me a mug of coffee. I looked at him and smiled my thanks. "Beautiful sight, isn't it?" he said.

"Yes, it's a gorgeous sunrise!" I replied.

"I was referring to you, babe," said Dave, giving me a quick kiss. That boy can be so sweet sometimes! I blushed and swatted him on the arm playfully.

"What are your plans for us today?" I asked.

"Well, I figure we can work out, grab some breakfast, then start a walking tour of the city, touring through the Gothic quarter, checking out a lot of the Gaudi architecture, then a bit later in the afternoon heading up the steps to Montjuïc, there's some nice cafes there that we can grab lunch at. I figure maybe later in the evening we can go up Tibidabo via the funicular train, and that will give us some nice views of Barcelona. As for tonight, I thought we'd check out the club Elephant. It's a pretty chill place, and I know the owners quite well," replied Dave.

I sipped my coffee, and smiled. It looked like Dave was on top of things as usual. "Sounds good, mon capitan! Now, I was wondering if I could get a printed version of this itinerary?" I teased.

Dave smiled, simply saying "You laugh, but..." and reaching into his pocket and pulling out a printed schedule for the day.

I just shook my head. "Do you have one of these for every day for the rest of our trip?" I asked, now quite curious.

Dave shook his head. "Nah, I just plan the next week or so. It would be too hard and I didn't to set our schedule for our entire trip in stone. This way we can decide if we want to stay extra days in places we really like or cut short our schedule for other places. Besides, it takes me a while to research it all. I haven't been to all of these places, you know."

Actually, I didn't know that, but I was impressed at his level of knowledge. Dave didn't know this, but I had spent nearly an entire year of my life, encompassing parts of my freshman and sophomore years in high school, traveling in Europe. It was a program that my parents had signed me up in, sort of a rotating exchange program, and I had spent most of that year in various cities in Europe, including Barcelona. Dave's itinerary was almost perfect for a single day in Barcelona. Although we would be spending far too little time here, Europe is a big place and we had lots of territory to cover!

Dave started to head back into the suite and I followed. "It's time to see if my darling sister is serious about her workout regimen," he said, heading into Jess' room. We were quite surprised to see her not only awake, but pulling on her sports bra, obviously getting ready to head to the fitness center. "Wow!" exclaimed Dave. "You are really taking this seriously!"

Jess smiled at her brother. "You know me, big bro. When I make up my mind that I want something, I don't fuck around," Jess said, simply, then continued. "What I want now are my six-pack abs back, and I WILL have them by the end of this trip!"

Dave smiled, and we went into our own rooms to change for our workout. I slid on my sports bra and lycra shorts, and met up with Dave and Jess in the lobby of the room and we headed to the fitness center. Today's workout was legs and back, and I was a little bit surprised, but happy to find a full squat rack, as well as several good stations for working the back. Jess again matched me pound for pound, and we spotted each other and took turns spotting for Dave. I had increased my weights about 5-10 lbs on each exercise from my last cycle in London, and Jess seemed to have no problems with the weight whatsoever. "Jess, did you used to lift a lot?" I asked.

She turned to me and replied, "Well, when I was in high school, I was on the dance team, and I also did soccer, martial arts, and softball, and we had to lift weights for those. I have slacked off a lot the last four years in school. I've only gone to the weight room a few times a month, but I've been keeping up on the martial arts. Most of the exercises I did on a regular basis though were body weight things in my apartment,"

I nodded. I'd often done the same, before I moved into Dave's house that had a full fitness center. We wrapped up the weights, and headed for the treadmills for a little cardio before hitting the pool. After a quick session here and a dip in the cool water, we went back to the room to shower up and get ready for breakfast and the day's adventures.

Dave had called down to the kitchen for room service while I was taking a shower, and as I emerged from the bathroom wearing my pink bathrobe, Jess was headed in, wearing just a smile, which she greeted me with, along with a hug and kiss. I blushed a bit, remembering our activities in the bathroom the previous morning. I didn't really know what to make of Jess still. Certainly I was really attracted to her, but she was more than that to me, at this point. There wasn't anyone that I associated with that could make me feel better than she could. Certainly it was a gift that she could turn on and off, but she was turning it on around me in a major way!

The room service arrived at approximately the same time as Jess, and the waiter had just pushed the cart in and was about to leave when Jess walked out of her bathroom with a towel around her head, and nothing else. I smiled as the waiter nearly walked right into a wall while backing away towards the door, staring at Jess the entire time. Jess and I both gave him waves and air kisses as he fled the suite. Dave just laughed and started on his breakfast. Today's breakfast consisted of large omelets and some bacon and sausages. Not very local, but oh well, it was good energy for what proposed to be a full day of sightseeing and walking.

After eating a portion of one of the omelets and a few pieces of bacon and eggs, I made my way back into my room to get ready to go out. As was mentioned earlier, I don't generally wear makeup or take a long time to get ready. I don't think that I do things any faster than other girls, but what I generally do is go with my first instinct when it comes to what clothes I am going to wear. Dave had assured us that we were going to return to the suite before we made our way to the club, so I selected a comfortable pair of khaki shorts and a pink tank top, as well as some pink flip-flops. I quickly put my hair up in a ponytail and grabbed my favorite Sox hat, and pushed my ponytail through it, and then headed back to the living room.

Dave was lounging in one of the couches, wearing khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt, and as usual, we were waiting for his sister. Jess usually says that I sometimes look young, and sometimes even seems jealous when she says it. I'm not sure why, because Jessica is probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She has the most beautiful hair, and she happens to be both slim and curvaceous. Most of the time when people say a girl has a "womanly figure" it's a nice way of saying that they're overweight, but this isn't the case with Jess. I'm not sure why she's on this workout kick because she's quite skinny, but whatever works for her.

Jess keeps on insisting that I'm beautiful and to be totally honest, I'm not sure if she's looking at the same person. I'm just plain Missy, I looked at pictures from eighth grade and I don't think I look much different, except I no longer have braces and I'm a little taller. I still have the same small boobs and boyish hips, and I'm still shy. Me, beautiful? Who are they kidding? I feel embarrassed to even be seen with Jess when we go out, but hey, being around a pretty girl works as well for girls as it does for guys. I've certainly gotten more attention on this trip than I ever had in California!

I like it when Dave says that I'm pretty. He does it at least once a day, and it's so sweet. I know he's just trying to be nice, but I love it anyways. At least Dave has started to notice me. I mean, I lived with the guy for three years, and he never once seemed to notice I was a girl. I've been in love with Dave since I met him four years ago. I've never met a nicer guy than him. He's smart, honest, loyal to a fault, and so handsome! I became his best friend when we were at UCI freshman year, and we've been best friends ever since.

When he stopped hanging out with girls other than me, I think the anger from my dorm at UCI could be felt around the world. Those bitches were so jealous! I got dirty looks all over campus. Oh, I knew what they were thinking. How did the shy plain girl lock up the hottest guy on campus? Most of those girls just wanted him for his money anyways. Fuck them. It's not like I had him locked up anyways. Dave was so hurt by his breakup freshman year and baggage from before that he didn't trust anyone. He didn't really even trust me, but I guess he thought I was harmless, so we hung out together.