Survivin' - [B.C.]

Chapter 42: Where It All Began

"You're joking, right?" I asked.

"Not one bit."

========= SURVIVIN' =========

"Where is your other shoe?"

Ben was practically turning our hotel room upside down, looking for the matching Converse that belonged to me. Suddenly remembering my late-night endeavors on the 1st, I feigned innocence.

"I... have no idea," I said. Ben paused a moment, looking up at me, and he squinted. I maintained my composure until he looked away and stood up.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. We'll go and get you a new pair. We've got to get some more clothes anyway because it turns out we'll be staying away from home longer than we anticipated."

"Why?"

Ben flashed me a smirk. "It's a surprise."

"You asshole."

"Hey, fuckin' language, man!" He teased in an overly-American accent.

Sophie appeared out of the bathroom, trying to get an earring into her ear.

"Both of you owe a nickel to the swear jar," she said. Ben and I both stuck our tongues out at her.

"We've got to get to the airport in thirty minutes!" She urged, dropping her hands down to her sides. "Will you two please stop acting like children for just a few seconds?"

"I thought we weren't going home yet?" I asked.

"We're not. Now please, be mature young adult and get ready to leave."

I sheepishly got out of bed, grabbing some clean clothes to change into. I scooted past Sophie and into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door.

When I came back out, shed from my PJ's, Ben was doing a handstand against the door and Sophie was holding onto his feet.

I paused in the doorway, my mouth open. Sophie quickly turned around to act like she wasn't involved in anything, taking her hands off of Ben's shoes. Ben, in consequence, came crashing down to the floor with a short and frightened scream.

I slowly turned my back to the scene, just about in tears from the hilarity and randomness. I packed all of my things up and gathered my luggage. Ben was still laying on the floor and Sophie was playfully kicking at him. I shook my head in disappointment.

"You two are insane," I said.

"We're trying our best," Ben countered, his voice moderately muffled by the floor.

I scoffed and sat my bags down. I grabbed around Ben's torso and used my back to lift him up, then I started waddling backwards to get him onto his feet. Sophie just laughed at the scene and didn't do anything to help.

When the child was fully upright, he seemed to go back into his manly sort of ways. He picked up every bag he and Sophie and packed, and then said we had to leave.

In no time, we were in an Uber and on our way to the airport, which we arrived at with zero minutes to spare.

For some reason, I was much less nervous to get on this flight. Even when we were taking off and my ears were popping, my adrenaline skyrocketing to the point were I felt multi-dimensional. It just seemed a lot more peaceful and easy. That didn't stop me from listening to my music, though. And thankfully this time, I got a window seat.