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1: The Wrong Trip

I was just people watching from a shelf. I didn't have much to pack, just clothes. Everything else I grabbed along the way. I suppose it's one of the benefits of being a Borrower. Meanwhile, Signe and Seán were running around trying to remember if they had everything.

Signe was about to spend a week with her family. Seán was about to head to America for a week to visit friends and go to PAX. I planned on joining Signe, since they didn't want to leave too much food in the house when no one was around. Seán was a little panicked, as his Uber driver was late. I had gone into a daze of boredom.

So when the car let out the loudest honk I'd ever heard, it wasn't a surprise I lost all sense of balance. I plummeted off the shelf to the desk below, that held both Seán and Signe's carry ons. And let's face it. This wouldn't be a story if I had landed in Signe's.

Sure enough, away in a side pocket of the backpack, I barely started to recover from my fall before being thrown around as Seán grabbed his bag and ran out the door. My head was swimming and started to pound as the car pulled out to head to the airport. Any noise I made was drowned out by the car's engine, and I couldn't risk the driver hearing me shout.

I peeked over the edge of the pocket. Seán had put the bag between his feet on the floor of the car and was absorbed in his phone. (Of course he was.) Then, something made him pause and go a tad more pale. He glanced away from his phone.

Directly at me.

He spat a silent curse, looking desperately lost.

"Everything alright?"

The driver's question made us both jump, and I was quick to nod. Seán hesitated, then looked back up. "Yeah, just a weird post on Twitter."

"Ugh, yeah, I know how that goes. Which terminal?"

I sunk back into the pocket. Well, Signe said I needed to spend more time with him. Though I don't think this was how either of us intended for that to happen.

I wasn't sure what he was planning. While I would probably get through security just fine in his backpack, he still had a lot of other things to do. There was too much noise everywhere to really determine what he was doing. So I waited. Eventually, his erratic movements slowed and stopped.

"Ani?"

His whisper only broke through the din thanks to how close he had the bag to himself. Figuring he had gone off to the side somewhere, I poked my head out. Grey metal walls were close to him, encasing us in a personal box. He looked worried.

"Fuck, I don't have time to get you to Signe."

"And her flight leaves tomorrow," I finished, sighing a little. "We'll be fine."

He searched my face for a moment, then nodded. "Pocket or bag?"