one of them - j.flatters

xxiii. Boarding

NOVEMBER 2022 - LOS ANGELES
When Bailey called Christian and Avery, the PR team, saying that they should grab their suitcases and come pick them up at their old apartment's building instead of the hotel, they were furious. Because of the detour, they were hurried throughout the whole ride to the airport, barely making it in time. Now, Avery was clapping her heel on the ground while she waited for them to pass security. If they missed their flight, they wouldn't be able to make it to all the interviews they had planned, perhaps even to tonight's premiere. In a line, they all put their carry in plastic baskets along with any jewelry, watches, rings or belts. It took Jamie longer than the others, the same rings still wrapped around most of his fingers. Trinity and Jack passed through first and when came Eliana's turn, the computer's detector went off, its alarm ringing and alerting several people in the airport. Eliana frowned, her body frozen as the two guards started going through her bag, looking for the cause of the disturbance. Eliana glanced over her shoulder at Bailey and Jamie, both carefully watching over the girl.

"What is it?" Bailey whispered, her face appearing over the brunette's shoulder.
"I don't know." Eliana said, quietly and breathlessly. They were already as late as it is, she didn't need to add on their stress of missing their flight. The girl looked over at Avery, biting her nails anxiously while looking at the departure's screen. "Miss?" She turned to one of the security guard, the blonde one who had her hair tied in a sleeked low bun. "What's the problem."

The blonde nodded to her coworker as he pointed at his computer screen, probably looking at the x-rays of her backpack. Eliana's heart picked up, a sudden wave of heat making her dizzy as she awaited for an answer. The guard zipped opened her bag and shuffled through the different things until her hand reappeared with the familiar white bottle. Eliana inaudibly gasped at the sight of her medication.

"Ma'am, I'm gonna have to confiscate this, you cannot have an unsealed bottle of pills in your carry on."
"That's fine." Eliana was quick to answer, eyes widening to the fact that Jamie had most definitely overheard that she carried pills with her. Bailey noticed the distress in her friend's face and proceeded to face the boy, distracting him from everything that was going on in front of him.
"You forgot one." Bailey pointed to one of his finger but Jamie couldn't tear his eyes away from Eliana, from the guard holding a bottle of pills. He watched the blonde guard throw away the bottle in another bucket along with some other forbidden things and as Eliana passed through the metallic detector, he finally let himself look back at Bailey. "You better take it off before you make the alarm go off a second time." She chuckled.
"Right." He forced a grin, taking off the last ring and placing it with the others in the basket.

The group boarded just in time, less than fifteen minutes before their plane took off toward London. After their sleepless night, everyone was either silent or slowly dozing off, this was going to be a short flight, Eliana thought. She, too, wanted to get some sleep but first, she had one thing to do. A conversation that was long overdue. Bailey was right, Jamie deserved the truth, the whole truth on the reasons why she had left so abruptly, why she had put an end to the only relationship she ever had. Eliana glanced over to Bailey, already snoring, her hat hiding her eyes from the daylight and then, turned to check on the row across theirs. Convenient, she thought when noticing that the seat next to Jamie was empty, as if it was some kind of sign from life that it was meant for her. Eliana unbuckled her seatbelt and took three steps towards the brunette, he immediately noticed her presence, putting his book down on his lapse.

"What's up?" He smiled. "Everything okay?"
"I need to talk to you. Are you busy? I can come back later if you're busy." She nervously rambled which caused the boy's smile to grow wider, shyer.
"I'm not. Come." He said, patting the seat next to him before standing up and letting her pass. Jamie's nostrils flared when their fingers brushed, when her familiar scent filled his nose and sent a whole wave of warmth through his body. "What do you need to talk to me about?" Jamie said when sitting back down in his seat, his full attention on the girl. He knew he had nothing to worry about and yet, her previous rambling made him nervous. Eliana only talked too much when she was nervous. What could she be nervous about? Perhaps it was just the exhaustion of having to search for him all night.

"Um." Eliana started but shook her head, the words trapped in her throat. Now, Jamie's mind was going fast, twisting any possible reasons why she seemed so out of control. But more importantly why she would let him see her this worried, she never did. Eliana used to always hide whenever she felt anxious, that was one of the reason why it had taken him so long to notice before something was wrong and when he finally did, she left.
"Is this about me breaking up with-"
"No." She was quick to cut him off. Changing the subject would give her more time to reorganize the thoughts in her head, more time to find the right words to say to Jamie. She had so much feelings buried, she almost got used to the weight of it, but now that she was facing him, she felt like on the verge of exploding. The conversation was too important for it to be messy, sloppy, no, it needed to be perfect. Perfect words. Perfect Eliana. "But now that you're mentioning it, why would you do that, J?" She sighed.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "But just to warn you, she's going to be at the Premiere. I promised to take her and-"
"And you're a man of your word. I know." She smiled. "Why did you want to warn me, though?"
"I felt like I owed you a little heads-up. She knows we used to date so..."
"Oh." His choice of words were pure irony. He owed it to her like she owed the truth to him and yet, she couldn't do it. Not now. In a plane, in between two continents with strangers surrounding them, it was too personal. "That's okay, Jamie. You don't owe me anything." Eliana said before starting to get up but he caught her wrist before she could flee, again. Why was her first instincts always to run away, to leave?
"Didn't you have something to tell me? I'm sorry, I cut you off."
"Uh, it wasn't very important. I'll tell you another time." She smiled.
"Lia." He frowned.
"Seriously, Jamie. Let me go, I've told you it's nothing."

He loosened his grip around her skin and let her go, something that felt somehow way too familiar for the boy. Eliana regained her seat, exhaling all of the stress she had been holding since she left that very seat.
"So?" Bailey said, now fully awake and her eyebrows risen. "Did you told him?"
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"Nothing, I chickened out. It just felt like the wrong time to tell him."
"Okay, I get that but you can't hold the truth from him forever, you know."
"I know, Bails. Trust me." She sighed. "Thanks for earlier."
"You know I'll always have your back, Lil."
They both smiled at each other, happy to have been brought back together after many years apart. Eliana had missed having her biggest supporter by her side and Bailey had missed being with her best friends, her kindred spirit.
"Oh, by the way, Jamie's ex-girlfriend's coming tonight."
"Hold on." She frowned. "Did you say ex? He broke up with her?" Eliana nodded. "Oh my god." Bailey exclaimed, chuckling.
"What?" Eliana frowned.
"He's totally still in love with you."

hiii,
first chapter of act four, we're entering the beginning of the end.

so the next chapters are going to be each premieres (some might even have two!) and since you're here, I've posted yesterday the introduction for my The Summer I turned Pretty book called Snow on the Beach. Steven Conklin is the love interest so if that talks to you, go check it out.

I'll try to update this week!
Much love,
-justine