As Bottles Call My Name

Chapter 22

I woke up at the perfect time. Michelle was back, obviously had been back and hadn't slept. I was still laying on Brian and thought about how awkward it was, but, it obviously wasn't awkward for him because he was looking out of the window with his arm over my chest, protecting me.

I felt safe.

And awkward.

So I sat up and listened to the plane's  announcements. "Attention passengers. We are about to descend, so the captain asks that you fasten your seatbelts and remain seated for the rest of the trip. Thank you."

Then the Spanish announcement. "Atención pasajeros. Estamos a punto de descender, por lo que el capitán te pide que le abroche el cinturón de seguridad y permanecer sentados durante el resto del viaje. Gracias."

I fastened my seatbelt and Brian whispered, "Hey,"

I smiled, yawned and replied with a groggy, "Hey,"

"Do you like to listen to Spanish?" Brian asked. I giggled a llittle bit.

"I don't know, why?"

"Because I'm learning it," Brian said with a grin on his face. I laughed. "Oh, awesome, well, Mery speaks Spanish, so you could practice with her."

He smiled. "Okay."

I smiled back and glanced over at Michelle, who had a pained look on her face. Her eyes were a little bit bloodshot, and her eyeliner was running a bit.

Brian noticed me staring and tugged my shoulders. I turned back to him and he said, "Are you learning any languages?"

I blinked a few times and furrowed my brow, trying to escape my thougts. "Yeah...... I guess. Um, I uh, took Spanish for 3 years in school and I'm learning Sw- Swedish."

He nodded and made a not bad face. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Michelle and hoped she would talk to me.

Brian pulled my shoulders again and I groaned. "Whaaaaatttt?"

"It's gonna be okay, Megan, it really is. Don't ever doubt that it will. Have you ever been to Huntington Beach?" He said softly.

"Yes."

He smiled. "It's great, isn't it?"

I nodded and he rubbed my knee, turning to look out the window. I stared at him, at his face that was lit by the rising sun, the shadows under his forming fatigue lines.

I couldn't even believe what was happening to my favorite band. I also wondered what was happening with Charlotte, like, were Matt and Val as troubled as Brian and Michelle?

I just hoped that they weren't. Charlotte deserved better than I did, after all the fucked up things she had to deal with.

I sighed and felt my ears pop and the plane hit the ground. It slowed and slowed. And my mind just sort of blurred.

We slowly followed the crowd off of the plane.

We waited for our suitcases and other luggage and pulled it off the belt.

Our crowd dispersed in the parking garage to their own cars./

We got in Brian's car.

I didn't understand why Brian had a white Escalade.

We left.

Every event and everything that anyone said at the airport was a blur. I was just awaking my weird sleepy zombie thing, when I realized that we were driving in Brian's car and Michelle and Brian were laughing and talking as normal.