So soll es bleiben

"So soll es bleiben" - Ich + Ich

🎵 Ich warte schon so lange / Auf den einen Moment / Ich bin auf der Suche / Nach hundert Prozent / Wann ist es endlich richtig? / Wann macht es einen Sinn? 🎵

The train from Bedburg to Frankfurt is only about a two hour ride, if that. The trains in Europe are super fast and I love to ride them because it's fun to watch all the towns and forests blur by in a frenzy of green. Sure Emilia had wanted to go just for the shopping, but I loved how Frankfurt had a cool historical plaza and tons of museums.

To make the most of our day, Emilia forced me to wake up and get ready at 0600 so that Dad could drop us off at the train station at 0700. She barked at me like a crazy lady the entire time, screaming at me to hurry up because I drag my feet really early in the morning when I'm tired. Because I had a sinking feeling she'd dump me at the nearest museum, I made sure to bring a backpack filled with snacks, my power bank for my phone, my inhaler, and my passport. I used the rabbit backpack that one of Mom's estranged relatives had sent us from the States. Emilia said it looked childish, but I liked it. I even made sure to wear my comfy new tennis shoes and a nice hoodie that had Pikachu on it.

"Max, if you don't move your ass, I'll push you off the train!" Emilia shouted as she banged on the bathroom door that I'd locked just to annoy her since I was only brushing my teeth.

"You're such a bitch..." I muttered under my breath.

"What did you say?!"

"I have an itch?"

I finished getting ready and hurried out of the bathroom before my sister could swing at me. I went downstairs with my backpack in hand when the doorbell rang. I went to answer it, seeing that it was Emilia's friend, Sofia. Even though we live all the way in Canada, Emilia and Sofia keep in contact online and always hang out with each other when we visit Dad.

"Moin, Maxi-Pad," Sofia giggled as she walked inside, giving my hair a little tussle. She was tall and thin, and with her long blonde hair she always reminded me of a Barbie doll.

"Guten morgen," I said. "Emilia's almost ready. She's just upstairs."

Sofia nodded before smirking. "You ready for your new Deutsch word of the day?" she asked. She was always really nice and helpful, taking extra care to help me perfect my German so that I could go about town a lot easier. Obviously being Canadian meant that I struggled to pronounce a lot of the harder phrases, which often times led to some of the people here giving me odd looks, but at least I was trying!

I nodded, eager for today's lesson.

"Fotze," Sofia grinned, saying the word slowly so that I heard every letter involved. "It means 'Fine', like attractive, so make sure to call lots of women it when we are in Frankfurt because it will make their day."

"Danke!" I smiled up at her.

"Bitte, Maxi-Pad," she laughed, patting me on the head again.

Before she could teach me more, the doorbell rang again. I went to go answer it, but Dad entered the living room and beat me to it. It was a good thing too because on the other side was Alaric and the creepy Dominik. After he'd left the picnic table at the barbecue last night, I hadn't seen Dominik and had been slightly wishing that he'd change his mind and not come with us to Frankfurt. However, seeing him standing by Alaric wearing a black hoodie that again looked a bit tight on him (he must be going through a growth spurt— can mine come soon? I'm tired of being short!) and he was still looking mad at the world as he clutched a small paper coffee cup. As Alaric pulled my dad into a hug, Dominik's yellow eyes honed in me again and I swear that his pissed off expression lightened a little... by like one percent, if that.

The two of them entered the house, Alaric keeping a tight arm wrapped around my father's waist, keeping him close to his bigger body.

"Oh good, you made it," Emilia from atop the stairs said without any enthusiasm in her voice whatsoever when she saw Alaric and Dominik. "Now we can go! The train leaves soon!" She hurried downstairs and practically began to herd us all out the front door.

"Someone seems excited about the big city," Alaric laughed at her. Yeah Frankfurt was a big city compared to Bedburg, and I knew that she was itching to go shopping, having saved up a lot of euro so that she could splurge and brag all about her European shopping spree to everyone back home.

