Vulpecula ✔️

The Beginning.

Anne quickly dismissed the thick sad air in the living room by ushering us to the dining table for breakfast. None of us said anything, but when Derek began asking question, trying hard to make conversation, I replied with as detailed answers as I could. Because I don't want to be rude to them because I felt weird. It wasn't their fault. They were just welcoming me in their home.

The breakfast was too delicious to not over eat. So eventually, I walked out of the house with a bloated belly and the rest of the food packed in a bag. The journey to India is quite long. Five hours or something in the plane. And I know that the food in the plane will be good, papa never gives me anything less than good, but I couldn't let go of this amazing home made food by Anne.

Clayton pouted at his parents. Derek laughed at him whereas Anne just glared at him. But behind her glare I couldn't help but see her love for her son. Like her eyes were begging him to never change and be the same goofy person that he is now. No matter how much she tries to pretend that she doesn't like his behaviour I know deep down she loves him more than life.

"I'll miss them." Clayton sighed sadly once all of us were seated in the car and driving away. He sat at the back so Kayden was beside me. I didn't like this seating arrangement.

"You made that pretty clear." I replied without looking at him.

"Don't be rude. I'm a little boy okay."

"Is that a hot girl I see there?"

"What? Where?"

"You're a little boy. You aren't supposed to see hot girls." I sassed.

We quarreled for the rest of the way until we got seated in the plane and our luggage was safe. Within five minutes the plane was ready for take off. We all sat at a good distance from each other. Kayden was at the extreme back, I was at the front so Clayton was in the middle.

All of us were sleepy because we woke up early, so once the plane was in the air we all slept in the recliner chair of the plane. All of the chairs were built for comfort. This is the family plane of the Mickelsons. And luckily papa inherited it from his parents. If my father did that, I'm sure mother would've already sold it and bought some diamonds for herself.

_________

When I woke up after an hour to use the restroom, I saw how uncomfortable Clayton looked. So I settled him in properly and covered him up. Kayden was no better, so against my ego, I settled him too and went away to do my business.

The air hostess was taking rounds as I got out so I asked her to bring me some apple juice.

It was boring but I knew that I had a lot to do. So I began reading one of my novels that I packed along.

"Ava?" I sighed and looked at Kayden. I raised a brow as he sat down near me. "Thank you. For adjusting me in that seat."

"I would've done that for anyone. I did that for Clayton too."

"I know. I'm trying Ava  and I need your forgiveness. But I guess I don't deserve it?" He smiled at me sadly and then went to the back again.

I sat there for a while, wondering if I'm being too hard on him. But then it's not my fault. If it was me in place of him, he would have ripped me apart to shreads and danced over my corpse. Because Kayden doesn't take bullshit from anyone. So he shouldn't be bullshitting anyone else either.

I turned around to look at him, but he was in the washroom. I don't know what possessed me, but I wanted to go to his seat and sit there. Just to piss him off. So I did. I took my novel and the juice carton and sat on his seat. Kayden came back and abruptly stopped at my seat. His eyes were daring me to leave the seat and mine dared him to make me.

"Oi, come here Kayden, I wanna talk to you." Clayton called out suddenly. My head snapped towards him and he gave me a thumbs up. I smiled gratefully at him.

For the next half hour they both kept on talking and I kept on reading. After a while,  I heard Kayden's phone ping silently next to me. I would have not looked into it if I didn't read my name there. It was a text from Mrs. Murphy. Getting curious I opened his phone which surprisingly had no passcode.

*What is going on between you Ava, baby?* This was Mrs. Murphy's reply. And when I read what Kayden had sent him, I nearly laughed out loud and got myself in trouble.

*Mom Anne let's Ava call her by her name. They are already close. Don't ever let Ava call you Mrs. Murphy. I want her to be comfortable around you people.*

I looked up to see Kayden still engaged in the conversation. There was no use of this. I'm pretty comfortable around his family, just not around him. I don't even know if he would throw me towards his friends the next time I hang out with him alone. Maybe that was one of the reasons I wanted Clayton to come along.

That day, I had best intentions in my heart for him. He was sitting at the bar and all of us were with each other, so I felt like I should've given him some company. Little did I know that he was surrounded by his friends, who jumped at the opportunity of getting to see a girl utterly humiliated. None of it was as bad as the fact that I considered Kayden a friend. No matter how rude or distant he always seemed.

"Ava, join us. Don't sit alone. You'd be depressed." Clayton called out. I tensed momentarily but relaxed. He doesn't know that i am depressed. That I have been since I was 13. But how would he know. Only papa and mamma know that. They are the only ones who know that I use anti depressants. That I have the worst case of panic attacks. That I'm not okay.

"Sure." So I walked towards his seat and plopped down beside him, cuddling to his side which earned me a glare from Kayden. "What?"

"Nothing." He grunted.

"You know where in India are we going once we land?" Clayton asked me, ignoring the feud between me and his best friend.

"We'll land in Delhi, the capital of the country and then from there we will travel on road to Varanasi, one of the ancient cities. A hotel there and then we visit the temples because most of the holy scriptures and all are stored there. So we might as well find someone who could translate."

"What about the others. How will they know?"

"You underestimate me. I did my research and I sent them all the details of the cities, people and where to go for the translations. If they don't get answers there then I'll have to research more. I texted the details to everyone last night."

"Those people can work themselves. You didn't have to do so much." Kayden grumbled.

"I felt the need to. They wouldn't be going if I didn't bring the journal, so it's not their fault."  I said softly. Replying for the first time to him in a civil manner, which caused his eyes to widen slightly and then they went back to their normal size. As if he didn't want me to know that it was a big deal to him.