3 am; joji miller

0.9

The lights of the airport shone brightly in our eyes. It took me a second to get adjusted to them. I didn't have any of my things. Nothing at all. I still am thinking about why I'm here and how I got here. Ian pulled into a spot and all of us quickly got out of the car.

George brought me close to him as we stood in front of Ian. "I can't thank you enough," George said to him as I took the extra passport from him.

"Once you get to wherever you're going, call me and I'll send your stuff to you. Or at least the things that I'm able to send. Now leave before they see you," Ian said. We were going to turn around and head towards the airport, but George pulled away from me and embraced Ian in a hug.

He pulled away, and Ian came to me. He wrapped his long arms around me as well. I hugged him back. "It was great to get to know you. I hope this isn't the last time we see each other," he said to me as we pulled away from each other.

"It won't be," George said. He took my hand and we turned away and finally made our way to the airport entrance. It was about seven in the morning now. This whole night had been so stressful and tiring that everything was becoming a blur as I walked. I began stumbling, but George caught me. He didn't say anything, though.

We got to the desk and asked for the next flight that had two available seats. "Well, we have two tickets to Virginia..."

"I mean out of the country," George said before the woman could finish her sentence.

She adjusted her glasses and looked back down at the computer. She typed a couple of things in on the keyboard before giving us her attention. "How about Japan?" She asked and looked from George to me.

"Perfect. I'll know my way around there. What time?" He asked and pulled out a credit card from his back pocket.

"The next flight will be leaving at 8:30," she said holding her hand out for the card. George gave it to her and punched in some numbers and then handed it back to him. He showed his ID and then she printed out our tickets.

"May I ask, is this one of those things where a young couple just travels anywhere? You know, how you throw a dart at a map and that's where you go?" She said and handed us the slips of paper.

"You could say that. Thank you so much, ma'am," George said. He pulled me away from the counter, leaving the woman looking very confused. We found our gate and sat down in the waiting area. There really wasn't many people there, but I guess there's probably not many people flying from Arizona to Japan.

"So our connecting flight is going to be in D.C., which is going to suck," George said. I really wasn't paying attention to him though. I was still thinking about how fast everything had happened. How, one minute, I was peacefully sleeping and the next I was in jail and now I'm waiting to get on the next flight to Japan. All of my plans for school and everything that I had worked for is going down the drain. All because of the mother fucker that I was sitting next to.

And that's when it all happened. Tears started filling my eyes and began streaming down my face. George looked at me and sighed. I felt his arm around me shoulder. He pulled me close to him, but I pushed him away. "I'll be back," I said. I stood up and walked off.

Through teary, blurry eyes, I saw the sign for the restrooms. I walked quickly towards it. I went inside, and gladly found that it was empty. I sobbed and breathed heavily as I leaned against the wall opposite of the door. I slid down to the ground, my hands on my head. "How'd this even happen?" I asked myself out loud.

I stood up and stood in the mirror. Staring back at me was a disheveled girl, wearing a shirt that says 'fuck off', plaid pajama bottoms, her hair in a messy bun, and mascara stains trailing down her cheeks. Eventually the crying slowed, and I used water to wipe away the mascara lines.

I took my hair down, and reput it up, a little nicer then before. I looked down at my old vans, the one's that I've had forever. The cops had let me slide them on, right before we got pushed out of my house. I sniffled and wiped under my nose with the back of my hand.

About fifteen minutes later, I pushed open the door and walked back to the place where I left George. I found him in the same spot, asleep. He had his arm around the back of the chair where I had been sitting. I took my spot next to him and pulled his arm down around me. I leaned against him and dozed off as well.

-

"Flight 274, Japan, boarding now! Final call for flight 274!"

I woke up with a jump as George shook me awake. "Come on, we've got to go," he said. He pulled me up and we jogged to our gate and showed our tickets. "You guys barely made it. You two are pretty lucky," the man said as we began to walk through the terminal.

"Actually, I'd say we're the exact opposite," I said softly as we got onto the plane. We found our seats, and thank god I have a window seat.

"Okay, this is the only good thing about today," I said as I sat down. George sat down next to me and sighed. After we buckled, his hand found it's way onto my knee again. I ignored it this time, though I was slightly comforted by the touch. I looked out the window at the morning sky.

"Wake me up when we get to D.C." I said and looked up at George, who was looking down at me.

"I will. Rose, I just wanna say that..." I guess he kept talking, but I didn't hear him. My head was on his shoulder, and I was asleep within three seconds. Fuck. What a night.