Chapter 14: Freaking Awesome
Last night unfortunately did not end as I had originally hoped. Soon after the movie ended, Amber too noticed the flickering and went to inspect just what it was. By the time I tried to stop her it was already too late, as she had seen with an even more astonished face just how many paparazzi waited outside.
We all decided it would’ve been too chaotic to exit my house only to face countless awaiting photographers, so both Amber and Toby slept over that night. My house luckily accommodated three guest rooms, excluding Lea’s room, so all four of us were able to sleep in private.
I awoke to the buzzing of my cell phone just inches from my face. “Man, this thing must be broken or something…” I muttered at the phone’s sudden ability to vibrate even after I had made sure it was off. The screen blinked a new voice message which I was hesitant to open.
“Marshaaalll!” Frank’s voice yelled. “Where da hell are ya?! If my schedule is correct, I do believe we had another meeting with the big fella’s from Universal Studios on a co-assignment last night! Jeez another chance lost! Dammit, call me back when you get this.”
I chuckled softly, wondering why he still wanted to continue such a ridiculous project that I had never agreed on in the first place. And on top of everything, he was yelling at me for missing their little get-together? Nothing positive was going to come from that assignment even if I had agreed.
I closed my phone and tossed it onto my messy bed.
Knowing that there were now female guests at my house, I decided to put on a shirt before leaving my room. The hot California air constantly lingered even after the sun would take its leave, so I usually just kept my upper body bare when heading to my bed.
Gently, I opened the door in front of me as to not make a sound that could awake Amber or Lea. The hinges produced no sound whatsoever, but I ultimately failed at quieting down my staircase. With each wary step I took, a painful and obnoxious creaking sound would break the morning silence. I never noticed until today that the stairs needed some major looking at since they made so much noise; or maybe it was the quiet environment that made them seem so much louder.
After that arduous journey down the steps, I finally made it to my living room. I took notice of the digital clock underneath my TV that read “9:28 AM” which gave us almost two hours to do what we pleased until it was time to head to the airport.
It wasn’t long until I heard the first signs of disturbance in Lea’s room. I jumped off my couch and rushed up to see just what the noise was about. Surprisingly, I found Lea entangled around her blanket as she unconsciously kicked to be set free. With both arms, I lifted the little girl up and slid the bedding off. Her eyes began to open as I finally managed to release her from the blanket’s grip.
“Good morning sweetheart.” I said softly. Lea was looking at me with a confused expression, which I guess must’ve derived from me suddenly having her in my arms. I placed her back on her two feet which made her notice and then proceeded to poke the squishy front of her diaper. Not a moment later, it started to leak on Lea’s pajama pants. I jolted and placed the little girl right on top of the changing table while I acquired the necessities to getting her out of her wet clothes.
“Jeez, she must’ve wet like crazy last night!” I thought to myself as I placed Lea on her back.
She calmly fiddled with her hair as I commenced the changing process. It wasn’t long until I had taped up the new diaper securely to Lea bottom and we both headed back downstairs for breakfast.
As much as I enjoyed eating out, I did in fact have a generous amount of food saved up in my kitchen. For those rare occasions that it may be needed to actually cook something here, I stocked up. We both made our way to the fridge and then my supply closet that held just about any snack or canned food one could think of. Lea stood agape as she stared at all the food before her.
“So, what do you feel like eating Lea?” I asked cheerfully.
Not sure whether she heard me or not, I repeated her name to get her attention.
One long pause later, she began to point and hop aggressively at a Captain Crunch cereal box on the far corner of my closet. I happily filled a decent portion of it in a small bowl, accompanied by milk. Little Lea examined the food closely before finally taking the first spoonful to her mouth. I sat nearby for any possible spills that may occur from the child’s shaky hand. Lea’s eyes went wide as she joyfully ate through the bowl. A giggle would arise from every spoonful or two that she ate, causing some small crumbs to spew out from her mouth. I chuckled along with her as her body language gave clear indication that she truly enjoyed the cereal.
With my little girl’s stomach now content, we ran back upstairs to brush our teeth and prepare for the flight. Amber was sluggishly walking out of her room when we ran into her.
“Good morning Miss Amber.” I chirped.
One of her hands was guarding me from her long yawn, while the other was rubbing her eyes awake.
“Oh, mornin’.” She replied sleepily.
Amber led herself down my steps as I carried Lea into the nearby bathroom.
The sink towered almost a foot above her tiny stature, so I decided to lift her onto the counter for a better view. Once there, I handed the child a small pink toothbrush and motioned how to properly execute the brushing.
With fresh and bright teeth, we exited the bathroom and returned to Lea’s room. I examined my watch which surprised me at how quick the morning was passing. The few remaining possessions of my little girl were loosely boxed up in a corner. For the plane ride to New York it was obvious that the diaper bag was going to be needed, but I questioned just what extra clothes, if any, should be brought as well. I decided on just bringing another change of clothes in case a faulty diaper were to leak, but since it would only take a couple of hours to arrive there, that was unlikely. I wanted to actually use the remainder of the day to go clothes shopping, so the rest of her old wardrobe from the orphanage was going to be unnecessary either way.
