I woke up the next morning with a slight hangover, luckily not too bad. I vaguely remembered I was supposed to meet up with Maia today, she had offered to show me around. Quickly I got dressed, brushed both my teeth and hair and was ready just in time.

I feared that maybe things would be a little awkward between Maia and I but she does not seem to care at all.

Although I was a couple minutes early at our agreed on meeting spot she was already waiting for me. „Hi“ I shyly greeted her, smiling at her. „Hey, Lilli“ She said in her strong British accent and hugged me briefly. „Ready to see the best of Perth?“ She asked and I just nodded.

We took the same bus as I did yesterday, going right in the city.

One thing I noticed about her was how there was never any akward silence. Whenever no one knew what to say, she would ask a question. It was like she had many prepared in the back of her head.

„What is the craziest thing you ever did?“ The question was random but I did not have to think about the answer much. „Coming here“ I said and we both laughed. „You?“ I asked back. „I was originally gonna say skydiving but actually you are probably right. Aren‘t we crazy“

I appreciated her effort to come up with interesting questions and topics to talk about, successfully avoiding the dreaded awkward silence.

„How did you like the party yesterday?“ She asked. Reading her body language I got the feeling she wanted to talk about specific things not just hear a simple „good“ or whatever.

„It was fun“ I said slowly, avoiding her piercing eyes on purpose.

„ I can‘t believe you‘ve never kissed a girl before“ I should have known she would be the type of person to straight forward ask what she wanted to know. I would never.

„ I don‘t know… I mean why would I?“ „Because it‘s fun. Please don‘t tell me you didn‘t enjoy our kiss“

Someone help me, this is so awkward, I didn‘t even know what to say.

I did, kind of. I was also super drunk, way more drunk than usual. But it was great. Her lips were very sweet and it tasted good. I hated when people would describe love/kissing as „butterflies in ones stomach“ or „fireworks exploding on the inside“. But kind of, truthfully that is how I felt.

Probably just the alcohol though.

Luckily for me we arrived before I could really give an answer and she seemed to have forgotten the question. I recognized the place we were at, I have been there yesterday too. A big shopping centre is located right in front of us, the doors wide open, invinting us to enter. Maias intention didn‘t seem to be shopping though, she started walking down towards the habour. She was a few steps ahead of me, which gave me the chance to watch the way her ponytail swayed when she walked and how fast, yet gracious she walked.

The view of the harbour was nice, I couldn‘t really enjoy it though as my mind was still kind of caught up on the conversation earlier and last night. Kissing her.

I tried to push those thoughts away though and I successfully focussed more on the scenery.

There was a little bridge that lets you overlook the city from a short distance and with the sun shining down on the buildings it looked lovely.

„This is spot number one. Elizabeth Quay“ She turned around and gestured with her arms towards the harbour.

„Let‘s take a picture“ Maia suggested and asked a random person walking by to take said photo of the two of us. We stood close to the edge of the bridge, both smiling. Her arm found its way around my waist, I put mine around her shoulder. I am normally not at all the touchy type but with Maia, someone I barely knew, it was somehow different. It made me feel so comfortable to be close to her, at the same time it made me slightly nervous. I could smell her perfume, it seemed to be a flowery one, maybe a rose ordor. I liked it, together with the smell of the ocean it reminded me of a summer breeze. We thanked the man who took our picture and decided to have some lunch before carrying on our journey.

„You know what I have been wondering: Why do you speak English to your mom...like yesterday. I thought you were German“

„ I am...mostly. I was born and raised there but my mom is half Irish. She has always spoken English to me when it was just us, the wanted me to learn“

„Makes sense...have you ever been to Ireland?“

„Just once, a while ago. I haven‘t been recently. Have you?"

„Yeah. But like for me it‘s really close, so obviously“

We carried on talking about random things for a while. Our burgers had been served a while ago, they were delicious.

After lunch we went back to the harbour, to rest at the ocean a little.

„ Sometimes, rarely ever, dolphins come swimming by“ Maia explained. Dolphins, in such a busy place, so close to the city? I would have never expected that. Dolphins have always been my favourite animal. I have never seen them in the wild before. In the zoo, I have, that isn‘t the same though.

They were almost on top of the list of animals I wanted to see in the wild here, just after kangaroos and koalas.

It would be crazy to see them here, within my first week of being in Australia.

We sat down for a bit, a bench was right at the shore, with an excellent view of the sea.

There were other people around, a group of tourists with their cameras ready to go and a family with two little kids running around full of joy.

Despite so many others being there, the waves could easily be heard crushing against the walls, a boat buzzing across the water.

The sun was shining bright, little rays of sunshine tickling my skin.