THE FLIGHT

Sometimes things don't work out and that's fine, sweetheart.

***

WARNING: Mentions of triggering topics such as suicide.

CHAPTER LIV

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“I HAVE A sister,” Daniel began, taking us both by surprise as he spoke for the first time that night without being prompted to. “She's fourteen. Her name is Emma. And she attempted to take her own life last year.”

I looked down at my hands, feeling guilty and ashamed of myself. The last thing I wanted to do was make him relive a traumatic event.

“I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty,” he said, not looking at me from the passenger seat. “I'm saying it so you don't think I have a different motive.”

“I don't,” I said numbly.

“Good.”

No one else said a word until we reached a large apartment complex. A part of me was happy because if something were to happen, at least I wouldn't be alone and I would be able to call for help.

But then who would help a scantily-clad black girl?

Gotta love America.

No one stepped out of the car for a beat and I looked between Pablo and Daniel with worry. My heart thudded louder in my chest as they just stared blankly out the windshield.

What if they were going to kill me? What if they were going to rape me? Why did I go along with them? I was such an idiot!

Before I could open the door and go sprinting down the road, Pablo spoke up.

“Daniel's car is parked here so he'll be leaving now.”

I, surprisingly, didn't mind as much. I only trusted Daniel more because he was closer to me in age. In reality, Pablo was much kinder and warmer with me.

“Okay.”

Daniel turned to me in that moment and his eyes met mine, freezing me in my spot as I stared back at him.

“Pablo's going to be watching you,” he said, making frown.

“I won't try to kill myself again.”

There was another second of silence before he spoke up. “Actions speak louder than words.” He then sighed and shook his head before looking at me again. “Look, I don't know what your reasons were for trying to—”

“My mom kicked me out,” I found myself saying. I didn't know if they cared and I didn't want to know because what I was carrying on my shoulders was too heavy for me to handle. “And my dad disappeared ages ago. I have nobody that cares for me, nobody to—” I cut myself off and sighed. “Nobody cares if I die. I'm just a waste of space.”

The tension that hung in the air was heavy and my ears rang with the silence of the both of them. Suddenly, I felt Daniel take my hand in his, his warm palms warming up my cold ones.

“I care.”

I sighed and looked up to meet his eyes. “No, you don't.”

“I do.” I was about to argue again when he spoke again. “If I didn't care, would I have jumped into the pool to save you?” I couldn't say anything back because he had made a massive point. “Or would we be here right now?”

“No.”

“I care. Pablo cares. And many other people care too. If your mother or your father don't, that's their own problem and says a lot about them.”

“But they're my parents!” I exclaimed, taking both of them aback from my sudden volume. “If they don't care then...” I dropped my voice and peeled my hands out of his. “Then no on else should. I'm a lost cause.”

Before I could call myself an idiot, I pulled open the door handle and went darting down the street. I didn't make it very far when someone grabbed my arm and stopped me from going anywhere else.

“You're not in the right frame of mind. Let's go back,” Daniel said, tugging me back towards were Pablo was watching after us with an eyebrow raised.

I pulled my hand out of his and brought it to my face to aggressively wipe away the annoying tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Why do you even care, Daniel?”

He seemed surprised that I knew his name, but brushed it off and shrugged. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked at me.

“Because I know you have potential.”

What kind of stupid ass—

“What potential?” I scoffed, almost on the verge of a sad laugh because I was just done.

“Potential to do better.” He took me by surprise and slipped his hand in mine before using it as leverage and pulling me towards the apartment complex. “Potential to be someone great. Potential to have your name plastered across international billboards. Potential to have an amazing family that'll love you and care for you. Potential to save lives. Potential to be better.”

As if that wasn't enough, he stopped and turned around with a cute smile on his face. “Imagine if cars start flying tomorrow. Or you get to meet your idol. Or you end up at the right place and the right time and you save somebody's life. Imagine if that didn't happen; if you missed that just because you gave up on yourself even when so many people had so much faith in you.” He smiled and patted my bare arm gently. “You dying would be doing the whole world an injustice because, believe it or not, you're an irreplaceable asset.”

His words had a resounding affect on me and I found myself looking at him in another light. Daniel was a complete stranger to me; he didn't even know my name. But in the few short minutes we had known each other, he had given me the one thing that not even my parents could.

He cared about me! He believed in me even when nobody else did. He was there for me and didn't abandon me in my darkest times. He didn't judge me and didn't expect anything from me. He just wanted me to believe in myself like he did.

Something in me changed, and I felt myself unable to utter a word to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into me, feeling my breath hitch when he placed a hand on my bare waist and hugged me back.

My heart beat harder in my chest and my breathing hitched at the thought of being so close to him.

In that moment, I realised that I wanted him to be mine. And in that same moment, my heart broke because he had a girlfriend who he loved and adored.

And he had made me fall in love with him in just the short minutes he spoke.

***

We were on the plane, and surprisingly enough, I wasn't freaking out. I suspected it had something to do with how I hardly had strength for anything after Daniel had finished with me.

