Gate 24

Chapter Eleven

The day was nothing but slow and boring. I didn’t actually realise how boring it was to sit in the office and not move for hours on end whilst the music of Satan blasted around you. When it was over – sometime around five in the afternoon – I shut the music off and actually cheered. The first thing I did when I got back to my room was yank open the back door and grab the packet of cigarettes I’d left on the side and let one of the rolled up tobacco sticks fall into my hand. Twiddling it in my hand, I pull my lighter from the table and let the flame consume the paper.

Taking a sharp breath and letting the smoke fill my lungs is a feeling that I shouldn’t love. The reason that I was kidnapped and forced to stay here for an extra month is due to the fact that I wanted a cigarette before my flight. These cigarettes are the best and worst things to ever enter my life. Well, actually, that’s a lie: the guys here are absolutely amazing and I’m pretty sure the worst thing to occur in my life is the time when I almost died protecting jewels in an upper class jewellery place.

Letting the cigarette drop from my hands was the only other thing to happen before the show and stuff. It didn’t set anything alight, but it did land in a bush whilst it was lit. Of course, I was petrified that I’d be done for arson or something, but nothing really happened and I made a fuss over something that wasn’t even that important. I’m guessing that because it was lit and it landed on something that easily catches fire; it’s like in science class when something flammable goes near the Bunsen burner.

Since then, I had showered, dressed up in the black shirt provided – it has some sort of Brussel sprout on the front of it and colourful paint splatters along the side. With that, I wore red skinny jeans and my trainers; I topped it off with the hat everyone loves to hate: a snapback. I was presenting with Frankie tonight, and it’s instantly apparent that the tension is going to be horrible yet laughable at the same time. I mean, I caught her doing the unthinkable in my work place: it certainly wasn’t expected and it clearly took me by surprise.

For dinner, I decided to meet with Orion and some girl on the kid’s club team named Poppy. The two of them , height wise, could not differ anymore; Orion stands at six foot nine – he told me himself – and I’m questioning if Poppy is even five foot. Anyway, the two have no issues with each other and smile at me as I arrive to get my food. In a minute Frankie should be joining us… That’s if another human isn’t her dinner for tonight.

Orion smiles at me as I stand up to get myself whatever is on today’s menu. It seems to be roast chicken; I have zero issues with that. Taking a slab of the greasy meat for myself, I look around and see what else I can have that I can feast on afterwards. Looking around, I see that there’s rice, the usual bunch of vegetables served here and some kind of garlic bread. Along the way, I also pick up a bunch of spicy potato wedges and dollop ketchup all over the potatoes.

Looking around, I decide that I’m going to go to the kid’s area; they serve the salami sausages over there for some stupid reason. These salami sausages are the best thing I’ve ever digested; I guess that I have to humiliate myself by taking food from the child area before I can chew of the triangular shaped food. It’s a shame that they don’t have buns in the kitchen or I would’ve made a hot dog. Lunch is my favourite meal because of the salami hot dogs this place serves. Absolutely divine, they are.

Orion just laughs at me as I return with a plate full of food, but he doesn’t complain or judge me for having a mountain of food piled up on my plate. Poppy and Orion also have large platefuls of food; they gobble at the chicken they have and smile as the blissful food spreads over their tongues. They also have other food that I don’t have, but unlike Poppy, I’m not a fan of flavoured rice when it isn’t a part of a curry.

As we continue to munch on our food, Frankie arrives and instantly blushes. She gives me this look as if to say “don’t you dare even tell Poppy about this or I’ll slit your throat” so I keep quiet and sip the cola that Orion got for me. Orion gives me a little glance, smirking as Frankie walks away from us. Poppy’s head is bowed and she doesn’t notice the two of us immature men trying not to snort with laughter over what we witnessed earlier today.