Natalie has never really had a clear goal about what she wants to do with her life. Now, she is finally on set on her journey to find herself but what happens when a grid of hot drivers is thrown into the mess?
We landed in Shanghai on a Wednesday morning, I was super dazed and jetlagged. Erica on the other hand, was fresh as a daisy. She took a nap on the flight and had insisted I take one too but I had a Leo DiCaprio movie marathon to watch.
Erica chirped, "There's so much to see! Shanghai is absolutely beautiful! I'm going to take you around the whole city."
"Yeah, yeah we'll see everything but I need sleep first!" I whined.
We hopped into a taxi and were chauffeured to our hotel.
On having access to Wi-Fi, my phone exploded with notifications. Multiple messages from mom and dad, a message from Tim complaining about how he should have flied down with me and Erica, a message from Arthur and a message from Alex.
Alex, just a mere mention of his name made my toes curl and heart do flips. Seeing his name pop up gave me butterflies and smile at the screen, I opened his message.
ALEX
Hey Natalie! Hope you made it to Shanghai in one piece. We've all gotta hang out here Again after the race!
YOU
Hey there! Yeah I made it to Shanghai I'm super jetlagged though :/ How do y'all live like this!? Hang out part 2!? Yes ofc!
ALEX
Ha ha ha ! See ya real soon!
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He was thinking about me. No big deal the person I'm infatuated by was think about me! I wanted to squeal!
Did I make him feel this way too? Seeing -your-name-pop-up-on-my-screen-kinda-happy?
I called up my parents and spoke to them for some time, my mom was more interested in what kind of fridge magnets I was bringing back home for us to display.
Tim whined to me for sometime about how he should have flied down with us. Finally I was able to text Arthur while Erica freshened up.
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Was he mean to me? Yes, very mean sometimes but I had just come to terms with the fact that this was his way of showing he cared. What a mix of friends I have!
"I love Shanghai! I'm taking you to all my spots, when you're with me, we're locals not tourists!" Erica exclaimed.
She knew this city like the back of her palm, taking me to places that weren't visible to plain sight, she took me to places I hadn't even heard of through guides or tourism websites.
We enjoyed the local cuisine, shopped, took pictures and were having the time of our life. Jetlag who?
We went back to our hotel in the evening, we saw Tim in the lobby, he was checking in.
"Timothy! My favorite person in this whole world, how are you doing today?"
"Better than you are dear." He scoffed.
"I know this really cool club, Nat and I are going. You have to come along!" Erica interrupted our little scrimmage .
"Yes, I need to get drunk. Life is hard." Tim sighed dramatically.
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That's what we did, she led us to a very fancy looking building under the night skies. Shanghai's skylines at night were enough to intoxicate me, what a beautiful sight.
Tim was very awkward and stiff at first. Erica and I were already dancing. Few drinks later, he was in the sixth dimension, singing, dancing and being nice to me! The night was fun and felt too good to be real.
When the alcohol kicked in, so did feelings towards Alex. He was all I could think about, the butterflies he gave me, his little smile, his bright thoughts, goofy little thoughts and his scent. You intoxicate me Alex!
"Someone save me from my phone!" I shrieked. Erica obliged, pulled my phone away from me and stuffed it in her clutch. The three of us danced the night away. It was a blur to me; A happy, euphoric blur.
