II

   

After a couple more bottles later, they were already laughing like crazy. 

Aya's scarf was already in Lou's head, twisted in knots like a sultan's hat. He looked way too cute. 

As the night got deeper, they started to talk about art, music and philosophy, all while badly intoxicated. They laid down next to each other on the cold, sterling tile floor of the rooftop and looked up at the clear evening sky together. 

It appeared they had plenty of things in common. They had the same love for old black and white films, Roman Polanski, Gustav Klimt, Diane Arbus, and Cigarettes After Sex. Fucking Cigarettes After Sex. Aya was such a big fan.

Lou played "Apocalypse" in his phone while they were staring up at the stars. Aya stood up and drunk danced to the dream-pop rhythm. Lou followed and joined her, grabbing her hand and went on to playfully twirl her around. She spun and leaned into his arms, laughing as they both lost their balance. Lou was able to get a whiff of Aya's hair as she leaned her forehead onto his shoulder. It was his shampoo, but it smelled different on her. It smelled feminine, and... sexy.

A few minutes after midnight and it was already freezing cold. They decided to finally get back inside Lou's apartment. Lou held her Aya's elbow as they walked down the stairs, both of them still laughing like crazy over a joke Lou told her about ten minutes ago.

When they opened the double doors from the balcony, they caught Bartosz and Marta making out, hard, on the green velvet couch. Lou and Aya just stared at each other and laughed it off.

Yep, they were fucking drunk.

Both Bartosz and Marta didn't seem to mind. He flicked his middle finger at Lou. 

It just made both Lou and Aya laugh even harder.

---

"Thank you, Lou" Aya said, leaning against the kitchen counter. "This was fun. In fact, this was the most fun I've had in months."

Lou was getting two water bottles in the fridge. He handed the other one to Aya.

She grabbed the bottle, and as she opened the cap, Lou grabbed the sides of her head and kissed her on her temple, breathing in the minty-fresh scent of her hair.

Her heart wildly thumped against her chest, all the adrenaline seemed to have pumped the drunkenness off of her body. The feel of his warm lips against her temple was electric. It sent tingles all over her, making her feel fuzzy.

"Good night," Aya muttered, pulling herself away from Lou with such haste as she was engulfed in a pleasant shock. She turned around and headed hurriedly into the bathroom across the kitchen.

She closed and locked the bathroom door behind her, leaning against it and closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and turned to the sink, pressing her palms onto the cold ceramic tile. She tied her wavy hair into a messy knot, washed her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks and lips were flushed red.

She imagined Lou's lips on hers.

I'm just drunk. She wanted to think so.

---

Aya was asleep for about half an hour already when she heard thumping in the wall against the couch where she was sleeping in. 

Blag, blag, blag.

She decided to just ignore it and to go back to sleep. 

Blag, blag, blag.

The thumping got faster, louder and more aggressive by the minute.

Then there was moaning - like real, loud moaning. 

Her eyes opened wide, realizing what was actually happening on the other side of the wall.

She stood up, clutching the pillow in her chest, and knocked on Lou's bedroom.

She's been knocking for the third time already, he wasn't answering the door. He might be fast asleep already, she thought. She was about to return to the couch when Lou opened the door.

"Oh, hey," Aya mumbled awkwardly. "Um, look -"

Lou grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, "I know, I can hear them from here," he grinned sleepily at Aya, combing his hair dark hair through with his fingers. "They're new, that's why I was telling you this morning that you should sleep in my room instead. Was kind of expecting that".

"Well, I-" She stuttered, trying to find an explanation. "I didn't know... and I didn't want to impose." She went in, and Lou closed the door behind them.

He jumped back into his bed and lifted the sheets. He tapped his hand on the space right beside him, prompting Aya hop in to come lie down and sleep.

Well she didn't have a choice, did she?

Aya went in and carefully plopped herself beside Lou. She lied on her back, facing the ceiling.

