Dolphin Tale 6

Chapter [20]

C h a p t e r   T w e n t y

WHEN THE PLANE FINALLY LANDED at Tampa International Airport neither Hazel nor Sawyer spoke. An announcement crackled over the overhead speakers, but neither of them were listening; they were both attempting to prepare themselves for what they were about to experience—they were preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

When they had first seen Clearwater Marine Aquarium on the news a couple of days ago, they had only seen the damage to the outside of the building . . . and even though they hadn't seen the interior, even though they knew that they shouldn't get their hopes up too high, it gave them the hope that perhaps the damage wasn't as bad on the inside as they had seen on the outside.

If Sawyer thought that he was broken, he really didn't know how to describe Hazel. Shattered. Splintered. Fragmented. All those words seemed to partially describe how she appeared to be feeling, but they never really fully justified how she felt, and Sawyer didn't think that any word would be able to.

When the plane taxied to its gate at long last and the pilot announced that it was safe to remove their seatbelts, thanking the passengers for flying with their airline, there was the usual rush as people stood and opened the overhead baggage compartments. Everyone, it seemed, was in a rush to disembark from the plane—everyone except Hazel and Sawyer. They simply stayed in their seats, watching as the crowd of passengers gradually dispersed down the aisles and off the plane.

After a while, Hazel turned to face Sawyer, a calculating gleam lingering in her eyes, and a look of uncertainty upon her face.

Sawyer sighed heavily, glancing briefly over at Hazel before standing up to retrieve their bags. "Ready?" he said finally, breaking the tension that had settled in the cabin, squeezing their hearts and constricting their lungs.

Hazel stood slowly, a small sigh escaping her lips as she did so. "You've asked me that question so many times, Sawyer," she said bitterly, her voice full of pain, "and my answer has always been no. What makes you think that my answer will be any different this time? I wasn't ready a few hours ago, and I'm still not ready—I won't ever be."

"Just asking," Sawyer said defensively. He took one look at Hazel's expression and sighed. "Look, let's just get off this plane, okay? We need to get to Clearwater Marine Aquarium as soon as possible."

Hazel let out a noncommittal sigh, nodding. "Fine," she said, standing up, holding out a hand for her bag that Sawyer was carrying.

Sawyer shook his head. "It's fine, I can carry it."

"And so can I," Hazel countered, not bothering to disguise the defiance in her tone.

Sawyer was aware of the stares they were receiving from the flight attendants, so he simply grabbed Hazel's outstretched hand and pulled her down the aisle of the plane, hissing, "Let's go. We can discuss this later when there's no one else around."

Hazel forced a smile onto her face as they bade farewell to the flight attendant by the door, and as soon as they exited the gate, she ripped her hand out of Sawyer's grasp, her smile long gone.

"What did you do that for?" she hissed, still aware that there was a possibility of other people overhearing them.

Sawyer stopped walking and turned to face Hazel. "You were acting differently, and you weren't going to get off the plane anytime soon. Of course I had to do something."

"Of course I'm acting differently!" Hazel seethed, flinging her hands into the air. "Don't you think I have a right to act differently after all that's happened? Don't you think that, given the circumstances, it's perfectly reasonable for me to be acting like I am?"