After tucking in the extra shirt and shorts into her bag, I looked and smiled down at Lea.
“You ready to go on the plane, little one?” I asked softly.
She smiled widely and nodded.
I led her by the hand down the steps and was soon met with Amber who clearly was having trouble with the coffee maker.
“Hey Marshall, how the heck do you work this thing?” Amber asked quizzically.
I closely examined the machine. After pressing a short sequence of buttons and adding in two hard hits to its top, it began to run once more.
“Sorry about that, it always messes up on me.” I chuckled.
Amber replied with a smile as she brewed her fresh cup of coffee.
The three of us unloaded what were mainly Amber’s things into the trunk. Lea’s diaper bag was placed in the back as well. My condo in Manhattan supplied more than enough clothes for me to wear, so I hardly brought anything along. I checked my watch to see that we were right on schedule, yet something still felt off. After I began to close all the doors in the house, the answer stumbled on me.
“Whoa, watch yourself bro.” Toby slurred sleepily. I apologized for running into him, and almost immediately he awoke in a loud yawn. About halfway through, he suddenly stopped and remembered what today was.
“Oh dude,” He slowly noted. “Are you guys flyin’ to New York today?”
“Yeah…” I replied with my hands in my pockets.
The meathead jock’s face took a disappointed expression.
“Oh okay… Don’t do anything too crazy, alright?” He said sadly.
I sighed heavily and wondered if there was a way to solve this small dilemma.
“Toby,” I started.
The big lug lifted his face from the floor to look at me.
“If you wanna come, you know you’re more than welcome to.”
“No, no, it’s cool Marsh. I think my passport even expired so…” He said, taking out an unknown item from his pocket. Surprisingly, it turned out to be what else, his passport.
“You always carry that thing around or something?” I asked chuckling.
He quickly skimmed through the small booklet and found the expiration date. A look of sheer excitement enveloped Toby as he looked back to me. Before a word could escape his shaking lips I said: “Yes… Let’s go already!”
Leaping out of the front door, we were greeted by Amber and Lea patiently waiting in the car.
“What took you?” Amber asked.
“Oh nothing, Just that Mr. Toby will now be accompanying us on our little trip.” I replied smiling. She looked back and saw Toby once again sitting awkwardly next to Lea.
The drive to the airport was a brief twenty minutes. Right as we made our way to where other people parked their cars, I cut into another turn.
“This… is how people avoid paparazzi when needing to take a flight.” I explained as the car slowed into a seemingly inaccessible path.
I parked along side a heavy set man with a smooth, white goatee and a big smile on his face. He wore an open black suit accompanied by a dark pilot’s hat.
“Welcome Mr. Soel! My name is Jonathan Lachio, what an honor it is meet you sir!” He joyfully shook my hand. “Ah, and these must be his fortunate guests; what a pleasure as well!” He added greeting the rest of the group. Mr. Lachio took notice of the number of people here.
“Um… Mr. Soel, didn’t you originally schedule for only three people to board my plane?” He asked worriedly.
I took my hand and rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, yeah… I mean, do you think there might be some way my friend can join us?” I replied smiling.
It seemed as if Mr. Lachio was weighing on why or why not he should allow Toby on board. Finally he spoke up.
“Well, it will cost more Mr. Soel. What, with the extra accommodations, the food, the catering, th-”
“Don’t worry about it.” I interrupted with a pat.
He smiled back after a moment and began to chuckle. The jolly man turned to the curious group nearby.
“Please, make yourselves at home!” He finally announced. “We will arrive in New York before you even know it!”
A young attendant took our bags and placed them safely inside. One by one, we entered the small aircraft. A sigh of relief escaped me as I slumped down on the soft leather seat.
“This is gonna to be fun.” I muttered to myself.
Toby laughed wildly and added: “This is freaking awesome!”
Amber too began to chuckle. “I have to admit, this is pretty cool.”
Mr. Lachio explained to me how the plane would be taking off in about a half hour, so I unbuckled little Lea from her seat and brought her to my lap. She looked about with sheer amazement and soon took notice of the covered window behind me. With one quick swipe, she yanked the cover down causing it flip back up and reveal the bright sun. Every time I would pull the shade back down, she would flip it back up causing her immense laughter. To produce those giggles under such a simple request made me smile. I softly patted her hair as she found new interest on the magazines in front of us.
“You like the pictures honey?” I told her as she carefully turned the pages of a fashion magazine. I figured since she couldn’t read, it must’ve been the colors that really intrigued her.
The voice of Mr. Lachio came on over the speakers reminding us to buckle ourselves for the upcoming lift off in a number of minutes. I placed little Lea back on her seat as she continued to study the random pictures. With all of us now securely in our spot, the plane began moving. Lea did not even bat an eye at the sudden shaking of the aircraft, unlike Amber who looked to be getting more uncomfortable with each passing second.
After a couple of minutes gaining momentum, we finally started rising. Before I knew it, we were flying and I let my mind go. My brief moment of relaxation was cut short as I felt the all-too familiar buzzing of my cell phone. I opened up the text message, finding that it came from Stephanie!
With short, strong letters it read: “We need to talk.”
And I groaned once more.