At the mention of "Big City", Dominik looked like he winced and his brow furrowed. I guess he's shy, so perhaps that's one thing we have in common? It's grasping at straws, I know, but if he's going to be silently steaming the entire trip then it's going to be incredibly awkward.

Alaric had driven a large van, so we all piled into it for the ride to the train station. I sat all the way in the back, and without any hesitation, Dominik took the spot right next to me. I tensed up as his side was practically pressed tightly against mine due to how broad he was. Seriously, Alaric must stuff himself and his son full of steroids because of how muscular they both are. Even though we were both wearing hoodies, I could feel the hard muscles of Dominik's arms with ease as Alaric began to drive down the road.

I was so focused on how uncomfortable I was that I didn't even realize that I hadn't buckled up my seatbelt; that is until Dominik, without uttering a single word, leaned over and grabbed it, fastening it for me.

That was weird. I have no idea why Dominik did my seatbelt for me like I'm a little kid... well, I am nine, but that's not completely helpless! Still, I figured that he was just trying to be nice. "Um, danke," I mumbled, playing with the drawstrings on my hoodie to distract myself from the weirdo next to me.

Dominik's yellow eyes looked down at me before quickly darting away. "Bitte," he huffed in his deep voice, a little pinkish hue forming on his face. W-was he blushing? Why?

Dad turned the radio down and looked back at us from the passenger seat. "Emilia," he said to my sister, interrupting her gossip session with Sofia, "I made sure to transfer some more euro into your account for Max. Make sure to get him some food, and keep an eye on him. I don't want him getting lost."

"Yeah, sure," Emilia grunted, waving her hand at him dismissively.

"I'm serious," Dad said in a sterner tone. "There's a lot of tourists here for the summer and I don't want him getting lost. Remember when we lost him when we went to Berlin?"

"That was one time!" Emilia sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. "And we found him four hours later!"

Yeah, I sometimes have a hard time paying attention and during a trip Dad, Emilia, and I took last summer to Berlin, I hadn't noticed when they'd kept walking in the plaza while I'd been mesmerized by the street performers. Well, when I'd turned around to point out how cool the guy painted all silver like a statue was, I'd saw that Dad and my sister had been nowhere in sight. That'd led to four hours of me wandering around Downtown Berlin until I'd flagged down the Polizei and told them I was lost and needed help.

There was a rumbling sound and I swear I felt Dominik next to me vibrate the smallest bit.

Alaric cleared his throat and glared back at us in the rearview mirror, and I saw Dominik visibly sink further into the seat. What the—? I really do not understand some people.

The train station eventually came into view and Dominik perked up and the side of his mouth that I could actually see pulled up the smallest bit to form the saddest attempt at a smile that I've ever seen. I tried to look away and out the window when I felt something warm and wet spill over the front of my hoodie.

"Oops..." Dominik muttered in a monotone as he spilled his coffee all over the Pikachu that was on the front of my hoodie.

"Hey!" I whined, quickly yanking my wet hoodie off me before the coffee could seep into my t-shirt that was underneath. I had it off in time, but now I didn't have a hoodie. And despite it being summer, German summers are not known for their heat! "Dad! We have to go back. I need another hoodie."

"The hell we do!" Emilia piped in. "Our train leaves in fifteen minutes."

Dominik practically ripped his black hoodie off of himself, shoving it in my lap. "Here," he simply said, sitting back with his chest puffed out with what seemed to be pride. He was now wearing another plain white t-shirt where the sleeves were practically bunching up near his armpits because of the sheer size of his biceps. He kinda reminded me of my Hulk action figures, with both the muscles and the mad face.

In no way, shape, or form did I want to wear some weird dude's hoodie around Frankfurt for the whole day. Plus, when I brought it closer to me, the stench of teen boy (which consists of B.O. and body spray) mixed with dog seemed to cling tightly to the fabric of the hoodie. I wanted to argue, but one look from my sister told me to button my lips.

