The Broken Road

Unaccompanied

Disclaimer:  This story contains characters based on real people, but the story is completely fictional and has no basis in truth.  Please take this as fiction and fiction only.

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"You sure you'll be okay flying to Salt Lake City on your own?" Jennifer asks her daughter as she navigates the car toward the freeway exit towards LAX.

"Mom, I'll be fine," Olivia replies, zipping the plastic bag of travel size liquids closed and tucking it into her backpack. "I've been on enough plane trips, and it's only a few hours."

"I know," her mom sighs. "But your dad or I or someone are always with you. I'm sorry I couldn't find you a direct flight so last minute."

"It's one 45 minute stopover in Las Vegas, Ma," she reassures her. "Scared I might run off with some boy and have a shotgun wedding officiated by an Elvis impersonator?"

Jennifer rolls her eyes at her daughter.

"I know I've taught you better than that. If you're going to run off with a boy, at least have the sense to find a fake Cher to marry you guys."

When they pull up to the terminal drop off, the two Rodrigo women exchange tight hugs.

"I'll see you in a week, okay, Sweetie?"

"I love you, Mom. Please tell Abbie and Tyler congratulations for me. I'm so sad I'm missing their wedding."

Olivia unloads her small rolling luggage - enough to get her through the week before her parents could drive up to Utah with the rest of her belongings for the next six months of filming ahead of her - and goes her separate way to check in for her flight.

When she finally makes it through TSA and finds an open seat away from other passengers, she starts to feel the wave of nervousness overcome her. It started as a tingle in her toes but has now turned her arms into jello and her heart into a bass drum. She isn't sure where the nerves are coming from. She rules out traveling jitters. She's never had a fear of flying. As she looks around at other waiting passengers, all quiet behind their face masks, she wonders if the risks are finally beginning to become real to her. How will they ensure everyone keeps their distance on set? Will they be able to sing live? Will there be any kissing scenes?

And the last thought settles into the pit of her stomach like a two ton boulder.

Josh.

It had been weird between them the past five months, to say the least. They went from seeing one another every single day for hours on end, and in an instance, everything shut down. She had not anticipated drifting from him. They both live in L.A. And for the first couple of weeks, they talked almost everyday, texted at least once a day, sent audio clips of their latest songs - good or bad. But slowly the texts and FaceTime calls became less frequent until the weekly cast Zoom calls were the only time they spoke. It isn't clear what caused the slow drift over the course of the quarantine, but eventually, the slow fade started to plant seeds of doubt and insecurity.

"Attention, passengers! Southwest Airlines Flight 1402 to Las Vegas departing at 9:45 PM is now boarding beginning with Group A."