Almost 2000 words

Fitz's POV

I was so glad when we reached the little cabin. I set down Vincent, his little legs wobbling as he struggled to stand.

I knock on the door. A frustrated sigh comes from inside.

"Finally home, Tari?" A middle aged woman opens the door. She looks up. "You're not Tari."

"Neither are we," Dex says from behind me. The woman takes in the size of our group.

"Okay...well you can all come inside, I guess."

"Excuse me," Vincent asked. "Where are we?"

"California," the woman replied. "You can all call me Sharon, by the way."

"Where in California?" Sophie asked. I didn't know much about her, but I knew she was from California.

"Near Bodega Bay," Sharon answered. "Are you too young to get coffee...?"

"Not them," I said, gesturing to the younger kids. "But not any of us."

"Great." She gives us a cup of coffee each, putting out milk and creamer and sugar and coffee stuff.

"So where y'all from?" She asked us.

We looked between us.

"Where did you come from?"

"Oh you know..."

We descended in deep conversation, the kids watching TV while we sat at the table, sipping coffee and talking about, you know, stuff.

***

Dex's POV

 "Dex..."

"No."

"Dex."

"No."

"Dex!"

"Five more minutes."

"Dex!"

"Fiiinnneeeee."

I slowly open my eyes to find Fitz's face inches from mine. It was a wonderful thing to wake up to, don't get me wrong. But it was really unexpected.

I jumped back. He laughed and picked me up bridal style.

"Hey!" I exclaimed when he carried me out of the door, no shoes on, shirtless, and messy hair.

"We're leaving," he told me.

"But—"

"I have your shirt and shoes."

"But—"

"Yes, we're leaving Sharon."

"What—"

"I don't know. Sophie just ran in, yelling about the crazy lady and forced all of us to leave. You and a few others were able to sleep through it."

"Okay."

He put my shoes and shirt in my lap and I put them on while he was walking, following the group.

A few other people were being carried like me. Rex, Carter, and Biana. Though, Biana was stumbling alongside Sophie, still half asleep.

"You good?" Fitz asked me. I nodded and he set me down gently. I had to hold onto his shoulder as I gained my balance, and he used it as an excuse to kiss me. Not that I was complaining.

"What was that?" I asked him after we pulled away.

"I haven't kissed you in weeks, and you're so good at it..." he shrugged. I blushed.

"We have to catch up," I noted.

"No shit," Fitz said, holding me bridal style again and speed walking towards the rest of the group. We caught up with them as they were taking a water break. 

***

Biana's POV

Since we knew where we were now, we found the nearest town and found a map. We were never going to get back to home at this rate.

So we asked a local if they could drive us to the nearest big city with an airport.

Between Fitz and I, we had enough money to buy plane tickets. And we were old enough to fly alone.

So on the car ride, I pulled out my phone, which I'd managed to keep safe from Ruy and his boyfriend, and bought plane tickets for nine.

It was much more expensive than I'd originally thought.

But I did it, anyways.

I definitely did not memorize Ruy's boyfriend's credit card number so I could go on a shopping spree. And it turned out to be useful!

Sophie's head was on my lap. She was still sleepy, despite it being lunchtime.

In fact, a lot of people were sleeping. Fitz, Dex, Lex, Rex, and Vincent.

I stroked Sophie's hair, looking out the window in hopes to see any sign of life.

Eventually, I fell asleep, my hand still resting on Sophie's head.

***

Fitz's POV

"Time to wake up!" Biana's voice.

I slowly open my eyes. Half of the people who were awake were walking around,  navigating. The other half was waking up people.

I looked to my shoulder. And I smiled. Dex was leaning against me, a happy grin on his face. That meant no nightmares.

I unbuckle us and carry him like a baby out of the car. 

Only two people were still asleep; Rex and Vincent. Well, Dex too, but he doesn't count right now.

Carter is trapped, Rex passed out on his shoulder, Vincent laying on his lap. Sophie and Lex were working on it.

"Dex," I murmured to him. "Dex, wake up."

"Nooo!" He squealed, curling into my chest. 

"Dex!" I exclaimed, laughing.

"Let me go to sleep!"

"We're at the airport! You need to stay awake!"

"Can I just stay here?"

"I would like that, but I'm not carrying you through the entire airport. You can sleep while we're waiting for boarding or on the flight."

He sighed. "You're mean," he complained as I set him down. He wobbled a little bit.

Rex and Vincent finally woke up, we paid our driver, and we headed inside.

It was especially easy considering that we had no baggage. 

I've never been on a plane before, but apparently it's fun? I don't know.

For those of you who don't know, my family travels a lot, so I'm going to explain the entire process of getting on a plane. :)

We got to skip luggage check, of course, and we went right to the long line of people waiting to get checked for...I don't really know.

So we got up there, emptied our pockets into the bucket, and went through the scanner thingy. Our stuff came back through the machine, determining that we were free to go. So we headed to gate A-17 to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Apparently our flight left at 3:30 pm. It was 1:26 right now.

