The Stark Trap

~1~

~A/N~ I'm SO excited to FINALLY post this! I've been writing it for SO long and it's finally finished! It's the first actual fic I've ever finished and I'm so proud!

Please ignore any spelling/grammar errors or double words that shouldn't be there (my phone is dumb), it's 4:30am and I'm too lazy to reread everything

Hopefully chapters will be published every week (Friday's at 5-6pm PST)~

'Taking off now, see you in two weeks! Love you! ❤'

Melissa sent the text just as the plane started moving. She laid her head back onto the headrest and looked out the window. There was a long five hour flight ahead of her before she'd be in New York City with the rest of her classmates.

She was hesitant to leave Malibu, California, the place that has been her home for the past sixteen years. She had never left home before, and certainly not without her mother. Which is why she jumped at the opportunity to go on this field trip. It was a chance to get out of her comfort zone and do something completely different. Melissa and her mother did everything together, they were basically like Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls. Her mother was her best friend and she was her mother's as well. 

'I miss you already! Text me when you land! Love you! ❤' Her mother texted back not even a minute later. 

Smiling at the text, Melissa turned her phone off and went back to staring out the window, silently thanking her mom for getting her a window seat. 

~•~

Five hours later, the plane landed and the students were gathered around, waiting for their teacher to finish the roll call 

While she was waiting, Melissa took out her phone and shot her mother another text, letting her know that she had landed. 

"Melissa Potts?" Mrs. Howard called, looking up from her clipboard. 

Melissa stuck her hand up, shoving her phone back into her pocket. "Here!"

Once roll call ended, the students were ushered into a bus that would take them to their hotel. They didn't have anything planned for the rest of the night since it was 8pm and everyone was tired from the flight, but tomorrow their whole day was jam packed with tours around the city, so Melissa wanted to make sure she got a full night's rest. 

At the hotel, Melissa was paired to share a room with another girl from her class that she didn't know that well. But Melissa didn't mind, they wouldn’t be spending much time together anyways. 

Melissa took a quick shower to get the airplane smell off of her before she checked her schedule for what was probably the millionth time, and laid down in bed, texting her mom once more to say goodnight. 

Despite her nerves about being in an unfamiliar city without her mom, she was excited for this trip. She needed adventure, she needed to get out of the house, it wasn't healthy for her to be inside doing homework all day. Her mother agreed with that, Melissa needed to be a teen before it was too late, which is why her mom agreed to send her across the country by herself. 

At first, her mother was completely on board with the field trip, but when Melissa told her that one of the places they would be touring was Stark Industries, her mother had second thoughts, though she wouldn't tell Melissa why. 

Melissa was able to convince her mother to sign the permission slip, reminding her that she needed this experience. Though she was still confused about her mother's reaction to Stark Industries, she knew better than to ask questions. 

Sighing, Melissa glanced at the date on her phone: October 8th. They went home on the 22nd, which meant they'd spend two weeks in New York City. Melissa would spend fourteen days away from her mother… The longest she's ever been away from her mother was when Melissa spent four days at her friend's house during the summer when she was thirteen. Melissa had such separation anxiety that she had to call her mother at least twice a day. 

She told herself she'd never spend that long away from her mother ever again. But now here she was, all the way on the other side of the country for two whole weeks… She was already starting to feel homesick, but she promised her mother that she would make it the whole two weeks without freaking out, and she always kept her promises. Though just because she promised she wouldn't freak out, that didn't mean that she wouldn't be calling and texting her mother the whole time. 

Melissa wondered what her mother was doing right now. It was 9:30 in NYC so in California, it was 6:30, which meant that her mother wouldn't be in bed yet. Was she worried about Melissa? Did she regret sending her? Did she miss her?

Melissa rolled her eyes at that last thought. Of course her mother missed her, she was her mother after all. There wouldn't be a time in her life when her mother didn't miss her, even if she was only in another room. It was the same for Melissa, she always missed her mother whenever they were apart for more than a few hours. It probably wasn't healthy, but neither of them cared. They've spent every day of Melissa's sixteen years of life together… It was just the two of them and nobody else for sixteen years, they were allowed to miss each other. Melissa loved it just being the two of them, she didn't want to add anyone to their little family, that way she didn't have to share her mother with anyone. Her little family was perfect, and she wouldn't change it for the world. 

Checking the time on her phone, her eyes widened when she saw that it was already 10:30. 

'How did an hour pass by so quickly?' Melissa thought to herself as she rolled over onto her other side, telling herself that she needed to go to sleep or else she'd be exhausted tomorrow, and that was the one thing she didn't want to be. She wanted to make sure she made the most of her trip, and if she wanted to do that then she couldn't be tired. 

Sighing, she buried her face into her pillow, hoping sleep would come quickly, though she knew it probably wouldn't since she was so excited for tomorrow.