A few minutes later, he was already asleep. She could tell with his light snoring. She closed her eyes too, trying to finally go back to sleep - all the while trying to calm her beating heart.

---

"Any plans for today?" Lou was munching on the pancakes Aya made for breakfast. It was just him and Aya on the small, round kitchen table. 

Bartosz and Marta were probably still asleep. They were practically humping all night, with all that moaning and the constant banging of the headboard against the wall. The thought made Aya blush.

Lou noticed Aya's flushed cheeks and wondered what she was thinking. Was it from when he kissed her head last night, while they were crazy drunk? He kind of remembered doing that. Or was it when both of them woke up the at same time, and looked at each other's eyes awkwardly, when they heard Marta's howling orgasm in the middle of the night?

"I wanted to see Munich," she smiled at Lou, interrupting his thoughts. She stabbed a blueberry with her fork and put it into her mouth. It was so good, just perfectly sweet and tart. She never had blueberries that fresh back in the Philippines. 

Lou was watching her chew and swallow that berry. Her lips were also flushed red, as if she had just been kissed. 

"Sige, I'll show you around," he replied, trying to steer his gaze away from her lips.

Oh boy, was that hard. 

She looked so pretty with her hair tied up in a messy knot. Some of her baby hair just fell on her forehead, on the sides of her face, and her shoulders effortlessly. It was a look, but literally effortless. Her collarbones were peeking through her oversized Ramones shirt. It made him stare at her neck. There were little freckle hearts on her nape. 

Fuck, she's beautiful.

---

   

Aya wanted to go for a shower before Lou took her out for a tour in the city. 

She had to go get her clothes in her luggage - which were all in Lou's bedroom. 

She knocked a couple of times. 

Knock, knock. Knock. Knock, knock.

"King Kong" by Babe Ruth was blasting loudly through the stereo. All the loud guitar riffs, the banging of the drums and the slapping of the bass was drowning out her loud knocks at Lou's bedroom door.

Knock, knock. 

Knock. 

Knock, knock.

She honestly couldn't even hear her own knocking. She wasn't sure if Lou told her to come in but she did anyway, out of impatience. 

She opened the door, her eyes almost falling out of their sockets when she saw Lou buck naked, fresh from the shower and getting dressed as well. 

Aya's eyes widened with complete, utter shock. They stared at each other for a whole five seconds. 

Lou just looked back at her, biting his lower lip as he gave her this wolfish grin. 

Aya blinked profusely, trying to suck herself back into reality. 

She quickly turned away and closed the door behind her. She held her breath and closed her eyes, flustered by what she's just seen.

That was such a big... mistake. 

She leaned her back against Lou's bedroom door, holding her forehead.

Her heart was beating so fast, like African bongos in her chest.

---

   

Aya was wearing a powder blue dress with white swallow birds printed all over the fabric. It was cut low in the chest, and she forgot to bring her bralette. What she had that would match her outfit was a white lace bra. The lace fabric was peeking on the chest line of her dress, it looked modest but somehow... sexy.

Fuck it.

It's spring in Europe anyway. She was sure plenty of girls in the street were wearing far less compared to her.

She paired her outfit with a white denim jacket and Vans sneakers. She wanted to feel comfortable at least, if she's going around Munich the whole day.

"God, you look so pretty," Lou complimented and teased Aya as she hopped in his Peugeot 508 sedan.

And just like that, she was blushing again. She didn't know how to react. 

She couldn't unsee Lou, as much as she would like to.

"Um, look," she stuttered. "A while ago, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to - "

"Chill," Lou interrupted. He leaned into Aya to buckle her seatbelt. "Safety first."

Aya breathed in Lou's scent. His neck was practically in her face. She can smell his nape where his wavy hair fell. Normally, other people not keeping their distance pushed her buttons real bad. But this one, she didn't even mind. He smelled earthy and minty, like fresh pine trees combined with a pressed, clean linen scent.

What a flirt.