So we sat down in the tiny airport chairs and got comfortable.

Biana left at one point to grab coffee and drinks and snacks and stuff.

Most of the group was asleep. Dex was sitting in my lap, head on my shoulder, dreaming. Biana and Sophie were asleep in each other's arms, sharing a seat. Rex and Carter were cuddling with Vincent. And Lex and Rory were still awake, talking softly.

"Flight 316 leaving soon," the lady on the intercom said. "Please report to gate C-5 if you're boarding the flight to Maine." Maine was really far away.

I checked our flight number. 339.

So I waited. I fell asleep at one point.

"Now boarding flight 332," the intercom lady said, waking me up. Dex was still passed out. 

So was Biana, Lex, Rory, Rex, Carter, and Vincent. But Sophie was awake.

"Hey," I said softly. That caught her attention.

"Hi," she said. She seemed really fidgety.

"What happened?" I asked. "At the cabin?"

"Sharon."

"Okay, but what was wrong with her?"

She shivered. "I heard her talking on the phone. I couldn't sleep so I went to get some water. And she was in the phone. And she said...she said, 'I have them, Alvar. Don't worry.' And so I woke all of you up. I don't think she realized that we left. Well, she definitely knows now, but...yeah."

"Damn," I said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. And if I was wrong, then at least we're going home now."

"Yeah." 

Neither of us knew what to say after that.

"Flight 337 boarding," the intercom lady said. 

I patted Dex's back. "It's almost time to leave," I said gently.

His response was burying his head in my shoulder. 

"Dex, come on. Almost time. It's," I checked my watch, "3:19. Less than fifteen minutes."

"But I don't want to," he protested.

"Well at least you're awake," I sighed.

"No, I'm asleep. Don't bother me."

"Dex."

"What?"

"Get up."

He moved his face away from me. "But it's too bright."

"I know, I know."

"Can I go back to sleep now?" He asked when he looked me dead in my eyes. I smiled and laughed gently. 

"We have to wake the others up," I told him, gesturing to the sleeping group around us. So Dex and I woke up everyone, much to their annoyance.

"Flight 338 has been delayed," intercom lady said. "Please head to gate B-13 if you are going to Louisiana."

So we had to wait some more. Until 3:46, actually.

"Now boarding flight 339," intercom lady said.

We waited in the line for the ticket check. Finally, we got our tickets checked.

Since we were actually some of the first ones to board, we got to pick three rows of seats, one behind the other, to sit in. There were three seats per row.

Rex, Carter, and Vincent in one row, me, Dex, and Lex in the next, Rory, Sophie, and Biana in the last. Rex, Sophie, and I had the window seats. Carter, Lex, and Rory had the aisle seats.

The takeoff was terrifying.

First, it seemed pretty slow, and I wondered how we were going to get off the ground. Then it sped up slightly as we turned. Then, as soon as we were done with the turn, the plane sped up like a teenager had just floored the gas pedal. And soon enough, we were tilted back, my ears were popping, and I was vowing to myself that I would avoid flying at all costs for the rest of my life.

Please remember that I'm writing this as Fitz's first time flying, and I don't remember my first time flying. I was like, two. So if any of you remember your first flight, please tell me if your experience was different.

Dex grabbed my hand halfway through ascension. I remembered that none of us had flown before. Well, maybe Lex and Rex's boyfriends, and maybe Sophie, but most of us.

I looked out of the window. The amazing view almost made up for the fear. Almost.

I couldn't see any one person. The cars were smaller than ants. And the buildings were as small as a fingernail. 

And the clouds.

We entered the cloud layer, blinding me. I squeezed Dex's hand. I hoped we didn't crash.

After a few minutes, the plane leveled off. The pilot announced that it was safe to put in earbuds. I guess if you were going up really fast, it wasn't safe to have earbuds on? I don't know.

The snack ladies came around, offering us pretzels and chips. 

I will say, plane pretzels are much worse than normal pretzels. And the chips were wayyy too salty.

Dex and I ended up falling asleep after a while. 

We were still gripping each other's hands.

***

Sophie's POV

Even thought this wasn't my first time flying, I was still jarred by the landing.

First of all, we dropped wayyy too suddenly. One moment we were flying smoothly. The next, descending really fast.

Second, the landing was rough. The pilots had managed to steady the plane, but we hit the ground too hard. Much harder than we should've.

"So," I say to Biana as we start to get off. "How was your first flight?"

She gave me a shaky, cute smile. "Very, very scary."

I laughed. "Yeah, I've flown before, but it still scared me. This was a bad way to judge if you like flying. The takeoff and landing were rushed and not careful."

"Yeah, I got that from all the shouts when we landed."

I smiled as we joined the procession of people leaving.

We got off the plane and waited at the gate for the boys.

I did a quick head count. Yep, we were all here.

Luckily, we got to skip the long nightmare that is baggage claim. It always took longer than it should.

So when we exited the airport in the familiar town, I breathed a sigh of relief.

That plane scene was hard to write 😅

It's very hard to describe flying

Cya'll laters!