As Red Light Strikes

***

"You good?" Remy's eyes stayed glued on Aily and the later one noded , a bit unsurely but nodded. She felt fine, a bit giddy and anxious but fine. The hand luggage lying in her feet as she had refused to stuff into the locker not wanting to bother the people around her by getting up as soon as the plane lifted. Besides she had decided that if she could she would stay glued to the seat, with the security belt clipped on through the whole flight, just in case. The first flight from Miami to Philly had been soothing, she had allowed herself to relax fully as the plane had managed to smoothly make its way all the way to Philly. There they had waited for an hour and Aily had felt almost normal as she had followed Remy to the bigger plane that was going to take them all the way to sunny Greece as Remy kept reminding them. It was an unnecessary point Aily thought, there was plenty of sun in Miami but she still felt a bit giddy to experience the ancient city and take what it would offer.

Much to her annoyance Nicky had been seated closer to the back with some of his friends. She really wanted to thank him, he had been really sweet at the airport as well as the one in Philly where he had sought her out to check that she was alright. The words seemed to get lost every time he talked to her though and she wanted to thank him, to tell him she appreciated his worry. Clearly remembering Maribel's words she shook her head trying to distance the rebellious thought she didn't like trouble but for the first time in her life she thought it still might be worth it, no matter Maribels wrath. Besides her fond thoughts and lingering mind resting on Nicky's sweetness, the second flight had not gone as smoothly as she had hoped. Five hours in she had hoped she could jump over the following six. She had groaned and whined and Remy had rolled her eyes at her countless arguments. 5 hours in her nightmare had kicked off when they hit turbulence and she felt the plane shaking. Remy had told her over and over again that it was completely normal. The pilot had announced that people should fasten their seatbelt and Aily had watched horrified how some passengers had completely ignored the order. Remy kept telling her not to get all worked up about it. Thirty minutes later the captain had been speaking through the speakers again.

"Dear passengers, we are sorry to inform you that the plane will turn back due to poor weather conditions at the destination." People around them were groaning and whining, trying to catch the attention of the flight attendants. "We will land in Cap Verde in approximately two hours' time where we have gotten clearance. The expenses will be compensated by the aircraft and passengers on this flight will be offered housing. Hopefully the flight can take off towards Athens again, tomorrow morning. We apologise for the inconvenience and will note you further when we will start the landing. Thank you for your patience." Remy had muttered something incoherent followed by a row of colorful curses ending with a sigh.

"I really needed this trip." Remy mumbled tiredly and Aily took a good look at her friend who really looked tired. The plane seemed to be back to the smooth flying so she relaxed again, letting her mind wonder. She didn't know too much about Remy, the girl liked to be many things to herself. She had noticed that the girl however had to travel a lot so see her family. Aily had never met them, Remy lived alone, something that at first had felt a bit weird but soon like everything else it had made sense. Remy didn't talk about them too much, actually now that she thought about it she could almost swear that Remy had never even mentioned her parents but Aily knew she was in no place to question that. She didn't like when people started to ask questions about her mom's situation either.

"You still dating that Lewis guy?" Aily asked to keep the conversation going. She felt like a burden at times with Remy, who was a year older and had to look after her from time to time. Aily wanted to be there for Remy too but as R liked to close up whenever she got to the personal stuff she most often did not feel like she was. Lewis had been a breakthrough, the name had slipped once and after that Remy had hesitantly given her bits and pieces. Aily knew that Lewie was older than Remy, how much she had no idea. She knew he looked down on her and that according to Remy he was all alone in this world. The times she mentioned that had been the only ones when she said something nice about the guy. She had said it once, more often than not she cursed him, and called him names that made Aily blush furiously or words she really didn't fancy to repeat. Psychopath, narcissist and insane were three words Remy seemed to associate with Lewie, although Aily was almost sure she was exaggerating. Remy gave her a funny look like she was missing an inside joke. She ignored the slightly hurt feeling at the mocking smile as Remy still answered.