Conrad

Chapter 3

My eyes crack open and I lay there staring at my ceiling. It's so weird not being able to reach over and grab my cellphone. Thank goodness my new one will be delivered to the phone store this afternoon.

The plan for today is my friend Rosie will take me to the airport to pick up my car, after we do brunch together obviously! I haven't seen her in over a month, and Rosie is one who's always gotta be in the know, so she wants all of the details about my adventure. Then, after I get my car, I'll swing by and pick up my new phone on the way home.

I grab a cup of coffee and plop down on my couch with my laptop. I immediately click on a photo of Conrad that I saved to my desktop last night during my Google search. "Good morning handsome" I say staring at it with a big smile.

My stomach flutters as I ogle over it. Suddenly, I get an Instagram notification, so I open it up and see that Gage is now following me back. I go to his page and it's completely predictable. There's a lot of pictures of him flexing at the gym, some of him in his pilot uniform, a few military pictures, a bunch of him partying with beautiful women in various places around world, and a couple of of his dog. He's the typical single self absorbed male.

My message box then pings with a notification. "Oh crap" I mutter knowing that it's him. "Hello gorgeous! How was your vacation?" He types with a 😜 emoji. I start to chuckle. "Hey Gage, it was terrible, I almost died a few times. How was yours? LOL" I reply.

He types back a laughing face then "I take it you're back home now?" He asks. "Yes, just got back, feeling much better. How are you holding up?" I reply. "Not bad, I'm back at work but only flying domestic. I noticed your location tags on here, I'll be in your city this weekend if you want to grab a drink?" He asks me. I sigh not really wanting to, but what could it hurt?

"Okay, what night?" I ask. "Saturday if that works for you?" He replies. "Sure, there's a nice place downtown called Francesca's" I reply. "I know it. I love that place. See you at 8:00?" He asks. I reply with a thumbs up.

Rosie picks me up a short time later and we hit our favorite brunch spot. We have a few mimosas and I tell her everything about my adventure. She's in awe of my story and tells me that I should write a book. I invite her along on Saturday night as a buffer for Gage, besides he's completely her type. She's an absolute commitment phobe and I think the two of them would have a lot in common.

After brunch we head to the airport parking deck and retrieve my car. I'm then off to get my new cell phone. Once that mission is complete I feel whole again. My life is back in the palm of my hands. I no sooner get my phone back and it rings. It's an attorney contacting me about filing a class action lawsuit against the airlines. I tell him that I'm not interested.

First of all, I just want to put all of that shit behind me. Second, it would mean that Gage gets dragged through a nasty lawsuit because he was one of the pilots. And even though he's a complete shit, we have become friends. The attorney assures me though that more victims passed away than there were survivors, so their families will want to take action. Even if I opt out, I'll still be involved in the suit and eligible for compensation. I tell him I'll think about it.