She was never good at it, flirting. She was awkward, tense and miserable of all sorts.

Lou knew how to flirt, though. He seemed to be good and effective at it. But Aya just wanted to be friendly. Last thing she needed was a fling, another emotional baggage that she would bring back home to Manila. She reminded herself of the real reason why she was there in Germany.

This, was not a good idea.

"So where are we headed?" Aya asked Lou cordially.

Lou put the car on drive.

"I'll take you wherever you want to go." He looked cute and casual in his plaid red and black long-sleeved polo with a plain white tee underneath. He was also wearing the same Vans sneakers as she did.

"Just maybe not the places where there's too many people?" she mumbled, thrilled. "I'll just leave it to you. Surprise me."

---

"This is strange," Aya mumbled as she looked in a weird modern sculpture in the Brandhorst Museum. "But pretty - pretty in a peculiar way."

She turned to look at Lou. 

He was looking right back at her. Like, really looking at her. His hands were inside his pockets, looking cute with his boyish charm. "Yep," he agreed. "Pretty in a peculiar way." He wasn't talking about the sculpture.

Aya rolled her eyes, violently. 

Lou's stare was piercing, intense. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

They walked through another hall, and it displayed different artworks with sexual depictions. There was a flower and a bee, except that it wasn't. Aya liked the idea of it. There were plenty more sculptures, others more vulgar, but quite amusing. And whenever she sets her eyes on them, she finds herself looking back at Lou, nervously and cautiously.

Then there was this copper version of a naked Greek statue, its genitals covered with what seemed like a female hand. Blood flushed through Aya's cheeks. 

She remembered Lou. 

That Lou. 

She peeked behind her, and found that he was back looking at her too.

It has been like that the entire museum trip, them exchanging glances at each other. Intense glances.

After their trip to the Marienplatz, they were hungry.

They ate at a small, intimate restaurant by the plaza that served the best old-Bavaria beers. The cobblestone paths were so pretty, the streets looked like they came straight out of an old fairy tale town. It made her gasp at every turn. She asked Lou if they could eat al fresco.

"So... is this a date?" She asked Lou, surprising herself. Two sips of beer and she was already that bold.

Ah, blame it on the alcohol.

Lou also took a sip, pleasantly surprised. "Do you want this to be a date?" He smiled and teased, raising his eyebrows at her playfully.

"Well, I mean, you paid lunch. You took me around the city, drove me around," she paused, thinking if she should continue. "And, we kept exchanging glances while we were in the museum, you fucking wrapped your shoulders around me while we walked. What is this, really?"

Oh God, she thought to herself. She wanted to give her subconscious a good, ringing slap.

She knew her questions just opened Pandora's box.

Lou just gave her this earnest look, then leaned his face toward her, half-smiling. He was just a few inches from her face. "You can treat this whatever you want this to be." He mumbled, almost a whisper.

"Hey," she warned him. "Why are you like that?" she asked, amused but accusatory.

"Like what?" Lou replied, quite confused.

"You're being extra nice," she uttered, playfully pointing a sandwich knife at him and trying to maintain a comfortable, nice distance.

"I'm nice to everyone," he stated matter-of-factly, taking a bite off his sandwich and smirking at her. "Besides, I'm your CouchSurf host. I'm supposed to be extra nice." He winked at Aya.

Not the answer she was expecting. But hey, that was safe. It made her smile.

"That's called, Filipino hospitality," Lou raised his fist in the air, "Pinoys represent!"

People started looking at their table, she playfully slapped Lou on the arm.

Aya giggled, almost choking from her pastrami. "Shut up." She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever."

And just like that, the awkwardness was gone.

---

   

They visited more castles, museums and parks. She knew Munich would be breathtaking, and it didn't disappoint. She had travelled to plenty of Asian countries, but Europe was just so different. Munich was magic. Aya was blown away by the beauty of it all. 

By afternoon, when she thought they were already headed home, Lou asked him if he could show her one last place before returning to his apartment.

