Change of Plans

Chapter 5

After the farewell fiasco with Jason and my embarrassing embrace with my non-mom, it was time to start the airport rush. Personally, I hated being in the air. For me, flying felt a lot like falling because the whole time all I'd be thinking about was the plane taking a specular nosedive to the ground.

The first thing on the shortlist of things to be done before we were actually in the air, was securing a driver to take us to the airport since Tori had already returned her rental car. I thought that it was a stupid move because don't they pick it up from the airport if necessary?

Anyway, after that was done, the next task was all mine. I just had to work up enough courage to actually get on the plane. "I really hate flying," I complained to April via our Skype call.

"Dude, it's a piece of cake, really. The hardest part is the takeoff but you'll be totally fine if you don't puke when that happens." She kept wiping her eyes, which contrasted with the deep-seated way that she spoke.

I pretended not to see the tears that unceasingly streamed down her face. "I always get nauseous at takeoff, but I've never puked, you weirdo." I turned away when she reached for another tissue. It wasn't that I didn't care that she was crying, but I didn't necessarily want to join her either. My tear ducts were already strained as it was. That and also I was sure that I'd be crying the entire flight to Tori's world. There was only so much crying that a girl could handle and I'd reached my quota for the day.

"Hey, can you promise me something?" April asked while I was pulling a t-shirt over my head. I nodded and she sucked in her breath before letting it out slowly. "Can you try not to get another best friend and forget about us?"

"Obviously." I placed my palm on the screen and she did the same with hers and we stayed like that in silence for a couple of seconds before she pulled hers away. "I should probably pack this," I said gesturing to the laptop. "We've only got an hour left before..."

"Yeah. I'll miss you kiddo," she said silently crying again.

"I'll miss you more." I croaked, my own tears pooling in my eyes. I angrily brushed them away. I wasn't angry per se; it was more like I was disappointed with my lack of willpower when it came to shedding those ever-constant tears.

She hiccupped through her nod before ending the call.

It took me a few minutes before I was stable enough to shut the laptop off and stuff it into its case. I was resolved to turning off this leaky faucet within me that caused me to burst into tears so often.

"Ready?" Tori asked when I met her at the door. I nodded because ignoring her would have been rude, but the fact that I was coming towards her, bag in hand, should have been her first clue. Or maybe I was just looking for every excuse possible to come down harder on her.

The waterworks didn't take long to start once we had actually begun our journey into the unknown and by the time it was time to board the plane, my eyes were swollen from continuous wiping and my nose was sore.

"Oh, sweetheart," Tori cooed, attempting to hug me. I gave her a scorching look and turned towards the window, wishing that I could've switched seats with anyone else just to be able to cry in peace. She gave up on interacting with me after that minor incident and by takeoff I was fast asleep.

After the flight, I vaguely remember being introduced to someone and then being ushered into a waiting car. I slept on the way to my non-mom's home to avoid having to answer questions like: "So, how do you like New York so far, kiddo?" and then I'd have to respond with something like: "I've been here for all of two minutes. What do you think?"

"We're here," someone whispered while sporadically shaking me out of my slumber. I cracked one eye open and in my sleepy haze, offered Tori a timid smile as I worked up the courage to open the other eye. I was pretty sure that I had a bit of drool on my face and my jaw was imprinted by my shirt sleeve which also had some drool. Gross.