"Danke," I repeated, pulling the hoodie on, only to be hit with the strong smell of Dominik even harder. Plus, despite it looking skintight on him, it was like a dress on me. When we arrived at the train station and I got out of the van, I noticed that the bottom of the hoodie went past my butt, and the sleeves were so long that they draped way beyond my hands.

The whole time Dominik still wore his small smile... at least he did until Alaric walked up behind him and smacked the back of his head.

Emilia and Sofia were already across the parking lot at the ticket window, completely ready to ignore Dominik and me for the duration of this trip. This really doesn't sound like my idea of fun, to be honest. At first I'd been a little excited to be going to Frankfurt with Emilia because, despite our little tiffs here and there, I really do love my sister and I love to hang out with her. However, it's quickly becoming more and more obvious that she's going to make me hang out with Dominik so that she won't have to put up with him.

I frowned as I looked down at the oversized hoodie I was wearing, swallowing down my frustration. Well, I guess being a third wheel (there's a fourth wheel too but there's no way I'm roping Dominik and me together) isn't as bad as sitting at home where I'll be lonely all over again.

"Have fun," Dad said as I gave him a hug. "And be safe."

"I will, Dad," I reassured him.

He turned to Dominik. "Look after Max, please," he said, acting as if I'd get lost (again).

I half expected the creepy guy to sigh or roll his yellow eyes again, but instead he surprised me by immediately answering with, "I will."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," Alaric muttered under his breath, being the one to roll his eyes this time. It must run in their family.

The adults waved to us as they drove off, and Dominik and I went to join the girls near the tracks. Emilia, who was busy talking off Sofia's ear about the barista she thinks is cute at the café down the block from our house, lazily handed Dominik and me our tickets. There was a train that was already getting boarded, and based off of Emilia's frantic rushing this morning, I figured that it was our train.

"So, Dominik," Sofia said, eying the quiet guy up and down as she loudly smacked on her bubblegum, "why are you so quiet? Do you get shy around pretty women?" She pulled her shoulders back and shoved her boobs out more, making my sister laugh.

"Du bist nicht so hübsch," the tall guy grunted, not even looking at my sister's thirsty friend and instead appeared to size up the other passengers at the station, standing oddly close to me.

I have no idea what "Hübsch" means because that hasn't been Sofia's German Word of the Day yet, but based off Sofia's irritated expression, he probably just told her off. I shrugged off the older kids and headed towards the train so that I could make sure that I get a window seat.

The worker who was scanning the tickets kept hitting the small machine in his hands, struggling to get it to work. When I walked up to him and waved my ticket, he just sighed and hurriedly motioned at me to board before continuing to tinker with the little machine. I stepped onto the train and went to the last car which happened to be one where I could still see my sister and the other two. Luckily I was able to snag us an empty coach compartment that held six seats. I happily sat down next to the window and went to grab my phone, out of instinct grabbing at the pocket on my hoodie... only to remember that I'm currently wearing Dominik's hoodie. That means that I foolishly left my phone in my hoodie which is currently in Alaric's van. Darn it! How am I supposed to entertain myself for a whole train ride?

"Achtung! Halten Sie sich von den automatischen Türen fern!" an automated message played out over the loudspeaker, letting me know that the doors were going to be closing soon.

I yanked the window open and cupped my hands around my mouth to sound louder. "Hey!" I called out to Emilia. "Hurry up! They're gonna close the doors!" Yeah! Who's the slow one now?

I interrupted whatever conversation the older teens were having and Emilia looked around for a moment before seeing me from my seat on the train, her eyes widening. "Max!" she practically screeched. "What are you doing on there?!"

"Huh?" I wondered aloud. "I thought we were taking the train to Frankfurt...?"

"We are!" she shouted back, growing red in the face. "Our train is A3. You are on A1!"

Again, huh? "What does that mean?"

"Your dumb ass is on the wrong train!"

There was the hissing noises of gears moving and the metallic clang of the doors closing shut. Before I could piece together exactly what was going on, I felt the train lurch and a loud alarm blew out as it started to move. My heart began to race in chest as the panic rapidly started to set in. I was on the wrong train and was about to go somewhere without a phone and without being completely fluent in the local language. Oh, and my sister had all the money on her person.

