Savior

Twenty-Three: Mia

I didn't even realize I was bouncing my legs until Jazz delivered a sharp slap to my bicep.

"Would you knock it off?" she asked, her eyes still closed as she leaned against Cammie's shoulder. "Can't even take a nap with you shakin' the whole damn airplane."

"I'm sorry!' I whined. "I'm fucking nervous!"

Jazz growled as she sat up and rolled her eyes. "Why? Why are you nervous? It's Wes. The man is obsessed with you."

"We haven't seen each other since..."

"Babe, I know," Jazz interrupted, "but let's not act like anything has changed."

My eyes widened as I looked at her. "What do you mean? Everything has changed. We're not together..."

"You will be. This is just..." She waved her hand in the air as she thought of her words. "A blip on the radar. You love him, he loves you. He just needs to get his shit together."

"You don't know that. Maybe... maybe he's changed my mind."

She looked at me like she wanted to backhand me. "Right, Mi. I'm so sure he wanted to fly you across the country because he wants nothing to do with you. Makes total sense."

"You're an asshole."

"Doesn't make me wrong," Jazz insisted. She sighed and turned to face me more, Cammie still sound asleep leaning against the window of a plane. "This is him wanting you to be a part of his new life. This is him saying he needs you. This is him... showing you that he realizes all his fears, all his hang-ups from before, don't matter. Even if he hasn't said it, he knows he was wrong. He knows he was freaking out over nothing. He knows that."

"Well, now it's my turn to freak out I guess."

"Don't worry. Cam and I will be there the whole time," Jazz assured, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and squeezing. "Just think of it as... a first date. You two didn't really do the whole dating thing before. You just jumped right into a full-blown relationship."

"True..."

"I won't let you just get sucked back in, because I know that's what you're worried about. I'll fuckin' hide all the condoms if that's what I have to do."

I let out a snort of laughter. "I have no intention of sleeping with him."

"Good. You shouldn't. Making out and some light petting, sure, but I vote against penetration."

"Jesus, Jazz," I said with a gasp of laughter.

"Look, Wes is used to getting laid just for being pretty and... fucking existing. He needs to work harder than that with you.  If he wants this to work, he needs to do some goddamn woo-ing, alright?"

"You tell him that?"

"Sure fucking did. We FaceTimed yesterday."

"You did?"

"Yup. Told him he better be pulling out all the stops and if he even steps out of line, I'm breaking his throwing hand."

I shook my head and laughed. "You're terrifying."

"I also chewed him out for flying us coach. He's got money. Why are we not in first class?"

"I wouldn't let him."

"Okay, you and I got a problem then..." She glared at me for a moment before turning and settling back into Cammie's shoulder. "Makin' my ass cram into these little seats like some sort of sardine or some shit..."

"You're fine."

"That's what you think."

I managed to calm myself down enough to sleep a bit on the flight, but the second we landed, the nerves were back and stronger than ever. By the time we got our luggage at baggage claim, I was breathing like I'd just run a marathon. Jazz held my hand and squeezed it reassuringly as we headed for the lobby, and an awaiting Wes.