Eight Dollars (Trixya)

Arrival

As soon as the plane touched down in London, Brian squeezed my arm.

"We're here!" he trilled.

I groaned in response. I loved having a job, or in this case, a best friend, that allowed me to travel, but sitting still for long periods of time would never be the highlight of my visits. My general discomfort combined with the feeling that it shouldn't be as dark as it was outside the window was enough to put me in a strange mood.

We grabbed our bags from the overhead storage and followed the swarm of other people leaving the plane. The winter air outside was chilly, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

We hurried through the airport, finding our driver quickly after grabbing our suitcases. As I was only there to keep Brian company, really, I had only brought one suitcase of boy clothes with me, in contrast to his three cases of drag. We pulled them along until we reached the car, piling them into the boot before getting in. The driver set off, taking us to the hotel we were spending our first night in.

"I'm fuckin' tired," Brian moaned, his earlier burst of optimism long gone, leaning across the seats to rest his head on my shoulder. I smiled, enjoying the moment of contact.

A minute later, I realised he'd fallen asleep on me, after being wide awake for the entirety of our flight. I made sure to stay as still as possible so he could rest. I couldn't help occasionally glancing down at him and observing his peaceful expression. He was so effortlessly cute, and it never ceased to amaze me that the whole world didn't fall for him like I had.

Eventually the driver pulled to a stop outside the hotel.

I nudged Brian, trying to gently wake him.

"Brian... We're here," I spoke softly, and he rubbed his eyes as he slowly sat up. It was almost too adorable.

We opened the car doors and stepped out into the chilly air. I wrapped my arm around myself as, between us, we took our bags and hurried towards the lobby.

The warm air hit me as soon as we stepped inside the doors, making our way over to the girl sat behind the reception desk. We checked in, and she handed us each a key card for our rooms. Since we started making more money, there wasn't the same necessity of us sharing hotel rooms, but I couldn't deny that I missed it. We still somehow frequently seemed to end up sharing a bed any way.

We made our way up to our rooms, saying goodnight with a brief hug before going to our rooms. I quickly showered away the exhaustion of the day's travelling and got into bed.

Once again, I found myself staring up at a white hotel ceiling as I thought about Brian until sleep drowned my thoughts out.