cody woke up with anaya still wrapped around him, still in a deep sleep. he looked down at her with a small smile as he ran his hand down her back. when he stood he moved carefully so that she wouldn't wake up, he held her head in his hands and placed it softly on a pillow so she could continue to sleep. anaya mumbled a bit, scaring cody into thinking he had awakened her but her breathing got heavy again and she turned over.
he went into the bathroom and he took his morning piss, sleepily rubbing his eyes after he washed his hands. he used the in-room coffee maker in the hotel room to make them both a cup of coffee, "hey, naya," he bent down and gently shook her arm, "naya."
"hm?" she replied, half asleep.
"i made you some coffee," he said, extending the cup out to her. her caramel brown eyes opened lazily as she saw him standing above her, his hair ruffled and messy from sleep. she took the cup gratefully as she sat up and took a ginger sip.
"thank you," she mumbled, avoiding eye contact, "tastes like piss."
cody snorted on his drink and nodded, "yeah, it's not the best. what are we gonna go see today?"
"let's go downtown, there's a nice restaurant down there," anaya stretched, "or we can go to visit my family."
"your family?" cody asked, "like your parents?"
"yeah," anaya stood and looked through her luggage for clothes, "why? you scared?"
"pfft," he scoffed, "scared? no."
"liar," anaya smirked, "no need to be scared, my mom barely speaks english, you'll just have to smile and nod."
cody felt a bit relieved when she said that, smiling and nodding sounded easy enough to do. they both got showered and dressed, brushing their teeth at the same time in the bathroom and finally leaving. anaya showed cody the local transportation, buses and such to get around the city. they were different from america, they were clean and not full of litter.
"are you hungry?" cody inquired, "know any good breakfast places?"
"nah, my mom will make us something, let's go there now, i haven't had a homecooked meal in five years," she texted her mom, informing her that she was on her way with her friend, and her mom agreed to making breakfast burritos and her famous fried potatoes.
"will your dad be there?" cody wondered aloud.
anaya looked at the floor for a second in deep thought then sighed, "no, uh, my dad died a week after i moved out to the states."
"naya," cody placed his hand in hers and regretted that he had even opened his mouth in the first place, "i'm so sorry."
she plastered a fake smile across her face but cody could see that her eyes were swimming in tears, "it's no problem."
cody was unsure what to say next so he squeezed her hand a little harder in an attempt to show his support. anaya pulled a wire that requested a stop and they got off the bus, but they didn't unlock their hands, anaya looked down at them, "friends, huh?"
"friends can hold hands," cody reasoned with her, "friends can do that."
"can friends kiss?" anaya asked, stopping on the sidewalk and making cody stop with her.
they were standing down her old street, she spent years there riding bikes with friends and walking home from school. she could see her house from where they were standing. cody looked down at her, his other hand finding hers, he chuckled to himself a bit before looking at the sun high in the sky. anaya kept her eyes trained on him, his hazel eyes and 5 o'clock shadow.
