Never Let Me Go

Evergreen

Hamilton gave me a tour of all the research students he recognized on the plane. 

We gave our snooty first impressions and laughed over airplane champagne and cheese. 

That was until we passed out leaning on each other like goofs. 

I awoke to the grumbling of the plane landing. My eyes blinked open slowly and I stifled a yawn. 

Getting a buzz on a plane in the middle of the day is never a good idea. 

My head pounded a bit as I shoved Hamilton's snoring face off of my shoulder. 

"Wake up we're here" I groaned.

He looked like how I felt. 

We stood at the very last second after everyone else had gotten off the plane. 

My giddiness slowly started coming back. 

"I can't believe I'm actually here right now." I swooned. 

Hamilton staggered out of the airplane with his stuff hanging over his back. 

"Yeah, I know" he yawned. 

I nudged him and laughed. 

"C'mon let's go find our luggage" 

He groaned as I pulled his arm along to baggage claim. 

After finding our belongings we arranged for an Uber to come and pick us up from the airport together. 

Thank gods I had him to split the ride with me, it would've cost me a fortune riding all the way out to the Nordic Isles without him. 

Our driver was very kind and surprisingly excited to be driving out to the 'country' part of Iceland. 

Hamilton made me laugh the whole way there.

We spoke about what we were hoping to get out of this trip. 

I found out that Hamilton was turning twenty-four soon, freshly out of his university as well. 

He almost gasped at the fact that I was still only nineteen. 

"What is a little girl like you doing out here all alone" he said when I told him a bit about myself.

 I rolled my eyes. 

"Relax you're barely older than me. And I'm not all alone, I have you!" I smiled.

He had grumbled a dumb excuse and I laughed at his childish behaviour. 

"You know I heard the parties get pretty wild out there on the excursions," he told me while we discussed the trip. 

My mind was filled with doubt. "Are you sure? Aren't we going on an expedition with a bunch of geeks?"

Hamilton laughed at that. 

"No honey. A bunch of rich kids that like the pretty sea animals" he crowned.

 I hadn't taken in the cost of the whole expedition. 

The university was so excited that I was considered for the trip, that they had covered most of the cost. Almost like a research grant. 

"Oh, I didn't know that." I smiled sheepishly. 

Hamilton draped a lazy arm around me. 

"I know honey that's why I like you, you're not one of those privileged little things that are only here because of daddy's money." 

I tried not to smile at his comment. 

It felt insensitive but he was really boosting my ego. 

The driver directed our attention to the outside of the window as the sun was starting to set on the horizon of the Icelandic sea.