rare. |a.k.|

sixty one|home

𝔸𝕨𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟'𝕤 ℙ𝕆𝕍

"Why the fuck do we have to be up at two in the morning?" I asked through a yawn hearing Charlie laugh on the phone.

"Because it's like, 11 in Houston so we'll land at 9. That gives you time to fly home and then sleep for a week," Lucas answered.

"Awsten if you want to spend time with your family-"

"I want to immediately see you. The only reason I'm not going straight to LA is because I don't want to have a flight that takes over a day that I have to survive alone."

I heard Otto laugh.

"How can you be in a good mood?"

"We're going home!" Geoff whispered excitedly.

"Yeah, but it's 2 in the fucking morning."

Jawn pointed to the speakers as we heard the announcement saying we could board. I told Charlie I loved her and I'd see her in a day or whatever, time zones are weird. I texted as many people as I could before I had to switch to airplane mode.

"What's your plan for the flight?" Geoff said as he slid in the seat next to me.

"Wait until the flight attendants leave me alone and then sleep for as long as I can."

He laughed and switched his focus to Otto. After about 20 minutes I was finally left alone so I put my headphones in and turned on music. I closed my eyes and thought about Charlie, home, and my new dog until I finally drifted off to sleep.

The flight was tedious. Sleep for a couple hours, wake up. Watch a movie, read a book, play a game even. Eat, drink water, complain about the people who brought babies on board and then go back to sleep.

I remembered some foods that helped on flights so whenever the flight attendant came by I got whatever I could. Airplane bathrooms suck but I didn't have a choice and I felt bad every time I had to crawl over Geoff.

We had conversations about literally everything. Geoff told me exactly how he was going to treat Rory and Chloe to a day out as soon as he could which made me think about Charlie and I.

What are we going to do now. It's been a little over two years. We live together, we have a pet now, how is our relationship going to develop once I get back?

Thoughts like those are what send me into a funk but I also seriously need to think about it. We've had talks about our future together and what that might hold. But it's always like "probably this" and "what if this", it's never "i want this".

I know I want Charlie. I just have to figure out what exactly that means. And on a plane ride
where I can't get fresh air is not exactly the place where I want to think about that.

It was a long flight. I got so bored that I held my phone to the window for twenty minutes to take a time lapse. The 20 hour flight began to feel like 7 years by the time we got the landing announcement.

"So, Awsten, are you immediately flying back to California?" Lucas said as we all got from the runway into the Houston airport.

I shook my head.

"Kind of, my flight back is around 7pm tonight. I get today to sleep and hang out with my family."

He nodded. It took us a while to get our bags but when we did and went through security we FINALLY got out to the parking lot. I never thought I'd be excited to feel the hot humid air of Houston, Texas.

We all hugged goodbye and said thank you to one another before heading off to whoever was picking us up. In my case, my mom.

I felt myself growing tired as we pulled into our driveway and I was genuinely happy to see my childhood home. I ran in and said hello to everyone, they all said they were proud of me. I walked slowly to my room and flopped on my bed, sighing in happiness.