Take My Mask, I'm Home

draw the curtains and let the play begin

Underneath the pungent odor of airplane fuel, Lisa could smell the clean, fresh scent of home. She looked out across the tiny airport and the Homer Sound stretched out, filling her view with only water and islands. Turning on her heel, in the other direction she could see Homer, sitting on the shore, boats bobbing in the water in the harbor. Despite the circumstances that brought her here, she was thrilled to be home, and she resisted the urge to jump up and down to release the adrenaline.

She couldn't wait to see Rosie in particular, despite their tense phone call. Rosie had been planning to move to New York for a long time, and had finally sent her application to the NYPD, but that had only been a few days ago. The thought of having her sister nearby after these past years without her was something Lisa was seriously looking forward to. She missed Rosie a great deal, and images of sister and movie nights flashed through her mind.

If she wasn't in jail. And if Rosie was still talking to her after their phone call the night before.

Abruptly, she was brought back to earth. The bump as she landed threatened to pop her sudden good mood and she looked over her shoulder at the plane where the pilot was busy unloading their-

Lisa pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and set her hands on her hips, staring in dumbfounded shock at the sight that greeted her.

There was luggage, and then there was Jennie's luggage.

Lisa's lone suitcase was off to the side already. As she watched, the pilot was taking a third large, magenta suitcase out of the hold while Jennie supervised as if they were made of glass. The suitcases were exactly the same vibrant shade as her shirt.

"Jennie? These... these aren't all coming with us, are they?" Lisa asked uncertainly, hoping against hope that she was seeing things.

Jennie turned to face her, dark Ray-Bans hiding her eyes from the bright sun. Lisa could still see the frown on her features, though. "Of course they are, Lisa," she said. "I need all of them."

Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Didn't I- correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I say that you needed not to stick out here?"

"No," Jennie said flatly, turning back to inspect her luggage. "You told me that I needed to pack more casual clothes, which I did. I didn't know anything about... where we are, so I had to pack a variety of things."

"Right," Lisa said, drawing the word out and rolling her eyes. "You couldn't have googled Homer? You- you know what, never mind. I'm going to call us an Uber."

She fished her cell phone out of her pocket and swiped through until she found the app and ordered the car. She paid for it, stabbing at the screen with her finger, then shoved her phone back in her pocket before strolling over to get her suitcase.

The Uber was going to take at least half an hour and, even though the airport wasn't exactly a busy one, standing near the plane was rather pointless and dangerous.

"We're going to have to move away from here," Lisa said, thanking the pilot for their flight as she passed him. She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and dragged it away from the plane and towards the small building that counted as the small airport's terminal.

Besides, they might have snacks in the terminal. Jennie's plane might've had quite a lot of food on it, but since Lisa slept for the majority of the flight, she hadn't eaten anything except two donuts, a packet of chips, and a Mars bar since the night before. She was hungry.

When she got into the building, she waved at Jonn, who had been the lone security guard at the airport for as long as Lisa could remember. He was well-trusted after having brought Rosie home after one too many drunken nights. He was good friends with Clare, and he and his wife Hwasa were regular guests in their household.