“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.