The Winding Road

Chapter 18

I wake up with a fright as we drive over a speed bump. It's dark outside, the cars headlights are the only lights around.

"Where are we?" I ask and stretch my legs.

"We are driving to the airport." James says in a hushed voice.

I look at the time on the dashboard and squint to try and focus on the numbers. '22:13'

"How is it already ten?" I ask confused. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"You fell asleep just after we left. That was like 5:00, and you woke up once or twice for about an hour. I'd say about 3 hours."

"Three hours? How did I sleep that long?"

"Well you didn't get much sleep last night, and all this drama has probably exhausted you." James says quietly.

I look at James, his eyes twinkle in the moonlight. He looks at me and smiles.

"Aren't you tired?" I ask, "I can drive for a while."

He yawns and smiles. "No it's fine."

I giggle. "Pull over. I'll drive."

He stops the car and unbuckles his seatbelt. We get out of the car and the cold air hits me hard. We get back into the car and I put my seatbelt on.

"Sweet dreams," I say smiling and begin to drive back onto the road," I'll wake you up when we get to the airport."

James yawns and closes his eyes,"okay."

The rest of the drive is peaceful. By the time we arrive at the airport it is 24:32.

I stop the car and turn the lights off. Where we live, you aren't legally allowed to be at the airport before 5:00. I turn and look at James. His head is rested peacefully against the headrest and his arms are crossed over his chest. I open my door and quickly step outside. It is dark and I can't see anything. Keeping my hand on the car, I make my way to the boot. I open it and take out one of the blankets. I then continue to James's door. I open it and put the blanket over him. He opens one eye and smiles.

"Hey." he says looking up at me.

"Sorry," I say quietly, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine," James says stretching, "are we here? What's the time?"

"Yeah we're here but its only like 1AM"

"Oh ok."

I close James's door and climb onto the back seat. I rest my head against the window and stretch my legs across the seats. James turns and looks at me.

"So what now?" He says and yawns again.

"Well I'm not tired so I'm going to check what flights there are. You can go back to sleep if you'd like."

"No I'm good."

He lifts the blanket and opens his door.

"Where are you going?" I ask as he closes his door.

"Coming to sit with you if that's ok." He opens the back door and sits down. "So, what are our options?"

I scroll through my phone, reading the flights out. "Paris, Germany, England, Canada, Holland and America."

I sit with James and we read through the information about each flight. We look through the hotels in each place and finally come to a conclusion.

"So you're sure you want to go there?" James asks, looking at me and smiling. "It's a long flight."

"I'm sure."