Pictures And Some Memories

Sixteen: Get By With a Little Help From My Friends.

"Andi, you know I don't like this," Larkin growled into the phone as I walked into the airport. "You promised that you'd keep him out of your life."

"He needs a tech for a couple of festivals. Besides, his original tech had something come up that limits him from working at the moment."

"He seriously couldn't just work through it?"

"It's really difficult to be a technician from a jail cell," I snapped, stopping short of the gate I was to depart from. "I'll call you when I land. I'm sorry you feel so strongly against this, despite the fact that it's nothing out of the ordinary of what I usually do this time of the year."

"Usually you don't go on tour with your ex-boyfriend, Andria. Of course I'm not okay with this!"

"You've nothing to worry about, though! Do you really not trust me enough to help a friend out and do my job?"

"Well, maybe you should've considered how I'd feel about it. I am your boyfriend, after all."

I chuckled bitterly. "This is the first time we've talked for more than two minutes in a week and you're getting mad at me for not considering you? You just made travel plans for the same week I'm supposed to showcase at my new place!"

"That's completely different, Andi. It's for my career!"

"If it was for your career you would've remembered the fucking date sheet you always make me send you on any important things regarding me, someone you fucking represent! Going to Cabo with your frat buddies doesn't fucking count."

I couldn't help but shake my head, unbelievably angered by his actions and unspoken accusations. "Look, I'm an independent adult, free to make her own decisions. You've nothing to worry about. If you want to stop being an ass and talk to me when I land, cool. If not, I'll talk to you when you've decided to be a mature adult about this."

I locked my iPhone then, thus ending our call and proceeded to go through the procedures of flying out to our first stop, Seattle, on autopilot. I knew that Charlotte had just heard the entire conversation we'd shared but she didn't make any move to talk about it, for which I was thankful. There was no way I would be listening to another person tell me to break up with him just yet, especially with Zacky being within a 10-yard radius at all times. Although I was friends with the lot of them, this trip was also purely business from my standpoint. I didn't need personal drama ruining their shows.

After meeting with the rest of the group, our boarding call came moments later and before I knew it, I was settling into my seat and waiting for whomever was to be seated next to me in the front of first class. I wasn't feeling particularly chatty and I hoped the stolid expression I held on my face waved off anyone trying to force positivity or their overwhelmingly annoying excitement to fly for the first time down my throat.

Low and behold, the very same person that Larkin was forever hateful of sat next to me, the smell of mint, cologne and leather settling in the air around us as he greeted me with a small smile. I glanced in his direction to acknowledge him and returned to staring at the safety screen four feet in front of me. 

"Trouble in paradise?" he asked, earning an eyeroll from my end. 

"I don't think you actually want the answer to that, Baker."

"You know me well, Dawson," he replied with a smirk. "Listen, I'm probably going to say this a million times over the next few days, but I really do appreciate sacrificing your time to work on your legitimate career to help us out."

"I've been dying to get back on the road, no matter how short," I shrugged. "I'll probably be doing a ton of scribbling and sketches on bar napkins while we have downtime, though."