“Who are you?” The question came out of my mouth before I realized how rude it sounded. “Sorry.” I immediately apologized.

“Everyone apologizes so much here. It’s fascinating.” The girl sat down gently in the chair across from me. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Sorry.”

Oops.

The boy laughed, sitting down in between the girl (his sister?) and me. “You did it again.”

Yeah. Hilarious.

“What are your names?” I asked, clenching my hand around my uneaten burger’s wrapper.

“John. And this is my cousin, Luisa. And you…?” He looked expectantly at me.

I was staring at the girl. Luisa, he had said. She was… captivating. I wasn’t ashamed of my stare. She had pulled out a large leather notebook and was scribbling all over a page, not even glancing up. What was she doing?

The boy staged a cough. I looked over, surprised. “Huh?”

“Luisa likes to… well when she gets inspired, she draws. Better not interrupt her.”

“Oh.” I snapped out of my funk. “Rebecca. But call me Becca.”