Ace of Hearts

48| concrete jungle, wet dream, tomato

"Bryn."

"Bryn!"

"Wake up!"

At the sound of a familiar voice, I pick my head up from where I had rested it. I rested it against Ace's shoulder. His hand releases mine as soon as my eyes blink open. I see a smug smile play across his lips.

"Welcome to Newark, New Jersey."

  Newark?

My eyes adjust to the light. Sounds of other plane passengers' conversations echo in my ears. I begin to realize where I am.

I begin to realize why.

"Oh my gosh." My eyes widen, "we're here!"

I can't believe it.

Is this— is this moment really happening?

I touch Ace's arm just to make sure he's actually here with me. His familiar muscles greet my hand.

"Not exactly here, here." He smirks, but I ignore him.

We made it!

We made it to New Jersey, and so that means that NYC is just a taxi drive away.... once we get out of the airport, of course.

"Where's mom?" I remember to whisper. For some reason, I don't remember boarding the plane, or sitting by Ace, or any of it. At my question, Ace nods back to two rows behind.

"She's fine." He reassures me.

Wow.

So all three of us are actually, really here. I blink, noticing how his eyes twinkle. "You have forgotten an awful lot of the past 24 hours, Bryn." He notices.

"I've been conserving my memory to make room for all of the sights here!" I argue. That's totally not it, but whatever.

He chuckles. "Or could it be that I had to carry you into the airport at 2 am because of how sleepy you were?"

"You carried me?" I poke out my bottom lip. "Really?"

He nods.

How sweet!

I rub his cheek with a hand, loving the fact that he nuzzles into the touch instead of away from it.

I truthfully don't remember too much from this morning. All I remember is grabbing mom and my suitcase, and getting the heck out of my town.

But now, I can't wait for these next few days!

Outside of the window, I see Newark airport. Ace looks from over my shoulder.

"Think we should sneak around in New Jersey sometime this week?"

"I've always wanted to go to Carlo's bakery in Hoboken." I admit.

"We can also go see where Alexander Hamilton got shot in Weehawken."

"There are so many sights to see. How will we see it all?" I hiss.

He shrugs. "We've just got to do as much as we physically can."

I'm going to be so sore. I realize. I'm not in the kind of shape he's in. And we will be walking almost everywhere this week.

"Feel free to carry me anytime." I say, to which he just laughs.

He clutches me when we stop talking, only to listen to instructions that sound across the plane's intercom. After a few more additional minutes of waiting, it's time to set foot onto the ground again.