Autumn Leaves (Watty Awards 2013)(Editing)

Chapter 11

“Now boarding first class, flight 197, Boston to Los Angeles. First class only.”

Tyler grabbed his bag. All he had with him was his change of clothes for after practice. As soon as he got off the phone with Freddy, he sprinted out of the locker room to find Claude, not even bothering to take off his skates. He asked for a few personal days off, expecting to have to fight for it. Claude let him go. Tyler drove straight to Logan Airport from Ristuccia, even paying the ridiculous fee to leave his car there overnight. He bought one of the only tickets left for the next flight to California. It cost him nearly $3,000. He didn’t care.

He pulled out his boarding pass and showed it to the woman at the desk. He made his way onto the plane. Once in his seat, he took out his phone and sent Freddy a text.

I’m on a plane to see her. I need to know where she’s staying and what her room number is.

After making sure the text went through, he put his phone on airplane mode. He realized that he had nothing to do to keep himself entertained throughout the six hour flight. He could buy an in flight movie, but it would only last a third of the time, and there was nothing good. Instead, he pulled his headphones out of his bag and plugged them into his phone. He selected the playlist that contained the songs Nicki got for him.

** * * * * *

“It worked! It fucking worked!” Brad screamed into the phone. “Freddy you’re a genius!”

Freddy laughed. He knew that it would work. Nicki made him promise not to tell Tyler where she was. She never said anything about Brad.

“I know, I know. I needed to do something. I don’t even care if she gets mad at me. I just hope Tyler doesn’t screw it up.”

“He won’t. He looked like he was about to cry when he left. I wouldn’t worry,” said Brad.

“And Claude was totally fine with it?” That was the part that Freddy really couldn’t believe.

“Yeah. It’s been affecting his game. So when I told him what we were going to do, he was all in. Besides, the only game we have lined up is against the Panthers. They suck.”

“Good. Well I gotta go. I’ll let you know if either of them calls me. Thanks for the help Marchy.”

“Anytime!”

Freddy hung up the phone. He had about six hours to find a way to get Nicki’s room number without making her suspicious.

** * * * * *

The first thing Tyler did when he got off of the plane was check his phone. He had a single text from Freddy.

Freddy: received 15:03:57: shes at the sheraton in san diego. room 809. go get her bro

Tyler was confused over the time he had received the text. Then he realized that on the flight over, he gained an extra three hours. Back home it was after six.

He wished he had brought some cooler clothes. As he stood in line to rent a car, he couldn’t stop sweating. He didn’t even have sunglasses to shield his eyes from the vibrant California sun. His turn finally came. He ended up with a black Dodge Charger. It suited him just fine.

Once inside the car, he started it up and plugged the address for the Sheraton in San Diego into the GPS system. It was a two hour drive from LAX to San Diego. He blasted the A.C.

** * * * * * *

Nicki stripped out of her uncomfortable court clothes. She felt like a stiff wearing a woman’s suit. She looked like she could have been her brother’s lawyer. It was only five o’clock and she was done for the day. There was still some time left to do something fun.