Under the spotlight

Chapter 46: Home sweet home

The next day we all woke up very early to start packing everything back. Both Lucy and Chelsey helped us prepare everything. They cooked us some light breakfast that we ate in a few bites. We were all in a hurry to get to New York and not be late for our flight that left at 8:30 am.

We all sat on the couches to wait for the cab. It was then that I really had time to take in their appearance. Yesterday while eating I had told them that my grannies were more casual than the city style. And it seemed like they had taken that very seriously. Dominique had a floral lime shirt with khaki pants and a jean jacket. Nikolai had a teddy bear sweatshirt, those that have furry and light blue jeans. And then there was Sebastian, he couldn't leave the black off so he wore black jeans with a dark green sweater. They made a great effort to become 'goodie-boys' for my grannies.

By 6 am we were all ready to leave with a cab waiting on the entrance. Because Port Jefferson was a small town the girls and Seb already knew Mike, the chauffeur, he was very funny and talkative. This time we played rock paper scissors and I got to sit in the front seat. Probably the funniest image I had ever seen was the three of these big men trying to squeeze together in one car with bags and things covering them. We made thousands of jokes about that with Mike and I would crack with every single one of them.

The ride then felt shorter than the last one. In the blink of an eye we were in the entrance of the airport. Nikolai glanced down at his watch and I could swear that the color drained from his face. He frowned and then took off running without saying anything. It wasn't until he was halfway through entering that he realized we weren't following.

"Well?" He threw his hands up in the air. "We have only an hour to check in, hurry up!" He shouted and that seemed to awake us enough to follow behind him.

I had never sprinted so fast in my life, these guys were seriously fast. My legs hurt and my arms felt sore from holding my back and dragging it across the airport. Everybody was staring at us while trying to make space for us to run. First we had to dispose of our bags and then complete all of the "traveling" documents. Finally we had to run as if our lives depended on that to get to the plane.

We barely made it for the last warning-call. Every passenger and staff member looked at us with annoyed expressions as we made our way through the plane corridors. I mumbled sorrys here and there before finally getting to our seats. I sat besides Sebastian, he was by the window, with Dominique and Nikolai in front of us.

As soon as we were seated the crew started explaining the security measures, and then after a few minutes the airplane started to move. It was then that I realized the state in which Sebastian was. He had his palms roughly stated on his lap, his eyes were tightly shut and he was mumbling something under his breath. I frowned, did he have flying panic? I didn't know if it would help but slowly I reached for his hand and tangled his with mine. He peeled one eye open and looked at me through the corner of it.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," I said reassuringly. "But I'm here if you need me," I gripped our hands harder. "Okay?"

He only nodded but it was enough to let me know he understood. I had never seen him afraid, so vulnerable. He clutched to my arm as if it was the only way to make him feel better. I let him without saying anything, I didn't want him to feel judged by me. The airplane started to tilt upwards and he tightened his fist. Once we were finally in the air and the plane was stated, I pointed outside the window. He exhaled relieved and he tilted his head resting it on the window. I had seen him swallow a pill before entering the airplane and it only started making effect once we were already in the air. His eyes closed and his hold on my loosened.

We had a long journey from almost 6 hours until we arrived. So I grabbed a book I had packed and started to read it. Sometimes one of the other two would turn around to say something but I didn't want Sebastian waking up so we mostly stayed quiet. The clouds outside from the windows looked beautiful and the sight was amazing. I was very happy to go back and see my grannies, the anticipation was making me anxious too and my nails were the proof of that.