Standing By

The Fan That Wouldn't Leave

(Tim)

"Sooo," I murmured, staring at the phone and feeling dejected. I'd actually missed my flight. How the hell'd that happen? I rarely miss flights, maybe two in my life. Well, make that three now. Shit. And of course I had to do it on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Ugh. "Please, Luke, work your magic. Get me on a flight home."

"Please," Chance begged, scrolling through his phone and nudging me. "Look. There's nothing here."

"Shit," Adam cursed as Avi, Scott, Mitch, Kirstie, and Kevin ran out the door, probably to check on their flights.

"Nothing?" Rob bemoaned, looking over Chance's shoulder. "Luuuke! Hellllp!"

Luke sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Please don't make this a habit."

"This is the first time in, what, seven years?" I pointed out. "Clearly, we don't make this a habit."

"2009," Adam said confidently. "I remember it clearly. July 5th show, all headed to Toronto. Every single one of us overslept for a 7:00 AM flight." He held a finger up. "That was the last time we ever had a flight scheduled before 8:00. Traffic put us there right at 6:45. Keep in mind, this was for an international flight. Chris got held up at security because he'd forgotten and left his pocketknife in his pocket. He ended up throwing it away and getting frisked before any one of us could go on. Then Elliott stupidly had a cantaloupe of all things in his carry-on and got stopped at customs. We we racing down the concourse to make it. I fell over Matt's roll-along carry-on and busted my lip. Yeah." Adam rolled his eyes. "We missed that flight. But seriously, Luke, twice in eight years is pretty damn good."

"Damn, you got a good memory," Rob remarked. "I just remember the Chris at security part and Elliott and the damn cantaloupe."

Chance and I were cackling away.

"Cantaloupe?" he laughed, rolling over on his back. "Lord!"

"I'm curious. Why a cantaloupe?" I snorted. "You know, you can buy those anywhere."

Rob shrugged. "They were the juiciest and sweetest melons I've ever eaten, but come on, dude, use your brain!"

"Chris was pissed about losing that knife," Adam recollected as Pentatonix came back in. "Got it in Switzerland."

"An actual Swiss knife?" Chance asked. "Sweet."

"Yep, and he made us schedule another European tour starting in Switzerland to replace it." Adam snorted. "Don't mess with Chris and his pocketknives. I swear he collects them but he claims he doesn't collect anything but dust."

I giggled. "He still have that cowboy one I gave him that year?"

"Absolutely." Adam nodded at me. "Only time I ever saw him discard one was at the airport that day."

"4:20. We're OK," Mitch breathed, eyes wide.

"If we get our butts in gear," Kirstie added, now in house shoes. "No time to waste."

"Running, running, running," Avi panted, twisting his hair into a bun.

"Now I want a fucking cantaloupe," Rob wailed, eyeing Austin's luggage.

"I am pretty sure Austin didn't pack a cantaloupe," I laughed at him as Austin ran out of the bathroom in his underwear, wet hair dripping water everywhere.

"Pack a what?" he asked, digging his jeans out and pulling them on. "We got transportation to the airport or we doing our own? When are your flights?"

"Your own," Luke told him, clicking away in the background. "You guys picked a bad day to do this."

"Well, we didn't plan on it," Chance grumbled.