"It's a 45-minute drive," Lou said.

Aya didn't mind. She felt comfortable so comfortable around him, like they've know each other for a long time, like they've been friends their whole lives.

Lou was playing songs from their favorite artists in the car stereo. He created and saved a shared playlist on both their phones last night while they were drinking up in his rooftop.

He labeled the playlist, "Malaya at Lualhati".

There were just forest trails on both sides of the road for miles and miles. Tall sycamore, maple and pine trees as far as the eye could see, and up ahead she could see the silhouette of the Bavarian Alps and its snow-capped peaks.

"So, I have some questions, these are just ice breakers," Lou said when he noticed that Aya retreated to being shy and silent. He turned his head toward Aya quickly then back again on the road.

"Hit it." She answered with a smile. Aya reached for her mini-sketchpad from her bag and started to scribble. 

"Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you invite as a dinner guest?" Lou asked with piqued interest.

She thought for a moment. "My mom, I think," she paused. It was something she wasn't sure if she would like to share, but she did anyway. "I lost her to cancer last year. It was sudden though, she was sick for a while... but there wasn't a lot of suffering. I'd love to have dinner with her again. I don't really have anyone else to invite for dinner anyway. I just miss having someone in my life. It's just me after my mom and my grandmother died." 

It hit her. She realized maybe that was what she really wanted at the moment. Someone. Somebody.

Lou realized how sad but sincere she sounded. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her.

"No boy-friend, guy-friend, man-friend?" Lou jokingly interrogated, half-meant.

"I don't do boyfriends," she mused and chuckled. "They traumatize the hell out of me."

Lou's heart sank. He didn't know what to make of it. In a way he was kind of relieved that she doesn't have someone back in the Philippines.

Aya looked outside the window, missing her mom all of a sudden. Did she see these pretty forests by the road with her dad, too? She thought to herself. "How about you? Who would you invite for dinner?" She asked him back softly.

"Well, I'd love to see my parents, too. They're in Manila right now." He smiled, turning left and entering a small, narrow road. "I haven't come home for two years now. We video call though."

"That's nice." She chimed, the sadness was still in her smile. That must have been really nice, being a Fil-German raised in both countries, parents still together, getting a lot of their love and attention. She, on the other hand, was raised by her late Lola Eleanor while her mom worked as an OFW nurse in different countries after her father left them. Her mom only ever came home for Christmas, which she couldn't complain about. She was happy whenever her mom was around. She finally stopped working overseas when Aya's grandmother died. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with cancer. All of it happened in the past two years.

What a glorious, screwed up life, she thought to herself.

Lou felt Aya's mood shift. He really shouldn't have brought up a thing about his parents, he thought. He realized that might be a sensitive topic for Aya. 

"If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, like a superhero, what would it be?" he asked, attempting to brighten up Aya's mood.

"I'd like to fly, or maybe teleport." She said giddily. "Or maybe just do something out of this world, something magical."

"Whoa, whoa, hey, that's like three superpowers," he said, amused.

"Might as well wish for three, right? You'll never know if a genie's asking," she winked at Lou, then turned her attention back to her drawing.

God, she's so beautiful. 

It was such a constraint to have his eyes fixed on the road instead of looking at her.

Aya fiddled the stereo and amped up the volume. She reached for Lou's phone and played "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

"Alright, next, name some three things you think we appear to have something in common. And by the way, if you're to ask me about the superpower thing, I'd like to be able to read minds. Especially those people whose mood and body language is so hard to read, that power could be of good use." He winked back at her.

Aya pressed her lips together, stopping herself from swooning. She wanted to eat Lou's face. But she restrained herself from doing so. He's just so darn cute. 

"That's easy, we're both Filipino-German. We love German beer, and," she bit her lip, and stopped from scribbling as if she was having second thoughts of what she was about to say. "We both seem to like... each other's company."

Lou smiled at her in agreement. "We also love singing to Kings of Leon."

