Falling Slowly

Pt.3|Ch.15

The plane went faster and faster and faster until I felt the wheels beneath us lift up off the ground, and then we were flying.

The plane shot straight up into the sky, the engines still making that noise.

It sent a funny feeling through my stomach, one that I didn't care too much for. My first instinct was to grab Ben's hand, but he wasn't there.

I furrowed my brow in a sudden disappointed realization: he was missing my first time on an airplane.

And then the realization deepened into a gut-wrenching regret.

'You shouldn't have left.' Something whispered inside my head.

But I'd made my decision, and I couldn't exactly turn back now.

I was pulled out of my melancholy inner monologue by the person next to me tapping my shoulder, and handing me a bag of Wheat Thins.

Another lady in a blue dress stood at the end of the aisle, handing the person at the end of our row more snacks to pass down.
I also received a bag of pretzels.

To be honest, neither option of what I'd been given looked very appetizing at the moment, but my stomach was beginning to realize that I hadn't fed it much that day.

Besides, I did make a promise to Ben.

I opened the bag of crackers and started munching on them while I stared out the window at the big, fluffy clouds and the deep blue sky.

It would be fairly late by the time we landed in Midland, Texas, meaning that I'd get to watch that blue sky turn pink and red while I waited for us to get there.

The flight was only a couple hours—not too long, and mostly uneventful, omitting my first experience with the side effects of being up so high.

I was staring out the window, as had been my recent pastime, when my ears popped.

Never having experienced this before, I jerked in surprise, startling the person next to me.

He looked at me funny, but I pointed to my ears and he seemed to understand, offering a chuckle before returning to the magazine he'd been reading.

Other than the ear thing, I thoroughly enjoyed my first plane ride, and was a little upset when we landed.

But once the flight was done, I was left with nothing to distract me from the awareness that Ben wasn't with me.

That none of them were with me.
It just didn't feel right.

I continued to heavily comprehend the subject while we got our luggage and hailed another taxi to take us to my dad's house.

"What're you thinking so hard about?" He asked as the cab neared his neighborhood.

"Ben." I admitted.

He nodded, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "I ran into him the other day."

I looked over at him in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah, he was picking up food from the restaurant I was at."

"Probably because Josh didn't feel like going anywhere." I laughed, but my smile quickly faded. I hadn't talked to Josh in two days.

"We talked for a bit, actually." My dad continued, his tone becoming more like he was at an inquiry than engaging in simple conversation.

Suspicion itched at the back of my mind. "What'd you talk about?"

"He...he seemed very...passionate about you leaving. Passionately against it, I mean." He added hastily.

"Yeah, I know." I grimaced at remembering the things I'd said to him when we'd argued the other night. To think I hadn't even bothered to apologize before I left. "What'd he have to say about it?"