Number Neighbors | H. Steinfeld

Plane Rides

Los Angeles, California (Atlanta, Georgia)
November 26th, 2020
Warnings: None

I'm sending you a plane ticket to Georgia. Those words ran over and over in my head as I stared at the screen in my hand.

She wasn't joking. There was a straight flight to the Atlanta airport, first class ticket. The flight was set to leave LAX at 5pm, meaning I'd have to leave work straight away and go to the airport.

Just as I was typing out a text to Hailee, my boss knocked on the door and came into my office.

"Do you have the papers on Jennifer?"

"Uh, yeah." I rifled through the stacks of files before pulling out the correct one. He approached the desk and grabbed the file from me.

As he was leaving I called back for him. "Hey, uh. Boss?"

"Hm."

"I need about a week off, if that's possible."

"Starting when?"

"Tomorrow. I can take my computer and a few files if needed, and I'm sorry for such a short notice. Something popped up, a personal issue, that I have to tend to. In Georgia."

"That shouldn't be a problem. You're one of my best, just keep your computer and your work phone on you incase you're needed from afar."

"Thank you, truly."

"It's nothing. You come to work, you don't complain, and you're easy to work with. Plus you know what your doing. Like I said, you're one of my bests. Hell, you know what. Go ahead and take the rest of today off. On me."

My face lit up at his words. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Hanning. Go on, get out of here. Enjoy your break." He shot me a smile before exiting my office. I looked down at my phone, only to see the half typed message.

You
First class is too much. Bump me down.

Hailee
No. Deal with it.

You
Fuck you.

Hailee
Get on the flight and you can

I rolled my eyes at her reply and shut my phone off. I packed all my belongings I would need to take with me to Atlanta and left the building. I was sort of happy to be getting a break from work. However nausea flooded my body when I realized why I was taking a break.

Once I got home I showered and packed all of my things. By the time I was done it was perfect timing, because I could leave and go to the airport not having to worry about being too early.

By 4:45 I was on the flight. It was strange, sitting in first class. The seats had far more space.

"Red or white?" The flight attendant approached me with a chair, two glasses. One filled with red wine, the other white.

"Red, I need to get a little buzzed." I joked causing her to chuckle as she handed me the glass.

"Rough day?"

"Uh, sort of. I guess. I don't know, it's complicated." I shrugged.

"Well, I don't have anything else to do. The plane is pretty empty today, I believe you're all we have booked for first class." She sat in the chair next to me.

"Okay. So basically I have this friend, Hailee."

"A nice name." The attendant cut in.

"Well basically, I ended up having a sex dream about her. So I called her, and we ended up having phone sex. But we said we would think about it for a while until she came back to LA. But then she calls me today and tells me to take a week off because she's sending me a ticket to her."

"Really? And first class? Girl, you're special."

"Yeah. But now I'm stressing because like, what if she wants to tell me she doesn't like me? Or like doesn't want us to go further with whatever the hell is happening between us?"

"Hun, she sent you a first class ticket to see you. If she doesn't want you she's blind and stupid as hell!"

"I hope you're right."

"I know I am. Now, here's my number. I want updates." She chuckled before handing me a napkin, her phone number scribbled into it.

"Of course, of course." I chuckled at her. Who knew you could make friends in disastrous situations.

Once the plane touched down I said goodbye to my new friend. I learned her name was Emily and she lived in LA, so we made plans to hang out sometime.

As I stood by the baggage claim I ran through my texts with Hailee.

Hailee
I'll be picking you up at the airport.

Hailee
I'm outside the front gates, black suv.

I was slightly shocked. I figured she would be tired from her day and would have sent someone to pick me up.

By the time my bags came my nerves had reached the peak and I was ready to throw up at any given moment.

But I tried to push that down, not wanting to puke right before I see the walking goddess. I made my way outside the first gate and sure enough there she was. She had on a classic Hailee outfit, jeans and a cropped tanktop, sunglasses perched on her nose and a hat sat on her head.

She smiled widely when she noticed me, causing a smile to break out onto my face as well. She ran towards me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"I missed you." She whispered against my ear.

I buried my face in her neck as I breathed in her sent. Just like that, all my nerves, all my worries I felt about this moment. They disappeared in her arms.