The Gain of the Loss

The Gain of the Loss - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

        "Come on, come on!" my dad rushed. My mother apologized to all the people we were cutting off and hitting shoulders with as we raced through the huge O'Hare airport in Chicago. My mother's face was beet red from the attention we were all receiving.

        I was running as fast as I could, and still falling way behind. My breathing was heavy, and I felt fatigued only a few minutes in to this run. The bag hanging off my shoulders was bouncing up and down, slamming into my hip every now and then, and almost causing me to collapse in front of all these people.

        "B12!" Parker shouted, pointing at the sign with our gate written on it. My dad halted, almost causing my mother to rear-end him. This airport was exactly like a trafficked highway, except there were obviously no cars, only those little carts that the workers picked up old people in because they couldn't walk.

        In just a few more minutes, we were entering the plane, and getting instructions from the flight attendant as to where our seats were. You could tell we were the most dysfunctional family that had ever walked this big, green earth.

        Moving past the first class seats, with Parker complaining as to why we weren't sitting there for this '"long-ass flight", and then my father scolding Parker for swearing at his parents, we finally got settled in the back of the plane. My parents sat across from us, while me and Parker sat together on the other side, with this extremely skinny, blonde girl texting away on her phone in the window seat.

        All those people always say, "Guys love curves!", but with this girl that theory was proven wrong. She was pretty much flat-chested, yet Parker was in love with her, even quietly arguing with me to give up my seat in the middle for the aisle seat. 

        I was too exhausted to argue, so I just let him have his precious seat next to Miss Blondie. 

        Later on I realized that that was the worst decision I could ever make on that plane, for Parker could not keep his drool in his own damn mouth. I saw him looking over, reading her text messages, watching her scroll through Instagram feed. Even as the plane flew up, she was still using it, so it was obvious she bought the expensive plane wi-fi.

        For me, the plane ride was the complete worst thing. I had no one to talk to, nothing to do (I accidentally checked my luggage with my phone inside), and I could not sleep in these uncomfortable seats to save my life. 

        Eventually, the flight attendants came around to give out drinks and snacks. They started with me, then moved onto Parker, then onto Miss Blondie.

        "Just a water," she asked, not looking up at the flight attendant.

        "Okay," the attendant said, giving her a bad look, and then pouring her water. She handed it to her, and the girl looked up and smiled a thank you. Maybe she wasn't so rude after all! "Here is your snack, then, too." 

        The girl took it reluctantly, and flipped it over, inspecting it. Just as the attendant was about to leave, she spoke up. "Um, excuse me?"

        "Yes, is there a problem?" she asked, kindly.

        "I was just wondering how many calories are in this?" Miss Blondie questioned, furrowing her eyebrows. "It doesn't say on the package."

        "I'm not exactly sure, ma'am, but it's on the big box that they're delivered in, and unfortunately, that's not on the plane with us today," she answered, with a small, apologetic smile, but Miss Blondie was not happy whatsoever.