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“What airline are you taking?” Vic barked.
“What?” I sputtered, caught off guard.
“The airline company, who are you taking?”
“Oh, I don’t know. We’re takin’ whoever is cheapest. Neither of us got much money.” To be honest I was going to end up maxing out my credit card to buy tickets. Not sure yet how I planned on paying that back, but that was a problem for another day.
“That won’t work. We’ll see what we can get on such short notice. Probably won’t be much, but it’s better than whatever shit you were looking at.” Vic walked away without another word. I glanced at Lennox, looking for a
little explanation, but her mind was elsewhere. He’d said “we”, right? Did that mean he was coming?
I ran to my apartment, ignoring the elevator because someone was already on it with their kid and the kid thought it would be so funny to press all the buttons. I skipped down the flight of stairs, pulling open the heavy metal door and rushing down the hall into my apartment.
“We have to go!” I said, bending over my knees, out of breath.
Eli stood to attention, reminding me yet again of a soldier. “What’s up? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain everything on the plane! Come on let’s go!” I grabbed my bag. “Are you packed?” I asked as we left my apartment, my backpack slung over one shoulder. I hadn’t even considered that Eli might not be packed. Even though I’d left him for hours, I hadn’t exactly told him what was happening.
“I left and got my stuff,” Eli said, gesturing to the backpack on his own back. “You were gone a long time. Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know. I went to tell Vic but he and Lenny were fighting again so Lenny and I went to lunch—sorry I didn’t tell you,” I added with a grimace, knowing I’d left him alone in my apartment for hours. Continuing, I explained, “And when we got back I told Vic and he immediately bought all of us, including you, tickets to Georgia. The plane leaves in forty minutes, by the way.” I took a breath. “I guess that’s it. I don’t need to tell you anything else.” I hurriedly pressed the button on the elevator, more than once, because when you do that it definitely makes the elevator go faster. Is that kid still playing in there or what?
“Where are they?” Eli asked, calm and smooth as butter even though I was inwardly—and outwardly—freaking out.
“Downstairs!” I said, exasperated. Why couldn’t he read my thoughts yet? “They’re waiting in Vic’s car to take us to the airport.”
“Well we better hurry then,” Eli replied, oozing nonchalance. When we made it down to the lobby, Vic and Lennox were waiting for us. I noticed they were holding hands, yet they both still looked angry. I didn’t have time to question that as we all loaded into Vic’s car and sped off. Vic wove in and out of traffic as if playing a video game. We all barely said anything the entire time we were in the car.
“I couldn’t get us first class on such short notice,” Vic grumbled as we unloaded our bags. “So we’re business class.” My eyes went wide as saucers. Business class? I’d never even been on a plane before, much less in business class. Isn’t that really good?
“It doesn’t matter, Vic,” Lennox said as she heaved her giant suitcase onto a curbside platform. A man with a blue jacket took the suitcase, gave it a tag, and put it next to a bunch of other suitcases. Lennox smiled and gave the man some money. “I think we’re all going to be happy in business class.”
“Do I have to give him my backpack?” I asked Eli nervously. It was really small but I didn’t know a thing about airplanes. Maybe I had to give it to him. Honestly, I was less concerned about giving the man my backpack and more concerned about the fact that I didn’t have any cash to give him.
Eli shrugged. “I don’t know.” I’d forgotten—he had never been on a plane either. He’d driven his truck across the country to California. This was the first time on a plane for both of us.
What followed after our bag check was a blur. We stood in line for only a few minutes and then people were telling me to take my shoes off, take things out of my bag, raise my hands over my head, and just generally yelling at me to do things that seemed ridiculous.
“Do you have any hairspray in here ma’am?” a lady with a blue shirt and black pants asked me.
“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly; I was still putting my shoes back on.
“Do you have any hairspray in your bag?” she repeated, her voice now laced with annoyance. I glanced at Eli for support, but he’d been pulled aside and was being patted down by two people in blue.
“I…” I stuttered, not sure if this was a trick question or not. “I don’t think so?”
The lady raised her brow, but shoved my backpack to me anyway. “Have a nice flight, ma’am.” I thanked her and took my bag. I clutched it to my chest, afraid someone was going to take it away from me again, and waited for Eli.
“I hate TSA,” Vic grumbled as he and Lennox joined us.
“TSA?” I questioned.
“Yeah.” Vic glared back at security. “Without fail, they always pull me aside. Do I look like a terrorist to you? Because they seem to think I do.”
I didn’t have time to answer. “Only ten minutes to make our flight, let’s move it!” Lennox said, ushering us along. Was flying always this hectic? I felt like we’d all injected coffee into our veins. By the time we made it on the plane I was ready to close my eyes and sleep, but I couldn’t, because we were on a plane. We were about to fly.
“Sit by me!” Lennox grabbed my arm, pulling me from my seat next to Eli. “Let the boys bug each other for a couple hours.” It wasn’t a request. I took a window seat next to Lennox and braced myself for the flight.
