The First Flight ❀ COLIFER

Chapter 23 ❀ It's complicated

Morning. Alarm clock. Sunlight. Annoying chirping birds in the backyard. Ava hopping on the bed, licking my right ear.

Airport.

I had to get to the airport today.

I snatched the hem of my sheets and yanked them over my head, still in denial that I had to leave my warm bed, but Ava immediately jumped on top of me and thought it'd be a good idea to install herself on my head. When one of her paws poked me in the eye, I sighed.

"Okay, you win," I muttered, "I'm getting up already."

I slid out of bed, rubbing my eyes, and smiled down at Ava. She was staring back at me, wagging her tail excitedly, but after I'd given her a few belly rubs she just stretched out on the bed again.

That moment when you wish you were a dog...

I shook my head, heading to the windows to open the curtains. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror when I walked out and into the hallway, and I sighed again when I noticed my hair. It was the equivalent of a bird's nest.

I couldn't be bothered to untangle it. Coffee first.

I took my sweet time getting ready for the flight to Vancouver, which I regretted about an hour later, when Alex rang the doorbell. I rushed to the front door to let him in, but I ran back inside as soon as I'd opened it.

"I'm ready in just a second," I cried from the living room. I pounded up the stairs, snatching some clothes from the upper step that I ironed the night before, and threw them in my suitcase. When I came back downstairs ten minutes later, Alex was still standing in the doorway, a grin playing on his lips when he saw the flushed look on my face.

"You'd think this wouldn't be so much of a hassle," he said. "You know, since you travel about every other day. And that was not a second."

"Oh, whatever." I headed into the kitchen to grab my keys and checked if all the doors were locked. When I went back to the living room, he was already picking up my suitcase and purse. But I hadn't even reached him yet when I saw pretty much the entire content of my purse crashing to the floor.

"Shite!" he cried. His face went white before it flushed bright red, and he dove down to the ground.

I hurried over to him. "No worries, it's my fault. I shouldn't try to store half of my belongings in my purse, I—"

"What's this?" he interrupted me. He carefully picked up a little wooden box from the pile on the floor.

"Nothing," I said, and I snatched it out of his hands before he could take a better look at it. My heart was pounding, but when I saw that the box hadn't been damaged, I leaned back relieved.

Alex was raising his eyebrows at me when my gaze traveled back to his.

"It's... it's a gift from someone." I put it back in my purse with everything else, avoiding his eyes.

"A gift... from the guy who gave you those flowers?"

My head jerked up and I stared at him wide-eyed.

"The flower," he explained. "There was a dried flower in the box. It looked like one of the flowers from that bouquet."

"Right," I mumbled. There was really no point in denying it. "Yeah, it's from the same guy."

About two days ago the bouquet started dying, so I put one of the flowers under a stack of books to let it dry. It seemed only fitting to keep it in the music box... but that was none of Alex' business.