Lost Dad: Dan Smith

Eleven: Together at Last

Happy New Year! I hope you guys had a great 2016! (Apologies for the time of the story being a bit behind than the days are currently)

Laura POV:

I feel a tap on my right shoulder from the aisle the moment I finish "Conqueror" by Aurora. A guy an girl, both around 25 were holding hands. 

"Hi." says the girl. She has blonde hair and brown eyes. He has light brown hair and brown eyes as well. I pull out my earbuds. 

"We're together, could you take the aisle or window seat please?" She asks, smiling. I knew she was going to be the chatty one that will make the short trip feel like 7 hours. 

"Oh, sure." I say, moving my stuff out into the aisle, letting them in. I wanted the aisle seat due to my easily triggered motion sickness. The girl sat in the middle. I noticed two shiny rings on her left ring finger. This must be their honeymoon. Or maybe it was Chicago. I sit back down and spend a little while figuring out how to fasten my seatbelt. More people pass our seats and take their spots further back in the plane. 

"I'm Stephanie, and this is Jackson." She says. "Whats your name?"

 I decide I can have some fun and completely make up a character for myself. "I'm Payton." I say.

"I love that name!" She says. "What brings you to St. Louis?" She asks.

"I'm going to a music school." I blurt casually. 

"Wow!" She says. "Have a good time." She says, pulling out her phone. 

"Thanks." I say, now wanting her to be nosy so I can get really into a backstory. 

"Jackson and I are spending our honeymoon in St. Louis." She says. 

"That sounds really fun!" I say. 

"How come you're alone?" She asks, completely changing the subject. I take a second to decide what to say. 

"My Mom's in jail and my Dad isn't really in my life." I reply. "My neighbor brought me here." I say. 

She looks at me. Her eyes want ask where I live, but her mouth says "That's too bad." I decide that I don't know how to reply to that, so I keep my mouth shut. My phone vibrates on my lap. It's the EML group chat.

Eat-Ham: How's it going? Are you on the flight?

LauraPalmer: Good. We're taking off in about 5 minutes. The plane's driving around.

MichaelJordan: Cool. You text us when you land.

LauraPalmer: K

"Who's that?" Stephanie asks. "Just some friends." I reply. "Boyfriends?" She asks. I fake laugh. "No, Ethan and Michael are just guys from school." I reply.  "Okay." She says. 

Roughly 60 minutes of small talk and trying to slide in earbuds later:

Static fills the air again. "We are beginning our descent into St. Louis, Missouri. The current temperature is 36 degrees and sunny. Please remain seated while the aircraft lands. Your baggage will be at Carousel 4" The intercom says, sounding like an ill person pinching their nose. I grasp onto the armrests as my stomach decides to disobey gravity and twist into more tangles than earbuds left at the bottom of a bag. The plane turbulences and roars before finally touching the pavement. The window reveals a blurred landscape of planes driving around, taking off, and landing. Once we come to a stop, we still parade around the landing area. We pull up to a gate, and everyone stands. I assume that I should too. I pick my bag up from off the floor. Once the seats in front of us are cleared (Which doesn't take long), we walk down the narrow aisle. People behind us are taking their heavy bags out of the overhead compartments. I rush out. I look around. The airport is less fancy then Chicago's, but it sure is big. I see a sign pointing to the baggage claim. I follow it down the wide hallway along with a lot of other people that I think were on my flight. I feel my phone vibrate.

Dan: Has your flight landed yet? I'm here. Waiting at the cabbage claim.

Dan: *baggage

Me: Yeah. My stuff is at carousel 4. 

Dan: Okay. Can't wait to see you!

Me: See you in I think 5 minutes.

Dan: k

I turn a corner with the rest of the group. All the baggage carousels are in a large room. I look around and see baggage claim 4. Next to it, I see a tall guy wearing a black shirt with some text on it that is cut off by a denim jacket with a fuzzy inside. His dark hair is more tame than usual. His glasses stand out on his smiling face. He's looking down at a phone, which has a gameboy case. His black high top sneakers match mine. He looks up. I'm the first thing he sees. His eyes light up brighter than I've ever even seen the sun. He starts speed walking over to me, putting his phone in his pocket. 

"How was the flight?" He asks, about ten feet away from me. 

"You don't see me for twelve years and that's what you ask me?" I say smiling. He gives me a huge hug, pressing my bag against my back. 

"I've missed you." He says. 

"I've missed you too."

Dan POV:

The thing I noticed first about her is how she has her mother's figure. Sure, she has my blue eyes (Which are tastefully framed with a classy amount of black eyeliner) and dark annoyingly thick hair, but she's obviously going to be about as tall as her mum, (Ashley was about 6 feet tall, whereas Laura is about 5'7 at twelve years old). 

"We're on a tight schedule, lets grab that bag of yours." I say, letting go of her slowly. We walk together to the luggage claim, where half of the bags are already gone. 

"It's the orange one." She says, pointing. Her bag is turning the corner toward us. I walk over and heave it off the carousel. She pulls up the handle and pulls it behind her. We follow the signs to my car. I hear two girls behind me whisper 

"Hey, that guy looks like Dan Smith." 

"No, it can't be, why would Dan Smith have a kid with him?"

"Bastille is playing here tonight! What if its him?" 

"Remember when the 1975 was here and you thought that someone was Adam? It was our neighbor!" 

"Shut up! He's even dressed like him!"

"It's not him!"

"Fine!" I laugh to myself. 

"So, did you sit by any weirdos on the flight here?" I ask, never once in my life have sat next to a normal person on a plane (I usually sit next to Kyle on flights). 

"The chick next to me was really nosy and was reading my texts over my shoulder." Laura replies. 

"Creep." I mutter. We get to the door to the parking garage. "I think I'm over here..." I say, gesturing to the far left side of the parking area. Turns out, I was wrong and we had to walk all the way to the far right. Once we get to the rental car, I take Laura's bag and set it in the trunk. I hate driving in the states because the driver seat is on the wrong side, but I'll have to deal with it. I start the car. 

"I need to tell you something..." She says, looking me in the eye uneasily.

=

Ooooooh... small cliffhanger...