They laughed, and on queue, they both sang the chorus.

"O-oh, o-oh, someone like you, somebody.

Someone like you, somebody."

Aya was bopping her head to the music, while Lou was drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Last question," he paused, stealing a quick glance at her. "What would make your day perfect?"

Aya can't seem to find an answer to his question. She honestly didn't know what a perfect day would be like. 

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I think I'll just get back to you on that." She smiled and batted her eyelashes at Lou.

Flirting.

---

   

Ten minutes and a few more Q&As later, Lou already parked the car the grassy clearing. 

They climbed out of his car and they started walking a short trail. It was a dirt road, but Aya was loving every bit of it.

There were tiny white and yellow forest flowers on both sides of the path. It was spring indeed. Aya removed her white denim jacket, suddenly feeling hot with the hike.

Up ahead, there was another clearing in the path a few minutes into the end of the trail.

Aya looked up, and she finally saw what Lou wanted to show her. It was the most beautiful lake she's ever seen. The water was the bluest blue and crystal clear, the light of the sun made the water ripples glimmer in silver and gold. 

She ran to the edge of the dock and breathed in the scent of the lake and the minty fresh scent of pine trees surrounding the water.

Lou was walking up behind her, beyond delighted that she loved the lake. 

Aya looked back at him, her face lit up in blithe. She was already removing her sneakers, her socks, and finally her blue dress. She was feeling hot and wanted to take a dip into the lake. She knew she'd regret it if she didn't. Her skin was gleaming in the haze of the hot, late afternoon light. And without second thoughts, Aya took a plunge into the cold water and shrieked.

Lou followed Aya into the water after removing his shoes and stripping off his clothes. He was now just wearing boxers with Mighty Ducks printed on them. 

Aya giggled. "Mighty Ducks? That's so cute!" She teased.

"You're way cuter than my boxers," he teased back.

Aya splashed him cold water. Lou splashed Aya back, and so it became a water fight. Lou grabbed Aya by her bare waist and pushed both of them down into the water. 

It was ice-cold, but all Aya could feel was Lou's warmth. His strong arms were wrapped around her as she pressed her palms against his chest, trying to push him away. His proximity was making her nervous, amongst other things.

Lou brought her closer to him, his arms holding the small of her back. Their bodies were pressed against each other. They stopped and looked deep in each other's eyes. 

Aya tried to push him away again, but Lou resisted. 

It was as if he didn't want to let go of her.

---

They were sitting next to each other on the wooden dock, letting themselves dry a little bit before getting into their clothes and finally head home. They were toast, but they were also loving the feeling of the soft and chilly breeze soothing their skin. They've both been quiet for quite a while now, no talking, no flirting, just drinking in the sight and beauty of the lake - basking in the comfort of each other's company. 

It was peaceful. Just the two of them and some birds singing by the trees.

"I think I'm ready to meet my dad tomorrow," Aya mumbled her breath then turned to face Lou, her arms hugging her legs. She rested her chin on her knees. Her hair was still dripping wet, and the beads of lake water made her skin glow and sparkle as the afternoon light bounced off of them.

Lou nodded with a reassuring smile. He noticed goosebumps on Aya's legs and arms. She must be feeling cold already. He stood up in haste and reached for his plaid shirt, and wrapped it around Aya.

He held out his hand to her, "Let's head home."

Aya took Lou's hand and stood up so that they're face to face, incredibly close.

She breathed, nervous. Then tipped her toes to kiss Lou's cheek, then looked up at his green-speckled gray irises for what seemed like an eternity.

Lou tensed. For the first time, he didn't know what to do. Well, his body knew. He was still holding her hand. It felt warm and perfect against his. He could feel Aya's breathing in his lower lip. How close she was. 

They were staring eye-to-eye, gray-green eyes to hazel brown.

She smiled at Lou, then picked up her clothes by the side of her feet and started to dress. "Tara."

---

Filipino to English Translation:

"Tara" - Let's go.