love from marbella: The Train

I wrote this while attempting to watch Spanish TV, so I apologize if it's terrible. This isn't my usual narrative writing style, and I'm not sure if I like it. Hopefully it gives you a view of a few minutes of my trip to Madrid. Enjoy!

I'm sitting on the train home from Madrid. My feet are scrunched up on the seat next to me, slowly encroaching into Cj's spot -- personal space is quick to disappear between exchange students -- and Christine's arm is reaching across the table to snag the water bottle from my hand. Charissa has just returned from the bathroom to find her seat occupied by Cj's feet, but shows little qualms about shoving him out of her way. As I watch the countryside pass by, my heart swells with the friendship I feel towards the people sitting next to me; although I have only known them a few days, I cannot help but think we have been friends forever. At this thought, I smirk at myself - it is such a cheesy thing to think, but I feel that way nonetheless. Christine laughs, a big smile spreading across her Katherine Heigl-estque face, breaking my train of thought, "It's so funny to watch people look out the window," she says, and everyone turns to stare at me, "your eyes wander with no sense of direction." Glares from our across-the-aisle neighbors quickly turn our spirited laughter into quiet, behind-the-hands giggles and some typical teenage eye rolls (not in the view of our neighbors, of course!). From the way we're laughing, I can tell we're all exhausted: the giggling is a bit excessive, even for us. The laughter finally ceases and our eyes fall to the movie screens above; without headphones to listen with, we attempt to understand the movie, Tower Heist, from the Spanish subtitles which fly off the screen as soon as they appear. Christine understands some of the words, but it's Cj who can explain the movie best -- he's seen it, in English, before. All too soon, the movie holds little interest -- lack of sleep from the past couple nights is finally catching up to all of us. Christine is leaning on the window, eyes closed, "I've only had one cup of coffee today, that's eleven short of normal." On Christine's left, Charissa is texting her host parents, "Is this how you say we will arrive in Spanish?" she asks as she hands the phone to Christine, trying to figure out how we are getting home from the train station. Cj's head slowly moves to the table, and I can tell he is fighting the urge to fall asleep -- we all are. By now, I've turned myself around so that I'm leaning up against him, with my head resting on the seat. The slow lull of the train is calming and peaceful and I can feel my eyes start to go heavy; as I let them close, I think of my friends and family (both new and old) and feel, simply, happy.