"Ahh, Hawaii! Aren't you excited?" Ash squealed and threw her arms around me the first thing after I opened the door.
"We still have to get through security and then there's the plane ride to Phoenix, then there's the layover, and then the even longer plane ride to Hawaii," I said after I hugged her back.
She smacked my arm, "Stop being such a pessimist. We're going to Hawaii. You're supposed to be optimistic," she smiled.
"I've been to Hawaii a couple of times, there's not much that's new and exciting. I'm excited about the sun and the beach though, is that good enough for you?" I teased her and brought our suitcases out to the car.
She fake gasped. "Did Easton Quincy just admit he was excited about something?"
I fake laughed along with her. She helped me load the suitcases and Ethan helped Mason load his surfboard on top of the car. The kid was excited to surf with his own surfboard rather than rent one out for the week. Too bad he can only use it a couple of times a year.
"Okay gang, are we ready?" Mason asked from the driver's seat once everyone was in the car and ready to go.
Ash faced palmed herself. "Please never say that again," She laughed.
Twenty minutes later we pulled into the airport parking lot where Mason parked. We unloaded all of our suitcases. Ashtyn had the biggest smile on her face. I doubt she'd be this excited if she knew what was about to happen.
It took us twenty-five minutes to get through security. It took us another forty-five for bag check-in. It would've been less but Ethan's surfboard complicated things a little bit. We had at least another thirty minutes before our flight boards. We sat down close to our gate in the meantime.
Ash was still super excited though the smile on her face had diminished a little bit.
"We're gonna go get a drink really quick. You all have your tickets," Mason explained.
Ashtyn and I had seats right next to each other. Ethan, Mason, and Julie's seats were apart but still close together. I guess they wanted someone to be with Ash on her first plane ride or something. Otherwise, Mason and Julie would be sitting together.
"Do you guys need anything?" Julie asked.
We shook our heads. "No thanks, Julie," Ash smiled at her aunt.
Mason and Julie walked away hand in hand. Ash was on her phone typing away next to me. I assumed she was texting Ally. They pretty much never stop talking. Ethan was on the other side of me a couple of chairs down on his phone too. He was probably talking to Erin.
Ashtyn sighed. "I'm excited for Hawaii, but all of this is already making me want to take a nap. Mase got us up at the buttcrack of dawn to get everything ready in time. I swear it was five thirty when he woke us up." She laid her head against my shoulder.
"That sounds like Mason all right," I chuckled. "Don't worry you can nap on the plane for five hours."
She groaned. "Five hours?"
"And another six after that," I nodded. She groaned and banged her head against my shoulder.
"That sounds like hell. I've never been on a plane before, but six hours sitting down sounds terrible," She groaned.
I looked at her with surprise. "You've never been on a plane before?" I questioned.
She shook her head. "We always traveled by car pretty much everywhere we went. We never went far enough to need to be on an airplane. So I never got the chance to travel by airplane. I'm actually kind of nervous. I've heard some bad stories about them," she admitted.
"Don't worry. I promise it's not that bad. I've been on planes several times and not once has something bad happened to me," I assured her and put my hand on her knee comfortingly.
"Thanks, East," she said and placed her hand on top of mine. It felt almost right for us to be so close.
Mason and Julie came back just ten minutes before our flight boarded. They sat in the chair between Ethan and me.
Out of nowhere, Ethan stood up and walked a couple of feet away. He put his phone to his ear. He was talking to someone, I assumed it was Erin. I watched curiously as he had a conversation. He tensed up and started pacing around in circles. I could tell it wasn't a pleasant conversation.
"I'll be right back," I told Ash and walked up to Ethan.
"Erin, you know how I feel about this," He said with his teeth clenched together. I couldn't hear her response. "I know you can't do anything about it. I'm this close to canceling the trip and staying here. Be safe, please. Okay, I love you," he hung up and sighed before running a hand through his hair.
"What was that about?" I asked and nearly made him jump out of his skin.
"Her asshole of a cousin is staying at her house and she's really uncomfortable about it. He's staying in the room next to hers and I don't feel comfortable with it and neither does she." He balled up his fist in anger. "God, I want to beat the shit out of him and I haven't even met him."
I placed my hand on his chest to ground him. "Look at me, let it go. There's nothing you can do about it, okay? You've gotta realize that first." He took a deep breath and nodded for me to continue. "She can do whatever she has to to make sure that she is safe. She can stay at the house if she needs to. Tell her the code to get in."
He nodded again.
Our flight was called to board.
"Come on guys," Mason called.
I gave him a look and followed the rest of the group and the mass of people on their way to the plane. Ash and I found our seats. Thankfully we were on the outside and as far as I could tell there wasn't anyone in the outside seat.
