28 Going Home First Fligh (1/2)

Ash stared at the fresh red wound on her arm.

The violent mark looked almost delicate.

If she stared at it just long enough for her eyes to lose focus, her vision would blur and for a moment the wound would look almost like a stray red thread from her shirt had just clung to her skin. But when she blinked and her vision would focus again, the red thread would be gone, and in its place would be an angry red line---a knife cut from her best friend on her eighteenth birthday.

”It was an accident,” she said.

Hunter pretended not to hear. The young driver said nothing.

Ash wasn't really talking to them. She spoke more for her own benefit than anything else. Hunter had already voiced his opinion on the matter: it was not an accident. He had seen Celia raise the knife and he had tried to grab it from her. He believed what he saw with his own eyes.

Ash just didn't want to believe that Celia would ever hurt her on purpose.

”We're here, Sir,” the driver said.

The rental car slowed and the engine idled. They were at the unloading dock of the airport. The driver got out of the car and pulled Ash's duffel bag from the back. Hunter took the bag from the driver and slipped him a large bill as a tip. Ash got out of the car quietly. She looked dazed.

As the driver watched the young couple walk into the airport, he wondered what happened to them in the restaurant. ”Rich kids,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Ash had never been on an airplane before, and this was her first time at the airport. She wanted to be more excited about the experience but she couldn't help feeling lost.

Hunter led Ash to the VIP Lounge. He guided her to one of the couches and sat down next to her, setting her bag down at his feet. He had hoped that the mood before their first flight together would have been more celebratory than morose, but there was no getting around the fact that his girlfriend had just gotten knifed by her best friend.

[Am I allowed to call her that? Does she know that I think of her as my girlfriend?] Hunter wondered somewhat absently.

”You have your passport on you, right?” he asked Ash. She looked at him blankly.

”Right. I probably should have asked you that before I told the driver to take us here. But I suppose you have it with you, right?” he said, forcing a cheerful tone in his voice.

”Yeah, I have it. It's in my bag.”

”That's good.”

” . . . ”

”Would you like something to drink?”

”Yeah. Just water, I guess.”

Hunter went to get her a bottle of sparkling water.

”You know, I wondered something about sparkling water. Did they make this stuff for people who were trying to quit soda to make them drink more water? Is it like the nicotine patch for people addicted to soda?”

Hunter smiled at Ash's question.

”Are you feeling better?” he asked.

”Yeah. Celia will call and apologize to me when she's ready. Maybe she lost her mind, maybe it was an accident, whatever. She's not here anymore and I'll see her again in two weeks.”

”It's still your birthday.”

”True. And it's my first time flying. So thank you, Hunter.”

”Really?” Hunter asked, surprised. Air travel was such an ordinary occurrence for Hunter that he hadn't even considered that someone his age who went to his school had never even been on an airplane before.

”Yeah, I only got a passport 'cause the school needed me to have valid IDs. So I got a student driver's license and a passport. I thought it was crazy 'cause I had those and I don't have a car and I can't afford to fly anywhere.

”Now it's my birthday and I get to fly with you.” Ash smiled.