The Flyer

CHAPTER 4

Cc: Don't look at me, I'm not a celebrity.

VALYRA.

When Nik said he came home to spend time with me, what he really meant was he came home to take me to his place.

He told me to call up my friends because he was taking us to California for a weekend. Travel and lodging for free. Today was Friday morning.

Excuse me? Where'd he get the money? Then, a thought popped into my head, who was I kidding? He was a child model for Giordano, Gucci, and Versace. Even though he had stopped, just last year in college he was still quickly scouted as a Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein model. All he had to do was take off his shirt on the court after his first college ball game.

"NIk!" I called out, as he passed by outside my room."What are we doing there?"

He peeked in and grinned at me cheekily. "Wouldn't you like to know?" The annoying brat laughed.

I was packing this morning because we were leaving for the airport in the afternoon. Nik didn't have to pack much because he has stuff in his dorm. My silver-colored luggage was set on my bedroom floor, filled to the brim with spread-out tops and bottoms. One dress stood out. It was my mother's, and she wrote to me to keep it for her. Funnily enough though, it wasn't for me. It was for my little sister, who I still haven't met.

I often wondered if my sister had it better or worse than I did, you know? Family-wise, at least. She was obviously going to be received very warmly and grandly when she comes back into our family, but she didn't have her biological family growing up.

The dress was simple. It was a breezy white dress with both straps put together by a small golden ring. The top was breezy and loose and was mainly a ruffled silky layer over the base of the dress, and the bottom was a breezy almost translucent piece, but the whole dress was cinched using garter with intricate golden details. The skirt area had glittering golden flecks and details as well. Whoever wears this dress would look like the epitome of purity, assuming the dress stays clean.

Anyway, I decided to lock it up in my safe so it stays safe. I wasn't really worried anyone would break in the house anyway.

I ended up with a luggage half-filled with clothes, a fourth filled with shoes, and a fourth filled with my make-up and self-care products.

Nik and I left home in his Land Cruiser which will be picked up by his friend from the airport parking lot tomorrow.

"Who are we picking up first?" Nik asked, as we slowed to a stop at the red light.

"Alex."

He rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at me. "Are you just gonna drag him around now?"

"What?" I looked at him, surprised. Is he implying that I'm expecting Alex to be there? That I'm clingy or being inconsiderate? "I asked if he wanted to come along and he said yes."

Nik rolled his eyes. I rolled mine back. What did he think of me? Some brat? But then, admittedly, I had to smile, because if I was a brat, it meant that he could possibly be a bad parent.

"You know, Dude," he told me, as he drove past our sort-of rich area to a nice middle-class neighborhood. "I feel like Alex is going out of his way just to spend more time with you."

"Don't worry, Nik. Alex would tell me if he needed to do something else. If he's around, it means he's available."

Nik looked at me unsurely but said no more.

We reached the Princes' two-story house which to me looked way better than our three-times-bigger three-floor house (the third floor of which is the attic, by the way, but it's a really spacious one)