Playing With Fire || d.h

97. Home

Although we had packed everything up last night, Dan and I were still in a confused rush to catch our flight the next day. Even with the spacious hotel room, we ended up colliding with each other multiple times as we scrambled to get everything together, and Dan ended up spilling both our coffees all over the carpeted floor. I had accidentally washed my hair with body wash, and Dan was incredibly irritated for the rest of the morning when he realized the breakfast bar wasn't even open yet.

After our painful morning, we're both finally ready, and Dan checks us out of the hotel as I make sure I have both our tickets are downloaded to my phone. The last thing I need right now is to be stuck in Los Angeles.

We grab one of the cabs lined up outside the airport, and are driven to the airport. I take in the LA streets one more time, trying to soak up as much of America as I can. Too soon, we reach the airport. Dan and I pull our luggage out of the trunk, and walk into the airport. Our suitcases are scanned, and an officer wands us. Luckily, no incidents come up, and we're sitting by the terminal with forty five minutes to spare.

We walk around the airport, stopping in all the different shops. I have to convince Dan to not buy a 'pet-sized palm tree,' and beg him to buy me an iced coffee from Starbucks. He also gets me a teddy bear with an 'I heart LA' shirt, and before I know it, we're called to board the plane. The line moves speedy quick, our tickets are scanned, and we walk through the terminal to the plane. Our seats are all the way in the back, and we have to squeeze through a narrow aisle to reach our seats. Dan lets me take the window seat, and puts our suitcases in the compartment above our heads, and sitting down next to me. I give him a small smile, along with a piece of gum to keep his ears from popping, before popping one into my own mouth. I plug my headphones into my phone, and pull out my camera, wanting to film out my window as the plane takes off.

Thirty minutes later, the pilot lists off any rules and such from the speakers, and the plane starts to move. My chest tightens, and I instinctively grab Dan's hand, using my other hand to film the window. Finally, the plane lifts off from the ground, and I watch the city below us become smaller and smaller, until eventually, we're above the clouds, everything disappearing below us. The seatbelt light flicks off, and I let out a huge sigh I didn't realize I was holding in. However, I don't let go of Dan's hand, letting it rest on the armrest in between us.

Dan falls asleep almost immediately, and I plug in my headphones, playing music as I watch the clouds below us. I'm a lot more relaxed this time, partly because this is something I've now already gone through, and partly because I'm still filled with happiness from everything that's happened this past week. Thinking about that, I check out the ring on my left hand, and become just as giddy as the night he proposed. I look at Dan, and smile, before looking back out the window, and drifting into sleep.

Five hours later, I wake up to Dan poking me, his hair all over the place from his nap.

"What?" I ask lazily, my voice cracking from just having to wake up.

"They're coming with food and are gonna ask you what you want," he replies, and as I look forward in the aisle, I see the flight attendant three rows ahead of us. I stretch, taking me headphones out of my ears, and see on the screen in front of me that our plane is right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I look out our window, but the only thing I can see is clouds lazily floating by.

"What can I get you to eat for lunch?" The stewardess asks, handing us a menu with only three options; beef stew, a ham sandwich, or a Caesar salad. I'm not really hungry at the moment, so I go with the salad, and Dan does the same. He hands the menu back to the waitress, and I rest my head on his shoulder. He wraps his arm around me, rubbing my arm.

"I can't believe this week is over," I mumble. It feels like it went by in only a few hours, but also feels like it took years."

Dan nods his head. "This was probably the best week of my entire life," he says, and I can't help but smile.