Alvarez

Nineteen

Everyone has a different way of escaping the dark stillness of their mind. - Marie Lu

Christian
Mia was packed and ready to leave New York before I even booked us a hotel room. I could tell that this trip would make her happy, and I wanted to get her out of here for a while. Considering all the bad news I've given her over the last month, I figured she could use some time away from here. I know she needs a break from all the shit, the attack at her house, everything with Oscar. I'm worried about her, so I hope this trip makes a difference.

I only needed about an hour or two with the head of the marketing team in Atlanta. He's an old friend. I figured I'd just tell him the truth about Mia's dad and the employee's would stage a walkout without making it too public. As much as I wanted Michael in the limelight, I couldn't do that to Mia.

Once I assured her the house was well protected and nothing would happen, we made our way to the hangar where I'd chartered a small jet for us. I thought using an airline would be too public and the insurance money I received when my house burned down had to go somewhere. Since they thought I didn't survive the fire, the money was routed into a frozen trust for underprivileged teenagers, because I had no living relatives. I found a way to release some of the money into my account without it going noticed, and the rest of it remained.

"I've never been on a plane before." she tells me, dressed in a long sleeve dress with a deep neckline. I almost asked her to change so I wouldn't die from a goddamn hard-on, but she did me a favor and put on a jacket. "you'll like this, it will just be us." I tell her, as a man came to the car to park it for me.

We stepped off and loaded our bags onto the jet. She looked around in awe. I didn't tell her I owned the jet, it never came up anyway. I haven't wanted to impress a girl since high school.

"it's beautiful." she said, and smiled at me. It's a standard jet, only 6 seats and a few customizations. "we should be flying over a sunset, thought you might enjoy that." I said, and opened the decanter I had from when I landed in New York. She looked at me like she was about to accuse me of something. "you can be so sweet sometimes." she said with a smile.

"don't tell anyone." I'm fighting back a smile. "they wouldn't believe me anyway."

The pilot for Vincent Moretti's partner airline steps in. He did this for me as a favour. "boss, we're ready for takeoff if you are." I looked to Mia and she nodded, giddy in her seat. "yeah, we're good to go." he nodded and disappeared, and Mia fastened her seat belt. She had a book in her lap, but she looked as if she didn't know it was even there. I recognised some of the titles she reads, some are classics, some are filthy- actual smut. I've watched her read those scenes with a straight face. It made her more intriguing to me, makes me wonder what goes on in her head. She seemed interested in nothing but the sky. I wasn't sure what her fascination was with the stars, but I didn't mind watching her gaze at them. I've become enthralled with the littlest of things she does. This is all very confusing and extremely unnatural. Something was definitely wrong with me.

"I've got some papers to deal with, you think you could help me out?" I asked, and we listened as the engine hummed to life. "no thanks, I like my window seat." she says, and turns her head to watch as we got onto the runway. I sighed. "when you get bored, help me read documents." I said, and sat beside her for takeoff. She didn't look nervous at all. Generally takeoff is the scariest part. I've told her before, she's too tough for her own good.

Once we were in the sky, she would not shut up. I wished she would stop talking for just five seconds so I could focus. On and on about every single fucking thing she could see from the sky. It was adorable. It gave me some kind of peace that her mind was free, and she was happy. Even if it was temporary.