"Are you ready for a nap?" I asked Ashtyn as she yawned beside me.
She nodded and laid against my shoulder again. We watched as the flight attendants did their thing. It took fifteen minutes before the plane started to take off.
Ashtyn gasped and grabbed my arm. I held her knee and she wrapped her arms around mine. She was taking slow deep breaths to keep from freaking out.
"It's okay," I assured her. She closed her eyes as we took off until we made it stable in the air. I chuckled. "See? It wasn't that bad."
She lightly smacked my arm. "Don't you dare make fun of me, mister," She chastised me as she let go of the death grip she had on my arm. "I told you it was my first time flying."
I chuckled. "I promise not to make fun of you, Ash."
Ash pulled out a book to read for the first couple of hours. I put on my music and zoned out. She eventually got bored and put the book up. She looked over at me.
"Do you want to watch a movie with me?" She asked. We had three hours left, might as well waste them watching a movie.
"Sure," I shrugged. She pulled out her headphones and an iPad. We lifted the armrest in between us. We each put one in our inner ears and she set the iPad on the tray table.
She happily picked The Sandlot from her downloaded movies. I shook my head at her choice of movie. I haven't watched this movie since I was eight.
During one of the stupid attempts to get the ball from the beast, I felt something on my shoulder. I glanced over to see Ash's head lying on my shoulder with her eyes closed. Her feet were curled up on the other seat. Her breathing was even and soft snores escaped her mouth.
I was surprised she wasn't asleep before then. She was really tired today. From Mason waking her up a five-thirty to being on a plane for the past three hours.
The movie ended and I rested my head on Ash's and before I knew it I drifted to sleep.
I was awoken by a sweet flight attendant telling us to buckle up since we were about to start landing soon. I nodded and woke Ash up to tell her the same thing.
She held onto my arm, but with less of a death grip. I couldn't help but chuckle at her. After the plane made a complete stop at the gate and we were told to take off our seatbelts, Ashtyn finally let go of my arm.
"It wasn't that bad, Ash," I said as I got our stuff from the overhead compartment.
"Says you. You've been on a plane before," she stuck her tongue out at me. I shook my head and laughed at her childishness.
We deboarded the plane and found Mason, Julia, and Ethan.
"We have an hour and a half layover. Get something to eat before we get back on the plane," Mason said and handed us each twenty dollars.
We went in different directions. Mason and Julia went somewhere and the rest of us went somewhere else. We found a small deli and ordered. I got a BLT. Eth got a turkey club. Ash got a grilled cheese.
I switched my phone off airplane mode and I had several missed calls and text messages from Nick and Vicki. I furrowed my brows at it.
"What?" Ethan asked me and took a huge bite of his sandwich.
"Nick and Vicki are trying to call me," I shrugged and set my phone back on the table.
"You're just gonna ignore them?" Ashtyn asked me.
I shrugged, "Yeah, they don't care about us. Why should I care about them?" I took a bite of my BLT.
"Easton, they're still your legal guardians. You can't ignore them," she sighed. "Did you even tell them you were leaving?"
Ethan and I looked at each other. They never bother coming back for thanksgiving. We never told them we left town, much less the entire state. They were probably at some Fashion week or something for Vicki. She gets what she wants, no matter what.
My phone rang from the table. Nick's contact picture showcased with his name in big white letters. Ash looked at me with a look that meant I was gonna be in trouble if I didn't answer the phone.
I sighed and picked up the phone before hitting the green button.
"Where the hell are you?" Nick yelled into the phone. "Vicki and I have been trying to contact you for two hours. We show up back at the house for Thanksgiving and Demi tells us you are gone for the week. That deserves more than just an explanation. You better get your asses back here now!"
"Sorry Nick, no can do. We're on our own little vacation in Virginia."
"Virginia? Virginia?! Get the hell out of there and back up here. I want you in front of my face in the morning," He yelled.
"Sorry." crack. "You're." crack. "B-breaking." crack. "Up," I said blandly and hung up the phone. I tossed it back on the table. Ethan high-fived me and Ash sat across from me with her arms crossed.
"Why'd you lie to him?" She asked.
"Because Ash. They never tell us where they're going or when they're coming back. They don't care about us. They never did and never will. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that I like them and vice versa. They care about appearance. Why do you think they adopted two kids with extreme baggage? It sure as hell wasn't because they cared."
She set her hands up in mock defense. "I'm sorry."
"We should head back to the gate," I said and stood up. I took our empty plates and threw them away.
I know I shouldn't have snapped like that. It's just that Nick gets on my nerves when he thinks he has the right to tell me what to do. He's not ever there enough to know or care about me or Ethan.