Tightrope

Chapter Twenty Seven

The five hour flight to their first stop in Philadelphia went by quickly for Tori, who fell asleep within the first hour of the trip. Jade passed the time with some games on Tori's pearpad for a while, but without an internet connection, there wasn't much by way of entertainment on the device, and when the battery started dying as the third hour of the flight drew to a close, Jade took to people-watching for a while. There wasn't much to look at. The flight was maybe half full, and the majority of the passengers were average-looking middle-aged white people who were just as bored as she was. Nobody was doing anything even remotely interesting, so Jade watched the flight attendants as they went down the aisle, collecting the trash from the dining cart, which they'd taken out an hour earlier. The bored actress wasn't exactly sure what the food they'd been passing out was, and she'd only taken a couple of bites before deciding it wasn't for her. Now, her stomach was growling, and Tori was still passed out asleep in the aisle seat.

Another hour had passed before Jade got curious about the contents of Tori's carry-on bag. She seemed like the type to pack some snacks, and if she were awake she probably would've offered them to her girlfriend by that point anyway, Jade decided. She let her hunger get the best of her and bent down to retrieve the bag from between Tori's ankles. Just as Jade started to go through it, the seat belt light came back on, and the intercom speakers crackled. The older of the two flight attendants announced that they would be beginning their descent in the next few minutes. Her high-pitched voice was enough to finally wake Tori. She mumbled something tiredly as she opened her eyes, and a few seconds passed before she truly came to.

"What are you doing?" She finally questioned, reaching out to grab her bag from her nosy girlfriend.

"I'm hungry. I was looking for snacks. You missed dinner. It was disgusting though. I couldn't eat it."

"Well, that's airline food for you. You're lucky they even served anything but pretzels." Tori rummaged through her bag for a moment and retrieved a chocolate chip cookie, which she handed to the grumpy passenger. "We have a two hour layover in Philly. We can get something to eat there." Jade only sighed in disappointment and devoured the cookie in two bites, while Tori continued her mother hen routine by stowing her bag beneath the seat and buckling Jade's seat belt for her, with only a curious look in response.

It was a little windy outside, so the plane had a bit of a rough landing, prompting Tori to clutch Jade's hand so hard she cut off the circulation. At nearly 1 AM Eastern time, the plane finally pulled up to the gate and let the passengers off. Once they were on solid ground, Jade took the reins and immediately steered her girlfriend through the airport, searching for somewhere to eat that appealed to her even slightly. All the while, Tori complained about Jade's haste, begging for a stop at the restroom, to no avail. They finally found an Inside Out Burger, after Jade dismissed nearly every other restaurant in the place.

While she took her sweet time choosing something from the menu, Tori went to use the bathroom, checking the departures screen on the way back to make sure their next flight was on time before she returned, just as Jade was ordering. Tori added an order of fries and paid for the meal - just as Jade had expected her to - before the girls could finally take a seat.

The cranky actress' stomach had only just stopped growling when her meal was interrupted by a short blonde-haired teenage girl. She nervously approached the table by herself, eyes on Tori the while time. Jade just slowly chewed her hamburger as she watched the girl, who didn't seem to notice her.

"Excuse me," she said when she finally reached the table, "are you Tori Vega?" The singer looked up from her fries in shock, and just barely nodded in response as the girl smiled at her.

"Yes, I- hi." Tori spit out a few words and half a French fry.

"Awesome!" The intruder's voice got high as her smile grew, and she turned red almost immediately. "This is so weird," she commented, "I just listened to your album for the first time last night, and I put it on my pearpod to listen to during my flight to Cleveland, and then here you are, in the Philadelphia airport, of all places."