Free Delayed by Daniela Reyes Page A

path that Olivia might have taken. Two sets of escalators later he stood in the crowded pick up area. His eyes scanned the crowd, over and over again, hoping, but knowing. She was gone. He’d waited too long, again. The universe had provided him with a perfect opportunity and he hadn’t sought it.  
    Nick wanted to run, like in the movies, where the romantic lead would yell out the girl’s name, despairing over his lost love. Then the crowd would part, and she would be right at the end of the mass of people. And she would run to him, and his arms would be wide open.  
    Except that real life wasn’t like the movies. Olivia wasn’t his lost love and the two of them were probably never going to see each other again. He just wanted to talk to her. Just one more time, and give her back the silly keychain.  
    His phone rang. Nick was shaken out of his odd daydream once again.  
    “Hello?”  
    “Nick. We’re outside the airport. Did you land yet?” his grandma Joan asked. Her voice sounded distant. She had a habit of holding her cell phone away from her face, after having read an article that said cell phones gave off radiation that could lead to brain cancer.  
    “Yeah. I’m walking outside. Where are you guys?”  
    He passed through the automatic doors, taking one last look around, hoping he would see Olivia.  
    The summer breeze filtered in through the pores on his skin. He didn’t think it was possible to feel warmer than he already did.  
    “We’re right in front of you Nicolas,” his grandmother said. The line went dead.  
    His grandparents’ white minivan was parked in a corner of the pickup lane. His Grandpa Felix got out and opened the door for Grandma Joan. The two of them ran over, leaving Mimi to open her own door.  
    Nick watched as his sister climbed out of the back seat. She’d come by a week earlier, right after her summer break had started. She had graduated elementary school and gotten out before him.  
    She ran over to him first, wrapping her arms around his neck, and climbing him like a tree monkey. He toppled back a few steps, catching her so she didn’t fall.  
    “God Mimi. What’d you eat?”  
    She jumped down and gave him a push. “I didn’t eat anything. You’re just too skinny.”  
    Their grandparents approached them. “How was the flight?” Grandpa Felix asked. He patted Nick on the back, in a very non-emotional sort of way.  
    At the question, Nick felt himself tensing. He couldn’t tell them the truth, but his cheeks were already flushing. He had never been good at lying, least of all to his family.
    “There was a lot of turbulence,” he finally managed.  
    His grandma reached out and gave him a light hug, it was nothing like the suffocating embraces his Abuela gave, but it was just as loving.  
    “I told you those tickets were too cheap,” she said turning to her husband. “We’re upgrading your return flight.”  
    They all helped him load his suitcase into the trunk, and Mimi shoved him into the backseat. Their grandparents went back to the argument of the flight’s quality.  
    “I saw her,” Mimi whispered.  
    “Who?” Nick asked.  
    “Your girlfriend. Olive.”  
    “Olivia. Her name’s Olivia,” he corrected, falling right into his sister’s trap.  
    “So she is your girlfriend.”  
    “No. She isn’t,” he said, more defensive than before.  
    “She was on your flight, wasn’t she? That’s why you blushed.”  
    “I didn’t blush. It’s the hot weather.”  
    Mimi leaned in, her dark eyes reflected his face. She blinked once. “You’re not good at lying Nick. Besides what’s wrong with liking her? Olive’s pretty.”  
    “Olivia.”  
    “So you admit she’s pretty,” Mimi asked, baiting him yet again.
    “That’s not what I said,” Nick said. He could feel his frustration growing. Sometimes he missed the old quiet Mimi, but then he remembered how far she’d come.  
    She turned all her sadness into a