I'm Just Here for the Dog | Jeff Wittek

Chapter V

"I got lost in him and it was the kind of lost that's exactly like being found."

"Is everyone finally ready to go?" David asked.

"Hey David, ya wanna hear something that would just be absolutely more spontaneous than this trip?" Jeff asked. "Goin' to Maui."

"That would be horrible." David responded in a groggy voice.

"What's wrong with Hawai'i?" Jason spoke. "It's like the best place. Look, here's why I like Hawai'i: you get in the water, you can run, you can workout, then you can go to nice restaurants, too."

"Those are all things you can do in Chicago." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, but it's not below freezing in Hawai'i." Jeff said.

"It's not below freezing in Chicago, either. Lake Michigan isn't even frozen over." I responded.

"Hey Nat, are you excited to sit next to Cass on the plane?" Jason asked Nat.

"Why?" She asked skeptical.

"'Cause, I heard you guys are gonna look up stuff for Coachella."

"I haven't slept for days." Jeff randomly said. "Once you realize your brain doesn't need sleep anymore, your mind is just open. I can see, everything."

"That, uh, that's not how it works, Jeff." I said.

"Jeff sounds like he's recording a scam deal." David said.

"You don't need sleep."

"This is the big idea."

"I really think you should consider sleeping on the plane." I said, starting to walk out the door to David's Tesla. The ride to the airport was quiet, some of us slept, some us scrolled through our phones, but nobody really spoke.

  We finally got to the airport and we all got out of the car and got our bags.

  "I'm going to beat you all to the airport." David said, picking up speed.

  "You do that David!" I said, walking with Nat.

  When we got to the airport Jason was rushing to get to Natalie to get her reaction.

  "Wait, where are we going?" Jason asked when we walked past the machine. "Aren't we supposed to get out tickets?"

  "They're on our phones, Jas." I said.

  "I texted the tickets to you." Nat added.

  "Okay, there's something I need to tell you." Jason said. "I upgraded you to first class with me."

  "Oh my God, Jason." Nat said with the biggest smile on her face.

  "Yeah, Cass is fucked, she's gonna be all by herself." Jason laughed.

  "I'm fine." Cass said, smiling.

"No she's not, I'm taking Nat's seat." I said, hooking my arm around Cass'.

"Come here, bring it in." Jason said, hugging Nat.

"Bring it in?" David repeated, laughing.

"Two hundred sixteen dollars, I took out of my pocket so you can fly first and screw Cass over." Jason said. "So let's go get our first class tickets."

  "I'm gonna go see if Cass can get first class." I said to the group before leading her over to the place where you could upgrade and get tickets.

  We tried for fifteen minutes but we couldn't get her upgraded.

  "Did you get upgraded?" Jason asked as we walked back.