The fact that it was the dead of night helped as well. Everything merged into one, both the sea and the sky without a single cloud in sight. The stars twinkled and for some reason, I wished I could pick one up and hold it in my hands.

Across the plane aisle from me was Daniel, and I felt my heart beat harder in my chest at the sight of him. He was still in his suit, but with the jacket discarded somewhere, the tie loosened significantly around his neck and half the buttons on his untucked shirt undone.

He was staring intensely at his laptop, his bottom lip sucked into his mouth as his leg bounced up and down.

I found it odd because I knew I had been in love with Daniel for a while now, but what I was feeling in that moment was so much more intense. Just staring at him across from me, knowing that he was okay and he was safe brought peace to my heart.

Maybe around a year ago, staring at him would've made me sad because I knew he wasn't mine. Maybe it was because we were in a relationship or because I had just fallen deeper in love with him.

While before, my thoughts were only of me being with him, in that moment it was filled with all the things I could do to make sure he was okay. His smile and his laugh was absolutely beautiful and I wanted to see it again.

Not matter how or why or who, I just wanted to make sure he was content. I was willing to do anything to make sure he was happy; move any mountain, kill any fucker.

For the first time, I was glad that Vincent was dead. And I was glad that it was me who finished him off because he had the audacity to hurt Daniel.

My Daniel.

Fuck, I was completely wrapped around his finger. I just wished that the feeling was mutual.

I couldn't ask him for something like that, though. I knew who Daniel was. I knew what had happened and I knew him loving anyone was unlikely to impossible. And even if he were to love someone, why me? What was so special about me?

I was just lucky that he trusted me and he respected me and he was extremely attracted to me. Maybe when the sex became boring, I had something to worry about, but until then Daniel and I were just fine.

I trusted him too.

I trusted he wouldn't leave me.

And that's why, on that plane, I had his medallion hanging from my chest, displayed openly to anyone who cared to look. Because I was his.

And as difficult for me to understand as it was, he was mine. Wholeheartedly.

I won.

“So have you told your beau about the possibility of a bun cooking in your oven?”

I rolled my eyes as the sound of Anna's voice broke me out of my lovely daydreaming and I turned to her with a blank face.

“What?”

“You know what I mean,” she smirked, wiggling her eyebrows up and down at me as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“No, Anna. I don't.”

“About the pregnancy,” she finally said with a sigh.

I couldn't help the smile that broke out onto my face. Typical Anna. “I have told him,” I answered. “We're getting a test as soon as we get home.”

“And what are you going to do if it comes out positive?” she asked, making me roll my eyes.

“We'll run away together hand in hand with nothing but the clothes on our backs to Alaska where we'll raise goats and sell them to the locals with a discount.”

Anna immediately burst into a fit of laughter, her hand slapping her thighs as her chuckles travelled down the airplane aisle. I was too used to it to be embarrassed by it anymore.

“How did you say that with a straight face?”

I turned to Daniel in that moment, figuring out that he had heard everything I had just said because of the small smirk in his face.

Turning back to Anna, I shrugged my shoulders and waited patiently for her to compose herself.

“Okay, but seriously,” she said, finally pulling herself together. “What are you guys planning?”

“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I answered dismissively.

“You can't be doing that with a baby.”

“Chill out, Anna-Banana. We're not even sure if a baby's on board yet at all. One thing at a damn fucking time.”

“First of all,” she began, making me roll my eyes. “I like that analogy. Second of all, who the fuck are you calling Anna-Banana? It's all these bad friends you keep around, isn't it? Instead of you to find people who will influence you positively, you're going out and doing the exact opposite.”

I smirked at her and swallowed down a laugh. “You're my only friend, Anna.”

The look on her face went from scolding to confused to scared in only a matter of seconds, making the humour I found in the situation funnier.

“I thought I was your friend, Celi,” Pablo said, coming out of literally nowhere as I scoffed.

“That's right!” Anna said with a victorious smile on her face. “Pablo's your friend.”

“So you want me to stop being friends with Pablo?”

“Yes,” she then turned to Pablo and glared superficially. “Adios, puta.”

I couldn't help but smile at her trying to speak Spanish. She had been trying to learn for a while and even though her accent was weird, it still made me happy.

That is until Pablo opened his fat mouth.

“Abre la boca una vez más y la llenaré con el desagradable jabón en el inodoro, idiota.” [Open your mouth one more time and I'll stuff it with the nasty soap in the toilet, dumbass]

She turned to me with a lost expression on her face as Pablo smirked victoriously and took a seat next to Daniel who, at this point, had his earphones in.

“What did he say?” she asked me, but I only shook my head.

“You don't want to know,” I said before shivering at the thought of the soap in the nasty lavatory. “Who knows where that soap has been.”

“What soap?”

*****

Yeah, we got covid, exams, online school, the presidential elections and Kanye West running for presidency in 2024 to worry about but how are you feeling, babe?