BREATHE FOR ME

Chapter 23: Reality

The last day of our trip seems to go by way too quickly. Our morale at the start of the day is promising, given that we all intend on making the most of our last moments together. May and Esidore shoot out in the morning for a pre-sightseeing run together, which I personally think is adorable. Could this be the start of something? Meanwhile, Maddie and Teddy make the rest of us some eggs and bacon, which is the better half of the deal, in my books. We then spend the rest of the day sightseeing around the city, visiting the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Centre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (after hours of begging on my behalf), Central Park, the World Trade Centre site, and finally, the Brooklyn Bridge. After hours of walking and taking pictures, my feet begin to ache and my phone runs out of juice. The morale of our team is starting to disintegrate along with the daylight as we realise that we only have a few hours left of our little retreat. Then everything goes back to normal.

As we're sitting in El Paso's on ninety seventh, munching away at our goodbye enchiladas, we all reminisce on which moment of the trip was our favourite. We only have a couple of hours until we need to be at the airport again. Our packed bags are surrounding our large table, looking very sorry for themselves.

"Well I don't know about you, but mine has to be the moment when Teddy was attacked by a flock of pigeons outside of The Met today." May begins, wiping stringy cheese away from the corner of her mouth. We all chuckle, recalling Teddy's mad panic.

"That's definitely the last time I try and feed an old lady pigeon some of my fries. It was just disrespectful to call the whole family over." Teddy replies, shrugging. Maddie gives him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, trying to supress a smirk.

"I think mine was probably trying to squash into that damn bed with those two." Maddie says, turning her amused gaze towards May and me. "For two midgets, they sure take up a lot of room."

"Oi, midget is a derogatory term. With that disrespect, you can sleep under the dining room table with Teddy next time." May replies, raising her brows.

"I wouldn't mind that one bit." Teddy chips in, giving Maddie a wink that makes her blush. "There was plenty of room where I slept. It seems that no one else was interested in sleeping with the chairs. Strange."

"I'll sleep with you next time Teddy." Esidore says from the other end of the table. He's already finished all of his food, despite only getting it a few minutes ago. "Lorrie was no fun, he kept pushing me out of his bed. He wouldn't cuddle me back."

May and I giggle, shaking our heads at Teddy's slightly alarmed expression. Lorrie, from beside me, gives Esidore a cheeky wink.

"I like to play hard to get." Lorrie says, smiling at Esidore's eye roll.

The joke is cut off by Esidore's phone pinging. He apologises and goes to turn it on to silent mode, but almost freezes when he reads the message. Nobody seems to notice other than me.

"My favourite part had to be the look on all of your faces when you first saw Times Square." Dad says, smiling fondly around the table. "It was like watching babies take their first steps. Even if I did get economically exploited to feed you all."

"If it's any consolation Mr Fletcher, the hot dogs were out of this world. Much better than the ones we have in the west." May says, earning a chuckle from Dad.

I look over to where Esidore is sat to see him looking stern-faced and distant. He's quietly typing on his phone. All of a sudden, he doesn't look like the friendly, jokey Esidore that I know and love. I give Lorrie a gentle nudge and nod towards Esidore at the end of the table. He seems to immediately click on to it, losing his smile.