"Bye Mom and Dad, thanks for letting us stay for a few days." I smiled at them as Dan and I stood out on the patio. He had his arm around my shoulders and both of our suitcases at the ready. My mom walked forward and hugged me tightly, then placing a hand on Dan's other arm.
"It was really nice to meet you, honey." She dropped her arm and smiled at us both brightly. Dad appeared at her side and hugged me as well.
"Good luck with the baby, guys." Dad seemed like he was still warming up to the idea of us having a baby so soon. Something in his gaze told me that he started to approve of Dan, like he proved himself in the few days that we stayed here.
I turned and motioned for Dan to bring the bags to the taxi and I followed behind him. I waved at my parents before I got in the back seat with Dan and we were off to the airport.
"That was an emotional rollercoaster of a trip." Dan breathed out and looked at me with his gorgeous brown eyes. I nodded and thought about the early moments of the trip where my dad showed the most distaste for Dan. It all turned out to be a mask, just a show to make Dan fight back. My dad never tried this with Weston but I guess he wanted to make Dan prove his worth.
"Yeah it was. But now we're headed home and have to jump ahead five hours." I groaned, having just gotten over my jetlag and now have to jump right back in. We'll be up until the ungodly hours of the morning, tossing and turning in our beds and waiting for even a hint of sleepiness.
"Oh my god, don't even mention it. The flight is at two! Why did we think that was a good idea? At home it'll be seven in the evening and then the flight is eight hours just about. It'll be three in the morning and then we have to get on a two hour train journey." Dan ranted with an irritated expression. I hadn't really thought about it; I'm a person who just goes with the flow and I often don't think things through. That's the part where Dan and I differ. He's a logical thinker and likes to plan ahead for these types of things. He must have been tired when he bought our tickets because it seemed unlike him.
"I'm sorry babe." I made an exaggerated pouty face and his expression softened. He smirked at me and mouthed the words "pet name" with a slight bunch of his head. My cheeks turned slightly rosy and I looked down at my phone as a new text came through. Brooke was texting me about how her stay was with Phil; he agreed and they went out almost every day, him showing her his favorite places to go like the adoption center with the kittens. She found out that he is allergic to cats and he said he didn't mind the stuffy nose and wheezing.
"Yeah." I smiled awkwardly and tried not to laugh when Dan repeatedly poked me in the arm. I batted his hand away and giggled along with him.
***
We were thirty thousand feet up in the air and things were particularly calm despite being on a plane. The gum I was chewing had gone bad about half an hour ago but I still chewed it anyway so I could keep the popping ears at bay. I had more gum but I came to the realization that every time I switched to a new stick, it would go bad in about ten minutes. Cheap gum tends to do that, and I still tend to buy it.
I looked over at Dan subtly and he was watching the world go past out of the plane window. He and I had discussed that he should get the window seat so that I didn't get plane sick again. It seemed like a sweet move at the time but really he was just taking pictures of the clouds to post on Instagram. Although, he did turn and snap a couple photos of me when I was least expecting it. He says I'm a photogenic person but I thought it looked like I had just rolled out of bed.
The light from the window hit Dan's face perfectly, accenting his jawline and cheekbones. I stared for a few seconds without him noticing and noted that he looked deep in thought. The light from the sun reflected off of the clouds and, in turn, made his skin look amazing. The moment was picture perfect so I pulled out my phone and quickly took a picture. Unfortunately for me, the sound was turned all the way up and the shutter sound emitted and I accidentally held down the capture button.
