delayed//callmecarson

3

"I'm sorry ma'am, you said you wanted to refund your ticket?"

"Yes, if that's possible." Carson stood no more than a foot behind Kimberly, listening in on the conversation. The woman behind the counter looked at her computer, rolled her eyes, and then looked back up at Kimberly. 

"Yes I can do that for you, but you would only get 75% of what you paid back due to taxes." 

Fucking taxes.

"Oh, umm-"

"Yeah whatever that's fine, can you just put that money towards a ticket for flight 18 going to Anaheim and then i'll cover the rest."  Carson threw his credit card on the counter, casually leaning against it as he did so. The woman looked directly at Carson, obviously annoyed, and grabbed his credit card. Kimberly awkwardly looked down at her hands. 

"You know you don't have to help pay for me right? I mean it was probably only like 50 dollars or something I could have used my food money."

"Bro its cool i'm just tryna get us out of this shitty airport."  He put emphasis on the words 'shitty airport', looking directly at the woman behind the counter. This made Kimberly giggle profusely, avoiding eye contact with the extremely pissed off airport woman. In attempt to make Kimberly laugh more, he continued his buffoonery. 

"Are you done yet?" Carson spoke at the woman, earning a look of disgust from her. She started typing faster after that. Kimberly covered her mouth so her laughing was muffled and leaned into Carson's side. 

"Dude shut up she boutta call security."  Kimberly spoke so the lady couldn't hear her. Carson smiled but contained himself after that. They waited for a few more minutes. 

"Alright, here is your ticket for flight 18 which boards at 10:00 AM, and here..is your card back." She spoke through gritted teeth. Carson grabbed the ticket and the card off the counter.

"Thank you ma'am." Kimberly smiled at her and turned to leave, Carson giggling while walking after her. 

---

Still having about 3 hours until their flight, they walked around aimlessly cracking jokes and annoying other people in the airport. She didn't know how to explain it, but Carson made Kimberly feel safe. Her entire life, she felt deserted and alone. She felt like her own family was pinned against her, and she had never had any real friends before. She didn't really feel the need to think twice about trusting Carson. For the first time, the barrier of loneliness had been broken. It was similar to what it felt like when she met her friends in LA. It felt really happy to not feel alone. Kimberly's realization set in about this feeling, and her face flushed up quickly. 

I can't get attached to him. I don't know him. He might leave. He might hurt me. 

She didn't realize she had stopped walking. Carson turned to her, concerned.

"You okay there Kimmy?" Kimberly swallowed and breathed out. She looked at Carson's face. He cared about her, even if he just cared a little bit, it was written all over him. 

Why do you care? You shouldn't. You don't have to. We just met like 2 hours ago. Stop it. Don't care about me. 

"Kimberly?" Carson put his hand on her shoulder. 

"Yeah, uhhh...I zoned out, um.." She looked down quickly at the ugly airport carpet, trying to push back all of her confusing emotions. 

"Well pay attention! As I was saying i'm probably going to have to sneak you into Vidcon because you don't have a badge, but its probably going to be easy because we're gonna be like 3 hours late, and-"

"Carson, I still don't know what Vidcon is. Can you please explain?"

"I already told you, Vidcon is a convention, or uuhhh, like a get together with a bunch of famous content creators on the internet, Its so fans can meet them and like buy stuff."  Carson stared through the big windows while talking. It was daytime now, and the airport had gotten somewhat busier. 

"So... you're famous?" 

"I make Minecraft videos so like..yeah." Carson nodded to her and half smiled.

"Oh Minecraft...yeah I know about Minecraft."  Kimberly recalls her cousin coming over to her house once when she was younger with his Xbox and showing her how to play the game. He was then banned from said house for exposing Kimberly to a 'video game'. 

"Really? You don't know YouTube or Vidcon but you know Minecraft? You're a wacky girl Kimmy." Carson laughs, glancing down at her. 

"Sooo.. am I going to meet other famous people at this Vidcon?" 

"Gold digger much?" Carson raises his eyebrows at her and smirks.

"Noooo dude. i'm genuinely curious."

"I mean, you'll probably meet my friends.."

"Really?" 

"Attention! This is the second to last call for flight 18. Repeat, all passengers for flight 18 head to terminal 4."

Kimberly and Carson's conversation was interrupted by the overhead monitor in the airport. 

"Shit, how did we miss that?" Carson looked at Kimberly wide eyed. They stare at each other for a few seconds, and without a thought they pick up their luggage and bolt for terminal 4.