3 am; joji miller

1.0

"Rose. C'mon wake up." George's voice was really comforting, as he gently shook me awake.

"We're already here?" I asked and yawned as I woke up from my nap on the plane.

"Yeah. We've got about an hour and a half until we have to board our next flight. Maybe we can find something to eat, but it's gonna be crowded. I hate the D.C. airport," George said. We were told to stand up. We didn't have to worry about getting anything because we didn't have anything.

George let me go in front of him, so I brushed past him and into the aisle. Then he stepped in behind me. It wasn't very crowded on the plane, but it took us a minute to get off.

Once we finally got off the plane, we found a clear place where we could regroup. "Okay, I have to take a piss. I'll meet you here, okay?" George said to me. I nodded. He leaned in and kissed my forehead before turning away and walking off.

I could feel the tears burning my eyes. I wanted to cry so bad, but I didn't want to draw any attention to myself, so I took a couple of deep breaths and stood there. I waited patiently for George.

"Alright, let's go find our gate and then we can try to find something to eat," George said as he came back from the bathroom.

"Sounds good to me. I didn't realize how big the D.C. airport would be," I said as we walked towards the center of the airport.

"Have you ever been in here before?" George asked, looking around for our gate.

"No, I haven't been in here. I've been in the Atlanta airport though. And I know that one can be pretty bad."

"Well that's nothing compared to this one. This one sucks, especially on weekends."

"Good thing it's not a weekend then. We're kinda cutting it close though, it being Thursday."

"Mhmm," George said. I could tell he was more focused on finding the gate. I was fine with it though, I was still tired. I wanted to go back to sleep.

I could feel George grab my hand. He pulled me towards a gate. I guess it was ours. "Hurry," he said, his voice sounding frantic. Now I was starting to get a little worried.

He pushed me through and into a random store. "George what's going on?" I asked quietly as he pushed me into a corner.

"I saw one of them. They must've managed to follow us," he said. He was looking out the store, but quickly turned around and faced me.

"Just act normal," he said. I did what he said and grabbed one of the magazines off the rack. I flipped through it mindlessly and once George nodded, I put it away.

"Alright come on, our gate she be a little ways down that way," he said and sighed heavily. I'm guessing it was a sigh of relief.

We walked out of the store and took a right. And we were back in the center of the airport. It was packed and I felt like I could hardly breathe. I hated it.

"Over there," he said and pointed up at gate 24. We walked into it and sat down in a couple of the seats. I relaxed into the seat as George checked his watch.

"Alright, we have about an hour. You hungry?" He asked and looked down at me.

"That'd be great. We haven't eaten since dinner last night," I said and stood up.

He stood up as well and we looked around. We saw a Chick-fil-a and a sushi place.

"Hmm, that's a tough choice," I said looked up at George who was looking down at me.

"I'm down for either," he said. I smiled and went with what I had been craving. I'd been wanting sushi for the last couple of weeks, but I haven't had the chance to cook it or find a place that actually has good sushi around home.

We waited in line for five minutes and then got an assortment of sushi rolls. Some were crab, there were California rolls, and a few other things. We each got one and we went back to our seats. Luckily there wasn't anyone in them.

"I promise I will pay you back for everything as soon as I get some cash," I said and took the lid off.

"You don't owe me anything. I got you into this. You have nothing that you need to give me," he said. He did the same and began eating. He was using the chop sticks, but I don't know how.

He noticed my struggles and smiled. "You don't know how to use chop sticks?" He took mine out of the little package and took my hand. "Hold them like this," he said and positioned them in my hands.

He brought my hand down and helped me pick up a piece of sushi. He practically fed it too me, which made me giggle a little bit.

"What're laughing for?" He asked as I was chewing. The sushi was pretty good.

"At you," I said once I finished. He smiled and shook his head. He handed me the chopsticks and I tried on my own. After a little struggle, I managed to grab a piece of sushi. I put it up to mouth, but it fell back into the box.

"Fuck," I said and laughed. George had been eating, but he was chuckling a little bit. He shook his head and looked at me.

I picked it up with my hands and popped it into my mouth. "Forget it," I said and brushed off my hands.

"Hey! That's cheating!" He said and laughed. I smiled at him. I felt nice to laugh with him, even though everything had happened. I looked up at him and stared into his dark eyes. He looked back at me, with a look of apology and fear. He didn't show it, but he was scared. I could tell. He was sacred of what was going to happen to us, to him, to me.
  
     "Everything's gonna end up okay. I don't know how, but it will," I said and put my hand on his shoulder. He put his chopsticks down and looked down to the floor. And then he did the last thing I would have expected. He started crying. Not huge sobs, not anything to make a scene, but there were tears coming from his eyes when he looked at me again.
  
     "I never meant for any of this to happen. I knew I shouldn't have..." he choked up. I put my sushi down and scooted closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. He pulled me closer to him, so I was on his lap.
  
     He had his head buried in my neck and mine in his. Though the place was packed beyond belief, I felt like we were the only two people in the room.
  
     "Flight 286 now boarding! Flight 286, now boarding!"
  
     George looked up and sighed. "Onto our next flight. This is gonna be a long one," he said. I used my thumb to wipe a tear from under his eye.
  
     "We'll manage," I said and smiled at him. He smiled back and I got off of his lap. We had finished our sushi, so we tossed the plastic and the chopsticks. We made our way to the terminal and onto our next plane.
  
     This time I didn't get the window seat. But it's okay. I was in the middle, between George and a lady who seemed to be a about thirty. She smiled at us as we sat down, and we returned the favor.
  
     As the plane began to take off, George took my hand, and rested ours on my knee. I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed heavily.
  
     "You okay?" He asked, leaning his head on mine.
  
     "No."
  
     "Me either."
  
     "But it's okay."
    
     "How's it okay?"
   
     "Because."
   
     "Just because? Because why?"
  
     "I've got you."
  
     I left it at that and I closed my eyes. I wasn't going to sleep, but just resting. Because I wasn't okay, but I was going to be.