I am screwed...

"What do I do?!" I panicked as the train started to leave the station.

Emilia tried to run along with the train car, but it was starting to pick up speed. "Jump!" she shouted.

"I'm not jumping off a moving train!" I cried, but I was actually starting to consider it. I opened up the door to the coach compartment and looked at the back of the train, seeing the large glass door that served as an emergency exit. I mean, I guess I could open it and jump off the train, and try to land in the grass? Looking around the car, no one else was around or they were in their compartments, blissfully unaware that I was currently facing a life or death situation!

My limbs were starting to tingle as my brain worriedly raced with panic and I didn't know what to do... or where I even going! I clutched my rabbit backpack closer to myself as I steeled my nerves, walking closer to the back emergency door.

Before I could even open the door, I saw Dominik break out into a sprint as he ran after the train. His usual angry face was now determined, his yellow eyes narrowed and his sharp-looking teeth gritted tightly. Now I'd suspected that he was an athlete based off of his muscles, but I definitely know it for sure because the dude legit caught up to a moving train in a matter of seconds. I mean, sure the train was nowhere near its top speed, but the freak of nature went from his spot at the station, to easily passing my panting sister, to the edge of the station platform in under three seconds (I counted).

Dominik leapt off the edge of the platform, sailing through the air until he landed on the small step that was at the end of the train car. I rushed over and yanked the door open, allowing the superhuman dude access to the train. He stumbled inside, panting as he struggled to catch his breath. However, he didn't allow himself a lot of recovery time as he snatched a fistful of the hoodie's fabric, yanking me into his large body. He wrapped both of his large, bulky arms around me and kept me nestled close to his muscled chest. I never realized how crazy the difference in height was between us until now when I saw that the top of my head didn't even reach his armpits.

"Hold on," he ordered, readying us to jump—

The train picked up even more speed as it darted along the tracks, the station quickly disappearing in the distance. I could feel the way Dominik's shoulders slumped that he didn't feel comfortable with jumping either.

"Um, well maybe we can get off at the next stop?" I meekly offered, already dreading the earful that I was going to get from my sister.

"Willkommen im Zug nach Nordwestmecklenburg. Unsere Fahrzeit beträgt fünf Stunden..." the conductor blasted out over the loudspeaker on the train.

The speakers were a little older, making the conductor's words come out a little fuzzy, preventing me from understanding everything they said. I looked up at Dominik in confusion. "What did they say?" I asked him, feeling myself blush a little at my admittance to not knowing perfect German.

The other guy sighed. "We're going to Nordwestmecklenburg," he translated, "and it's supposed to be a five hour train ride." This was the first time I'd heard Dominik string together more than a couple of words, so I was really able to hear exactly how deep his voice was. Obviously it wasn't adult deep considering he's only fourteen, but I could definitely tell that when he's Alaric's age, his voice will be booming and commanding too. I could also hear more of his accent, picking up on how he added more emphasis on hard syllables.

But that wasn't the important part.

"F-five hours?" I sputtered, paling at the thought of being stuck on a train without my phone and with a practical stranger for so long. "Can you call my dad and let him know what's up?"

"I think my phone fell out when I jumped on the train," Dominik grunted, effectively sealing our fate on this accidental vacation to Nordwestmecklenburg, which is a town along the coast.

Again, as noted earlier: I am trapped on a train with a creepy dude and no way of letting anyone know where I am.

"Scheiße," I whispered and then fidgeted uncomfortably in place once I began to register the intense heat radiating off the large guy who kept me trapped in his stronghold. "Um, you can let go of me now."

Dominik cocked his eyebrow at first and then looked down at me to see that both of his arms were still locked in place around me, keeping me pinned to his chest. "Oh, right," he muttered, dropping his arms and quickly looking away from me, but not quick enough to where I didn't see how cherry red his face got.